Fight Night was the first event presented by House of Pain, a promotions organisation made up of World Power Lifting champion Mark Jordan and SDF Wales’ Chief Instructor, Phillip Aitkins.

The show was held at the Time and Envy Nightclub, one of the largest night spots in Swansea’s City Centre. I had never been to an MMA event held in a nightclub before and I was a little dubious at the prospect. I expected everybody to be standing, pushing and inevitably fighting.  It did really work though, Time-Envy was a decent sized venue which contained the excellent atmosphere. The Octagon was set up in the middle of the dance floor with plenty of flat level seating set around it and a viewing balcony on the first floor. All the bars and other facilities were within easy reach, being on the periphery of the seating.

The most outstanding feature of the night was the sound and light show. Six nights out of seven, Time-Envy is one of the leading nightclubs in the region, so has already got it’s own thumping P.A system and lighting rigs in house. Dry ice, The laser lights criss-crossed over the ominous silhouette of strangely familiar looking Octagon. I have to say it, it was the best sound and light display I have ever seen at a UK Mixed Martial Arts event.

As far as I am aware this is the first event of it’s kind in Swansea and the locals flocked from miles around and seemed to love it. Fight Night packed the venue to a one thousand two hundred capacity which is an incredible achievement for a first attempt.

The event was undoubtedly a platform for the SDF Wales fighters who took on tough competition in a series of Amateur, Semi Professional and Professional bouts. It is my understanding that the fight-card suffered from a lot of last minute drop outs. The event’s promoters did an admirable job of pulling it together by drafting in Hassan Muradi, Phill MacCall, Abdul Mohammed and even UFC Veteran Ian Freeman at the last minute to create a very respectable line up indeed.

The best fight of the night was definitely the wrestling war between Phil MacCall and Abdul Mohammed. Mentions also have to be made about XFUK’s Chris Hughes, who caught Ian Freeman student Ross Pearson with a beautiful judo style crucifix and William Elworthy. Taking on three time UFC veteran Ian “The Machine” Freeman at four days notice may not have been a wise move, but it was a very ballsey one.

On the down side, you could tell this was a first time promotion because of a couple of rookie hiccups which resulted in longer than usual gaps in the action, no programmes or official line up and the event finished at only nine thirty. Everything was there in this event, it just needed a bit of polishing. House of Pain did work extremely hard to put on Fight Night, so I am sure with the experience from this event under their belts Fight Night 2 will be even better.