Australia’s premier mixed martial arts organisation, Eternal MMA, is making its way back to Perth this month with Eternal MMA 62, featuring a card full of high octane mixed martial arts action.
Live from Perth’s HBF Stadium on October 30, Eternal MMA 62 will be headlined by a rematch between flyweight champion, Steve Erceg (7-1), and challenger, Paul Loga (7-5).
Their first meeting at Eternal MMA 47 saw Erceg stop Loga via strikes in the very first round, but the stakes have risen this time with the Eternal MMA flyweight championship on the line.
Erceg and Loga initially met back at Eternal 46.
Erceg will hope to make a third successful defence of his flyweight championship, whilst Loga is looking to stretch his two-fight winning streak into a title berth with a victory over Erceg at Eternal MMA 62.
Eternal MMA’s co-promoter Ben Vickers can’t wait for the main event.
“This is an amazing fight. Erceg did what very few, if any, do and got Loga out there early.
“Loga wants revenge and is a tough and gritty old-school fighter, and Erceg always brings top notch skills everywhere and pushes a hell of a pace. This fight will be fireworks.”
Other fights on the card include a lightweight attraction between a veteran on his last stand, Nicko Flessas (2-7), and Quillan Salkilld (0-1), who’s looking to bounce back from the loss in his professional debut.
Both fighters are hungry to get back in the win column.
“Flessas versus Salkilld is an absolute banger. It’s a must win fight for Flessas in his mid-thirties – he’s an amazing fighter and his record doesn’t do him justice – and the young prospect, Salkilld, is looking to bounce back from the loss in his professional debut.” said Vickers.
Looking forward to the event, Vickers says, “It’s very exciting to have Eternal back in WA. Eternal was instrumental in the growth of MMA in the state so it’s always very special; HBF Stadium is spectacular as well.”
The atmosphere inside the HBF Stadium is always electric!
Events are always sold out prior to doors, so get your tickets now to ensure you don’t miss out!
If you are unable to attend, viewers are able to stream the main card portion of Eternal MMA 62 live on the home of combat sports, UFC Fight Pass.
The preliminary card will be available for streaming live on Eternal MMA’s very own YouTube channel.
Diego Pereira (6-4) is a natural performer. Need proof? Just watch any of his past fights. The Brazilian fighter who now calls Australia home holds the record for the fastest knockout in Eternal MMA history, finishing Nix Agulto nine seconds into their bout with a vicious kick to the head. His last performance in the cage – a spirited loss to Jack Jenkins for the Eternal featherweight championship – was voted Eternal’s best fight of the year and the first fight in the promotion’s history to see a fourth round.
But in a year halted by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent fight cancellations, ‘El Pantera Negra’ (The Black Panther) makes his return to the cage this weekend when he fights Abdalla Eltigani (2-0) at Eternal MMA 61, a fight which he hopes will put his MMA career back on track.
Conventional wisdom would assume that Pereira has an easy task ahead of him on Saturday night – a consequence of his opponent’s relative inexperience – but there are dangers to fighting untried opponents. For one, tape on Eltigani is scarce, making him an unknown quantity to a degree. This is also the biggest fight of Eltigani’s young career, a prospect which makes him a dangerous opponent.
But Pereira understands this conundrum better than most and is preparing diligently for Eltigani by formulating a game plan based on the little tape available.
“We’re solid. There’s a few fights on Fight Pass, a few on YouTube. And though I haven’t fought any one as a professional with his physicality – being tall, lanky, a kickboxer – but as an amateur I have. And I feel like my IQ is on another level right now.”
Pereira also expects to finish Eltigani. “I think I’ll finish it inside two rounds, but I’m ready for everything. I’ll be ready if the fight goes the distance, but I have too many weapons, too many ways with which to win the fight, and though he’s a very talented young man, he’s never faced the high-level guys that I have, and he doesn’t have the experience that I have.”
This will also be the first time that Pereira has fought in over a year. In his last outing – the loss to Jenkins – Pereira suffered both a broken jaw and a hairline fracture in his right fibula, with both occurring early in the fight.
