Shaj Haque Upsets Michele Martignoni to Defend Flyweight Championship at CW 158

Shaj
Haque picked up his first successful defense of the
Cage Warriors Fighting Championship flyweight title by
overcoming Michele
Martignoni in Rome on Saturday.

In the
CW 158 headliner, Haque (15-5, 7-2 CW) outpointed Martignoni
(8-1, 2NC; 3-1, 1NC) to defend the 125-pound title in front of a
partisan crowd. “Superman” looked fast and accurate with his
strikes, opening a cut over his foe’s right eye early into their
clash. When former 135-pound titleholder Martignoni failed to match
Haque’s speed, the Italian was forced to aggressively chase his
foe, with Round 2 arguably being the best one for the challenger.
Haque never lost his composure and equalized all threats. The story
of the fight was the same throughout, with Haque neutralizing most
of Martignoni’s initiative and retaliating with some violence of
his own. Even though he didn’t manage a finish, Haque impressed
with his dominance and durability. After the clash went the
distance, the cageside judges drew 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47
scorecards for Haque, who is now riding a six-bout winning
streak.

In the co-main event, precise striking and grappling finesse
carried up-and-coming 185-pounder Dario
Bellandi to a unanimous decision victory over Naglis
Kanisauskas. Bellandi (6-1, 4-1 CW) set in place an effective
strategy by attacking his foe from afar with quick jabs. In spite
of Bellandi’s well-known submission skills, Kanisauskas (6-3, 1-2
CW) didn’t mind going to the ground with his opponent, but he never
threatened offensively. Throughout the contest, Bellandi dictated
the pace and the place of the action, dominating his adversary on
the canvas, even though he fell short of finishing him. When the
dust settled, the cage announcer revealed 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27
tallies for Bellandi, who picked up his fourth consecutive win.

Elsewhere, 155-pound
Ultimate Fighting Championship alum Mason Jones
(12-2, 1NC; 9-0 CW) wrecked Alexandre
Ribeiro (20-11-1, 2NC; 0-1 CW) with punches at 3:23 of Round 1;
115-pounder Amanda
Torres (9-6, 1-0 CW) edged Micol Di
Segni (10-5, 2-1 CW) thanks to a narrow split decision (29-28,
29-28, 28-29); and Italian prospect Michael
Pagani (7-0, 1-0 CW) outclassed James Power
(4-1, 2-1 CW) en route to a unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28,
29-27) at lightweight.

On the preliminary card, Emanuele
Zaccaria (6-1, 2-0 CW) choked out Sylwester
Miller (10-7, 0-2 CW) via rear-naked choke at 3:23 of Round 2
at bantamweight; 155-pounder Leon Hill
(5-1, 2-1 CW) submitted Dumitru
Girlean (6-2, 1-1 CW) with a rear-naked choke at 3:51 of the
opening frame; Niko
Ceraglia (1-0, 1-0 CW) outpointed Simone
Manno (0-2, 0-1 CW) en route to a unanimous decision (29-28,
29-28, 29-28) in their 150-pound catchweight match; Gianluca
Scottoli (9-3, 1-0 CW) outclassed Sam Kelly
(4-2, 2-1 CW) en route to a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27,
30-26) in their bantamweight tilt; 155-pounder Gianluca
Rocca (8-3, 1-0 CW) forced Guido
Possidente (3-1, 0-1 CW) to tap due to a guillotine choke 29
seconds out of the gate; Daan Duijs
(9-2, 2-1 CW) crushed Alexander
Sasha Pirev (6-4-1, 0-1 CW) with punches at 2:40 of the opening
period in their 139-pound catchweight duel; Giacomo
Michelis (5-1, 1NC; 1-0 CW) upended Idriss
M’Roivili (2-2, 0-1 CW) on all scorecards (29-27, 30-27, 30-27)
in their welterweight affair; Emanuele
Sabatino (5-1, 2-0 CW) submitted Aaron
Johnson (7-4, 0-2 CW) with an arm-triangle choke at 2:45 of the
opening stanza at lightweight; 125-pounder Emanuele
Tetti (1-0, 1-0 CW) put Dario
Palazzo (0-1, 0-1 CW) away with a head kick and punches
combination 68 seconds into the contest; and finally Amir
Malekpour (4-2, 1-0 CW) smashed Florian
Doskja (4-3, 0-1 CW) with elbows and punches at 2:27 of Round 2
in their 130-pound catchweight scrap.