NOTTINGHAM, England, April 28 -- Following on from the massive success of the first Cage Warriors show in Nottingham, both local and international fighters put on another memorable night of action in the sequel "Enter the Roughhouse" event at the Harvey Hadden Sports Centre.
In the main event, local ticket-seller
Wayne Buck sent his army of fans into a frenzy as he knocked out the bewildered
David Cieplinski after only 18 seconds. Looking slightly stage-struck, Cieplinski went for a takedown immediately. He came up short and was met with a series of spiteful hammerfists that caused the referee to stop the contest as Cieplinski turtled up to avoid further punishment.
Dan Hardy continued his run of good form in Cage Warriors, coming through some testing moments in his match with Dutch opponent,
Willy Ni, to score an impressive guillotine submission win, 32 seconds into the second round.
Taking the center of the cage and landing a heavy low kick to start the match, Hardy took control early but soon found himself defending off his back after a successful takedown from Ni.
The Dutchman, however, fell back for an ankle-lock but failed to secure the leg, giving Hardy the chance to regain his feet, which he gratefully accepted.
In the second round, Ni again scored with a takedown, driving Hardy into the cage. But in doing so, Ni left himself open to a guillotine and the Nottingham fighter clamped on the choke for a win in front of his hometown crowd.
Climbing up the bill and making a name for himself, "Psycho"
Karl Amoussou lived up to his nickname as he tore into Irishman, Mark "Manslaughter" O'Toole from the opening seconds of the contest.
After a wild high kick, Amoussou slammed O'Toole to the mat, landing in side-mount. To O'Toole's credit, he put up a real struggle from his back and reversed position, but his success was short-lived as Amoussou regained control to finish with a rear-naked choke.
Highly ranked Roughhouse welterweight
Jim Wallhead also put in an impressive performance, as he dominated and dismantled Washington Vale Tudo's
Lewis Barrow for a shutout victory.
Controlling all aspects of the fight, Wallhead kneed and elbowed his opponent in the clinch for the majority of the first round before sealing the win with a burst of sharp elbows on the floor that gave Barrow no choice but to submit after 1:40 of the second round.
Going undefeated in amateur competition, Roughhouse submissions coach
Lee Livingstone racked up another win for his team as he made his debut against Wolfslair standout
Eduardo Mahal.
The Brazilian had success early, catching Livingstone's kicks and standing over him to land punishing low kicks. However, in the second round the Nottingham man came back to knock Mahal off his feet with a left high kick and batter him on the floor from side-mount.
As the seconds ticked away in final round, Livingstone countered a takedown from Mahal with a flashy triangle attempt, but he was forced to settle for the unanimous decision win as time ran out.
In somewhat of an upset, UFR fight team representative
Greg Loughran shattered the unbeaten record of hot prospect,
Andre Winner, putting the Roughhouse fighter to sleep with a guillotine choke.
The first round saw both fighters land heavy shots in the clinch, but winner had the clear edge in the wrestling, taking the Irishman to the floor at will.
In the second round, Winner appeared to be in full control, pinning Loughran to the mat and landing sickening bodyshots that could be heard all over the venue.
Out of the blue, Loughran sat up quickly, lacing his arm under Winner's chin to tighten up a guillotine choke. After some determined resistance from the Nottingham man, Loughran made his way back to his feet and drove Winner back into the cage to complete the submission, temporarily separating Winner from his consciousness.
Fight of the Night had to be the grueling encounter between Derby Tap or Snap fighter
Christian Smith, and
Jay Keiron from the Wolfslair.
Looking confident standing, Smith soon found himself writhing in agony after taking an accidental knee to the groin. Without taking enough time to fully recover, Smith was put on his back foot as Keiron steamed in with punches.
Starting the second round, Smith still did not appear to have recovered, leading Keiron to stalk relentlessly before another low blow to the Derby man earned him a warning. Bravely fighting through the pain, Smith regained composure towards the end of the round, before overwhelming and punishing the Wolfslair fighter on the ground for an incredible turn-around finish.
In undercard action, another "Psycho" --
Steve Tetley -- and
Chris Cooper both scored stoppage victories, smashing their opponents, Christian Binda and
Dylan Tanner to the floor and following with punches for the referee stoppage.
In class B fights (no elbows or heelhooks permitted),
Edwin Junior destroyed the determined
Rob Askew, eventually finishing him with punches on the floor, while
Eddie Podolski came through a huge right hand from
Rocci Williams in the first round to score a narrow majority decision win.