Cage Titans and New England MMA have been partnering up for years now! Since joining the NEMMA crew a few months ago this was my first time attending a Cage Titans event. Travis & Lars always said how great the production was and how being in that historical venue was a feeling like no other and I have to say, They were 100% right! Cage Titans knows how to put on an amazing show!
Plymouth has history on every corner and Cage Titans continues to make its own history. Setting up its cage in the beautiful Plymouth Memorial Hall where there is not a bad seat in the building. Even the seats up top look right over the cage reminding me of gladiator days back in Rome. No tigers or lions in these arenas, but there are definitely some beasts that get in that cage! Let's get to it!
The night started off with a bang as an amateur Muay Thai match between Sean Wakefield and Brian Ferguson gets the crowd fired right up! These guys left it all In there and the crowd loved it! Next is 2 first round finishes in a row as Shane Wellman & Mike Robillard get it done without the judges needed!
A few fights later the massive crowd favorite, Dan Walsh (2-1), entered stage-left and the place turned into one of the loudest venues I've ever been to! He kept the excitement going as he threw up a triangle choke and ended the fight at just :49 seconds of round 1! The young Lauzon MMA product is quickly growing into a rising prospect in the region, and one of the most popular to boot.
A Snapped Arm, Crowd Erupts, Fan Faints, Event Postponed
This fight reminded me of the old saying "You play baseball, you play soccer, you play tennis, you DON'T play MMA" . This is a dangerous game that can be brutal at times. Kyle Pavao (1-0) defeated Wayne Downer (0-1) by Technical Submission (Americana/Arm Injury) at 1:40 of round 2. As Downer tried to get back to his feet, Pavao grabbed an Americana on his left arm and torqued backwards, and before you knew it, you heard the sound of a stick breaking, and Pavao walking away in victory. It happened so quickly, that there was no opportunity for Downer to tap. It was one of the most gruesome bone breaks I've ever seen - in person or on TV. Downer was in an immense amount of pain as the medical team was tending to him.
As Downer was getting attended to in the cage by the EMT's standing by, a fan cageside fainted and caused quite the commotion outside the cage as well. Both Downer and the fan were taken away for medical attention, but this left the event without a required ambulance on site. We were expecting a pretty lengthy delay, but after about 15-20 minutes, the ambulance was onsite, and the event was back underway. Great job by the medical team and we wish a speedy recovery to Wayne Downer.
"NOSTOS VS EVERYONE! "
The worst kept secret in New England MMA this year has been the success that Nostos MMA fighters have seen inside cages throughout the region. Devin Powell has built a pretty impressive machine in Somersworth, NH over the past few years, and all of that hard work seems to be paying off for the Nostos boys in 2022.
One of the gym's fastest rising stars is amateur middleweight David Burke (3-0). Burke has only been training MMA for 8 months.......yes, you read that right.......8 months! In that short period of time he won his debut in 19 seconds via brutal KO in May, beat the tar out of his 2nd opponent a month ago, and he just secured maybe the amateur KO of the year when he defeated 3rd ranked Jideofor Ojukwu (4-2) via hellish KO in 22 seconds. With the victory Burke grabbed his first championship belt, and just put the rest of the division on notice. Check out Burke's most impressive finish yet below.
David Burke defeats Jideofor Ojukwu by KNOCKOUT at 22 seconds of the very first round. Your NEW Cage Titans Amateur Middleweight Champion is David Burke
A bizarre ending to the Amateur Bantamweight Championship
Next title fight was for the Amateur Bantamweight Championship. It was the classic aggressive wrestling of Tyler Smythe (5-3) against the precise striking of Arthur Mpofu (6-4), and it made for a 5 round battle that ended with an unusual stoppage. Smythe had the unanimous decision victory in the bag, thoroughly out grappling Mpofu over the course of the fight, but with 10 seconds left in the fight, Smythe's mouthpiece had fallen to the mat. With the fighters separated, referee Chris Burke stopped the action to have Smythe recover his mouthpiece. As Smythe put the mouthpiece back in his mouth, he gagged, and looked to be close to vomiting. Reports say that Smythe also expressed to the ref that he didn't feel well. Once that was said, Burke waved off the fight, allowing Mpofu to retain his Cage Titans amateur bantamweight belt.
