J’can MMA fighter ready for major title bout

JAMAICAN MIXED Martial Arts fighter Matthew Colquhoun will face Ray ‘Braddah’ Cooper III in a main event bout for the X-1 World Events Welterweight Championship in Honolulu, Hawaii at 1 a.m. Sunday morning, Jamaica time.

This will be Colquhoun’s first bout since August when he had a first-round knockout over Cesar ‘El Leon’ Zambrano of Colombia.

Colquhoun said that the fight will be a big deal because of Cooper’s background and upbringing in the sport.

“He’s from a strong line of MMA fighters. His dad was an MMA fighter who is one of the pioneers of the sport in Hawaii. He has some heavy hands and he has a striking background, but is more known for his strong (Greco-Roman) wrestling background,” said the Duhaney Park-based fighter.

Colquhoun has been in MMA for about a year but has spent time in other combat disciplines such as kick-boxing, wrestling, boxing, jiu jitsu and sambo. However, in his relatively short career in MMA, he has faced all of his opponents in front of their hometown fans.

ATTRACTING SCOUTS

He said that he challenged Cooper not only because he wanted the title, but also because a win could attract scouts from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) who will be in attendance on the night.

“I got a call from one of my training partners in Florida saying: ‘We got a fight in Hawaii, it’s short notice, but it’s for a title. It can really boost you career-wise because it will have more coverage and some UFC scouts will be there,’” Colquhoun said.

Colquhoun admits that he is less experienced than Cooper, who not only has a record of 10 wins, three losses and no draws, but also a sevenfight winning streak. Nonetheless, Colquhoun, who is unbeaten in all three of his fights, said that this does not faze him and his preparations have been going well ahead of his latest test.