Adelaide to host major arm wrestling championship in AWE2

Adelaide is set to play host to just the second major tournament for a new promotion that’s already attracting some of the biggest names in a fast growing sport.

Todd “ToddZilla” Hutchings will be there. So will Maatieawarngi ‘The Beast’ Heat-Morris, Artem “The Russian Spy’ Taranenko and Australia’s own Ryan ‘Blue’ Bowen.

Lutheran Pastor Guntars Baikovs will be challenged for his title by the 170kg Markus ‘The Tahitian Wrecking Ball’ Atirai and rising teenage star Hamza ‘The Hammer’ Hodzic will be doing everything possible to hold on to his junior belt.

No, it’s not professional wrestling, it’s the fast-growing sport of arm wrestling and it’s coming to Adelaide Oval next weekend.

AWE2 – the second major tournament staged by Arm Wrestling Entertainment – will take over the Oval’s Magarey Room and pitch some of the best biceps in Australia and around the world against one another inside an ISKA-certified octagon.

All matches are the first to four pins, and according to organisers there’s a primal attraction to this ancient test of strength.

SA Titans club president “Hollywood” Matt Connelly with young wrestling sensation Hamza “The Hammer” Hodzic. Picture: Matt Loxton

And while strength is, of course, important it’s technique that’s paramount – which is why The Hammer has been able to rise through the ranks and beat much bigger opponents.

The 18-year-old junior champ only started in the sport 18 months ago after seeing a highlight video of arm wrestling legend Devon Larratt on YouTube.

“I thought it was really cool, and that same night I was doing push ups and trying to get stronger,” Hodzic said.

“I was pretty weak at the start and I guess I just progressed quickly.”

But beyond excellent technique and push ups, Hodzic said he had one true advantage over his opponents – Bosnian barbecue.

Wrestling sensation Hamza “The Hammer” Hodzic. Picture: Matt Loxton

“Every weekend we’ll go to a barbecue at a cousin’s house or something and eat lots of meat,” he said.

“I think I’m about 15kg heavier now than I was when I started. I used to be pretty skinny.”

AWE’s “Hollywood” Matt Connelly said the first event attracted a lot of pay-per-view interest from the US – arm wrestling’s biggest market – and he hoped this tournament would be even bigger.

“That’s why we’re running on a Sunday – it will be Saturday night in the US,” Connelly said.

“It will be an elite arm wrestling event with some of the best guys in the world coming down. We have a couple of guys coming from the United States, including a six-time world champion in ToddZilla Todd Hutchings who’ll take on a guy from New Zealand who’s 170kg.

“In short, it’s the biggest arm wrestling event in Australian history.”

Tickets for next Sunday’s AWE 2 are available at www.diamondbackfc.com in the general admission section. Use the code awe2 for discount admission