Youcef Dahmani reports on a highly eventful UCMMA 46.
It was a night for surprise at the Troxy where fans witnessed an absolute shock result as Josh Collins dethroned heavy favourite ‘Super’ Bill Beaumont for the welterweight championship. In doing so, Beaumont lost both the main event and his previously untarnished 8-0 record.
It was clear that the majority of the spectators were in favour of the champion from the moment he stepped foot into the cage. The roar of the crowd was getting louder every second of the fight but that did not stop the underdog as he controlled the fight for three whole rounds – completing five successful takedowns along the way. At the end it was obvious that Collins would become the new champion and the judges all agreed on the outcome as he was awarded the unanimous decision.
The ‘Born to Fight’ tournament also saw its conclusion as Henry Pulfur dominated Hristo Hristov for three rounds. In doing so, he won the professional contract that was offered to the potential winner back at WCMMA 23 – the tournament’s beginning. Hristov looked second best throughout as he was inferior to Pulfer in every aspect of the fight before losing via unanimous decision.
Crushing
Andy Cunningham continued his metaphorical but also literal giant-killing streak as he toppled the favourite Tomasz Czerwinski with a crushing right-hand to the jaw after only 52 seconds of the first round – flattening the 126 kilogram challenger to his K-1 heavyweight belt.
Edward White-Overton defeated Brendad Sealy for the ‘Vet Title’ after scoring a surprise head-kick KO after 49 seconds. With a combined age of 103 years, the fighters produced a scrappy affair with both content to simply swing at one another before White-Overton’s surprise finish.
In further K-1 action, Jake Sines outclassed Radimitru Dumitru for the welterweight title as the champion was knocked down several times. The referee then gave the count over the sprawled out Romanian who was not able to get up, finishing the fight in one minute 46 seconds by TKO.
Konstadin Enev was close to getting his fight called off after Ashleigh Grimshaw backed out at last minute. Luckily, Dontel Johnson was able to step up to the challenge. However, the fight only lasted one minute and 20 seconds of the first round by way of tap-out, earning Konstadin the title belt.