Cage Warriors 95 Review

Cage Warriors 95 Review:

By Jon Prentice

Cage Warrior 95 went down from the Indigo at the O2 in London last night, with the fans in attendance and watching around the world being treated to a very good event, filled with fun, frenetic fights, finishes and to top it off, a new welterweight champion!

The main event pitted Italian heavy hitter Stefano Paterno against another proven finisher Mehrdad Janzemini for the vacant Cage Warriors Welterweight Title, with a finish being all but guaranteed. That finish came as expected, with young Italian Paterno picking up the KO win midway through the first round. Paterno (12-2) is now on a very impressive 7 fight win streak and in beating Janzemini he fulfilled his promise to take the welterweight title back with him to Italy.

As the first round got underway Janzemini hunted for one of his signature submissions that he is so dangerously known for, and at one point looked as though he was close to locking on a heel hook. Paterno managed to escape the position where he wound up on top advancing to full mount. He then proceeded to patiently rain down heavy, controlled ground and pound as Janzemini desperately tried to defend. One of Peterno’s big shots eventually landed clean on the jaw of his opponent, putting him out and ending the fight.

At just 22 years of age Paterno has a very bright future ahead of him and I doubt it will be long before we see him get a call up to the UFC.

The co main event saw Ed Arthur and Mike Ekundayo battle it out in the bantamweight division clash that was full of trash talk and ill temper towards one another in the build up to the event. After the fight went the distance it was Team Titan’s Ekundayo that came out on top, with all three judges scoring the bout 30-26 in his favour, however the score line does not accurately reflect on what a fantastic, highly skilled encounter it was.

The fight was full of frantic scrambles, submission attempts and exciting ground exchanges, but it was Ekundayo who eventually showed his superior skills and strength advantage to get the nod. Post fight Ed Arthur took to social media to voice his displeasure at Ekundayo’s reluctance to stand and trade with him, however Ekundayo will not mind as he now moves on to 7-0 as a pro and he is another fantastic bantamweight prospect coming out of Team Titan who looks to have the ability to go all the way to the top.

Prior to that, Brad Wheeler got back to winning ways as he defeated Orlando D’Ambrosio via triangle choke in round two to get back in the win column following back to back losses to Janzemini and Matt Inman. The win is Wheeler’s 11th via submission and 17th overall as he looks to get his name back amongst the welterweight title discussion.

Before that in another welterweight clash it was Scotland’s Ross Houston who got the win and took his record to 7-0 as he defeated Nathan Jones via RNC in round two to extend his unbeaten run as a pro. The first round was mainly a stand up battle however as the fight hit the mat early in the second round it was Houston who showed his superior ground skills to sink in the choke and consign Jones to his 4th straight defeat.

Post fight Houston took to the mic to call for a welterweight title fight in his next outing and it looks like he is another very exciting prospect in the division.

The main card opener was my pick for fight of the night as Mason Jones took on Konmon Deh in a fantastic back and forth that provided fantastic entertainment. Jones did damage to the leg of Deh early in the first round via a combination of oblique kicks and low calf kicks, however Deh weathered the storm and saw the round out. Throughout the rest of the fight Jones looked as though he had locked on a submission and the tap was inevitable a number of times however on every occasion Deh showed great heart and composure to escape and wind up on top.

With both fighters battling it out until the final bell, it was Jones who got the judges nod to pick up the unanimous decision victory and move to 5-0. I would imagine we will see Jones take to the stage again at Cage Warriors Cardiff in September.

The pre-lims saw a mixture of fun finishes, bloody scraps and controversial endings, with the highlights including another first round finish for flyweight prospect Adam Amarsinghe, another submission finish for James Webb, a superb battle between victorious Paull McBain and Steve AImable and a decision win for Kris Edwards over Luca Iovine who had a total of three points deducted for penalties throughout the fight.

All in all it was a very fun night of action with Cage Warriors once again showing why they are a top promotion in Europe and why so many of their fighters end up making it to the big stage in the UFC.

Next up for the promotion is a return to Liverpool on September 1st for Cage Warriors 96 as fan favourite Paddy Pimblett battles it out with Soren Bak for the lightweight title.

Full results for Cage Warriors 95 as follows:

Stefano Paterno def. Mehrdad Janzemini via KO (strikes) Rd 1 to win the welterweight title
Mike Ekundayo def. Ed Arthur via unanimous decision
Brad Wheeler def. Orlando D’Ambrosio via sub (triangle choke) Rd 2
Ross Houston def. Nathan Jones via sub (rear naked choke) RD 2
Mason Jones def. Konmon Deh via unanimous decision
James Webb def. Pelu Adetola via sub (rear naked choke) Rd 2
Adam Amarsinghe def Aaron Laleye via TKO (punches) Rd 1
Paull McBain def. Steve Aimable via unanimous decision
Phil Wells def. Konrad Iwanowski via split decision
Kris Edwards def. Luca Iovine via unanimous decision
Gurd Shergill def. Joshua Onwordi via DQ Rd 2 (illegal strikes to the back of the head)