Chesterfield MMA fighter has McGregor and Mayweather in his sights after flawless ACB 65 win

Mixed martial artist Sam Boult has Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather in his sights after picking up a first round victory at Sheffield Arena on Saturday night.
Chesterfield MMA fighter Sam Boult clinches a choke to win at ACB65 at Sheffield ArenaChesterfield MMA fighter Sam Boult clinches a choke to win at ACB65 at Sheffield Arena
Chesterfield MMA fighter Sam Boult clinches a choke to win at ACB65 at Sheffield Arena

But when the Chesterfield welterweight flies to Las Vegas it will be strictly for pleasure, not business, thanks to the prize money he earned by choking opponent Adam Boussif into submission.

Sheffield-trained Boult delighted a partisan crowd at ACB 65 with an almost flawless performance against the Hertfordshire man.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Everything I was meant to do happened, I don’t think I’ve had that in a fight before,” he said.

Chesterfield MMA fighter Sam Boult celebrates victory at ACB65 at Sheffield ArenaChesterfield MMA fighter Sam Boult celebrates victory at ACB65 at Sheffield Arena
Chesterfield MMA fighter Sam Boult celebrates victory at ACB65 at Sheffield Arena

“I got told about the prize money for subbing the guy or knocking him out, but I’m a submission guy and thought ‘do what you do best’ and I wanted the money.

“I want to go see Conor McGregor fight in Vegas and I thought £5,000 covers that. I’ve already priced it up, that was my motivation in the camp.

“I can’t even remember when I was last away, it’s just been training and working.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Boult threatened early on with a rear naked choke attempt but his opponent survived.

Chesterfield MMA fighter Sam Boult celebrates victory at ACB65 at Sheffield ArenaChesterfield MMA fighter Sam Boult celebrates victory at ACB65 at Sheffield Arena
Chesterfield MMA fighter Sam Boult celebrates victory at ACB65 at Sheffield Arena

However, the hometown fighter landed a nice one-two combination and then dragged his man to the mat before attaching himself to Boussif’s back and locking in the fight-ending choke.

The win was the perfect way for Boult to bounce back, just seven weeks after the first defeat of his professional career.

“My last fight was a bad performance – it was my first fight in two and a half years and everything about that fight was the opposite to this one, it was a complete disaster,” he said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I wanted to get straight back in, there was no way I was quitting and it’s paid off.”

Boult, who is now 8-1 as a professional, hopes to fight again on ACB’s next event in Sheffield, slated for 23rd September.

Dewsbury lightweight Simon Stadnicki got the show started with a second round win over Ollie Coyne.

Leeds man James Doyle was sent to the mat early in round one of his fight with Rochdale’s Łukasz Pilch, the Polish-born welterweight scoring a spectacular knockout with a left hook.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ricardo Franco (3-2), a lightweight from Gainsborough, was choked to submission by Antonio Sheldon of Rochdale.

Sam Halliday had early success with a barrage of punches against Aaron Aby, but the Doncaster bantamweight was taken down and caught in an arm triangle by the Welshman in round one.

Wigan wrestler Mike Grundy put in a tactically brilliant performance to methodically take Michael Tobin down, beat him up and eventually submit him with a guillotine choke in the final seconds of the bout.

Andrew Fisher took a judges’ decision win over Sweden’s Niklas Bäckström, Alexey Polpudnikov scored an impressive TKO win over Donald Sanchez and Joshua Aveles won a unanimous decision against Brazilian Leandro Silva.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Russian middleweight Vyacheslav Vasilevsky submitted America’s Will Noland, before Manchester native Brendan Loughnane was dragged into a war of attrition by wily American veteran Pat Healy, who took a split decision.