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UK's hottest regional talent on display at Rise and Conquer 16
- jacobraw123
- Mar 17, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 28, 2025
Last Saturday, Rise and Conquer took place at the Sunderland Live Arena, showcasing a mix of professional and amateur level fights, with some of the best up and coming talent in the area.
Octagon Legacy was there to cover the packed-out event alongside Combat Sports UK, managing to speak to some of the victorious prospects on the night.
The event was split up into three categories, early prelims, prelims, and the main card.
The early prelims and prelims featured lots of the up-and-coming talent in the area and further field.
some were making debuts, others looking to build more momentum in the early stages of their amateur careers.
In the early prelims, we caught up with Darlington's, Kardo Karim, who was up against Nathan Hill, two young guys who were both expecting fireworks in this fight.
Kardo got the win through a unanimous decision, but up to this point of the night it was easily the Fight of the Night.
Flashy strikes such as Superman punches and high kicks were thrown throughout, with a sprinkle of verbal back and forth between the two.
Kardo believes his grappling gave him the edge in a competitive fight, and is preparing for more competition in two weeks' time.
Next up to make his amateur debut was Thomas Balsillie against Scott Jennings.
Thomas admitted before the fight he wanted a 'challenge' and didn't want to just 'steamroll' his opponent, but that's exactly what he ended up doing.
He got the win through a first-round triangle choke submission for a perfect start to his amateur career.
Balsillie said post-fight that the submission was the first he learned and understood in training and that he can now 'teach' it.
Balsillie trains out of 'The Lab' in Darlington and he and two other campmates from the gym were also victorious on the night.
Next up we had Dan Costello from Newcastle who was also making his highly-anticipated amateur debut against Scotland's Caleb Hutchinson.
Coming into the fight, Dan said he was confident in all areas of his game.
He is a striker and loves to keep the fight on the feet, however, he also said he has many submissions of his back and welcomed his opponent to grapple with him.
The fight ended up going to the ground in the first round, where Costello pulled off a guillotine choke from his back, leaving his opponent unconscious.
In the post-fight interview, we asked him about his game plan going into the fight, as we caught him drilling a powerful right-hand multiple times backstage before his fight.
Costello said: "Yeah that was the whole plan, I do work on my jiu-jitsu but I prefer striking.
"I never expected the guillotine finish but that's what happened so yeah."
One of the first fights on the prelims was highly rated young Scotsman Lewis Hamilton.
Lewis was coming into this fight with a perfect amateur record of four fights and a 100% finish rate, so we were expecting this one to be taken out of the judge's hands fairly quickly.
Pre-fight he told Rise and Conquer that he wanted to be the first person to finish his opponent, Hemen Mohamadzedeh.
Hamilton extended his record to 5-0 with an Armbar, doing exactly what he set out to do.
He had his friends and family up in the rafters screaming during the fight, who all traveled 3 hours to come see his fight, erupting when the referee pulled the Scot off his opponent.
Hamilton himself said he felt his opponent's arm 'crackling' and didn't know ' how the f*ck' his opponent didn't tap sooner, but eventually he got what he wanted.
He wants to continue his unbelievable start to his MMA career and has his sights on amateur flyweight gold.
Finally another prospect, Josie Donkin was also making her amateur debut at RAC 16.
Donkin was up against Ailish Noonan and wasn't expecting an easy fight.
Josie is a purple belt and stated before the fight how she thought people would be expecting a grappling-style fight, but also outlined her excitement to show off her striking in her debut.
In the first round, Donkin got the win through a doctor stoppage after cutting her opponent badly above her right eye, with what she thought was a left hook.
Donkin was 'buzzing' after putting all her hard work into practice and coming out with a win on her debut.
Josie trains with current Rise and Conquer Women's flyweight champion, Katrina Fisher who was also victorious later on in the night and expressed her gratitude for having her as a training partner.
The night showcased a range of talent from different areas, ages, and gyms and again proved why it's one of the best in the country at providing a platform for up-and-coming MMA fighters.
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