Cage Warriors 45 Report: Brents Wins Big; Fields Advances

By Dean Parr

Bobby Brents registered an unexpected submission victory over BJJ black belt Rogent Lloret in the main event of Cage Warriors 45 at the HMV Forum in London, proving he has the skills to compete at a high level in all ranges.

The now 11-3-1 (1 NC) Lloret never got into the fight, and couldn't make his six inch height advantage count. The aggressor for the whole contest, Brents dropped the Spaniard before finishing him off with an arm triangle, calling a halt to proceedings after 4:41. Fiore MMA's Brents is now 12-2.

Brad Wheeler couldn't avoid James Reese's takedowns in their Lightweight tilt, and the majority of all three rounds saw 'The Crazy Kid' on his back absorbing blows. 'JP' imposed his gameplan from the outset, maintaining top control, leaving an increasingly frustrated Wheeler powerless to resist. The victor, who fights out of ATT, improves to 6-2, whilst Brad falls to 7-6.

In an opening round bout of the Cage Warriors Middleweight tournament, Chris Fields scored a stoppage victory fifty seconds in over Jack Mason, after landing a head kick and following up with punches.

A few complaints about the calling off of the bout followed, but to this writer it seemed to be the correct decision as Mason would only have absorbed more blows from his opponent had the contest gone on. 'The Stone' is now 17-10, whereas Fields, who has won his last seven, now boasts a record of 9-3.

Steve O'Keeffe started promisingly against Irish banger Conor McGregor, sticking to his foe like glue and working to get the fight to the floor. On his second attempt to ground the bout though, SBGi's McGregor unleashed some elbows to the side of the head, which temporarily rendered O'Keeffe out of it, giving Mark Goddard the impetus to step in at 1:33. McGregor moves to 10-2; O'Keeffe drops to 6-2.

The Wrestling pedigree of Eddy Bengtsson proved problematic for 6'10" Yorkshireman Dave Keeley, with the Gladius MMA big-man grappling well and posing a significant threat on the floor. However, once upright again, the fight took a significant turn, with Keeley evidently the better striker. As Bengtsson shot for the takedown, Keeley finished him with elbows to the side of the head; in much the same way Conor McGregor won his bout. This win takes Dave to 6-4. Bengtsson is now 4-3.

Brett Sizeland vs. Brett Bassett started well, with both having their moments in an evenly matched grappling-based scrap. A cut sustained to Bassett in the first made it obvious this wouldn't be a long contest though, and in the second round this resulted in a doctor's stoppage. A rematch of this would not go amiss, but for now, Sizeland improves to 5-1, and Bassett goes to 7-3.

With another round, Shah Hussain, 5-6, may have stopped an exhausted Jacek Toczydlowski, but the latter grinded out a decision, winning by margins of 29-28 on all scorecards in an evenly matched affair. The winner is now 4-2 in his Pro MMA career.

Charlie Watts, 1-0, started slowly but finished clinically with ground and pound, 2:12 into round two against Chad Brown, 0-2, and Ben Hajir, despite losing everything up until his 'Submission of the Night' arm bar 3:06 into round three, bested the overweight Michael Jones. This was a Pro debut for both.

Luke Killick of Gym01 weathered an early storm from Artur Dudek to outgrapple and submit his foe in round two, while Olly Battell and Thomas Martin engaged in a stand-up battle, resulting in the former emerging victorious by KO after 2:11 of the first, in the evening's two amateur attractions.

More information on Cage Warriors is available on their official website.