It’s surprising how ACB manages to walk into the shark-infested waters of UK MMA promotion and put on such mouth-watering UK showdowns, but ACB 87 might be the best example yet.
One of such fights is the incredible Bantamweight bout between Dean Garnett (9-2-1) and Dominique Wooding (5-1).
You have to think the ACB brass already have the Fight of the Night cheque written in pencil, as this one already has it’s foot, fist, knee and elbow in the door to claim the prize.
Dominique “Black Panther” Wooding has won all 5 of his professional fights by stoppage. In fact, Wooding hasn’t seen a decision since an amateur contest with Connor Hitchens in 2014. Wooding spent most of his career at Flyweight, but for anyone thinking he might be undersized for this Bantamweight fight, check out his BAMMA 34 knockout of Dominic Dillon from March, a fight that took place at Featherweight.
Dangerous with any limb 🔥👀 Dominique Wooding (@RealDWooding) looked like a future star in just his second pro fight.
Catch an even more dangerous Wooding as he takes on Dean Barnett at #ACB87 on May 19th pic.twitter.com/IZusxqSLly
— GaryF (@Europe_MMA) May 11, 2018
A lot of fighters say they want to fight the best, and Dean Garnett has certainly been defending that stance. A trio of ACB fights has seen him share the cage with Anthony Leone, Magomed Magomedov and Michael Tobin, three great fighters and extremely stiff challenges. Although Garnett started his career by utilizing a dynamic grappling game, in the fast few years we’ve seen enormous leaps be made in his striking game, rounding him off as a bonafide threat to anyone in the 135lbs division.
Journey back to this @ACB_League 54 #Throwback to witness the beauty of the Dean Garnett 🏴 (@dean_garnett) spinning side kick! 🔥🔥
Dean Garnett takes on Dominique Wooding at #ACB78👊👊 pic.twitter.com/hBLCdGuXsq
— GaryF (@Europe_MMA) May 7, 2018
Naturally, I think we’re going to want to see Wooding keep this fight standing and work his effortlessly fluid striking to work towards an early knockout. Garnett keeps his hands a little low, so he might get tagged a few times more than he would like, but he’s an extremely mobile and aggressive striker who bangs in leg kicks to break opponents down. Garnett will also feel that he has more options in his game, so I would expect him to try and keep Wooding guessing by swapping between grappling and striking.
Dean Garnett Vs Dominique Wooding takes place at ACB 87 on May 19th in Nottingham, England. Also featuring on the card are fighters such as Takeya Mizugaki, Pietro Menga, Andre Winner, Robert Whiteford, Kane Mousah, Rob Emerson and Piotr Strus.
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