Top European promotion BAMMA have today announced plans for their 23rd show which will take place on 14th November at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham.
The event is labelled “Night of Champions” and sees the Heavyweight, Flyweight and Bantamweight titles being put up for grabs on the main card.
First up though, BAMMA are heading to the emerald isles of Dublin on 19th September for BAMMA 22 with a stacked card headlined by a Featherweight title fight pitting Champion Tom Duquesnoy against number one contender Brendan Loughnane.
It looks as though they are looking to carry on at full speed with today’s fight announcements for BAMMA 23. With only seven fights being announced so far this card on paper looks set to be one of the most anticipated European fight cards of the year.
The card so far is looking as follows;
Mark “The Hand Of” Godbeer Vs Ruben “The Viking” Wolf BAMMA Heavyweight title
Ed Arthur Vs Shay Walsh BAMMA Bantamweight title
Rany Saadeh Vs Chris “Nightmare” Miah BAMMA Flyweight title
Stuart “He Man” Austin Vs Paul “Titan” Taylor
Tim “The Serbian Yeti” Menzies Vs “Dirty” Harry Marple
Nathaniel “The Prospect” Wood Vs “The Big Bad Wolf” Bryan Creighton
Jay Butler Vs Cameron “Killacam” Else
Tony’s Thoughts: Well what can I say about this card other than WHOA! On paper for me this card looks fantastic from top to bottom and there are so many fights on this card that I can’t wait to see happen.
Woods Vs Creighton is a fantastic Bantamweight clash and both of these youngsters will be looking to win in dominant fashion and get their names put into the mix for a title shot down the road. Menzies Vs Marple is a great fight at 170lbs with two relatively unexperienced fighters looking to get their names and futures cemented under the BAMMA banner. Austin Vs Taylor pits two Heavyweights who will both be desperate to get a win for BAMMA and will both just continue to move forward and throw bombs, don’t expect this one to go 15 minutes.
Then on to the Title fights. Miah Vs Saadeh was due to go down at BAMMA 20 but an injury to the Champion forced him out of the bout. Miah with an undefeated record definitely is a game challenger as the first defence of Saadeh’s Title and given his time out the pressure is on Saadeh.
I have followed Ed Arthur’s career from his first few fights and just love seeing how he evolves as a martial artist. Shay Walsh will bring him a huge challenge and for the second fight on the bounce will have far superior experience to Arthur. But Arthur seems to shine in this type of environment and I genuinely think it is going to take someone special to dethrone Arthur from his BAMMA Title. Can Walsh be that guy?
The main event just had to be made as soon as BAMMA had announced they had signed Ruben Wolf. It pits Germany against the UK and you can guarantee that the Barclaycard Arena will go crazy for this fight. Godbeer will make the first defence of his Heavyweight Title which he won against Paul Taylor and will definitely have a tough fight on his hands against Rubens Wolf. Wolf who will make his BAMMA debut in the Title fight is coming off a big win over the UK’s James Mulheron and will be looking to go back to Germany with a few extra pounds of gold in his suitcase.
This card looks insane so far and I just pray to the gods that we don’t get any injuries going into this one. So many great fights which alone would make me travel to Birmingham for. My early picks for potential FOTN are Woods Vs Creighton and Arthur Vs Walsh and I am expecting some big knockouts in the Heavyweight Bouts.
Tickets on sale FRIDAY 21st August.