Rise of Champions is back, as the promotion are set to hold their third event on October 15 with a plethora of fun fights. There is an array of talent, all of whom will be looking to showcase their skills. Here’s two amateur and two professional fighters we think you should keep an eye on.
Amateur:
REECE JONES
2-0 amateur Reece Jones made his amateur debut at the first Rise of Champions show, where he dispatched of Craig Arnold in just 61-seconds. In his most recent bout, Jones fought Peyman Padeshah at WFS 5. After three rounds, Jones was awarded with the unanimous decision victory, extending his amateur record to two wins and no losses.
There is very limited footage online of Reece, but his opponent, Jaroslav Kunc can expect a confident, composed, high level striker who is coming to finish. Actually, to my knowledge, there is literally no Reece Jones fight footage on the internet which, I suppose is a good thing for him, and a bad thing for me!
KINGSLEY CRAWFORD
A veteran of eight amateur bouts, Kingsley Crawford is one of the more experienced amateurs. The Englishman holds an amateur record of 6-1-1, and, until his last bout, was riding a three-fight win streak. Of Crawford’s six victories, he’s finished three of them, all by submission.
Despite his experienced amateur record, Crawford is a relative unknown, but you can expect him to come out quickly and use a variety of strikes as well as his wrestling game. The man even wore Reebok UFC Fight shorts in his fight at Fusion FC 20!
Professional:
MIKE EKUNDAYO
‘Ekundayo Airlines’ is back in service! Mike Ekundayo, who is set to make his professional debut at RoC 3, holds an amateur record of 5-0. His last bout, which took place at RoC 2, was a dominant decision victory over Scott Vowles. The Team Titan product has two finishes, both submissions, in his five amateur wins and loves picking opponents up and walking around the cage with them – hence the nickname ‘Ekundayo Airlines’.
With a tonne of talent at Team Titan such as Brad Pickett, Nathaniel Wood and Ashleigh Grimshaw, he’ll be improving every single day. Ekundayo’s weight cut is also going extraordinarily well, and he’s been just kilograms off for quite a while now. With a great team behind him, Ekundayo is going to grow massively on the UK scene and soon enough you can expect to see people begging for a trip on Ekundayo Airlines.
CORRIN EATON
If you don’t know who Corrin Eaton is, you’re probably new to the UK MMA scene. Eaton hasn’t fought since December of 2015 and has largely been off the radar for that time. With a 7-2 professional MMA record, Eaton has an army of fans that turn out time and time again. Kicking off his career with a 5-0 start (all of which were finishes), he finally went to the judges, walking away with a decision over Chase Morton in 2014. Eaton fought four times in 2016, with the fourth being his first professional loss.
CHECK OUT OUR INTERVIEW WITH CORRIN EATON
Having suffered one of the most vicious, head bouncing knockouts you will ever see – via spinning elbow KO in the first round of his bout against Athinodoros Michailidis – the Englishman then faced Stephen Martin, losing by way of submission in the second round. In his most recent bout, Eaton got back to winning ways with a second round submission victory over Jonathan Kouame. the Team Titan fighter will be looking to return with a vengeance after his time off, and make a statement with his first fight (and win) of the year.
Rise of Champions 3 takes place at the The City Pavilion in Romford, on Saturday, October 15.
