Economou Economic in Title Win
MARCH 1, SOUTHEND ON SEA, England -- Tommy Rasmussen faced off
against the unbeaten Stav
Economou (Pictures) for the title in what proved to
be a stern test for both fighters in the main event of Ultimate
Warrior Challenge 6.
Economou came out all guns blazing in front of a capacity crowd of 1,500, catching Rasmussen with punches before the Norwegian shot in. After scrambling for position Rasmussen secured the takedown and began to work his ground-and-pound. Economou rolled to escape but his opponent controlled the ground game and continued to land with chopping hammerfists.
After taking a number of shots, "Crazy Bear" Economou managed to find his feet only for Rasmussen to work the clinch to his advantage. Sensing the need to use his strikes Economou finally broke away and threw some heavy leather that rocked the Norwegian who looked to shot in to regain his composure.
Economou sprawled well and took side-control. From here he dropped down a flurry of devastating blows that forced the ref to stop the fight at 4:10 to give Economou the title and a deserved, gutsy win.
In the light heavyweight division Arunas Andriuskevicius (Pictures) took a solid victory over Tan Khan. With both men attacking the legs with vicious intent the first round played out on the feet until Khan rushed his opponent and forced the action to the ground.
Arunas took top position and dropped shoulder strikes and elbows before moving into side-control and landing his punches. In the second stanza Khan lost his range and Arunas punished him with kick after kick to both legs before landing a nice combination of punches. As the action went to the clinch, Arunas used a leg trip to fell his opponent before slickly securing mount and pounding Khan until the ref stepped in at 2:12 of the second.
Undefeated Simeon Thoresen took on the veteran Paul Jenkins (Pictures) in a highly anticipated match that played out into the hands of the Norwegian with ease. Jenkins attacked the lead leg of Thoresen before ducking a jab and clinching his opponent and taking him down. From here it was all Thoresen as he worked his guard and took control of an arm before deftly throwing on the submission at 1:06 of round one for an impressive win over such an experienced opponent.
Alex Evans defeated Jamie Banks with a controlled display of grappling and ground-and-pound. Unable to escape Evans' barrage from the mount, Banks gave up his back. Though he escaped one attempt, Banks finally succumbed to Evans' rear-naked choke at 3:23 of the first.
In a local derby Luke Blyth destroyed Tim Wise in a mere 22 seconds of their heavyweight contest. After eating a solid leg kick, Wise looked to retaliate but slipped and as he went to ground was greeted with a heavy right to the jaw. Standing over his opponent Blyth continued to drop bombs, eventually sitting into mount and beating his opponent down until the ref intervened and halted the match.
Looking very big for a welterweight Chris Richardson (Pictures) earned a decent submission win against the Lee Hasdell (Pictures) trained Kevin Porter. A fearsome exchange ensued on the ground as both unleashed elbows and fists until Porter overextended and Richardson capitalized by taking an arm for the submission at 2:53 of the opening round.
In a back-and-forth battle Giacomo Amabili won his debut fight against Lee Mayo. As Mayo worked the body, Amabili reached over and quickly sunk in a guillotine choke to force the tap out and take the victory in 4:34 of the first round.
Matteo Piran (Pictures) weathered the storm against Lola Bamgbala (Pictures) to take a well-earned win. Bamgbala secured side-control briefly before Piran scrambled, taking his opponent's back and then transitioning to an armbar for the submission at 3:12 of round one.
Linton Vassell put on an impressive display in the heavyweight division against Marco Motta. After an exchange of leg kicks and punches Vassell picked up Motta, lifting him above his head and flinging him to the canvas. Taking side-control and then mount with ease, Vassell looked for a kimura before forcing Motta to give up his back where he sunk in a rear-naked choke for the win at 2:57 of the opening stanza.
Lee Wieczorek took on the hardy Dogs of War trained Kevin Maddox in a welterweight match but in the end proved too much for the Welshman. Securing side-control Wieczorek used elbows to the thighs and body of his opponent to soften him up before taking mount and unleashing a torrent of strikes that forced the referee to stop the fight after 3:32 of the first round.
Phil San bravely took Cristiam Binda into the second round in their featherweight match but found him self on the end of some devastating punches. Binda feigned to kick and San stepped in to be met with a heavy left to the chin that floored the London fighter. Binda dove in, following San down and pounding him out for the win at 2:45 of round two.
In a real barnstormer, Stuart Davies took on Daniel George in a catch-weight fight of 73kg to open the night with a bang. Landing some vicious knees and kicks Davies unloaded with a straight right that dropped his exhausted opponent before he finished him with strikes on the ground to take the victory after 4:39 of the second round.
