CAGE WARRIORS ACADEMY 38 REPORT
Local favourite Christian Young survived a huge scare to win his professional debut in the main event of Cage Warriors Academy 38 in Colchester last night.
Charismatic Aussie Young, who fights out of the city's Combat Institute, walked out to a rapturous reception from his army of fans at the Charter Hall as he began his journey in the paid ranks after a decorated amateur career.
But he was dropped with the first punch thrown by his dangerous foe Yannis Osmani, a high-level Muay Thai striker, also making his pro debut in their flyweight scrap.
Osmani followed that damaging left hand with a violent elbow and a knee to the face of Young as he tried to recover his senses and battle for a takedown, in what was a serious test of his fighting heart.
And he passed that test with flying colours, putting Osmani on his back and proceeding to return fire with interest, slicing his opponent up with heavy elbows and dominating from the top.
In trademark Young style, the end came via lightning fast guillotine choke, locked in as Osmani tried to scramble his way back to his feet.
The first round win threatened to lift the roof off the Charter Hall as Young scaled the cage to celebrate a memorable start to his professional career - it will be fascinating to follow his journey.
In the co-main event, Diesel Gym's Rinchen Griffiths-Golha used a smothering, dominant grappling game to outpoint Italian Fabio De Luca in their professional catchweight fight at 130lbs.
Griffiths-Golha, who improved his record to 3-1, imposed his will on his foe, spending most of the fight scoring takedowns and grinding out the win on the floor.
Away from the pro fights, there were multiple amateur titles on the line.
Ben Edwards, of the hometown BKK Fighters Gym, showed superb calmness under pressure and great fight IQ to hand Ben Hodgson his first-ever defeat and lift the welterweight crown for the second time.
By Mark Heath www.eadt.co.uk
Edwards, now 7-1, survived a deep choke attempt from submission machine Hodgson in the first round before going up through the gears and showcasing his allround game to claim a points win.
There were two title wins for Brentwood's SX MMA, with Lilian Pavalache emerging from a blood-soaked fight of the year contender with fellow unbeaten foe Michael Fong Sung to claim the interim bantamweight crown.
Pavalache, now 3-0, was dropped heavily twice in the first round and appeared to be on the brink of being stopped, with his nose gushing blood courtesy of the fast, cruel hands of Fong Sung.
But, with crimson decorating the cage floor and covering both combatants, Pavalache fought his way back into the contest, pushing Fong Sung back and scrapping his way to a majority decision win in a remarkable fight.
Meanwhile, gym-mate Tarran Padda moved to 4-0 and lifted the flyweight title vacated by new pro Young with a violent first round stoppage of Ciaran Heffernan, dropping his foe and then following him to the floor to finish the fight with a flurry of fists.
Indeed, SX MMA enjoyed a perfect nightTroy Sudbury (1st rd RNC), Jack Williams (UD) and Mark Mansfield (DQ) all also had their hands raised.
In the other title fights on the card, Team Underground's Adda Bouchoui defended his lightweight title with a dominant wrestling-based points win over Kadre Dene, while super-talented Great Britain Top Team product Benjamin Edozie lifted the European featherweight strap.
Edozie, now 8-1, proved he can finish fights too, producing a D'Arce choke submission of tough opponent Corentin Perrutel in the third round.
There was a submission win for Mannaz MMA Plymouth's Harrison Coventry too, as he tapped Yassine El-Mahdi to a second round triangle to win the European bantamweight title and improve his record to 10-2.
On the undercard, BKK Fighters prospect Mitchell Thorpe - a star of the Karate Combat world - proved he's developing his MMA game at a frightening rate as he scored his first submission win via a second round armbar over Alessio Pignatale. Lightweight Thorpe, who's now 3-1, already has elite tier striking - if he continues to round out his game, he's very much a potential future star of the sport.
There were also wins for fellow BKK Fighters in Ethan Lewis (UD), Aiden Bailey (UD) and Liam Yeaman (UD).
Tsunami Norfolk's Marcin Kochel also claimed a hard-fought split decision win in his lightweight dispute with the powerful Mo Massaquoi.
By Mark Heath www.eadt.co.uk
