THE WAIT was worth it for Trowbridge mixed martial artist Scott Clist as he completed a spectacular comeback from injury by winning the biggest title of his career.

Earlier this year, the 37-year-old had was preparing to fight on a BAMMA show in Birmingham (in June) but his hopes of appearing on the country’s biggest promotion were curtailed when he picked up a knee ligament injury in training.

But after fighting back to full fitness, Clist, who was formerly the head instructor at Revolution Gym and now trains at Melksham’s Dragonslair, jumped in at the deep end, taking on Frenchman Thierno Deng for Total Full Contact’s pro European title last weekend.

Despite some pre-fight nerves, the Trowbridge scrapper, who is also the general manager of The Beach nightclub, shone at Championship Saturday, October 10 at the Hutton Moor Leisure Centre in Weston-super-Mare, tapping out his opponent in the opening round after locking in an inescapable guillotine choke.

“I won the Total Full Contact British title last year when I beat a Welsh guy called Jamie Rogers and I was really happy when I was going to be fighting on a BAMMA show – they’re the biggest promotion in this country,” said Clist, who took his record to 9-2 with victory over Deng.

“It was about eight weeks before the fight. I was wrestling in training and my knee just went sideways.

“I could just feel a burning sensation and it was like someone had poured acid on my knee – I just thought ‘oh no, why is this happening to me?’.

“It was a bad injury and my physio told me that if I rushed back, I would do some serious damage, so I had to wait until I was 100 per cent.

“I was extremely nervous before last weekend, as nervous as I was in my first fight. He took me down a few times but Stu Pike and Brad Scott, who’s a UFC fighter, from Dragonslair have changed the way I fight and as soon as I got the choke in, I knew it was over.”

Pike’s title victory last weekend is due to be broadcast on Sky Sports.