The fourth event from Western Sydney based promotion Gladiators Cage Fighting took place on Saturday night at a packed St Mary’s Band Club.
The show was headlined by a short-lived, entertaining welterweight clash between local fighters Ricky Ria (8-4-1 NC) and Sam Fiamatai (6-4-1 NC), which was unfortunately ruled a no-contest in the first round.
The action begins with Rea clipping Fiamatai with a right hand which spurs Fiamatai to drive Rea back to the cage and search for a single-leg takedown. He’s unsuccessful however, and the fighters brake soon after. Rea throws a front kick which Fiamatai uses to drive Rea backwards once again. Rea reverses position against the cage before landing a spinning elbow which he follows up by unleashing punch combinations as Fiamatai covers up. Briefly however, as Fiamatai then resiliently fires back combinations of his own. The crowd shows their appreciation of the exchange as both fighters return center cage. Rea connects with a front kick right hand combination which backs up Fiamatai. Rea pounces and lands with more punch combinations.
Not long after, he then secures a body lock and trips a bloodied up looking Fiamatai to the canvas. As Rea goes to work with ground and pound, the referee intervenes and stands the fighters up before singling out Fiamatai. The fight is waved off soon after by the ref, much to the protests of Fiamatai, who it turns out was on the receiving end of an accidental thumb to the eye. He swiftly exits the cage leaving Rea to thank his supporters.
In co-main event, Ash Mokhtarian outclassed a resilient Sebastian Taylor to end what was a fast-paced encounter early in the second frame. After crumpling Taylor with a knee to the mid-section, the ATT fighter forced the stoppage with punches and elbows on the ground. With the win, Mokhtarian remains undefeated with 3 victories all by stoppage.
Adam Corbett and Jordan Wehrman kicked off the pro portion of the card in a catchweight bout, and after 3 rounds of evenly matched action, it was Wehrman who walked away with a majority points decision.
Unofficial Results:
- Ricky Rea vs Sam Fiamatai – No Contest due to accidental foul (Thumb to the eye of Fiamatai), Rd 1
- Ash Mokhtarian def Sebastian Taylor via TKO (Strikes) Rd 2, 0:56
- Jordan Wehrman def Adam Corbett via Decision (Majority)
- Aja Vladimir def Patrick Vitaliano via TKO (Punches) Rd 1, 2:17
- Phil Calleja def Aiden Meaney via Decision (Unanimous)
- Asomua Saili def Nelson Lav Ampuero via TKO (Punches) Rd 1, 2:21
- Saeid Fatahi def Bobby Nikocevic via Submission, Rd 1, 2:50
- Terence Tipene def Adam Broughton via KO (Punch) Rd 1, 0:39
- Bowen Cornish def Andrew Youssef via Decision (Unanimous)
- Nathan Reddy def Richie Finau via TKO (Punches) Rd 3, 1:22
- Daniel Fel def Arron Knight via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) Rd 1, 1:43
- Luke Rimmer def Joel Duggan via TKO (Punches) Rd 2, 1:18
- George Malizis def Ben Watson via Decision (Unanimous)
*Image via the Gladiators Cage Fighting Facebook page