Ireland's Hammond and O'Sullivan set to collide in domestic showdown

Above, from left to right: Irish national team mates Alexander O’Sullivan, Lee Hammond and David Fogarty. By IMMAF.org lead writer, Jorden Curran Two of Ireland’s most promising young lightweight standouts will collide on August 19 as IMMAA national team veterans Lee Hammond and Alexander O’Sullivan face off for one of the Emerald Isle’s most significant amateur titles, the Battlezone 155lb championship. Hammond, a product of SBG Ireland, first turned heads with a series of stylish submission victories in 2015 and at 19 years of age the World Jiu Jitsu Championships competitor was training as part of the Conor McGregor camp at the notorious ‘Mac Mansion‘ in Las Vegas. Fighting out of C-MAC MMA, the sport is family business for O’Sullivan with his Mother having also represented Ireland in 2015. O’Sullivan entered 2017 at 18-years-old having already collected half a dozen MMA championships across the UK and Ireland. Both Hammond and O’Sullivan have each represented the Irish national team at international IMMAF championships, Hammond first earning bronze at the 2015 European Open before they would compete as team mates in 2016 where O’Sullivan took bronze and Hammond clinched silver with each man being edged out on the scorecards by Bulgaria’s two-time EO gold medalist Ferdun Osmanov. Looking back at the 2016 European Open Championships, O’Sullivan told CombatVisionMMA.com: “Fighting at the IMMAF European [Open] Championships was absolutely great. I got to represent Ireland on an international stage in my chosen sport. I fought the European champion, a superb wrestler from Bulgaria, in the semi-finals and lost, unfortunately. I won a bronze medal for my country. I had three fights on three consecutive days against top class opposition and I was very pleased with how well I performed.” Sanctioned by the Irish Mixed Martial Arts Association (IMMAA), Battlezone 17 takes place on August 19 at the Trinity Sports Centre in Donaghhmede. ]]>