Harry Hardwick collected Cage Warriors gold whilst making history, last night at Cage Warriors 172.
At the Vertu Motors Arena on Saturday night (May 25) ‘Houdini’ faced Orlando Wilson Prins in the main event of the evening, stopping the Dutchman in the second round to claim the vacant Cage Warriors Featherweight title.
After an incredible walk to the cage, Hardwick looked to find his timing and distance early in the opening stanza and looked to be enjoying himself in front of a North East crowd.
The Middlesbrough man mixed his strikes up between the body and the head and ultimately proved to be too much for Prins, dropping him with a body shot in the second and reigning down with ground and pound before referee Marc Goddard called time on the contest.
He, alongside Lightweight champion George Hardwick, become the first brothers to simultaneously hold Cage Warriors titles.
The co-main event was poised to be an all out war between James Plant and Daniel Kolasinski and it certainly delivered. The pair met in the middle and instantly started landed huge shots on eachother, with Power hitting the mat with a flash knock down. After straying wildly from the game plan, Power’s corner had a stern word with him in between rounds 1 & 2, with the ASW man taking note and finishing the contest 15 seconds into the second round.
Kennedy Freeman rallied in the third round to continue her impressive unbeaten streak when she faced Gisele Libanio. The Brazilian was known for her heavy wrestling and it was on display when she kept the North East native pinned against the fence for the duration of the opening round. Whilst in a clinch in the second, Freeman fired a knee up the middle, of which Libanio felt was a low blow. After a lengthy delay in proceedings, it was decided that the shot was in-fact legal and the bout continued. The third round was all Freeman, with her crisp striking landing and stopping Libanio in the third.
Leon Hill was back at Lightweight and back to winning ways with a second round rear naked choke finish over promotional newcomer Tommy Hawthorn. The first round largely saw the pair spend most of the five minutes trying to get a read on eachother but as the second round started it was clear Hawthorn was fatigued. Seeing this, Hill’s corner roared their man on, asking for plenty of pressure and he obliged. After getting the floor to the ground, the submission was locked on and it was all over.
Chasen Blair looked good at Lightweight with a first round submission against Latvian, Arturs Leisans. Having spent his first 6 bouts as a Welterweight, the American made the decision to drop to Lightweight and looked more than comfortable at the lower weight.
Aiden Lee marked his first return to the promotion with a slick submission against Josh Abraham in the opening bout of the main card. After the pair traded on the feet for a while, the Renegade man got the fight to the floor and, after some solid defence from Abraham, eventually tied up a rear naked choke and got the tap with 14 seconds left of the opening round.
In the featured prelim, Jack Humphries made his professional debut in style. There was a lot of hype surrounding the 20-year-old, who had made a name for himself on the Amateur scene through the IMMAF tournaments. Joao Dos Santos was the man across the cage from the Fearless MMA man at Cage Warriors 172 and was not able to stop Humphries from implementing his powerful game plan and stopping Dos Santos 3 minutes into the opening round.
Michael Tchamou proved he had submissions as well as striking as he handed Joe Amber his second professional loss with a first round guillotine. There were also wins for Joe Fields, Charles Joyner, Jackson Clarke & Jordan O’Neil.
