Nanaimo Impact MMA is always looking to pick a fight. The city’s mixed martial arts club athletes are busy training with some noteworthy fights on the horizon.
The club’s top star Nick Hinchliffe is next to tangle. The Juggernaut (19-8) recently signed with Maximum Fighting Championship and will face Dhiego Lima (6-1) in a welterweight match Aug. 10 in Edmonton.
“That’s a big fight for him, a really big fight,” said John Punt, Impact trainer. “If he wins that then that’s going to put him right up there.”
He said Lima, a Brazilian, is talented, explosive and strong.
Punt said pretty well every Canadian in the Ultimate Fighting Championship fought in the MFC at some point.
“If you make your mark in MFC, most of the higher-end guys in MFC have gone to UFC,” said Punt.
Another of Impact’s top guys, Graham Spencer, signed with Aggression Fighting Championship and could fight as early as September.
Spencer (8-1) holds the featherweight championship belt in Battlefield Fight League.
“We’re just going to surrender it because nothing’s happening for him…” said Punt. “We weren’t able to get any opponents for him in Battlefield.”
Impact’s Eli Wyse, an amateur, will fight at Battlefield’s BFL 18 event Sept. 15 in Vancouver against Rico Brinson.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com