Cage Warriors Fighting Championship crowned a new 135-pound kingpin
in its second event in Rome, Italy, but it wasn’t the one for which
Italian fans had hoped.

In the
Cage Warriors 154 headliner, Italy’s own Dylan Hazan
took on Caolan
Loughran for the vacant bantamweight championship. Hazan (9-1,
4-1 CW) looked faster with his punches while demonstrating
intelligent in-and-out movement in the openzing stanza. Still,
Loughran (8-0, 4-0 CW) kept his composure and retaliated with
heavier shots. By the end of Round 1, “The Don” had already marked
Hazan’s face with his haymakers. Things took an ugly turn for Hazan
in the second frame, when Loughran pushed the pace and tested his
adversary’s chin. A right hook-left uppercut combination shook
Hazan before Loughran followed up with a couple more hooks and
uppercuts that dropped his foe on the canvas. Loughran continued to
land hard shots until Hazan couldn’t defend himself intelligently
anymore. Referee Rich
Mitchell stepped in to stop the action at the 1:44 mark of
Round 2. Loughran spent the rest of the evening celebrating with
the loud Irish fan delegation attending in Rome.

The co-main event saw Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight
alum Darren
Stewart face Dana White’s Contender Series vet Leon Aliu.
The experienced Stewart (14-9, 2 NC, 6-2 CW) relied on well-timed
takedowns and patient striking to cruise past Aliu (10-3, 1-1 CW),
who looked eager to finish his foe early in the fight but never
channeled his energy to a substantial advantage. “The Dentist” was
on the watch for most of the time, hitting his opponent with jabs
and landing a couple of heavy elbows in the second stanza. Round 3
was particularly successful for Stewart, who nullified Aliu’s
offense with heavy hands and his solid wrestling. When the dust
settled, the cage announcer read 29-28, 29-28, and 29-27 scorecards
in favor of Stewart, who picked up his second consecutive
victory.

Elsewhere, Giannis
Bachar (8-2, 1-0 CW) upset hometown favorite and former
170-pound titleholder Carlo
Pedersoli Jr. (14-5, 2-1 CW) at 2:12 of the third stanza in a
hard-fought contest; Gerardo
Fanny (12-3, 3-2 CW) scored a victory over Tanio
Pagliariccio (8-3, 1-2 CW) after “O’ Scugnizz” retired at the
end of the second frame in their 125-pound tilt and Simone
Patrizi (6-1, 1-0 CW) wobbled Ermil
Xhaferi (4-1-1, 0-1 CW) with punches at 1:22 of Round 3 at
lightweight.

In the featured preliminary clash, surging welterweight prospect
Khadim
Dia (3-0, 1-0 CW) outclassed Milton
Afonso Cabral (2-3, 1-2 CW) en route to a unanimous decision
victory (29-28, 30-27, 30-27); Enrico Di
Gangi (4-1, 1-0 CW) defeated Alessandro
Giordano (6-3, 0-2 CW) via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28,
29-28) at bantamweight; Francesco
Mazzeo (2-0, 1-0 CW) overcame Joan
Arastey (2-2, 0-2 CW) after snapping his opponent’s elbow
during a throw 59 seconds out of the gate in their middleweight
clash; former 125-pound titleholder Sam Creasey
(17-5, 12-5 CW) outpointed Michelangelo
Lupoli (6-3, 1-1 CW) on all scorecards en route to a unanimous
decision victory (29-28, 29-28, 29-28); Marko
Sarasjarvi (3-0, 1-0 CW) forced Edoardo
Caiazza (3-1, 0-1 CW) to tap to a rear-naked choke at the 1:36
mark of Round 1 in a 145-pound matchup; middleweight prospect
Dario
Bellandi (5-1, 3-1 CW) submitted Daniel
Karlsson (2-1, 0-1 CW) via rear-naked choke at 3:28 into the
opening stanza; Andrey
Tyshchenko (5-2, 1-0 CW) took home a unanimous decision (30-26,
30-26, 30-27) from Yoga
Prabowo at bantamweight; Jasmine
Favero (3-0, 3-0 CW) kept her record unblemished after smashing
Izabela
Walczak (1-1, 0-1 CW) with punches 4:14 into Round 1 in their
women’s bantamweight tilt; 145-pounder Luca
Borando (3-0, 1-0 CW) crushed Baris
Adiguzel (2-1, 0-1 CW) with punches 50 seconds into the third
period; and up-and-coming Indonesian fighter Cornellius
Aritonang (2-0, 1-0 CW) upended Gianluca
Ancora (0-2, 0-1 CW) on all scorecards (30-26, 30-26, 29-27) at
featherweight.





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Caolan Loughran Upsets Dylan Hazan, Captures Vacant Bantamweight Title at CW 154