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Photos: Kathy Burke
York and Hull fought out a spellbinding draw in the first ever Mixed Martial Arts match between two universities.
Over the course of the eight fights, York will be disappointed not to have won the full three Varsity points at stake, having lead 2-0 and later 4-2. Hull displayed great determination to win the last two fights and secure a share of the spoils.
The commitment of the players and quality of the fights were truly awe-inspiring and point to a healthy future for the sport at BUCS level. Credit must also go to the supporters for both sides inside L/N/028, who created a fanstastic atmosphere.
Each fight was divided up into three rounds of three minutes each and hits to the head were prohibited, as were kicks to the groin area.
First up was the women’s pairing as York’s Nettie Borrell faced Catherine of Hull. The first round started uncomfortably for Borrell as she was trapped for long periods on the floor, receiving hit after hit. But Borrell recovered towards the end of the first round and delivered some effective punches of her own.
But it was the third round which saw Borrell soar ahead and secure a unanimous victory decision from the judges. She ruthlessly took down her opponent and trapped her to the floor, then being able to deliver strikes and diminish the Hull girl’s energy completely. York took a 1-0 lead.
The second fight saw York’s captain Niall Durkan pitted against Hull fighter Adam. Initially, Adam took down Niall and pinned him to the ground. However, Niall wriggled out of the difficult situation and was able to execute several killer karate kicks.
In the second round, Niall improved his close-combat performance by securing his opponent in a headlock which must have lasted around two minutes. The third round was more even as Adam took down Niall a couple of times, but couldn’t take advantage enough and a stalemate ensued. The judges ruled that Niall won the fight in another unanimous decision and York led 2-0.
Next up, it was down to Mark Clifford Wilson to continue York’s momentum and he squared up to Michael Boggy of Hull. The first round was a round to forget for Wilson, who was trapped in a never-ending headlock. For the first time, ‘We are Hull!’ rang around L/N/028 as the travelling supporters sensed victory.
The second round was a fairly tepid affair, but the third round saw Boggy regain his earlier dominance to avoid Wilson’s kicks and trap his man to the floor, pegging back the overall scores to 2-1.
The fourth fight saw Jonathan Lloyd Evans face another Hull fighter called Michael as the schedule moved up towards the bigger and heavier men. It was a thunderous start for the Hull fighter, as he mercilessly slammed Evans down to the floor in probably the best take down of the afternoon.
Evans recovered slightly at the end of the first round, but during the second he was again taken down, this time getting trapped more viciously than before.
There was the possibility the fight had to be terminated during the third round because the Hull man was not wearing his box (groin protection) but fortunately Niall Durkan stripped and sportingly gave him his own one. However, it all went horribly wrong for Evans as he produced the dreaded tap-tap to concede the fight, making the overall score level at 2-2.
York’s Jonathan Coe then demolished his opponent Jesse, winning the fight in only the second round to regain York’s lead at 3-2. He secured his man in a suffocating headlock and Jesse had to concede otherwise he would have passed out.
In fight six, another quick York success was recorded as Herbert Van Listenburg forced his opponent into arm-bar submission within the first minute of the first round to make it 4-2 and put York on the brink of victory.
But this was snatched away during the final two fights. First, Edward Bradshaw was beaten by Chris of Hull, who only just shaded the fight in what was probably the most evenly-matched contest of the evening.
Then, Hull rescued a 4-4 draw as Magid of Hull completely over-powered York’s Miguel Terol. There were only brief periods where Miguel was able to escape the pincer-like grip of Magid’s headlocks.
After the eighth fight had finished, captain Niall Durkan was proud of his team’s performance despite the Hull comeback: “I am really proud of everyone today. The two teams were well matched. It is a learning experience as this is the first ever competitive match between two universities ever”.
Vision MOTM: Herbert Van Listenburg