UK MMA Rising Through The Ranks

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I attended the ever popular UCMMA show on Saturday evening, and what a great night of entertainment they put on for us!

With 12 fights featured, only 3 went to the judges’ score cards, and knockouts aplenty occurred. The undercard started off fairly slowly, with a women's K-1 fight, and a semi pro fight, which were 2 of the 3 decisions on the card, the other being the main event, which means that all 9 bouts in the middle of that lovely sandwich ended with finishes.

One of my favourite moments was the anti-climactic finish on the undercard, where Jay Oliver tapped from strikes, and the crowd had no idea the match was over.

The real drama of the evening followed the fight of the night. Jamaine Facey vs Jordan Wright in a lightweight bout for the UK-1 title. It was a brilliant fight, which saw Facey get knocked down in round one, before he rallied, and knocked Jordan Wright down in the second round, and knocked him out cold in the third. It was an excellent fight, that featured a variety of great technical striking from both fighters, and there was one point where Facey hit Wright with a scissor knee, and blood spewed out of Wright's mouth.

Unfortunately, this was overshadowed by the reaction from the crowd. Displeased at the way Facey celebrated, two of Wright's trainers got in the ring and pushed Facey, while the crowd were baying for his blood, one fan even pressing himself up against the cage and shouting expletives at Jamaine, before promotional owner Dave O'Donnell stepped in, and brought extra security down the ramp to make sure nothing else happened, which thankfully it didn't, but there were kids in the venue as well, which makes it even more of a controversial affair.

Let's not shy away from the fact that this was a brilliant card, as UCMMA always is. If you live in London and like watching fights, UCMMA is the place to go for sure! Lots of exciting fights, you'll definitely enjoy yourself.

Other UK MMA promotions that are doing brilliantly at the moment are Cage Warriors and BAMMA, both of which have just finished shows, in London and Newcastle respectively, and they do feature more international talent than UCMMA do at the moment.

With all that said, and the new UFC TV deal coming through in August, it is a very exciting time to be a British MMA fan!

By Dan Lloyd (@DRL1990)