Cage Warriors Fight Night 3 took place at Habtoor Grand Hotel Convention Center & Spa in Beirut, Lebanon. Even though the event took place in the Middle East, with fighters from around the world, it was the Nordic fighters that stole the show.
The Finns and Swedes were highlighted in five matches in total, and they were victorious in all five matches. Mestre representing Sweden won the first bout of the night and Finland’s J-P Vainikainen ended the night with a stoppage in the final bout. See all the results below.
Nordic Results:
Portugal’s Domingos Mestre (9-4) fighting out of Sweden won a decision over John Donnelly in the first bout of the night. With Bruno “BC” Carvalho in his corner, Mestre did enough for the judges to give him the fight on the score cards.
Sweden’s Victor Cheng (8-2) current The Zone FC middleweight champion, moves forward in the 8-man tournament with an impressive submission (RNC) win over American Matt Gabel. The Swede fought an active Gabel, protecting himself from a guillotine attempt early in bout, but was able to take control as the bout moved on. Cheng finished the first round on top, looking for damaging blows from the downed American. An up-kick from Gabel (costing the fighter a 1-point deduction) at the end of the first seemed to fire-up Cheng, who came out swinging in round 2.
After a brief exchange, Cheng was able to show his top grappling skills as he mounted Gabel, who gave up his back. Cheng quickly secured a rear-naked choke, forcing Gabel to tap shortly after. Cheng is now back on the winning track, and will face Hucin (fast KO of Gareth Joseph tonigh) in the semi-finals of the CWFC middleweight title tournament in Saudi Arabia in April.
Finland’s Matteus Lahdesmaki (12-8-3) won in Round 1 with a RNC submission over Scotland’s Graham Turner. The Finnish ground fighter also took home Cage Warrior’s “Submission of the Night Bonus” for his impressive stoppage and upset over the favored Turner.
Sweden’s Mats Nilsson dominated the grappling and was victorious over American Tommy Speer with a second round submission (arm triangle) over the UFC veteran. The Swede wore down the American while stuffing take-downs and taking control of the bout when on top. The experienced grappler was damaging the TUF veteran with elbows throughout and showed that he is ready to step up on competition.
In the final fight of the night Finland’s Juha-Pekka Vainikainen won in the main event over UFC veteran Kyle Watson. The Nordic fighter brought a stop to the bout in the second round due to doctor stoppage of a cut inflicted on the American in the second round. The first round saw J-P control the bout, with his precision striking. The Finn also looked confortable in the clinch and grappling, and looked to have improved his all-around game. Watson was visibly disappointed with the stoppage, but with the deep cut the doctors were forced to stop the bout.
Images taken from www.MMAJunkie.com who streamed the event for free.
