Franco wins again with rare '˜twister'

Franco put the moves on Hunter early and applied a rare twister submission which proved too much for his opponent, within three minutes of the first round.

Franco, who is coached by Danny Mitchell at the AVT Fight Team base, turned pro in December 2016 and has since won three of his five fights with the twister - something he believes has never been done before.

The latest stoppage, against Hunter, came with just two minutes and 41 seconds on the clock at the Doncaster Dome staged event Caged Steel FC 21.

He said: “It went really well, better than I thought. I didn’t intend on doing the twister submission, I didn’t know what to expect, as the style was a bare knuckle fight.

“I heard my coach shout it from the corner and it went from there. We’ve been working on that. It’s my favourite submission and a rare one as not many people get it done.”

The twister submission is a complicated floor submission hold, similar to the spine crank, which puts a lot of strain on the recipient’s spine.

“It was invited by Eddie Bravo, who does the 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu, which is massive in America,” added Franco.

“My coach Danny (Mitchell) had two in his professional career, he did it on two big shows.

“He’s been teaching me it and there’s no better person to learn it from. I don’t think anyone else has ever got three before in pro MMA or UFC.”

Franco’s next fight has been confirmed for 8th September 2018 against a Scottish ex-boxer in another bare knuckle boxing match up.

The fight, to be staged at London’s O2 Arena, could be for a British title, but the Franco camp were still waiting on confirmation as the Standard went to press.