Cage Titans captured the attention of New England as they hosted their 61st event in front of a sold out crowd at the world famous Plymouth Massachusetts Memorial Hall. The fans were amped up as 2 titles were on the line. A stacked amateur undercard had the place going wild before the Pro's even hit the cage. Let's take a quick look at the biggest winners and losers from this historic event.
The first amateur mma fight of the night had the crowd fired up. Breyin Nichols and Ryan Kennedy both making their debut put on one hell of a show. Kennedy started off strong landing some huge takedowns, but by the end of the round Nichols turned things around and looked like he was on the verge of finishing Kennedy with strikes against the cage when the bell rang. Between round the DR stepped in stopped the fight due to a cut above Nichols eye and a fight that seemed to be in the bag for Nichols was now going to count as a loss.
This fight should be ran back.
A crowd favorite was Kyle "The Carpenter" Schofield. Not only did he walk out to the Home Depot Theme song but he followed that up by dropping hammers down on his opponent as he nailed in the W in just the very first round.
One of my favorite moments of the night was the WWE style slam that Jayden Curley Delivered to Tim Melvin. This fight had BANGER written all over it and I have to say great matchmaking to the CT team for making this the Main Event to close off the amateur portion of the card. It delivered, and in a big way! Melvin and Curley went out there and gave it their all. Curley definitely put the division on notice and he should 100% headline the next amateur card he's on!
After the Amateur card finished there were 2 HUGE fight announcements for November 11'th.
First Aaron "Short Fuse" Hughes announced he will be looking to stop the win streak of none other than "Captain America" Gerry Meuse. Meuse does what he does and makes a grand entrance defeating opponents as he walks into the cage. Also Meuse announced in Honor of fighting on Veterans Day he will be donating some of his purse from the night including ticket sales to helping Veterans out. Class act and a mensch. Hughes brings his guillotine skills to battle Meuse's Twister skills. For the submission specialist fans, this will be a fight to see!
2nd announcement was one of Cage Titans fastest rising stars Andrew Valdina will take on one of New Englands favorite fighters Jeff Joy. These Bantamweight stars will definitely bring the heat and have full potential to be fight of the night on any given night. Can't wait to see these 2 go at it!
When Graham enters the cage, you know someone is going to sleep. 2-0 under the Cage Titans Banner with 2 knockouts, Graham is highlight reel worthy every time he steps in. Lombardo is a tough night out for anyone and for most of the fight it seemed pretty even but when the big boys step in there all it takes is one punch to change everything. At the end of the 2nd round Graham proved just that and connected with a solid punch that put lombardo out as he was still standing, in a wild scene lombardo is falling to the ground and Graham wants to make sure the fights done and fires 3 more shots before the ref jumps in Lombardo is out for a while. Scary scene as Lombardo takes a minute to get back to his feet but also a wild scene to see the crowd react to a viral knockout. Huge win for Graham. Rumor is Graham called out UFC vet William Knight. Now that sounds like one hell of a fight!
Joe Poirier, Remember the name.
What a run this up and coming star has had. Fighting under the Lauzon MMA gym and guidance, Poirier has amassed a perfect 4-0 record. Never seeing the 2nd round in his professional career, and finishing all his opponents with 2 KO's and 2 Submissions, Poirier can finish the fight where ever it goes! No off time for this warrior, CT announces Poirier will fight 3-1 Casey Norton at Cage TItans 62 in November.
A few more finishes including a submission by Cam Resnisky in the first and Miguel Sevasin winning by TKO (Elbows) in the first round kept the crowd fired up.
Hylton Vs Marsh was a fight was Hylton called for. After winning the Cage Titans heavyweight championship he called out Jahsua Marsh, an opponent that defeated Ras a few years ago and he wanted to right that wrong.
Unfortunately Marsh was ready for the challenge and stunned the crowd as he ended Hyltons short loved reign as champion and finished his old rival with a vicious punch followed up by some heavy ground and pound. There's a new heavyweight champion in New England. Who will be the one to dethrone him?
Ending the night off was the highly anticipated matchup between one of the longest reigning Cage Titans champions, Joe Giannetti, as he takes on one of Canada’s up and coming superstars Michael Dufort. On a 3 fight win streak with his most recent win over UFC vet Luis Pena, Dufort had all the confidence in the world and even pushed the envelope when he threw on a Canadian Hockey Jersey in the Cage TItans cage when the fight was announced. He purposely got the crowd fired up cause he wanted to hear them silenced when he won. Giannetti came to fight, riding a 5 fight winning streak, Giannetti was riding the momentum and had the crowd behind behind him.
In under 2 minutes the crowds energy was gone though and Cage Titans had a new Lightweight Champion. Dufort used his grappling and got the fight to the ground quick, transitioned perfectly to Giannettis back and moments later Giannetti tapped out. Once the ref stopped it Dufort stood up and put his hand to his hear to take in all the silence from the crowd.
Cage Titans delivers with the matchmaking and the fighters deliver with the action. Props and respect to everyone who entered the cage this night. Just remember Some days you're the Dog, and somedays you're the Fire Hydrant.
Congrats to Cage Titans, Spectation Sports, the whole crew, the fighters, and everyone involved for creating a night and memories that will last forever.
