At the time of writing we are just over 10 days, 20 hours away from BAMMA’s fifth event of 2014, BAMMA 17. Whilst the card has suffered some last minute changes, the underlying strength remains with action spanning across seven weight divisions on the night. Fletcher Vs Brightmon / Gahadza Vs Lebout / Stapleton Vs Fournier / Thompson Vs McDermott / Craven Vs Severs / Mousah Vs Diakiese I mean come on! What else is keeping you from getting down to Manchester on 6th December? If you need any more reasons we got you covered;
The Atmosphere
Nothing compares to the atmosphere at a live MMA show, just nothing. Yes its nice watching fights at home on your huge plasma screen with a beer in one hand and some pizza in the other (yes I have been that guy). But until you have sat in that crowd and heard the thud of two guys going all out then I’m afraid to say you haven’t seen the best side of the sport. So why not scrap any plans you have on 6th December and get yourself down to Manchester.
The Freakshow Experience
If you have not experienced a Colin Fletcher walkout live then you are absolutely missing a trick. Fletcher has arguably the greatest selections of walkouts throughout the UKMMA scene. His theatrics don’t stop with the walkout either as when the cage door is shut, Fletcher is all action and technically fascinating to watch when he unleashes his favoured Muay Thai stance and rattles off kicks and punches like they are going out of fashion. I have been lucky enough to see Fletcher fight a handful of times and you can always expect to get your money’s worth on his performance alone.
The Sniper’s Debut
For me Walter Gahadza is a special kind of talent and one of the gems of BAMMA 17 for me. I truly feel that you need to be there to witness this guy fight as he will be the next big UK star on the global MMA scene. The step up in BAMMA will definitely test him and the co-main event status may bring some addition pressure to him but I fully expect him to come through with flying colours and make a statement to the 170lb division.
Light Heavyweights = Knockouts
Oli Thompson Vs Brett McDermott pits two 205lb guys who don’t want to see this fight anywhere but on the feet. Both men will be looking to rebound from losses in their last bouts and with the hometown crowd behind him McDermott will look to make an example of Oli Thompson and use his name as a stepping stone in his career. But you can never write Oli Thompson off and in his first Light Heavyweight appearance it will be intriguing to see if he can add speed to his power and be a force in the divison.
The Future Stars of UKMMA
Kane Mousah, Brendan Loughnane, Mike Cutting, Mike Grundy, Andy Craven & Martin Stapleton are just some of the names which jump out to me when reading the BAMMA 17 fight card. Any of these guys for me stand a real chance of pushing their careers to that next levels with a big win at BAMMA 17. It’s a very exciting time for UK mixed martial artists and with a real void in the bigger promotions of top UK talent the opportunities that present themselves with huge victories on these big European shows are bigger than they ever have been. So just to witness these guys all on the same card is a definite selling point for me and just another reason to get yourselves down to BAMMA 17.
Well hopefully you now are going to book a ticket for BAMMA 17 and to make that even easier for you here is the link to the ticket site bamma.com/events/bamma-17