2020 in Review

Well, that was a weird year, wasn’t it? It started with a worldwide pandemic and flooding on an almost biblical-scale, and then just got progressively worse. These are scary, worrying times. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Not in my lifetime, anyway. At least it’s not boring. I always tell my students that only boring people get bored. You just have to make things happen, instead of sitting around waiting. Me, I spent a lot of time watching Starsky & Hutch and TJ Hooker repeats on the Sony Channel and listening to Dangerous Summer. Whatever keeps you sane, right? I also read a lot of books, which you can find a list of here.

At the beginning of the year I wrote a couple of new short stories, including Down the Plughole which I based on my student days in a grimy houseshare in Southampton, and an x-rated shocker called Painted Nails about a junkie who wakes up with a foreign body embedded in his cock. I also bashed out a rare sci-fi tale called Down to Earth and a couple of new drabbles (100-word stories). I’ll hopefully find homes for them later this year. On the subject of drabbles, Louie’s Room was included in 100 Word Horrors 4 at the turn of the year. That meant I was lucky enough to have stories in each of the first four volumes of the series.

Being locked down so much, I did a ton of promo. My Twitter audience grew by about 20% to around 8,600, and the ‘likes’ on my Facebook author page swelled. That stuff is important to prospective employers, agents and publishers. I also scheduled a year’s worth of blog posts. My RetView series is continuing to grow in popularity. Check out the most recent entry, Megan is Missing (2011).

Elsewhere, I sold non-fiction articles to Fortean Times about the Hong Kong protests and cockroach farming and a couple more instructional pieces to Writer’s Weekly including Writing the Perfect Blurb, High-Paying Flash Fiction Markets and How to Find Your Micro Niche, while I also picked up some work for a website called DaiSport, which allowed me to stalk Newport County legend Fraser Franks and pursue my two great loves; Wales and MMA. I’m still trying to find a way to incorporate beer into the mix.

In ‘fiction world’ my fourth collection of short fiction, X4, was released on February 20^th just because I thought the release date 20/02/20 was kinda cool. It hit the ground running and picked up some great reviews. My story Demon Tree appeared on Haunted MTL, and in April Blood Bound Books put out a furry-based anthology entitled Burnt Fur, which included my story The Others. It is probably one of the creepiest things I’ve ever written, not least because it was based on a story an old girlfriend told me. Later in the year, my story Holiday of a Lifetime appeared in another anthology by the same publisher called Welcome to the Splatterclub – Seasoned Meat. If The Others is one of the creepiest things I’ve ever written, Holiday of a Lifetime is probably one of the most balls-out disgusting things I’ve ever written. I actually threw up in my mouth a little bit whilst doing the edits.

In other news, K Trap Jones started his own publishing company (go Trap!) and accepted my short story Grower into his very first anthology, Brewtality, which had a beer theme. Right up my dark alley. Elsewhere, Surzhai, about sex trafficking, immortal ancient Chinese warriors and revenge, appeared in ParABnormal magazine and my tragic love story Loose Ends was included in the lit mag 34 Orchard. The fun didn’t stop there. Later in the year, I contributed to the charity anthology It Came From the Darkness, Scary Mary appeared in Jester of Hearts and Finders Keepers in the Christmas charity anthology on Terror Tract publishing.

Terror Tract also published my novella, Tethered, the story of a journalism graduate who inadvertently gets sucked into a dark world of internet rituals, serial killers and strange disappearances. TT is fronted by Becky Narron, who is a living legend of the horror scene and it was an honour and a thrill to work with her. After the release of Tethered I entered into a promo cycle and did some interviews and guest blogs with the likes of Redrum Reviews, EB Lunsford and Kendall Reviews, where I took up the temporary post of warden, to add to the interview I did with Haunted MTL earlier in the year.

