BRADFORDIAN Harris Hussain has inflicted pain on a Dane and retained his European K1 Kickboxing title.

The rising Martial Arts star stopped Denmark's Chaya Tran in sensational style on Saturday evening.

It was deja vu for Hussain, with the bout taking place in Manchester at the same venue where the kickboxer first claimed the 53kg title last year.

In that fight, the Bradford lad defeated tough Frenchman Jean Gomis.

But, he faced an even sterner test here in trying to conquer the Scandinavian.

The marauding Dane came out firing from the opening bell, landing some heavy kicks and a flurry of vicious knees from the clinch.

Hussain weathered the storm though, and finished the round strongly.

The second round was a similarly brutal affair, before Hussain unleashed a barrage of punches and dropped Tran heavily with a withering body shot.

The challenger rose gamely but Hussain sensed blood and pounced, ending the fight midway through the round with another heavy handed attack.

Hussain said: "I was warned that defending the title would be harder than winning the title and that was definitely the case.

"He was an incredibly strong challenger but I proved I could handle adversity and came up with the finish when I needed it."

The Bradfordian was once again backed by a large and loud army of travelling fans.

Hussain was also joined on the card by his Abusins Muay Thai stablemate, Shehroze Butt.

Butt, 26, was making his comeback after a three year layoff but he showed no signs of ring rust in a pulsating five round battle against Jersey's Callum Jones.

At the end of the bout though the Channel Islander came through to win after being awarded a wafer thin decision.

Despite the loss, Bradford's Butt proved that he will still be a force in the 62kg division.