Cage Warriors once again showed why it’s one of the top UK, if not European, promotions, by putting on what was considered by many to be the best fight card of the year in the UK.

Nottingham’s own Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley returned to a hero’s welcome, headlining this stacked card against undefeated Slovenian fighter Bojan Kosedan. In his first fight since his comeback from retirement earlier in the year, Semtex looked like he’d never left the cage, coming in in great shape and landing a knee early to the Slovenian’s ribcage. He then dropped Kosedan with a great body shot, and proceeded to jump on him and looked to finish with ground and pound. To Kosedan’s credit, he managed to get his senses back and soon Daley stood up to bring the fight back to its feet. Landing some hard low kicks to the lead leg of the southpaw, it wasn’t long before Daley floored the Slovenian again, knocking him down with a hook. This time when he followed him down, the ref called a timeout due to Kosedan’s mouth guard falling out. This was Kosedan’s last chance, and Daley put an exclamation mark on proceedings with 7 seconds to go in the first round, by landing a devastating left hook that left Kosedan out cold on the canvas for a good minute afterwards. Medics check that he is ok, while Daley circles the cage, feeding off of the energy the crowd are exhibiting. Kosedan is able to get up and walk out of the cage on his own volition.

Highly regarded Norwegian youngster Simeon Thoreson, main training partner of Joachim Hansen, showed why he is possibly on his way to Japan and the DREAM organisation, with a quick and impressive victory over the tough Matt Thorpe. Taking Thorpe down after an initial exchange on the feet, Thoreson showed his slick ground game by gaining side control and pulling off a tight kimura that lead to Thorpe vocalising the pain he was feeling and causing the ref to step in at 51 seconds of the fight. Thoreson is definitely one to keep an eye on for the future.

‘Judo’ Jimmy Wallhead also proved why he’s one of the most talked about fighters in the UK at the moment, by sticking to his game plan and out striking the Italian based Brazilian Fabricio Nasciemento en route to a unanimous decision victory. Nasciemento made somewhat of an interesting journey, missing his scheduled flight on the Friday. This fits his character, as he was permanently smiling and marching on the spot, even hurling some words in his native Brazilian at the Nottingham based fighter, which led to referee Marc Goddard telling him to keep it shut in the last round. From the opening bell, Nasciemento looked to take Wallhead into his territory on the ground, but the Judoka’s sprawl was good enough to land him in top position. Nasciemento has some top class jiu jitsu, and he showed some of this when he rolled beautifully into a heel hook attempt. Wallhead kept his head though and rode it out. On the feet, Nasciemento was swinging wildly, and clearly was trying to entice Jimmy into a brawl, which would enable him to get his takedown and control the fight on the floor. To his credit, Wallhead stuck to his guns, and was clinical with his striking; landing most of what he threw, mixing up head shots, with leg kicks and shots to the body. The second round was much of the same, save for Nasciemento’s attempt of pulling guard, to which the Rough House fighter was having none of, leaning him against the cage and supporting his weight, before eventually dropping him to the ground. They didn’t stay there long, and Jimmy ended the round with a Urijah Faber style jumping knee on one leg in the clinch, which brings the crowd to it’s feet in support of the hometown fighter. Chants of “Jimmy!” continue into the final round, until Nasciemento finally scores the takedown he was after. It’s not long before Wallhead is on his feet again though, and continued to land strikes on Nasciemento until the final bell. The packed crowd erupts when Jimmy is announced as the victor, and he falls to his knees, before embracing his opponent. Look out for him on channel 5 sometime in August, as he and his wife were being filmed for a documentary called 'Help! I've got a high maintenance husband'.

The only title on the line was defended successfully by Cage Warriors World Bantamweight Champion Dinky Ninja Paul McVeigh. Facing a tough opponent in Northern Ireland’s Steve McCombe, McVeigh was on the receiving end for most of the first round, as he was clearly waiting for McCombe to punch himself out before taking advantage. After the fight, McVeigh said he had trained hard for a 5 round fight, but quickly changed his game plan when he saw McCombe was coming to looking to take his head off. In the second round, they traded some punches and after an accidental low blow by McVeigh, he managed to secure the takedown he was looking for. Immediately, the challenger started throwing some hard elbows to the top of McVeigh’s head, but he held his composure, and managed to secure McCombe’s back and sink in the rear naked choke, causing McCombe to tap out at 2:37 of the second round. The belt was presented by former WBO champions Johnny Nelson and Aaron Moore.

