KINGSTON, ON — Serhiy Sidey lit up the Leon’s Centre in Kingston on Saturday night with a first-round finish. The bout was for the inaugural BTC Fight Bantamweight Championship. Coming into the fight Sidey was already a champion in British Columbia’s Battlefield Fight League and one of the hottest bantamweight prospects in Canada. For this bout, his opponent was slated to be one of the toughest tests of his career - California’s Walel Watson - who previously fought in the UFC.

The pair felt each other out in the opening minutes. Both traded shots at range and while clinching against the cage. Just over two minutes into the title fight Sidey threw a punch at the Californian’s ribs and visibly hurt his opponent. He pounced on his injured foe with a flurry of punches and capped off the sequence with a pair of knees before the referee stepped in to halt the action.

Serhiy Sidey moves to 8-1 in his professional career and is currently ranked the top-ranked Canadian outside of a major organization. Time will tell if Serhiy Sidey will defend his championship or get called up to a larger organization. Either way, we can’t wait to see what the new champion does next.