TOM Mabandla had Garons rocking as he hit the right notes during a successful professional debut at the latest Ultimate Warrior Challenge fight night.

The Chalkwell based 28-year-old entered the cage to the sound of bongos dressed as a Zulu Warrior.

And Mabandla followed that up by quickly finding his rhythm to see off the previously undefeated Norwegian Nils Henrik inside the first round.

“My walk-out was inspired by my coach Daniel Burzotta and it seemed it go down well,” said Mabandla.

“I started playing with the idea when he walked out for his last fight in a Spartan helmet and I thought it looked really good.

“My team-mates also have their own walkout things with Walter (Gahadza) and his mask and Stav (Economou) with the hair so I thought I might as well do something in keeping with that.

“I want to thank Dom (Chico Moh) the percussionist as well he did a great job and created a good atmosphere and it was great to follow it up by getting the win.”

Mabandla immediately found his form against Henrik to secure a quick victory.

And he was thrilled to win the bout in front of so many of his friends and family.

“I went into the fight expecting it to be a tough because I knew he'd be game so I made sure I worked even harder in my preparation, especially as it was my pro debut,” said Mabandla.

“I wanted to start how I intend to go on and was relieved and ecstatic to have got the win in front of a home crowd.

“My mum was there as well so I had to make sure I brought it home.”

Mabandla will now be bidding to build on his debut victory.

And he could be in line for a second bout before Christmas.

“I’ll go back to training now but hopefully I will fight again in December at AWOL,” said Mabandla.

“I thoroughly enjoy the sport and throughout my life I’ve always started things but never seen anything through.

“But I got to a stage where I just figured I might as well stick to something and see where it takes me so that’s exactly what I decided to do.”