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Daily Mirror
Sport
Kyle O'Sullivan

Simple Simon, Ed Matthews, Elle Brooke and Love Island star's TikTok boxing feud

Tonight is the dramatic culmination of months of feuding - in a battle that most people probably won't know anything about.

A number of TikTok stars are going head-to-head in the boxing ring as part of the Kingpyn 'Settling Scores' event at The O2 Indigo in London.

For those not on the social media platform, it will be hard to understand what all the fuss is about, but the build up to the fights has been full of controversy.

Fighters have been forced to pull out after coming to blows outside the ring, one withdrew because of fears for her safety and security have had their hands full at the press conferences.

The names of those involved seem pretty whacky, with characters such as Simple Simon and Chef Dave competing - and their antics were even discussed on BBC Radio 2 with Scott Mills and Chris Stark.

And it all started with a teenager kicking a football between some bins in his garden.

Here we try to explain all the feuds and the drama that has ensued on TikTok before these fights.

Simple Simon

(simple.simon.8/Instagram)

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The main event is between 'Simple' Simon Colbran, 52, and 19-year-old opponent Ed 'Hold This Wood' Matthews.

Simon first rose to prominence on TikTok through his collaborations with Cal The Dragon, a teen TikTok star who posts videos of his football skills in his garden.

Cal, real name Callum Whitworth, has millions of followers and formed a close friendship with Simon, but it ended abruptly when the aspiring footballer cut all ties with Simple.

They had also been pals with fellow TikTok star was Astrid Wett, but Cal decided to cut the pair of them off because it looked bad for his brand.

One person who backed him to do this was Ed, who started mocking Simon for collaborating with people who were old enough to be his kids.

Ed then turned his attention to Simon's 18-year-old daughter Keeley, who also has a large following on TikTok, claiming he wanted to pursue a relationship with her.

During the first press conference, Simon had to be held back by security when Ed produced a sex toy which he wanted Keely to have - leading to a heated scuffle.

'Simple' Simon Colbran with his daughter (Instagram/SimpleSimon)

Simon, who once appeared on Channel 4 show Four In A Bed, a Come Dine With Me for hotels, has also produced a hilarious 'diss track' aimed at Ed.

Having once been seen as a bit of a villain on TikTok, Ed has since become a fan favourite and many are hoping he will overcome the odds to win.

"I can't help the way that I am, I've got a bad temper and as soon as someone starts talking about my family it's a completely different matter," he said in the build up.

"At first, he was talking some stupid s*** about me going live with 'Cal The Dragon', I can take all that. I don't give a s*** about that.

"Then he started getting my daughter involved and that's a completely different story. He's a major favourite because he's 19 and I'm 52. There's not many 52-year-old's who would get in the ring against a 19-year-old but I will do anything for my family."

Ed Matthews

Ed Matthews is hoping he can defeat Simple Simon (edmatthewsmain/Instagram)
Ed looking beefy on a lunch date with pal HS Tikky Tokky (edmatthewsmain/Instagram)

Ed Matthews is another TikTok star who loudly boasts about his prowess with the opposite sex.

He uploads videos about his body transformation and is frequently seen in the gym - or on lunch dates with his close pal and fellow TikTok star Harrison, better known as HS Tikky Tokky.

Ed first got involved with Cal The Dragon and they seemed to be mates, but then Cal was fuming when Ed started flirting with Astrid.

He then called out both Astrid and Simon for 'using' Cal to boast their own social media profiles, which began this epic feud.

Simon has repeatedly grown angry at Ed for mentioning his daughter and ex-wife during their heated TikTok clashes - and they agreed to settle the beef in the ring.

Simple Simon and Ed Matthews traded blows during the first press conference (Kingpyn Boxing)

Despite his age, Simon may have an advantage in the ring as he has already sparred with Ed's twin brother.

But the training fight didn't last very long as Ed's twin scampered around the ring and was left bleeding after the encounter.

"I feel like he's got old man strength but he isn't going to be able to catch up with my, the speed I've got is just different," said Ed.

"I'll knock him out within the first or second round easy, I'll toy with him in the first but the second round he'll be clean out. I will hang up my socials if I lose.

"This has been going on for too long now and I'm getting a bit bored of it. I've been training and I quit smoking for about two weeks until I saw him fight my brother, then I thought f*** it and carried on because that was washed."

Elle Brooke

(thedumbledong/Instagram)
Ebanie Bridges posed alongside OnlyFans star Elle Brooke (Instagram @ebanie_bridges)

Elle Brooke is a model and TikTok star who has a massive following on OnlyFans.

The Manchester City fan posted a lot of snaps in her team's famous blue shirt - and idea that was then replicated by fellow OnlyFans star Astrid Wett in her Chelsea kit.

Elle and Astrid had a number of foul-mouthed arguments on TikTok and even started pulling each other's hair after bumping into each other in a nightclub.

In a bid to wind up Astrid, Elle then became close friends with Simple Simon and they started posting content together.

Elle and Atrid were due to fight, but the latter pulled out after Elle produced a coffin with a blow-up doll that depicted her inside of it to their press conference.

Astrid said: "I wanted to prove to everybody that a porn star can do something different. With the boxing, I wanted it to be well respected and change the opinion on girls that are in the same line of work."

