Ipswich MMA star Corrin Eaton is back in action next week – and he plans to be wearing a couple of title belts by the end of the year.
Eaton, 27, fights Modestas Andrijauskas for the Contenders 66kg K1 title at Contenders 19 at the Norfolk Showground next Saturday.
It’s his first ever K1 (kick-boxing) bout as he looks to round all the aspects of his fighting game before making a return to MMA later this year and battling for another Contenders title.
“The K1 fight came about because I couldn’t really get anything MMA-wise until September, but I thought I should maybe do a K1 or boxing bout, just to keep active,” said the super popular fighter, a former pupil at Chantry High School.
“I spoke to Brad (Pickett, one of Eaton’s coaches and a British MMA legend) and he spoke to Steve (Newman, Contenders promoter) and they set this up.
“It’s my first-ever K1 fight - I was speaking to referee Dan Movahedi the other day and I had to ask him what the rules are!
“He thought I was joking, but I wasn’t sure!”
Eaton, who boasts a 9-2 1NC record in MMA, fought under Muay Thai rules over in Thailand back in 2015, stopping a Thai fighter with leg kicks.
But in his title fight at Contenders, he won’t be able to throw elbows or clinch his foe, something he often utilises to set up takedowns in his MMA scraps.
So how will he cope under a different rule set, where a large part of his overall fighting arsenal won’t be allowed?
“One of the reasons I’m so intrigued to try K1 is because after my fights I’m never happy,” Eaton explained.
“I go in there and get the job done with what I need to do, but I’m hoping this will allow me to be ‘gym Corrin’, stand up and express myself, rather than just taking people down and doing what’s necessary.
“It’ll give me confidence in my stand-up as well going forward when I return to MMA.”
Eaton, who fights out of Team Titan in London, and is planning to open his own gym in Ipswich with main sponsor CJ Services, has a plan for the rest of his fighting year too.
“The belt in this K1 fight is a bonus – a bit of gold is always good,” he said.
“The plan is to fight in September, on Contenders again, for an MMA title I hope – I wanted to do this to keep active.
“I need a goal, something to aim at, so I don’t take my foot off the gas.”
Tickets are still available for Contenders, which features a host of intriguing K1 and boxing clashes, including a Suffolk v Norfolk youth title clash which pits the exciting Ben Sell against Ipswich’s Jack Purdy.
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