Integrated Mixed Martial Arts heavyweight Chris Lokteff (11-1) will meet undefeated New Zealand heavyweight Steven Warby (6-0, 1 no contest) for the Nitro heavyweight title at the promotions next event, Nitro 10 scheduled to be held on October 26 in Logan City, Queensland.
The match-up was confirmed to Fight News Australia by a source close to the promotion with fighters verbally agreeing to the fight with contracts expected to be finalised shortly.
It will be Lokteff’s second shot at a Nitro title after suffering his only loss when he challenged Sam Kei for the Nitro Light Heavyweight title back in October 2012. Following the loss, Lokteff made the decision to move to heavyweight and has won all three fights since making the move. In his most recent outing, Lokteff submitted Cameron Bracewell in an entertaining back and forth fight on the Nitro MMA 9 event last month. Lokteff took control in the second round where he was able to submit Bracewell with a rear-naked choke submission. With the win, Lokteff got his eleventh stoppage from just as many wins.
Based out of the City MMA gym in Auckland, New Zealand, Steven “Warzone” Warby has fought the majority of his bouts in the Industry of Combat NZ promotion where he compiled an impressive record that includes numerous first round stoppages caused by punches. Warby took on veteran Matt Toa for the ICNZ heavyweight title, however it ended up being declared a no-contest after an appeal deemed Warby finished the fight with knees to a grounded opponent which were prohibited. Warby is also undefeated as an amateur where he went 2-0.
In a welterweight bout on the card, the ever popular Isaac Tisdell from the 5 Rings Dojo will clash with Joshua “Wolfman” Smith who has recently based himself out of the Team Quest gym in Chiang Mai, Thailand. After consecutive wins against Alex MacDonald and a nine-second stoppage against Harley Taylor in his last outing, Tisdell will be eager to prove himself as a welterweight contender against Smith who will be looking at turning his career around following back to back losses to Brentin Mumford.
Further fights are expected to be announced shortly for the event which will again be held at the Logan Entertainment Centre in Queensland where the promotion has held sold-out events in their last few events.
