Brisbane based South African fighter Justin “The Springbok” Van Heerden had the toughest test of his short career on the weekend when he took on Brazilian veteran Rodolfo “The Nightmare” Marques on the weekend and the Southside MMA trained fighter stepped up to the occasion winning via unanimous decision and claiming the Coastal Combat featherweight title.
The bout headlined Coastal Combat 7 which took place on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
Van Heerden moves his professional record to 5-3 while for the Brazilian veteran, it would be his sixth loss in a row. He drops to a reported 25-25-1, per tapology.com.
The rest of the card featured amateur bouts with the results below.
Results (Pro):
- Justin Van Heerden def. Rodolfo Marques via Decision (Unanimous) – Coastal Combat featherweight title
Results (Amateur):
- Michael Tepou def. Bradford Cowie via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 2:52
- Jamie Sporne def. Boston Caines via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2, 2:48
- Deegon McGurren def. Scott Nicholson via Submission (Triangle Choke), Rd 2, 2:42
- Brandon Walsh def. Brandon Stowers via Decision (Split)
- Lisa Kyriacou def. Hannah Thomas via Decision (Unanimous)
- Cooper Smith def. Bruce Qurbani via Decision (Unanimous)
- Hayden Buckman def. Rasa Dasa via Decision (Unanimous)
- Jayden Walsh def. Jake Savic via Decision (Split)
- Jamie Edenden def. Inna Leniu via Decision (Unanimous)
- Darcy Nunan def. Daniel Staveley via Decision (Unanimous)
- JayJay Te Huia def. Alex Hong via Decision (Unanimous)
- Courtney Rose def. Amanda Nowland via Decision (Unanimous)
- Jake Pitfield def. Anthony Briggs via KO/TKO, Rd 1, 2:40
- Rory Urquart def. Jeff McCann via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 1:55
*Image via Callum Cooper Fight Photography
