While there’s no UFC this weekend there was plenty other MMA to watch. One of those cards was Cage Warriors 136. On the card the European promotion featured one Manny Akpan.
Akpan has had only 5 professional bouts including tonight with an MMA record consisting of 3 wins and 1 loss coming into tonight’s card.
Akpan earned his first loss last year against Keir Harvie. He was caught in a submission late in round 1.
This time, Akpan more than redeemed himself. He managed to score a spinning wheel kick KO against Connor Hitchens. The KO is a sight to behold, truly one of the weirdest clips we’ve seen to date.
This was Hitchens’ debut in Cage Warriors, he too is coming off of a loss he earned back in 2020. His record consists of 6 wins and 2 losses.
Cage Warriors has been in the news a lot lately – with Ariel Helwani calling out promotion head Graham Boylan for pulling a double duty and also (failing at) managing Paddy Pimblett. In spite of Pimblett being a former Cage Warriors champion he is on the bare minimum contract in the UFC having been guaranteed just $12,000 for his recent appearance in the octagon. Helwani suspected this type of a deal was seen as beneficial by Boylan only because Cage Warriors made it onto UFC’s streaming network.
🔥 🤯 MANNY AKPAN WITH A HIGHLIGHT REEL KO!
A crazy back and forth fight ends in stunning fashion at #CW136. pic.twitter.com/vkVB9pBVKI— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) April 2, 2022
Elsewhere on the card:
Christian Leroy Duncan with the flying Knee KO! 🔥
Incredible scenes at #CW136, a new middleweight champ is crowned!!#AndNew pic.twitter.com/I0DtGxIPUl— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) April 2, 2022
Adam Cullen needed just 15secs to secure the W 😧
He scorched his opponent! And with style points 🔥#CW136 pic.twitter.com/YCAOgYlqWW— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) April 2, 2022
⚡️ Positional dominance and a slick transition for the finish. Reece McEwan could not be denied, with only 30 seconds left in the fight 🤯#CW136 is live on @UFCFightPass ➡️ https://t.co/xnRYhBu0rx pic.twitter.com/BSgoK7whQy
— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) April 2, 2022
🎯 Stuffed the takedown, picked his shots and put his opponent away.
A star is born at #CW136 🤩 Luke Riley 👏 pic.twitter.com/ZXZ78eNO4B— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) April 2, 2022
Main Card
Christian Leroy Duncan def. Djati Melan via KO (Flying Knee) at 0:48 of Round 3, wins Cage Warriors Middleweight Championship
Aaron Aby def. Gerardo Fanny via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 2:25 of Round 3
Adam Cullen def. El Hadji Ndiaye via KO (Punches) at 0:14 of Round 1
Reece McEwan def. Sam Spencer via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 4:33 of Round 3
Luke Riley def. Jack Eglin via KO (Punches) at 4:54 of Round 2