After that I focused my attention on finishing my novel Bones: A Ben Shivers Mystery (working title), the first in a planned series about a P.I. (Paranormal Investigator) who travels the country in a VW camper with a cat called Mr. Trimble. I started it in the summer of 2019, then got sidetracked by other stuff. The first draft was an absolute mess, but four drafts later, into September 2020, it was in much better shape. Before the metaphorical ink was wet, I launched straight into the next book in the series, Cuts, which currentky stands at about 40k words. Amidst all this I revised, remixed, revamped and reissued Sker House, my attempt at the great Welsh haunted house story and explained my reasoning for doing such a thing here.

To sum up, 2020 was a weird, yet productive year. Personally, I’m hoping for the same level of productivity in 2021 but with slightly less weirdness.

BAMMA 15 Review

It seems that with every BAMMA event I attend, the bar is raised ever higher. The promotion is now arguably head and shoulders above the competition on these shores. Strangely, tonight the entire card was broadcast from start to finish on Facebook, which may well explain a few empty seats in the arena. It could turn out to be a stroke of marketing genius in showcasing BAMMA to a whole new audience, but could well come at the cost of some existing fans. Who in their right mind is going to travel miles and pay hard cash for something they can watch at home for free? Of course, the same can be said for any Premier league fixture, and it never did the profile of those guys any harm. Anyway, moving on, MMA has been exploding in popularity here over the past few years, like it has been almost everywhere else in the world, and now UK crowds are finally reaping the benefits of all that training and dedication. BAMMA now attracts some of the most gifted and highly rated in Europe, if not the world.

At BAMMA 15, the main card kicked off with a flyweight contest between German Rany Saadeh and the undefeated Mahmood ‘Persian Pride’ Besharate. Saadeh has been described in the fight press as a ‘top European flyweight,’ but was up against some stiff competition in the shape of undefeated prospect Besharate, who went in with a perfect 5-0-0 record. As it happened, Saadeh kept his cool to pull off an uneventful majority victory. Next up was Ali ‘The Terminator’ Arish versus the highly-rated Sunderland prospect Ryan ‘Big Baby’ Scope who won a close decision to stretch his record to 8-0-0, despite carrying a potentially serious foot injury.

A late addition to the card was a BAMMA Lonsdale British Middleweight Title Bout between Andy ‘Lion Paw’ De Vent, making his first appearance for the promotion, and Harry ‘Mad Mac’ McLeman, who went in to the fight fresh from his decision victory over Matt Howard at BAMMA 14. And it was Mad Mac who somehow pulled off a victory from the jaws of defeat by majority decision, despite spending much of the fight turtled up and taking some vicious knees to the body. 20-year old BAMMA World Featherweight Champion Tom ‘Fire Kid’ Duquesnoy looked to build on his impressive knockout of James Saville in his last outing when he came up against undefeated fellow Frenchman Teddy Violet. This was obviously a big step up for Violet, who until tonight had a record of 8-0-0, all by knockout, despite only turning pro in June 2012. After seeing this performance, one has to wonder what kind of opposition he was knocking out because for the short time this bout lasted he looked completely outclassed, eventually succumbing to a triangle choke in the second round.

Despite losing his last fight, a tilt at Mansour Barnaoui’s lightweight title, and boasting an overall record of 9-4-0, ex-UFC fighter Colin ‘Freakshow’ Fletcher remains one of BAMMA’s biggest draws. Seven of his nine wins have come by submission and he has never knocked anyone out, but long before the fight there was a feeling he could pick up his first against the USA’s Tony ‘Lionheart’ Hervey, who went into the fight with a decidedly average career record of 16-15-0. Saying that, who could forget ‘Fast’ Eddy Ellis who went into his fight with ‘Judo’ Jimmy Wallhead at BAMMA 13 with a similar record, yet ended up winning a split decision and taking the welterweight championship.

