Dimps Gillies drop to lightweight paid in full when he secured an impressive 47-second victory against the previously unbeaten Blake Donnelly in the main event of Eternal 54 on Saturday night.
Gillies pressured early and followed up a low-kick with a pair of hooks with the second one, a left, dropping Donnelly. Gillies followed up with heavy strikes to get the stoppage.
It’s the biggest win of Gillies’ short career as he moves his record to 5-2 while Donnelly drops to 4-1.
“It was too quick and I wish it went longer but you can’t help it in this sport,” Gillies commented in his post-fight speech before offering to catch up with his opponent later that night.
“Full props to my opponent. Thanks for taking the fight. It was hard to get one. All love to you and I hope you have a safe trip home. We are having drinks at my AirBNB and Blake Donnelly, you are more than welcome brother.”
Asked about his approach to fighting, Gillies responded “I just free flow. Everything you see is all reactive.”
Although his main gym is Bodyshot MMA, Gillies went on to thank the NTG team who he has been training with recently, commenting that his game has progressed exponentially in the last two weeks under that gym.
It was a big night for the promotions lightweight division with Dan Hill from Integrated MMA securing a big win over David Martinez, who is a former lightweight titleholder in the promotion. It’s hard to outwork Martinez but Hill managed to do just that. After losing the first round he finished the strong to take the unanimous decision victory and take his record to 4-0.
Justin Van Heerden scored a first-round submission over Brisbane based U.K fighter Toby Meech. The impressive performance was overshadowed by a brain snap immediately after the fight ended as Van Heerden flipped his opponent off, much to the disgust of his own coach who gave him an immediate dressing down. Van Heerden apologised to his opponent and their team before issuing another apology in his post-fight speech. Nonetheless a stellar performance from the South African-born fighter who moves his record to 6-4.
A main-card opener between Tim Schultz and Cody Barnwell started the main card in entertaining fashion. Schultz did not stop pushing forward and shot in for regular takedown attempts. To Barnwell’s credit, he was able to stuff a large portion of them and gave as good as he got. After three rounds, Schultz took home the split-points decision.
The event took place at Carrara Stadium on Queensland’s Gold Coast on Saturday night with the preliminaries live on youtube and the main card streamed on UFC Fight Pass.
Results (Pro):
- Dimps Gillies def. Blake Donnelly via KO, Rd 1, 0:47
- Dan Hill def. David Martinez via Decision (Unanimous)
- Justin Van Heerden def. Toby Meech via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 4:05
- Tim Schultz def. Cody Barnwell via Decision (Split)
Results (Amateur):
- Tasar Malone def. Chris Thorne via Submission (Kimura), Rd 1, 2:32
- Oden Muscat def. Hoani Selwyn via TKO (Strikes) Rd 2, 1:30
- Tom Pratt def. Jed Stewart via Submission (Guillotine Choke), Rd 1, 1:06
- Alastair Volders def. Arik Hassett via TKO (Strikes), Rd 1, 2:22
- Daniel Staveley def. Sonny Fai Taamaletoa via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 1:49
- Declan Wolfinden def. Matt Natad via TKO (Strikes), Rd 1, 2:00
- Dominic Aston def. Patrick Hill via TKO (Strikes), Rd 2, 1:20
- Dazz Kolovos def. Arman Muhovic via Decision (Split)
- Selina Mongi def. Rachel McAndrew via Decision (Unanimous)
- Jake Pitfield def. Christopher Hanlon via Submission (Armbar), Rd 1, 1:50
Eternal 53: Jack Della retains title in brutal knockout victory over Aldin Bates
Eternal 52: Stephen Erceg submits Shannon Ross; Togo & Jenkins also victorious in title fights
