Category: UIC

UFC 278 preview

Salt Lake City plays host to UFC 278 on Saturday night, as Kamaru Usman looks to defend his welterweight title against Leon Edwards in a rematch that has taken seven years to come around.


By Kieran Cobley

Salt Lake City plays host to UFC 278 on Saturday night, as Kamaru Usman looks to defend his welterweight title against Leon Edwards in a rematch that has taken seven years to come around.

Usman comes into the bout on a 19 fight win streak and is in the process of lapping the 170lbs division, having already had rematches with Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington, with his main event bout with Edwards being his third rematch in as many years.

For Edwards, UFC 278 sees his long wait for a title fight end after the Birmingham based fighter went through hell and high water to get his shot, racking up a nine fight win streak (not including his no contest with Belal Muhammed) and being taken out of the rankings for his refusal to fight a then un-ranked, Khamzat Chimaev.

The two last squared off in 2015, but both men have evolved since, and you can take a more in-depth preview of their upcoming bout here.

In the co-main event, Paulo Costa will look to show the UFC were right to let him return to the middleweight division after the fiasco with Marvin Vettori as the Brazilian takes on former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold.

Costa’s shenanigans with his last fight, where he notified the UFC that he wouldn’t be attempting to make 185lbs or the then agreed 195lbs, forced the fight into a light heavyweight bout, were highly unprofessional and were rightly criticised by fans and media alike. Now Costa needs to show that he can make 185lbs and keep his name in the division; otherwise, another forced move to 205lbs could be on the cards.

Meanwhile, Rockhold will try to show that he can still beat top quality opponents despite a weakened chin. The former middleweight champion has lost three of his last four bouts by knockout, showing he is susceptible to a heavy punch.

In what could be a title eliminator for the bantamweight division, Merab Dvalishvili squares off with Jose Aldo, the former featherweight king of the UFC.

Dvalishvili is currently riding a five fight winning streak, utilising his heavy wrestling offence to grind out wins over his opponents by sapping their gas tanks. Nowhere is this better illustrated than by his record of 13 takedowns in a fight when he beat Gustavo Lopez back in 2020.

Aldo has looked impressive since moving to 135lbs, and his notorious leg kicks still give his opponents problems to deal with. “The King of Rio” is known for his knockout ability with 16 wins by KO/TKO, and that would look to be his best chance at winning on Saturday, especially if he can avoid hitting the mat with “The Machine.”

Further down the card, Miranda “The” Maverick is in action as she takes on Shanna Young in a flyweight contest to open the ESPN+ prelims. In contrast, Marcin Tybura takes on Alexander Romanov in a heavyweight bout in the evening’s featured prelim.

The action gets underway from 11pm on UfC Fight Pass, with the main card kicking off at 3am.

Fight Card

Main Card

Kamaru Usman vs Leon Edwards – welterweight title fight

Paulo Costa vs Luke Rockhold – middleweight bout

Jose Aldo vs Merab Dvalishvil – bantamweight bout

Wu Yunan vs Lucie Pudilova – women’s bantamweight bout

Tyson Pedro vs Harry Hunsucker – light heavyweight bout

Preliminary Card

Marcin Tybura vs Alexander Romanov – heavyweight bout

Leonardo Santos vs Jared Gordon – lightweight bout

Sean Woodson vs Luis Suldana – featherweight bout

Miranda Maverick vs Shanna Young – women’s flyweight bout

A.J. Fletcher vs Ange Loosa – welterweight bout

Amir Albazi vs Francisco Figueiredo – flyweight bout

Aori Qilieng vs Jay Perrin – bantamweight bout

Daniel Lacerda vs Victor Altamirano – flywweight bout

Usman vs Edwards II: Repeat or revenge?

UFC 278 takes place this Saturday, August 20th, in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is headlined by the long awaited rematch between current welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (20-1, 9 KO, 1 Sub) and top contender Leon Edwards (19-3, 6 KO, 3 Sub, 1 NC).


By Kieran Cobley

UFC 278 takes place this Saturday, August 20th,in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is headlined by the long awaited rematch between current welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (20-1, 9 KO, 1 Sub) and top contender Leon Edwards (19-3, 6 KO, 3 Sub, 1 NC).

“The pair first met in 2015, with “The Nigerian Nightmare” scoring a unanimous decision win over Birmingham native Edwards.

But seven years have passed since then, and both men have evolved during that time.

