Gold Rush 1 Fight Card: Sam Hayward, Hoshi Friedrich headline new Victorian promotion this Sunday

Victoria’s expanding live MMA scene has another addition with new-start promotion Gold Rush set to debut this Sunday night in Ballarat.

Headed by Aussie kickboxer “Stone Cold” Steve Moxon, Gold Rush 1 will take place at the Ballarat Mercure Hotel & Convention Centre. Ten fights in total have been announced for the night.

The promotion’s first offering will be headlined by a welterweight title clash between hometown favorite Sam Hayward and Mooroolbark’s Hoshi Friedrich. In the co-main event, Valor featherweight champion Jesse Medina takes on the undefeated Fury title holder Regan Neoh.

Since making his pro debut just eight months ago, Sam Hayward has put together a tidy five-fight win streak with his most recent victory coming at AFC 14 last month. There, “The Sharpshooter” went the distance for the first time in his young career, scoring a split points decision over Ryan Mills. The 24 year-old, who trains out of Infinite MMA, had submitted all of his opponents leading up to then.

Hayward will face his toughest test to date when he squares off with Hoshi Friedrich (4-3) of Kings Co MMA on the night. “The Freight Train” has faced the likes of Steve Micallef and Stu Dare as a professional, and boasts an extensive amateur background. Most recently, “The Freight Train” defeated Damon Upton-Greer for the second time in his career at Valor Am Series 8. Fight News Australia caught up with Friedrich leading up to Sunday night for an interview.

Co-main eventer Jesse Medina is currently riding a six-fight win streak with four of those victories coming in 2015. Training out of Mildura MMA, Medina, a BJJ brown belt, most recently submitted Christian Burghartswieser at MMA Down Under 7 in August. The win followed the 24 year-old winning Valor’s one-night, featherweight championship tournament with submission victories over Ryan Gray and Myles Simpson. “Funky Cold” also holds a 2015 win over Garret Gross at Eternal 9.

Medina will square off with undefeated Regan Neoh (4-0) from Geelong on the night. Like Medina, “The Relentless One” is a BJJ brown belt, training out of the 10th Planet Melbourne  and Absolute MMA. The Fury featherweight champion last fought at AFC 13 where he outpointed Luke Mark Catubig.

Fight Card:

• Sam Hayward vs Hoshi Friedrich
• Regan Neoh vs Jesse Medina
• Jeremy Joiner vs Adam Abdulhak
• Junior Faatui vs Jake Chynoweth
• Mafi Ahokava vs Andrew Mcintosh
• Dom Macri vs Darren Gn
• Yuting Wang vs Andre Nguyen
• Junior Milo vs Rhylie Kim
• Frank Swagler vs Dylan Bishop
• Conan Sinclair vs Lendyl Borganah