In one of the most anticipated match ups the UK has had for a while, Abdul Mohammed, ex Cage Rage British Lightweight Champion, took on local hero Andre Winner, widely regarded as the best 2 Lightweights in Britain. While many expected this to be an exciting and tense fight, it turned out to be a master class in wrestling by the Wolfslair fighter. Staying true to his roots, Mohammed got the takedown he was looking for early, shooting in for a single leg but ending up with a double; he picked Winner up, and walked him over to his corner, where he slammed him to the mat, ala UFC legend Matt Hughes. Not managing to land many strikes, Mohammed opted to stand up and try to control Winner’s legs. Winner managed to land a couple of leg kicks, and even attempted a knee bar, but was piled up against the cage for most of the first round. Coming out in the second, Winner went after Mohammeds left knee with some good kicks, but was again, picked up and dumped in front of Mohammed’s corner. Winner almost secured an arm bar, but Mohammed used his brute strength to pull out. Winner again landed some good up kicks, and Mohammed was cut over both eyes, whilst Winner looked like he had just stepped foot in the cage. After managing to stand up, the Rough House fighter pushed Mohammed against the cage and worked some knees in the clinch. Once again, the wrestler got the better and the fight ended back on the mat. Another arm bar attempt by Winner saw Mohammed grimace in pain, but eventually powered out again and controlled the action on the floor. Round 3 was much of the same, and although Mohammed never actually inflicted much damage on Winner, he was clearly controlling where the fight was taking place, as well as dictating the pace. Whenever Winner made his way to his feet, he just couldn’t prevent the inevitable takedown attempt of Mohammed. At the end of 15 minutes, the judges came back with what was possibly the strangest decision I have ever witnessed. One judge scored it 29-28 to Mohammed, with the other 2 calling it 29-29, declaring a majority decision draw.

Matteo Minonzio scored a victory over Team Tap or Snap’s Wayne Buck at 3:34 of round 1. Landing some brutal leg kicks early, Minonzio clinched with Buck and ended up on his back. Buck’s offence was negated by the Italian’s good control and the ref stood them up. Minonzio landed a knee that was caught by Buck who again managed to take the fight to the ground. As soon as the ref saw the blood splattered across Buck’s face, he called the Doctor in, who stopped the fight due to a cut under the right eye of Buck. The crowd were unhappy, and proceeded to boo the Italian. He took it in his stride, and even got some cheers when exiting the cage, after showing respect to his opponent and the crowd.

Lee Livingstone of Team Rough House made quick work of Wayne Murray. They both came out throwing kicks, until Murray caught one of Livingstone’s and tried to take him down. Displaying some good balance, Livingstone managed to get the takedown himself, but was quickly reversed by Murray. Livingstone tried to return the favour, and in the scramble that ensued, managed to lock in a triangle choke at 1:32 of the first round.

Total Dojo’s Cliff Hall looked impressive in his victory over Rocci Williams, landing some good knees in the clinch before being taken down and securing the guillotine at 2:24 of round 1.

The first full pro MMA bout of the night saw Joachim Hansen trained Tommy Rasmussen take on a rarity in the fighting game, an independent fighter in Chris Cooper. Rasmussen’s game was clear from the off, get the takedown and use his 11 kilo size advantage on the ground. Unfortunately for him, Cooper had a good takedown defence and managed to engage a slugfest which he got the better of, until they clinched and he took the fight to the ground via an inside leg trip. The fight didn’t stay on the mat for long, and Rasmussen immediately looked for the takedown again. This time, Cooper made him pay, by sprawling well and obtaining top position on the floor, finishing the fight with ground and pound at 4:33 of the first round.

Sunderland’s Lee Donald fought hometown boy Kristoff Woodhouse in a caged kickboxing match. They started off by exchanging kicks and short bursts of punches. The most noticeable thing was how low Donald’s hands were. He was never really made to pay for that and the fight continued in the same vein for most of the 3 rounds. Woodhouse was the aggressor, always pushing forward, but Donald seemed to be landing the better strikes, drawing blood from Woodhouse’s nose somewhere during the 2nd round. Donald had emptied his tank mid way through the second round, but still managed to evade the majority of Woodhouse’s strikes. At the end of 3 rounds, the judges declared a draw.

In B Class Pro action, Team Rough House’s Eddie Podolski took John Brotherhood’s back standing and sunk in a rear naked choke to end the fight at 2:08 of the first round. Team Rough House were off to an even better start when Pete McGurk pulled off an arm bar from his back at 1:05 of round 1, after being taken down by John Phillips.

The first fight of the night was an exhibition junior rematch between Sam Halliday and Thomas Phillips, as the first fight was a draw. Halliday came out swinging and didn't stop until 54 seconds of round 1 when the ref stepped in. In other Cage Warriors Braves amateur action, 16 year old Conrad Hayes from Gladiators Gym won a split decision against Team Rough Houses' Brett Crawley

With Team Rough House ending up unbeaten on the night, it poses only one question…dare you Enter the Rough House?