23.26
Well that’s it for me on a great night for Irish MMA with McGregor becoming the first ever Irish male to win a World title.
On top of that a very entertaining card with wins for Pendred and Seery to add greatly to their reputations internationally and the UFC may soon be on the card for those two fighters.
Daly lost in a very tight bout, but she will be back in the only disappointment of the night.
Stay tuned to JOE for more MMA coverage during the week.
23.25
I was right, Linderman is announced as the new heavyweight champion, it’s greeted by polite applause by those remaining.
23.24
Linderman probably but it was a less than exciting.
23.23
The main event is over, I honestly don’t know who won…
23.19
Starving after a long day’s work and really want to get a chipper on the way home. That reminds me – have you seen our article on Ireland’s best chipper?
23.17
Linderman looks on top he seems to be more in control, I’d say less than half he crowd of over 1,500 is left now. The Helix has a caverous feel to it…
23.09
Both fighters looking lethargic in the third round, this fight isn’t delivering… or maybe it is the “petit mort” after the orgasmic win of McGregor’s in the last fight.
22.51
It should be said a lot of the crowd has left after McGregor’s win…also neither US fighter willing to touch gloves – they quite dislike each other…
22.48
I spoke to Hayes yesterday he really wants to make amends for an earlier career loss to Linderman. They nearly fought at the weigh-in and at the airport too rather than wait for this main-event. Hayes said this is his first time in Ireland and went up to visit Belfast and he’s quite enjoying it.
CWFC Featherweight Champion of the World title
Champion Mike Hayes (18-4-1) vs. D.J. Linderman (11-3-0)
22.47
Linderman enters in a gas mask for some reason to face heavyweight champion Hayes in an all-American bout.
22.43
McGregor also drops the “f” bomb in his post-fight interview with Josh Palmer “Cage Warriors Dublin, blows Cage Warriors London out of the f**king water!”
High spirits and rightfully so. Well done Conor McGregor. Ireland’s first MMA world champion!
22.40
Presenting to you your NEW IRISH WORLD CAGE WARRIORS FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPION.
He wins via rear-naked choke after an incredible win. Wins via submission and then jumps over the crowd onto the commentators table to celebrate his fans nearly sparking a riot….great stuff!
The SBGi family pose for a picture in the ring with Conor.
22.37
It has to be said Hill looks lost, overwhelmed and out of ideas on how to deal with charged-up Irish electric-coil McGregor.
22.35
A great jab in the second sends Hill to the floor, McGregor attempts a big blow to finish when it dosen’t come off he is patient in mount picking his shots.
22.34
The round ends with McGregor attempting a rear-naked choke. Not enoguh time though. First round to McGregor definitely, four to go…
22.31
McGregor told me yesterday that he’s ready and eager and his game plan was to “improvise” – so far he looks alert and sharp and is controlling Hill on the ground. One good head-kick aside though it’s a tentative, methodical performance from both men with McGregor without a doubt the more imposing.
22.29
McGregor anxious to get going, misses with the guillotine attempy though. Both men back standing.
22.25
McGregor wears the Irish tricolour to the ring draoed around his shoulders. He shadowboxes in the cage to the crowd’s delight. This man is a knockout artist with 8 KO’s on his record, all of them in the first or second. He aims to become the first Irish male MMA champion.
CWFC Featherweight Champion of the World title
Dave Hill (10-2-0) vs. Conor McGregor (10-2-0)
22.24 I thought McGregor spooked Hill at the weigh-in yesterday with his aggression let’s see… McGregor’s fans the loudest yet!
22.18
Heartbreak for Daly she loses in a very competitive fight and lost 29-28 on all jusge’s cards. Sexton moves onto the final against Shelia Gaff. Sexton says “It was a great fight.” She now wants to spend some time with her son before the title-bout. Daly goes home. disappointed but with no one thinking of her than anything less than a great fighter judging by the fans chanting her name afterwards.
22.17
Sexton v Daly over, I can’t call it… maybe Sexton
22.12
Daly starts this round with a point to prove, some good straight punches, a takedowwn and an attempt at a one-armed guillotine.
22.10
Round ends with Sexton attempting a D’Arce choke on Daly near the cage, that rounds Sexton’s.
22.06
Sexton is very strong, she did well to work herself into half-mount and throw a few short punches. Daly has since done well to regain full-guard. Slower tempo this round.
22.04
Round ends with both ladies standing and against the cage, vvery even stuff…
22.02
Woaha this is close Sexton went for some good ground and pound from open guard and Daly went for the same armbar again and again well defended.
