A spectacular come from behind knockout by Ryan Dennis capped an exhilarating night of fighting at Contenders 25 in Norwich.
Featherweight prospect Dennis, from Wisbech’s Avaddon MMA, moved to 2-0 as a pro with his jaw-dropping first round win against Baruc Martin in the main event at Epic Studios.
Martin, of BMB Norwich, had been very much in the ascendancy, discombobulating Dennis with a hands down, agggressive striking approach and forcing a takedown attempt from his foe, which saw the world-class Norfolk grappler get to work on the ground.
But, after surviving multiple bad positions and choke attempts, Dennis fought his way back to his feet and, as Martin raced in to further his advantage, he landed a nuclear right hand on the Norwich man’s chin, dropping him heavily to the canvas and forcing ref Dan Movahedi to step in.
It was a thrilling end to a fascinating fight, and a large group of Dennis fans celebrated their man’s victory wildly, capping a great night of action.
In the co-main event, Great Yarmouth’s Modestas Andrijauskas, of Team Nogueira, started his climb back to the 66kg K1 belt he lost to Ben Wooliss earlier this year with a one-sided one round demolition of late replacement Linas Meistavicius.
The Muay Thai stylist pulverised his foe’s legs with brutal kicks, making Meistavicius quit after taking a couple of counts.
And in the other fight on the main card, London Shootfighters star in the making Felix Klinkhammer enhanced his burgeoning fearsome reputation with a 30 second submission of the night showing against Ipswich’s Stephan Gheorghe.
Klinkhammer sunk in a tight heel hook in double quick time, eliciting a pained tap from Gheorghe to prevent serious knee injury. Weltwerweight Klinkhammer is now 2-0 as a pro and, together with his 4-0 amateur career, has stopped every single one of his opponents in the first round.
Elsewhere on the card, the fight of the night saw giant Norwich heavyweight Jakub Adamski recover from being dropped in the first round of his boxing clash with Carter Jay to stop his man in the second stanza with thunderous hooks to the body.
Adamski’s team-mates from Norwich’s Elite Gym also impressed. Aaron Rolfe showed great head movement and slick skills on his way to a points win in his 75kg boxing bout with Mikey Brown.
And Reece Ward, who stepped up for a bantamweight MMA clash with the talented Phil Taylor of EAMMA on a day’s notice, gave his opponent all he could handle before being forced to retire with a rib injury at the end of the second round.
Contenders 25 results
Mauricio Semedo beat Jamie Gilson by UD (54kg K1)
Aaron Rolfe beat Mikey Brown by UD (75kg boxing)
Alex Andrews beat Morgan Hutcheon by KO in the first round (65kg K1)
Phil Taylor beat Reece Ward by third round TKO (bantamweight MMA)
Deividas Jasmas beat Rafa Giersberg by UD (catchweight MMA)
Jakub Adamski beat Carter Jay by second round TKO (110kg boxing)
Nathan Edwards beat Dom Barnard by UD (70kg boxing)
Felix Klinkhammer beat Stephan Gheorghe by heel hook submission in the first round (pro weltwerweight MMA)
Modestas Andrijauskas beat Linas Meistavicius by KO in the first round (pro 66kg K1)
Ryan Dennis beat Baruc Martin by KO in the first round (pro featherweight MMA)
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