UCMMA 42 Breakdown: Fight of the Year?

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Adil Sajjad reports on an early contender for fight of the year at UCMMA 42.

The main event of ‘Ultimate Challenge Mixed Martial Arts’ saw undefeated welterweight champion and American Top Team prospect Bill Beaumont up against the always ferocious Jamaine Facey in a fight that (even in early February) is an instant contender for fight of the year honours.

Facey showed his willingness to stand and trade with the champion, at one point in the second round even beckoning to him to be more aggressive, but it was in the final seconds of the third round that ‘Super’ Bill Beaumont dispatched Jamaine ‘Mr Pain’ Facey via guillotine choke.

The fight began with Facey utilising a series of high kicks from different angles whilst on the front foot, in an attempt to set a quick pace that would take advantage of any early rustiness on the part of the champion. However, each series of strikes led to Beaumont being forced back to the cage, where the seemingly inevitable over-under clinch follows. (This is where the two fighters are in a position, collar-to-collar, where they have one arm ‘hooked’ under the armpit of their opponent, looping back up from behind to control the shoulder, and the other reaching over the opponents shoulder before sinking back down under the armpit to achieve a similar control through the contracting of both ‘hooks’.)

The design of this clinch means that both fighters are in a symmetrical position with each other; one arm over and the other under. From this position, rather than attempting to grind down Beaumont’s posture with a series of knees to the thighs or foot stomps before attempting the take down in the later rounds, Facey looked to insert his left foot around his opponent’s right and between his feet while turning his body away from Beaumont so they were both facing the judges table.

From here, Facey looked to perform a hip-toss by placing his hips in front of the champion and attempted to use his ‘hooks’ to carry Beaumont over his side and take the fight to the ground. However, either questionable execution or good defence led to a scramble on the floor from where rather than landing in an advantageous position, Facey soon found himself with his back to Beaumont, who did well to stay active and control the rest of the round from a strong position.

The second round began similarly, with Facey getting the edge in some of the exchanges. In addition, the second round saw the challenger begin to use a large volume of superb leg kicks, emphasising a plan to weaken Beaumont’s base before shooting for a takedown. However, when pushed against the cage, the champion threw quick, sharp knees to the body and thighs to stop him, and when another hip toss attempt from Facey was botched, Beaumont scrambled to achieve an even more advantageous position than in round one.

As the fighters were doubled over after the failed hip-toss, Beaumont fought and achieved a position known as ‘the crucifix’. In this position, the dominant fighter sees his opponent who is typically flat on his back and simply perches his torso on top of the submissive fighter, causing difficulty in breathing. The dominant fighter also controls both arms by the wrists, with one simply held to ground with a hand and the other forced between the ground and the shin or knee of the attacker.

Facey was left in a position resembling a crucifix from where Beaumont was free to rain down haymakers to the head with his free hand. The subsequent events of the round were easy to predict as Beaumont took advantage of this extremely dominant position and unleashed a flurry of hammer fists upon a completely helpless Jamaine Facey for well over 60 seconds. The thunderous response from the crowd echoed throughout the venue as they seemed sure the fight would be stopped. Miraculously, Facey endured the punishment and was eventually saved by the bell, having withstood numerous blows.

The third round will perhaps go down in history as one of the best in the organisation’s history. It began with Facey leading with a variety of kicks, both high and low, though Beaumont was able to hold his own in the exchanges this time. Facey stuck to trying a takedown again but this time resorted to brute force as he closed the distance between them, succeeding in getting both under-hooks against the cage, forcing the champion off his feet and onto his back. From here, Facey slipped through and passed both of Beaumont’s legs to end up in full mount, from where he could both control most of his opponent’s posture and his breathing, as his full weight was being forced down onto the sternum of the champion. This was a similarly dominant position in favour of Facey as he was completely free to rain strikes on an almost equally helpless Beaumont who had to try to urgently improve his position, whilst shielding himself from the flurry of punches being thrown from above. Again, the crowd roared in euphoria as they anticipated a stoppage.

However, Beaumont stayed alert and caught Facey off-guard by bumping his hip upwards to destabilise his opponent, allowing him to try and improve to a less precarious position. Facey saw this and immediately slingshot his body around Beaumont and used the space to take the back of the champion before sinking in a ‘rear naked choke’, to the immediate approval of an exhausted yet still incredibly loud audience.

This is a submission that revolves around impeding the blood flow to the brain via the constriction of arteries on the side of the neck. This is done from behind by bringing the arm over the shoulder and around the front of the neck, so that the elbow’s pit is nestled under the chin of the submissive fighter. From here, the other arm is brought over the shoulder at the end of the choking arm’s wrist which is hooked and then squeezed from the sides until a stoppage or loss of consciousness.

A series of exceptionally tight chokes led to the decibel level of the crowd soaring beyond any point prior in the night. Beaumont was forced to endure one attempt after another as fatigue began to set in for both fighters who were also now struggling to grip as a result of their perspiration. This led to ‘Super’ Bill being able to not only withstand the psychological trauma of consecutive chokes but shoot away from Facey and get back to his feet, causing the cheers of the crowd to finally reach a crescendo before they gathered their collective breath with less than a minute of the round remaining.

As Beaumont and Facey looked to regain their breath and wind down the clock until the end of the round, the crowd also looked to recover for a round four that seemed inevitable. That was until the final seconds of the round, as ‘Super’ Bill Beaumont forced Facey’s head down so his cerebellum was tucked under the champion’s armpit, and used his forearm to crush Facey’s windpipe while forcing down his head to sneak in a guillotine choke of his own. The unpredictability of this caused the visibly fatigued Facey to submit with only a second of the round remaining, to the shock of the crowd.

After the fight, Rising East reached out to ‘Super’ Bill Beaumont about the level of toughness exhibited by his opponent and whether he was at all surprised, to which he responded; “Not at all. I knew Facey was tough and I’ve respected him for years!”

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