EARNING his maiden mixed martial arts victory will be a confidence-booster for Merbein fighter Aydan Russell, according to coach Jesse Medina.
After beginning his amateur career with successive losses, the 21-year-old locked in a second-round rear naked choke to earn his first win, against Conner Grimes at Saturday’s Demolition 13 fight card in Melbourne.
Working alongside experienced grapplers Medina and Augustus McCallum, Russell has eyes for a potential Demolition Amateur Featherweight title against current champion Jett Fisher.
“He performed really well for that first win, and it’s a credit to him for the work he has put in,” Medina said.
“After those couple of losses he was a bit down on himself, but he changed up a lot of things in the lead-up to this one, including the way he trains and you could just see him growing in confidence.
“I’ve been involved in all his fight camps and you could just see it in his body language that he had a more positive outlook.”
Medina said the training group knew Grimes would provide “a war” in the cage, with the game plan being for Russell to work over his opponent and wait to capitalise on a mistake.
“We knew Conner would be a tough opponent, and in Victorian fights, the gloves are more padded so we knew getting one good shot in wasn’t likely to finish a fight,” Medina said.
“The goal was to work him over and wear him down and force him into making a mistake Aydan could capitalise on.
“He did just that, going to for a takedown in the second round and Ayden managed to catch his back and lock in the rear naked choke for the win.
“I think it was important to him to get the monkey off the back, I know from personal experience when you have a few losses in a row, you can get really down on yourself.
“It’s a big credit to him and the work he’s put in, often we were having 3.30am starts to the day to try and get that extra work in.”
Russell’s next contest is likely to be locked in for June or July.
