12/04/2026
Joe Le Maire vs Imrane Iklil
What a fight! The bout started as I expected with Imrane immediately the aggressor and Joe taking a bit of time to take a look. Joe settled into round 2 and by round 3 seemed to have found his range and was controlling the fight. Then disaster, a huge spinning elbow from Imrane broke Joe's right arm (xray shows a clean break right through the ulna).
We realised it was broken between rounds and Joe went out in the 4th trying to keep it long with big kicks! He was winning the round but then got rocked by a head kick, a consequence of being unable to use his right arm to defend, turning the round in Imrane's favour. In the 5th Joe gave it his all, aiming to land his infamous left body shot. He landed a couple of blinders, briefly hurting Imrane, but was unable to keep him at bay and was struggling to defend and attack in the clinch with 1 arm out of play.
Overall the fight was close and went to a split decision but I have no issues with Imrane taking the win, he definitely caused the damage and the guy is just relentless! Always disappointing not to taste victory but hugely proud of Joe for battling though half a fight with such a nasty injury and still coming so close against a very lively and dangerous opponent!
Thank you to our huge team of supporters and the whole Unit 1 coaching team for getting the team ready and cornering on the night.
Also, a shout out to Nadia for shadow judging the whole event, keen to learn the scoring side of the sport and Poppy for having her first attempt at commentary, pulling it off like a pro! Super proud to have members of the team making contributions to the sport beyond the fighting!
Lastly thanks as always to Bin , Siobhan and the team for having us again! It's like a home show for us, your hard work is very much appreciated 🙏
