Thrilling Title Fights at Ultimate Force

Three belts were on the line at Ultimate Force: Nemesis on Saturday night at the Doncaster Dome.

Ross Pearson retained his Ultimate Force Lightweight title with a first round submission victory over Ian Jones.

Denniston Sutherland took the vacant Ultimate Force Light Heavyweight belt while Wayne Murray became the promotion’s new Welterweight champion.

The highly rated Ross Pearson lived up to the hype with a victory over local favourite Ian "The Mongoose" Jones When the fight hit the canvas, late in the first round, Ross was on top and the writing was on the wall. He passed guard and began landing some serious punches. Jones tried to turn out and Ross snapped up the chance for a rear naked choke.

Wayne Murray and Leslee "Hollywood" Ojugbana put on a tremendous show in the bout to decide the destiny of the vacant Ultimate Force welterweight belt.

Leslee came out looking for the takedown. Throughout the first round, the pair fought out a gruelling ground war - with Leslee on top. These are two of the strongest welters out there, and they put everything into a tough five minutes.

The second round was more of the same - with Murray taking the upper hand. He took Ojugbana’s back and got his hooks in, but he couldn’t get his arm in for the choke. No matter how often he was punched in the side of the head - Les refused to lift his head up.

Towards the end of the second - they were stood up. This had been as tough as it gets - and both looked tired. Leslee backed up to the fence. Wayne landed a head kick go. He stepped in and let sharp combination go. Leslee took them all, wobbled, but stayed on his feet.

When they came out for the third - Les did all he could. He shot for the takedown. Wayne knew it was coming and was waiting to demonstrate the perfect sprawl. He flipped Les over, mounted him and sent down a relentless sequence of punches. Referee Goddard had no choice and waved it off.

The former welterweight champion, Jason Ball made a winning debut as a lightweight, submitting Aidan Marron with a rear naked choke in the first round of their fight.

Denniston Sutherland put on an impressive performance against Kevin Thompson to take the vacant Ultimate Force Light Heavyweight belt

Kevin Thompson could not cope with the power of Sutherland. Thompson showed Denniston plenty of respect. Instead of his normal full frontal assault - he started on the back foot. When the two came together - Kevin had a couple of good looking submission attempts - but neither the guillotine nor the rear naked choke were successful. By the end of the first - it was Denniston who had taken control. With his opponent awkwardly against the cage - Sutherland unloaded. If the bell had come a few seconds later - it could have ended there.

The tide had turned. From the start of the second - it was Denniston pushing the pace. Kevin desperately grabbed the cage to avoid the take down. When they hit the floor he covered up as Sutherland continued to let the punches go. The referee stepped in, Denniston celebrated and Kevin Thompson stayed down.

A convincing performance from Denniston Sutherland.

The quality of the latest card cemented Ultimate Force’s reputation as a promotion on the up.