Martin Stapleton Wins At BAMMA 17

martin stapleton

 

SBG Mainline Double Submission Victories Last Weekend!

Last Saturday night saw SBG Mainline’s Martin Stapleton take on Sebastian Fournier at the BAMMA 17 event in Manchester, UK. Making his debut for the BAMMA organization, Stapleton came away with an impressive victory, picking up his win via rear naked choke in the opening round, with over a minute remaining on the clock. Watch the full fight HERE. The win comes on the back of another stoppage victory in October, that time by TKO, and extends his professional record to 15-4. Martin Stapleton had originally been set to fight Jeremy Petley, before Petley was forced to withdraw two weeks prior to the contest. Stapleton, who has mentioned previously the struggle to find decent opponents in the UK, took on Frenchman Sebastian Fournier in his place.

Regardless of where his opponent came from, Stapleton was clearly prepared for the occasion pre fight – fighting for the first time in Manchester, near his hometown of Rochdale.

“I love the support and I love having all the fans. The fight is in Manchester, it’s the first time I’ve fought in Manchester, and it’s going to be massive… The preparation’s done, I’m ready for this fight, so let’s get it on!”

04Martin Stapleton’s BAMMA debut

Martin Stapleton’s fight began well, and at the two minute point he was able to take down Fournier. From here, Stapleton was able to methodically improve on his position until Fournier gave up his back and Stapleton was able to secure a rear naked choke to win the fight. In the post-fight interview, Stapleton talks about the methodical approach he took to the fight, working out his opponent early on before the take down presented itself. From there, Stapleton noticed a certain inevitability – that landing strikes on the ground would lead to an opportunity opening up. That it did, with Stapleton securing a rear naked choke, to which he credits SBG Mainline‘s Karl Tanswell for showing him a slightly different technique for securing it.

Picking up such a comfortable victory will undoubtedly have Stapleton looking to the future with BAMMA, and he stated after the fight that he believes he can beat anyone in Europe. Willing to fight anyone at any time, he believes that sooner rather than later, he’ll be in line for a title shot.

Martin Stapleton was joined on the BAMMA 17 card by SBG Mainline‘s Paul Douglas. Douglas himself managed to secure a first round, rear naked choke victory of his own. It marked Douglas’ professional MMA debut after an amateur record of 6-0. Read more about it here.