@josh_herdman scheduled to fight @TheRocEvents @One_Punch February 17 2018

In 1993 Mixed Martial Arts – or ‘cage fighting’ as it is often referred to – originated as a competition with the intention of finding the most effective martial art for real, unarmed combat situations. Fighters were matched against one another with few rules.

It wasn’t long before the fighters learnt that if they wanted to compete among the best they needed to train in additional skills and disciplines. Fighters began to evolve in to well-balanced athletes that could fight standing or on the ground. This blend of fighting styles and skills became known as Mixed Martial Arts – MMA.

With a strong passion for all things MMA, Rise of Champions is the brainchild of one of the UK’s most loved and well respected Mixed Martial Artists, Brad ‘One Punch’ Pickett, and his experienced and highly respected trainer Mickey Papas. The two have worked together since the start of Brad’s career and wanted to establish a promotion that would nurture the next generation of highly evolved Mixed Martial Artists on their journey to the top.

Brad was a pioneer for UK MMA, particularly for the lower weight classes before retiring last year. He competed at flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight. He fought for a number of promotions in addition to the UFC and WEC such as Cage Rage, BodogFIGHT and Dynamite!! USA.

The first Rise of Champions event took place 21^st November 2015.

Pro Mai fighter, Josh Herdman made his MMA debut at ROC 2, 23^rd April 2016, securing a unanimous decision victory over Janusz Walachowski.

Today marks exactly one month until Herdman fights Samuel Radley on sun 18th February at ROC, in the Brentwood Centre, Essex.

Footage from the fight will form part of the narrative of Jesse Quinones new feature film Cagefighter, shooting throughout 2018, due for release in 2019 in which Josh plays the lead role of Reiss, an MMA fighter. A truly fascinating spectacle as we get to witness something that has never happened before in cinema.

ROC: Rise of Champions 5, February 17^th 5pm, The Brentwood Centre, Doddinghurst Road, Brentwood

Essex, CM15 9NN.

For press passes, email: jennifer@joclarepr.com – very limited.

Follow the action on social media. 

Instagram:

@therocevents

@one_punch – 34.6K followers

Sponsors:

@ufcfightpass

@blacksburgersuk

@scramblebrandofficial

@farabi­_fight_gear

Twitter:

@TheRocEvents

@One_Punch

Sponsors:

@UFCFightPass

@BlacksBurgersUK

@Scramble_

@farabifightgear

FB Pages:

ROC: Rise of Champions

Brad ‘One Punch’ Pickett – 10.596K likes

Sponsors:

UFC Fight Pass

Blacks Burgers

Scramble Brand – martial arts lifestyle

Farabi Fight Gears