Back once again in Coventry, the Cagewarriors promotion continues to provide a stage for some of the best MMA fighters from the UK and around Europe, backed up by the increasing number of Brazilian combatants who have made the UK their adopted home. Once again, the curse of Cagewarriors struck as many fighters were forced to pull out at the last moment due to injury. However, the team is well used to finding top quality replacements at the last moment and comfortably managed to put together a very entertaining card.

'Judo' Jim's nickname just tells you part of the story as, fighting out of the Roughhouse Gym in Nottingham, he has some polished striking. His Swedish opponent, Henning, is a real banger who on his last trip to England destroyed his opponent, connecting with a series of wild punches in less than a minute.

Early in the match, Henning looked to have the advantage in the stand up, he landed a couple of nasty low kicks and countered one himself with a solid right hand. Jim later retaliated with a left high kick which seemed to have Henning in trouble. A desperation shoot from him fell short and, getting up, he was the peppered with punches by the Judo man until the referee stepped in to stop the contest. Jim wins via referee stoppage (punches) R1 2:06

Paul Rodgerson Vs Aaron Behan
Featherweight

Paul started brightly with low kicks, but he soon found himself tangled up in the clinch and taken down by Aaron, who moved on to take mount position on the debut fighter. On top, Aaron worked hard to punish his opponent with punches, many of which were off the mark. Two sharps ones in a row really made Paul worry about his position and he scrambled out to half-guard. Neatly sneaking into full guard, Paul saw out the round restricting Aaron with a troublesome two-arm triangle.

As the second round began, it looked like more of the same as Aaron took Paul to the mat, but moments later a beautiful sweep from Paul put him in mount position for the first time in his career. Determined to finish, striking from the mount, Paul was able to stop his opponent with a high volume of blows which prompted the referee to step in Paul wins via referee stoppage (punches from mount position) R2 1:34

Sami "The Hun" Berik Vs Samy Schiavo
Lightweight

The much anticipated battle of the 'Samy's was next up. With Sami Berik coming down to fight at Lightweight, it was interesting to see how Samy Schiavo would stand up to the Hun's striking. Schiavo, however, showed the most standing, coming close with a whirlwind of a spinning hook kick. Berik was having none of it and responded by running half the length of the cage to land a gruesome left low kick on the Frenchman. To his credit, Shiavo was able to capitalise on this by taking Berik down and landing in sidemount. From there it looked like a jiu-jitsu lesson as he moved to mount, before taking the Hun's back. Berik defended the choke briefly, but a series of sharp punches softened him up and Shiavo was able to tighten up a rear naked choke Samy Schiavo wins via submission (rear naked choke) R1 2:32

Cage Kickboxing: Brett Heally Vs Ray De Burgh
Featherweight

Amongst a series of furious punching exchanges in the first round, Brett showed his southpaw straight left hand that he would continue to threaten with for the remainder of the fight. Ray looked angry, moving forward with hooks and managing to counter a spinning back fist from Brett with a full-on left hook.

Ray started the second with a lovely left hook – right kick to the body combination and looked the boss as he countered a front kick with two heavy hooks to Brett's temples. Brett managed to catch himself a rest from the assault by countering low kicks with his straight left hand, but at the end of the round was pinned back against the cage, eating knees to the body.
With the blood flowing from Ray's face, he walked forward with renewed anger in the third, but Brett continued to cause trouble with that left hand from long range. A thunderous low kick from Ray curiously earned him a warning for a low blow, but one last right hand from him - right on the bell - was the last blow of the contest. The judges ruled the bout a Majority Draw

David Bielkheden Vs Steve Dawson
Welterweight

David was originally scheduled to fight Paul Daley, only for replacement fighter, Ross Mason, to pull out through injury. Warrior that he is, undefeated fighter Steve Dawson stepped in to take on the highly regarded Swede and possibly leap frog up the rankings.
His chances of doing that evaporated very quicky as a huge right hand from David put him on his back defending punches from the ground-and-pound connoisseur. The fight was briefly paused after an illegal upkick from Steve, but seconds after the restart, David ironed him flat with two absolutely devastating right hands which cruelly drove his head into the floor. Thankfully, after some anxious moments, Steve regained his feet David wins via referee stoppage (punches/GNP) R1 0:50

Marcelo Salazar Vs Alex Cook
Middleweight

Alex Cook, fighting again soon after his war with Chris Rice, had a tough time in the first round against Marcelo as he opened with a big right hand, following up with what looked to be an illegal running knee to a downed opponent. Regardless, Alex defended in guard, as Marcelo tried to rattle him by picking him up to land a couple of slams.

Passing to sidemount, Marcelo momentarily caught Alex off guard by going for an unorthodox MMA submission, securing the foot with one hand and grabbing his own wrist in an attempted toehold. Marcelo transitioned to a heelhook, which at times looked very deep, forcing Alex to roll quickly to keep the pressure off.

