Former BAMMA Light Heavyweight Champion Brett McDermott will have a quick turnaoround after #BAMMA23 and step up to fight Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal at the first Rizin FF show on New Year’s Eve.
McDermott will replace former BAMMA Heavyweight Champion Mark Godbeer who was forced to withdraw from the event due to injury.
McDermott and Lawal now complete the Heavyweight Tournament bracket which takes place across two days with the final taking place on New Year’s Eve with the winner netting $300,000.
The Rizin FF card now looks as follows;
Shinya Aoki vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
Vadim Nemkov vs. Goran Reljic
Satoshi Ishii vs. Jiri Prochazka
Teodoras Aukstuolis vs. Bruno Cappelozza
Muhammed Lawal vs. Brett McDermott
Valentin Molfovsky vs. Yuta Uchida
A.J. Matthews vs. Anatoly Tokov
Nam Jin Jo vs. Yuki Motoya
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs. James Thompson
Tony’s Thoughts;
Well I must admit I was slightly shocked to hear that McDermott had been called in to replace Godbeer and think it’s a big step up for McDermott against someone of Lawal’s big fight experience.
Lawal grew up as a wrestler and so will be used to pacing himself across a tournament format which doesn’t bode very well for McDermott, although he certainly has that one punch power which could end anyone’s night if landed.
I think that with the late call-up and possibility of fighting a few times over a few days it really is a tough call for McDermott, although what a great opportunity to make a big name for himself.