Fighters Only

Issue 021

January 2007

Hammersmith Palais, London, 12th November

First up on the fourth of Sol Gilbert’s ZT fight night events was a battle of the heavyweights, with Paul Radford taking on Barry Lynch. Both were making their debut but there wasn’t any sign of nerves here. Radford worked hard for the takedown but with strong underhooks Lynch eventually managed to turn Radford into the cage and sink in a guillotine halfway through the first round.

ZT’s rising young star John Hathaway was up next taking on French Top Team fighter Ludovic Perez in a pro MMA fight. With his now famous ‘Pick up, walk back to corner and slam down’ technique, Hathaway launched into an impressive offensive from the top. Punches and elbows were rained down onto the Frenchman, eventually causing him to turn and tap in the first round.

A highly anticipated fight between Wesley Felix and Dave Swann followed, both fighters came into the fight looking for the win and it was clear from the outset they were intending to leave it all in the cage. Swann looked to have the upper hand in the stand-up and was also doing well on the ground but in a real to-and-fro bout Felix caught Swann in a tight triangle in the third round and won via submission.

The second French Top Team fighter of the night, Mikael Slomzynski, faced up to Jack Magee in another pro MMA bout. The tough Frenchman began by landing a clean solid jab to which Magee replied with a takedown. Working well from the top Magee landed a few hard shots, moved to mount and went for an armbar. Slomzynski did well to escape the submission but Magee adjusted to secure a triangle in a slick display of ground skills.

Geoff Hayes, coming off a disqualification loss a few months ago had a point to prove tonight in his fight with Arelijus Kerpe. A slugfest ensued and they looked well matched in this fight. Kerpe landed a couple of solid elbows in the second and ZT front man Sol Gilbert refused to let Hayes come out for the third round giving Kerpe the win via corner stoppage.

The main event saw Ryan ‘The Great’ White take on Michael Kita from the Gorilla Academy. Lets get one thing straight here, White is popular guy in his hometown of Brighton and he has a fanbase to match. As you can imagine, the atmosphere was electric and White’s dramatic entrance to the arena sent the fans nuts. Coming off a previous loss in this very same venue White had a point to prove and looked focused for this fight. Kita had a win in mind though, and sent the White fans home disappointed after reversing a good takedown from White, gaining top position, landing hard strikes and eventually submitting White with a rear naked choke shortly into the first round.