Usman’s reputation of being “boring” fighter who merely goes for decision wins has been shattered, with the TUF 21 winner utilising his wrestling background to take fighters to the mat and keep them there. That was how Usman successfully navigated his first bout with Edwards, securing six takedowns on his way to getting the nod from the judges.

That Usman is long gone. The Usman of 2022 is regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, a fighter who can slam you, tie you in a tight clinch, or simply beat the brakes off you with his new found love of striking.

In three of his last five fights, Usman has scored knockout victories over the man opposite him in the Octagon, with those men being very notable: former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, former interim welterweight champion Colby Covington, and last but not least, the BMF of the UFC, Jorge Masvidal.

This ferocity in striking, brought on from working with Trever Wittman in fight camp while training in Sanford MMA in Florida for the rest of the year, has made Usman lethal. Stepping into his boxing range is like putting your head in the mouth of a lion; nothing good can come of it.

Psychologically, Usman will feel good coming into this bout after seeing his brother, Mohammed, win the TUF Heavyweight final two weeks ago and coming into this fight on a run of 19 consecutive wins.

Edwards’ rise to the top of the welterweight division is nothing to sneer at. Since losing to Usman, the Team Renegade talisman has won nine bouts, with a no contest with Belal Muhammed in the mix too.

While Usman was regarded as being boring due to his heavy wrestling style, fans were equally unimpressed with Edwards, seeing him as a point fighter who lacked finishing ability in a division full of fighters who could get the win within the distance.

It was perhaps this fan resentment that caused Edwards to have to wait for so long for his shot; after all, he did have a more legitimate shout for a title fight than Covington or Masvidal did, with the pair getting rematches not long after being soundly beaten by Usman. At the same time, Edwards was forced to consistently hold onto his position at the top of the rankings.

There was also the issue of Edwards being removed from the rankings for not accepting a fight with the then un-ranked Khamzat Chimaev, instead opting to wait it out for either a title shot or a fight with a notable ranked contender, for instance, Nate Diaz, who Edwards beat easily.

That has to be put to the back of Edwards’ head now, and he needs to focus on Usman, a new Usman, a more dangerous Usman. If Edwards underestimates Usman and still believes him to be the same fighter he was in their first meeting, he will be in deep trouble.

There is no obvious way for Edwards to win this fight; slipping in an out of range against Usman is an impossible task given the man’s abilities and movement skills.

The bookies are certainly in favour of Usman in this fight, making him a heavy favourite with odds of ¼ to win and 11/5 to win by either submission or KO.

However, miracles can happen in MMA; Derrick Lewis’ come from behind KO against Aleksander Volkov, Matt Serra’s underdog win against George Saint-Pierre, and JuliannPena’s KO win against the double champ, Amanda Nunes.

A win for Edwards would undoubtedly be one of the most significant underdogs wins ever, but this is one hell of an uphill battle.

Ultimate Impact Championship 17 – Full Results


Ultimate Impact Championship returned for their seventeenth event at GL1 Leisure Centre in Gloucester on Saturday, July 2, to a very warm and welcome crowd.

With a fightcard boasting of 11 MMA bouts and 1 K1 bout the night promised to deliver and that it did.

uic 17 main poster

Full Results

PRO

Jamie Sexton   DEF  Chris Astley via KO :29 seconds round 1

Richard Williams   DEF Brett Hassett  via Standing D’arce Choke  3:38 round 1

Amateur

Craig Rawlins  DEF  Michael Corston via Unanimous Decision

Bradley Wills  DEF  Josh Ozanne  via Armbar  2:39 round 3

Ben Hughes DEF  Toddy Porter via KO  1:10 round 1

Peter Robson DEF  Matt Page via RNC  2:27 round 1

Callum Gilbert DEF  James Price via Unanimous Decision

Jo Doyle DEF  Michelle Nash via Unanimous Decision

Tony Mills DEF   Damien Friker  via  TKO :40 seconds round 1

Jack Eglin DEF  Shea Evans via Unanimous Decision

Novice Exhibition bouts (2 x 3 mins)

Ryan Mayes DEF  Tom Godber  via Unanimous Decision

Oban Eliot DEF  Nat Pohl  via Unanimous Decision

 

Results courtesy of South West Media

 

Ultimate Impact Championship 17 returns Saturday July 2nd at GL1 Leisure Centre, Gloucester


Ultimate Impact Championships returns for their seventeenth event held at GL1 Leisure Centre in Gloucester this Saturday, July 2, with what promises to be another fantastic event for the local based promotion.

