Hometown hero James Webb scored the biggest win of his career at Cage Warriors 99 in Colchester, while local favourite Steve Aimable furthered his case for a featherweight title shot with a hugely impressive victory of his own.
Colchester-born middleweight Webb enjoyed the loud and vocal backing of the home crowd at the Charter Hall, and they almost took the roof off as he claimed a first round stoppage of Jason Radcliffe.
Webb, now 5-1, looked initially to be outgunned by veteran slugger Radcliffe (now 13-7), but caught his man with a equilibrium-wobbling left hook which made him slump to his knees and the ensuing onslaught forced a halt to hostilities.
It’s the best win of Webb’s career, and, now riding a four-fight win streak, his future looks bright indeed.
Earlier in the night, Aimable – coming off a 14-second KO win at Cage Warriors 97 – dominated the first round and most of the second in his scrap with Josh Abraham, bloodying his foe’s face, but then got caught and dazed by the young prospect’s left hook late in the stanza.
However, he blazed back to impose his will in the third, lighting up the talented and tough Abraham with the right hand and sealing the win on a wide unanimous decision.
Now 12-5, the BKK Fighters Gym talent has perhaps positioned himself for a shot at the holder of the featherweight belt in 2019, be it Dean Trueman or Aiden Lee who lifts the gold at Cage Warriors 100 in Cardiff next month.
And the 31-year-old, who revealed after the fight that he is to be a dad for the first time next year, said that he feels just one more victory should be enough to seal a title tilt.
The man he faces next could well be UFC veteran Mads Burnell, who made his Cage Warriors debut in exciting fashion, scoring the submission of the night.
In his first fight since losing to Suffolk star Arnold Allen at UFC Liverpool in May, Burnell survived a scare in the opening seconds of his battle with Lukasz Rajewski to lock in a tight rear naked choke and secure the tap in the opening stanza.
A clash between Burnell and Aimable would certainly be a mouth-watering title eliminator in early 2019.
In the co-main event, Cory Tait scored the KO of the night with a brutal first round stoppage of Gavin Kelly at bantamweight. He dropped Kelly with a left to the liver, before hitting his off switch with hammer fists.
The fighter nicknamed ‘Capcom’ moves to 9-4, and looks to be a threat to anyone in the 135lbs division.
Fight of the night was the battle between the best nicknames on the card, Nathan ‘Mr Bag and Tag’ Jones and Brad ‘The Crazy Kid’ Wheeler, who engaged in an absorbing back-and-forth welterweight scrap which thrilled the crowd, Jones taking the win by unanimous decision to snap a four-fight losing skid and move to 12-9.
Meanwhile, welterweight Jamie Richardson sprung something of a surprise in the first fight of the main card, stopping Phil Wells with brutal ground and pound in the opening round, battering and bloodying his foe to force the stoppage and improve his record to 7-5.
Earlier, hometown favourite Craig Edwards opened the pro prelims against Medhi Ben Lakhdar in a lightweight clash, but was stopped by a barrage of punches and elbows in the first round.
He had success with leg kicks, but just couldn’t slow down the flashy striking of his foe, who moves to 4-0. Edwards falls to 1-3 as a pro, but will surely be back in the win column before too long.
On the amateur card which opened the evening there was a fine win for Norfolk’s Chey Veal in his flyweight tussle with Mik Pereira.
The Tsunami Norfolk prospect came close to securing the armbar submission in the first round, but locked it on in the second to get the tap with just seconds left.
There was disappontment though for Cambridgeshire’s Steve Riformato in his challenge for the Cage Warriors Academy South East middleweight belt.
He caught foe Eric Veyrier with a head-kick early on, but the man from Rough Diamonds MMA suffered a suspected broken rib before getting taken down, and was stopped on the floor after just 43 seconds.
Full results
Amateur
- Ian Garry beat Guolaugar Einarsson by TKO (ground and pound) in the first round
- Emanuele Palumbo beat Kim Bravie by UD
- Chey Veal beat Mik Pereira by armbar in the second round
- Eduardo Gonzalez-Ayala beat Gabriele Varesano by armbar in the first round
- Eric Veyrier beat Steve Riformato by TKO in the first round
Pro prelims
- Medhi Ben Lakhdar beat Craig Edwards by TKO in the first round
- Steve Aimable beat Josh Abraham by UD
Main card
- Jamie Richardson beat Phil Wells by first round TKO
- Nathan Jones beat Brad Wheeler by UD
- Mads Burnell beat Lukasz Rajewski by rear naked choke in the first round
- Cory Tait beat Gavin Kelly by KO in the first rounds
- James Webb beat Jason Radcliffe by TKO in the first round
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