BAMMA has announced the full card for its eighth show with the surprise news being that UFC mainstay and King of Pancrease Nate Marquardt now making his debut at BAMMA 9 against Yoshiyuki Yoshida on February 11th at the same Birmingham LG Arena that hosted UFC 138. The fight will be for the promotion’s welterweight title.
The organisation’s CEO David Green said in the official press release; “We are very excited to announce what we believe to be a great headline fight for the fans at BAMMA 9 for the World Welterweight Title. Yoshiyuki Yoshida is a UFC, Bellator, and One FC veteran who comes with notable wins over the likes of Dan Hardy, War Machine and Phil Baroni. Both Yoshiyuki and Nate are very excited about fighting at BAMMA 9 and although we had planned for Nate’s first fight to be in December, we believe it is worth waiting a further 8 weeks for such a great match up”.
While more details are not yet known about the February card, BAMMA 8 has been fully announced with the organisation using its last card as an opportunity to push homegrown stars. The fighters announced are as follows:
Light Heavyweight Fight
Jimi Manuwa vs Antony Rea
Welterweight Fight
Jimmy Wallhead vs Joey Villasenor
World Lightweight Title Eliminator
Andre Winner vs Niko Puhakka
Lonsdale British Middleweight Title
Jack Marshman vs Leeroy Barnes
Bantamweight Fight
Paul McVeigh vs Erik Perez
Lightweight Fight
Curt Warburton vs Tim Newman
Light Heavyweight Fight
Jason Jones vs Mark Godbeer
Welterweight Fight
Dean Amasinger vs Danny Mitchell
Lightweight Fight
Colin Fletcher vs Chris Fishgold
Welterweight Title
Tom Breese vs Qasim Shafiq
Bantamweight Fight
Brian Hyslop vs Owen Gayle
Jude Samuel, Matchmaker at BAMMA said in the official press release; “BAMMA 8 is a culmination of all the hard work we have put into the UK fighters over the past year. We see the return of Tom Breese, Tim Newman, Chris Fishgold and Jack Marshman defending his Lonsdale Middleweight title. An early possible fight of the night candidate, the lightweight showdown between Andre Winner and the talented Niko Puhakka who the BAMMA Lightweight champion Rob Sinclair has had eyes on to fight for a long time. Light Heavyweight prospect Marc Godbeer takes on his toughest test against one of Europe’s most talented Light Heavy weights in Jason Jones. And to top it all off the UK’s number one Light Heavyweight, undefeated Jimi Manuwa makes his BAMMA debut in front of a live global audience for the very first time as he takes on the Frenchman, Antony Rea. I’m excited! Are you?”