(Image courtesy of Brett Zimmer)
Arlene Blencowe (pictured right) put away women’s featherweight champion Faith Van Duin (pictured left) in the third round of the Storm Damage 5 main event on Saturday night, in what turned out to be a non title fight due to Blencowe missing weight.
The Aussie boxing standout proved too good on the feet for a resilient Van Duin, with the end coming for the Kiwi from a knee to the body. The fight was contested at a catch-weight of 67.4kg.
Blencowe now makes it three wins in a row with the victory, and moves her MMA record to 5-4 in the process. The NSW Central Coast based fighter also avenges her decision loss to Van Duin at Storm Damage 3 with the win.
Not the outcome Van Duin was looking for having signed with Invicta Fighting Championships recently. She also suffers her first pro defeat with the result, after putting together four wins to begin her career. The Kiwi does keep hold of the title regardless of the result however.
With over 30 fights to his name, Aussie veteran Jon Leven snatched the promotion’s vacant welterweight title after submitting late replacement Paul Franchi with a second round Kimura. Earlier in the night, Franchi faced Dan Holly in a middleweight bout, and after scoring a quick fire 18 second TKO, stepped up to meet Leven for the welterweight title after Peter Cross was forced out, reportedly due to a work related injury.
Weigh-in issues also plagued the scheduled four-man lightweight championship tournament. In the end the title was contested between Luke Pung and Amarbir Singh. Making his debut on the night, Pung won a unanimous decision over Singh, who was undefeated going into the fight after two outings. The judges scored the encounter 29-28 across the board in Pung’s favour.
Meanwhile, in a heavyweight title eliminator, Benjamin Sosoli booked himself a spot opposite current champion Andrew Machin at some point in the future, after stopping Mathew Wade with strikes mid-way through the opening period. Wade stepped in to face Sosoli on just one weeks notice following Simon Osborne’s late withdrawal.
Storm Damage 5 took place at the Canberra Southern Cross Basketball Stadium. The next offering from the promotion has been announced for 21 March, 2015, at the same venue. Continuing with the one-night title tournament format, the event will feature a middleweight Grand Prix Eliminator.
Unofficial Results:
- Arlene Blencowe def Faith Van Duin via TKO (Knee) Rd 3, 3:00
- Jon Leven def Paul Franchi via Submission (Kimura) Rd 2, 1:19 – Storm Damage Welterweight Title Fight
- Luke Pung def Amarbir Singh via Decision (Unanimous) (29-28 x 3) – Ltorm Damage Lightweight Title Fight
- Benjamin Sosoli def Matthew Wade via TKO (Strikes) Rd 1, 2:12
- David Morley def Damien Norman via Submission (Standing Guillotine) Rd 1, 1:52
- Jo Van Duin def George Martin via TKO (Strikes) Rd 2
- Ryan Green def Allan Highfield via Decision (Unanimous)
- Jon Schwartz def Ben Koubaridis via Decision (Unanimous)
- Paul Franchi def Dan Holly via TKO (Strikes) Rd 1, 0:18
* Unofficial results courtesy of @neilrooke01 on Twitter.
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