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James Lewis steps in to face Ashley Reece at ACB 54: Supersonic

Ashley Reece has a new opponent at next month’s ACB 54: Supersonic show in Manchester.

Originally set to face Mark Glover in a welterweight clash, Reece now faces James Lewis, confirmed by the promotion’s Twitter account yesterday afternoon.

No reason was given for Glover’s withdrawal.

Ashley Reece a credible opponent for James Lewis

Bolton’s Reece (4-0) steps into the cage for the first time in 2017, in what will be his highest profile fight to date. An unbeaten amateur fighter, he turned professional in November 2015, when he made the first of four appearances for Manchester promotion Full Contact Contender. Reece carried a fair amount of hype into his debut, and three wins by stoppage have done nothing to derail this.

His original opponent, Mark Glover (6-2-1), was set to be a difficult task for Reece. Liverpool’s Glover holds a notable victory over Aaron Wilkinson and was a cast member on season 15 of The Ultimate Fighter, albeit losing his elimination fight to John Cofer. This was set to be Glover’s first fight since a 2013 defeat at the hands of Lew Long at Cage Warriors 54.

In steps Warrington’s James Lewis (5-3), who may lack the big named opponents that Glover has on his resume, but does not lack for toughness. Lewis brings fireworks to the cage, as he is yet to see the judges’ scorecards in his eight fight career to date. He last fought on the undercard of Cage Warriors 78, losing a rematch against Dez Parker.

ACB 54: Supersonic is set to take place on March 11, at the Manchester Arena.

Big names, big controversy for ACB 54

Next month’s ACB card is not short of big name fighters, but the event comes with a healthy helping of controversy.

Two of Europe’s top Middleweights combine in the main event, as ACB Middleweight Champion Mamed Khalidov faces Luke Barnatt.

https://twitter.com/LukeBarnatt/status/829015200699449345

Elsewhere, Manchester’s own Saul Rodgers faces UFC and Strikeforce veteran Pat Healy, Jiu-Jitsu ace Vinny Magalhaes faces Przemysław Mysiala, and two English lightweights combine in a rematch, as Brendan Loughnane takes on Mike Wilkinson.

However, the UK’s top referees will not be officiating at the event, due to controversial scenes taking place at ACB 52 in Austria. ACB promoter Mairbek Khasiev overturned the results of two fights at the event in controversial circumstances. As a result, leading British referees and judges, including Marc Goddard and Leon Roberts to release the following statement:

“Since ACB’s decision to overturn the results in their Vienna ACB 52 event between Patrick Kincl vs. Arbi Agujev and Joao Luis Nogueira vs Shamil Nikaev; the listed officials will be stepping down from working the planned ACB 54 event in Manchester on March 11th.

“Without any sign of judge corruption or incompetence, as a group of officials we feel it is a hugely dangerous and unprecedented step to change a unanimously agreed decision after the event. Also, in the main event, referee Neil Hall called a stop to the contest declaring Patrick Kincl the winner via TKO. Mr Hall made his assessment that Agujev was no longer intelligently defending himself in mount, and stopped the bout in the interest of fighter safety. This result was also later overturned to a no contest by the promotion.

“In the interest of supporting the Unified Rules of MMA and respecting the performing athletes, all the British staff listed above feel that officiating positions within the ACB organisation have become untenable.”

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