UIC 17

With a fightcard boasting of 11 MMA bouts and 1 K1 bout the night promises to be non stop action from the first bout.

Headlining the event will be Jamie Sexton who faces Chris Astley and the co-main event is Brett Hassett who faces Richard Williams.

Also on the amateur portion of the card will be Swindon’s Craig Rawlins who faces Michael Corston.

Here is the fightcard as it stands.

uic 17 main poster

Pro

Jamie Sexton v Chris Astley 80kg

Brett Hassett v Richard Williams 70kg

Amateur

Michael Corston v Craig Rawlins 77kg

Bradley Wills v Josh Ozanne 77kg

Ben Hughes v Toddy Porter 75kg K1 Ammy (10oz glove and Shiguards)

Peter Robson v Matt Page 84kg

James Price v Callum Gilbert 74kg

Michelle Nash v Jo Doyle 66kg

Damien Friker v Tony Mills 70kg

Jack Eglin v Shea Evans 59kg Ammy (Shinguards)

Undercard Novice Exhibition fights (2 x 3min rounds)

Tom Godber v Ryan Mayes 62kg (2 round Exhibition, Shinguards)

Nat Pohl v Oban Elliot 70kg (2 round exhibition, Shinguards)

 

Tickets are available online:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ultimate-impact-17-tickets-18405012889?aff=erelexpmlt

Standard Ticket – £25.00 + booking fee

Cageside VIP Ticket – £35.00 + booking fee

VIP Table Seat – £45.00 + booking fee

VIP Table 8 – £360 + booking fee

Tickets available on the door:

Doors Open 4.30pm first bout 5.30pm

Where: GL1 Leisure Centre – Bruton Way, Gloucester, GL1 1DT

 

 

UIC 16: A knockout night and two new champions with full results 14th November 2015


Ultimate Impact Championship held their sixteenth event on Saturday, November 14th at GL1 Leisure Centre in Gloucester, for which also happened to be their 5th year anniversary as one of the South West’s leading Premier Promotions.

'Iron' Piotr Ptasinski New UIC 16 Middleweight K1 Champion
‘Iron’ Piotr Ptasinski New UIC 16 Middleweight K1 Champion

As well as having two Title fights for their main and co-main events, the rest of the card was nothing to be sniffed at quietly either with three exhibition fights, in which everyone was making their debut and one of those was a 0.23 second KO. I can easily say Dwight Edmonson has a very bright future in this ever evolving sport if that exhibition fight was anything to go by.

Whilst holding it down in the amateurs we were entertained to three exciting mma fights for which all went the distance, just proving that each and everyone that competed were evenly matched and fought damn hard, not forgetting the only amateur K1 fight which pitted 17-year-old Mason Carter against 22-year-old Josh Bishop.

Moving on to the PRO card and we got to see the current UIC female K1 title holder, Laura Handy compete in her 3rd MMA bout which was using semi-pro rules (No Elbows).  I for one can tell you that Laura will be one to watch out for in the female flyweight division, especially having witnessed first hand how much of a ‘beast’ she is with her rear naked choke.  Natalie Bee was no push over and tried to defend Laura’s RNC for a good 60 seconds before finally giving in and tapping.

Before we reached the two title fights we were in for a PRO lightweight treat between Aaron Khalid and former UIC lightweight champion Wayne Drake. From the outset you knew this was going to be a battle of whose submission game is the best and with a very evenly scored first round from both guys it was Aaron Khalid who came out in the second round with slick rear naked choke that made a very worthy opponent in Wayne Drake tap at the 1 minute 18 second mark.

First up for one of two title fights was the current UIC MMA Middleweight Champion Craig White competing against former Cage Warriors athlete ‘Iron’ Piotr Ptasinski in a PRO K1 title fight.  Kudos to Craig White coming out to ‘The Lion King – Just can’t wait to be king’ and having an excellent choice in his perfectly pedicured painted toe nails ;).  As expected we got to witness some  ‘beautiful violence’ in true K1 fashion with both athletes having their own fair share of the non stop action for the full five rounds.  It was, however, to be ‘Iron’ Piotr Ptasinski’s night as he was crowned the new UIC Middleweight K1 Champion via Unanimous Decision.

