ESSEX, England -- In an incredible finish to the main event of Ultimate Warrior Challenge 7, local favorite
Valentino Petrescu (Pictures) and tough banger
Stuart Frith, simultaneously landed hard shots and both were wobbled, Frith was unable to continue.
The fight began as an evenly contested brawl, as both fighters tasted success with their share of punches and hard knees in the clinch. However, Petrescu began to assert himself late in the stanza, knocking his opponent to the mat with punches on two occasions.
Early in the second round, at the end of a savage exchange, both fighters landed near-knock out blows, as the undefeated and elated, Valentin Petrescu explained following his sixth straight win.
"It was good!" he said, with a massive grin, "I caught him with a left elbow - I felt that it went through - and he threw a straight right. Luckily I recovered!"
"Recovered" is the right word. Petrescu's eyes briefly rolled around his head as he took a step back to catch his composure. Frith, however, was judged to be unable to continue from the concussive shot, leading the referee to call an end to the fight.
"When the referee stepped in, I was a little bit surprised," Petrescu continued, "but when you're fighting you don't know what's going on all the time. Obviously there's some controversy behind it. We can do it again. He's a very durable guy I have to give him credit; he's a very good fighter."
In the fight of the night, local heavyweight hope, Stav "The Crazy Bear" Economou continuously went toe-to-toe with the gifted brawler Darko Krabanjevic during four minutes of incredible action.
Economou had a significant weight advantage and bulled forward at every opportunity, tearing into his opponent with precise, if not graceful, punching combinations. To his credit, Krabanjevic fought back valiantly, landing a succession of hard counter punches to the temples of his marauding opponent.
However, the Essex fighter hardly blinked as he absorbed the blows, before firing back with a steady barrage of punches which put Krabanjevic on the floor, sealing another brutally effective defense of the UWC heavyweight title by the ‘Crazy Bear.'
In an unfortunate contest between
Darren Guisha (Pictures) and
Fernando Saucedo (Pictures), Guisha landed an accidental low blow in the opening round from which his Mexican opponent barely recovered.
Saucedo fought on bravely and attempted a huge flying knee to begin the second, however, the agonizing pain got the better of him and he was forced to submit 97 seconds into the round.
Ivan Serati (Pictures) tore through his over-matched opponent,
Frantisek Smetanka after only 44 seconds of furious action. The Italian charged out of his corner as if his shorts were on fire and flew into his opponent with all guns blazing.
A series of terrible punches on the floor later, and Serati was declared the winner by referee stoppage.
Arunas Andriuskevicius (Pictures) disposed of tough debut fighter, Nicky Kruse in devastating fashion as he clipped the tough German with a hard right hand and sent him crashing to the canvas after 4 minutes.
Andriuskevicius was forced to defend off his back for most of the contest; however, the gulf in talent between the two fighters was more than evident in the stand up, as the Storm gym fighter hammered out an impressive win.
Luke Blyth came out to a hero's reception from the partisan crowd, but left his fans with little to cheer about as opponent,
Alfredo Achilli, repeatedly took the fight to the floor and dominated position to earn a decisive, yet unspectacular unanimous decision.
Jim Burman impressed with a quick submission win over
Kevin Porter (Pictures) after only 88 seconds. Soon on his back, Porter scrambled hard to regain his footing, however, Burman fought like a man possessed, shutting down all of his options and cutting off his airways with a tight rear naked choke.
Fabio Ferrari and
Matteo Piran (Pictures) locked horns in a very tight opening round, littered with takedowns and tight guard work. However, Ferrari cruised into control early in the second round with a bone-rattling slam which left his opponent gasping for air
Ferrari followed up with series of right hands to quickly seal a memorable ground-and-pound victory, one minute into the second round.
Tony Davis destroyed the sincerely over-matched, Sam Reddin in less than four minutes, battering his bewildered opponent around the cage and finishing with a rear naked choke.
Tsunami gym product, Tommy Maguire came through an early shock as tough local fighter, Lee Wieczorec scored with a perfectly executed high crotch take down early in the contest.
Maguire showed great composure as he rallied off his back to surge back into the contest with series of brutal punches on the floor which forced the referee to stop the contest mid-way through the first round.
Welsh fighter
Daniel Thomas (Pictures) put on a measured performance as he repeated took rugged kickboxer
Stuart Davies (Pictures) to the mat. Davies was able to struggle free from a tight guillotine attempt in the first round, but the Welshman was not to be denied as he battered his grounded opponent out of the contest early in the third round.
Under semi-pro rules, Andrei Tsikheyenka immediately took his fight with Firooz Kazerounian to the floor. The Russian submission fighter wasted no time in applying an agonizing heel hook to score an impressive 35 second submission.
In an entertaining back-and-forth struggle, both Silviano Valenti and
Sean Smith scored with huge slams. However, Smith was able to keep his nerve and leapt to a tight guillotine choke to seal victory seconds before the end of the first stanza.
Warren Kee showed a vicious streak a mile wide in his bout with Wayne Poulter as he stubbornly held off his opponent's takedown attempts and pounded his foe into the mat after only four minutes.
In amateur action, William Morley hammered the game, but heavily out-gunned,
Ed Howard to a second round submission with a series of devastating knees to the body.
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