Clinical Stapleton claims first round submission victory

Martin Stapleton celebrates his victory over Sebastien Fournier

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Rochdale's professional cage fighter Martin Stapleton showed his technical ability to win his second outing in just six weeks as he forced Sebastien Fournier to submit in the first round at the BAMMA 17 event at Manchester's Victoria Warehouse on Saturday (6 December) evening.

Stapleton, who is a co-owner of the town's Full Contact Performance Centre, had been set to take on Jeremy Petley in the co-main event of the evening, but Petley withdrew from the contest a little under two weeks ago, and Fournier was drafted in as a late replacement. Stapleton didn't let the change of opponent get to him as he proved why he's one of the highest rated lightweights in the UK at the moment.

Stapleton began the fight technically well, throwing punches and showing good footwork.

Two minutes into the round he took Fournier down, a move which gave him control of the fight. With Fournier pinned underneath him, Stapleton picked his shots whilst always trying to improve his position and give himself more options.

It was more a case of when and not if Stapleton would finish the fight as soon as he moved his arm under Fournier's neck and locked Fournier in a rear naked choke; despite his opponent's best efforts, Stapleton quickly forced the submission tap to wrap up the win before the end of the first round.

This was Stapleton's second successive win and he's already talked about facing the best in Britain and Europe in BAMMA in 2015, a point that he backed up in the post fight interview, saying: "I think I can beat anybody in the UK at the moment, and I knew if I took my time I would finish him, which is what I did."