Cage Warriors 64 Prelim Results

Cage Warriors 64 Prelim Results
by Ben Heather - @benheather  

Photo by Cage Warriors | Dolly Clew

Davis vs Nykanen - Amateur Bout (3 x 3 Minute Rounds)
This was a largely uneventful fight in which Nykanen eased to victory by getting takedowns in each round but was unable to making the most of the good positioning on the ground and therefore couldn't finish the fight. At the end Davis opened up with a late flurry but it was too little too late and it was clear who the winner was and the judges all agreed scoring the fight 30-27 in favor of Nykanen

Crawford vs Garabet
This was an exciting fight and a great way to open up the professional fights. Garabet had surrendered 25% of his purse for missing weight the day before and both men were making their Cage Warriors debut.

Crawford came out mixing up his kicks working Garabet’s legs and going upstairs with some good head kicks. Unfortunately a couple of minutes in one of these kicks strayed low and landed full on the cup of Garabet who drops to the floor and looks in a lot of pain. After a fairly lengthy break he is good to fight again and the fight continues.  Once the fight restarts its Crawford who again is the aggressor taking down Garabet and working his striking from the top. The fight gets back to the feet and again its Crawford doing all the pressing this time mixing up his striking well with leg kicks befor going upstairs again and landing a big headkick but Garabet catches the leg and takes Crawford down. I scored the first round 10-9 Crawford

At the start of round 2, Crawford again starts by landing some hard punches but again is taken down after the exchange. Garabet lands a hard strike to the head while standing to the downed Crawford and drops in to his full guard. Again the fight gets back up and Crawford drops Garabet with a bomb then rushes in to work the ground and pound until he gets the back of Garabet. Once Crawford had the back he got his locks in and stretched out Garabet and continues to pound on him until the ref stops the fight.

Daniel Crawford wins by TKO after 2:43 of round 2. Huseyin Garabet drops to 3-6. Crawford Improves his record to 3-0 and at 20 years old looks to be an exciting fighter with a big future.

Edwards vs Manzolo
This was the shortest fight of the prelims with most of the fight spent on the ground with both men attempting  various submissions but in the end it was Manzolo who locked in an armbar and hyperextended the arm of Edwards to get the finish at 3:36 of round 1. Edwards now has a record of 11-9 while Manzolo improves to 4-2.

Kerr vs Watts
This fight started very one sided and Charlie Watts, the hometown favourite did all he could to finish the fight landing head kicks, clean knees to the head of Kerr and nothing could put him away.

In the second round after taking a lot more punishment when clinched against the fence including a  lot of clean elbows to the side of his head (think Travis Browne vs everyone recently), it was Kerr who had a second wind getting Watts to the ground and at one stage was in full mount. At the end of the round Kerr looked wobbly on his feet but carried on.

The third round was a lot slower as both men showed a lot of heart and true grit to push through to the end and the fight finished with both men throwing all they had left. As the fight went to the judges scorecards it was clear there would be only one winner and that was Charlie Watts who won 30-27, 29-28, 29-28.

Else vs Hewitt
Before this fight started the fans in attendance witnessed possibly the longest, most energetic walkout ever as Cameron Else made his way to the cage unfortunately for him it may have had an impact on his fitness levels after clearly gassing halfway through round two and by the end of the round struggled to get back to his feet and go to his corner. To his credit though, he was still swinging for the hills at the start of the third round looking for an unlikely but spectacular finish.

In all honesty this was a fight Spencer Hewitt dominated even though he may have cruised to victory when he could have pushed to get the finish. However, who can blame him. After all he was 0-2 in Cage Warriors before this fight and on a 0-4 run so just to get his hand raised at the end must have been a great feeling. I think next time out we will see a more confident Spencer Hewitt now his losing streak has ended.

Howell vs Wheeler
Both men came in to this fight with a big following in the crowd, with both sets of fans trying to outdo each other to see who would be the loudest (for the record I think it was a draw). However, when it came to the fight it was Wheeler who showcased his skills on the ground. First Wheeler attempted and very nearly finished the fight with a rear naked choke but it was only a matter of time before he got the finish as not long after Wheeler locked in an arm triangle to get the tap at 4:46 of round 1.