Isaac Tisdell was the owner of the fastest finish in Nitro history after he knocked out Harley Taylor back at Nitro MMA 8 at a time of nine-seconds. On Saturday night he was able to improve that with an eight-second finish of Gokhan Turkyilmaz to capture the Nitro lightweight title.
Meanwhile, Ben Nguyen was able to reclaim his Nitro bantamweight title by split-decision, and Luke Morris edged Chris Morris also with a split-decision.
Nitro MMA 12 went down at the Logan Entertainment Centre in Logan City, Queensland.
In the main event though it was short and sweet as Isaac Tisdell landed a side-kick to the body, followed by a short spinning-back fist that connected and sent Turkyilmaz falling to his knees. Tisdell immediately looked to capitalise, throwing a kick to the body and further punches before referee Peter Hickmott stopped the contest. Eight seconds was the official time given but it seemed even shorter than that.
An impressive return to the cage for Isaac Tisdell from Transform MMA & Five Rings Dojo, who has now won three straight bouts in Nitro. It’s back to the drawing board for Gokhan Turkyilmaz who will no doubt be hugely disappointed that he was unable to showcase anything.
Ben Nguyen was made to work to defend his Nitro bantamweight title, edging out a split-points decision against Reece McLaren.
Nguyen landed some good early shots before McLaren closed the distance looking for a takedown against the cage. The fighters ended up in a position that dominated a large portion of both rounds one and two, with the judges left to decide if McLaren’s takedown attempts & cage control was enough to give him the round over Nguyen who looked satisfied to defend the takedown against the cage and land the occasional knee & punch.
McLaren did finish the first round strongly, landing big punches and elbows from the top position.
Nguyen had his best moments in the third-round where he rocked McLaren with a series of punches. Nguyen chose not to instantly go in for the finish which allowed McLaren to regain his composure and finish the fight looking for another takedown against the cage.
When the judges decision was announced, one judge scored the fight to McLaren but two others scored it to Nguyen who walked away with the win. In the process, Nguyen sucessfully defends the Nitro bantamweight title which he captured earlier this year.
In a battle for the inaugural Nitro flyweight title, Luke Morris from C4 MMA defeated Shindo New Breed fighter Chris Morris in another closely contested fight that had people on social media discussion the final decision.
As is usually experienced by the flyweights, the bout was fast paced from the get-go. Chris Morris began on the front-foot with Luke Morris looking to counter. Both were throwing a lot of leather but neither were able to rock their opponent early.
In the second-round, Chris Morris changed his game-plan up a bit, shooting in and getting Luke to the ground with a takedown. Luke got back to his feet as both fighters then exchanged securing a takedown and opponent scrambling back to their feet. Finally, Luke was able to get some top-position control before he moved to north-south. Morris escaped and landed another takedown. He immediately went for a submission before Morris escaped as the buzzer went for the end of the round.
Chris came out aggressive in the third and final round, throwing strikes before Luke shot in for a takedown attempt. Chris locked up a guillotine attempt but Luke used it to gain side-control and then mount. In an effort to escape, Chris bridged and the two ended up back on their feet. Chris got a takedown but Luke utilised a kimura attempt from the bottom to sweep where he finished the round landing heavy punches from mount.
With a close fight where neither fighter dominated any singular discipline, it was no surprise that the final verdict came back a split-decision with two judges giving it to Luke Morris. Luke continues his fine run at flyweight by claiming the title. After failing to make weight the previous night, Chris was ineligible to take home the title had he won. He now also drops to 0-2 as a flyweight fighter.
After back-to-back knock-out losses, Alex MacDonald returned to out-wrestle Brentin Mumford en-route to a unanimous decision victory. Mumford landed a heavy kick to the body in the opening seconds as MacDonald closed the distance to look for a takedown. It would be Mumford though who would get the trip takedown from the inside, but once on the ground MacDonald was able to use the kimura to reverse. It was the first of a series of reverses as both guys showed some entertaining grappling and trying to capitalise from the top.
Mumford did well to defend the takedown attempt early in the second, but once MacDonald did get the fight down he was able to move from side-control to mount and back to side-control. Mumford looked to get back to his feet which allowed MacDonald to take the back. Unable to get the hooks in, he rolled backwards with his opponent, ending up in side-control. MacDonald momentarily secured mount before Mumford regained half-guard.
MacDonald’s intentions were clear by the third-round as he quickly looked for the takedown. Mumford landed a solid knee to the body before he ended up on his back. MacDonald again moved to side-control as Mumford attempted to lock-up a kimura from the bottom. MacDonald reversed the kimura attempt from the top, which allowed him to shortly after move to mount. Mumford gave up his back, however MacDonald was unable to sink in the choke as Mumford scrambled to regain guard. With seconds remaining in the bout, both threw everything at each other with MacDonald from the top and Mumford from the bottom until the buzzer went.
MacDonald deservedly walked away with the unanimous decision win and takes his record inside Nitro MMA to 5-1. After a disqualification loss back in July, Mumford loses consecutive fights for the first time in his career.
On the undercard portion, Jodie Struzik showed great courage to survive a knock-down in the opening exchange, but ultimately succumbed to a series of strikes in the second-round before giving up her neck to give Megan Anderson the rear-naked choke submission win. The end came at just 30-seconds into the fight.
Tristar MMA Brisbane fighter Luke Wright got swept of his feet by a leg-kick and hip-tossed to the ground within the opening seconds by his opponent Saeid Fatahi. There he was able to compose himself and attacked with an armbar from the bottom. When that failed, the two exchanged some heavy fire on their feet with Wright ultimately throwing a kick, with the knee connecting on Fatahi, dropping him to the canvas for the finish, 3:42 into the first-round.
In an entertaining and wild slug-fest, Mick De-La-Warr overcame Richard Tuala to secure the second round TKO, while Maui Tuigamala remained undefeated as a professional by submitting Shane Mitchell in the first-round.
Edwin Arana rebounded with a second-round submission over Askhan Mokhtarian, while in the opening fight of the night, Marcus Galloway won a unanimous decision over Blake Russo.
Nitro returns with their next event schedules for March 2015.
Unofficial Results (Main Card):
- Isaac Tisdell def Gokhan Turkyilmaz via KO (Spinning Backfist), Rd 1, 0:08 – Nitro lightweight title
- Ben Nguyen (c) def Reece McLaren via Decision (Split) – Nitro bantamweight title
- Luke Morris def Chris Morris via Decision (Split) – Nitro flyweight title
- Alex MacDonald def Brentin Mumford via Decision (Unanimous)
- Ryan Heketa def Joep Beerepoot via Verbal Submission (Heel Hook), Rd 1, 3:53
Undercard:
- Megan Anderson def Jodie Struzik via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2, 0:30
- Luke Wright def Saeid Fatahi via KO (Kick & Punches), Rd 1, 3:42
- Mick De-La-Warr def Richard Tuala via TKO (Punches), Rd 2, 4:18
- Maui Tuigamala def Shane Mitchell via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 3:52
- Edwin Arana def Ashkan Mokhtarian via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2, 3:33
- Marcus Galloway def Blake Russo via Decision (Unanimous)
