Apologies for the stagnant web site in the last couple of months, I was in Japan with Joe in December and then our web site manager Audrius went back to Lithuania for the New Year so that put paid to any movement on this site.

      Anyway Happy New Year to all our members and visitors to our site.

      It seems ages ago now that our last event Head to Head took place at the Palace Night Club but for those who came along will surely agree that it was a fantastic night of combat. We had a last minute pull out with flu from our own Mark Godbeer but that didn't effect the stunning performances from the rest of our club fighters. Early starts to the evening saw a thrilling match from Ben Nash who lost on points to Bristol's Josh Wellman. First timer James Brakes stepped up to the challenge against Dorchester's Rich Norman and fought well to gain a draw. Lewis Jordan, after a couple of losses recently, got back to his winning ways with a points victory over Bristol's Matt Cowley.

      The MMA action started with our very own Shaun Luther who got stuck into his opponent Callum Siddons of Bath Gracie Barra Jiu Jitsu. This was a real show piece of stand up action mixed with clever grappling that saw good submission attempts from Siddons and excellent escapes from Luther. Although Shaun appeared to have the upper hand in the striking it was the grappling skills of Siddons that convinced the judges to award him the fight after two hard fought rounds. This was a great fight from two sixteen year olds that set the standard for Mixed Martial Arts for the evening.
      Shaun's club mate and sparring partner Paul Carrotte was in next against Plymouth's Ross Hill, and this too was another tasty match up. Paul was certainly the stronger in the stand up and was a good match for Hill on the ground too. But as the fight looked like it was going all the way Ross Hill took the back of Carrotte and tapped him out with a rear naked choke. Good fight, a rematch is on the cards at semi pro.
      John Jones and Steve Prosser both eager to show their tenacity in the cage as well as their experience in the kickboxing ring were up against experienced grapplers and this proved a little too much for our two fighters. Both disappointed, I know, but we as a club are proud of their hard work and sterling efforts.
      The main event of the evening was the Southern Area title defense from Chris James against the strong, aggressive, Nigel Thomas of Luton's Storm Gym . Fought over six rounds James was determined to eradicate his last home performance by standing close to his opponent and meeting him head on for the entire duration of the fight. Thomas dropped points in the first round for insufficient kicking and Chris James seemed to relish his early lead. Thomas however came back strong in the later rounds but Chris James seemed the consistent fighter through his tireless work rate and took the judges decision to retain his belt. The English Title is now looking a likely prospect in the not too distant future.
      Damien Borlase, no stranger to fighting for Bridgwater, donned his MMA gloves for his debut fight in this sport. His opponent was Phil Farrell of Bridgwater's KJ2 club run by Martyn Lawson. Damien's stand up experience showed early on with his combination body punches and leg kicks. It was inevitable then, that Farrell would try to take this fight to the floor. He rushed in and slammed Borlase against the cage wall but Borlase kept his composure, saw the chance of a guillotine and quickly ended the fight with the resulting tapout from Farrell.
      Arguably the best fight of the night came at the end from Bridgwater's Paul Dunphy against Gracie Barra's Richard Green. A semi pro fight these two mature fellow athletes went toe to toe with some brutal punching that saw Dunphy seem to take an early lead. When Green took Dunphy down there was some great reversals from the Bridgwater man that thrilled the local crowd. Green, however, showed great fight back in the second round that saw his own crowd of followers willing their fighter on, especially when they saw their man cut Dunphy's eye from a decent right hand. As blood poured from his face Dunphy seemed to relish the scrap he found himself in, but an illegal knee to the head from Dunphy in the second round lost him a point. The judges decision of a draw was probably the right one for what was a close but epic battle.