On August 24 at the Melbourne Pavilion, Australian Fighting Championship will take one step closer to crowning their first Welterweight and Middleweight champions, as the Melbourne based promotion is set to host the semifinal stages of their Title Tournaments at AFC 6.
Corey Nelson (pictured right) continues to prove himself as one of the country’s upper echelon Welterweights. At AFC 5, the KMA Top Team product scored a third round finish over the previously unbeaten Alex Volkanovski, after dominating the contest. Nelson will now go on to meet Brazilian Walber De Barros for a spot in the Welterweight final. Before this one however, the Brace Welterweight title holder will look to add the Nitro strap to his collection when he faces Ian Bone at Nitro 9. De Barros gets fast tracked to the tournament semifinal without fighting after his AFC 5 opponent Zein Saliba missed weight.
After tapping highly touted Kiwi Luke Jumeau at AFC 5, undefeated submission specialist Jake Matthews will now meet Gamebred fighter Dean Purdon for the other place in the Welterweight tournament final. As for Purdon, he did well to exploit his opponents weakness to earn his spot opposite Matthews. “The Punisher” wrapped up experienced Kick Boxer Peter Davenport early before eventually getting the win via Rear-Naked Choke in the first.
In the Middleweight division, Steve Kennedy (pictured left) will meet Vik Grujic after proving too good on the ground for New Zealand’s Cole Davids at AFC 5. Kennedy got the tap in the first round after locking up a Kimura. The WA standout has won 12 of his past 15 outings, including notable wins over Sam Brown and Hale Vaa’sa. Two of his defeats in that period came at the hands of Cage Warriors FC champion Jesse Taylor and the Wanderlei Silva trained Dave Mazany. Kennedy’s slated opponent, Vic Grujic outpointed Daniel Way to book his spot at AFC 6. With that win, “The Spartan” rebounded after losing two on the trot against Zein Saliba and also like Kennedy, Dave Mazany.
The other Middleweight semifinal matchup will see Daniel Kelly look to extend his unbeaten run to five when he faces Slovinia’s Bor Bratovz. Kelly survived an early onslaught to submit Chris Birch in the opening stanza in their AFC 5 clash. The Victorian is currently undefeated after moving on from a successful Judo career, where he boasts four Olympic appearances. Bratovz will arguably serve as Kelly’s biggest MMA test to date. The Slovenian is a prolific finisher with all seven of his victories coming within distance.
Below are the announced matchups for the card, which is expected to be finalised and announced sometime this week.
Middleweight Tournament Semifinal:
- Steve Kennedy vs Vic Grujic
- Daniel Kelly vs Bor Bratovz
Welterweight Tournament Semifinal:
- Corey Nelson vs Walber De Barros
- Jake Matthews vs Dean Purdon
