With Britain’s World Fighting Championship holding its third show this weekend, there’s no better time to look at their second offering, Bad Boys, which has been doing the rounds in a two-episode format on The Active Channel for the past few weeks.
Episode one began in the middleweight division as Jack Hermansson faced Andor Filo.
This wasn’t the most graceful of fights. Both men came out swinging and some of Filo’s attempts were quite wild which left him open to Hermansson’s right hand.
Filo staggered a little until he fell to the ground. Hermansson followed him down but it wasn’t long before the referee stopped the action, giving Hermansson the knockout win.
So after that blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair it was on to more middleweight action as Claudio Silva faced Matt Ewin with the WFC Middleweight title on the line.
Silva’s tactics were obvious from the outset when he scored with the early take down. Ewin managed to stop him from using any of his Brazilian jiu-jitsu, so much so that it wasn’t long before the referee stood them up.
It was the same the second time around, with Silva not wanting to give Ewin any chance to impose his striking game on the fight.
The Brazilian once again went for the take down at the beginning of the second round, only for Ewin to hold on to the cage to prevent the move.
After several warnings the referee had no choice but to take a point away from Ewin.
Moments later it was all over. With Silva scoring the take down and working in the guard, Ewin verbally submitted having suffered a shoulder injury, giving Silva the win.
The title action continued as Chase Beebe faced Ralph Acosta for the WFC Bantamweight title.
Another quick skirmish saw Beebe going for an immediate standing guillotine. When he couldn’t get it standing up he pulled guard.
That was enough for Acosta as he tapped out after just 41 seconds.
Even more title action followed as Toni Valtonen faced Robert Krecicki for the WFC Light Heavyweight title.
Valtonen came into this one as the favourite, mainly because of the gap in experience.
But Krecicki hadn’t read the script and came forward early on with some wild blows that took the Fin out of his comfort zone.
Valtonen managed to instigate a couple of clinches against the cage but Krecicki was soon able to get back to the striking game.
However, whenever Krecicki took the fight to the mat he made the error of going for a simple side headlock. Valtonen easily took Krecicki’s back after this.
The second round played out in more or less the same way, even with Krecicki making the same mistake with the side headlock.
The third began with Valtonen trying to impose his own striking game on the fight but Krecicki was soon able to establish control until the fight went back to the ground.
Once again Krecicki went for the side headlock and once again Valtonen took his back.
This time Valtonen nearly made him pay for his mistake, going for a rear naked choke which Krecicki only just managed to escape from.
So with the fight going the distance the judges were called into action and all three gave the vote and the title to Krecicki.
Episode two began in the lightweight division as Tommy Maguire faced Danny Fletcher.
This one went to the ground early thanks to Maguire. From there we saw plenty of reversals, with Maguire going for an arm bar until Fletcher slammed his way out.
The end came two minutes into the fight.
Having regained the top position, Maguire went for the ground and pound. Fletcher offered nothing in reply and tapped out to give Maguire the impressive win.
It was down to bantamweight for the next fight as David Haggstrom went up against Dino Gambatesa.
This was a very technical battle. The majority of the first round saw both men engage in a striking battle with both men getting off some good combinations.
With just 30 seconds or so left in the round, Haggstrom scored with a rather easy looking take down but he didn’t really leave himself with enough time to do any work.
That wasn’t a problem for the Swede in the second round and although he looked good in the guard early on, Gambatesa soon fought back with a leg triangle.
At one point it looked like Haggstrom was ready to tap but the fight continued.
It wasn’t long before Gambatesa really synched in the hold, with Haggstrom finally tapping to give Gambatesa the submission win.
More title action followed as Robbie Olivier faced Antana Jazbutis for the WFC Featherweight title.
This proved to be a highly charged and somewhat controversial three-rounder.
We saw a lengthy feeling out period at the beginning of this match. The fighters instigated a clinch in the middle before moving over to the cage.
From there we saw some nice ground work, especially from Olivier but things took a nasty turn after the round ended.
Olivier claimed that the cut he’d sustained on the side of his head was the result of an illegal blow from Jazbutis.
The Lithuanian’s troubles escalated in the second round when he was deducted two points from various infractions.
He was lucky to escape further censure when the referee failed to see him grabbing onto the cage.
During all of this, Olivier continued to put in some good ground work although Jazbutis targeted Olivier’s neck on more than one occasion with his guillotine attempts.
So with the fight going the distance the judges came into play.
Given Jazbutis’ points deductions it was obvious that Olivier was going to take the decision and the title.
In conclusion, while it’s always nice to gaze into the bright lights that the big boys of the MMA world shine at you, it’s also nice to take a look at what’s going on in other parts of that world.
Despite not having the production facilities of their more illustrious UCMMA and BAMMA cousins, the WFC have put out another quality show here.
While the majority of the fighters may not be known to some of us out there, they all put in quality performances.
Who knows, one day these guys may be plying their trade in front of a pay-per-view audience.
So in all, Bad Boys gets the thumbs up from this particular writer as a fine example of the up and comers of the British MMA world.
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