British MMA with a Celtic slant is on the agenda as we take a look at the second Cage Warriors show in as many weeks, a show which took them to Dublin for Cage Warriors 47, shown this past Wednesday night on Sky Sports here in Britain.
After highlights of the fight which saw Neil Seery defeat Mark Platts with a rear naked choke it was on to the first full fight of the broadcast, a welterweight encounter between David Bielkhden and Cathal Pendred.
Local boy Pendred came forward early on with a series of strikes, a combination which sent the Swede down to the ground. Pendred followed him and unleashed a flurry of blows, and even though it looked like the fight could end Bielkhden showed great resilience and withstood the attack, recovering enough to take control towards the end of the round with a takedown and a kimura attempt.
Pendred continued his good work into the second round, but once the third round started it became a more even affair, Bielkhden scoring with an impressive takedown, putting in some nice work on the ground before Pendred came back into the fight with some sound work of his own.
But with neither man able to finish the other it sent down to the judges, with all three giving their blessings to Pendred.
Women’s action followed as Rosi Sexton faced Aisling Daly in the semi-finals of the Flyweight title tournament.
This has to be one of the most technical battles I’ve seen this year. They began their night’s work swinging for the fences before they took the fight to the ground. Sexton chose the ground and pound route until Daly went for an armbar. It looked as if the local girl was going to take the submission win until Sexton managed to escape.
This was pretty much how the fight played out for the next two rounds. Both girls put in tremendous performances, with Daly going for another armbar and a couple of guillotines, Sexton matching here with some impressive takedowns and striking.
Once again the judges were called into action, and this time around the scores were a lot closer as Sexton took the unanimous decision, advancing to the tournament final.
The co-main event saw Dave Hill going up against Conor McGregor for the Featherweight title.
These two certainly didn’t waste any time at the beginning of this one. They began swinging as soon as the fight started until Hill went for a takedown and McGregor pulled guard.
From there we saw an exciting back and forth affair until McGregor took control in the second round. McGregor put in a good stint, and even though Hill managed to escape from his submission attempts and survived the ground and pound McGregor took Hill’s back and synched in a rear naked choke for the submission win.
The main event saw D.J. Linderman challenging Mike Hayes for the Heavyweight title.
With the first, third and fourth rounds edited out (I’m guessing not much happened there) we saw Linderman getting off a few good combinations in the second and failing with his takedown attempts, Hayes countering with a few well placed kicks.
Hayes secured his only takedown of the fight in the fifth, taking Linderman’s back late on while his challenger continued with his striking game.
But with neither man able to get the finish it went down to the judges as Linderman took the title winning unanimous decision.
In conclusion - you’re probably thinking that this guy is going to give this show a glowing review, aren’t you?
Cage Warriors 47 was a bit of a mixed bag if I’m to be honest. There were some great fights here, particularly the Sexton/Daly encounter (my fight of the night), but the editing out of some of the action, particularly in the heavyweight title fight, was a little disappointing.
It spoiled the flow of the action, and while I understand that the edits were made to fit in with the two hour time slot it’s perhaps a sign that should really start thinking about releasing their full shows on DVD.
But apart from that criticism I’m going to give Cage Warriors 47 the thumbs up.
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