Once again Nantyglo Leisure Centre South Wales played host to the finals of the Welsh Amateur Grapple & Strike Championships Finals and what a final it was. The Amateur Grapple & Strike League has been a hot bed of talent all year and all these talented fighters came together to put on a fantastic show in front of a sell out crowd of over 500.

Before the finals Richard 'Shakus Maximus' Shore and Bristol Goshin Jitsu’s Steve Devine put up an excellent performance for the charity motor neurons disease and went through a two round war and raised over £1000 for the charity.

In the light weight division Spencer Dummer of TT Jiu Jitsu stormed to the championship title beating Nathan Ford of Newport MMA by guillotine choke and Conrad Elliot  of Bristol Goshin Jitsu by arm bar.

In the welter weight division Joseph Duffy of Falcons MA has gone through the grapple & strike this year like a tornado winning all his eight fights by submission. At the finals Joseph made short work of the very talented Kevin Cox from Gracie Barra Swansea then went on the beat the powerful Vim Mankoo of Cardiff MMA by arm bar. Watch out for Joseph in the future as he is a talent just waiting to be discovered.

The middle weight division has also been hotly contested this year with Darrell James of Falcons MA defeating Juka do Ryu’s Craig Thomas to make it to the finals. On the other side of the draw Combat Sports National Champion Simon Phillips stormed to the final beating Cardiff MMA’s Robert Pearce by arm bar. The final was set and both fighters gave everything they had for two four minutes rounds. The fight fell into the hands of the judges and Simon lifted the title by a very close split decision that could have gone either way.

Another hotly contested division was the light heavy weight category, Dave Coles of Gracie Barra Birmingham & the Combat Academy Hereford went into the finals with a submission win over Chris Nulty of LUSW, and Huw Griffiths of Falcons MA also made it to the final after defeating the power house Alex Davies of Swansea Gracie Barra. The final that was about to be witnessed was an incredible war with Dave Coles almost stopping Huw in the first round with constant pressure and a barrage of punches at the end of round one which at one point looked like the referee was going to step in, in round two Huw turned the fight around and dominated Dave leaving the decision in the hands of the judges. After a lot of deliberation, Dave Coles lifted the title by the narrowest of margins, which as like the middle weight final could have gone either way. What a fight.

It was now time for the heavy weight final between Hayden Buckingham of Exeter SDCS and street styles jujitsu’s Mark Holloway. As referee Anthony Williams said fight both fighters hit each in a true clash of the titans that echoed throughout the Welsh valleys and shook Nantyglo Leisure Centre to its foundations. There could only
be one winner though and once both these titans hit the ground it was Hayden Buckingham who took the title by submission.

Another successful year for the Grapple & Strike and the events just keep getting bigger and better. The 2006 league now kicks off on March 26th 2006 and the big show will be back with Grapple & Strike X being scheduled for April 22nd at Ebbw Vale leisure centre, South Wales. For more information about please go to the website at www.grappleandstrikewales.com or telephone 01495 216606