Brett McDermott rolled back the years at BAMMA 29 to defeat Germany’s Ruben Wolf for the vacant BAMMA world heavyweight title.
In a night featuring four championship fights, BAMMA 29 took place on Friday, May 12, at the Genting Arena in Birmingham, England. The event also marked the start of BAMMA’S new broadcasting deal with UKTV channel Dave.
In the main event, grizzled veteran McDermott looked strong from the off as he appeared much lighter on his feet and held a significant speed advantage over his opponent. A stiff left jab caused damage to the right eye of Wolf as “The Spartan” continued to chip away at his younger opponent with leg kicks. Keeping Wolf on the backfoot, McDermott landed flurries against the cage however a stunning strike from Wolf towards the end of the first round insured McDermott would stay on his toes.
As the doctor checked the eye of the German between rounds, the end certainly felt close and shortly after the restart, McDermott would land a blistering right hand which dropped his opponent straight onto his back. Following up with an onslaught of strikes, Wolf returned to his feet but referee Marc Goddard was forced to stop the fight.
The 39-year old bounced back from a defeat to Liam McGeary back in February to capture the heavyweight strap. He hinted he may have a few fights left now that he is the titleholder and despite his age still feels hungry enough to compete.
As well as McDermott, Bahati captures vacant BAMMA title
In a fast paced and action packed co-main event for the vacant middleweight strap, Yannick Bahati defeated Matt Hallam with a rear naked choke submission in the second round, in a repeat of their Fight UK 8 bout in 2012.
Hallam came out in the first round and played the part of the aggressor in the opening minutes. Pushing the pace and landing some clean shots, Hallam seemed to have everything going to plan until Bahati adjusted and got himself back into the fight. Countering Hallam more often with his one-two combinations, Bahati would look much improved by the end of round one.
The end came in the second stanza as Hallam (6-3) began getting caught by the speed of his opponent. Bahati (8-2) would get the fight to the ground and secured a rear-naked-choke in a finish which mirrored that of their first fight.
Following the fight, the now-EFC and BAMMA middleweight champion would call out Scott Askham, who was recently released by the UFC, and also put Michael Bisping on notice stating it was his intention to become UFC middleweight champion.
Barnett retains Lonsdale Lightweight title with nasty KO win
Defending his Lonsdale lightweight title for the first time, Tim Barnett (5-0) did not get off to the best of starts against Mario Saeed (9-4) as “Rudeboy” imposed his will over the Liverpudlian for the opening couple of minutes, attempting several single leg takedowns, before eventually taking the champ to the ground. The challenger would use his wrestling game to keep the champion on the bottom however Barnett would scramble and end up on top.
From there, the unbeaten Barnett would posture up and land some devastating strikes leaving his opponent out cold for the first round KO victory to retain his belt.
Also on the card was the professional MMA debut of reality television show, Geordie Shore’s, Aaron Chalmers as he shocked many of his critics with an impressive submission win over fellow rookie Gavin Jenkins.
Chalmers (1-0), known as The Joker, certainly wasn’t playing around as he came flying out the traps and caught Jenkins (0-1) with a heavy left hand, leaving his opponent stunned. The reality TV star would show a surprising level of technical nous as he fixed on an Americana submission for the first round victory.
Earlier in the evening, Terry Brazier (8-1) would score a huge upset victory over Walter Gahadza (16-2) to win the vacant Lonsdale welterweight title in a frantic clash which was a particular highlight of the preliminary card and a fight of the night candidate. With Gahadza looking good value for the win in the early stages, he landed a massive right hand that left Brazier out on his feet.
Brazier would struggle to recover as Gahadza continued to wobble him with accurate punches. The pendulum would swing, as after displaying a chin of granite, Brazier would battle his way back into the fight and would stun his opponant with a powerful counter shot. “The Dominator” would drag the helpless Gahadza to the ground towards the end of round one before locking on the rarely seen bulldog choke to take the strap via submission.
BAMMA 29 Results
BAMMA World Heavyweight Championship: Brett McDermott def. Ruben Wolf via TKO (punches) (0:54 – Round 2)
BAMMA World Middleweight Championship: Yannick Bahati def. Matt Hallam via submission (Rear-naked choke) (2:19 – Round 2)
Lonsdale Lightweight Title: Tim Barnett (c) def. Mario Saeed via KO (punches) (3:34 – Round 1)
Lightweight Bout: Aaron Chalmers def. Greg Jenkins via submission (Americana) (2:09 – Round 1)
Lonsdale Welterweight Title: Terry Brazier def. Walter Gahadza via submission (Bulldog Choke) (4:28 – Round 1)
Bantamweight Bout: Shay Walsh def. Aaron Blackwell via Decision (Unanimous) (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Lightweight bout: Jai Herbert def. Rick Selvarajah via TKO (punches) (0:37 – Round 2)
Featherweight Bout: Daniel Crawford def. Ronnie Mann via TKO (punches) (3:28 – Round 1)
Featherweight Bout: Daniel Rutkowski def. Cameron Hardy via TKO (punches) (2:13 – Round 2)
Middleweight Bout: Nathius Frederick def. Pelu Adetola via TKO (punches) (2:32 – Round 2)
Welterweight Bout: Daniel Olejniczak vs. Daniel ‘Pork Chop’ Cassell declared Majority Draw (20-18, 19-19, 19-19) after 5:00 of Round 2 due to accidental eyepoke
73kgs Catchweight: David Khalsa def. Cian Cowley via submission (Rear-naked-choke) (2:40 – Round 1)
Flyweight Bout: Sam ‘Hurricane’ Halliday def. Mike D’aguiar via submission (Triangle Choke) (1:28 – Round 1)
Welterweight Bout: Lukasz ‘Swiry’ Swirydowicz def. Mick Stanton via TKO (elbows) (0:09 – Round 2)
