· BAMMA 5 Results And Review

The M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, England opened its doors to U.K. MMA fans Saturday evening as the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts (BAMMA) staged their fifth event at the impressive 21,000-seat capacity venue. With the show being aired on free television via SyFy this was the participating fighters chance to display their talents before a wider audience—and they did not fail to impress.

Headlining the event was the often embattled Paul "Semtex" Daley, who was due to face off against Japanese judoka Yuya Shirai for the vacant BAMMA welterweight title. However, controversy once again followed Daley. The bout was switched to a three round non-title fight as the Nottingham knockout artist failed to make weight.

Daley, did not let the controversy hinder his performance. He went out and proved exactly why he is still one of the most dangerous strikers in the 170-pound division. His clinical display of ferocious Muay Thai and boxing rendered Deep Welterweight Champion Shirai catatonic after just one minute and 46 seconds, securing his fifteenth career first round stoppage.

The bout could have severe implications in Strikeforce’s welterweight division as Daley is now strongly rumored to be the number one contender to Nick Diaz’s title. The British striker utilized his patented left-hook to send out a clear message to the awaiting Diaz.

In the co-main event former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez defeated former "The Ultimate Fighter" housemate James McSweeney by unanimous decision. The matchup was formidable for McSweeney as Rodriguez was riding a nine fight win streak and represented the Englishman’s toughest test to date.

McSweeney started brightly and used his striking to good effect, actually rocking the American and sending him crashing to the ground. He then followed up and proceeded to rain down a barrage of hammer fists on the former champion. However, Rodriguez was able to use all his experience, grabbing a leg for the takedown and allowed himself time to recover.

In the final two rounds Rodriguez scored takedowns and continued to use top control with the occasional ground-and-pound to take the points victory. It was a tough night for McSweeney, but he made a good account of himself. He may need to go back to the drawing board and think about taking a fight with a lesser opponent as he was clearly not ready for that kind of step up in competition yet.

Unfortunately, the arena was far from sold out and many gaps appeared in the crowd. One has to believe that BAMMA officials were a little over-ambitious with this event and a smaller venue would have been more fitting. The small crowd, however, did not take too much away from the vibrant and vocal atmosphere, with local lad Leigh "The Boom" Cohoon having some of the loudest support for the evening.

Cohoon’s raucous supporters were awarded with a battle of epic proportions as the Hyde MMA fighter locked horns with Rob "Robocop" Mills in what turned out to be the fight of the night. In the build-up hardly anyone would have expected Cohoon to even make it out of the first round against perennial finisher Mills. Yet, it was Cohoon who ended the fight by TKO after consistently landing blow after blow on the 33-year-old's chin.

It was a back-and-forth battle that had the fans on their feet, as chants of "Coony's gonna get ya" filled the air. The defeat hit Mills hard and he has since announced his retirement from the fight game. He will be missed.

Tim Newman’s win over Brazilian Diego Vital was marred with controversy as everyone in the venue seemed to score the bout in Vital’s favor; all except two of the judges that is, as Newman was given the nod in a split decision.

The fight was an impressive back-and-forth spectacle with Vital seemingly edging out each round, utilizing the clinch to great effect and catching the Englishman with thunderous knees which had him stunned on more than one occasion.

However, it was Tim Newman that got the victory. To Newman's credit, when he worked his jab and countered with the left hook he had notable success, and will surely learn from this.

Olympian MMA Championships' middleweight champion, Sweden's Alex Makhonin, looked great as he faced his toughest test to date in the shape of former UFC fighter "Professor X" Xavier Foupa-Pokam. The Swede managed to gain full mount, and utilized some brutal ground-and-pound to gain an impressive TKO victory over the highly favored Frenchman.

Full Results:

Franky Slater vs. Jeremy Petley:
Petley wins by armbar at 0:36 of Round 1

Costas Doru vs. Liam James:
Costas wins by rear-naked choke at 2:47 of Round 1

Tim Newman vs. Diego Vital:
Newman wins by split decision

Michael Johnson vs. Paul Cook:
Johnson wins by decision.

Jason Ball vs. Peter Duncan:
Ball wins by KO at 2:00 in Round 2

Rob Mills vs. Leigh Cohoon:
Cohoon wins by TKO at 4:16 in Round 2

Mohsen Bahari vs. Leeroy Barnes:
Bahari wins by TKO at 0:40 Round 1

Claudio Henrique Da Silva vs. Jean-Francois Lenogue:
Da Silva wins by rear-naked choke at 2:51 in Round 1

Xavier Foupa-Pokam vs. Alex Makhonin:
Makhonin wins by TKO at 4:48 in Round 2

Ricco Rodriguez vs. James McSweeney:
Rodriguez wins by decision.

Paul Daley vs. Yuya Shirai:
Daley wins by KO at 1:46 in Round 1