Absolute Championship Berkut returned to the Sheffield Arena for ACB 70 – aptly dubbed the Battle of Britain with the event culminating in a mouth-watering domestic match up between Scott Askham and Luke Barnatt.
Askham set the tone early with outstanding striking, pushing Luke Barnatt on the back foot in front of an electric Yorkshire crowd at the Sheffield Arena.
The Yorkshireman’s timing and his array of kicks and strikes left Barnatt struggling to find an answer. Barnatt was left with no choice but to hunt for a finish in the third round with Askham clearly two rounds up.
Barnatt couldn’t find the finish and when the fight went the distance, Scott Askham got the nod on four of the five scorecards to settle his long-term feud between the middleweights.
The co-main event saw Ibragim Chuzhigaev pick up a victory for the Russians with a brutal knockout of Will Noland. An overhand right followed by a left sent the American down to the ground and Herb Dean was forced to step in!
Adam Townsend followed on from his beer weigh-in antics with a slick third round submission victory over Husein Kushagov. Townsend flattened the Russian out and sunk in the choke with under two minutes on the clock to earn the victory on his ACB debut!
American Bubba Jenkins stopped Diego Marlon in the third round with some brutal ground and pound to put an end to his two-fight losing streak. After a fairly comfortable opening two rounds despite managing to wriggle out of an armbar, Just under a minute after the break, Jenkins stopped a poor takedown attempt from the Brazilian and rained strikes down from the top, forcing Herb Dean to step in.
Ismael de Jesus produced an upset to defeat tough Austrian Ismail Naurdiev by unanimous decision. Naurdiev had previously won his last twelve fights, including two first round knockouts in the ACB promotion. The Brazilian was dropped in the third round by a head kick, but survived to gain the victory on the judges’ scorecards.
Kane Mousah and Alex Enlund went to war in the lightweight Battle of Britain with Mousah’s power on display alongside the granite chin and jiu-jitsu pedigree of Enlund.
Mousah’s power proved to be too much, dropping Enlund twice and earning victory on four of the five judges’ scorecards to make it three consecutive victories for the Mancunian.
Magomed Ginazov brutally finished Ioan Vranceanu in the second round after a flurry of elbows left the Romanian’s face pouring with blood.
Ashley Reece produced a phenomenal comeback to outpoint Sam Boult after looking exhausted in the first round. Reece utilised his boxing and wrestling to somehow come back from seemingly no return to earn a split decision victory.
Jordan Vucenic produced an outstanding performance to upset Shoaib Yousaf’s always strong travelling crowd. The two prospects put it all on the line over three rounds before Vucenic’s hand was raised! Russian Haron Orzumiev earned a split decision victory over Filip Macek.
Aaron Aby gained revenge over Danny Missin in their rematch after outpointing his rival over three rounds. Aby managed to survive the first round after his opponent landed a perfect timed spinning back fist before coming back to earn the victory.
Cheya Saleem upset the odds with a victory over Aaron Robinson with a submission inside the first minute of the fight after dropping the previously unbeaten Robinson in the opening exchanges.
Danny Tombs earned a second-round stoppage victory over Gavin Sterritt. Tombs finally finished the fight after dropping Sterritt for a fourth time.
Luke Shanks submitted Adam Bramhald in the first round with a guillotine choke inside the opening minute of the bout.
Jordan Barton outpointed Richard Herbert via split decision after three close rounds. Herbert showed his superior wrestling whilst Barton showed his class on the feet.
