HE MAY BE entering the latter stages of his career but Chris Fields is adamant that he’s still making substantial improvements as he prepares for one of the biggest fights of his career.
Tomorrow night at BAMMA 27 at the 3Arena in his hometown of Dublin, Fields (11-7-1) will take on Englishman Andy Clamp (8-1) for the vacant BAMMA light-heavyweight title.
At 33, Fields is aiming to become the first Irishman to win a world title for the British-based promotion. His co-headliner against Clamp will be followed by the meeting of French prospect Tom Duquesnoy — BAMMA’s bantamweight and featherweight champion — and Northern Ireland’s Alan Philpott, in which Duquesnoy will defend his 135lbs title.
“Fighting for the BAMMA light-heavyweight title, from when I signed with BAMMA that was my goal,” Fields told BAMMA. “Tunnel vision to be the world champion. I need this belt. I’ve put too much of my life on hold over all these years to not have it.”
One of elder statesmen of Ireland’s hugely successful Straight Blast Gym team, Fields played an integral role in helping to bring mixed martial arts into the public consciousness in Ireland, which began with SBG’s dominance in the Cage Warriors promotion.
Like Conor McGregor and Cathal Pendred, Fields became a Cage Warriors champion in September 2012 when he defeated Pavel Kusch to win the middleweight belt. That achievement looked set to be the launchpad to take his career to the next level, but Fields came up short the following year when he was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter.
After his first attempt to secure a UFC contract didn’t come to fruition, Fields returned to the European circuit and signed with BAMMA. However, there was more disappointment initially as he suffered losses to Cheick Kone and Christoph Jacquelin.
Seeking to end that series of setbacks, Fields opted to move up to the light-heavyweight division and he returned to winning ways by submitting Dan Konecke in the first round of their bout at BAMMA 24 last February.
“After signing with BAMMA I didn’t have the best start,” Fields admits. “In my last fight I felt like a few things clicked. I moved up to light-heavyweight and everything kind of came together. Still, there’s a lot more there. That’s the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot more in me than that.”
His win against Konecke was enough to earn Fields a shot at BAMMA’s vacant light-heavyweight title. Clamp is likely to provide a much sterner test of Fields’ credentials, but the Irishman — who’s predicting a second-round victory — believes he’s ready.
Fields: “I feel the pressure is off. I’m just enjoying training and improving my skills. I feel like my game has kicked on massively. These are all clichés but the people around me have been saying it to me. I think I’m just happy. And a happy fighter is a dangerous fighter.”
He added: “It’s going to be such a special night because I’m going to be Ireland’s first ever BAMMA champion. That’s huge.”
Tomorrow night’s bill will also feature other leading Irish fighters such as Dylan Tuke, Rhys McKee, Sinead Kavanagh, Brian Moore and James Gallagher, who takes on Anthony Taylor in the co-main event of the Bellator 169 portion of the card.
BAMMA 27 and Bellator 169 takes place tomorrow night at the 3Arena in Dublin. Tickets are available to buy here.
Note: The fight between Chris Fields and Andy Clamp has now been cancelled as of this afternoon due to “medical reasons”, according to BAMMA.