Contrary to most people’s expectations, however, this was no quick finish, and no easy ride. Over three rounds Hervey rocked the favourite more than once, notably in the second round, and the fight remained standing, which didn’t suit Freakshow’s gameplan at all. In the end he managed to grind out a split decision victory, but not many would have argued the point if the decision had gone the other way. Freakshow’s problem is that despite his scary persona, he is a fucking nice guy. So nice, in fact, that during in his post-fight interview, he even said that he wouldn’t have complained if he had lost the fight. When asked why he didn’t go for more takedown’s, he admitted that he ‘Just couldn’t do it.’ Bless.

An all-English clash between defending champ Wayne ‘Caveman’ Murrie and challenger Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards for the BAMMA Lonsdale British Welterweight Championship followed. Murrie has built something of a reputation as a submission artist, with 10 of his 17 wins coming on the ground. This is in contrast to relative newcomer Edwards, who went into the fight with a 5-1-0 record. However, Edwards was the one who left with the honours, getting his opponent in a deep rear naked choke and forcing a tap in the very first round.

At long last, the main event rolls in, a titanic Heavyweight clash between Oli Thompson and Gzim ‘The Albanian Psycho’ Selmani. 34-year old Thompson has been around the fight game for a while, even enjoying a brief ultimately unsuccessful spell in the UFC in 2012, while his opponent, with a pro record of 3-1-0, is relatively unproven. However, he is taller and heavier, and how can anyone doubt the skills someone with a nickname like the Albanian Psycho? Whilst roaming the cage waiting for his opponent to appear he looked the part, and wasted no time getting to grips with Thompson, knocking the champion to the floor before choking him out via guillotine after just 18 seconds of the fight. Job done. On this evidence, the Albanian Psycho looks a fearsome prospect.

The original version of this review appeared on the Huff Post UK:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/chris-saunders/

UFC Fight Night 37: London

UFC Fight Night 37: London poster

So the UFC’s huge push for world domination rumbles into London, and lands at the 02 Arena, Greenwich, the second biggest indoor arena in the UK and one of the busiest in Europe. It’s a great venue, tailor-made for hosting big fights. In what could be a landmark achievement for the promotion, the 15,000 seats sold out in record time for a UK event, and the media hype has been unprecedented. This is the first time I recall seeing a main feature about UFC in a national tabloid (the Sun, 7th March). Proof, perhaps, that the British public are finally taking MMA seriously.

When Jimi ‘Poster Boy’ Manuwa was announced as the opponent for Number One contender and current UFC Golden Boy Alexander ‘The Mauler’ Gustafsson, many people responded with WTF? Not What the f**k, but WHO the f**k. Understandable, given that Manuwa has plied his trade mostly in the UCMMA (where he was light-heavyweight champion) and BAMMA promotions, and is therefore a largely unknown quantity outside the UK. Even so, a perfect record of 14 finishes from 14 fights, is not to be sniffed at. A couple of weeks ago I interviewed Manuwa for a magazine I write for, and I can tell you he is one intense dude. If we hadn’t been in a controlled environment, I would have feared for my life. He’s the first to admit that all the media attention makes him uncomfortable, and would much rather just beat the shit out of people. Gus is right when he describes the Londoner as being ‘dangerous.’ With knockout power and the vociferous home crowd on his side, anything can happen. Dismiss him at your peril. That said, his strengths are obvious. If Gus can make it a wrestling match he’ll probably finish the fight. The thing is, the Swede is just ballsy enough to stand and bang. And if he does that, my money is on Manuwa to pull off the upset.

But there is a lot to get through before the hour of judgment. The undercard saw British loudmouth Luke Barnatt easily beat Mats Nilsson, and wins for Louis Gaudinot, Igor Araujo and Llir Latifi. The early-evening section was not without disappointment with Davey Grant, one of the great hopes of the UK MMA scene, being pulled from his fight with Roland Delorme due to a knee injury with less than 24-hours notice. With no time to organize a replacement, it left a small hole in the bill. The biggest talking point came when Claudio Silva was adjudged to have somehow beaten Bradley Scott on points. I might have to watch the fight again. I must have missed something, because on the night, it seemed the Brazilian spent most of the three rounds in escape and evasion mode.