22.01
Daly nearly leveraged her opponent into an armbar, with a fantastic sweep – Sexton defended well though.
21.59
Neither girl touching gloves here, there’s been some “sledging” between the two ahead of the fight.
Women’s flyweight semi-final for Cage Warriors Championship
Aisling Daly (13-2-0) vs. Rosi Sexton (12-2-0)
21.55
Time for the girls and Ireland’s Ais “The Bash” Daly
21.50
PENDRED WINS! Bielkheden disappointed but no complaints, he’s a class act. Great scalpfor Pendred, Bielkheden has two UFC fights on his CV. He might be waiting for a call from Dana soon…
Pendred pays tribute to his club and then goes to the crowd to shake each of his teammates hands. The remaining fights have a lot to live up to!
21.49
Both men shake hands before the decision – what a great, great fight!
21.47
A five-star performance by Pendred showing grit, skill, grappling, striking and conditioning. He has to get the decision.
21.46
Big cut on Pendred’s cheek, he won’t mind he just defended a takedown brilliantly.
21.44
This is amazin Pendred foughts his way back to his feet and takess Bielkheden down! Crowd chanting “You’ll never beat the Irish” and stamping their feet – what an atmosphere inspired by the SBGi man!
21.43
Commentators curse – great opening salvo from Bielkheden – who takes him to the ground for two minutes.
21.41
Another round to Pendred eho ends it attempting a guillotine on the BJJ black belt, is Bielkheden’s stamina gone?
21.38
Marvellous head-kick and a left hook sends Bielkheden down, Bielkheden doesn’t want any part of the Cage Contender Welterweight Champion – who has taken him down AGAIN -this looks one-sided in the Dubliner’s favour…
21.36
Pendred pressing his opponent up against the cage and looking to dominate from there. good control of the cage…he’s stopped throwing out the jab that was so effective in the first round for him though…
21.34
A warning of what Bielkheden could do in the end, he got Cathal in a crucifix mount and went for the kimura, Cathal defended it well and the first round is probably the Irishman’s on the basis of his impressive stand-up…
21.32
A pattern is emerging, each time Cathal gets Bielkheden down he is standing the Swede back up rather than engage the grappler on ground this has happened twice now.
21:31
Big blow sends the Swede down and a frenzied attack ensues, the Punisher reigning down hammer-fists…
21.30
Cathal controlling the ring with his jab, looks massive as always… this man’s conditioning is superb.
21.25
Welterweight
David Bielkheden (17-10-0) vs. Cathal Pendred (9-2-1)
Cathal “The Punisher” Pendred has brought a huge hometown following in this Sweden V Ireland fight, he comes out to “We will rock you” – Crowd goes wild. Pendred is good friends with Ireland and Leinster’s Cian Healy who he played rugby with at Belvedere secondary school, his fans are hoping he can put on a big-time performance like his rugby international friend against Bielkheden who is a BJJ Black Belt of six years experience…
21.20
I see why my application for card holder was rejected…good call Cage Warriors
20:21
Seery wins via rear-naked choke in the second round and scales the cage in celebration as he should Platts is number five in Europe and number three in the UK. Seery is number two in UK and three in Europe. Good win in a very competitive match…
21.15
First round is without a question Seery’s, one member of the pressbox reckons Seery could make the UFC’s new flyweight division as he’s fought at heavier weights and is now at his natural weight, he’s certainly doing his chances no harm with this advertisement…
21:14
Seery bopping and weaving like a child that has had to much Dib-Dabs, far more active and un-childlike far more dangerous…
21:11
Seery looks to sink the guillotine, Platts regains his guard – good recovery from the Newcastle man…
21.10
Seery looking to end it early an amazing volley of blows leaves Platts on the ground and reeling…
21.09
Flyweight
Mark Platts (10-7-0) vs. Neil Seery (9-9-0)
The lads have just made their way to the ring, Seery is the hometown favourite…
MAIN CARD
20:50
The main card is following next Jack “The Stone” Mason has got some discussion going at my e-mail address on the best fight nicknames – Rick says “Class nickname Mason, do you guys know who has the best in MMA?”
