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Simeon Powell, the light heavyweight set to take PFL by storm
Simeon Powell is the newest fighter to join the Professional Fighters League coming season, after totting up an impressive resume as a pro, and earning victory on the PFL Challenger Series 8.
On August 21st last year, the professional career of ‘Smooth’ Simeon Powell started. He kicked of his pro career with a round 1 rear naked choke at Caged Steel 26 against Robbie Kennedy. Under 2 months later, he was back inside the cage against Ben Reeve where he scored a win by KO at Contenders 31. Again, he took a quick turnaround, staying active, getting another finish just over a month later, this time against Mustafa Mohamed at Almighty Fighting Championship 21.
During his fight with Mohamed, he exhibited why he is such an exciting prospect. The Titan fighter came out patient in the bout, using his distance management perfectly. Not only did he show a high level fight IQ during his domination over Mohamed, but he also proved extremely evasive. He was slipping shots left right and centre. Extremely smooth with his movement.
The 23-year-old used feints and counters beautifully throughout, and when the pair of Light Heavyweights got into clinch exchanges, Powell showed he had a huge advantage there too.
The most impressive part of his performance, if not it all, was his elusiveness in the striking exchanges. Mustafa couldn’t get close to him.
His control in the clinch allowed him to throw viscous slicing elbows and knees, which also opened up the possibility for him to get under the hips and score himself a takedown. He quickly managed to get on the back of Mohamed and got the body triangle in place, sinking the choke under the chin and getting another finish.
Fast forward to his most recent bout, and the one that earned him a spot on the coming PFL season, and he yet again put on a performance that exemplified his skill. Coming into the bout, he was the more experienced out of him and his opponent, Tobias Baker, but Baker posed a threat, as all of his previous wins eliminated the need for judges.
Despite that, late in round 1, the Londoner was seconds away from finishing the bout as he had Baker against the cage, releasing a flurry of calculated strikes, coming inches away from another round 1 victory. Just a minute into round 2, the 23-year-old caught Baker with an inch perfect flying knee, momentarily putting Baker on the back foot. Midway through the second round he had to face some adversity when he found himself caught in an ankle lock, but he managed to break away, sailing through to a unanimous decision victory.
With the coming PFL season being broadcasted in the UK on Channel 4 following their recent deal, fans across the UK and Ireland can enjoy Simeon’s work on the big screen.
Powell’s first season outing can be caught on PFL 1 this coming Thursday when he takes on Clinton Williams, as the promotion touches down in Arlington, Texas. The season opener features former UFC contender, Jeremy Stephens, in the main event of the night and is followed next week by Manchester’s own Brendan Loughnane in the co-main event on the 28th April.
Catch the action from 02:00am on Thursday morning on Channel 4 for UK and Irish residents.
After months of speculation, the UFC have confirmed that UFC 304 will be heading to Manchester’s brand-new Co-Op Live arena on Saturday July 27th.
No headliners have been announced, but the event is expected to feature a double-header with both Welterweight Champion Leon Edwards (22-3 1NC) and Interim Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall (14-3) defending their gold, with the latter going as far as announcing he would be on the card. The organisation have confirmed that the event will be taking place at US primetime, with prelims kicking off at 11pm BST and the main card at 3am BST.
This will be the UFC’s return to Manchester for the first time since UFC 204 in October 2016, which saw Michael Bisping (30-9) defend his Middleweight Championship against longtime rival Dan Henderson (32-15), with Gegard Mousasi (49-9) defeating Vitor Belfort (26-14) in the co-main event. Current champ Edwards was on the card too, defeating Albert Tumenov (25-4) on the prelims.
Aspinall is looking to follow in the footsteps of Bisping and become the second hometown fighter to defend their belt in the city, having been born in Salford, and living and training in the Greater Manchester area. The expectation is that he will fight Curtis Blaydes (18-4) in a rematch of their July 2022 bout in which he suffered a catastrophic knee injury just fifteen seconds into the fight.
There is somewhat more uncertainty in regards to Edwards’ opponent, with him being offered and accepting three names for UFC 300. The most likely outcome seems to be a rematch with the #2 ranked Welterweight Belal Muhammad (23-3 1NC), who has proven himself more than deserving of what is a long-awaited shot, having gone ten fights unbeaten, including a no contest with Edwards.
