Cage Warriors 107
Aspinall knocked out the Frenchman in 56 seconds as Adam Proctor also emerged victorious in Liverpool.
Due to the number of cards taking place in Europe this weekend, Cage Warriors 107 completely flew under the radar but it delivered some solid action on the night. The Exhibition Centre was nowhere near full as many of the undercard fighters who would have sold tickets fell out during fight week but those in attendance witnessed some of the future generation of stars making their next steps. However, most of the headlines will be taken by the emergence of a new, dangerous threat at heavyweight.
The main event didn’t last long as Tom Aspinall did as many were expecting him to do when he destroyed Michael Ben Hamouda in less than a minute. Aspinall opened the fight with a leg kick and punch to the body before turning up the volume rapidly. He crowded Ben Hamouda against the fence and then let some combinations go which sent the Frenchman crashing to the mat and secured his second win since joining Cage Warriors earlier this year. The promotion will find it hard to serve up heavyweights who will challenge the member of Team Kaobon and it may not take many more victories before one of the major American companies pick up the former training partner of Tyson Fury.
Adam Proctor was touted as one of the brightest prospects on the card and he wanted to get the finish against Olli Santalahti to show he was ready for a welterweight title shot. He wasn’t able to get the stoppage but he did enough to secure a clear unanimous decision on the scorecards. In the first round, Santalahti was successful with a couple of takedown attempts while Proctor got off some good knees to the body. Proctor began to edge in front from the second frame onwards as he started to stuff his opponents shots and punished him on the feet with some crisp strikes. Santalahti looked fatigued going into the final round so Proctor ensured he kept pressuring forward, doing the cleaner work on the feet. It was a deserved victory for the SBG South Shields product who will now look to be matched up with one of the welterweights towards the top of the division.
In a bout that was touted as a potential fight of the night going in, Donovan Desmae was absolutely dominant against fellow lightweight Tim Barnett. In the early exchanges, Desmae caught a kick from Barnett and took him straight down to the canvas. Desmae moved very quickly to mount before taking his adversary’s back. He managed to secure his forearm underneath the chin almost instantly and sinked in the rear-naked choke shortly thereafter. It was announced before the show began that Paddy Pimblett would be returning at Cage Warriors London in November and Demae could be an ideal opponent for his comeback.
Elsewhere on the card, Adam Ventre got his hand raised in a stand up battle against late replacement, Antanas Jazbutis, where the standout moment came in the second round when Ventre dropped Jazbutis with a big spinning elbow. Luke Shanks emerged as a contender at flyweight when he finished Pietro Menga due to strikes in the third round and Adam Wilson moved to 4-0 as he rained down unanswered blows on Mack Promanee before the referee had seen enough during the second frame.
Cage Warriors return on Saturday 12th October in Cardiff, Wales as another of their emerging stars, Mason Jones, looks to lay claim to a lightweight title shot when he faces top Finnish striker, Aleksi Mantykivi. The young prospect Cory McKenna will also look to continue her rise and Aaron Khalid looks to get back in the win column following a loss in his last bout to Alex Lohore.
Full Cage Warriors 107 results:
Heavyweight – Tom Aspinall defeated Michael Ben Hamouda by knockout at 0:56 of round one
Catchweight (175lbs) – Adam Ventre defeated Antanas Jazbutis by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 29-28)
Lightweight – Donovan Desmae defeated Tim Barnett by rear naked choke at 2:49 of round one
Welterweight – Adam Proctor defeated Olli Santalahti by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Flyweight – Luke Shanks defeated Pietro Menga by TKO at 1:01 of round three
Bantamweight – Adam Wilson defeated Mack Promanee by TKO at 4:20 of round two