Professional MMA fighter Craig Skelton made a victorious return to the cage at the Almighty Fighting Championships at the O2 Academy in Leeds.
Skelton, who trains at the Kao Loi Gym in Harrogate, was matched with highly touted Warren Mason from the Charles Martin Academy in the North East. Both came into the match up with extensive amateur careers and wins by submission and KO. As such this was a highly anticipated bout.
The bout began with early exchanges of boxing and kicks, both low and high. This continued for a couple of minutes until Mason timed a great takedown to take the fight to the ground. Mason was unable to capitalise however, due to the excellent control of his posture by Skelton. Skelton inflicted some damage off his back using punches and also attempted some leg locks. With a minute to go in the first Mason got to his feet and tried to land ground and pound but Skelton used up-kicks to fend him off until the bell went.
Skelton started the second in positive fashion bloodying Mason’s nose with a terrific jab. This forced Masons hand as he scored another takedown. However this time when Mason stood Skelton exploded to his feet, turned his opponent to the cage, locked his hands and slammed Mason to the floor. He tried to escape but couldn’t and with solid side control Skelton started landing heavy ground and pound until the referee stepped in to stop the fight.
Craig Skelton said:
This is a great win for me and I’d like to give a shout out to my sponsors for this fight camp, Harrogate Glass Solutions, Future Builds, CB Physio, and of course our gym sponsor K9 Patrol.
Thanks too to Pierre at Kao Loi and Mabsy at Gamefight Leeds for all their training.