If you cannot win them all, then win most of them.
It was a night to savour for Dunedin fighters when Hammerhead Productions held its fight night at the Edgar Centre on Saturday night.
The Team Hammerhead club, of Dunedin, won eight of 10 fights in which it competed on the 13-bout fight card, including two New Zealand mixed martial arts titles.
Shem Murdoch (Hammerhead) outclassed Queenstown's John Lloyd Hayward to grind out a five-round unanimous decision win and claim the International Sport Karate Association NZ amateur lightweight MMA title.
For almost the entire fight, Murdoch (10 wins, five losses) used his superior wrestling base to keep Hayward (3-4) pinned on his back while landing shots.
Hayward did his best to ward Murdoch off, but Murdoch was relentless and displayed some formidable take-downs.
Murdoch avenged a 2013 loss to Hayward with the victory.
Brogan Anderson (Hammerhead) showed fine physical conditioning when he beat Beau Rawiri (Strikeforce) via a unanimous decision to win the Supremacy Fighting Championship NZ professional welterweight MMA title.
A methodical Anderson (6-2) used his much improved wrestling to put Rawiri (9-4) on his back early in all three five-minute rounds and then proceeded to maul him like a giant spider on his prey.
From the guard and mount positions, Anderson landed punches and elbows to Rawiri's head and body despite Rawiri's best efforts to bridge and push him off and throw elbows while on his back.
Anderson said the win was the most satisfying of his career because of the way he stuck to his game plan.
He said he felt a real sense of relief due to the pressure of expectation to perform.
In the King in the Ring South Island lightweight qualifier, Christchurch's Nikora Lee-Kingi (StrikeForce Lee Gar) booked his spot on the big show later this year.
The Wayne Vaega trained Lee-Kingi (6-0) was lucky to sneak into the final after a split-decision win over Team Hammerhead's Nic Aratema (7-8), but there was no doubting his final win over team-mate Mike Beavington (12-12) whom he stopped with a round-three jumping knee to the face.
Coincidentally, Beavington qualified for the final with a sensational knockout-of-the-night jumping knee when he finished off Josh Clarke (Tasman Kickboxing).
In a local kickboxing match-up, middleweights Craig Masina (Hammerhead) and Mike Pascoe (Hooligan MMA/NZFFA) put on a fierce display of striking, with Masina coming out on top via a unanimous decision and avenging a 2014 MMA draw.
Masina's leg and body kicks were the keys to winning and, while Pascoe (0-1) showed courage in bucketloads, it was Masina (1-0) who landed the better shots when they traded.
Luiz Christofoletti (Hammerhead) produced a courageous comeback when he beat Tom Williamson (cage fight) via unanimous decision in their 73.5kg catchweight MMA clash.
Submission of the night went to MMA fighter Taylor Garrett (Hammerhead) for his sublime round one triangle sub win over Christchurch's Ian Blade (UMAF).
Sarah Archer (Hammerhead) displayed a sharp striking game to win her 52kg kickboxing clash and kickboxer Richard French (Cage Fight) showed devastating power in his legs and hands with his knockout win over Aaron Taylor (Hammerhead).
Other MMA winners were Siitia Leti (Ultimate MMA) and Beathe Korneliussen (Hammerhead), while Blake Tomlinson (Hammerhead) (42-18-1) won an entertaining full Muay Thai fight.
