Conor McGregor was in attendance at Dublin’s 3 Arena on Saturday to see a selection of his SBG Ireland stablemates pick up wins at BAMMA 35.
Ion Pascu, who fell short in his last bout against the highly-touted Ed Ruth under the Bellator banner in Hungary a few weeks ago, returned to the win column with a unanimous decision win against former BAMMA welterweight champion Alex Lohore. The Romanian’s wrestling proved the key to his victory, as he established a pressure grappling game which Lohore struggled to find an answer to. Lohore did manage to land some shots, particularly in a ‘hail mary’ finish, but ultimately had no answer to Pascu’s top control.
“I beat the former champion, now I want to beat the current champion,” said Pascu following the performance, calling out currently BAMMA 170-pound titleholder Terry Brazier.
Kiefer Crosbie had promised to make short work of his co-main event opponent Josh Plant and he was true to his word, winning the fight via elbow TKO just under four minutes into the first round. It was another ruthless performance for ‘Big Daddy’, who was aggressive from the start and mixed in an array of kicking attacks which sharp, crisp striking.
The end came as Plant searched for a takedown against the cage, offering Crosbie the opportunity to uncork a series of brutal elbows to the side of his opponent’s head, reminiscent of Conor McGregor’s finish of Steve O’Keefe in 2012 — something which is fast becoming a trademark technique for Crosbie.
@TheNotoriousMMA watches on as SBG team mate @KieferCrosbie finishes opponent in the 1st round of a thrilling war at #BAMMA35 pic.twitter.com/c6mTHN8oGj
— BAMMA (@BAMMA) May 13, 2018
Elsewhere on the card Fabian Edwards enhanced his reputation as one of the most exciting up and coming fighters currently on the BAMMA roster with a TKO win against SBG’s Claudio Conti, extended the British fighter’s young professional career record to 5-0. All of those wins with the exception of one have been first round finishes.
Blaine O’Driscoll, another SBG fighter, earned a first round rear naked choke submission against Aaron Robinson, while there were also wins for Anthony Taylor and Myles Price.
Conor McGregor, meanwhile, who was in attendance in the Dublin venue, paid tribute to inspirational teenager Ian O’Connell who was paralysed from the neck down following a cycling accident. The youngster was featured on The Late Late Show in his native country on Friday night — an episode which McGregor saw — and he was surprised to find O’Connell in attendance for last weekend’s fights.
McGregor wrote on Instagram: “Watching the Late Late show last night and on comes this young man @ianoconnell321! I was blown away by him and his attitude to life and in facing adversity! Truly blown away! Then tonight, by complete chance, I bumped into him at an event and end up getting to watch the main event fight ringside with him!
“What a night! Thank you Ian it was great to meet you my brother, you are some man!
“Your quote literally blew me away! “If you can’t stand up, STAND OUT!” What a legend! I think I speak for every Irish man and woman that watched you on the Late Late show last night by saying you are a true inspiration to us!
“Thank you brother.”
[Image Credit: Jim Edwards]