It was a very unusual set of circumstances that brought this fight to its conclusion, and with Mpofu winning via TKO at 2:54 of round 5, you can't help to think of what Smythe could have done for 6 more seconds to drag out the fight. The clock was still running, and if Smythe could have walked around, maybe "accidentally" dropped his mouthpiece once or twice, and dragged out the delay for another 6 seconds, he would have another belt to add to his mantle.
Regardless of how the fight ended, Smythe looked really sharp with his wrestling and grappling during this fight. He is a natural 125 pounder, and he went up a weight class to take on a stud in Mpofu, and thoroughly controlled the action for 90% of the fight. Both Smythe and Mpofu will make some serious waves on the pro scene in the very near future.
Arnold & Young make quick work of their opponents
Next up Kam Arnold (2-0) & Lionel Young (11-18) kept the crowd amped with respective first round finishes of their opponents! Arnold (2-0) KO'ed a tough Michael Taylor (1-5) by landing a straight right hand down the pipe and locking up his 2nd professional win in as many chances. Young (11-8) made quick work of Will Smith (3-5) in a fight that probably couldn't have gone on longer. Regardless, Young grabbed a :33 TKO to improve to 11-18
Loco Lobo Heavyweight brings the Battle...
Brendan Battles (3-1) has been nothing short of dominant since returning to the regional Heavyweight scene and Saturday night may just have been his most impressive showing to date. Battles found himself locked into the Co-Main Event slot with fellow big man, Florida's Jashua Marsh (5-6). This one went back and forth for the first 90 or so seconds of the opening round, with both men landing leather and leaving Battles cut. The tide turned heavily in the favor of Battles after he landed a huge right hand that lead to a knockdown of the veteran Marsh. Battles then took the wind from Marsh's sails with some brutal grappling that ended with Marsh belly down on the canvas, recieving heavy ground and pound. At 4:24 of the first round referee Chris Burke had seen enough and called a stop to this Heavyweight Co-Main event, declarating the winner by TKO; Brendan Battles, who may just be the regions most intriguing Heavyweight prospect.
Joe Giannetti makes history by becoming the 1st Champ-Champ in Cage Titans history
Joe Giannetti (13-4) proved that you need to be on top of your game to take him down or to stand up with him. Over the course of 2 rounds Giannetti was able to land some big strikes on the feet, and more importantly, prevent the takedown from Trevor Gudde (4-3) which allowed him to land said strikes. Giannetti didn't seem like he had any issues with Gudde's size advantage, and landed punches almost at will. After 2 grinding rounds, Gudde couldn't see out of his damaged eye, and the fight was stopped by the doctors before the opening bell of the 3rd round.
A lot of heart shown by Trevor Gudde but Giannetti's precision, timing, and ability to keep the fight on the feet lead to the right eye of Gudde to swell up and between the 2nd and 3rd round, the DR stepped in and called it. Congrats to Joe! Joe called on Dana White & the UFC to bring him back and expressed how much he's grown since being on the Ultimate Fighter. He's definitely earned another shot! But Joe's not holding himself to the UFC. He called out fighters in the LFA and Cage Warriors. Anyone can get it type of attitude! The crowd loved it!
All in all, this was hands down one of the best events I've been to. It was a crazy night with a ton of story lines, and the most important story line of them all, was the high-level fights that unfolded within the cage. Thank you Cage Titans for having us, for hosting these amazing events, and thank you to the fighters for giving it their all for the fans! Wishing a speedy recovery to all of you !
More Results :
Decision: Mike Antidormi defeats Jake Caskey by Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Decision: Wolfgang Fiasconaro defeats Andrew Jacobs by Unanimous Decision (29-29 x3)
TKO: Raoul Scott defeats Donavan Lozada by TKO (Ground and Pound) at 2:49 of the first round
TKO: James Thomas defeat Will Doolin at :56 seconds of the second round by TKO (Muay Thai)
TKO: Jay Curley defeats Rafael Lopez by TKO (Ground and Pound) at 1:25 of the second round.
TKO: Shane Dillehay defeats Josh Smith by TKO (Ground and Pound) at 2:28 of the first round.
