Cage Warriors 43 Results: A Night of Finishes

Frenchman Norman Paraisy came to the U.K. and stepped into the cage against a very tough Jack Mason on Saturday night at Cage Warriors 43 at the HMV Forum in London. He knew the fight would be hard, but came away with an impressive TKO victory having pounded out the Tsunami fighter.

Unable to gain any solid traction in the clinch or score a significant takedown due to Paraisy’s unwillingness to remain tied up, the Briton looked to land a big counter off the exchanges during the first two rounds.

As the bell rang out for the third, Paraisy turned on the heat and started to get more aggressive with his kicks before landing a nice takedown into guard, but soon got stood up due to inactivity. Upon the restart, Paraisy kept fishing for a flying knee and eventually drove it home, dropping Mason the canvas. It didn’t take long for him to slam home a series of sharp elbows to the temple before Marc Goddard stepped in to halt an onslaught of left hands.

In a tight encounter, Joseph Duffy and Francis Heagney battled to a decision that went in favor of the TUF 12 season participant, Duffy, but wasn’t without its dangers as Heagney pushed him hard during the opening rounds.

It wasn’t until the third stanza that Duffy edged clear of the wilting Heagney and swayed the judges unanimously in his favor.

Following on from the controversy surrounding their first encounter, there was a definitive finish in the rematch between Brad Wheeler and Ian Entwhistle. The former used his superior jiu-jitsu skills to set up a back-mounted triangle for the tap.

Andreas Kraniotakes looked to avoid the reach of his much taller opponent by bringing the fight to the mat, but Dave Keeley seemed comfortable fishing for submissions, including an armbar and omo-plata attempt. Ultimately, he succumbed to an armbar himself in a scramble to buck from being mounted.

Brett Sizeland opened his encounter with Craig White by throwing a big overhand and landing a solid takedown, forcing his foe into defensive mode and pulling guard. From there, he set about being effective with his strikes, although he did encounter opposition from the bottom, particularly in the form of short elbows. Once Sizeland had passed guard, a scramble ensued and he quickly secured back mount before forcing home the choke.

Steve O’Keefe and Artem Lobov tore into each other for the best part of three rounds, with both fighters working for submission attempts and scoring transitions. It was O’Keefe, however, who brought finality to the bout with a brutal shot to the chin that sent his opponent to the mat. Sensing vulnerability, he latched onto a tight rear naked choke and put his adversary into darkness.

BJJ stylist Adam Edwards relied on his slick ground skills to blast through Ben Crook en route to an armbar victory, having dominated position on the ground before landing S-mount to control his opponent. Crook never had a chance to let his hands fly.

Late replacement Niko Gjoka came to fight hard – mixing up the usual MMA striking offenses with side and spinning kicks on opponent Olivier Pastor. Unfortunately, his lack of a specific training camp for the bout meant that the usually energetic fighter started to wane in the second, after a brief spell in top position following an ankle-pick takedown.

Pastor measured his output and came on really aggressively toward the end of the round, landing a series of hard blows that started to rock Gjoka. Smelling blood, the Frenchman continued his heavy-handed assault and forced a referee stoppage at the 2:14 mark.

Danny Roberts showed are rare brutality in the clinch during his encounter with David Howell, doubling the fighter over in pain midway through the second stanza and forcing a stoppage.

Cage Warriors 43 Pro Results:

Norman Paraisy def Jack Mason by TKO (Strikes) at 3:50, R3
Joseph Duffy def Francis Heagney by Unanimous Decision, R3
Brad Wheeler def Ian Entwhistle by Submission (Triangle Choke) at 3:22, R1
Andreas Kraniotakes def Dave Keeley by Submission (Armbar) at 3:48, R1
Brett Sizeland def Craig White by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 4:15, R1
Steve O’Keefe def Artem Lobov by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:24, R3
Adam Edwards def Ben Crook by Submission (Armbar) at 1:07, R1
Olivier Pastor def Niko Gjoka by TKO (Strokes) at 2:14, R2
Danny Roberts def David Howell by TKO at 2:26, R2

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Lee Whitehead is a staff writer for MMAWeekly.com.
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