Elle responded to Astrids withdrawal by tweeting: "Not Astrid suddenly deciding to have a moral compass after fat-shaming me, and releasing my legal name and location to millions of people putting my entire family in danger.

"Just come out and have the guts to say you couldn’t handle the heat."

Elle Brooke brings coffin with an Astrid Wett blow up doll in a coffin to press conference (HED /Youtube)

Elle has been training with accomplished coach Mark Tibbs and bantamweight world champion Ebanie Bridges for her ring debut.

The 24-year-old has now fallen in love with the sport, despite getting some nasty black eyes, and has also become close friends with a number of boxing stars.

This includes heavyweight boxing favourite Johnny Fisher, nicknamed The Romford Bull, and his dad Big John, who are also popular TikTok stars.

Elle's hard work in the gym wasn't for nothing as she will now face former Love Island contestant AJ Bunker, who didn't last very long in the villa.

"Listen here I am going to kill you like your s*** career that lasted in six f****ng days," said Elle in the press conference.

"I am a nasty b****. I fight to hurt, I don't fight to win. I think that's just an added bonus. I am going to be the first influencer female boxer to get a knockout."

Elle has vowed to keep on fighting after this bout so expect to see more of her.

AJ Bunker

AJ was on last year's Love Island (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Love Island has a representative in this event as former Islander AJ Bunker is taking part.

AJ entered last year's series as a bombshell and decided to couple up with Hugo Hammond, but she was chosen to be dumped by the boys after just six days.

The reality TV star stepped in for Astrid after she withdrew from fighting Elle, but a rivalry has very quickly developed.

At the press conference, AJ said: "Look at you and your little [dinosaur] arms.

"She's going to have the shock of a lifetime with my mindset and how hard I've been training. She needs to be taken down a peg or two as well as I think she might be a bit overconfident."

AJ had been training to compete against Playboy star Carla Howe at a Celeb MMA event before stepping in.

AJ and Elle are fighting in the ring (andreajanebunker/instagram)
AJ has been training hard (andreajanebunker/instagram)

She explained: "I have trained MMA previously and a bit of boxing beforehand. My mindset is there and I've been training hard for the past two weeks, I'm as ready as you can be and I'm going to bring it on the night. I had two fights postponed and I felt like all of that training would have gone to waste.

"It's not necessarily who I'm fighting, it could have been Elle or anyone else. I just wanted to take on a fight and get that experience. It's something that I've fallen in love with so if there's an opportunity there I'm going to go for it."

Having found a passion for combat sports this year, Bunker explained why she wants to set up her own gym in the future.

"I've fallen in love with combat sports and let's be honest... I don't look like the type of girl to be doing this sport," she told Mirror Fighting. "

Everyone is like 'what's a Love Island girl' doing this for. I want to inspire and influence those kind of girls, the LGBT community and anyone that needs to learn self confidence.

Chef Dave

Dave always gets the badge in (chef_dave11/Instagram)
Aaron and Dave have beef but are pals (aaronhuntt28/Instagram)

Before becoming a TikTok star, Chef Dave was a hero during Covid times.

The Nottingham-based chef, real name David Marshall, used his time on furlough to teach those in need how to cook for the whole family.

Each step-by-step guide showed people how to make 20 portions of each meal, which cost between 30p and 50p per portion, and he also donated meals to local charities and foodbanks.

Since then, Chef Dave has become a TikTok sensation and is usually seen in his living room with a 'drinkypoos' in his hand.

Dave's catchphrases also include 'yes guys' and his favourite drinks is a 'quad vod'.

His opponent is actually his close pal Aaron Hunt, but they have recently become a little heated with each other.

At the press conference, Dave three £300 at Aaron, claiming "my size might be small but my wallet is big".

Aaron Hunt

Aaron is big on TikTOk (aaronhuntt28/Instagram)
They are friends outside the ring (chef_dave11/Instagram)

Known for his "Ooooosh" catchphrase, Aaron Hunt became famous on TikTok for making videos where he debates the anatomy of certain footballers.

He is close friends with Chef Dave outside of the ring, so everyone thought this fight would be fairly tame.

That was until Dave got a little dig in on Aaron during the final press conference and then went missing.

Afterwards, Aaron said: "He just f*****g threw a dig at me. I've been winding him up all day and he's been saying he's getting serious with it but I didn't think he'd do that.

"I hada feeling going to do it as well. I could see his fist clenched. I followed him afterwards to say what are you doing but he'd already f***ed off.

"I just knocked on his door as well but he didn't answer so I'll see him in the ring tomorrow we'll have a scrap and hopefully we can be mates after it."

Luke Bennett

Luke will tell his opponent to get out (luke1158/Instagram)
Luke is hoping he has enough to win (luke1158/Instagram)

Luke Bennet has a very strange but hilarious style of TikTok video.

Most of his videos involve people requesting him to act out scenarious in his kitchen involving football stars.

For example, Luke would be asked how he would react if he found Harry Kane in his fridge.

Luke is well-known for his catchphrase "get oooooout", which is what he is hoping the crowd will be chanting to his opponent on Saturday night.

He was originally meant to be fighting fellow YouTuber Ginty, but their weight difference was too much and now he is clashing with Dean LM instead.

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