Macto championships hosts its first show on Saturday at the MK: Arena, Milton Keynes, with Nick Osipczak returning from five years away from the cage against Kyle Redfearn.
Headed up by bosses from Fight Management and Too Much Talent, the promotion will hope to blossom at a time when Cage Warriors’ demise leaves the scene in flux.
It’s a fitting scene for Osipczak, a dangerous Muay Thai fighter, to come back after travelling around Australia and Asia learning tai chi.
The welterweight went 1-3 in the UFC and made his name on TUF: United Kingdom versus United States.
In the opposite corner, though, Redfearn throws hard combinations, is well-conditioned, and boasts wins over Leeroy Barnes and David Round.
Expect Redfearn to stand and bang but Osipczak reckons he is a new breed of fighter today, so the pick is for “Slick” Nick to win potentially by submission.
The co-main event features Alex Montagnani hoping to cause 170lbs fireworks against Round.
The 27-year-old from London sets up his takedowns well and given his 2014 knockout over Tim Menzies, he packs some power too. Meanwhile Charlie Simmons and Sunny Sandhu meet in the same division.
Dean Amasinger, the middleweight and one of Britain’s brightest coaches, comes back after three years out against Dan Vinni, with Denniston Sutherland fighting Avi Jack at 185lbs too.
Elsewhere heavyweight Oli Thompson, 35, will look to bounce back from three defeats in four against Kamil Bazelak. Two other big men throw down in Michael Piszczek and Dante Hawkins.
There’s also plenty of noise about women’s strawweight Ffion Davies, whose striking has come on leaps and bounds with her judo too. She aims to win her pro debut facing Samantha Jean-Francois.
The professional card is rounded off by flyweights Sam Creasy and Mark Sainci, plus a K1 198lbs scrap between Fraser Opie and Louis King.
By Alistair Hendrie
