This was an Amateur C bout with both fighters coming in lean and looking fit to fight. Both were tall and held considerable range. Mullen came in quickly and immediately shot in to score a great take-down on O’Neil who let Mullen slip into a quick side control. He rectified his mistake quickly however and managed to securely regain a good guard position.  Mullen clearly had strong basics on the ground and immediately took an underhook/cross face control on O’Neill that was tight, and he proceeded to work in a Darce. O’Neil did very well to defend a Darce that I thought was locked in and they scrambled to their feet.

Some crisp striking followed from Mullen who shot in to take down. O’Neil did well to defend as the shot was again of good quality. He was eventually taken down into side control. Mullen switched between scarf and side control with good control and he used the underhook to begin the set up for the arm triangle on the far arm. O’Neill defended strongly and avoided the submission, but in the process gave up his back. Mullen capitalised immediately and sunk in a rear naked choke that couldn’t be defended for very long, forcing O’Neil to tap out.

Mullen looked very solid in this fight and came in with good strong ground basics. The control that he gained from the good use of basics eventually led to a strong submission win. O’Neil clearly had heart and has plenty of time left to develop in the sport, so no doubt he will be back soon.