A packed out Melbourne Pavilion welcomed show number fourteen from Hex Fight Series on Saturday night. The event was broadcast live on Fox Sports Australia.
An interstate battle in the welterweight division was contested between Victorian Kitt Campbell and Sydney based Saeid Fatahifar in the main event of the evening. The headliner fight lived up to all the hype and was an explosive back and forth affair. Wild blows were exchanged from start to finish, with both combatants having their fair share of success in the striking exchanges.
Fatahifar throughout the contest used his jab, along with powerful hooks while also targeting the body of Campbell with punches. Campbell mixed in his kicks well, connected cleanly with strong hooks and uppercuts during exchanges and had Fatahifar wobbled towards the end of round two. Both fighters had their moments with takedowns, but Fatahifar was more aggressive with his wrestling attack. Although with each successful take down secured by Fatahifar, Campbell was either able to scramble back to his feet or sweep his opponent. Campbell also looked dangerous from his guard. Round three ended with Fatahifar executing a takedown, Campbell eventually reversed the position landing in full mount, then proceeded to pepper away with ground and pound.
The match concluded with Campbell securing a unanimous decision victory, to the delight of the hometown crowd. With the win, Campbell moves to 9-3 and looks to gain a rematch with current champion Matt Vaile. Saeid Fatahifar drops to 6-4 with the loss.
In the co main event, heavyweight strikers Ben Edwards and Felise Leniu went to war. Both fighters began trading heavy early on. Edwards pushed forward and was aggressive in pressuring his opponent towards the cage. A barrage of heavy strikes dropped Leniu momentarily to the canvas, Edwards proceeded to follow through with ground and pound, but decided on urging his opponent back to his feet. Edwards again dropped Leniu with the same combination, this time the referee was forced to put a halt to the match at the 3:51 mark of the very first round
As a result of the win, Edwards, a former K1 & Glory fighter, remains undefeated in MMA and moves up to a 3-0 record. Kiwi veteran Leniu drops to 12-7 with the result.
Additionally on the main card, hometown flyweight Jordan O’Connor put on striking display in his decision win over his NSW counterpart Mitchell Birkett. The fast paced match up was primarily fought out on the feet, where O’Connor excelled in blitzing with versatile strikes rocking Birkett on a few occasions. Birkett a grappling specialist aimed to get the fight to the ground, but O’Connor demonstrated great takedown defense.
Full Results from the night can be found below.
Results:
- Mohammad Alavi def. Sy Leafa via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2, 4:12
- Joshua Riley def. Hussein Wassete via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2, 2:47
- Raphael Scott def. Lachlan Eadie via TKO (Punches), Rd 2, 2:13
- Kitt Campbell def. Saeid Fatahifar via Decision (Unanimous) — Main Event
- Ben Edwards def. Felise Leniu via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 3:51 — Co-Main Event
- Jordan O’Connor def. Mitchell Birkett via Decision (Unanimous)
- Hoshi Friedrich def. Saeid Karsaz via Submission (Kimura), Rd 3, 4:13
- Aidan Aguilera def. Josh Togo via Submission (Armbar), Rd 1, 4:32
- Ryan Robertson def. Brayden Graham via Decision (Unanimous)
Hex Fight Series 13 Recap: Vaile, Crute victorious in title fights on the night
