It has emerged this evening that reigning BAMMA middleweight champion Yannick Bahati will take on Mike Shipman at the top European promotion’s return to London this September.
BAMMA 31; also known as BAMMA London, takes place at The SSE Arena, Wembley on September 15. The middleweight title fight has been confirmed to MMA Plus by BAMMA.
Bahati (8-1-1) will make the first defence of the title he won in May at BAMMA 29. Coincidentally, the fighter he defeated to win the gold, was his BAMMA 31 opponent’s teammate, Matt Hallam. Bahati won via rear naked choke submission.
That victory saw the UTC Birmingham trained athlete extend his unbeaten run that stretches back to May 2015 and saw him become a multi-promotion champion after adding the BAMMA belt to the Extreme Fighting Championship middleweight title.
But before the fighter nicknamed “Black Mamba” enters the BAMMA cage he will first defend his EFC title against the South African promotions welterweight champion Dricus Du Plessis in a champion versus champion encounter at EFC 62 next month.
After losing his professional debut against Aaron Brett at UCMMA 34, Shipman (10-1) enter the bout off the back of an impressive 10-fight, 3-year unbeaten run.
During this win streak, the man nicknamed “Sea Bass” has earned a reputation as one of the hottest prospects on the domestic scene after earning six KO’s and four submissions with eight of those wins coming inside the opening round.
The card also features a main event which sees top welterweights Nathan Jones will face off against his arch-nemesis Alex Lohore in a grudge match for the ages.
Updated BAMMA 31 Fight Card
BAMMA Welterweight title: Nathan Jones vs. Alex Lohore
BAMMA featherweight title: Damien Lapilus vs. Daniel Crawford
BAMMA middleweight title: Yannick Bahati vs. Mike Shipman
