FUTURE Mixed Martial Arts champions took the chance to showcase their skills at a Blackbeard Fight Series event at The Centre in Farnham Road, Slough.

The Blackbeard Fight Series is an amateur no-head-shot show which acts as a platform for both MMA practitioners who have the goal to compete in a cage environment, and a stage future champions.

The event was the second that the Blackbeard team has put on after the huge success of the inaugural show back in October. The event included emerging talent from Slough, Birmingham, London and Luton.

The show saw a mixture of MMA and K1 style matches headed by the S3 Fight League, which had matched up all the K1 fights but under the Blackbeard umbrella.

The Blackbeard team has a vision for high quality events held both locally and nationally, and for them to be an important platform for amateur career athletes to experience competing in front of big crowds.

Slough Observer:

PHOTO: Fynn Judd from Basingstoke takes on Jamal Hussain at The Centre in Slough on Saturday.

The opening MMA bout of the evening saw junior fighter Yahiya Abdulla, 15, represent Slough Wrestling Club and take on Andrew Herrmann from Team Bison in London.

The bout was at a cage weight of 73kg and Herrmann took the win with a guillotine choke one minute and five seconds into the first round.

Abdulla was not happy with his performance compared to the way he convincingly won in the first event and has vowed to come back stronger next time out.

The co-main event was an exciting encounter for the vacant BBFS Bantamweight title where Imran Salam of the Morefire MMA team in Luton took on Muhidin Abubakar of Al Qawi Self Defence in London.

The bout had the crowd on the edge of their seat and was a back-and-fourth battle over three rounds.

Salam managed to score well with the judges with a few huge slams and was constantly looking to take the fight to the floor, but Abubakar equally showed resilience and composure to apply a brilliant all-round MMA game and show that he was comfortable wherever the fight went.

Slough Observer:

PHOTO: Fynn Judd of Basingstoke shows his emotion at the Blackbeard Fight Series event.

After three gruelling rounds the superior wrestling skills of Salam had done enough in the eyes of the judges to take the bout. He won by a close split decision to become the new BBFS Bantamweight champion.

The main event of the evening was contested by Hamza Himdy from the Ultimate Athlete Gym in Luton and Javaid Khan for the vacant BBFS Lightweight title.

Khan, 46, won his bout on the first show and thoroughly deserved being a contender, immediately asked for a title shot . Himdy, 22, stepped in who had likewise tasted victory by winning at another MMA tournament. The two made worthy contenders for the lightweight strap.

Khan started off throwing heavy leg kicks but over the course of the remaining rounds it was Himdy that took control of the fight. Khan fought valiantly and, despite his years, continued to push forward.

However, in the end, it was the younger man who saw an opening deep into the third round and got the tap via an armbar at four minutes and 24 seconds.

Himdy, having just returned from fight camp training in Thailand, becomes the new BBFS Lightweight champion though all in attendance gave Khan a standing ovation for defying his age and producing such a gutsy performance.

The show was hailed as a massive success with fans impressed with the high-level technical ability that was on show from the fighters – a truly unforgettable night of MMA action in Slough.

The third Blackbeard show will take place in Birmingham on December 17. Anyone that is interested in competing should visit www.BBFS.events and register on the participants page.

Fight honours awarded on the night

Fight of the night award: Imran Salam V Muhidin Abubakar

Submission of the night award: Adnan Sarayqumvia Von Flue choke

Striker of the night award: Tomasz Sznar

Takedown of the night award: Imran Salam

Team of the night award: Ultimate Athlete (Luton)