Cage Warriors 47 Event Report; Notoriously Good
by Andrew McGahon

June 2nd 2012, the day Conor McGregor will remember for the rest of his life. He was matched up with Dave Hill. These two men both had identical records of 10-2 going into the fight, with all 10 of McGregor’s wins coming by KO / TKO where 8 of Hill's wins were by submission. Many of us thought that if Hill was going to have a chance with McGregor, he was going to have to submit him.

That is why the outcome of the fight shocked everybody a little bit. McGregor entering the fight with a full arena behind him and an Irish flag on his back simply couldn’t wait to get in there . 

(Credit Tommy Lakes )

In his usual style Conor rushed out with his hands up looking to engage with Hill. Some early exchanges proved that Hill has got quite a good chin. However, the fighter was dropped a few times by McGregor after he landed a striking combo finished off by a lovely head kick. He swarmed over Hill landing some punishing ground and pound before Hill was saved by the bell as McGregor was seconds away from finishing a rear naked choke at the end of the first round.

Much of the same in the second round. As the crowd intensified so did McGregor’s attack. A head kick which dropped Hill saw McGregor swarm and this time he advanced his ground position and managed to take Hill's back. With a tight body triangle and an even tighter choke, Hill had no choice but to tap out to the Irishman.

As soon as the fight ended Conor did a 'Jose Aldo', running straight out of the cage and into the crowd. There were a small portion of McGregor’s fans behind the cage who didn’t stop singing and dancing all night. Conor said to me later that he regretted going in amongst all the fans simply because, “It felt like I was the one being choked, not congratulated.”

In his post-fight interview with Josh Palmer Conor said, "I felt like I had this belt from day one."

I Spoke with Conor post fight and he told me that: “I want more experience fighting, before I signed this contract with Cage Warriors I was fighting every two weeks, and now that I’ve signed the contract I’m fighting every six months.”

It is a fair worry for a man like McGregor as only 3 times in 14 fights has he been into the second round. “I want the experience, feel that all the time, that constant feeling of the impact."

Conor said that his first defense of his belt is likely to be at the Cage Warriors show in Jordan in August. However, he also stated he has had “just as many fights at lightweight as I have at featherweight". One may wonder if McGregor would like to settle an old loss in the form of signed Cage Warriors fighter Joseph Duffy. We shall see.

A lot of people have said McGregor is UFC bound BUT if he is going to fight in August it may affect the rumored UFC card in Nottingham in September. I asked if he would consider the call from the UFC. “I would drop anything to get there. If that opportunity came, forget Jordan. Come on, it’s every MMA guys ambition to get to the UFC, when they come knocking you drop everything."

Would the inexperience of the length of his fights scare him? “I don’t know, I’d get in, I don’t care, it’s the UFC. I’m not going to turn that down, no way ."

It was an absolute pleasure to interview Conor who was so humble in his victory and seems to be a different beast once the energy of the fight has worn off.

I’d like to apologize too as I was not able to stay for the main event. Having no car last night and with the last bus for home leaving at half 11, I was not able to stay for the heavyweight title fight in which the judges declared Linderman the unanimous decision winner via 49-47, 49-46 and 48-47 scores to make him the organization's new heavyweight champion.

Also on the fight card was the much anticipated bout between Rosi Sexton and Aisling Daly. Many thought these two would meet a while back in a Bellator tournament but it was not to be. Sexton, coming off a 15 month layoff, looked quite strong in the clinch early on. Daly did get the better of Sexton in a couple of exchanges on the feet and was very close to finishing the fight a couple of times with armbar attempts.

While Rosi has had a long layoff she was preparing for ADCC, so when I asked her if that helped with the submission defense she laughed and said:

“Well, I’m not sure my armbar defense was all that technical tonight. My view on armbars is everything is cool until they are broken."

Sexton moves on to face Shelia Gaff in the final but one thing is for sure we have not seen the last of Aisling Daly in the Cage Warriors cage. In my opinion they will meet again in the future and it will be for a title.

Speaking of titles, Cathal Pendred moved one step closer to the Cage Warriors welterweight belt with a stunning victory over UFC and Pride vet, David Bielkheden. Cathal was fighting literally in his own back yard last night and the crowd support showed. He came out like a man possessed and managed to drop Bielkheden in the first and many were expecting the Pendred ground and pound to begin. However, he was very respectful and wary of his opponent, who is of course a BJJ black belt of six years under Murilo Bustamante.

The real moment that showed the crowd how far Cathal has come was in the third round. Having dropped Bielkheden in the second with a head kick I can only assume he learned from Chris Fields, the Swede was down two rounds. He came out in the third and dropped Cathal before landing some punishing ground and pound on him from a standing position. Silence was cast over the Helix as many thought the ref was about to stop the fight but Cathal escaped and fought on to grind out a decision victory.

The 24 year old was given even better news later that night when he was told he was given the fight of the night bonus. Cathal said in relation to a title shot, “I think I’m ready to be honest but I’m not going to go ask for it, I want it on merit."

Finally in the first fight of the main card Irish vet Neil Seery went to 10-9 as a pro, securing a second round submission over the very tough Mark Platts. Seery and Platts went at it hard with some really brutal exchanges on the feet, before the tough Irish man knocked Platts down in the second and worked for the rear naked choke.

I spoke to Seery after the fight and asked if he would consider fighting if the UFC came calling this September with the recent introduction of the 125lbs weight class. Even though he works a full time job and has three kids, the answer was a 100% yes.

The production values of this Cage Warriors show was off the charts. If you were watching it on TV or on the screens you saw how professional it looked. Be sure to catch the replay this Wednesday night on Sky Sports!

If you want to check out any of my audio interviews you can listen to them here on SoundCloud.

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