This was the last Amateur C bout on the card and featured an independent fighter (Haigh) Vs a brand new fighter in Sam Thompson (Sukata). There was no tester period and Thompson came out to fight with a nice inside leg kick. Haigh answered with a shoot, which Thompson used to his advantage with a fast sprawl straight into a good guillotine attempt. It looked locked in and Thompson pulled guard from his sprawl position and wrenched the submission. Haigh had one hand in however, and was doing a good job of defending it. There was some good maturity at this point from Thompson, who can be seen listening to his coaching staff whilst working the submission.  

The guillotine wasn’t to be and Haigh prized the elbow off and over his head. He then seemed to be working a stack pass with a double bicep control, but Thompson was pummelling and maintaining his under hooks well. Haigh answered with some GnP in the ribs, but Thompson used his right underhook to pull the arm of Haigh over his head whilst he hip escaped, giving him a superb opportunity to take the back, which he subsequently did. He then used a good wrist control and a tight arm across the neck to finish the Rear Naked Choke, giving Thompson his first win in his debut.

Thompson looked to have solid posture control off his back and took the opportunity to take the back quickly and efficiently. Haigh’s posture control from top position was always forward and without the ability to GnP to the head, this will serve to do little but provide opportunity to sweep or submit from bottom. Back to the drawing board for Haigh, but onwards and upwards for Thompson who looked composed and in control for the entire bout.