On to the main card, and Icelandic welterweight Gunnar Nelson is another highly-rated European prospect boasting an unbeaten record of 12-0-1. Perhaps unusually for a European, he’s also a world class jiu-jitsu competitor. Tonight he is up against the Russian Omari Akhmedov, who with only one previous UFC fight under his belt (a KO win over TUF: Brazil competitor Thiago Perpetuo last November), will be a new face to many. He has a background in freestyle wrestling, apparently. Interesting. Unfortunately, the Russian just wasn’t up to par, and took a a serious beating before mercifully tapping out to a guillotine near the end of the first round. There was such a gulf in class between the two welterweights that it was hard to tell whether Nelson was really good or Akhmedov was really bad. I suspect a bit of both.

Next up is Brad ‘One punch’ Pickett taking on Neil ‘Two Tap’ Seery. I shit you not. The 34-year old Irishman, making his UFC debut tonight, is a slightly strange signing by the biggest promotion in the world as the veteran of the UK fight scene has lost nine of his 22 fights. The general consensus is that he is simply cannon fodder for local favourite Pickett, who has himself picked up two losses in his last three. The difference, however, is that Pickett’s two losses came against Eddie Wineland and Michael McDonald. In his six UFC outings, Pickett has won Fight of the Night four times and Knockout of the Night once. He’s an exciting fighter, and it’s easy to see why he is one of Dana White’s favourites.

Perhaps the biggest question of the night was how Pickett would deal with the drop to flyweight, and how he would finish his inexperienced opponent. The bookies had the Londoner 1/6 to win. However, it wasn’t that clean cut. Pickett looked fresh, busy and lean, but Seery proved a more than capable adversary, and had his moments on the feet. He had no answer for Pickett’s skill level and though there was no finish, the Londoner won a unanimous decision. Rather weirdly for a known striker, Pickett’s wrestling won him this contest.

Melvin Guillard should have been fighting Ross Pearson tonight after their non-event in Manchester last October, but the TUF alumni is out injured so in steps Michael Johnson, straight from his knockout of Gleison Tibau at UFC 168. Guillard seems to have been around forever. In fighting terms he has, despite still only 30 he has been active since 2002 and built up a record of 31-12-2. There are signs, however, that the Young Assassin’s powers may be waning. Before the No Contest ruling against Pearson in Manchester, he had lost four of his last six. Disappointingly, this fight was the first of the night to draw cat calls and boos from the crowd. These people pay a lot of money to be entertained, and if they are not they will let you know. That’s always been the tricky thing with London crowds. On any given night there are a a dozen or more huge events. To be honest, though, I don’t know why they were booing. The fight was entertaining enough. For the most part there were two guys going at it, with Johnson regularly getting the better of the exchanges on his way to a UD. The only person not willing to engage tonight was Claudio Silva… and he fucking won.

Alexander Gustafsson won legions of new fans in losing that brutal five-round war with Jon Jones last September. A fight many people thought he had won. Before I continue, I just want to be clear on something. Manuwa’s record says his last two wins, against Cyrille Diabate and Ryan Jimmo, came due to some kind of freak injuries. That’s bollocks. The truth is, Manuwa literally kicked their legs so hard they couldn’t continue. Pitting Manuwa against Gus is either a very shrewd marketing move by the UFC or a disaster waiting to happen, as one of these fighters will leave the arena tonight with their reputation in tatters. Obviously, if you listen to most of the mainstream MMA media, especially in the US, Manuwa hasn’t got a chance in hell of winning this fight. All that does is take some of the pressure off Manuwa, who literally has nothing to lose, and heaps yet more on the shoulders of Gus.

