A meeting was called at Sahara's fight pub club, called the ' Lamb to the Slaughter ' where they would finalise the details. Sahara refused to put her title ( South England Champion ) on the line and requested a friendly fight. So desperate was Mandy, she agreed.
I chatted to the girls in their dressing room as they readied for the big fight ( jealous? ) and got a couple of pics but I sensed a lot of tension in there, these girls were going to tear hair.
Mandy told me she didn't give a monkey about the arguments or the title and obviously buoyed with her win against Portia,' I just want to get into the fight and flatten the so-called queen, Sahara.'
When I put this to Sahara, she was incensed ' I went easy on that bitch in our cat-fight, now she's trying for the big league but you know what....no way! I'm gonna shut the bitch up and finish her in two minutes.'
Massive prediction but you couldn't disagree: it's Sahara and I don't want her taking me down in front of everybody. Embarrassing!
The pub fight circuit rules- anything goes and Bitchfightuk bought the rights.
It's a good job the Lamb to the Slaughter is a big pub out in the countryside with a big car park.
On the night of the fight, the supporters' coaches disgorged almost two hundred and fifty raucous fans into the hands of the smiling landlord's capable beer-pulling staff. Bets and beer were going down heavy as the fight was announced at 2 am, ( by then half the fans were sleepy drunk and the pub tills were bulging ) the almost compos mentis fans viewed the huge-screen TV, loudly applauding
The weigh-in was a tense affair, Mandy weighing in at 116 lbs was trying to keep her cool but Sahara at 101 lbs got into Mandy's face umpteen times using all her facial expressions and the officials breathed a sigh of relief that nothing worse happened by the conclusion.
The officials and the doctor and nurse were readying, the crowd wolf-whistling as the girls removed their tops to reveal their sweet bodies.
Gasp! They're topless. I almost let my camera drop. I could see they were perspiring from their warm-ups as they waited for the bell to ring, looking anxious but determined. I didn't know what to expect, so I daren't hope for too much.
The girls moved to their corners: they looked in great shape, lean and mean, the liniment added to their hard bodies making the shine.
Sahara's pub had additional rules for the fights and one was that no one but the girls were allowed in the arena: another - the fight was to be continuous.
Called to the centre of the room the stare-down began. Both girls whispered to each other.(I'll find out later what they said.)
A cheeky Sahara searches Mandy's face for any sign of weakness. Fight! The official shouted to loud approval from the fans in the adjacent bar area.
Both reach for the hair to get the best hold and of course this is Sahara's forte. Immediately Sahara has an advantage twisting Mandy's head by the hair whacking her little mitt hard into Mandy's ribs.
Mandy sets the tone for the fight in a clinch and draws first blood, raking her nails down Sahara's back.
Sahara is indignant, wrenches herself free and backs off, obviously feeling the injury to her back, when Mandy uses her reach and plants her favourite straight right onto Sahara's chin.
Sahara's head snaps back, she staggers and adopts a defensive posture, groggy, leaning against the wall.
Mandy sees her chance and looks to plant another telling punch but Sahara seizes a lock of Mandy's hair, twists and turns beautifully to put Mandy, her face a mask of pain, at risk, her fist again banging into Mandy's ribs.
Sahara plants her feet and another two-handed hair twist brings Mandy to her knees: Sahara always draws from her vast experience in past cat-fights when you think she is losing.
Mandy is now at Sahara's mercy in a big way, Sahara is setting her up, holding her head by her hair. As Mandy removes her arm to punch she allows Sahara, from a racing start, to plunge her knee into Mandy's face and chest.
Three hard impacts before a panicking Mandy bangs her head upwards onto Sahara's chin, spinning out of Sahara's deadly hold.
Scrabbling to get to her feet Mandy knows she needs to get up or Sahara will control her.
But Sahara dives and flattens her before she can get up, her knee drives into Mandy's belly close to the groin: Mandy screams in frustration as Sahara takes the mount.
Seriously troubled by the blow to her belly, she is floundering.
Finding extra strength she wrestles Sahara off her and both get to their feet.
Mandy looks wobbly, the pain in her gut leaving her unsure and Sahara takes full advantage, controlling Mandy by the hair uses her knees into her belly, again.
Mandy is struggling, she goes down again trying to deflect the punches from Sahara who can sniff an early victory, as she predicted.
