Colchester’s James Webb lost his middeweight title to Nathias Frederick in dramatic fashion in a bitter grudge match at Cage Warriors 111 tonight.
Frederick, who had lost the first two rounds and possibly the third, unleashed a furious blitzkrieg of punches to force referee Rich Mitchell to step in and save Webb with just a second left in the fourth round.
The fight was a rematch from June's 'Night of Champions', when the duo shared a draw in an intense battle which many thought Webb won, but it emerged that Frederick would have walked out with the belt had he not been docked a point for spiking the Team KF talent on his head in the final round.
Webb, who was crushed by the verdict in that clash, was determined to right the wrong and put any doubts to bed, and he started well at the O2 Arena, taking Frederick down and securing the first two rounds.
But the explosive Frederick, now 8-2-1, started landing his trademark bombs in the third, and, when he pinned an exhausted-looking Webb against the cage in the fourth, he did not let up.
Webb, who drops to 6-2-1, will return to Colchester and begin plotting his route back to the top.
Earlier, Mads Burnell got the better of Essex grinder Steve Aimable in a fight which was due to be for the featherweight title, until the latter, who fights out of Colchester's BKK Fighters, missed weight by just 90g yesterday.
So the duo met instead in a regulation three rounder, with champ Burnell taking a unanimous points win. While he's usually a ground demon, the Dane used powerful, diverse striking to win the rounds, though the teak-tough Aimable, sporting a huge welt over his eye, rocked him with a couple of huge uppercuts in the second.
Even though he lost and drops to 14-6, Aimble became the first fighter to take Burnell (now 13-3) the distance in Cage Warriors, and proved he has the skills and the fortitude to mix in championship class.
Burnell will surely get picked back up by the UFC, leaving Aimable right in the mix for the vacant title if he departs.
In the other title fight on the card, light heavyweight champ Modestas Bukauskas put Riccardo Nosiglia to sleep in the first round with a staggering volley of elbows to the side of the head as he tried to secure the takedown.
It was a spectacular finish from the dangerous Lithuanian, now 10-2, and a what a stage to do it on!
The opening fight of the main card saw quite an upset, Joilton Santos Lutterbach stopping Alex Lohoré in just 27 seconds of their welterweight dispute.
The experienced German (now 31-8) stormed out of the gates, landing heavy punches and leg kicks, before dropping the Frenchman (now 18-5) with a left hook and following up with a heavy barrage to force the stoppage.
In the featured prelim, much-hyped BKK Fighters talent Emrah Sonmez underlined his credentials as one of the hottest young prospects in the sport with an absorbing unanimous points win over fellow up-and-comer Daryl Golding.
Somnez won the first and Golding probably the second, but Sonmez (now 11-2) came out and grabbed an all-important takedown in the third, fighting off two tight guillotine attempts from his foe, who drops to 7-2.
In the battle before that, Liam Gittins and Adam Amarasinghe shared the fight of the night in their bantamweight tussle, a back-and-forth war which saw both men pushed to their limits and Gittins almost secure the guillotine choke in the final seconds.
Gittins' hand was raised, extending his pro record to 5-0, while the very talented Amarasinghe drops to 4-2.
In the first fight of the evening, Norfolk's Scott Butters was stopped by Kingsley Crawford in the second round.
Butters, from Dereham, was mounted with Crawford raining down punches and elbows when referee Leon Roberts stepped in to bring a halt to the fight.
The Norfolk man announced his retirement after the defeat, saying he'd "achieved everything that I wanted to."
He added: "I can honestly hand on heart say I've fought the best people I can.
"I could have quite easily picked easier fights and finished on an at least even record but I don't see the point.
"I've fought some of the best in two of the toughest divisions in East Anglia, so that's me done, time for some family time."
Later on the prelims, bantamweight Corey Tait scored an impressive submission win in the second round of his clash with Ayton De Paepe, catching his man in a tight triangle choke to force the tap and move to 10-5.
There was controversy in the bantamweight bout between Mike Ekundayo and Luca Iovine, which ended when Iovine caught Ekundayo with an illegal knee as he was grounded, badly wobbling the former title challenger.
Referee Rich Mitchell had no hesitation in ending the fight, with Ekundayo in no position to continue, and he moves to 8-1 - but not the way he would have wanted.
Results
Main card
Nathias Frederick beat James Webb by TKO in the fourth round to win the Cage Warriors middleweight title
Modestas Bukauskas beat Riccardo Nosiglia by KO in the first round to retain Cage Warriors light-heavyweight title
Mads Burnell beat Steve Aimable on points
Joilton Santos Lutterbach beat Alex Lohoré by TKO in the first round
Prelims
Emrah Sonmez beat Daryl Golding on points
Liam Gittins beat Adam Amarasinghe on points
Matthew Bonner beats Warren Kee by TKO (ground and pound) in the first round
Cory Tait beat Ayton De Paepe by submission (triangle choke) in the second round
Mike Ekundayo beat Luca Iovine via DQ (illegal knee)
Josh Onwordi beat Harry Davies on points
James Hendin beat Jordan Barton on points
Kingsley Crawford beat Scott Butters via TKO in the second round
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