Well my money would be on Ireland’s own James “Sexual” Heelan…
He also enters to this, he is of course a bonafide legend…
20:48
Jack “The Stone” Mason is disappointed by his performance he just wins by split decision – 29-28, 28-29, 29-28. Close, close call – I gave it to Mason by A hair…some debate in the press gallery over this close fight…
You can follow JOE’s MMA twitter man Fergus Ryan and join the discussion on #CWFC47
20:45
Super defense of a rear-naked by Quinn – if anyone has ever caught Saulo Riberio’s Jiu Jitsu vids will recognize he leveraged himself and spun out…great stuff from Quinn from a precarious position…
20:41
Thing slivening up now in the final round Quinn throwing a few low-kicks look to move Mason into position against the cage…
20:37
Both Mason and Quinn look gassed, Mason tries to sink in guillotine again but the heart doesn’t seem into it. One big punch or tired silly mistake could end this…
20.34
Jack “The Stone” Mason (good nickname) ends first round with Quinn in guillotine, but Quinn used the cageside for leverage so it wasn’t really sunk in…
20:30
Catchweight 178lbs
Jack Mason (19-10-0) vs. Tommy Quinn (3-0-0)
Very interested to see this last preliminary card, Mason has an impressive resumé, he’s from Cambridge but he’s obviousily a student of the fight game – impressive physique – Quinn’s got a challenge here
20:22
Paul Redmond won in the second round via strikes, I feel the referee should have stopped it sooner, Redmond got eight strikes in on the ground when it was clear Malko had given up the ghost…
20:21
In the second round and a poor attempt and poor escape from Triangle as Redmond looked to end it…
20:18
Good first round by Redmond who is the Chaos lightweight champion. Started badly with Malko dominating and looking dangerous in sidecontrol. Redmond fought back and got two great takedowns in between great stand-up… Malko ended up getting pummeled on the ground and I think saved by the bell to end round 1
20:10
Next bout is an All-Ireland fight between Malko of Cork and Redmond of Dublin:
Lightweight
Yuri Malko (3-4-0) vs. Paul Redmond (3-3-0)
20:05
Sizeland, a strenght and conditioning coach in England, wins via TKO from strikes, naturally his conditioning seemed better than the stand-in fighter.
19.50
The preliminary card is just about to get underway and the first professional bout and there’s been a let change to the card with Conor Cooke out…
Middleweight
Victor Peixoto (1-2-0) vs. Brett Sizeland (5-1-0)
Epic entrance by Sizeland who came into the theme music of his namesake minus a “t” – Professional wrestling icon Bret “The Hitman” Hart – here’s some 90s wrestling theme music goodnessL
19:35
Konrad wins via a Triangle choke in the second to rapturous cheers from his noisy fans – time for the preliminary card!
19.31
Konrad Iwanowski taking on Northern Ireland’s Dennis Perry in the final amatuer fight now.
19:24
The penultimate amatuer fight was won by Tony Keane of Waterford over Sean Tobin via Ground and Pound.
19:18
The weigh-ins in the Roganstown Hotel in Swords were fun, Conor McGregor nearly fought Dave Hill there and then.
The two American heavyweights in the main event Hayes anbd Linderman nearly fought there too (a lot of needle there as Hayes feels Linderman’s victory in 2009 was unjust due to him going down and taking too much time to recover from a questionable shot.) They nearly fought getting off the plane too according to some of the Cage Warriors team! Here’s McGregor squaring up to Hill…
19:16
The second amateur fight goes the distance O’Brien wins by a split decision, he definitely won the first and last round. Crowd very appreciative of the fight
19.11
Ahead of their flyweight title fight later England’s Dave Hill has predicted in his video-blog that he’ll knockout Conor McGregor, a knockout specialist himself, in two rounds here’s the video
19.10
Into the third round of this featherweight bout between Downey and O’Brien – very back and forth – I thought Downey had a guillotine choke at one stage.
19.05
In the meantime Ciaran O’Brien is fighting Martin Downing in the latest amatuer card. Downing put in a very composed performance and beat a very talented Liam Kelly of Coolmine MMA in the last Battlezone card, he had a tough first round against O’Brien though who drew blood from his mouth… second round on now
18:59
Not all the press are here yet, but the crowds are already enjoying the appetizers of the amatuer fights. This was the scene five minutes after the gates opened…
…it has filled up significantly since, but most people will arrive for the preliminary and main card rather than the amatuers…
18:57
A TKO victory for Stephen Owens in that first fight. Reigned down punches on Copeland from full mount in the second round – good start to the night.
18:53
Cage Warriors has a very international feel to it and recently held events in the Middle-East recently and there are thirty one accredited journalists here including Ailish Staunton who is making a documentary on Aisling Daly for Newstalk Radio.
18:52
The amatuer fights are underway with Stephen Owens versus Cormac Copeland but from Northern Ireland.