“We went to war in that fight; we made history; it was the first time that an Eternal fight had seen the fourth round.
“I suffered some pretty gnarly injuries, but I wanted it so bad. I had trained so hard, but it got to a point where my jaw was so loose that any touch to it hurt… I wanted to keep going but it was an instinct of survival where the body took over and shut down.”
However, the injuries sustained during the fight became a blessing in disguise, allowing Pereira to reset and evaluate the shortcomings in his past performances. He believes a major factor in his past defeats was how he approached the sport. Until now, he had neglected the mental aspect of combat and instead focused on the physical and technical aspects.
“The mind is like a computer: it runs everything, so if you know how to manipulate that feeling before you get to the event through breathing and visualization, it’s going to help the performance a lot more. Technically I was already at a high level, but it’s been about understanding things which help when it comes to situations where it feels like you’re about to jump off a cliff. It’s risky. You have that cold feeling in your stomach like you’re on a roller coaster.”
Growing up in Guararapes, São Paulo, Pereira lived with his mother, grandmother, and siblings. Throughout his childhood, money was always scarce. “Where I grew up in Brazil was a rough area. I come from poverty; we had enough to get by, but it was always a tight situation – we were always living cheque to cheque.”
School wasn’t a priority in Pereira’s life either, instead he left school to work odd jobs to support his family. “At 16 I dropped out of school and my mother told me that if I wasn’t going to go to school, then I would have to work and help around the house which was fine by me.”
Diego (far right – in the glasses) with his older brother and cousin on a rare BBQ day in Brazil.
Pereira’s first job was working part-time delivering food on a bicycle throughout his hometown, a job his mother had sorted for him. “I thought it was amazing. The restaurant had amazing food and they would feed us too, and at the end of each week I would have some money. Some went to my mother, and some went to myself so I could play video games and eat food we usually couldn’t afford like biscuits and candy.”
As a teenager, Pereira didn’t care for MMA. In fact, he knew nothing about it. He hadn’t heard of jiu-jitsu, nor the Brazilian icon, Royce Gracie. “To me it didn’t exist. I didn’t seek it; I didn’t have friends who did it. I’m sure it was popular, but to me it didn’t exist. I wasn’t watching any TV; I was oblivious to it.”
Pereira was introduced to combat sports through capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian martial art dating back to the sixteenth century, first practiced by slaves during Portuguese rule in Brazil.
The martial art is distinguished by its acrobatic play, its extensive use of groundwork, as well as sweeps, kicks, and headbutts. Though unlike most martial arts, capoeira is more akin to a dance than a fight. As such, music is an integral feature and functions as its soundtrack, to culturally guide its participants through lyrics which acknowledge slavery, spirituality, and the sport itself.
Later, through a government initiative which aimed to keep Brazilian youth off the streets, Pereira was introduced to kung-fu and ballet. “At the time I was only interested in doing kung fu, but to do kung fu I also had to do ballet and as a kid I didn’t want to do ballet. And as a kid you have all these misconceptions about it, but it was amazing.”
Diego after winning his first kung-fu medal.
Pereira’s journey to Australia began around this time too, a move which irreversibly altered his life. “My uncle was here in Australia already. He moved to work in the meatworks, because at the time Australia needed skilled workers in the area, so they had to outsource guys to come over here and work, and my uncle was one of those people.”
Realising how much the move would benefit Pereira and his siblings as it had for him, Pereira’s uncle planned for Pereira and his siblings to settle in the country. “My uncle was supporting us a lot at the time and figured that we could come to Australia as his dependents. To do so he had to prove that we depended upon him financially, and at first my older brother was able to leave and joined my uncle working in the meatworks.”
Two years later, his uncle offered Pereira the same opportunity as his brother, but it was dependent on Pereira returning to school. “At the time I quit my jobs and went to night school to finish my high school degree. So, I went back, started studying more; I went to a different city and started living with my aunt, and before I could complete my studies, my uncle called me and said I was good to go.”
