Cage 17 event named “Northern Storm” offered a night full of exciting Mixed Martial Arts bouts for the fight fans in the city of Oulu.

The crowd at the Oulu hall was great. The fans loudly supported their owns but also appreciated good performances by the foreign fighters. Only three fights went to the judges while the rest ended with a submission.

Event Report

The event consisted of nine bouts instead of planned ten bouts. Women’s fight between Maiju Kujala and Karla Benitez was cancelled due to Kujala being involved in a car accident earlier that day.

In the main event Croatia’s Ivica Truscek finished Finland’s Jarkko Latomäki in the first round. Latomäki started off strong by scoring a takedown and working on various chokes. Truscek defended calmly, swept Latomäki and got top control. From there Truscek unleashed heavy ground and pound that hurt Latomäki. Eventually Latomäki rolled over and exposed his back. Truscek took advantage of the opportunity and finished Latomäki with a rear naked choke.  It was a big win for Truscek who has now a record 16-9 and has won five of his last six fights.

Biggest noise from the crowd was heard when hometown hero Heikki Tiilikka gave a beating to UK’s Owen Gayle. Tiilikka was able to outstrike Gayle on the feet and took him down at will. On the ground Tiilikka punished Gayle with steady ground and pound. In the first and second round Tiilikka even had fully extended armbars but Gayle showed outstanding toughness and flexible joints as he worked his way out of the submission holds. Tiilikka battered Gayle for the third round but couldn’t get the Englishman to give up.  A dominant decision win for Tiilikka who has now four wins in a row since losing to Swedish bantamweight top prospect Sirwan Kakai in 2009.

In the featherweight division Finland’s Jerry Kvanström was submitted by France’s Oliver Pastor. Former freestyle wrestler Kvarnström showed off his wrestling and grappling skills in the first and second round. Kvarnström took the fight to the ground repeatedly and worked on submissions. Early in the third round Kvarnström went for a sloppy takedown and paid the price for it as Pastor snatched the Finn in a fight ending guillotine choke.

Stockholm Shoot’s Claes Beverlöv continued on his string of submission victories by submitting Antti Virtanen in the third round. First two rounds were mostly spent on the feet where both fighters landed good shots. In the third round Virtanen took Beverlöv down but quickly found himself in trouble as Beverlöv applied a tight triangle choke and forced Virtanen to tap out. A good win for the rising Swedish talent who is now 8-1 in his pro career with six wins by submission.

Spectacular grappling was also seen in the prelims. Demian Maia’s top student and BJJ brown belt world champ Rafael Domingos of Brazil choked out France’s Mourad Enasseri with a rear naked choke in little over minute of the first round. The undefeated Brazilian is now 3-0 in MMA. It will be very interesting to see how this athletic grappler develops as a fighter in the future.

However the submission of the night honors went definitely to GB Gym’s rising welterweight talent Kai Puolakka who finished tough Frenchman Gary Gono with a beautiful flying triangle choke. Puolakka moves to 7-2 on his career and is riding a four fight win streak.

Full results

Catchweight 75kg: Jarkko Latomäki vs Ivica Truscek: Truscek by RNC R1

Featherweight: Jerry Kvarnström vs Oliver Pastor: Pastor by guillotine R3

Lightweight: Antti Virtanen vs Claes Beverlöv: Beverlöv by triangle choke R3

Bantamweight: Heikki Tiilikka vs Owen Gayle: Tiilikka by UD

Women 55kg / 122 lbs: Maiju Kujala vs Karla Benitez: Cancelled

Welterweight: Kai Puolakka vs Gary Gono: Puolakka by flying triangle choke R1

Lightweight: Rafael Domingos vs Mourad Enasseri: Domingos by RNC R1

Welterweight: Jussi Pulkkinen vs Mahamadou Cisse: Pulkkinen by UD

Featherweight: Miika Kauppinen vs Markus Rytöhonka: Kauppinen by heelhook R1

Featherweight: Jaakko Väyrynen vs Juuso Halme: Väyrynen by UD

Photo by Kaleva

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