Round 2, Nottingham
I joined three competitors from Burton Grindhouse fight team who were entering the second instalment of the year’s increasingly popular MMA league in Long Eaton, near Nottingham last Saturday. There appeared to be a large number of competitors in each weight class, though I was somewhat preoccupied cornering for our entrants in the welterweight and lightweight categories.
Essentially the tournament was split between two large matted areas with lightweights and welters on one mat, middles, light heavies and heavies on the other. I was disappointed to miss so many of the fights on the other mat, particularly when a large round of applause and cheering was given for an apparently textbook ‘crotch ripper’ resulting in a win for the local boys from the Bushido Academy. Eddie Bravo would’ve been proud!
Overall the standard was good for an amateur MMA competition, the rules allowed punches, kicks and knees to the body and legs with 4oz gloves. There were no headshots and wins were by submission or TKO to strikes (though I suspect there were none). The downside was that there was no points scoring system to decide the winner after the single 5 minute round. Without a stoppage each fight was ruled as a draw. The is understandable when you consider the logistics of scoring well over 100 bouts in a day, but disappointing for the fighters who perhaps dominated a fight but could not finish it in 5 minutes. Equally though there was an upside as many fighters went hell for leather from the start trying to finish quickly, allowing for some fast paced action and entertaining bouts. There were some intriguing fights though where much of the fight remained standing with fighters exchanging kicks and knees to the body, quite how they felt this would result in a stoppage was questionable. As I said, I didn’t see any TKOs from this or hear of any. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t, or couldn’t happen. There were however nearly two genuine knockouts when competitors forgot the no head strikes rule and followed up a caught leg kick with a straight right to the face of their opponent. An understandable mistake when the adrenaline is flowing, but not necessarily forgivable (from the opponent’s point of view). Everyone else, it seemed, saw the funny side. A lesson learned for the offenders too no doubt.
Despite the late arrival of the mats the competition seemed to run smoothly and was well organised. Fighters who were left fightless were re-matched as quickly as possible and the organisers did their best to ensure all competitors got at least two fights in their weight class. No mean feat with so many competitors and some individuals’ limited patience. There were entrants from clubs from all over the country, which is probably some reflection of the pull this organisation is generating. We were lucky enough to only have a 25 minute drive but others had travelled for hours to get there.
Congratulations must go to the organisers for a quite well run and well structured event. The competitors from our team all enjoyed their first experience of competition and it will no doubt see the debuts of many up and coming UK talents over the next few years. I would highly recommend the event for beginners and novices who want to try and start applying what they have learned in the gym. I look forward to the Nottingham round of the series again next year. Well done MMA League!