In Australia, Pereira joined his uncle and elder brother and began working at the meatworks. This is where Pereira first became aware of mixed martial arts. “A guy I was working with told me about Anderson Silva, who was the champion at the time, and whether I was familiar and I wasn’t, and that’s how I got interested in MMA. Then when I got home I started researching and digging, finding out about Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, and I thought maybe I should do that.”
Once discovering MMA, Pereira began searching for a gym and trained around Queensland for the next few years.
With the support of his uncle, Pereira was able to quit his job and dedicated himself to mixed martial arts full time. He ventured back to Brazil to train at the legendary Rio De Janeiro gym, Nova União. Home to some of Brazil’s greatest mixed martial arts talent, including Jose Aldo and Renan Barao.
But having adjusted to life in Australia, Pereira found it difficult to live in Brazil. “I really loved the training, but I didn’t like the environment. I wasn’t living in the slums of Rio, but there was too much traffic, too many people and I began feeling lonely, so I started thinking back to life in Australia and decided I didn’t want to be here anymore.”
Afterwards, Pereira returned to Queensland and became an Australian citizen. This allowed him to begin searching for gyms in the United States to continue developing his craft, something that wasn’t possible in Queensland.
“After looking around, I came across Jackson Wink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They had dorm rooms which I thought sounded perfect because I could sleep upstairs, go downstairs and train. So, I figured out how much it would cost, and I contacted them and got accepted because you had to be invited.”
When Pereira arrived at Jackson-Wink, he understood how different his life would be for the next few months. “Every time you go down the stairs you see guys like Andrei Arlovski, Jon Jones, Alistair Overeem, Holly Holm, all of these stars. And then to see Greg Jackson, Mike Winkeljohn, all these guys you’d see coaching in the UFC, it was like wow I’ve made it. I’m actually here.
“Living in that environment was extremely new and extremely outside of my comfort zone. For the first month I hated it, sometimes I felt unsafe, there were some weird dudes there, some crazy motherfuckers, but it was a good growth period for me personally. I figured out that I was my own man and that I could handle my shit there.”
In Queensland, the gym Pereira has called home for the past decade is Southside MMA. He credits his coaches Paul Stolyar and Damage Maea – affectionately called ‘Uncle Dez’ – for his development in the sport.
“They’ve influenced me so much, Paul’s such a passionate coach and such a selfless being and we’ve done so much growth together. Those two are the heart of Southside MMA, if not for them the team would have fallen apart. They’ve influenced me so much, not just as an athlete but also a person through how they carry themselves in and out of the gym.
“And Uncle Dez was so supportive. When I was overseas, he would help me out financially whenever I needed it and he always believed. And when I got back he was the first to stick his hand out and help me and start doing pads.”
L to R: Uncle Dez, Diego, Paul Stoyler
All these experiences have led Pereira to Eternal MMA 61 this Saturday.
“I’m now reaching my prime, I’m 29 so right now I have everything coming full circle: the mental, the physical; I’m comfortable in my own body. Everything is coherent now.
“I’m constantly running scenarios in my brain: everything from the walk out; the music; the taste; my heartbeat; can I feel those emotions? Can I hear the people screaming my name?”
‘Will there be any signs of rust?’ I ask. “No rust.” Pereira tells me.
Stream the Eternal 61 main card live on UFC Fight Pass – Saturday Sep 11.
It hasn’t been without its challenges, but Eternal 61 is finally upon us. And with that comes a slew of tantalising matchups that promise to have the mouths of fight fans watering.
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen some unfortunate cancelations and postponements to several fights, including the push back to a later date for the upcoming event itself.
But with the card now firmly locked into place, one matchup that is sure to produce fireworks is Nick Kepu vs Jack James.
The two exciting middleweight prospects have been tasked with kicking off the main card this Saturday, and both are looking to make a big impression in front of a packed crowd at Southport Sharks.
With Kepu having already made his pro debut against Sam Dobb at Eternal 57 – an absolute showstopper in which he emerged victorious by way of split decision, the hard hitting Muay Thai Mulisha stalwart will be looking to capitalise on his momentum with a big win against Jack James.
