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Sport

05th Mar 2017

English heavyweight had a brilliant response to his first UFC victory

Well deserved

Darragh Murphy

It wasn’t a classic.

It definitely wasn’t a classic but that won’t matter one bit to Mark Godbeer.

What definitely does matter to the English heavyweight is the fact that he now possesses his first ever victory in the Octagon.

Godbeer’s dream debut was denied him last year when be was submitted by Justin Ledet in Belfast in his first fight under the UFC banner.

The former BAMMA heavyweight champion, who also once appeared as a Bellator fighter, was given a second chance by the powers-that-be at UFC HQ and he seized it with both hands on Saturday.

You couldn’t, hand on heart, describe Godbeer’s clash with Daniel Spitz as a thriller but the Somerset fighter did exactly what he had to do and displayed some crisp striking en route to his unanimous decision victory.

Godbeer, cleverly nicknamed ‘The Hand of’, won all three rounds in the eyes of the judges and he was in rare form after the final buzzer.

And like plenty of professional athletes who dedicate months at a time in preparation for competition, all Godbeer wanted to see at the end of the bout was an ice-cold pint of lager.

He’s one of us!