Alex Volkanovski continued his strong push for a UFC call-up on Friday night in Wollongong, stopping Jai Bradney with punches in the opening round. With the victory, the top-tier local featherweight made it an impressive 10 wins in a row and two-from-two against Bradney after the pair’s first encounter back in 2014 ended with a first round submission for Volkanovski.
After a brief feeling out period, Volkanovski took the fight to the canvas before unloading hard short shots from side control. Bradney desperately grabbed a leg looking to lock up a submission, however Volkanovski escaped and continued to unload on the veteran fighter from above before the ref stepped in and waved it off.
Volkanovski hasn’t tasted defeat since losing to Corey Nelson back in 2013. The 26 year-old holds additional wins over the likes of Anton Zafir, Greg Atzori, Rodolfo Marques, David Butt, Yusuke Yachi and Jamie Mullarkey since making his debut in 2012.
After three years away from competition, the event also featured the return of Sydney’s Sonny Brown who came up against Storm Damage veteran Dave Fowler at welterweight. Brown suffered a broken arm in what was a short-lived encounter before being stopped by KO. The win follows Fowler’s KO of Tony Dib at AFC 16.
In another first round KO result from the night, promising undefeated light heavyweight Nathan Reddy stopped late replacement Mike Turner.
Wollongong Wars 4 took place at the Anita’s Theatre in Thirroul, NSW.
Results:
- Alex Volkanovski def. Jai Bradney via TKO (Punches), Rd 1 – Wollongong Wars featherweight title
- David Fowler def. Sonny Brown via KO (Punches), Rd 1 – Wollongong Wars welterweight title
- Nathan Reddy def. Mike Turner via KO (Punches), Rd 1
- Orcun As def. George Symes via KO (Punch), Rd 1 – Wollongong Wars bantamweight title
- Kyle Montgomery def. Jack Hayes via Submission (Von Flue Choke), Rd 2
Results (3×3 mins rounds):
- Dan Bennett def. Tom Hamilton via Decision
- Adam Ozkan def. Andrew Yousef via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2
- Jaron Smith def. Liam Cooney via TKO (Injury)
- Gary Bonora def. Josh Richardson via TKO, Rd 2
- Adam Bailey def. Matt Warne via TKO, Rd 1
AFC 15: Rob Wilkinson & Alex Volkanovski victorious in title fights