I have to be honest here. We all have loyalties. Anyone, journalist or otherwise, who claims to be completely impartial is full of shit. In MMA, you just can’t help it. You pin your colours, and you live or die by your decisions, just like the fighters. I like Gus, a lot. But Jimi won me over. I’m a sucker for a rags to riches story. I even put a bet on him, something I rarely do. Sadly, when it came down to it, Jimi just fell short. He rocked Gus more than once in the first round, and it was obvious Gus was shocked by his brute power. But the Swede’s superior skill set shone through, and in the second round he dropped his foe with a knee in the clinch followed by a lethal barrage of punches. At times Manuwa looked a bit static and overawed by the occasion. He didn’t shock the world as many had hoped, but neither did he embarrass himself as many had predicted. In the post-fight press conference, Jimi claimed he didn’t go out. Or at least, not to remember going out. Sorry mate, but you did.

This was a severe test for Gustafsson, and he came through it with flying colours. Strangely for a fighter from another country up against a local boy, the London crowd was at least split 50/50. If anything, Gus had the neutrals. Perhaps that’s a sign of his mass appeal. In the post-fight interview he, of course, called for a rematch with Jon Jones. He’s lived up to his end of the bargain, now Jones has to live up to his so the UFC can stage the fight everyone wants.

UFC Fight Night 30: Machida v Munoz

October 26th 2013, Phones 4 U Arena, Manchester

Following last weekend’s spectacular night of entertainment, the question on everyone’s lips was how would UFC Fight Night 30 compare to UFC 166, described by Dana White as ‘The greatest card ever in UFC history?’

High-profile UFC events don’t come to the UK often, so when they do British MMA fans bust their balls to get tickets. This event was originally built around local hero Michael Bisping, but unfortunately he was forced out of the fight after suffering a detached retina in training. The UFC then pulled off a masterstroke by drafting in ex light heavyweight world champion Lyoto Machida to headline the card against Mark Munoz. But I’m getting ahead of myself, there was much more to this card than the headline fight. There’s no point talking about who couldn’t be here. We’re much better off talking about who could…

The prelims were stacked with names familiar to most British fans, kicking off in the middleweight division with English hope Brad Scott of TUF: The smashes fame, against Dutch judo specialist Michael Kuiper. This promised to be an exciting fight, and it didn’t disappoint, Scott tapping out his opponent in the very first round. Elsewhere, the first Scot in the UFC, Robert Whiteford, took the fight against Jimy Hettes at a week’s notice, and it showed as he was heavily outclassed by the American, and Cole Miller spoiled what could have been an impressive victory over Andy Ogle by making some disparaging comments about judges and European fighters, before literally running away flanked by minders. Maybe that’s why he’s still on the undercard at big events, if he’s lucky.

Next, Brit pioneer Rosi Sexton came up against Brazilian Jessica Andrade in the women’s bantamweight division. With both coming off losses, there was a lot on the line here with the loser possibly facing the dreaded cut from a loaded division. Not surprisingly, the crowd was right behind Rosi, and the smile on her face as she entered the Octagon was a joy to see. However, the smile didn’t last very long as she was picked apart over three rounds by a younger, faster opponent. Nobody could fault the heart of the Manchester native, as she did well to go the distance, the referee almost stepping in to save her several times. It was heartbreaking to watch, but the sad truth is that maybe Sexton is out of her depth at this level.

Someone who is certainly not out of his depth is TUF 17 finalist Luke Barnatt, who had a real tear up with highly-rated Andrew Craig. The Cambridge upstart floored his more experienced opponent twice with strikes before ending the fight with a submission. Any observers couldn’t help but be impressed by his striking. Perhaps less-so by his habit of celebrating prematurely. Twice he turned away with his arm raised in triumph, before actually finishing the fight. Headlining the prelims (if such a misnomer exists) was Al Laquinta v Piotr Hallmann in the lightweight division. I like Laquinta, but he hasn’t really proved himself at the top level yet, and here he was up against some stiff opposition in the Pole, who despite flying under the radar up until now, has accumulated a pro record of 14-1-0. His submission rate would indicate that he loves taking fights to the ground, but he didn’t have much of a chance against the classier Laquinta who won the judges decision.

