Philpott, Garnett And Robinson Looking To Turn British Fortunes Around Down Under

It’s not been a great few weeks for British sportsmen over in Australia, but Alan Philpott, Dean Garnett and Aaron Robinson are looking to put the woes of the cricket to one side and make their mark on Australia at ACB 76.

This Saturday, ACB will hit Australian shores for the first time when they host an event at Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre in Queensland. The event will headlined by Sharaf Davlatmurodov taking on former ACB welterweight champion Brett Cooper, but down the card there are several British fighters who will be looking to catch the eye in amongst the local talent.

Garnett (9-2-1) is coming off the first loss of his career and will be looking to get right back into the thick of the ACB bantamweight title talk when he takes on former ACB flyweight title contender, Anthony Leone (15-8). In his last fight, Garnett faced the former ACB 135-pounds champion Magomed Magomedov in what turned out to be an enthralling back and forth one round fight where both men took trips to the canvas.

Despite eventually losing the fight via submission, Garnett’s stock didn’t take any damage and it’s known that he’s very highly thought of amongst the ACB brass. If he puts an impressive performance together on Saturday, don’t bet against seeing him back around the title talk given the belt has recently been vacated by the champion, Petr Yan.

A little further down the card, Garnett’s teammate Philpott (16-9) will also be looking to make his mark on ACB’s 135-pounds division. The Northern Irishman will be making his debut in the Russian promotion having last fought under the BAMMA promotional banner back in July. That evening, Philpott put on a clinical display of striking before seeing the fight ruled a no contest following an inadvertent kick to the head.

Philpott will now look to make big moves in another organization and his opponent, Islam Yunusov (4-2), has been fighting under the ACB banner since making his pro debut back in 2015. With a new fire burning under him and with a new roster of bantamweights in his sights, it will be interesting if Philpott can grab himself a $5,000 finish bonus and make a lasting impression on the Australian crowd.

But the action doesn’t stop there for the British fighters. Second out the gate on Saturday night will be Aaron Robinson (2-1) taking on local man, Johnny Walker (5-3). Robinson made his ACB debut back at ACB 65 in Sheffield, England when he defeated Irishman Adam Caffrey via submission after little over two minutes of the first round.

Robinson then jumped back in the ACB cage just two months later at ACB 70 and suffered a defeat to Cheya Saleem, but time is on the side of this young flyweight and he has the opportunity this weekend to get back in the win column before the turn of the year.

Take a look at the full ACB 76 fight card:

S. Davlatmurodov vs. Brett Cooper 170 lbs
Dylan Andrews vs. Azamat Amagov 170 lbs
Dean Garnett vs. Anthony Leone 135 lbs
Michael Tobin vs. Sam Chan 145 lbs
Rodolfo Marques vs. Mehdi Baidulaev 145 lbs
Kieran Joblin vs. Bai-Ali Shaipov 155 lbs
Islam Yunusov vs. Alan Philpott 135 lbs
Trent Girdham vs. Tim Moore 135 lbs
Shannon McClellan vs. Steve Nightingale 125 lbs
Saeed Fatahfir vs. Ty Duncan 170 lbs
Diego Pereira vs. Kairin Moses 135 lbs
Daniel Hill vs. Gavin Hain 155 lbs
Eben Cox vs. Mohammed Alavi 155 lbs
Aaron Robinson vs. Johnny Walker 145 lbs
J. Van Heerden vs. Johnny Walker 145 lbs

A whole host of familiar faces will also be part of the event with commentators Bryan Lacey and Frank Mir walking us all through the night of action.

Referees Herb Dean and “Big” John McCarthy will also be the third men in the cage on Dec. 9.

Fight can watch the action on the FITE TV app or on the ACB Facebook page.