Dario Bellandi worked his way to a unanimous decision to retain his Cage Warriors Middleweight title against Robin Roos in the main event of Cage Warriors 175, a card that delivered big wins from the opening bout, to the main event.
The card kicked off an exciting weekend in Manchester, UK with the UFC heading to the Co-op Live with a double header of title fights topping the card, as Tom Aspinall and Leon Edwards take on Curtis Blaydes and Belal Muhammad, respectively.
Many of the athletes that competed on last night’s Cage Warriors card will have their sights set firmly on earning a UFC contract and the performances certainly lived up to that.
Bellandi faced Roos in an intriguing 5 round affair, with both men having elements of success throughout. It was the challenger who established a foothold in the contest early on, looking like he could pose a real threat to Bellandi, Roos comfortably took the first round. However, the champion grew into the contest more and more, round after round, and done enough to claim ever round thereafter and walk away with the unanimous decision win and the belt still around his waist.
In the co-main event, former Cage Warriors double champion Mason Jones faced the unbeaten Michael Pagani. ‘The Dragon’ was without doubt Pagani’s toughest opponent to date but the Italian put in a valiant effort and showed that he’s one of the toughest athletes at 155lbs. Both men left everything inside the cage over the three rounds, with both men battered and bloodied by the end of the contest. As the bout went on, Jones’ experience and fight IQ shone through and the Welshman claimed his fourth successive win, with a unanimous decision.
Adam Cullen got back to winning ways with a third-round stoppage against Samuel Blasco. The Next Generation MMA man was determined to return to the form that shot him into the upper echelon of the Cage Warriors Lightweight division and done so, with a dominant performance against the experienced Spaniard. Blasco’s granite chin held up for the most part, eating some big shots in both the first and second round, before succumbing to the relentless pressure of Cullen in the third.
Stefano Paterno continued to prove that he is a monumental problem in the Welterweight division. The Italian returned to Cage Warriors earlier this year against Scottie Stockman at Cage Warriors 167 and stopped the American in the first round. He pulled on the famous yellow gloves once again last night and stopped Olli Santalahti in the third round of their contest. Paterno may well have secured himself the number 1 contender spot in the division after the win, or booked his ticket in the upcoming Welterweight PrizeFighter tournament later on this year.
Ieuan Davies picked up the biggest win of his career with a second-round submission win against Adam Shelley whilst Matthew Camilleri picked up a razor close split decision win against Emanuele Sabatino to open the main card.
George Smith made a successful return to the Cage Warriors cage with a slick first round submission win against Craig Rawlins in the featured preliminary bout. Elsewhere on the prelims, there were big wins for Connor Wilson, Florian Doskja, Manuel Del Valle, Davide Scarano and Giuseppe Mastrogiacomo.
On the early preliminary card, Kallum Parker picked up his first win in the yellow gloves with a first round stoppage against Jack Claffey Matteo Martignoni’s corner opted to pull their fighter our in between rounds which led to Damon Donald claiming win a promotional debut. Leon Naumann and Naglis Kanišauskas threw down in a Middleweight war, with Kanišauskas walking away with a huge second round Knockout. Dylan Hazan got himself back in the win column in emphatic style, with a looping left hand backing Elves Oliveira up against the cage before landing a flying knee to being an end to proceedings. Teddy Stringer added yet another first round victory to his record when he submitted Maicon Kobayashi.
