Cage Warriors 56 results: Bola Omoyele dominates Vincent del Guerra in first

It didn’t take long for Bola Omoyele to make a quick impression on Cage Warriors Fighting Championship.

The London native came after Vincent del Guerra early, stayed calm through a del Guerra rally, then turned up the heat for a relatively easy TKO victory in the first round of his promotional debut at Cage Warriors 56.

Cage Warriors 56 took place at The Forum in London. The main card streamed live and free on MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) to North American viewers following prelims on Facebook.

Omoyele worked early to secure a solid takedown. He tried to go to work on top, but the fight was suddenly stopped by Marc Goddard when del Guerra complained of an eye poke. A doctor looked at del Guerra’s right eye, and a language barrier seemed to keep del Guerra from understanding Goddard telling him that he’ll be the one to stop the fight because of a foul – not the fighter.

After the restart, del Guerra came out blazing, backing Omoyele up with some heavy hands that weren’t quite landing, but had bad intentions. Then he landed a takedown of his own. But Omoyele quickly reversed things and got on top. And from there, it was the beginning of the end.

Omoyele started to rain down elbows at will as Goddard looked on, and the American Top Team product soon had a win at the 3:21 mark of the first round.

“Train hard, fight easy,” Omoyele said. “Cage Warriors is the best in Europe. Exactly what I said I was going to do was what I proved today. That’s why they brought me here. I want a belt. Anyone who’s going to take me to that belt, show me the path.”

Omoyele (7-1) ran his win streak to six – all first-round stoppages. And del Guerra (20-9), from France had a three-fight win streak snapped.

Olivier’s wrestling, jiu-jitsu dominates Berisha in co-main event

Robbie Olivier made easy work of Patrik Berisha – never putting him in serious trouble, but otherwise dominating him en route to a sweep of the judges’ scorecards in the co-main event.

Olivier got the fight to the ground quickly and got to full mount. Berisha escaped, but it was Olivier quickly going after another takedown. Olivier had no problem getting things into his wheelhouse on the ground, but once there, he wasn’t able to do much with the positions.

Berisha tried to work his dirty boxing early in the second, but Olivier scored another easy takedown and tried to take his back. He stayed patient on the ground and got to full mount, though Berisha escaped and tried to land upkicks. Olivier took Berisha’s back with two minutes left in the round, then flattened him out. Berisha survived, and Olivier transitioned to an arm-triangle choke. But Berisha survived the round as Olivier seemed more interested in winning points rather than finishing.

In the third, Olivier quickly took Berisha down. But no sooner did Berisha pop up than he fell back into guard – where Olivier had been dominating him through the first two rounds. Referee Marc Goddard asked for more action, and at the 3:25 mark he stood the two up. Olivier tied things up on the standup, then proceeded to dominate things on the ground the rest of the way. He never put Berisha in serious trouble, but Berisha never seemed to do anything to keep out of the bad spots, either.

“Performance, I’m not 100 percent happy,” Olivier said. “I think it was a domination. But I struggled to make the weight. Fair play to my opponent – he was prepared to do a catchweight to make sure the fight happened.”

Olivier (20-9-1) won for the fourth straight time. His most recent loss came to Bellator featherweight champion Pat Curran in February 2010. Berisha (6-4) had a three-fight unbeaten streak snapped and lost for the first time since November 2010.

Sutherland dominates Bassett for third-round TKO

Denniston Sutherland ran into a few problems against Brett Bassett early, then with the referee, but ultimately, he was dominant.

Bassett’s most recent fight, a 38-second knockout win, may have influenced Sutherland, who clinched things up along the fence and kept the pace slow for a while. But Bassett was able to break free and looked for bigger strikes as Sutherland came inside. But Bassett’s biggest shots never seemed to find a home in the first round.

In the second, Sutherland tried to control the pace and again kept Bassett from landing the big shot. A Sutherland knee put Bassett in trouble on the ground, but he worked his way back to his feet – though Sutherland remained easily in control. Sutherland pushed Bassett to the ground with ease and landed some heavy hands. But referee Rich Mitchell stopped the fight suddenly, and took a point from Sutherland for strikes to the back of Bassett’s head. On the restart, Sutherland was dominant with his striking – and Bassett barely survived the round.

Sutherland started quickly in the third, knowing how much he had Bassett in trouble in the second. And it only took him 30 seconds to rain down enough punches on a wiped-out Bassett to get the TKO stoppage.

“I feel very good, and I can’t wait to have a chat with (Cage Warriors CEO) Graham (Boylan) and see what we can do for the future,” Sutherland said. “I’m normally a slow starter, but my whole thing was to try to come in here and from Minute One, try to take over. At the end of the first round, I thought he was hurt and slowing down a bit. I don’t have nerves in the fight. I just want to come and perform.”

Sutherland (20-10) is back on the winning track after a decision loss five weeks ago. Bassett (8-4) now has dropped two of his past three fights, all of which have come for Cage Warriors.

Turner, Mulpeter, Ferrari pick up wins in first half of main card

Nad Narimani and Graham Turner put on a striking clinic in their fight, which mostly was contested on the feet save for lone takedowns in the first and second rounds. But with the fight likely deadlocked going into the third, neither fighter did a ton to separate himself. Narimani tried to seize control midway through with a right hand that stung Turner. But Turner stayed in the pocket and fired back when he wasn’t feinting. Neither landed the home-run shot that would have put things over the top, and when the scores were read, Turner had a 30-27 and 29-28 in his favor for the split call. Turner (23-7) stretched his win streak to five, and four straight for Cage Warriors. Narimani (5-1) lost for the first time in his professional career in his Cage Warriors debut.

Philip Mulpeter kept a steady pace in the first, but in the second he came alive past the midway point of the round and started working Warren Kee over. In control on top, Mulpeter let rain down a series of elbows that had Kee dazed. Before long, Kee was covering up and Mulpeter got the stoppage at the 3:24 mark of the round. Mulpeter (6-3) got back in the win column after a loss to Tommy Quinn at Cage Warriors 51 in December. He now has won three of his past four fights. Kee (7-3) lost for the third straight time after a pair of losses in 2012.

Fabio Ferrari and Brett Sizeland two threw hands early in their middleweight bout, but it was Ferrari who started to land the cleaner strikes deep into the first frame. Ferrari landed a punch flush and dragged the fight to the canvas. He easily took Sizeland’s back, locked up a body triangle and cinched up a rear-naked choke that had Sizeland tapping with just 12 seconds left in the first round. Ferrari (6-3-1) is back in the win column after a May loss, which had snapped a 4-0-1 stretch. Sizeland (6-3), fighting for the first time in nearly a year, lost for the second straight time and now is 3-3 under the Cage Warriors banner.

Complete Cage Warriors 56 results include:

MAIN CARD

• Bola Omoyele def. Vincent del Guerra via TKO (elbows) – Round 1, 3:21
• Robbie Olivier def. Patrik Berisha via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Denniston Sutherland def. Brett Bassett via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 0:30
• Graham Turner def. Nad Narimani via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
• Philip Mulpeter def. Warren Kee via TKO (elbows) – Round 2, 3:24
• Fabrio Ferrari def. Brett Sizeland via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:48

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Sean Carter def. Adam Boussif via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 3:58
• Arnold Allen def. Andy Green via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:00
• Brad Wheeler def. Aymard Guih via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Paddy Pimblett def. Florian Calin via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

For complete coverage of Cage Warriors 56, stay tuned to the MMA Events section of the site.

(Pictured: Bola Omoyele and Vincent del Guerra)