On a sweltering night in Rome, Alessio Sakara brought the house down under the night sky in the open air at the Foro Italico - the venue synonymous with the ITF Italian Tennis Open - with a victory over British light heavyweight Jamie Sloane.

The pair of 205-pounders went at it wildly from the start, falling from striking into the clinch, until Sakara felled his foe and ground and pound his way to victory as the roars were raised into the night sky. The adoration of Sakara from the Italian audience similar in intensity if not on the grand scale of that enjoyed by Conor McGregor from the Irish fans.

The victory was an important one not just for the most prominent mixed martial artist in Italy, but for the Bellator fight league as their ambitious expansion plans in Europe include - aside from a six-event series in the UK over the next year - an attempt to promote a night inside the historic 2000 year old Coliseum in 2019.

“It was really good in here," Scott Coker, CEO of Bellator told The Telegraph. "I haven’t done an outdoor fight since we done a fight at the Playboy Mansion in 2007. There’s something about being outdoors, it remains me of the Hearns and Leonard fights. Today was a great day. I think we saw some great talent in kickboxing and MMA. Sakara is a big star here."