‘Slick’ Nick Kepu is coming off a crowd-pleasing performance at Eternal 57.
“I just don’t see enough power in his striking to take me out” – Kepu told Eternal MMA when questioned about his upcoming opponent. “I just feel like I’m going to walk him down, stalk him, and pretty much take him out in either the first or the second (round). That’s just my honest opinion.”
On his goals with Eternal MMA, Kepu was measured in his approach to the future.
“The goal with Eternal is obviously to fight the champ whenever Cam (Eternal MMA promotor – Cam O’Neill) gives me that opportunity. But I don’t look past my next opponent. My job this weekend is Jack James. I just need to get the job done and then after that we can start talking from there. But until then, I don’t really look too far.”
Making his pro debut on the other side of the cage, Jack James is looking at making his own waves within the Eternal MMA organisation. The young up and comer is ready for the challenge that lies ahead.
Jack James is confident he’ll get his hand raised at Eternal 61. Source: @bangjackjits
When asked of his impressions on his upcoming opponent, James had the following to say, “We’ve got a game plan sorted for him.”
“I just think once I start picking up the volume and (implement) heaps of movement and get a takedown or two, he won’t be able to keep up.”
When asked if he had a prediction on how he see’s his hand being raised, James gave a confident, matter of fact answer,
“Ground and pound.”
James has lofty goals of his own when it comes to his Eternal MMA career, mirroring the sentiments of his Eternal 61 adversary,
“I want to keep fighting pro, I want to win the belt.” Said James.
“Middleweight 84 kilo champion.”
With both athletes full of confidence and their sights firmly set on each other, as well as a successful run against Eternal MMA’s middleweight elites, this is a fight that simply cannot be missed.
Stream the Eternal 61 main card live on UFC Fight Pass – Saturday Sep 11.
When Jack Della (9-2) lost his second fight in a row to begin his career – a submission loss to Australian middleweight Darcy Vendy – he trudged back to the locker room defeated, ruing the errors which ultimately cost him the fight.
After hearing the news, his trainer Ben Vickers, who couldn’t make the journey to Queensland to be in his corner, called Della to remind him he wasn’t an 0-2 fighter. Instead, Vickers told a then 19-year-old Della that he’d win his next 10 fights.
And here we are: nine wins later, with a tenth to potentially secure a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series.
Jack Della and his team, after extending his win streak at Eternal 48.
The fight, scheduled for 14th of September, will see Della fight Ange Loosa (7-1), another highly touted prospect who has made his name throughout America’s regional MMA scene.
Speaking about his opponent, Della believes Loosa matches up well with his skillset.
“I think his style matches up well to mine,” said Della, “he’s the type of guy to pressure and come forward which is what I want.
“I want to try land counter shots and damage him as he comes in”
It’s no surprise Jack is receiving this opportunity with the UFC now. In his professional career, all eleven fights have ended in stoppages, something which has not only endeared him to Australian MMA fans, but evidently to the UFC as well.
“I’ve never gone into a fight to win a decision. I can last a whole fight and keep doing what I’m doing, but my style creates finishes. I want to get clean finishes, that’s what I’m chasing,” said Della.
Jack has a fan-friendly style, with all his wins coming by KO.
This opportunity has been a long time coming too.
The COVID-19 pandemic has meant fewer opportunities for international prospects such as Della. He was first touted to make his UFC debut in June of last year, as part of UFC 251 – the pay-per-view scheduled to take place in Perth, Della’s hometown – only for it to be cancelled.
After receiving his call up to Dana White’s Contender Series, Della has committed to training full-time, something that wasn’t possible in the past. Previously, Della had juggled his fledgling MMA career with a job in finance, a far cry from his life as a mixed martial artist.
But despite juggling two occupations, Della has always been an astute student of mixed martial arts, a fighter who takes his preparation very seriously. His trainer believes this is what separates his student from the rest.
