SBG’s Lee Hammond has qualified for the lightweight finals for this weekend’s IMMAF World Championships in Bahrain.
Hammond overcame Kazakhstan’s Abdilbek Kairgali in the Thursday’s semi-final to advance to the championship match on Saturday. He is now 4-0 this week in the amateur championships, which serves as a proxy for mixed martial arts as an Olympic sport.
His first match of the tournament this week went viral, after the Irishman pulled off a beautiful submission which combined an omoplata with a head & arm choke.
Ger Harris, Ryan Spillane, Paddy Wilkinson and Trevor Makengo have all also qualified for the championship match in their respective divisions.
Onto the final this Saturday 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/OPASYtT1k1
— Lee Hammond (@LeeHammond96) November 15, 2018
5 Irishmen fighting for Mixed Martial Arts World Championship Gold medals this Saturday in the kingdom of Bahrain. What a time to be alive 🙏🏼
— Lee Hammond (@LeeHammond96) November 15, 2018
This is equivalent of the Olympics for MMA and we have Irish athletes through to the finals on saturday looking to bring back Gold for Ireland. https://t.co/Z3Blfdgx2d
— Cian Cowley (@CianCowley) November 15, 2018
It started with 51 nations and +300 athletes. After a competitive week Ireland has 5 competing for World Champion status on Saturday in Bahrain with zero funding or support. A proud day for Irish amateur sports. @sportireland @Shane_RossTD @IMMAFed @Inst_of_Sport pic.twitter.com/xs38CfzFCe
— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) November 15, 2018
Due to ‘rare storms’ in Bahrain, video feeds and further details are unavailable at this time due to internet outages.
