Jacob Mahony subs George & Maharaj to take Eternal Bantamweight Tournament

Impact MMA fighter Jacob Mahony submitted two opponents in one-night to take out the Eternal MMA Bantamweight four-man tournament last night at Eternal MMA 2.

The event was held at the Runaway Bay Community Centre on Queensland’s Gold Coast and was also headlined by a pair of title bouts (Story here).

The tournament started off with a Jacob Mahony taking on Matthew George from Toowoomba, Queensland. Mahony quickly found his mark with a stiff jab before George took the fight to the ground. Mahony escaped to his feet only for Mahony to again get another takedown. As George controlled the fight form here, Mahony stayed calm and composed and got the reversal. He quickly took the back of George and submitted him with rear-naked choke only 2:51 into the bout. A good first-round win for Mahony who progressed to the final all fresh.

It wasn’t as easy sailing in the other semi-final as up-and-coming fighter Shantaram Maharaj from 5 Rings Dojo came up against Luke Morris from C4 MMA who was looking at getting a rematch against Mahony after the two fought to a draw last year.

The two fighters put on a brilliant display of grappling as they battled for heel-hooks, leg-locks and armbars while constantly changing positions. Both fighters locked up tight submissions only for the other guy to scramble or squeeze his way out. Late in the second-round Maharaj did lock up the triangle choke and there was no escaping from this one as Morris succumb to the submission 4:27 into the second-round. The fight deservedly awarded Fight of the Night honours.

Maharaj would go on to face a much fresher Jacob Mahony in the tournament final.

When the final began, Mahony came out strong as Maharaj clinched and looked for a standing guillotine choke. Mahony escaped and Maharaj went on the front foot coming forward and throwing punches before finishing it with a takedown. Mahony got straight back to his feet, but Maharaj kept the pressure and got Mahony down again against the cage. There he landed a solid knee to the mid-section as Mahony stood up again. Mahony saw an opportunity and attacked the neck before pulling guard where he was able to secure the guillotine choke and get the tap at 2:13.

Maharaj will no doubt will be back and the best is still to come from him but it’s another nice win from Mahony who gets his fourth straight win including his third submission in a row. His last lost was to Julian Rabaud back in July 2012.

Bantamweight Grand-Prix:

• Jacob Mahony def Shantaram Maharaj via Submission (Guillotine), Rd 1, 2:13 – Grand-Prix Final
• Jacob Mahony def Matt George via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 2:51
• Shantaram Maharaj def Luke Morris via Submission (Triangle Choke), Rd 2, 4:27

Eternal Featherweight Title:

• Michael Tobin def David Greaves via Submission (Triangle Choke), Rd 1, 3:32

Eternal Welterweight Title

• Tristan Murphy def Shane Gregory via Submission (Americana), Rd 3, 1:42

Undercard:

• Tim Moore def Adam Corbett via Submission (Armbar), Rd 1, 2:50
• Mark Small def Jason Preece via Submission (Triangle), Rd 2, 2:25
• Jake Taylor def Matt Manukau via Submission (Leg Lock), Rd 2, 1:08
• Shauna Carew def Nusreen Isphany via Decision (Unanimous)
• Ryan Gray def Kyle Griffiths via Submission (Guillotine), Rd 1, 0:51
• Brett Jacobsen def Dean Kersey via KO (Punch), Rd 3
• John Walker def Jamie Naera via Decision (Unanimous)
• Adam Dickson def Jay O’Dell via TKO (Knees & Punches), Rd 2, 1:09

 Awards: 

• KO of the Night – Brett Jacobsen 
• Sub of the Night – Tim Moore 
• Fight of the Night – Shantaram Maharaj vs Luke Morris