Cage Warriors 65 packed a big punch for Irish fight fans in Dublin’s Helix on Saturday night, with a number of contenders emerging for the world titles recently vacated by Cathal Pendred, Neil Seery and Jim Alers.
Saul Rogers pulled off a massive upset in the event’s main attraction taking a unanimous decision win over UFC veteran John Maguire.
In the first round, Rogers landed combinations as Maguire initially stood in front of him, but realising he was coming off second best the Tsunami Gym man took the action to his preferred territory on the floor. However, Rogers proved to be hard dog to keep down, managing it dictate the pace for the remainder of the round.
Maguire set up an excellent single leg attempt before switching to a double leg to get Rogers down in the second round, but the SBG man managed to come out on top where he landed solid punches at will while Maguire unsuccessfully tried to hit a sweep.
Rogers went in to the final round two up, and Maguire scored with another single leg to get things on his terms early. Despite coming out the better of the two in the third, it wasn’t enough for the Gypsy Jiu Jitsu innovator on the night with Rogers banking the most valuable win of his career to date, 29-28 on all judges score cards.
Benny Alloway told Severe MMA’s Andrew McGahon of his desire for a shot at the currently unclaimed CWFC 170 title, citing his unanimous decision win over top contender Jack Mason on the night as reason enough for the promotion’s brass to grant him his wish.
Certainly not the fight of the year, Mason’s signature grinding grappling style won him the first round, forcing his game on the TUF Smashes veteran.
Although Mason tried to go about his business in the same way in the second round, Alloway had more success in stopping the takedowns and landed some interesting kicks that may have swayed the judges scoring in his favour.
Alloway’s striking was the difference between in the final round. Mason, not famous for his aptitude in the stand up department, constantly walked into the shots of the Australian in an effort to secure a takedown.
A hard one for the judges to score without a doubt, we will have to wait and see if Alloway has done enough to get the nod for a date with the 170 title after taking the win in Dublin.
Artem Lobov came into his Cage Warriors 65 showdown with submission expert Alex Enlund with a mission to push himself into contention for Jim Alers newly vacated 145lbs strap. Landing a nice uppercut to stop and early takedown from Enlund, the SBG Ireland man looked slick in his movement before taking his English opponent to the cage.
Eventually getting off the mesh, Enlund capitalised on Lobov leaving his back open and established his hooks and seatbelt before putting the Dublin based scrapper to sleep with a rear naked choke, much to the disgust of the Russian’s honorary home crowd.
Damien Rooney came into his Cage Warriors debut in the best shape of his life and it paid off with a second round submission victory for the Team Torres man. Rooney controlled the first round, and opening with an overhand right that landed on Bryan Creighton and the striking advantage was his as he utilised his range and quick combinations.
Creighton executed a fantastic double leg in the last thirty seconds of the first and opted for the same technique in the second after eating a few more Rooney’s punches. Getting his guard back quickly after suffering the takedown the Irishman worked an angle, locked up a triangle choke and was awarded with Creighton’s tap which signalled the end of the catch weight bout.
Rooney, looking so comfortable at 130, will surely be a top contender if he can make flyweight and possibly could challenge for the title that he has focused his sights on since Neil Seery’s signing with the UFC.
Paul Redmond played out a war of attrition with Australian Damien Brown to claim a unanimous decision in a fight punctuated by scrambles, transitions and submissions attempts. Brown arguably had the better of the two in the first, recovering well with a guillotine off a Redmond takedown early on and going on to control most of the fight from top position, despite the constant, aggressive guard work from the Dubliner.
Following his trend of growing as his fights play out, Redmond started the second by stuffing a Brown double leg and landing vicious elbows. The Ryano man went on to take Brown’s back and kept pressure on him throughout the round, claiming it convincingly.
Nothing summed up Redmond’s dominance in the third as much as how he finished the round, mounting his opponent and landing big strikes before time was called on the bout, putting ‘Redser’ back in the win column and straight back into the lightweight championship conversation.
Philip Mulpeter started off he main card with a bang against France’s Aldric Cassata. Dropping his opponent with a right hand, the Irishman came close to finishing the bout before Cassata rallied and managed to score a takedown.
Mulpeter scored a takedown of his own with two minutes left on the clock in the first and landed punishing ground and pound that forced the referee to stop the contest.
Saul Rogers defeated John Maguire via unanimous decision
Ben Alloway defeated Jack Mason via unanimous decision
Alex Enlund defeated Artem Lobov via rear-naked choke technical submission in Rd 1
Damien Rooney defeated Bryan Creighton via triangle choke submission in Rd 2
Paul Redmond defeated Damien Brown via unanimous decision
Phil Mulpeter defeated Aldric Cassata via TKO in Rd 1
Lee Caers defeated Merv Mulholland via rear-naked choke submission in Rd 2
Catherine Costigan defeated Irene Cabello via split decision
Paddy Pimblett defeated Martin Sheridan via unanimous decision
Konrad Iwanowski defeated Shane Gunfield via split decision
Neil Ward defeated Gavin Kelly via KO in Rd 1
Keith McCabe defeated Anzor Atseav via armbar submission in Rd 2
Paul Lawrence defeated Keith McGrane via armbar submisson in Rd 1
Grzegorz Kopec defeated Januz Woisneck via unanimous decision
Frans Mlambo defeated Dean Simmonds via unanimous decision
Fabio Viti defeated Danny Thompson via unanimous decision
By Peter Carroll – @PetesyCarroll
Photo: Cage Warriors
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