Here are the official results for BAMMA 11 which took place last night, Saturday 1st December at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England. Included are a few of my own thoughts as seen from cage-side and some more photography. Apologies for the not so great quality of pictures compared to yesterdays weigh-in and press conference snaps.

MIDDLEWEIGHT BOUT

XAVIER FOUPA POKEM DEF. JACK MARSHMAN VIA SPLIT DECISION 30-27, 28-29, 30-27

Despite his best efforts and fighting on despite being badly cut, Marshman fell to the more experienced Frenchman. Marshman had two good submission attempts during the fight with Pokem somehow surviving what appeared to be a nasty arm-bar along with a triangle accompanied by vicious elbows from the bottom which echoed through the area. Professor X’s take-downs, or Marshman’s lack of take-down defence was key in the fight and should have been unanimous decision if they judges had all scored correctly.

Marshman struggled to defend take-downs throughout the fight

Cyrille 'the snake' Diabate congratulate Professor X after the bout

MIDDLEWEIGHT BOUT

ALEX REID DEF. SAM BOO VIA UNANIMOUS DECISION 28-27 x3

A more than decent showing from Boo, surprising many people with his resilience and attacking prowess. Reid looked…. ok, nothing too impressive but solid. Decision could have gone either way in my opinion. A scrappy but well fought battle which saw both men deducted points for illegal knees to the head of a downed opponent.

BAMMA LONSDALE BRITISH WELTERWEIGHT TITLE BOUT

TOM BREESE DEF. WARREN KEE VIA REAR NAKED CHOKE, RND 1, 3:06

I wouldn’t go as far as to make the pun that it was ‘a breeze’ for Tom Breese but he finished a tricky opponent impressively. Breese landed a nasty illegal knee to Kee’s, well testicles, but Kee was classy in defeat admitting that the better fighter won.

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT BOUT

MAX NUNES DEF. KEVIN THOMPSON VIA KNOCK OUT, RND 1, 1:40

Wham, Bam, thankyou Mam. Nunes dominated from the off and KO’d Thompson with vicious strikes on the ground to increased his record to an impressive 9-0.

BAMMA LONSDALE BRITISH LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE BOUT

STEVIE RAY DEF. DALE HARDIMAN VIA UNANIMOUS DECISION, 30-27

A classy performance from Ray, using all disciplines of MMA to control Hardiman. The ‘Hurricane’ struggled to land anything too significant and in the end was blown away by the Scotsman.

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT BOUT

MARCIN LAZARZ DEF. SAM MENSAH VIA ARMBAR, RND 1, 4:16

With Mensah looking to land big shots, Lazarz got the fight to the ground, and manipulated Mensah into position before sealing victory with a nice swift arm-bar.

BANTAMWEIGHT BOUT

JAMES DOOLAN DEF. SPENCER HEWITT VIA . TRIANGLE, RND 1, 1:42

LIGHTWEIGHT BOUT

JEREMY PETLEY DEF. RICHIE DOWNES VIA UNANIMOUS DECISION, 30-27

Petley moved in and out well, and despite the unanimous decision, was an overall close-ish fight but Petley was often the aggressor and caused more damage to Downes.

LIGHTWEIGHT BOUT

MARC ALLEN DEF. KYLE REDFERN VIA SPLIT DECISION, 30-27, 28-29, 28-29

An odd decision. I had Redfern winning as did a number of the press sat around me. A good battle between the two but in my opinion a miserable decision cost Redfern the win.

FEATHERWEIGHT BOUT

ANDREW FISHER DEF. ANDY GREEN VIA REFEREE STOPPAGE, RND 1, 2:26

Easily the most dominant performance of the night. Fisher didn’t give Green a chance to get going and the fight was over as quickly as it started.

MIDDLEWEIGHT BOUT

YANNICK BAHATI DEF. BEN CONSTANTINE VIA SPLIT DECISION, 29-28,30-27,30-27

Yet another close and very competitve fight. Constantine did well to close the distance and eradicate Bahati’s reach advantage. Back and forth striking throughout but the heavier shots landed by Bahati gave him the decision.

WELTERWEIGHT BOUT

LEON EDWARDS DEF. JONNY BILTON VIA REFEREE STOPPAGE, RND 2, 3:49

Cheered on to victory by a big home following, Edwards sharp and extravagant striking eventually took its toll on his opponent.

BANTAMWEIGHT BOUT

DAWID FARYCKI DEF. BRYAN CREIGHTON VIA REFEREE STOPPAGE ((STRIKES IN MOUNT), RND 2, 4:25

Very impressed with Farycki. Looking at the two fighters at the weigh-ins I had written him off but didn’t allow the Liverpudlian to impose his kick-boxing at all. Passed to mount with ease on numerous occasions and some nasty strikes to finish that bloodied his opponent.

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT BOUT

MIKE NEUN DEF. THOMAS DENHAM VIA REFEREE STOPPAGE (ELBOWS ON THE GROUND), RND 3, 3:58

Never would have thought that this fight would have this outcome after the first round. Denham come out firing and rocked Neun before punishing him on the ground with some heavy ground and pound. Denham tired slightly in the second and Neun used his reached to effectively slow Denham down with some nice leg kicks which visibly hurt Denham. A similar pattern in the third with Denham going down and unable to defend himself once pinned against the cage with Neun hammered down punch after punch.

All images were taken by myself.