Update: Chris Morris failed to make weight for the flyweight bout and will not be eligible to capture the championships belt should he win. His opponent Luke Morris can still capture the title with a win.
After a six month break, popular Brisbane based promotion Nitro MMA returns this Saturday night with their twelfth instalment set to take place at the Logan Entertainment Centre in Logan City, Queensland.
The event will be headlined by a trio of title fights, which includes Ben Nguyen defending his bantamweight title against Reece McLaren. Gokhan Turkyilmaz and Isaac Tisdell clash for the Nitro lightweight title while Chris Morris and Luke Morris meet in a battle for the vacant flyweight belt.
In his last Nitro appearance back in March, Turkyilmaz impressively knocked out Alex MacDonald only 29-seconds into the bout to put himself on the top of the ladder for a potential title shot within the promotion. He backed that performance up with a big win over Filipino fighter Vaughn Donayre in Dubai. In his last outing though, Turkyilmaz was submitted by Jan Johannes Van Aswegen.
Turkyilmaz’s opponent Isaac Tisdell has won three-in-a-row coming into this bout, which includes two stoppages in Nitro. The Five Rings Dojo fighter has been inactive with his last appearance, a first-round stoppage over Joshua Smith back in October 2013.
Now splitting his time between Tristar MMA in Brisbane and Fightcross, Ben Nguyen will be looking at defending his Nitro bantamweight title for the first time. The Australian based American fighter needed only 25-seconds to stop Julian “Julz The Jackal” Rabaud back at Nitro 11. Since making his debut in Australia, Nguyen has quickly wracked up four straight wins.
Reece McLaren will be looking at halting Nguyen’s run in what will be the Toowoomba based fighters Nitro debut. Since getting submitted by Jacob Mahony in early 2013, 23-year-old McLaren has been in fine form, stopping Kiam Pham before capturing the Eternal MMA title with a second-round submission oof Shantaram Maharaj. A former Fightworld Cup title holer, McLaren will now look to also add the Nitro title to his accomplishments.
After an unsuccessful challenge at the Nitro bantamweight title Shindo New Breed fighter Chris “Kewl Bonez” Morris now drops down a division in a bid to capture the flyweight title (Update: Chris Morris missed weight – See above update). Standing in his way will be C4 MMA fighter Luke Morris who has looked a different fighter since moving down to flyweight. His coming off a unanimous decision win over Michael Roger back in March.
Also on the main card, Alex MacDonald will look to get his career back on track when he faces Brentin Mumford, while Joep Beerepoot meets Ryan Heketa in a welterweight bout.
Main Card:
- Gokhan Turkyilmaz vs Isaac Tisdell – Nitro lightweight title
- Ben Nguyen (c) vs Reece McLaren – Nitro bantamweight title
- Chris Morris vs Luke Morris – Nitro flyweight title
- Alex MacDonald vs Brentin Mumford
- Joep Beerepoot vs Ryan Heketa
Undercard:
- Megan Anderson vs Jodie Struzik
- Saeid Fatahi vs Luke Wright
- Richard Tuala vs Mick De-La-Warr
- Shane Mitchell vs Maui Tuigamala
- Ashkan Mokhtarian vs Edwin Arana
- Blake Russo vs Marcus Galloway
