EXPLOSIVE puncher Steve Lambert admits he’s expecting his toughest test to date when he squares off against the fellow unbeaten heavyweight Chi Lewis-Perry at the third edition of the Heat MMA show in Southend on Saturday evening.

The 32-year-old – who has stopped the first two opponents of his MMA career by knock-out within seconds of the opening bell – will put his record on the line against Lewis Perry, who is also a quick finisher with eight and 17 second stoppages in two of his four wins.

Lambert, who beat Tomas Vaiciskas in 18 seconds in April and Thomas Denham in 25 seconds in October, said: “The last guy I fought had a good background so I thought it was going to be a lot harder than it turned out to be. But I happened to catch him with a good early punch and it was over in a few seconds.

“I haven’t been challenged yet but I’m sure this fight I am going to be challenged much more than I have been so far.”

Heat promoter Alex Burzotta admits it is likely to be a candidate for fight of the night.

He said: “People think we are trying to build Steve Lambert up but he was expecting a much harder test against Denham last time out, and he is going in with a very classy guy here.

“Lewis-Perry is a former basketball player and stands at 6ft 8ins tall, so you will have two very big heavyweights in there.

“It is a real 50-50 fight and it’s one of the fights I am looking forward to the most.”

Burzotta said it was a card stacked with even contests and that the crowd are in for a treat when UFC veteran Dave Lee takes on fellow high-class grappler Thomas Hytten in the main event at Garon Park.

Elsewhere on the card, Southend’s Mauy Thai expert Joe Emmons with square off against big hitting Geordie Scott Rogan in front of his partisan home supporters.

For more information, visit www.heatsports.co.uk Fight card: Thomas Hytten v Dave Lee, Chi Lewis Perry v Steve Lambert, Scott Rogan v Joe Emmons, Loic Marty v Dacian Barbul, Valerio Galosi v Rob Barber, Shah Hussain v Alex Montagnani, Matteo Mingardo v Marious Bogdan, Roberto Fantasia v Lloyd Clarkson, Jean Laurent v Carl Oriss, Dan Scarce v Jamie Polkinghorn, Gemmel Haines v Adam Willhelmy, Matt Newton v Damian Fisher, Sam Neville Towle v Andre Ostravanou, Mike Gabell v Darious Kasperczuk, Lucas Brand v Nick Brown, Kyle Pepperell v Ray Mahony, Sonny Sahota v Ryan French, Chris Devito v John Gosling, Kieron Clifford v Karl Bennet.