Signed for the card is a featherweight bout between London’s Nathaniel Wood (19-6) and Daniel Pineda (28-15), as reported by Al Zullino, with a fight between ranked featherweights Arnold Allen (19-3) and Giga Chikadze (15-3) also reportedly in the works.
This will be the first MMA event at Co-Op Live, which was due to open yesterday, but delayed at the eleventh hour due to power supply issues. The current expectation is for the arena to open on Saturday with a concert by The Black Keys. It will be the largest indoor arena in the UK with a capacity up to 23,500 for concerts but it is unknown what this figure will be for combat sports. The venue is located at Etihad Campus, just a five minute walk from Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.
Tickets for the event will go on sale on June 7th. You can register your interest now here.
Multiple fights of significant importance will go down at ONE Fight Night 22: Sundell vs. Diachkova next week, and one of those is the featherweight MMA clash between Halil Amir and Akbar Abdullaev.
Both stars will bring an undefeated professional slate to Bangkok, Thailand’s Lumpinee Boxing Stadium at the Saturday, 4th May event, meaning someone’s 0 will have to go.
Sitting proudly at 10-0, Amir’s “No Mercy” moniker couldn’t be more fitting. The Turkish powerhouse has racked up three wins since making his debut in ONE Championship in 2022, with two of those coming by knockout.
Halil Amir kicked off his promotional tenure by steamrolling former World Title challenger Timofey Nastyukhin inside two rounds and followed that up by stopping the momentum of fellow rising talent Maurice Abevi via decision in April 2023.
“No Mercy’s” name was already on many fans’ minds after those back-to-back victories, but his next fight would solidify him as one to watch.
The 29-year-old returned at ONE Fight Night 16 last November and earned his quickest finish yet by knocking out Pakistani punisher Ahmed Mujtaba in the first round. Now undoubtedly knocking on the door of the featherweight MMA rankings, Amir will be looking to keep his hype train going against Abdullaev next Saturday.
However, that will be a lot easier said than done, considering the caliber of the Krygz star’s skill set. Abdullaev also boasts a 10-0 professional record, and he will be hunting his third straight finish in ONE Championship next month.
“Bakal” has yet to go the distance in his career, with nine knockouts and a submission comprising his slate so far.
Abdullaev debuted in ONE at ONE Fight Night 8 in March 2023, where he dispatched South Korean scrapper Oh Ho Taek inside the opening frame.
The 26-year-old striker returned four months later at ONE Fight Night 12 and handed Aaron Canarte the first loss of his career, ending the Ecuadorian’s streak of 10 wins with another first-round demolition job.
Their respective recent histories would suggest that Abdullaev will come out on top at ONE Fight Night 22, given that he easily held his own against a previously unbeaten star. But there is little doubt Amir’s stoic style will cause him problems, so their clash should be a firefight with the potential of stealing the show when it does down on 4th May.
“The Iron Man’s” next fight in ONE Championship is confirmed, and it’ll be under kickboxing rules.
For the first time since January 2023, ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon will lace up the big gloves for a battle with Denis Puric at ONE 167: Stamp vs. Zamboanga on Saturday, 8th June, inside Bangkok, Thailand’s Impact Arena.
Rodtang last competed at ONE Friday Fights 34 in September, where he suffered his first promotional loss in ONE’s striking ranks in a Muay Thai super-fight with flyweight kickboxing king Superlek Kiatmoo9.
Fortunately for the legendary Thai, his gold wasn’t up for grabs that evening as Superlek missed weight. But the pair delivered an iconic clash that rocked the combat sports world nonetheless, with Rodtang missing out by unanimous decision.
“The Iron Man” has been sidelined with a hand injury since then, and he was forced to pull out of his highly anticipated match with Takeru Segawa in his backyard in Tokyo earlier this year as a result.
However, all looks well for him to return in June, and fans are excited to see Puric get the dream fight he’s always wanted.
“The Bosnian Menace” has been amassing momentum in ONE Championship recently.
After quashing Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat’s comeback in December 2023, he scored a dynamic victory over former #2-ranked flyweight Muay Thai contender Jacob Smith at last month’s ONE Fight Night 21 to usurp the Brit’s position.
All the while, Puric has been calling out Rodtang and claiming that he would face him in any discipline.
Now, he gets his wish, and it will be fascinating to see how his never-back-down approach fares against the aggression of “The Iron Man” at ONE 167 on 8th June.
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