Hexagone MMA 48: Léopold Goi takes the belt from Samba Sima

Léopold Goi is the new Hexagone MMA champion. On Saturday 24 October at the Zénith Paris La Villette, he beat Samba Sima by TKO at 4:49 of the fourth round with ground strikes to claim the vacant belt of France's leading MMA promotion. Sima, 23, came in with four professional wins, all inside the distance, and suffers the first loss of his career.

A long night for Goi

The promotion's top-ranked contender, Goi was still the underdog against the young prospect. He survived the early rounds and made his experience count in the second half of the fight, according to Combats MMA's report. His record moves to 9-3.

The weight class is unclear. The bout was billed for the flyweight (-57 kg) title, but Hexagone MMA's official report calls it a bantamweight (-61 kg) title. The promotion has not explained the difference.

Dena back in the win column

In the co-main event, Paul Dena beat Bilal Labid by unanimous decision. The promotion's biggest name returned to the Zénith, where he won in January, after a KO loss to Anzor Baybatyrov in Lyon in June. The official report lists him under his full name, Paul Denis Navero.

Elsewhere on the main card, Arnaud Prigent submitted Ibrahim Diallo at 2:22 of round one for his fourth win in the promotion, and Alex Hue outpointed Pierre Manzo, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist making his Hexagone debut. Saber Cherifi beat Axel Jean-Alphonse by unanimous decision at lightweight. The bout between Youssouf Ouattara and Rayan Balbali was ruled a no contest: Ouattara had first won by TKO in round one before officials ruled that illegal blows had landed.

On the prelims, Mahamade Demba Samba won his professional debut by first-round TKO. Ousmane Camara scored the fastest knockout of the night, in 58 seconds, in an amateur bout.

Hexagone MMA returns on 27 November at the Glaz Arena in Cesson-Sévigné, near Rennes, with the final of its lightweight tournament between unbeaten Théo Ulrich and Davy Gallon.