Sahara amazingly, generously stands and waves Mandy up to her feet: Mandy slowly obliges. Could this be a mistake from Sahara?
Sahara has a careless Rousey moment, steps in and lands punches to Mandy's face and body, she doesn't see the right hook from Mandy. The punch hits her on the side of the jaw.
This is Mandy's strength but Sahara wants to get into the punching fight. It's not a good idea because Mandy begins to get the upper hand with her best combo punches.
Both girls are now competitively punching each other in the stomach, eyeing each other after their effort, their flat bellies taking hard punches, with the hardest blows from Mandy.
Standing toe to toe it is Sahara is forced to disengage, switching to kicks, to catcalls from Mandy's sponsors.
Mandy, finding a new confidence, wades through the kicks and lands a superb belly punch, Sahara doubles up, covering up from knee strikes, kicks and punches. The away crowd are being driven berserk.
The smaller Sahara, now looking seriously vulnerable, needs to go for Mandy's hair, the fight now into the fourth minute.
Sahara protects her belly after two of Mandy's hardest punches, then she goes for Sahara's ribs as she tries to recover her breath.
Sahara seizes Mandy by the hair while Mandy punches and kicks her body and legs.
Mandy is on a roll and Sahara is bleeding and bruised as Mandy must feel hopeful with a knock-down, not far away.
Desperately, Mandy tries to punch her way out of a hair-pull battle with Sahara, her fists pound Sahara's face and body and she succeeds but loses a hank of hair ripped out in Sahara's ferocious grip.
Sahara's followers are covering their faces, cringing against the final blow to wreck their dreams.
Into the sixth minute now and Sahara stays just in range of Mandy's punches but the punches are slowing.
Sahara's eyes are all but closed but she takes a few more of these solid punches, her body and face violated but she seems oblivious to the pain.
Mandy sees her opponent's hands drop but why do I get the impression Sahara is feigning surrender: Mandy lands a good body punch but she allows Sahara to find her hair.
Oh Oh! Sahara draws Mandy, punching wildly, close, her arms in the optimal hair grip position on the inside.
Where this little female gets her strength from, I don't know but her twist on Mandy's head puts a tiring Mandy on her way to the floor, while Sahara elbows her vulnerable back.
It's a floor battle now and a furious Mandy looks determined not to have Sahara on top.
The struggle is vicious but Sahara is now in her element, her elbows and fists able to find the vulnerable parts of Mandy's body and each time Mandy resists her hair is twisted mercilessly.
A fierce hair clinch develops on the floor. A huge, sudden effort from Mandy pulls Sahara up, until they are standing, their bodies straining against each other as Mandy desperately looks for a way out by punching.
Sahara twists Mandy's head, going for the floor again but wrenching her head from Sahara's grasp, she again leaves hair behind.
Mandy looks relieved, though she's groggy, looking for the fist fight but a speedy Sahara fires a crisp snap-kick to her midriff forcing her backwards releasing the first yelp I've heard.
Mandy clobbers Sahara on the face, following up with hard chest punches but Sahara holds her ground and exchanges several hard body punches.
Into the tenth minute of the fight and the two ladies have slowed, the punches and kicks not so crisp or accurate; now we are definitely at the stamina stage and Sahara still looks the more energized of the two, despite her obvious injuries.
Both bloodied and bruised, amazingly I can see Sahara is actually the fresher of the two.
They get in a clinch and Sahara, like the anaconda, ties up a tiring, injured Mandy, encircling her body and arms, her resistance diminishing as the hold is tightened.
Two minutes pass as the two sweating bodies, welded together, are bent over by the unrelenting pressure from Sahara's arms: Mandy goes down on one knee.
Sahara's crowd senses the end is near, they rise, as one to their feet for the coup de gras.
Sahara's knee strike to Mandy's jaw is dramatic enough for the crowd to roar: Mandy hits the floor hard.
An emotional Sahara is thrown a towel as she waits for the mandatory count of one minute to verify her win.
Mandy stirs and bravely attempts to rise succeeding only in rolling on to her back, while a stressed Sahara looks on.
The minute passes and Mandy is assisted to her feet and helped from the room.
Sahara enters the pub and throws kisses to the cheering crowd, the champion has dismissed another challenge from a plucky contender. A very entertaining friendly match.
