London, England – July 8, 2011 – Europe’s largest and most prominent Mixed Martial Arts promotion, The British Association of Mixed Martial Arts (BAMMA), announced today that BAMMA Champion Tom “Kong” Watson and UFC veteran Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg will headline BAMMA 7 in a battle for the organizations World Middleweight Title. The organization also revealed a high-octane welterweight bout between Strikeforce veteran Joey Villasenor and top UK contender Che Mills. BAMMA 7 is shaping up to be the popular UK fight organizations most impressive card to date. The event will take place on Saturday, September 10 at The National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, UK.
According to Liam Fisher, Head of Business Development at BAMMA, “Watson said he was open to fighting Trigg if the fans were interested in the match-up …and the fans were definitely interested. The fans wanted it, so we made it happen. After Trigg’s impressive performance against John Phillips and Tom sending Ninja Rua into retirement, this is going to be a very interesting fight to watch.”
Over the past year BAMMA Middleweight Champion Tom “Kong” Watson (14-4-0) has made it very clear that he is at the top of his game. In May 2010 Watson defeated UFC veteran Matt Horwich at BAMMA 3 to become the first BAMMA Middleweight Champion. Four months later, more than 835,000 TV viewers in the UK tuned in to watch him defend his title against Alex Reid at BAMMA 4. In 2011 Watson continues to reign. Most recently Watson successfully defended his BAMMA championship belt for the second time, defeating one of the top middleweight contenders in the world, Murilo “Ninja” Rua.
Kong had this to say about his upcoming bout with UFC veteran Frank Trigg “It is funny how Frank Trigg see’s on my Twitter that I’m injured and can’t train and then all of a sudden decides he wants the fight. I highly doubt I will even get a week’s worth of solid training in for this bout, but I’m sure a week is enough to beat an old man who calls himself ‘Twinkle Toes’. I apologize to the BAMMA fans in advance that I won’t be able to prepare like I normally do, but it is what it is, a man’s got to eat.”
Watson’s opponent UFC veteran Frank Trigg (21-8-0) recently made a successful return to the middleweight division, quickly defeating John “The White Mike Tyson” Phillips at BAMMA 6. Trigg destroyed Phillips with brutal elbow strikes that lead to a first-round TKO victory (doctor stoppage.) With that victory, Trigg earned a shot at Watson’s 185-pound belt. Before returning to the UFC and the 170-pound division in 2009, Trigg had an impressive run as a middleweight, defeating Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Kazuo Misaki. Trigg plans to prove that he is still a force to be reckoned with in the 185lb division by emerging as the new BAMMA Middleweight Champion.
BAMMA 7 marks the organization’s third visit to the city of Birmingham. The highly anticipated fight card is stacked from top to bottom with well-known marquee fighters and two title bouts. In addition to the highly anticipated match-up between Watson and Trigg, the card features a Lightweight Championship bout between BAMMA’s World Lightweight Champion Rob Sinclair and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt Leonardo Santos. Also joining them on the card is Ultimate Fighter Season 8 winner Efrain Escudero (15-3-0), who will face reigning UCMMA Lightweight Champion Tim Radcliffe (11-4-0) and Gloucester’s Matt Ewin (22-9-1) who will collide with Valentino Petrescu (11-2-0) in a Middleweight bout with fight of the night potential.
Additional bouts will be revealed over the coming weeks so stay tuned! BAMMA 7 will take place on Saturday September 10, 2011 at The National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. Tickets are on sale now at www.bamma.com. Limited VIP packages are available for £150 and include a ringside seat, entrance to the VIP after party and more!
For more information on BAMMA 7 please visit www.Bamma.com. Fans can also follow BAMMA on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bammauk and Twitter at www.twitter.com/bammauk.
