IT IS renowned for playing host to some of the biggest names in rock and pop.

But Southampton Guildhall is swapping live music for live fighting after it became the venue for a mixed martial arts tournament.

Southampton’s Hardest Man contest has been given the green light to use the Guildhall later this year.

The show was originally set to take place this month at Fleming Park Leisure Centre in Eastleigh.

But bosses at Eastleigh Borough Council cancelled the event, claiming it did not fit in with the remit of the leisure centre being a family facility.

But after extensive negotiations with Southampton City Council and the police licensing department, organisers can now breathe a collective sigh of relief.

The tournament, which carries a prize pot of £3,000, is already well under way, with three preliminary bouts having already taken place.

Last week hundreds of fans saw Richard Walker’s 30-second demolition of Sam Gale at Exile Gym in Shirley.

The man behind the idea of the eight-man knockout tournament, Will Martin, told the Daily Echo that it was a huge coup for the fighters and fans to have the event at a “prestigious venue”.

He said: “It is right in the centre of the city and for a competition to find Southampton’s toughest fighter it is a perfect location.”

But for a while, the tournament was up in the air as it did not have a venue for two months.

Mr Martin added: “We had to banish the idea that the tournament was some kind of underground event. Not having a venue was awful, as you can imagine, because we had a massive interest and the fighters were preparing for it – and it caused a lot of stress.”

The security for the event will now be provided by the Guildhall, while there will be two medics on hand should a fighter be badly injured. The final tournament already has a few names that will definitely take part, including Karl Ward, Richard Walker, Callum Jones, Mike Cutting, Robert Sosa, Mo Karba and Jack Rolinski.

l Doors open at 6.30pm on October 19. The show starts at 7pm. Tickets from the Guildhall box office on 023 8063 2601.