Aaron Chalmers continued his perfect start to his mixed martial arts career in Newcastle last night with a forty-three-second knockout of debutant Karl Donaldson. The former reality star signed with BAMMA earlier this year and collected his third win at the Metro Radio Arena.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Chalmers, with Donaldson landing clean from the off. The Geordie then fired back and after a right hand rocked his opponent, a left hand followed by an uppercut sent the Londoner to the canvas.
Chalmers continued to land strikes on the ground forcing referee Dan Movahedi to call a close to proceedings after just forty-three seconds. In his post-fight interview, the unbeaten welterweight decided to call out ‘Baby Slice’ Kevin Ferguson for a future Bellator card.
In the main event, Ryan Scope edged a split decision victory over former UFC lightweight Mickael Lebout to clinch the vacant BAMMA lightweight title. It was evenly matched up with the vast majority of the fight taking place on the feet.
After fifteen minutes, the judges were split on the outcome of the fight. Ryan Scope received the nod on two scorecards earning him the vacant BAMMA lightweight championship.
It marked the biggest win of Scope’s deceptively young career. At just twenty-five, it marked his first main event slot against a tough five-fight UFC veteran. His first defence could come against Frenchman Anthony DIzy, also victorious in Newcastle.
Dizy defeated another former UFC athlete in Colin ‘Freakshow’ Fletcher, to the displeasure of the crowd. Fletcher hails from Sunderland and arguably got the biggest reception of the night. Dizy’s wrestling and his top game thwarted any route to victory for Fletcher as the Frenchman took the decision.
Fabian Edwards continued the electrifying start to his professional career with a first-round rear-naked choke submission of Louis King. The younger brother of UFC welterweight Leon Edwards has now put together a 3-0 professional record to complement his 10-0 amateur run.
Adam Proctor clinched the most important win of his career by defeating former title challenger Nathan Jones with a beautiful rear-naked choke inside the first round. Rhys McKee also managed to sink in a triangle choke, submitting Kams Ekpo midway through the second round.
Justin Burlinson joined the rear-naked choke club with a first-round submission of Josh Plant to move to 2-0 as a professional following his 16-1 amateur career. Another UFC vet in Curt Warburton returned after three years on the sidelines to stop Warren Kee with just over a minute gone on the clock.
