Mansour Barnaoui, the BAMMA lightweight champion has ended his silence over his future and called for a title defence against Andre Winner at BAMMA 21 in Birmingham.
Winner was victorious over Colin “Freakshow” Fletcher at BAMMA 20, scoring a unanimous decision win to a close fought contest. It was Winner’s ability to control Fletcher on the ground which ultimately handed him the decision.
Post-fight Winner called for a shot at the lightweight championship, but ranked a rematch against Rob “C4” Sinclair as his number one priority as he looks to avenge his split decision loss to the Burnley fighter back at BAMMA 10 in 2012.
Unfortunately, with Sinclair under contract with Bellator that fight is up in the air for the time being, but Winner seems like he will be conpesanted for that with a potential title fight against Barnaoui at BAMMA 21 on June 13.
Mansour Barnaoui took to Twitter and wrote:
@BAMMA @AndreWinner @EFNSports Mansour Barnaoui vs andre winner makes sense now so let’s do it! 13th June I am in!
— Mansour barnaoui (@92_mansour) April 26, 2015
Barnaoui hasn’t fought since BAMMA 14, December 2013, where he defeated Fletcher via rear-naked-choke. Since then, a rematch was scheduled between the pair but an injury to the Frenchman put the fight on the shelf.
That alongside rumoured contract disputes are behind the 22 year-old’s lengthy absence and it’s extremely interesting to see that he has put himself back in the media spotlight now that “Freakshow” seems to be out of title contention.
With two world title fights already announced for Birmingham it is unsure whether BAMMA will add a third, however Barnaoui vs. Winner is a huge marquee fight that BAMMA may look to bank later in the year.
Update: It has just been confirmed that Winner is unavailable to fight June 13, due to fighting Charlie Leary at Phoenix Fight Night 26 in a K-1 bout.
Barnaoui will be returning to action May 2 on M-1 Challenge 57 in Orenburg, Russia against Maxin Divnich.
