The O2 Academy in Leeds played host to one of the newest and most exciting mixed martial arts promotions in the country this weekend. Almighty Fighting Championships have a focus on promoting young amateur prospects by providing them a big stage on which to showcase their skills, and Saturday night proved that they have achieved great success in doing so.

A very well run show from top to bottom, Almighty FC managed to exhibit good match ups between fighters of varied experience levels, from a professional bout at the top of the card to fighters as young as sixteen years old on the prelims. Most of the audience had come to support a specific gym or fighter, leading to an overwhelmingly positive atmosphere within the arena. The noise from both sides during the war between Dan Tempest and Marcin Bednarz especially was deafening, and rightly so – some having hailed it as one of the best amateur fights to have ever taken place in the UK.

Another worthy mention from this weekend’s action is the performance of 19 year old Beau Gavin. Under the tutelage of his father who is an ex Muay Thai fighter, Gavin has gained some of the cleanest striking skills that I’ve ever seen from somebody of his age. He is for sure one to watch for the very near future, and UK lightweights should be dreading the day that he turns pro.

Shows like Almighty give amateur MMA the stage that it deserves and we can only hope that this trend continues to grow so that fighters have the support they need in order to start careers as mixed martial artists. Almighty have found their niche as an amateur promotion, possibly to the extent that featuring lower-level pros as a main event may not even be necessary. In either case, Almighty are a breath of fresh air, especially in the North of England where there is a wealth of talent but not anywhere near enough promotions for young fighters to make a name for themselves. We look forward to their next show which is on the 10th of December.

The Sprawl were in attendance at the O2 Academy this weekend, and we have taken the liberty of providing a brief play by play of the night’s main card action, and comprehensive results of the whole card:

MAIN CARD

MARTIN SWEENEY vs. KRZYSIEK ADAMCZYK (Professional Bout)

  1. Sweeney rocks Adamczyk, legs wobbled underneath him. Seemed to get his bearings instantly after. A lot of top control for Adamczyk for much of the round after an early scare. He makes Sweeney work hard to fight off multiple rear-naked choke attempts.
  2. Adamczyk wins the fight in the last 10 seconds of the round with an arm triangle submission after a relatively evenly contested round. Was working for the arm triangle for a while, both from the top and off his back

Adamczyk wins via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) in Round 2 (4:50)

DOM STRINGER vs. BEAU GAVIN

  1. Stringer forces the action and pushes Gavin against the fence briefly. His success is short lived as Beau manages to separate and begins to take him apart with boxing and body kicks. One clean right hand gets through against the fence and Stringer drops to the ground covering up. A few powerful hammer-fists onto the arms of Stringer is all it takes for the ref to call the end of the bout. An incredibly professional performance by the 19 year old.

Beau Gavin via TKO at 0:55 of round one. Gavin becomes new Almighty FC amateur lightweight champion

DAN TEMPEST vs. MARCIN BEDNARZ

  1. Great back and forth between the pair, neither afraid to get hit in order to land. Marcin definitely lands the cleaner shots, however, and lands flush three punch combinations regularly. Dan needs better head movement
  2. Superman punch lands flush for Marcin, shows off his athletic ability with an attempted wheel kick which is way wide of his target. Dan is dropped with a huge left right down the middle, his nose is popped open. Dan defends on the ground well, in survival mode. Manages somehow to get on top of Marcin
  3. Dan gets very close with a Kimura attempt, follows it up with heavy ground and pound. Marcin surviving now. fight ends with attempted straight ankle locks in the 50/50 position from both fighters. No chance either were going to tap.
  4. Marcin attempting a kimura, whilst Dan throws a barrage of body shots. Both men are tired. Marcin goes for a triangle. Dan takes his back and wins the fight with a RNC to the delight of the crowd. Fight of the night for sure.

Dan Tempest wins via submission (rear-naked choke) in round four. Tempest becomes new Almighty FC amateur middleweight champion

BART KROL vs. DAWID ZAN

  1. Fast paced back and forth first round, both fighters have huge support from the crowd.
  2. Zan holds his man against the cage on the ground, stacking him up. They return to the feet and after a flurry, Zan pushes Krol against the fence and the round finishes there.
  3. After explosive but even stand up exchanges, Krol takes his man down and begins to ragdoll him using back control. They stand again and Zan takes advantage of Krol’s forward movement and briefly drops him. The fight ends.

Dawid Zan wins via unanimous decision

JACK TEMPLE vs. LEIGH MITCHELL

  1. The two technical young fighters have a tentative first round, with cagey but promising stand up exchanges interspersed by moments against the fence.
  2. Leigh Mitchell manages to seize the moment and snatch a rear-naked choke to the obvious disappointment of his worthy opponent

Mitchell wins via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:48 of round two 

MATTY HODGSON vs. MIKEL JANIK

  1. Hodgson establishes top position and lands some convincing ground and pound. They stand up and Janik responds with a huge suplex, but fails to keep Hodgson down.
  2. Janik lands another suplex but the fight is paused due to a strike to the back of the head from Janik. They start from standing. Periods up against the cage are permeated by chaotic striking exchanges.
  3. Hodgson establishes top position again. Remains here until the end of the fight landing ground and pound.

Hodgson wins via unanimous decision

JORDAN VUCENIC vs. MARC LEIGH

  1. Beautiful kicks by Vucenic throughout, mixing it up to the legs, body and head. He then dropped Leigh with an excellent head kick which found its mark, pounced on top of him and finished him off with a few punches

Vucenic wins via TKO (head kick and punches) at 2:30 of round one

JAY BARONCINI vs. RYAN CREANE

  1. Creane makes it look easy by taking his opponent down quickly and dispatching him with ground and pound within the first two minutes of the first round

Ryan Creane wins via TKO at 1:43 of round one

PIOTR CHMIELECKI vs. MICHAEL MASON

  1. Early dominance by Mason. Piotr scores a takedown in the last 45 seconds, gets into mount and wins in the last 10 seconds via arm triangle.

Chmielecki wins via submission (arm-triangle choke) at 2:54 of round one

BRADLEY NELSON vs. MATT HUGHES

  1. Matt Hughes comes out aggressive and controls centre. Takes him down up against cage and maintains. Ends round with a half-hearted standing arm triangle attempt.
  2. Nelson counters a botched takedown attempt with a clinical standing guillotine.

Nelson wins via submission (guillotine choke) at 2:06 of round two

PRELIMS

ADAM BUTTERWORTH vs. NICOLAE PIROGAN

Pirogan wins via unanimous decision

PADDY COYLE vs. PRZEMYSTAW BOROWIEC

Boroweic wins via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:23 of round one

HARRISON HILLIER vs. BENJAMIN DRAKE

Hillier wins via unanimous decision

JOEL NAVARRO vs. JACK FLANAGAN

Flanagan wins via unanimous decision

BEN LISTER vs. STANISLAV DALECKIS

Ben Lister via unanimous decision

OLIVER HARRIS vs. VASIL PALESHNIKOV

Oliver Harris via unanimous decision

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