First up on the main card was a flyweight clash between Portsmouth’s Phil Harris and the Brazilian John Lineker (who, allegedly, is named after Gary!). These two have been destined to meet each other for some time, and were originally scheduled to face off in August at UFC 163 where Lineker fought (and beat) Jose Maria when Harris was forced out. Here, they finally clashed. Anyone who was expecting a floor battle would have been disappointed as Lineker lived up to his ‘Hands of Stone’ monicker and rocked Harris with punches several times in the first round before finishing the fight with a solid body shot. Game over for Harris. Perhaps his only saving grace could be the fact that Lineker failed to make weight, not for the first time in his career, which didn’t cast him in a good light with the UFC hierarchy.

Next up was Italy’s Alessio Sakara against Sweden’s Nicholas Musoke at Middleweight. Sakara is the wrong side of 30 and has lost his last three match-ups, admittedly against world-class opposition, so he was probably fighting in the last chance saloon tonight. Despite wins becoming increasingly rare, Sakara usually puts on an exciting fight but in the opposite corner, Musoke, taking his bow in the Octagon, is a largely unknown quantity. Both fighters came out swinging to roars of approval from the crowd, and both were clearly rocked in some frantic opening exchanges. After a spell against the cage, Musoke then took Sakara to the ground, where again it was a see-saw battle with both fighters going for subs. Sakara seemed to be getting the better of it and was throwing some serious leather from the top, until he left an arm out and quick as a flash, Musoke grabbed it and held for an arm-bar. Welcome to the UFC, Nicholas.

Irishman Norman Parke was up next, the 26-year old fighting John Tuck at lightweight. The popular and talented Parke is a familiar name to most UFC followers after winning The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes last year, beating fellow Brit Colin ‘Freakshow’ Fletcher in the final, but since then has been used sparingly by the UFC, his last appearance coming at UFC 162 where he got an impressive decision win over Kazuki Tokudome. Fellow prospect Tuck was a less familiar name, being relatively new to the UFC, but the MMA Lab product started the night with an impressive career record of 7-0-0, including six first round victories, the only blemish being a defeat to Al Laquinta during the entry rounds to TUF: Live, but as those fights are classes as exhibitions it didn’t go on his record. All eyes on Parke, then, who did a decent enough job. He threw some good combinations and was never in serious trouble, winning a unanimous decision. Parke, who’s record in the UFC now stands at 3-0-0, seems to have all the tools in his locker, but by his own admission he needs to start finishing fights if he is going to make an impression.

Among light Canadian heavyweight Ryan Jimmo’s claims to fame is tying for the fastest knockout in UFC history (7 seconds, against Anthony Perosh at UFC 149). Here he took on London’s Jimi ‘Poster Boy’ Manuwa, the former BAMMA and UCMMA champion going in with a faultless record of 13-0-0, with none of his fights ever requiring a judge’s decision. Fair to say, then, that this was a ‘blink and you’ll miss something’ kind of fight. The opening round was less than explosive, but Manuwa took the center of the cage and delivered some killer knees and kicks at close quarters. To the frustration of the crowd, Jimmo seemed determined to use spoiling tactics, and time and time again the pair were separated by the referee. Then, with just 25 seconds left in the second round, Manuwa caught Jimmo with a knee to the face. He reeled backward, bounced on his heels, and then slumped to the floor holding his leg in the air. Legitimate injury or not, Manuwa walked away with the TKO.

