TONIGHT’S fight between Michael Gomez Jr and Reece Bellotti is OFF.

The pair were due to step into the ring on the Jack Catterall vs Regis Prograis undercard at the Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester.

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Both the British and Commonwealth super featherweight belts were supposed to be on the line.

However, Gomez Jr was taken ill in the changing rooms shortly before the first bell.

And following a doctor’s assessment, he was ruled out of the bout.

The fight was expected to start at approximately 9pm.

However, the news of the shock withdrawal came from Matchroom Boxing’s X account at 7.50pm.

A statement said: “Matchroom Boxing has been informed by the British Boxing Board of Control that tonight’s scheduled British & Commonwealth Super Featherweight Title bout between Reece Bellotti and Michael Gomez is off.

“Michael Gomez Jr as taken ill in the changing rooms, where he was inspected by doctors and ruled out of the contest.

“We wish Michael a speedy recovery.”

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Bellotti, 33, was ordered to defend his two belts by the BBBoC – three months on from his victory over Levi Giles at the Copper Box in London.

The Bomber from Hertfordshire secured a unanimous decision that night to move his record to 19-5.

But he was set for a tough task clinging on to his titles against Gomez Jr.

The Lancashire man, 29, has won his last 12 pro fights – dating back to August 2019.

That included his most recent victory over Kane Baker in April where he survived an early cut above his eye in Manchester to secure his English super featherweight belt and move to 21-1 in his pro boxing career.

Bellotti vs Gomez Jr was supposed to be the main supporting act of the night – and tipped by many to be the best contest on the card.

Ricky Hatton’s son Campbell is also a warm-up act before Catterall and Prograis take centre stage at around 11pm.

The super lightweight contenders were originally scheduled to meet in August, but the fight was delayed due to Catterall suffering an injury.

Brit Catterall will be desperate to secure a world-title shot in 2025 with a win over former world champ Prograis.

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Lerone Murphy remained undefeated with a gritty performance to beat Dan Ige in a featured bout on the main card at UFC 308 on Saturday.

Nothing came easy as Murphy had to survive an early knockdown before using a relentless pace and pressure to wear down Ige in the final two rounds. When it was over, Murphy had done enough to secure the victory with all three judges scoring the fight 29-28 in his favor.

“Of course, it was a close fight [but] I landed the cleaner strikes,” Murphy said after his latest win. “It was just a flash knockdown. I was all right. I’m still learning, young in the game. I’m learning on the job. Still getting better. The best is yet to come.”

From the second he was released from the corner, it was Ige was coming after Murphy, throwing vicious shots while closing the distance. Murphy countered with a nasty elbow that actually opened a sizable cut on Ige’s forehead, which led to him grabbing a well-timed takedown.

The fight didn’t stay on the ground for long as Murphy worked his way back to the feet and Ige settling down into a rhythm after he came out of the gates gun blazing.

As the exchanges continued, Ige countered a huge hook from Murphy with a devastating left hand of his own. The punch sat Murphy down on the ground as he scrambled to survive the barrage but once he got back to his feet, the featherweights started trading bombs just as the first round came to an end.

On the restart, Murphy was more wary stepping into the pocket in the exchanges with Ige, who was slowing down with each passing minute.

That allowed Murphy to set up his combinations with more fluidity, mixing up his strikes and keeping Ige guessing. Murphy then delivered a nice body lock takedown but he couldn’t maintain the position as Ige reversed him just before the horn sounded.

Following some stern advice from his coaches, Ige looked to come after Murphy again in the final round but that led to a takedown attempt from the Brit. Ige did a good job countering and he ended up on top while controlling Murphy on the canvas.

With 90 seconds left, Murphy scored a reversal of his own but the fighters eventually got up again and he was able to dish out some punishment with Ige beginning to fade. It was a close round but Murphy’s ability to connect with the better punches in those closing moments secured the victory for him.

Following another impressive win, Murphy hopes his next fight comes against a proven top 10 ranked contender.

“Josh Emmett, let’s go,” Murphy said when calling out the one-time interim title challenger. “I want somebody in that top 10. Let’s go Josh Emmett.”

Grant Enfinger had already locked himself into the Championship 4 via a win in the Round of 8, but he decided to go out and do it again for good measure. Two weeks after his Talladega win, he captured the checkered flag at Homestead as well after a masterful fuel-save.

“I felt I saved at least 20% more than I did in the first run, but Jeff (Stankiewicz, crew chief) was on me pretty hard obviously … Hard to beat these two weeks,” said Enfinger, who drives the No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet. 

It’s Enfinger’s second consecutive win in this round alone (and his total for the season), heading to Phoenix in two weeks with all of the momentum. He’s getting hot at the right time as he tries to rectify last year’s tough championship loss.

“It’s definitely good (to be me right now),” smiled Enfinger. “We’ve had potential all year and there’s been some times I didn’t execute and there’s been some times we just had bad luck. But maybe this is the time we got our momentum.”

Fuel-save mastery and misery

This is Enfinger’s 12th career NASCAR Truck Series win. His status as a veteran driver was on full display as he maintained his advantage while taking every opportunity he could lift out of the throttle and draft with other trucks, saving fuel.

