Knuckle Up ‘Origin’ will screen tonight (03/03/2010) on Sky Sports Channel 3 at 10.00pm. ‘Origin’ contains fights between Matt Thorpe and John Philips and Jake Blyth vs Kevin Reed.
Press Release:
Warrior Promotions Fighter Management (WPFM) are proud to announce they will have three fighters battling it out this weekend at Knuckleup: Origins, which takes place at the luxurious 2000 seater Centaur Arena, which is located inside the grounds of the famous Cheltenham Racecourse in South West England.
Headlining this event is an intriguing domestic clash for the vacant Knuckleup Middleweight Title, as the Warrior Promotions managed fighter and 2009 Team England M-1 Challenge member Matt “12 Gauge” Thorpe (13-10-0) takes on the former Welsh amateur Boxing star John Phillips (9-3-0-1nc).
Matt Thorpe is a near eight year veteran of the sport and spent the whole of 2009 fighting around the world representing his country in the M-1 Challenge. Currently ranked eighth in the British Middleweight rankings, Thorpe is known for his all-round skills and height. After Thorpe moved up a division in 2009 he joined the English M-1 Challenge team and picked-up individual victories over Yasuke Masuda (Team Japan) and Rafael Rodriguez (Team Spain). However like his opponent; Thorpe has a lot to prove after coming off two straight losses against top European opposition,. Nevertheless Thorpe’s record is still quite deceiving, due to his vastly underrated stand-up game for a fighter with 11 Submission wins and he’ll be looking to claim his first Title at 185lbs this weekend.
Whilst Phillips is a veteran of Cage Rage and several other top events and is known for his KO power with all of his wins coming inside the distance. He’ll be keen to get back to winning ways after a heartbreaking loss against Denniston Sutherland at the inaugural BAMMA show last June, when he was forced to tap-out after dislocating is shoulder midway through round 1. With an improving all-round game and previous big fight experience, Phillips will not be fazed by the occasion and will be looking to walk away with the vacant Title.
This bout is much more than your classical striker vs. grappler clash and with considerable hype already surrounding this bout on internet forums, it promises to be an intriguing main event for the vacant Knuckleup Title on Saturday night.
Another Warrior Promotions managed fighter in action this weekend is the Welshman Daniel “Denzil” Thomas (16-6-0). He faces a late replacement in the form of Stuart Davies (6-3-0). Both men have met before at Ultimate Warrior Challenge in Essex 2 years ago; where “Denzil” defeated the F’s Freestyle fighter by TKO in round 3. Since then both men have showed a lot of improvement, with Davies racking up several impressive wins on the domestic circuit. Whilst Thomas is now a British Champion in his own right and has won his last 6 bouts, which includes impressive wins over the talented Irishman Kevin McAlonan and most recently a fantastic win over the 6-1-0 Dutch BJJ fighter Duane van Helvoirt in Ireland. “Denzil” was originally due to face Matt Sellars (7-2-0) for the Lightweight Knuckleup Title. However injury forced the Champion to withdraw. Despite this inconvenience, “Denzil” is looking to go to war and show his potential in a stacked European Lightweight scene.
Whilst in Welterweight action Simon Phillips (10-4-0) makes his first appearance in the UK since fighting overseas in the 2009 M-1 Challenge. After going 2-2 overseas last year, this WPFM fighter now faces a tough bout against the unbeaten Doncaster based prodigy Danny Mitchell (7-0-0). Mitchell returns to Knuckleup after defeating Jordan James in November last year at “Knuckleup at the Manor”. This youngster has rightfully earnt a reputation as one of the UK’s rising stars due to his slick submission work and high tempo fighting style. However the veteran from Exeter is Mitchell’s toughest test to date and Phillips will look to use his considerable experience which has seen him defeat the likes of Hidehiko Hasegawa and Jonathan Leon to kickstart his 2010 campaign and secure his own top 10 domestic ranking.
Other featured bouts see the Knuckleup Welterweight Champion Jake Blyth (8-1-0) return to defend his Title against another Welsh challenger in the form of Kevin Reed (7-10-0). Blyth captured the Knuckleup Title last August with a quick first round win over Richard Weatherall in Somerset. Working under the tutorage of the former UFC and Pride FC veteran Mark Weir, the current Champion has plied his trade around the UK circuit and despite being ranked ninth in the UK Rankings, is still seen by many as an unknown commodity.
This bout could well be his big coming out party against a tough opponent who has earned a reputation for taking on the best fighters in the LW and WW division. Although Kevin Reed starts as a considerable underdog on paper, he is coming off a TKO win from the last Knuckleup show against Nigel Whitear and will be looking to make it two-in-a-row and leave Cheltenham with the Knuckleup Title.
Whilst the night’s other key encounter see UFC veteran Leigh Remedios (24-7-4) dip his toes for the second time into the Bantamweight division, as he faces the tough Irish submission fighter Paddy Doherty (6-7-0) from the EFR Fight Team. With rumours of Remedios looking to challenge Europe’s elite in this division during 2010, he will be looking to impress again after defeating Doherty’s team mate Steve McCombe back in May last year.
Also look out for two of the UK’s top young Featherweights in action, as Dino Gambatesa (5-1-0) and Dave Hill (6-0-0) take on Ross Mould (4-5-0) and James Lutman (2-4-0) respectively.
With this exciting fightcard Knuckleup hope to raise the expectations and level of UK MMA once again, and WPFM are excited to be part of another stacked card which features some of the UK’s best up-and-coming talent.
‘Judo’ Jimmy Wallhead won a tactical battle against Che Mills to add another victory to his record to make it six consecutive wins. By means of a Unanimous decision Jimmy edged out the win against a very willful and skilled performance from Che Mills at the Knuckle Up Event at the Celtic Manor in Wales.
This now takes Jimmy to the juncture now where there is no one else credible to fight in the UK at the same level as Jimmy and many fans now wish to see progress on to the UFC.
This Sunday see’s the much anticipated clash of welterweights Jimmy Wallhead and Che Mills at Knuckle Up at the Manor ‘Mill’s vs Wallhead’. This is one of the most important fights in both fighters career’s as the Winner is likely to get that lucrative contract to the UFC.
On one hand we have Mill’s the man who has recorded two wins against Dream 12 welterweight champ Marius Zaromskis and also a TUF 9 hopeful (narrowly losing out to the eventual winner James Wilks) . On the other we have the currently unstoppable ‘Judo’ Jimmy Wallhead who has won nine of his last ten fights to total up a record of 17-5 (and was coincidentally told by ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ series ‘You have to much experience’).
FULL FIGHT CARD.
WW PRO. CHE MILLS v JIMMY WALLHEAD
68KG PRO. HARVEY DINES v CHRIS EVANS
80KG SEMI PRO. SEAN VOISEY v AARON THOMAS
MW PRO. RUSSELL SMITH v OLIVER COLLINGFORD
WW PRO. BRENDAN FLANAGAN v DAVID ROUND
WW PRO. JOSEPH DUFFY v SEBASTIEN GRANDIN
WW PRO. DAN HOPE v KEVIN REED
LW PRO. ANTANAS JAZBUTIS v DANIEL JAMES
FW PRO. DAVID HILL v CEDRIC PERRUCHET
LW PRO. NATHAN BEER (HOLDER) v MATT SELLARS (CHALLENGER). LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE
WW PRO. DANIEL MITCHELL v JORDAN JAMES
More details are available from the Knuckle Up Site.
