As the octagon rolled into Gdansk, Poland for the first time in the promotion’s history on Saturday afternoon, with Liverpudlian Darren Till finishing Donald Cerrone inside the first round to make his mark on the welterweight division.
The talk before the fight revolved around if Till could compete with the former lightweight title challenger, but the Englishman proved he belonged in the main event, immediately pressing Donald Cerrone from the off.
It was the left hand that kept finding a home for Till, as Cowboy backed up against the cage before an elbow and a barrage of strikes dropped the American to his knees, forcing referee Marc Goddard to call an end to the bout with forty seconds left on the clock.
It leaves the Scouse sensation heading towards the top fifteen welterweights in the world and on collision course with Mike Perry, with words exchanged between the two after the decision in Gdansk.
Karolina Kowalkiewicz outclassed octagon debutant Jodie Esquibel in the co-main event, with the Pole out-striking and outpointing her opponent over three rounds, to the delight of the Polish crowd.
Jan Blachowicz earned a $50,000 bonus after winning the submission of the night bonus, with a second-round standing rear-naked choke victory over Devin Clark. Clark pressed Blachowicz on the back foot with strikes, before the Polish light heavyweight managed to sink in the choke from an improbably angle to improve his octagon record to 3-4.
Jan Blachowicz raises the roof with a brilliant rear-naked choke! 👏
Former Cage Warriors middleweight champion Oskar Piechota, had the perfect debut in his hometown after outpointing Jonathan Wilson over three rounds. Piechota came close to finishing the fight on two occasions, flooring Wilson at the end of the second round before nearly submitting him with an armbar at the end of the third.
Marcin Held and Nasran Haqparast competed in a closer than it looked fight, with Held picking up a 30-27 unanimous decision victory. The fight could have been scored various ways, but Held got the nod to snap a three-fight losing streak.
Brian Kelleher defeated Poland’s Damian Stasiak in a fight earning both men the $50k fight of the night bonus, after a back-and-forth bout concluded with the American bantamweight finally dispatching his opponent with just over a minute left in the fight.
Russia’s Ramazan Emeev outpointed Sam Alvey in a fight that I wouldn’t recommend you watch back, with just over one hundred strikes landed in total by both men.
Conor McGregor got the loudest reception of the evening as he took his seat cageside to support his SBG stablemate, Artem Lobov who lost out to a superior wrestling specialist in Andre Fili.
Fili landed five takedowns over the course of the fight, which assisted the judges in scoring every round to the American. A disappointed Lobov is said to be considering his career, whilst McGregor may find himself in hot water after alleged homophobic comments emerged from clips backstage.
Brazil’s Warlley Alves outpointed Salim Touahri over three rounds, whilst Aspen Ladd made a statement in the women’s bantamweight division, stopping Lina Lansberg in the second round after struggling in the first.
Ladd is just twenty-two-years-old and now holds a perfect 6-0 record. She previously held an 8-1 record, with her only loss coming in a flyweight bout to current UFC straw-weight contender Cynthia Calvillo over three years ago.
Josh Emmett opened the evening with a complete domination over Felipe Arantes, knocking down his opponent four times in the first round. Emmett seemed to suffer in the second and third round after exerting a considerable amount of energy in the opener, but was never in danger of losing to the Brazilian.
The octagon moves on to Sao Paulo, Brazil next weekend at Derek Brunson takes on Lyoto Machida in a middleweight main event on Saturday evening. Look out for Welsh middleweight Jack Marshman on that card!