Ross Pearson has won himself a lot of fans with his tireless work ethic and constant desire to improve, myself included. His co-headliner slot on the bill is well-deserved. However, the Sunderland lightweight faced his stiffest test yet against American striker Melvin Guillard, veteran of 46 professional fights and perennial title contender, but with four defeats from his last six, there were signs that the Young Assassin was on the slide. Plus, tonight he wasn’t just fighting Pearson, he was fighting every member of the 21,000 crowd. This was many people’s pick for Fight of the Night. Shame it didn’t pan out that way. After a frantic opening flurry, Guillard pushed Pearson against the cage and caught him with two brutal knees, opening up a nasty gash on the Englishman’s forehead. The only problem was, at least one of those knees were illegal blows. Marc Goddard stepped in quickly and pulled the two apart, while the crowd looked on in bemused silence. From here, the result could have gone a number of ways. Judging by his protestations, Pearson must have thought he’d been TKO’d. Guillard probably thought he was going to get disqualified. But in the end the decision was a No Contest. Another strange and slightly disappointing end to a fight. I’m already looking forward to the re-match.

And so here we are at the headline event. Machida v Munoz. Despite an unimpressive record of three wins against three defeats since losing the world light heavyweight championship to Mauricio Rua in 2010, the Brazilian karate specialist remains one of the most popular fighters in the promotion. Who could forget that front-kick on Randy Couture which one Knockout of the Year in 2011? Coming off the back of a controversial split-decision loss to Phil Davies, Machida could not afford another slip-up tonight. This was his first appearance at middleweight after spending his entire career thus far at light heavy, a move welcomed by many in the sport. His opponent, the Filipino Wrecking Machine, is certainly no slouch, having won five of his last six against some of the best opposition in the world (the defeat coming against current champ and Anderson Silva-slayer Chris Weidman) and fresh from a decision win over Tim Boetsch in July. His game plan coming into the fight would have been simple; clinch, grapple, take the fight to the floor. Basically, grab hold of Machida, known as one of the most elusive fighters in the sport, and don’t let go. Of course, having a game plan and seeing that game plan through are two very different things.

Already a favourite, Machida endeared himself to the crowd still further (and showed some impressive local knowledge) by coming out to the Oasis track Fuckin’ in the Bushes and some delirious cheering. At middleweight, he looks lean and mean, and wasted no time taking the center of the cage and immediately embarking on his traditional ‘feeling out’ period. Not that there was much feeling out to be done, with these two being regular training partners. Munoz attempted to stay on the outside, trying to be as elusive as his opponent, and there were early signs that he could have been trying to beat the Dragon at his own game. But then, at about two minutes in, he walked straight into a devastating high kick which dropped him to the canvass. Machida pounced, fists ready, but hesitated, knowing the fight was over. He knew before the referee did, and certainly before Munoz did.

In summary, maybe it wasn’t such a good night for the British fighters, but there was hardly a dull moment in a fine night’s entertainment. Here’s to hoping the UFC comes to these shores again in the not-too distant future. We have some unfinished business, ya’ll.

This post was originally published by the Huff Post UK: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/chris-saunders/

BAMMA 13 – Night of Champions review

BAMMA 13

14th September 2013, Birmingham NIA

To echo the sentiments of many other observers, BAMMA 13 at Birmingham NIA was a bit of a weird one. After several fighters’ vacating their titles to take higher-paying gigs in Bellator and the UFC, there was room at the top of the UK’s premier MMA organization. Hence, BAMMA 13 was billed in the press as the ‘Night of Champions.’

BAMMA 13 poster

I was in the bar for most of the prelim action. My bad. The first fight I saw was Welshman Jack ‘Hammer’ Marshman take on Romanian kickboxer Ion Pascu. With a record of 11 wins from 13 fights with 8 knockouts and a large Welsh contingent in the crowd, the former British middleweight champion was expected to make short work of his eastern European opponent. Not so much. Marshman was dropped in the first round with a straight right, face-planted, and didn’t get back up.

