It’s time to step into the world of British mixed martial arts as we take a look at BAMMA 21, shown this past Saturday night/Sunday morning on Spike here in Britain.
The broadcast began in the lightweight division as Michael Brightmon faced Rob Sinclair.
This was a pretty one-sided fight. We had a brief feeling out period before Brightmon scored with the takedown, but after a quick scramble for position it was Sinclair who ended up in top position, and even though the man from Hawaii managed to get back to his feet he soon found himself back on the ground.
It was more or less one way traffic from then on as Sinclair went to work with the ground and pound. Brightmon tried to tie his man up at one point, but that proved to be his only defensive move as Sinclair went straight back to work with the heavy leather, and when Brightmon offered nothing in response to referee stepped in to give Sinclair the TKO win.
The co-main event saw Mark Godbeer taking on Paul Taylor for the Heavyweight title.
Given the records of these two it was obvious that these two weren’t going to do any work on the ground, and what we got was a good example of how to dismantle an opponent.
Godbeer put on a great display of striking. His tactics were spot on as he targeted Taylor’s legs as he attempted to take away the big man’s power, and by the end of the first his left leg was as “red as a tomato”.
It was more of the same in the second, but as the round went on and Godbeer unloaded with the heavy artillery Taylor kept coming back for more as he began to wear the scares of battle. But as the round entered it’s final seconds the referee took one look at Taylor’s bloodied face and waved the fight, giving Godbeer the TKO win.
The main event saw Andy Devent taking on Cheick Kone for the Middleweight title.
This one may not have lasted that long but it was certainly value for money. The fight came alive after the initial feeling out period as Kone began to unload with a series of knees and punches. Devent managed to survive this onslaught and countered with a takedown. He scored with another impressive takedown a few seconds later when Kone got to his feet.
But when the man from the Ivory Coast escaped from Devent’s clutches he began to unload with the knees and punches again. A brief interruption after he inadvertently poked Devent in the eye stopped his progress for a few moments, but when the fight re-started he went straight back on the attack. A knee to the bread basket cause Devent no end of pain, and as he slumped to the mat Kone followed him down for a spot of ground and pound until the referee stepped in to give Kone the TKO win.
The show rounded out with some of the undercard fights, with Shay Wilson beating Gaz Pilot at bantamweight, and Harry Marple defeating Sergiu Berdila at welterweight.
In conclusion – this was another great show from BAMMA. All three of the main fights delivered, and even though they didn’t give us much ground work they did give us some examples of top notch striking.
As for my prestigious fight of the night no-prize I’m going for the main event clash between Cheick Kone and Andy Devent. Nice work all round.
So with all of that out of the way there’s just one more thing left to do, and that’s to give BAMMA 21 the thumbs up.
By day I‘m an unemployed retail worker, and at weekends I volunteer in a local museum, but by night I’m the author of The Two Sheds Review, Britain’s longest running professional wrestling and mixed martial arts blog. It’s been online in one form or another since June 2000!