Dominating the rest of the first round, and starting the next with an effective bull rush, Marcelo looked in good control of the fight. Sensing victory, he sat back with attempted foot submission, only for Alex to slip out and take mount position. On top, Alex spitefully got his point across with punches in revenge for frustrating him in the early stages of the fight Alex wins via referee stoppage (punches from the mount) R2 3:02

Dorian Lapaj Vs Chris Rice
Middleweight

Dorian started fast by showing the same aggression he had in his last, short and explosive fight at 'Enter the Wolfslair'. Bounding forward with hooks and showing great control with his kicks, he gave Chris a bit much to handle standing, leading him to clinch and look for the take down. The two fighters then twisted around working for position against the cage, using vast amounts of energy in the process, before Chris finally scored with a takedown.

The sustained period of wrestling seemed to exhaust both fighters, who, in fairness, may have been slightly over-trained having both prepared for two fights so close together. The stand up was, therefore, quite slow and awkward in places. Both men had their moments as Chris landed with a two heavy body kicks and a jab in quick succession, and Dorian scored with a nice jab, setting up a brutal low kick. After 3 rounds, Chris was declared the winner with a unanimous decision

Jakob Lovstad Vs Henrique Nogueira
Light-Heavyweight

In the first round, Henrique scored with takedowns leading to an intriguing passage of action where he continually tried, and failed, to pass the Finn Fight veteran's guard. Interestingly, at the end of the round, Jakob managed to take the Brazilian down and passed his guard with ease, effortlessly floating into sidemount.

In the second round, Jakob further asserted his dominance of the ground game by scrambling well to maintain position. With around a minute to go, Jakob cheekily attempted a straight armbar – the Brazilian's bread and butter submission – only to scramble back on top and land punches for the rest of the round.

Henrique was not looking happy in his corner before the last round and predictably came out at the beginning of the third with a desperation takedown attempt. Jakob sprawled all over him and forced him to turtle up and, seizing his chance, Jakob sank the rear choke. Henrique stubbornly held off the tap until the last possible moment, but had nowhere to go. Jakob wins via submission (rear naked choke) R3 0:47

Hakim Gouram Vs Gulyas Zsolt
Light-Heavyweight

Gulyas, frankly, came in looking out of shape and was made to pay as Hakim defended his takedown attempt with a knee and landed his own hip throw in a fast start. Hakim quickly went after an armbar, transitioning to a heelhook attempt, before hauling his opponent back to the floor to achieve mount. In one slick movement, Hakim repositioned to once again go for an arm, this time taking full control and straightening it out for the tap. Hakim wins via submission (armbar) R1 1:38

Markus Hipp Vs Mario "Sukata" Neto
Heavyweight

The head coach at the infamous 'Wolfslair' gym was followed to the cage by about 20 of his hard-as-nails students and seemed keen to give them a good example of how to fight aggressively. Immediately taking the Thai boxer down, he moved to half guard and sat up, bashing his bewildered opponent with a flurry of punches with both hands. An illegal downwards elbow seemed to land at one point, but by then the result was almost assured as Mario's fast hands forced the referee to step in. Mario wins via referee stoppage (punches/GNP)

Diego Gonzales Vs Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy
Welterweight Title

The most anticipated fight of the night was without doubt the rematch between Dan and Diego. In the first fight, Diego threw Dan out of his game by wildly throwing a punch and taking him down as they went to touch gloves, eventually sealing the win with a rear naked choke. Dan was out for revenge, revealing that he was displeased with the Swede, promising to make him pay.

Diego, however, had some quite impressive travelling support cheering him on as he clinched with Dan to begin the fight. Dan sunk and landed a knee to the body, but could not fend off the takedown, eventually succumbing with Diego taking mount position.
Reversing off his back, Dan put Diego in his guard and began his campaign of ground and pound. Diego, to his credit, was very tricky off his back, continually working his legs up high looking for an armbar. Dan, however, managed to remain calm and stifle each attempt with accurate and hurtful punches and hammerfists.

In the second round, Diego fought very well standing and began to get through with meaningful shots in almost every exchange. Dan replied, however, landing a couple of knees and sprawling to defend the takedown, before punching Diego back into his guard. From there, Diego briefly achieved rear mount, but was quickly bullied back into his guard, where Dan continued to chip away with a busy attack.

Dan, the Roughhouse fighter, looked very fresh as the third round began, landing a right low kick – left high kick combination on his weary opponent. Falling back into his guard, Diego was clearly cut quite badly leading to a doctor's inspection. A quick look at the cut confirmed that Diego was in no position to continue and Dan was ruled the winner via doctor's stoppage (cut) R3 0:19

Tadas Rinkevicius Vs Antonio Silva
Super-Heavyweight Title Match

In the main event, battle of the giants, the big men came out and exchanged jabs with Junior coming of by far the better. Showing remarkable flexibility for such a large man, he then clipped the top of his opponents head with a well controlled right high kick.
Junior soon decided to take the fight to the floor, putting in a beautiful and, due to the combination of weight and technique, virtually unstoppable double leg takedown which pinned Tadas against the cage.

The Brazilian had no trouble passing half of his opponent's guard and began to abuse the challenger with some methodical ground and pound. Junior put on a clinic, setting up openings by switching between head and body with both left and right hands, mixing in well-timed hammerfists. After one particularly heavy sequence of blows, the referee had seen enough and called a halt to the match. Junior wins via referee stoppage (hammerfists/GNP) 3:23