Hex Fight Series returned to Perth for show number fifteen on Saturday night in what was the promotion’s second venture interstate.
The event took place at Metro City, Northbridge, Western Australia.
In the main event, Sydney’s Abel Brites defeated highly touted New Zealand striking specialist Brad Riddell with an armbar submission in round one. Brites pulled guard early on, and eventually locked in a tight armbar that put a halt to the match. With the win, the former Hex lightweight champion moves to a 12-5 record, while his opponent Brad Riddell drops to 3-1 and puts a bit of a dent his ambitions to for a call-up for UFC Adelaide later this year.
Post fight, Brites made a call out to current lightweight Hex champion Callan Potter.
The co-main event of the night was staged between international lightweight Jason Ponet of France and BJ Bland from New Zealand. A close back and forth battle was fought out in the opening frame between the well versed adversaries, but in the later stages of the round, Ponet was able to connect with a hard spinning back kick which stung his opponent. Ponet followed through with an explosive flurry of strikes that downed Bland, and then proceeded with ground and pound to force a stoppage to the bout.
The experienced Thailand based Frenchman Ponet moves to 18-12-1 while Bland drops to 13-9 with the loss.
Also on the main card, hometown veteran and former UFC fighter Steven Kennedy got back to his winning ways with a second round submission of Gerhard Voigt in a middleweight contest while Lio Ilalio managed to outlast & outpoint his hometown opponent Sefita Funaki in a slug-fest between heavyweight contenders.
Results (Pro):
- Abel Brites def. Brad Riddell via Submission (Armbar), Rd 1
- Jason Ponet def. B.J Bland via KO, Rd 1
- Steven Kennedy def. Gerhard Voigt via Submission (Kimura), Rd 2, 4:16
- Lio Ilalio def. Sefita Funaki via Decision (Unanimous)
- Mike Diamond def. Hyun Min Hwan via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 3:53
- James Bishop def. Ryan Robertson via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2, 3:08
- Steve Erceg def. Seung Guk Choi via Decision (Unanimous)
- Dishon Ravindran def. Josh Frank via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) Rd 3, 3:12
