Rob Broughton Win's ZT Fightnight Tournament.

The Hove Town Hall, Brighton was the location for Sol Gilbert’s tournament event and first up were the heavyweights. Each man was introduced into the ring by MC Ian ‘The Machine’ Freeman to make the full line up of eight, the only change to the card was Martin Thompson replaced by Joe Vedepo.

The night kicked off with Rob Broughton v Neil Wain with a rocked Broughton recovering from a big left hook in the first round to sink in a guillotine choke and go through the semi final’s.

Next up saw Tengiz Tedoradze facing James Thompson. Thompson dominated Tedoradze for the first round with some excellent wrestling and ground and pound. This same strategy was applied again in the second round until referee Grant Roberts stopped the fight and awarded James Thompson the win by TKO.

Now it was the turn of two late replacements Muay Thai fighter Miguel Bernad via Joe Vedepo  (in the UK  as a spa’ing partner for Bisping). Bernad showed what he was made of with well placed thudding leg kick, but Vedepo immediately got the underhook’s and slammed Bernad to his back. Bernad contained Vedepo for a brief period and almost returned to his feet, but at this point Vedepo swung a leg up and pulled off one of the sweetest technical armbars your likely to see which Bernad had no choice, but to tap to.

Next was strongman Oli Thompson vs Boxer Steve Day. Both guys tried to feel each other out with a jab and a few clinches were initiated, but the fight remained standing until Thompson connected with a straight right on to the chin of Steve Day winning him a place in the Semi’s.

For the first fight of the Semi Finals James Thompson fought Rob Broughton. The 1st round appeared to be Thompson’s from some top control and ground and pound, but in the 2nd Thompson stood and traded with Broughton until a big right sent Thompson to the canvas and the referee jumped in to stop Broughton following up with some ground strikes. Broughton commences to the Final’s.

Joe Vedepo v Oli Thompson would decide the other fighter to face Broughton for the coveted prize of 10,000 pounds. This fight was a real stand up war with a few moments of loss of control as Thompson accidentally knee’ed Vedepo in the groin two times and Vedepo had one point deduced for an illegal knee strike to the head of Thompson.  Vedepo came out on top and rocked Thompson with strikes and knee’s to the head from a clinch and secured his place in the final’s against Broughton.

This now lead to an interesting situation. The Tournament was primarily devised as a a concept to decide who was the the best heavyweight in the UK. Now with a very sharp looking Vedepo going into the final could the tournament be won by an American middleweight who came in as a last minute replacement the night before? This was not to good. However this was short lived as following Broughton to the ring came Vedepo with no gloves and ice pack on his hand – he was out from injury. Ian Freeman then announced Vedeop’s replacement would be Oli Thompson.

So the final got underway and for 3 x 5 minutes both fighters gave their best, but ultimately the skill and expertise of Broughton was the deciding factor as Thompson who fought with all of his heart was slowly ground down by Broughton’s clinch and punches. And so the night confirmed what a few of us already expected, that being that Broughton is the number one heavyweight in the UK.

A great night and a big kudos to Sol Gilbert and team whom got this together with the odd’s stacked far from the their favor.  We now look forward to the next event on the 8th of May which will be the light heavyweights.

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