Adil Sajjid reports from a terrific battle…
‘Super’ Billy Beaumont needed a truly superhuman performance in order to record a victory in the last second of the third round against a fired up Jamaine Facey, who threatened to end the fight on three separate occasions. Beaumont retained his welterweight championship and improved his record to 6-0.
In what was certainly the fight of the night on a fantastic card, and early contender for fight of the year, Beaumont thwarted Facey in front of a thunderous crowd via guillotine choke in the dying embers of the same round that he himself was almost submitted – by a trio of rear-naked choke attempts. The crowd was on their feet throughout as each attempt looked closer to forcing a tap than the last as Facey was perched on Beaumont’s back, but he somehow endured before shooting to his feet and eventually sneaking in his own submission.
The red-hot third round came on the heels of a first and second round that could arguably have been traded evenly in the eyes of the judges, as Facey’s initial aggression in the first and Beaumont’s dominance in the second left the fight with a sense of opportunity heading into round three.
Following the celebrations that took place post-fight, promoter Dave O’Donnell picked up the microphone to ask Beaumont how he sat through three vicious choke attempts, to which Beaumont replied, “I told you before, this (the belt) is in my heart, I will not tap. I’d rather be put to sleep than tap!”
The co-main event saw counter-striking extraordinaire and middleweight UK-1 champion Luke Sines hold off the perennial forward movement of Scotsman Marc Navarro, as the champion did well to weather the early storm of Navarro and slowly break down his opponent over three rounds. The judges awarded Sines a decision of 29-28, in doing so Sines improved his record to 28-2.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu wizard Luiz Tosta also retained his bantamweight championship in the first round, as he tied up an expert triangle choke on a tricky opponent in Veselin Ivanov. The challenger tried to take advantage of his relative freshness by using his power to lift the Brazilian off his back when he was trying to lock in the choke, and thunderously slamming him onto the canvas not once – but twice, triggering gasps from the crowd. However, Tosta held on to win the struggle and the fight on the night.