ABERTILLERY fighter Jack Marshman is an MMA world champion after beating Christopher Jacqueline of France to win the Cage Warriors Fighting Championships world middleweight title in London.

Marshman, who has trained at Tillery Combat Mixed Martial Arts gym in Blaina for the past 10 years, earned his title shot last month by beating the very experienced Ali Arish on the Cage Warriors event at the Newport Centre.

And last Friday he travelled to the historic Camden Centre in London for the title bout, which was shown live on BT Sport and UFC Fightpass, with millions across the world tuning in.

The fight was the main event and Marshman from Abertillery was in brilliant form.

He was dominant in the striking from the start of the round and his pressure finally paid off with only two seconds of the first round to go.

Marshman landed a perfect right hook that sent Jaqueline to the canvas, leaving the referee with no choice but to stop the fight.

Marshman became the MMA world champion after four minutes and 58 seconds of round one.

"I caught him with a good shot and he was unconscious so the referee stepped in to stop the fight," the 26-year-old explained.

"This was my second shot at the world title but last time I was 21 and was too inexperienced.

"Jacqueline was fine and it was an amazing feeling when I found out I had won and become the world champion."

Marshman is a Lance Corporal with the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regimen and trains up to three times a day.

The win takes his record to 20wins and five defeats and his management team are now hopeful that he will get signed by the UFC – the number one MMA organisation in the world.

He said: "I stuck to my game plan and did what I had been training to do for weeks and it paid off.

"The dream for me now is to go to the UFC. Everyone wants to go to the UFC, that's the dream for every cage fighter.

"Now that I've won the world championship, I hope I will get signed by them."

Marshman added: “I would like to thank all of my friends and family that have shown incredible support through social media, all of my training partners at Tillery Combat MMA and to all of my sponsors.”

Anyone interested in training at Tillery Combat can find details on the club’s Facebook page, on the website at www.tilerycombatmma.co.uk or by contacting head coach Richard Shore on 07833444560.

Next up for the team in the Pain Pit Fight Night MMA event in Abertillery Sport Centre on July 23.