BAMMA 21, this Saturday at the Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham, has seemingly flown under the radar in the ever-busy world of mixed martial arts.
With numerous injuries, fallouts, and the return of Rob “C4” Sinclair, one major story has gone unnoticed; and that is the potential crowning of Andy DeVent (12-9) as the promotion’s new golden boy man.
“The Lion’s Paw” steps up to the main event at BAMMA 21 against a bona fide monster in Cheick Kone (11-3). The Frenchman is riding a four fight win streak, personified by his 23 second TKO over Chris Fields back at BAMMA 18.
Kone is one scary man, prior to his destruction of Fields, no one really knew what to expect from his BAMMA debut, it was evident Fields was brought in to be a front runner for the promotion, but in less time than it took Kone to enter the cage, that prospect was shattered.
In an evidently weak division, who do you match-up against arguably the scariest middleweight in Europe? Your British champion, Andy DeVent.
Despite celebrating his 37th birthday on the day he was scheduled to face Conor Cooke for the Lonsdale title, DeVent has time again shown that his age isn’t a factor, none more proven than his championship win over Cooke at BAMMA 19 in Blackpool.
He was the biggest star on that show; and I mean that in the most respectful way. The crowd flocked for him against his Northern Irish counterpart, he had the story, the long climb to the top, a dream realised.
That’s the kind of fighter you should build a promotion around. He has one loss in seven fights; against former Lonsdale champion Harry McLeman, but a part from that has looked exceptional inside the cage. All six of those wins have come by finish, and DeVent has shown good charisma to back up his performances.
Maybe the Atherton Submission Wrestling (ASW) fighter should have defended his belt a few times before moving up the ladder, but realistically, in such a dense division, what’s the point?
It’s champion vs. champion; I wish BAMMA promoted that a bit more, and DeVent now has the opportunity to become the promotion’s first divisional double champion. There’s no doubt he enters the cage the ultimate underdog on Saturday night, but alongside that he brings the opportunity to give BAMMA 2.0 it’s first true star.
There are tonnes of talented fighters on the roster, guys like Ed Arthur, Regis Sudgen, and ASW team-mate Marc Diakiese, but at the same time these are guys with a huge amount of potential still left to uncover.
DeVent is ‘right here, right now’, there is no question he is in the prime of his career, he’s fighting better than he’s ever fought.
He is the feel good story that I honestly believe BAMMA need right now, especially in this period of re-growth. A solidified champion, who has put the promotion’s needs ahead of alternate aspirations.
At first I questioned the matchmaking which put the middleweight world title fight ahead of the heavyweight; because I’m traditional like that, the biggest weight-class should close the show.
However, I realised that in all honesty, the line up made sense. DeVent is without a doubt one of the biggest names on the show, he’s rumoured to be brining a huge crowd from Manchester, and the stars look like they can align for him.
Kone is a tough test, but far from insurmountable, and a win for DeVent not only puts him in the history books, it also gives the promotion a proud name to promote as ‘the brand’.
Brits love a good underdog story, and Andrew P. Devent’s rise to the world title is exactly that.