The first title fight of the night between English prospect Scott Askham and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ‘specialist’ Jorge Luis Bezerra for the vacant World Middleweight Championship, went more according to plan, with the Doncaster boy battering his smaller opponent around the Octagon for 15 minutes before winning the decision to take his record to an impressive 12-0, and the title. The only disappointment here was that Askham couldn’t find a finish.

On to the main card (I have no idea why the World Middleweight Championship was on the undercard) and we saw the return of Colin ‘Freakshow’ Fletcher against another Welshman, Tim ‘Superhuman’ Newman. Ever the showman, Freakshow came out to considerable fanfare, with an entourage that included dwarves and sword-swallowers, which was probably a first. One of the biggest personalities in British MMA has flattered to deceive in his last two fights, successive decision losses to Norman Parke and Mike Ricci that saw him rather harshly cut from the UFC. By his own admission, Freakshow wasn’t at his best, neither physically or mentally, for those fights. Here, he was back to his destructive best, dropping Newman twice in the first round with punches and coming close to finishing the fight several times with some vicious ground and pound. To his credit Newman fought on gamely, and could even have pulled off an arm bar, but it wasn’t to be and he ended up on the wrong end of a decision victory. Welcome back, Freakshow.

BAMMA 13 Freakshow poster

The next fight between England’s Curt Warburton and Tunisia’s Mansour ‘Tarzan’ Barnaoui for the vacant World Lightweight Championship was less a fight and more of a demolition. 32-year old Warburton came in with an impressive record of 12-3 but didn’t even get out of the blocks here as Barnaoui, a late call-up, swarmed him and finished the fight with punches in the first round to the delight of his small band of travelling support. The post-fight ‘interview’ was hilarious, as the guy obviously doesn’t speak a word of English and just stood there in awkward silence as Frank Trigg fired questions at him. Still, a good performance by the 20-year old who last fought just three weeks ago at M1 Global Challenge 41. He now boasts a record of 10-2, but has fought largely average competition. If he goes into every fight with this much brutal intensity and destructive intent, the sky’s the limit for him.

And so on to the vacant World Welterweight Championship between ‘Judo Jimmy Wallhead, one of the biggest stars of British MMA and American journeyman ‘Fast’ Eddy Ellis. As it turned out, ‘Fast’ Eddy wasn’t very fast at all, and copped a good one at the beginning of the fight that knocked out his tooth. He was in trouble, but like a solid pro hung on and saw out the round. The expected onslaught from Judo Jimmy, roared on by a vociferous crowd, didn’t happen, and he allowed Fast Eddy to get a foothold in the fight, which ground on for the next two rounds without any significant incident. Judo Jimmy looked out of sorts, and strangely lethargic. Fast Eddy, coming in to the fight on a six-fight win streak but boasting an unremarkable overall record of 18-15, and hadn’t fought for almost two years, did enough in the judges eyes to steal the title.

That left just one more fight, and the second phase of the much-hyped televised portion of the show featuring a Light-Heavyweight clash between golden boy Max Nunes, who went into the bout with a perfect record, and Dutchman Jason ‘the Villain’ Jones. There can’t be many sports where a 32-year old with a record of 19-10 gets plucked from obscurity and handed a title shot. As with a few other fights tonight, he was fully expected to lose. But despite being younger, bigger and faster than his adversary, Nunes was outclassed and soon tapped out to a choke. Another future prospect effortlessly disposed of.

All-in-all, not a good night for British fighters. Perhaps the true level of MMA in this country has been exposed, as three of the four titles went to overseas’s fighters. The night belonged to Freakshow, who finally lived up to his potential. Roll on BAMMA 14 on 14th December, which, we are told, will feature Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley as headliner, the man who will forever be remembered for punching Josh Kroscheck in the back of the head after the final bell at UFC 113.

I can’t wait.

The original version of this review appeared on the Huff Post (UK):

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/chris-saunders/bamma-13_b_3936804.html