While several trucks ran out in the final moments of the race, the veteran Enfinger was not among them. Running second with two laps to go, Layne Riggs dropped to the apron as he was out of fuel. Playoff driver Nick Sanchez then moved into second, only to run out as well on the final lap. Riggs finished 22nd and Sanchez 13th.

Enfinger actually crossed the line over 17 seconds clear of the closest competition and still had enough fuel to do burnouts! It was a statement victory that ended with Ty Majeski a distant second, Connor Mosack third, Corey Heim fourth, and Tyler Ankrum fifth. Stewart Friesen, Daniel Dye, Rajah Caruth, Christian Eckes, and Taylor Gray rounded out the top-ten.

Enfinger’s comeback and the final run to the finish

It was not all smooth sailing for Enfinger, though. Contact on a mid-race restart with Christian Eckes forced him to make an unscheduled pit stop and put him behind for a bit. When the final restart occurred with 83 laps to go, he was back in 20th but was also one of a handful of drivers who had taken their final set of tires.

They all sliced through the field and luckily for them, the caution flag never flew again. With about 35 laps to go, most of the leaders not on Enfinger’s strategy came in under green for their final set of tires.

With 25 laps to go, a charging Enfinger moved into the second position. At that point, Heim was around 30 seconds back. It didn’t take Enfinger long to run down Riggs, passing him for the lead with an outside with 22 laps remaining.

Dawson Sutton and Tanner Gray ran long, saving their final set of tires while hoping for a lucky caution. It never cam and both had to pit under green. With ten laps left, Heim had stalled out and was no longer gaining large chunks of time on the race leaders.

It was game over as Enfinger managed to save enough fuel while his closest rivals fell to the wayside.

Update on playoff standings and Mills’ condition

Looking at the points standings ahead of the elimination race at Martinsville, Heim is looking very secure at +49 points above the cut-line. Christian Eckes sits at +38 and Ty Majeski is at +22. Sitting within the elimination zone are Rajah Caruth (-22 points), Taylor Gray (-24 points), Tyler Ankrum (-41 points), and Sanchez (-43 points).

During the middle of the race, there was a scary incident where Connor Jones lost his cool and punted Matt Mills into the outside wall. He quickly climbed from the truck as fire erupted while NASCAR penalized Jones two laps for reckless driving. Mills has since been transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.

Saracens: Parton; Elliott, Cinti, Tompkins, Segun; Swiel, van Zyl; Mawi, Piefeleti, Clarey, McFarland, Tizard, Gonzalez, Knight, Willis.

Replacements: Hadfield, Brantingham, Hoskins, Wilson, Michelow, Simpson, Hallett, Jackson.

Sin-bin: Clarey (40)

Leicester: Brown; Watson, Perese, Woodward, Hassell-Collins; Pollard, Whiteley; Smith, Montoya, Heyes, Wells, Manz, Liebenberg, Reffell, Cracknell.

Replacements: Clare, Cronin, Hurd, Joussain, Rogerson, Youngs, Shillcock, Wand.

Referee: Karl Dickson

When “Shara Bullet” faced quite possibly his toughest test to date, he pulled off an all-time highlight to clinch victory.

In the UFC 308 main card opener, Shara Magmomedov defeated Armen Petrosyan via TKO due to double backfist at 4:52 of Round 2. The event took place at Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.

The middleweight bout was fought at a frenetic pace with both fighters showing their passion for kicks. Magomedov (15-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) utilized his signature spinning attacks, though flare seemed to dominate over substance for stretches in the fight.

Petrosyan (9-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) landed some hard punches in the opening minutes, but Magomedov came on strong late in Round 1.

In Round 2, Petrosyan struggled to keep his kicks up. Referee Kerry Hatley intervened on multiple occasions after kicks to the cup by Petrosyan.

But Magomedov persevered. He then landed the first double backfist knockout in UFC history. He first spun and connected with a left spinning backfist. Then on the recoil, he spun the opposite direction and cracked Petrosyan again, this time with a left spinning backfist.

Shara Magomedov finishes Armen Petrosyan!! WOW!! #UFC308 pic.twitter.com/GLn5nN9wB0

— Haduucken (@Haduuuucken) October 26, 2024

The unbelievable sequence crumpled Petrosyan to the canvas. No follow-up shots were needed before Hatley waved off the bout.

Magomedov remains undefeated as he continues to grow his presence and popularity. Prior to Saturday’s fights, he defeated Bruno Silva, Antonio Trocoli, and Michal Oleksiejczuk.

Petrosyan falls into a two-fight skid. Saturday’s defeat was only his second pro loss by TKO.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 308 results include:

• Shara Magomedov def. Armen Petrosyan via TKO (spinning backfist) – Round 1, 4:52
• Ibo Aslan def. Rafael Cerqueira via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:51
• Geoff Neal def. Rafael dos Anjos via TKO (injury) – Round 1, 1:30
• Mateusz Rebecki def. Myktybek Orolbai via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Abus Magomedov def. Brunno Ferreira via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 3, 3:14
• Kennedy Nzechukwu def. Chris Barnett via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:27
• Farid Basharat def. Victor Hugo via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Ismail Naurdiev def. Bruno Silva via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Rinat Fakhretdinov def. Carlos Leal via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

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