Following their China debut in April, Australian Fighting Championship returns to Australian shores for show number 20 this Friday night at the Melbourne Pavilion. The ten fight lineup, which will stream live right here at FNA, will be headlined by an anticipated international middleweight title bout between former UFC fighter Melvin Guillard and rising New Zealand standout Israel Adesanya.
Fighting out of City Kickboxing in Auckland, Adesanya comes from an impressive kickboxing pedigree having competed against the world’s elite kickboxing talent, also contending for the Glory Middleweight Championship. Adesanya has also stayed active in MMA and currently boasts an unblemished record of 9-0, competing primarily in China’s WLF promotion.
The experience edge in MMA definitely goes to UFC and Bellator veteran Guillard (32-18-2) who has faced some of the best fighters in the world in a career of over 15 years in the sport. The knockout artist will be eager for a win on the night and get back on track following recent defeats in the Kunlun Fight and Bellator promotions.
The initial middleweight title fight between Priscus Fogagnolo and Dylan Andrews was scrapped after Fogagnalo was forced out of the match due to a nasty knee injury.
Also on the night a four-man welterweight tournament will be put on show. The first bracket of the tournament will be contested between current Brace welterweight champion Theo Christakos (7-2) and experienced Lebanese fighter Abdallah Hamdan (9-4). In the other bracket of the tournament, hometown fighter Hoshi Friedrich (5-4) is slated to take on Anton Zafir (7-3), who returns to competition for the first time following his UFC release.
The finals of the welterweight tournament will be contested at a later date.
Also on the main card, explosive muay thai athlete and Hammers Gym product Brock McRobb will make his professional MMA debut against fellow Victorian Steve Thouliss, while New Zealand’s Damian Maru takes on Mildura based Phil Ikafunga.
Fight Card:
- Israel Adesanya vs. Melvin Guillard – Middleweight Title
- Hoshi Friedrich vs. Anton Zafir – Welterweight Tournament
- Theo Christakos vs. Abdallah Hamdan – Welterweight Tournament
- Brock McRobb vs. Stephen Thouliss
- Damian Maru vs. Phil Ikafunga
- Josh Riley vs. Jamie Renouf
- Anthea Paton vs. Nicole Szepesvary
- Saeed Karsaz vs. Joel Kendrick
- Oscar Kong vs. Matt Heath
- James Vandarakis vs. John Armstrong
https://www.fightnewsaustralia.com/australian-fighting-championship-afc-20-live-stream/