Economou came out all guns blazing in front of a capacity crowd of 1,500, catching Rasmussen with punches before the Norwegian shot in. After scrambling for position Rasmussen secured the takedown and began to work his ground-and-pound. Economou rolled to escape but his opponent controlled the ground game and continued to land with chopping hammerfists.
After taking a number of shots, "Crazy Bear" Economou managed to find his feet only for Rasmussen to work the clinch to his advantage. Sensing the need to use his strikes Economou finally broke away and threw some heavy leather that rocked the Norwegian who looked to shot in to regain his composure.
Economou sprawled well and took side-control. From here he dropped down a flurry of devastating blows that forced the ref to stop the fight at 4:10 to give Economou the title and a deserved, gutsy win.
In the light heavyweight division Arunas Andriuskevicius (Pictures) took a solid victory over Tan Khan. With both men attacking the legs with vicious intent the first round played out on the feet until Khan rushed his opponent and forced the action to the ground.
Arunas took top position and dropped shoulder strikes and elbows before moving into side-control and landing his punches. In the second stanza Khan lost his range and Arunas punished him with kick after kick to both legs before landing a nice combination of punches. As the action went to the clinch, Arunas used a leg trip to fell his opponent before slickly securing mount and pounding Khan until the ref stepped in at 2:12 of the second.
Undefeated Simeon Thoresen took on the veteran Paul Jenkins (Pictures) in a highly anticipated match that played out into the hands of the Norwegian with ease. Jenkins attacked the lead leg of Thoresen before ducking a jab and clinching his opponent and taking him down. From here it was all Thoresen as he worked his guard and took control of an arm before deftly throwing on the submission at 1:06 of round one for an impressive win over such an experienced opponent.
Alex Evans defeated Jamie Banks with a controlled display of grappling and ground-and-pound. Unable to escape Evans' barrage from the mount, Banks gave up his back. Though he escaped one attempt, Banks finally succumbed to Evans' rear-naked choke at 3:23 of the first.
In a local derby Luke Blyth destroyed Tim Wise in a mere 22 seconds of their heavyweight contest. After eating a solid leg kick, Wise looked to retaliate but slipped and as he went to ground was greeted with a heavy right to the jaw. Standing over his opponent Blyth continued to drop bombs, eventually sitting into mount and beating his opponent down until the ref intervened and halted the match.
Looking very big for a welterweight Chris Richardson (Pictures) earned a decent submission win against the Lee Hasdell (Pictures) trained Kevin Porter. A fearsome exchange ensued on the ground as both unleashed elbows and fists until Porter overextended and Richardson capitalized by taking an arm for the submission at 2:53 of the opening round.
In a back-and-forth battle Giacomo Amabili won his debut fight against Lee Mayo. As Mayo worked the body, Amabili reached over and quickly sunk in a guillotine choke to force the tap out and take the victory in 4:34 of the first round.
Matteo Piran (Pictures) weathered the storm against Lola Bamgbala (Pictures) to take a well-earned win. Bamgbala secured side-control briefly before Piran scrambled, taking his opponent's back and then transitioning to an armbar for the submission at 3:12 of round one.
Linton Vassell put on an impressive display in the heavyweight division against Marco Motta. After an exchange of leg kicks and punches Vassell picked up Motta, lifting him above his head and flinging him to the canvas. Taking side-control and then mount with ease, Vassell looked for a kimura before forcing Motta to give up his back where he sunk in a rear-naked choke for the win at 2:57 of the opening stanza.
Lee Wieczorek took on the hardy Dogs of War trained Kevin Maddox in a welterweight match but in the end proved too much for the Welshman. Securing side-control Wieczorek used elbows to the thighs and body of his opponent to soften him up before taking mount and unleashing a torrent of strikes that forced the referee to stop the fight after 3:32 of the first round.
Phil San bravely took Cristiam Binda into the second round in their featherweight match but found him self on the end of some devastating punches. Binda feigned to kick and San stepped in to be met with a heavy left to the chin that floored the London fighter. Binda dove in, following San down and pounding him out for the win at 2:45 of round two.
In a real barnstormer, Stuart Davies took on Daniel George in a catch-weight fight of 73kg to open the night with a bang. Landing some vicious knees and kicks Davies unloaded with a straight right that dropped his exhausted opponent before he finished him with strikes on the ground to take the victory after 4:39 of the second round.
Related Articles