It was a case of mate against mate with a dash of Otago facing off Southland when Team Hammerhead held an in-house fight night at the Olympic Fight Centre in Mosgiel on Saturday.
Two of the eight fights were between Team Hammerhead members, fighting for a place in next month's show in Dunedin, while three Southland-based Tumatauenga club fighters also shaped up.
The night started with a no-holds-barred lightweight bout between Tumatauenga's Milner Aupouri and Team Hammerhead's Mike Kerr.
Aupouri dominated the three-round fight with some crisp striking, strong take-downs and an array of fine submission attempts, eventually winning a unanimous points decision over a gallant Kerr.
The first of two elimination welterweight fights saw Dan Aitken win a close split-points decision over Pat Hamer.
Both men started the fight cautiously, with Aitken landing some hard leg kicks.
Hamer hit back with some sharp three-four punch combos.
Towards the end of the round, as both men were standing, Hamer landed a perfectly timed left hook.
The punch of the night dropped Aitken to the canvas but Hamer, surprisingly, let him get back up and the round was soon over.
Late in the third round, Aitken assumed a dominant ground position and gained valuable points that clinched the fight.
In the final, Terry Perkins won a split-points decision over Aitken.
Aitken showed a ton of heart, but the fresher Perkins was too strong.
Perkins had control and each time Aitken took Perkins down, he was able to wriggle his body free and into a dominant position, where he scored freely with punches.
Fight of the night saw Team Hammerhead's Craig Masina win a bruising bout against Tumatauenga's Jason Cunningham.
The light heavyweight fight saw both men load up their punches and show good aggression.
With two minutes gone in the second round, Masina knocked Cunningham down with a volley of punches followed by a vicious knee to the head.
As Cunningham lay pressed up against the cage, Masina kept punching and Cunningham tapped out.
The main contest was a bit of a non-event as Team Hammerhead's Matt Eden made light work of Tumatauenga's Jason Smith.
Smith, who had been sick and on antibiotics leading up to the fight, was submitted by a rear-naked-choke just 30 seconds into the first round.
As both men traded blows, Smith ran at Eden, then turned as if trying a spinning kick, but his timing was wrong and he fell at Eden's legs.
Eden soon had Smith's back and Smith was tapping out.
Immediately after the fight, Hammerhead coach Matt Toa said considering the ill health Smith had been under, it was only fair to have a rematch on the next fight night.
He said while Perkins had won his place in the August 31 show in style, Aitken had shown great courage and would be rewarded with a fight next month in Ashburton.