“I’ve never met an athlete like him before. I’ve got guys who are probably just as talented as him, but they don’t work as hard as Jack. He lives it, breathes it, and sleeps it.”
“I wish I could say ‘I’m the world’s best coach’ but I don’t think it’s true. I just think he’s really good.” said Vickers.
In the cage, Della is a no-nonsense pressure fighter with the ability to finish fights wherever they end up. He’s able to overwhelm his opponents by relentlessly coming forward; not allowing his opponents to catch a breath. Most importantly, he’s able to sense blood in the water too.
“I know when to pull the trigger, I don’t pull it too early, I don’t pull it too late. I have a good idea of when I need to step on the gas and take my opponent out.” said Della.
Della has consistently improved throughout his young career.
In Della’s first professional fight he fought local rival Aldin Bates in a competitive affair which was ultimately decided in the final round when Bates overwhelmed Della, finishing him with ground and pound strikes.
In his last outing, Della was able to avenge that loss by emphatically knocking Bates out early in the first round, ending any doubt of who was the better fighter between the two.
Della avenged his first pro loss in a rematch at Eternal 53.
I asked Della whether he felt like giving up after beginning his career with two straight losses.
“To be honest, no. I really enjoy competing and I knew I was better than those performances
“Losing is part of this sport and you’ve got to be able to swallow the pill and move on. We put the losses on the back burner and figured out how to win so it was a good learning curve,” said Della.
It’s not unusual for great fighters to lose in their professional debut. Legendary fighters including Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva and Amanda Nunes all lost in their professional debuts, but losing your first two fights is unusual. It’s a beginning that would make most reconsider their career and call it a day, but instead Della persisted.
A 9-fight win streak, and now on the cusp of a UFC contract.
Della’s nine-fight win streak is a testament to his approach to mixed martial arts. He’s a calming presence, someone who relishes in the opportunity of competing without feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders.
This attitude has made the longest reigning welterweight champion in Eternal MMA history, and one of Australia’s best MMA fighters as well.
Della’s next fight represents the biggest fight in his young career, a life changing opportunity to pursue his dream on the biggest stage but speaking to him you wouldn’t realise it. Instead, Della’s treating it like any other fight.
WATCH Dana White’s Contender Series on ESPN/Kayo Sports or UFC Fight Pass on September 15th to see Eternal MMA alumni Jack Della fight for a UFC contract.
It’s a new opponent, but the same goal for Eternal lightweight champion Dan Hill (5-0).
Due to COVID-19 interstate travel restrictions, Hill will now defend his Eternal MMA lightweight title against Jack Becker (8-2) at Eternal MMA 61.
Originally scheduled to fight veteran lightweight Brentin Mumford, Hill will test his skills against another of Australia’s top lightweights when he steps in the cage with the internationally recognised Becker.
Jack Becker brings a wealth of experience into this title fight.
It’s a huge opportunity for Becker who told Eternal MMA,
“I believe I’m the toughest test of his career so far. He’s been tested before by Josh Togo who’s solid but not as solid everywhere as I am.”
On how he sees the fight playing out, Becker expects to finish the undefeated champion.
“I think the fight’s going to be a mixture of everything: grappling, striking. I don’t think it needs to stay anywhere for anyone but I do think there’ll be a finish.”
Not one to shy away from a challenge, Hill accepted the late replacement without hesitation, telling Eternal MMA,
“I accepted the fight straight away. I told them I’d fight anyone.”
The challenge of fighting Becker also excites Hill.
“I think this is a better fight for me. I think it’s a fight that will progress my career a lot more than the fight with Brentin [Mumford] would and it’s something that makes me a lot more excited to get up and train for.”
Dan Hill is happy to take on all challengers in the Eternal Lightweight division.
It’s a huge blow for Mumford whose opportunity will have to wait for now, but promoter Cam O’Neill is hopeful about rescheduling a fight as soon as possible.
“Eternal MMA is committed to ensuring that our athletes get every opportunity to perform as we continue to adapt to the constantly challenging travel restrictions in Australia.”
