Marines to the rescue at QFC3
Following an unprovoked assualt on popular QFC regular, Ian "M-16" Butlin both the CWFC & QFC teams have been busy searching for a suitable replacement to take on the rugged Welsh brawler Daniel "Denzil" Thomas on June 8 at QFC 3. Thankfully Ian is recovering well but in his own words, the show must go on.
A fellow team mate has stepped up to the replace the injured Butlin in the shape of the unbeaten QFC Lightweight Martin Stapleton (4-0-0) and do battle against Daniel "Denzil" Thomas (8-5-0) next month at the The Frontier Nightclub in Batley, West Yorkshire.
Stapleton is unbeaten in professional MMA competition, and made his pro debut at QFC2 last September where he defeated Chris Thompson. Stapleton overwhelmed Thompson inside a round due to some powerful ground and pound and despite having to fight at a higher weight with only 24 hours notice. Stapleton then travelled up to the North East of England to take on local fighter Steve Warris at the third Fightzone event in December last year. Stapleton was again on form as he captured the Fightzone Lightweight Title in just 42 seconds with another punishing TKO win.
The Royal Marines PTI then faced the experienced European Kickboxing Champion, Ingolf Nielson at Pride and Glory in February of this year and once again delivered another dominating performance which forced Nielson's corner to throw in the towel to stop Stapleton's patented ground and pound attack.
Stapleton's last appearance was on April 19 when he made his Cage Warriors debut on "Enter The Rough House 6" and yet again suffered from considerable uncertainly when his scheduled opponent Steve Tetley pulled out just two days before the show due to injury. As a result Stapleton took on last minute replacement David Johnson in a gritty 3 round catchweight battle which saw the QFC fighter triumph via a unanimous judge's decision. Although Stapleton was able to control the early part of the fight, the young Wolfslair prodigy pushed the pace and "Stapes" had to work his way out of trouble when Johnson looked to have the advantage towards the end of the fight, earning Johnson the ‘man of the night' title despite losing.
Now Stapleton faces his toughest test to date against Daniel Thomas who has fought some of the best fighters in the European 70kg division since making his debut in November 2006 at House of Pain 7 . Although Thomas didn't return to pro MMA action for another 6 months, he soon earned himself a reputation for never turning down a fight with a staggering 10 professional MMA bouts in just 6 months and at one time racked up an impressive 7-1 record in his first 8 bouts. These included wins against the likes of Shooto Japan veteran Antanas Jazbutis and the unorthodox striker, Sami Berik with his only lost against the current FX3 Lightweight Champion Andre Winner at Cage Warriors.
Since that impressive start, Thomas has suffered as he climbed up the ranking with losses against the likes of Greg Loughran, Ian Jones, Bendy Casimir and a controversial stoppage against Bodan Cristea in Germany. However this has only forced "Denzil" to refocus and now the former Bus Driver from the Rhondda in Wales has gone full time and now trains with some of the best MMA camps in the South West of Britain and is looking to travel further afield in the near future to improve his game.
Thomas has also moved into the kickboxing circuit with 2 wins in Hybrid Kickboxing action and back in March he stepped in on just two days notice to defeat the highly regarded Essex based Muay Thai specialist Jay Woodham by unanimous decision. In this contest "Denzil" showed a tremendous amount of courage by attacking the more refined striker and taking numerous counter shots before his bulldog tactics did enough to earn him a fine win.
Thomas will be looking to show his improving skills against the unbeaten up-and-coming Team Quannum fighter when they meet on June 8. Whilst Stapleton will also be looking to show his pedigree in one of the most stacked domestic divisions and also show why he is so highly touted by many MMA insiders when he faces his toughest test to date next month in Batley.
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