Biaggio Ali Walsh, the grandson of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, was submitted within two rounds of his amateur MMA debut last night.
Walsh, a model and former American Football standout, made the switch to the cage last night at the Fusion Fight League's Rumble Under the Rims event against fellow debutant Devin Rothwell. And he looked solid, if inexperienced during the opening round of his first fight, hastily getting up from takedowns and showing major strength in the clinch.
His brother Nico, the undefeated 5-0 boxer signed to Top Rank Promotions, was in the crowd to watch the Xtreme Couture prospect make his bow, as well as family friend and rapper Flavor Flav. But it wasn't to be for Ali Walsh, with the fatigue setting in towards the end of the second.
The former collegiate Football star attracted a decent crowd, and looked in the second to have found his groove. He dropped his opponent with a beautiful three-punch combination in the vein of his grandfather early in the round, but was quickly taken down.
And it was his inability to defend the relentless pressure of Rothwell's takedown attempts that ultimately cost Ali Walsh. Early in the fight, he was able to get up through his sheer strength advantage, but as the tiredness of his debut set in his lack of technique began to show.
The fight was competitive throughout, with the natural striking skills of Ali Walsh obvious in the stand-up exchanges. But with neither man prepared in the cardio department, a sloppy takedown from Rothwell was enough to put him in a dangerous position.
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And once locked into a rear-naked choke, Ali Walsh was forced to tap with just under a minute remaining in the second round. Ali Walsh has indicated that the sport gave him purpose after his collegiate football career came to an end, and having taken minimal damage, he is expected to make a quick return to the cage for his sophomore amateur outing.
His brother Nico has yet to taste defeat in the ring as a professional, having had what he calls a "limited" amateur career that played out mostly outside of the media spotlight. However, Biaggio opted to do his debut big, with a host of media outlets covering his pay-per-view bow on the FFL card at the 12,000-capacity First Interstate Arena in Montana.
He began training just before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, and says that getting into MMA had given him purpose. He was training two or three times a day ahead of his debut, and will likely stick with the sport despite losing his first amateur bout.