“Unfortunately for Brentin, these restrictions have ruled him out of this fight but he will get the chance to challenge the winner for the title later this year.”
When asked about the replacement, O’Neill couldn’t be happier.
“We were lucky to be able to secure such an exciting replacement that is definitely worthy of the challenge.
“The Eternal lightweight division is the most exciting division in Australia and Dan Hill sits at the very top. His opponent, Jack Becker, comes into this fight hungry with a huge pedigree and is coming off an exciting win himself. What an exciting fight.”
Buy tickets to Eternal MMA 61 at Southport Sharks RSL club on September 11th (5pm start) OR stream the main card live on UFC Fight Pass.
It’ll be grappler versus striker when former Eternal lightweight champion David Martinez (6-3) meets Dimps Gillies (4-3) at Eternal MMA 61.
Both men will be looking to get back into the lightweight title picture and Eternal MMA co-promoter, Cam O’Neill, believes a victory would do just that.
“The Eternal lightweight division is on fire. It’s the best division in Australia right now and this fight features two of the very top lightweights with very contrasting styles.
“One thing’s for sure: this fight is going to be fun, and the winner will most likely move forward to fight for that number one contender spot in their next fight.” said O’Neill.
With both fighters desperately chasing a victory, this has the potential to be fight of the night. The key to victory for each fighter will be to impose their skillset by keeping the fight in their domain.
As an accomplished striker, the key to victory for Gillies will be to keep the fight standing. Throughout his career, Gillies has shown the ability to make any fight a dog fight by coming forward and throwing strikes indiscriminately.
Dimps Gillies not shy to throw down in the middle of the arena.
Former Eternal MMA lightweight champion Martinez will hope to get back into the win column using his patented wrestling skills. Martinez’s wrestling has laid the foundations for the victories in his career thus far, and he’ll hope to mitigate Gillies advantages on the feet by keeping him on the ground.
Eternal MMA co-promoter Ben Vickers expects the fight to be fireworks.
Former Eternal champion, David “The Smiling Assassin” Martinez eager to put himself back into title contention.
“This is the archetypal grappler versus striker matchup. Dimps is one of the most complete strikers in Australian MMA and David is one of the premiere grapplers.
“It’s one of those fights where each man has a clear route to victory, so the excitement is who can impose their game. I love these old school MMA fights; I can’t wait for this scrap!” said Vickers.
It was with an enormous amount of excitement that I jumped out of my bed at 5am on Wednesday 17th of March. I can assure you that it’s not often I am excited to wake up at 5am! The first ever ‘Eternal Fight Weekend’ was the cause of that excitement. An ambitious and ballsy move from the Eternal Team to put on two shows over two nights in the same venue, where four championship belts would be retained or rehomed. I can tell you sitting here post the event, we pulled it off!
Even travelling felt weird, living in WA every trip is a marathon, COVID had put a stop to my frequent travelling (I’d been on one plane trip since we kicked off 2020 with the three shows in three weeks). I definitely think travelling is like training, you get better at it the more you do it. Add to the usual discomfort of being sandwiched between two, usually oversized, FIFO workers the good old facemask and the hitleresque air stewardess shouting at you if it isn’t covering pretty much all your face and the fact that due to budget constraints the entertainment has been switched off, it makes for a torturous five hours. I’ve always been a terrible sleeper and struggle to sleep in my comfortable bed, so sleep is out of the question but I was excited and the trip passed really quickly.
Arriving at the beautiful Mantra at Sharks Hotel is always nice, I have stayed there so many times now I know all the staff and am made to feel super welcome. Up to the room, quick shower, dump bags and first meeting with Cam in the books it’s a restless night’s sleep and up for weigh-ins for Eternal 57. As seems to be the case this year we had a late pullout, this time in the bantamweight tournament. To add insult to ‘injury’ our replacement missed weight by nearly three kilos and the tournament was off and poor Shaun Etchell was without a fight but as small consolation would get first crack at the winner of Meech vs Hibberd which would now be for the belt. All other fighters made weight at the first time of asking and we had ourselves a show! The rest of the day was spent checking in teams for Saturday and prepping the venue for Friday night. Two shows in two nights seems full on, but add to that all the associated work that goes with it and you have two very stressed promoters running around like blue arsed flies.
