By Rory Tulloch – BAMMA (British Association of Mixed Martial Arts) is a new British promotion running a tournament to crown their first champions of their respective divisions, dubbed “The Fighting Premiership”. The first set of semi-finals, containing bouts at Lightweight, Welterweight and Middleweight took place Saturday night at the prestigious “Room by the River”. A second set of semi-finals are to take place August 15th with the Featherweights, Light-Heavyweights and Heavyweights before the finals taking place September 26th. The tournament is being broadcast in the UK by digital satellite channel Bravo.

The first match up was Lightweight bout between Zach Jones and Francis Heagney. The two wasted no time before clinching against the cage, and after a few well placed knees Heagney had managed to work his way on top of Jones before ground and pounding his way to a TKO victory and a place in the final at 3:08 of round one.

The second Lightweight bout of the evening was between Tim Radcliffe and Abdul Mohammed. It was a largely stand-up affair with the younger Radcliffe using his reach advantage to dominate Mohammed over 3 rounds. Radcliffe progressed to the finals via unanimous decision.

Next up was the first of the Welterweight contests, between Edgelson Lua and the former Cage Rage champion Che Mills. Lua hung in for three rounds in what I would call one of the fights of the night, but the win eventually went to Mills via unanimous decision.

Second Welterweight fight was between Nathan Champ and Eugene Fadiora. This was another bout going the distance, with Fadiora leaving Champ looking rather worse for wear and progressing to the finals via unanimous decision.

John Phillips and Denniston Suthlerland’s Middleweight bout was a grappling master class, with victory coming to Sutherland by way of injury stoppage when Phillips dislocated a shoulder upon after being struck down to the canvas by Sutherland at 3:22 of round one.

Final match of the night was the much anticipated showdown between Tom Watson and John Maguire. Maguire was getting the advantage in the first couple of rounds, but the Watson ultimately got the stoppage victory at 2:47 of round three.

Overall a good debut show, only sold short by a couple of minor things. The production values were not the greatest. With the show being on Bravo, the station that used to air UFC, many casual fans may be turned off by the lower budget approach. It is still good to see a British promotion getting exposure and creating a stage for up-and-coming British fighters and hopefully, with a deal for the remaining tournament shows in place throughout the year its fan base can continue to grow and the quality of their shows improve as time goes by.

QUICK RESULTS:

Tom Watson defeated John Maguire via TKO at 2:47, round three
Denniston Sutherland defeated John Phillips via TKO at 3:22, round one
Che Mills defeated Edgelson Lua via UD
Eugene Fadiora defeated Nathan Champ via UD
Tim Radcliffe defeated Abdul Mohammed via UD
Francis Heagney defeated Zack Jones via TKO (Strikes) at 3:08, round one