18.45
Just got an e-mail from Maura O’Rahilly tp mailto:mark.otoole@joe.ie it reads: “Just wondering if u have any idea of times of fights?!..boyfriend and I going but he’s still working and really wants to catch Conor,Cathal and Aisling (SBG club mates) tonight ...”
Well Maura, happy to help the scheduled time for the main cards are:
18.28
And we’re back and at the Helix, a colleague has remarked on the set up “Jaysus, they’ve done a good job!” I agree – some Helix pictoral porn below…
17:12
Okay time to log-off and get motoring out to the Helix in the meantime you can check out JOE’s class MMA section including this interview I did with Tito Ortiz
More to follow
16:57
If you folks want to make a nice wedge of catch off these fights for the rest of the Bank Holiday Weekend you could do worse than putting a bet on with Paddy Power, they’re offering odds on the main-card, so all the mouthy MMA barstoolers out there can put their money where their mouth is here….
Who do you reckon looks value? All the odds are quite short, maybe it just goes to show how close and competitive the card is…
16:40
As well as the ways to get in touch I’ve mentioned below you can also discuss the fights on hashtag #cwfc47 on Twitter too.
To reiterate we want to hear your views and opinions, especially if you are talking nonsense – email at mailto:mark.otoole@joe.ie and on Twitter at @mark_otoole
JOE’s Fergus Ryan should also be available on Twitter, in fact driving out to the weigh-ins yesterday he wasn’t off his phone tweeting once… I hasten to add he was also driving… only messing Ryaner!
16:35
Time to put my best suit on and get going out to the Helix on the Dublin City University, my old alma mater and fighter Cathal Pendred’s too, so a home bout for him, he studied analytical science or some other useful nonsense there, I studied journalism…you win this round Pendred
16:30
Introduction time, I’m Mark O’Toole I’ll be your live blogger for the event and what should be a great Mixed Martial Arts event this evening, some things about me I like long walks on the beach, Coke (of the Cola variety) Newcastle United and would generally be considered a lover-not-a-fighter.
That said I’ve done a bit of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in my time, love my boxing and in-between protecting my laptop screen from the shower of blood and sweat that will assuredly rain down on my cageside position this evening…I would also like to hear from you…
You can get me by email at mailto:mark.otoole@joe.ie and on Twitter at @mark_otoole
I’ve also said up a public list for those of you following on the auld Twitter-machine of some of the fighters and personalities involved tonight here
See I’m a nice helpful guy and I look forward to you joining me for the evening… as a journalist I have no friends…
Preview
It’s been over three years since big time Mixed Martial Arts has hit Irish shores, we all remember the ace card the UFC put on when it sold out the O2 in 2009 with the class card at UFC 93.
Among the big names to feature that night were Kampmann, Shogun Rua, Marcus Davis, Mark Coleman and of course Dan Henderson versus Rich Franklin.
Tonight’s card features more rising-stars than aging veterans, if it’s not as big a crowd as ’09 it certainly has a world-class field particularly with some strong Irish MMA fighters in Cathal Pendred, Aisling Daly, Neil Seery and of course Conor McGregor.
Conor McGregor is aiming to become the first Irishman with a World title if he beats England’s David Hill.
Aisling Daly, MMA’s answer to Irish boxing’s ass-kicker in chief Katie Taylor faces Rosi Sexton in another Ireland-England clash.
While their fellow SBGi teammate Cathal “The Punisher” Pendred will be looking to raise his profile further with rumours that the UFC are looking at this fine specimen of a welterweight rife. He has of course sparred with a lot of UFC stars so his pedigree is sound.
Seery is a veteran of the circuit and looking to do damage against his opponent Mark Platts.
You can read more in JOE’s brain-in-a-jar- MMA aficionado Fergus Ryan’s great preview from yesterday here and you can catch thee blow-by-blow action on this live-tracker if you don’t have tickets to the event this evening.
Here’s the fight card in full for your consideration:
MAIN CARD (MMAjunkie.com)
- Mike Hayes vs. D.J. Linderman (for heavyweight title)
- Dave Hill vs. Conor McGregor, SBGi (for vacant featherweight title)
- Aisling Daly, SBGi vs. Rosi Sexton
- David Bielkheden vs. Cathal Pendred, SBGi
- Mark Platts vs. Neil Seery
PRELIMINARY CARD (Cage Warriors on Facebook)
- Jack Mason vs. Tommy Quinn
- Conor Cooke vs. Brett Sizeland
- Yuri Malko vs. Paul Redmond, Team Ryano
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