Jordan Miller New UIC 16 Lightweight Champion
Jordan Miller New UIC 16 Lightweight Champion

The final fight was now upon us and it was time for current UIC lightweight champion Marc Allen to defend his title against UK MMA veteran in that of submission expert Jordan Miller.

The round starts fierce with both guys aiming with high kicks until Allen goes in for a single leg takedown on Miller against the cage where the action stays for a while as Miller’s takedown defence is really strong and he is not giving an inch. Allen is also not walking away as he is now aiming to go for  a double leg takedown whilst both guys are battling for pure dominance but Allen perseveres and gets the takedown but not without getting himself caught up by Miller. Miller has Allen’s head and arm possibly looking for a head/arm choke to no avail and both guys scramble back to their feet.

Both up against the cage again with Allen trying to get a takedown and Miller looking for a kimora but to no avail and turns to land a few elbows to soften up Allen’s body.  With the action returning to the ground Miller manages to slide himself back towards the cage to sit up but Allen has Millers legs tied up.  Allen tries to sneak round-up and round to Millers back but as in doing so the submission expert Miller gets Allen in a Kneebar and he is forced to tap at the 4 minute 32 second mark of the first round.  We have a New UIC Lightweight Champion – Jordan Miller.

 

Here are the full results:

Exhibition fights

Ben Bassett  vs  Joe Macfield

Josie Dorse  vs  Emilia Posadzhieva

Tom Rubery  vs  Dwight Edmondson (0.23 second KO Round One)

Amateurs

Charles Mason Def  Donovan Smile Unanimous Decision

Dayle McCrae Def  Dan Kneil Unanimous Decision

Josh Bishop Def  Màson Càrter Unanimous Decision

Lukasz Marcinkowski Def  Will Jones Unanimous Decision

Semi-Pro MMA

Laura Handy Def  Natalie Bee RNC 2.00 Round One

Pro MMA

Aaron Khalid Def Wayne Drake RNC 1.18 Round Two

Pro K1 – Middleweight K1 Title

Iron Piotr Ptasinski Def  Craig White Unanimous Decision

New Middleweight K1 Title – ‘Iron’ Piotr Ptasinski

Pro MMA – Lightweight Title

Jordan Miller Def  Marc ‘Suplex’ Allen  Kneebar 4.32 Round One

New Lightweight Title – Jordan Miller

 

 

Photo Credit 1: Paul Sutherland Facebook

Photo Credit 2: Jordan Miller Facebook

Ultimate Impact Championship 16 returns at GL1 Leisure centre in Gloucester this Saturday, November 14th


Ultimate Impact returns for their sixteenth event held at GL1 Leisure Centre in Gloucester this Saturday, November 14th with what promises to be another fantastic event to close the year out.

Ultimate Impact 16 Event Poster

Headlining the event will be Marc Allen defending his lightweight title against UK MMA veteran in Jordan Miller.  The co-main event will see reigning UIC MW MMA champion Craig White compete for the UIC MW K1 Title against Piotr Ptasinski in which promises to be a bout containing ‘beautiful violence’.

Also featured on the card is former lightweight champion Wayne Drake who takes on Aaron Khalid and current K1 champion Laura Handy who will be competing in an amateur MMA bout.

Here is the fightcard as it stands.

Fightcard

UIC16poster

Jordan Miller v Marc ‘Suplex’ Allen – Lightweight Title
Craig White v Iron Piotr Ptasinski – Middleweight K1 Title
Aaron Khalid v Wayne Drake LW
Lukasz Marcinkowski v Will Jones 86 kg
Keiren Bennett v Lawrence Jordan Tracey WW
Josh Bishop v Màson Càrter 62 kg K1
Dan kneil v Dayle McCrae LW
Don Smile v Charles Mason 86kg
Natalie Bee v Laura Handy Flyweight

Undercard Novice Exhibition fights (2 x 3min rounds)
Tom Rubery v Dwight Twinnytwintwin Edmondson 95kg
Josie Dorse v Emilia Posadzhieva 64kg K1
Joe Macfield v Ben Bassett 67kg

Tickets are available online here

Standard Ticket – £25.00 + booking fee

Cageside VIP Ticket – £35.00 + booking fee

VIP Table Seat – £45.00 + booking fee

VIP Table 8 – £360 + booking fee

Limited tickets available on the door subject to availability

Doors Open 5pm