BAMMA 5 Card Official with 12 Fights

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The bill for BAMMA 5 is now full with 12 fights, as the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts has added two new main card attractions to the Feb. 26 event. Joining the card is a pair of middleweight scraps pitting Alex Makhonin against Xavier Foupa-Pokam and John Phillips against Jean-Francois Lenogue.

The event, which goes down at the Manchester Evening News Arena in Manchester, England, will be headlined by a welterweight title clash between hometown favorite Paul Daley and Deep champion Yuya Shirai. In the co-main event, former UFC heavyweight champ Ricco Rodriguez will square off with “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 10 alum James McSweeney in a heavyweight tilt.

Once-beaten in nearly three years of professional competition, Makhonin rides a seven-fight win streak into his contest with “Professor X.” The Lancaster Morecambe MMA product has finished 75 percent of his career victims and has never been knocked out.

In Foupa-Pokam, Makhonin faces a UFC vet on a two-year skid. After running off seven consecutive victories, the Frenchman has lost six of his last seven fights since making his UFC debut in April of 2009. The 28-year-old dropped bouts to Dennis Kang and Drew McFedries before being released by the promotion. Though Foupa-Pokam rebounded with a victory in his native country in March 2010, he would go on to lose three straight fights, most recently dropping a bout to fellow UFC exile Lucio Linhares.

Phillips is a 25-year-old Welshman who made his pro debut in 2005, winning six of his first seven fights. A veteran of the now-defunct Cage Rage organization, Phillips has won five consecutive bouts heading into his fight at BAMMA 5. Most recently, he made short work of James Zikic, knocking his fellow Brit out in just 94 seconds at BAMMA 4 in September.

A black belt in judo, Lenogue is on a skid similar to his countryman Foupa-Pokam. Though the 38-year-old comes off a victory in his last outing, he has lost five of his last six. A veteran of Pride and Shooto competition, Lenogue also works as an actor and stuntman in films. The Frenchman owns eight of his 14 career victories by knockout or submission.

BAMMA 5
February 26, 2011
Manchester Evening News Arena
Manchester, England

BAMMA Welterweight Title Fight
Paul Daley vs. Yuya Shirai

Ricco Rodriguez vs. James McSweeney
Alex Makhonin vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam
John Phillips vs. Jean-Francois Lenogue
Daniel Thomas vs. A.J. Wenn
Lee Barnes vs. Mohsen Bahari
Rob Mills vs. Lee Cohoon
Jason Ball vs. Peter Duncan
Paul Cook vs. Tom Maguire
Tim Newman vs. Diego Vital
Costas Doru vs. Liam James
Frankie Slater vs. Jeremy Petley