TEMECULA, Calif. – Mike Hamel beat Nick Browne with a first-round TKO Friday to close out the preliminary card at Bellator 293 at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, Calif.
Take a look inside the fight with Hamel, whose head kick led to the fastest win of his career and third straight overall.
Nick Browne vs. Mike Hamel
Result: Mike Hamel def. Nick Browne via TKO (head kick, punches) – Round 1, 0:42
Updated records: Hamel (10-5 MMA, 3-2 BMMA), Browne (13-3 MMA, 2-2 BMMA)
Key stat: Hamel’s 42-second TKO was his first finish in more than six years.
Hamel on the fight's key moment
“A head-kick knockout is always what you kind of wish for, right? But you never know what’s going to happen. I was honestly thinking I was going to go into 15 minutes of hell with that guy. Nick’s tough, and I don’t even know if he’s ever been finished.
“The last time I was in the Bellator cage, I had a blown-out shoulder. I had to fight opposite stance. That was the worst. Fifteen months ago, I went through this shoulder surgery, (then) had a fight fall through, so I wasn’t going to be denied tonight.”
Hamel on putting 155 on notice
“Anybody in that top 10 is really good. Honestly, people right outside of it are really good. I honestly don’t care. I want to keep building myself up. For being 30 years old, I’m still pretty young in this. I’ve got 15 fights, but I’m just getting exponentially better. So whoever they want to feed me, I was once just a wrestler and now I’m head kicking people. So watch out.
Hamel on what he wants next
“The whole division can get it. And they know that I’m one of the dark horses. I know I’m that guy that people see on the roster that they don’t want to fight. I’m the only one who stole a round on (lightweight) champ (Usman Nurmagomedov). So you tell me.
“I’ve got one fight left on my contract. We’re going to go into renegotiations and I’m going to get what I deserve. We’ve got the (lightweight) grand prix coming up. We’ve got the Hawaii cards (and) Chicago. I want to fight right away. It’s been 15 months. I had shoulder surgery. I had the (Max) Roshkopf fight fall through. I’m trying to make a living at doing this while I can. So either they need to come to Phoenix and let me blow the roof off the Footprint Center, or put me on that Chicago card. I’ll go fight in June. I’ve got a lot of friends who are from Chicago. We’ll blow that place up, too.”
To hear more from Hamel, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 293.
