It was an eventful night in the English capital with a PrizeFighter champion being crowned and a host of big names collecting wins at Cage Warriors 174.
The standout performance of the night was undoubtedly Shirzad Qadrian, who defeated Weslley Maia and Alexander Loof to claim the PrizeFighter tournament. Entering the four man, two fights in one night tournament, as a relative outsider, Qadrian quickly showed he meant business when he avenged the only loss of his professional career by evening the score with Maia, handing the Brazilian a unanimous decision loss. He then met Loof, who was widely regarded as the favourite to win the tournament, in the final. It was an extremely closely contested bout, but Qadrian got the nod on two of the three judges score cards and walked away with the split decision win, $50,000 richer and a bout against Bantamweight champion Liam Gittins booked in for later this year.
In the co-main event, Jordan Vucenic once again put on a high level display in front of a packed out crowd at the Indigo at The O2. Less than 90 seconds into the bout, ‘The Epidemic’ locked up a tight guillotine choke against Adrian Kępa and got the tap. Flyweight prospects Jawany Scott and Ger Harris delivered a thoroughly entertaining 15 minute contest, with Scott claiming the split decision win.
Former Middleweight champion James Webb looked very comfortable at 205lbs as he worked to get a unanimous decision win against late replacement, Adam Bieganski. Nik Bagley picked up where he left off with a first round rear naked choke victory against Ryan Shelley. Shelley now finds himself 1-3 in his last four, as Bagley picked up his third consecutive rear naked choke win. Rounding out the main card, Milad Ahady made the most of his last minute call up to face Thomas Paull by securing a unanimous decision and extending his perfect run with the promotion to 5 bouts.
Rafael Aronov is quickly becoming a problem in the Welterweight division, as he stopped Jamie Richardson in the second round of their contest. Gheorghe Grozav’s slick submission game earned him a second round stoppage against the previously unbeaten Tommy Brunning. Craig Edwards upset the applecart with a first round stoppage just 47 seconds into his bout against Sergio Gavinelli.
There were also big wins for Matthew Elliott, Francesco Mazzeo, Giacomo Michelis, Eimear Darcy, Rhi Rhi Hudson, Nicolas Leblond and Jimmy Quinn.
