When John Kavanagh is impressed, you know you’re doing something right.
Straight Blast Gym prospect Lee Hammond is currently in Bahrain competing at the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation World Championships and in his first bout, he proved why he is one of the most respected young grapplers who has ever come out of Ireland.
Team Ireland’s Hammond got his campaign off to a victorious start on Monday when he pulled off an incredibly rare submission in Cage 1, forcing Moldovan opponent Tonu Stefan to tap out.
Rumblings from those in the arena initially identified the submission as a Gogoplata/rear naked choke hybrid but Hammond cleared matters up when he explained that it was, in fact, a combination of an omoplata and a head and arm choke.
Here it is then @LeeHammond96 #Hammoplata finish from today’s #MMAWorlds2018 #Bahrain pic.twitter.com/20EI2Rq8sw
— IMMAF (@IMMAFed) November 12, 2018
Hammond, still only 22, christened the move “the Hammoplata” and moved on to the next round of the competition, where his Jiu-Jitsu mastery was on full display again on Tuesday afternoon.
Hammond needed less than 100 seconds to apply a rear naked choke to Sweden’s Mario Markus and continue his progress through the lightweight bracket of the tournament.
It’s safe to say that head coach John Kavanagh was more than impressed with the heroics of one of his star pupils.
he hit the 1st berimbola in an MMA fight (twice) and now has hit the 1st #hammoplata @LeeHammond96 operates on a different level. https://t.co/j4UR2ykXgH
— Coach JK (@John_Kavanagh) November 12, 2018
how does that even……what? https://t.co/d0WAcsyVSs
— Coach JK (@John_Kavanagh) November 12, 2018