Patrons filling out two nights for MMA action.
Australian MMA history in the making.
Friday morning and we were up with the sparrows to supervise the cage going in then back to Southport Sharks for Saturday’s weigh ins’. Don’t worry, I’m also confused and I was there. Saturday weigh-ins ran much smoother than Friday’s with all fighters making weight at the first time of asking. Friday’s card was strong but Saturday’s card was the best I’ve ever seen in domestic MMA in my 10 years down under. Post weigh-ins we headed back to Carrara Indoor Stadium to get things underway. I won’t go into the fights but you can catch them here but i will say the standard across the board from Fight 1 to Fight 8 was exceptional. Special mention must go to the Absolute MMA team with Sam Hibberd winning the bantamweight strap in spectacular fashion and Jack Jenkins with his first defence of his featherweight title, making short work of Jesse Medina in the much anticipated rematch. First night in the books and what a night, the atmosphere was through the roof and there were less than half the expected crowd for Saturday in attendance, which meant Saturday night would be wild. No time to celebrate, bed and an early rise for the crescendo.
Jack Jenkins sticks to his gameplan.
#AndNew – Sam Hibberd is the new Eternal Bantamweight Champion.
#AndStill Jack Jenkins successfully defends his title.
I must just say that the Eternal 58 event was the finest fight card, on paper, we had ever put together. Every fight had the potential to blow the roof off the venue. Add to that close to 2000 fans and the stage was set for fireworks. Every single fight was above and beyond expectation and the bar was set high in Bout 1 and continued to rise all the way to what was one of the most intense main events we have ever witnessed. John Fraser stepped up to the biggest challenge of his career and took everything the vicious Kitt Campbell threw at him, weathered the early storm and paid Kitt back in spades in the late rounds to get his hands on the middleweight title recently vacated by now UFC fighter Isi Fitikefu. Fraser will be a hard man to dethrone and I look forward to his first defence. Congratulations must also go to Dan Hill with a come from behind fourth round submission of the hugely talented Josh Togo. Hill taking the lightweight strap from the Australian Top Team man.
Eternal 58 was phenomenal and all fighters and coaches should be remarkably proud of their fighters. The standard in Australian MMA right now is outstanding. Now there will be some people reading this saying “But what about the slippy canvas?” and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the heroes on the internet with their opinions on what we should do and how we should have had a different material and all the other brain busting ideas. For those people let me tell you this, if you were upset, frustrated or pissed off by the canvas multiply your emotions by a million and you may get somewhere close to how Cam and I felt about it. We have used that canvas for 2 years and 8 shows and never had an issue, we also poured our heart, soul and money into this landmark weekend only to have to nearly call it off. Here at Eternal we are good, the best in the business but we can’t control the weather. The humidity was through the roof and it made the canvas like an ice rink. Credit to the fighters who changed game plans and pushed through those terrible conditions. Mumford and Dimps put on one of the finest scraps I’ve ever seen and they had the worst of it so props to those two beasts. Mumford will get the next shot at Dan Hill’s strap.
Pressure gameplan earns Dan Hill the elusive lightweight title.
John Fraser picks apart Kitt Campbell.
A new middleweight king crowned.
I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t so excited about the length of the trip home but knowing i’ll see the wife and kids helps with the monotony of it all. Also, being exhausted helps with the plane sleeping situation. In summary Eternal put on the biggest weekend of MMA that has ever been seen at a domestic level in Australia (outside of the UFC and even then I’d say it was close) and we put over $60,000 into the pockets of the fighters. This is what makes me proudest about the whole thing. I have always said Eternal is a show for the fighters run by fighters (Albeit many moons ago for Cam and I to have laced the gloves up in anger) and we feel very strongly about giving back to the sport we love so dearly. I need a rest but I can’t wait to do it all again, which won’t be a long wait as we go again in Melbourne, May 7th.
