Combat Academy fighter Chris Konieczny marked his semi-professional MMA debut with a win at Grapple & Strike Fight Night 2 held at the Nantyglo Leisure Centre.
At 5' 8" Chris was dwarfed by his 6' 5" one-hundred kilogram opponent Ashley James, and during the initial exchanges James used his reach advantage to land some heavy punches.
A 3-stripe white belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Braulio Estima, Chris sensibly took the fight to the ground, taking his opponent out of his favoured range. Once on the ground Chris controlled the fight, moving from side-control to mount and attempting to set up the arm-bar. James summonded up all of his strength and managed to reverse the position ending-up in Chris' guard from where he landed some heavy punches.
Chris then executed a text book sit-up sweep and as James tried to avoid the mount he made the mistake of giving his back and Chris sunk in the hooks. From here Chris started to work for the RNC. James was not going to tapout without a struggle, but after relentless pressure he was forced to submit at 3:40 of round one.
