Martin Stapleton loses in his Bellator MMA debut fight

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Photo: Journeaux

Martin Stapleton

Martin Stapleton, Rochdale's professional cage fighter, lost to Saad Awad in his Bellator MMA debut in Portland, USA in the early hours of this morning. Awad forced a submission with a choke in the first round of the three round contest.

A stiff combination from Awad dropped Stapleton less than a minute into the round, and he pressed the action to the mat. Awad was well-prepared for a ground fight and took his back. From there, Awad fought past Stapleton's defence and secured a choke at the 3:46 mark of the first round.

The defeat, Stapleton's first in four years, is a setback for the former Royal Marines Commando and his many supporters in Rochdale and the UK but following his only previous loss he came back stronger and embarked on an an eight-fight winning streak, including winning the 2012 Cage Contender Fight Stars eight-man tournament defeating Jamie Rogers and Arnold Quero before beating Tommy Maguire in the final.

Speaking to Rochdale Online, Martin's wife Hayley said: "Don't know what to say really, I'm absolutely gutted for him. I know how much it means to him to be world champion and how much training he puts in, his dedication is unreal. He will come back stronger and I'm still very proud."

Supporters were quick to post messages on Facebook:

David Butlin said: "He's got the skills, things just didn't go his way tonight."

Phil Manicolo said: "We all know he will come back better than before."

Sam Malik added: "We're all still proud of him. Over to the next one I say. A setback is always a means to become stronger."

Jordanna Pitchford said: "The Stapes will conquer again."

After the fight Martin sent a message to his supporters: "Things didn't go well tonight, I can safely say that was the worst performance of my career. No excuses, I know what I did wrong and I know how to fix it.

"In this sport you have to take the ups with the downs and tonight was certainly a down.

"However, you won't see me moping around feeling sorry for myself or making excuses, Bellator have offered me another fight very soon so I will be dragging my ass straight back into the gym to make the adjustments and get back on track.

"Thank you to everybody that has shown me support leading up to this fight, you are all appreciated very much and I will come back better and stronger very soon."