HeadHunters Fighting Championship May 2nd – Fight Talk Scotland Preview

On May 2^nd, burgeoning Scottish combat sports promotion Headhunters Fighting Championship returns to the Dobbie Hall in Larbert, Falkirk with an event packed with something for everyone.

For ticket information, and to keep up with all news on this and future shows, be sure to like the Headhunters Fighting Championships page by clicking HERE

For live reporting on this show and news on everything Scottish MMA, be sure to like Fight Talk Scotland on Facebook, by clicking HERE

The promotion’s trademark has become putting on cards with an international feel and blending MMA with K1/Muay Thai matches on their cards, and this card is no different. 

With K1 fighters from esteemed Mike’s Gym in Amsterdam, and a number of MMA fighters from Mjolnir MMA in Iceland, the home of Gunnar Nelson, this is looking to be Headhunters biggest card yet; and with the card featuring some intriguing MMA bouts to accompany the main event, which is arguably the biggest striking fight to occur on Scottish soil, this card is looking like one you don’t want to miss!

We have already previewed the main event of the show, a 90kg K1 bout between British Number 1 Darren Howieson (Headhunters) and Gokan Gedik of Mike’s Gym, and you can read that preview HERE.

Here, we will look at the rest of the card, previewing in detail the fights that we feel are of most interest to Scottish MMA fans.

In the co main event, top Scottish Lightweight Martin Delaney (9-1) fighting out of Higher Level, who is on a quest to get to the UFC, takes on undefeated Cypriot Paata Tsxpelia (7-0), representing Spartan MMA Cyprus, in a 73kg Pro MMA catchweight bout.

Scottish fans will know all about Delaney; his grinding top game and relentless Ground and Pound have established him as one of the countries top prospects for that next UFC call up, and his fights are always great to watch. However, we know next to nothing on his opponent. He isn’t on Sherdog, and his team don’t have a website. Is he a sleeper who can stun Delaney or is he going to be just another victim of the Higher Level fighter? Who knows, but we definitely can’t wait to see come Saturday evening.

In my opinion the most interesting bout on the card is the featherweight amateur title bout between Higher Level’s Calum Murrie and Mjolnir MMA’s Bjarki Omarsson. Now, as meaningless as Amateur titles can be, anytime two top amateur prospects from two of Europes top MMA gyms are in the cage together, I’m watching!

Murrie is known for exciting fights, his high level Tae Kwon Do and his tricky grappling game and training at Higher Level will only have improved the striking aspect of his game. Again, Bjarki is a relative unknown to us Scottish fans, but training out of Mjolnir, you know he will be coming to take that title home to Iceland. In a few years time, you’ll be watching Higher Level fighters take on Mjolnir fighters in the UFC, so take your chance now and get in at the ground level and don’t miss this fight!

The other big amateur MMA clash on this card pits Scotlands #1 Female Amateur Helen Copus, representing Granite City Grappling, against Mjolnir MMA’s rising star Sunna Davidsdottir. It’s always good to see a woman’s MMA fight on a Scottish card, especially one at this level. Copus has struggled to find opponents in Scotland and it’s encouraging to see a promotion go to the trouble of flying over a top international fighter for one of Scotland’s own to truly test themselves.

Copus is known primarily for her grappling, with her cage control and wrestling proving too much for her recent opponents and having not lost a grappling match in Scotland since moving to train with GCG, winning a number of open weight gold medals in that time. Her striking is coming along aswell, with Copus recently winning a thai fight and constantly looking to round out her game.

Sunna is a bit more of a known commodity than her Mjolnir team mates – skilled everywhere, having had a few professional Thai fights, and recently winning Gold in the masters blue belt division at the IBJJF European Championships. Those credentials alone, combined with Copus’ reputation in Scotland, show you just what a high calibre fight this is. Can Sunni use her high level thai to thwart Scotland’s Copus, or will Copus get it to the ground and use her excellent top game to send the Icelandic prospect home with a loss? I can’t wait to find out!

The full card is below, featuring a number of top prospects from both Higher Level and Mjolnir MMA in particular!

Main Event:

90KG K1 SuperFight

Headhunters Martial Arts Darren Howieson Vs Mikes Gym Gohkan Gedik