Phil Baroni Beats Two At Wembley

by Ron Yacovetti - BleacherReport.com

The "New York Badass" Phil Baroni powered his way back in to the MMA spotlight Saturday night, beating two opponents at Wembley Arena, at Cage Rage 27 Step Up, presented by EliteXC.

First the American banged out plucky Brit Scott Jansen in a blistering battle which lasted just three minutes, 18 seconds, into round one. Then as he checks on Jansen’s condition he fends off an attacker that appeared to head butt the 32-year-old.

Baroni, who was fighting at Welterweight for the very first time, badly needed a victory following three back to back defeats, later brushed off the incident and asked, "who’s next?"

Cage Rage officials have announced an investigation into the incident and a review of cage side security.

The Wembley crowd and viewers on Nuts TV witness a wonderful night of blistering MMA action.

In the battle of the big boys, Neil ‘Goliath’ Grove wore down Ferryhill’s Robert ‘Buzz’ Berry. In the long awaited rematch Berry had the best of an exciting first round but failed to make his advantage count.

Round two saw Grove land a right left combination that took the wind out of Berry’s sails then moved in for the kill landing some hefty shots on his prone opponent with the referee calling it a night after just one minute and 28 seconds.

Mustapha Al-Turk carried off the vacant British Heavyweight Title, overpowering a much fancied James "Machine" McSweeney in the first round.

A-Turk gave the referee no option but to step in when took the fight to the floor and rained blows on his downed opponent.

Robbie "The Flame" Oliver retained his British Featherweight Title, finally getting the upper-hand against Asleigh Grimshaw and executing a rear naked choke in the fifth minute of the second round.

Tom "Kong" Watson cruised to a relatively comfortable win against john Phillips, catching the judges eyes in an encounter that went the distance.

Stave "Crazy Bear" Economou roared to victory in a three-round thriller which brought the crowd to its feet slamming Polish Piotr ‘Doctor’ Kusmierz to all corners of the cage. His extraordinary efforts earned Economou a unanimous decision from the judges.

City Whizz Kid Francis Heagney,faced his own credit crunch in the cage failing to take the vacant lightweight title. Jason "Shotgun" Young let both barrels out punching and out manoeuvring the Northern Irishman in a three round war of attrition earning him a unanimous decision.

The same move saw Jody Cottham overcome Russian Umidjon Mavlyanov, Wesley Johnson overpowered Mark Brown with a first round ground and pound victory.

Dave Van Gasse defeated James Elson with a third round rear naked choke.