STORM TRACKER: Follow 'Storm Amy' as it bears down on Ireland amid brutal forecast
Search
06 Sept 2025
Search
06 Sept 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
Irish amateur veteran Solomon “King” (Waterford) will face Nikola Ivanovic in the first ever MMA professional fight in Tipperary at the Talbot Hotel, Clonmel, on Friday night, January 27.
Premier Fighting Championship makes its return to the Talbot Hotel, Clonmel for its fifth event, PFC 5 on Friday, January 27 2023 with the big attraction this time being the first ever professional MMA fight to be held in county Tipperary.
Doors for the eagerly awaited event will open at 5:30 pm with the first fight scheduled for 6pm.
There will be a full undercard of amateur fights also on the night with top local fighters from SBG Clonmel competing. These include Marco Cardillo, Ger Ryan and Decky Ryan.
Decky will be making his first appearance in the Premier FC cage following two highlight reel KO victories in 2022 and will be hoping to move his record to 3-0 with victory over Dean O’Driscoll (SBG Naas).
A huge attraction for MMA fans on Friday week is that Irish amateur veteran Solomon “King” Simon is set to make his professional MMA debut and will have the honour of partaking in the first ever professional MMA fight in the Premier County.
The Team Ryano Waterford fighter is scheduled to face Impetus MMA’s Nikola Ivanovic (0-5) in a featherweight main event contest at Premier Fighting Championship 5.
Simon leaves behind an 18-fight amateur career, stretching four years since his MMA debut in 2018. The 27-year-old Waterford man is a former Cage Conflict champion, IMMAF World Cup bronze medallist, and Four Nations Tournament champion. Most recently, Solomon suffered a contentious split decision loss in his final amateur bout.
Ivanovic has struggled thus far in the professional ranks, losing his first five fights. The 24 year-old most recently lost via 1st-round armbar to surging prospect Lee Hammond at Éire FC 1 last month. Ivanovic has not registered a win in MMA since his penultimate amateur fight in 2019.
The contest headlines Premier FC’s fifth MMA event, and their third at the Clonmel hotel in 12 months. The upcoming weekend will also mark the first anniversary of the fledgling Irish promotion, having debuted with their first show on January 26, 2022.
More fights are expected to be announced in the coming days with about a dozen fights in total expected to be staged on the programme.
BOOK YOUR TICKET
Tickets are available from eventbrite.ie, the hotel reception and from all fighters on the card or online with the following link:https://severemma.com/2023/01/solomon-simon-set-for-pro-debut-in-premier-fc-5-main-event/
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
