CAGE WARRIORS 64: PENNINGTON VS TAIT

The night’s co-main event featured two 185 pound Middleweights as the French Boubacar Balde stepped into the ring to face South Londoner Jake ‘Brutal’ Bostwick. It was a lively fight in the first round as they both traded blows and tried to take each other to the ground but it was mostly grappling against the walls of the cage. No fighters dominated the round but Bostwick put in the better performance as they both respected each other’s powerfulness.

The second round was no different however as Bostwick slammed Balde to the ground after two minutes and he stabilized the mount and Balde struggled to transition but he finally went on top and cut Bostwick open and blood was pouring out of his head as the round finished. The cut didn’t get any better as Boubacar tried to target it, leaving Bostwick having to cover himself using the cage. The clock ran down, to the fighters’ delight, and Jake Bostwick won 30-27, 30-27, 30-27.

It was time for the main event between highly talented Bantamweights James Pennington and Corey Tait with both holding good records.  The former, is a submission specialist with a background is Jiu-Jitsu whilst the latter trains Tae Kwon Do and Kickboxing. It proved to be an eventful fight in the first round as there was a lot of accurate striking. It was all over after 2 minutes and 35 seconds as Pennington tapped out due to an extremely well applied standing Guillotine choke. Although it was out of view of the camera it was a definite stoppage with James looking very stressed and hurt. 

Other main card results: 

Matt Inman defeated Gregor Weibel via unanimous decision (30 – 27,  29-28, 29-28)

Laura Howarth defeated Amanda Kelly via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Nad Narimani defeated Benjamin Brander via Submission at 4:53 of the 1st round

Danny Roberts defeated Juan Manuel Suarez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Written by Jack Richards

Lyoto Opens Up About Fights He Wants

After a cocontroversial loss to Phil Davis, Lyoto Machida has decided upon fights that he wanted to take. It had been earlier reported that UFC matchmaker, Joe Silva, had wanted to put on a fight between Lyoto Machida and Nick Diaz. After this Saturday's Fox Sports 1 event, Dana White killed the noise on that one stating that that fight will not be happening.  Machida has come out stating that he would like fights with Chael Sonnen as well as Vitor Belfort.

Though I find that both of these fights would be amazing for fight fans I am most interested in seeing Lyoto facing the newly reinvigorated Chael Sonnen.

I think that Chael Sonnen prevents a high pressure fight game that proved to be deadly to most of his opponents including Machida's teammate and former UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva, in their first fight.  I think that Chael will not give Machida the opportunity to do his ususal dancing around the cage. I see a potential Machida/Sonnen fight would look much like Silva/Sonnen I with the exception of Machida not having an injury going into his fight so it will be more competitive. Dont get me wrong I still think that Machida could win this fight if he can pressure Sonnen before Sonnen can pressure him (see UFC 159 Jones vs. Sonnen.) The only thing that could prevent this , atch from happening would be Sonnen's desire to square off with Wanderlei Silva.

In the case of Belfort vs. Machida I think that it would be a fight that Machida could win a little easier than fighting Sonnen. It would be a great fight to promote in Brazil. Belfort is on a tear in the Middleweight division and feels that he is entitled to a title fight and is turning down all non title dights at middleweight. Perhaps the UFC can put together a catchweight fight at 195 so then it could happen without Belfort being worried about his stature in the 185 lb category.