Cage Warriors: Unplugged results: Paddy Pimblett retains title, vomits on canvas

In a somewhat controversial unanimous decision in the main event of Cage Warriors: Unplugged, 21-year-old sensation Paddy Pimblett successfully kept his featherweight belt against Julian Erosa at tonight’s headlining affair.

The event took place at BT Sport Studio at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London and streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

Following the end of his first title defense, an exhausted Pimblett (13-1) said he needed to “diet” – alluding to the tough weight cut – and threw up on the canvas.

Similar in height and reach, the fighters engaged in some early aggression, with Erosa (16-4) landing the most damaging shots. Pimblett didn’t waste much time engaging, pressing Erosa against the cage to get a takedown. Erosa got back up, but Pimblett wouldn’t let go of the leg, with Erosa again being taken down and getting back up. After going for a guillotine, Erosa managed to get side control, but Pimblett remained alert on the ground. The champ was clear on his pursuit for the takedown, managing to get Erosa back on the ground once again and sinking in the two hooks as he looked for the choke on the challenger, who survived the round.

Pimblett kept working the front kicks to push Erosa against the cage, but a counter punch had him rocked. With Erosa on top, Pimblett kept his legs alive, locking in the opponent to avoid damage and catch his breath. The fighters scrambled and exchanged control on the ground, eventually getting back to the feet. Both fighters threw mostly single-shot attacks, with Pimblett relying on kicks to keep range and Erosa landing some heavy punches. Pimblett managed to briefly wobble Erosa by the end of the round, catching a counter but eventually landing yet another takedown before the bell rang.

The third saw a switch in momentum for the challenger, when he landed a hard flying knee that had Pimblett on his back, holding on for dear life as he waited out the round. Pimblett was clearly still shook when the fighters returned for the fourth, barely throwing any strikes as Erosa repeatedly landed single shots. While in complete control of the round, the challenger seemed unable to effectively pull the trigger, letting a clearly flustered Pimblett off the hook.

The champ looked in better shape as he returned for the final round, landing a combo early and again charging for the takedown. The pressure, however, was not there anymore, and he failed to get the fight to the ground. Pimblett looked off balance, getting easily thrown off by Erosa’s strikes, but was able to lock in a single leg. An in-control Erosa, however, popped right back up, and, after some scrambles against the fence, looked generally more composed as the final bell rang.

Pimblett now rides a five-win streak, four of them under the Cage Warriors banner, while Erosa snapped back-to-back wins.

Fishgold retains lightweight title

Nic Herron-Webb (19-8) made Chris Fishgold (16-1) put in the work for the entire duration of their five-round grappling-heavy lightweight affair, but could not prevail over the champ’s unrelenting top control. After a somewhat even first round, with challenger and champ engaging in good scrambles and dangerous positions on the mat, Fishgold found his groove in the second, opting for a controlling – albeit not particularly aggressive – ground game.

The rounds consisted of early aggression on the feet by Fishgold, who then proceeded to press the challenger to the fence in search of the takedown. A savvy Herron-Webb showed a lot of dexterity on his back, angling for a number of submissions and even managing to get the champ in a bad spot as he got ahold of his neck late in the final round. The challenger’s scrappiness, however, was not enough to award him the win on the judges’ scorecards.

The champ is now riding a six-fight streak, while Herron-Webb is on a 1-2 run.

Inman taps Mills with triangle choke

Che Mills (16-9) put up a good fight and escaped some dangerous positions, but was ultimately unable to resist Matt Inman’s (19-8) slick ground game. In spite of taking some damage, a bloodied Inman managed to capitalize on a takedown by Mills to work from the bottom and sink in the triangle choke that ended their welterweight scrap at the 4:09 mark of the second round.

After the win – Inman’s first with the promotion – the welterweight expressed his desire to eventually make it to the UFC, but not without securing Cage Warrior’s 170-pound belt first. With tonight’s result, Inman has finished 6 of his last seven opponents.

It wasn’t a particularly hard day at the office for a calm-and-collected Karl Moore (7-1), who took control early on and used a variety of head and body shots to finish heavy-handed Paco Estevez (6-5) in the first round of their light heavyweight match. After tonight’s successful Cage Warriors debut, Moore now rides back-to-back wins, with all but one of his career wins ending before the final round.

John Redmond’s (7-12) neck didn’t stand a chance against Leeroy Barnes (16-16), who made yet another first-round submission victim – the fourth in his last five fights – with a guillotine at 34 seconds of the main card’s opening middleweight scrap. The quick finish might have been Barnes’ first in the Cage Warriors cage, but that didn’t stop him from using the mic time to ask for the promotion’s 185-pound belt.

“I want the Cage Warriors belt now, that’s what everyone wants and now I want it,” said Barnes.

Cage Warriors: Unplugged results include:

• Paddy Pimblett def. Julian Erosa via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47) – to retain featherweight title
• Chris Fishgold def. Nic Herron-Webb via unanimous decision – to retain lightweight title
• Matt Inman def. Che Mills via submission (triangle choke) – Round 2, 4:09
• Karl Moore def. Paco Estevez via knockout (strikes) – Round 1, 3:23
• Leeroy Barnes def. John Redmond via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 0:34

For complete coverage of Cage Warriors: Unplugged, check out the MMA