Cage Fury Fighting Championships closed out a banner 2015 run with CFFC 53 on Friday night at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, and a sold out crowd was on hand to see 10 bouts of great action.
Six of the bouts came in the pro ranks, and many future stars for the CFFC were in action.
‘Of the Night’ Awards
Performance of the Night: Jacob Bohn
Fight of the Night: Sean Brady vs. Aaron Jeffery
Submission of the Night: Shawn Teed
Knockout of the Night: Dan Spohn
For full results from CFFC 53, click here.
Enter the Dragon
It was obvious that the biggest fight of the night was the main event, as Dan Spohn (12-4) moved to heavyweight and proved that his power translates against bigger fighters, as he stopped Zu Anyanwu (9-4) with a knockout in the second round.
Anyanwu had some good points of his own, staggering Spohn with a big right hand near the end of round one and landing a big kick that caused the elbow of Spohn to visibly swell during the fight.
But the counter punching of Spohn was the key to the fight, as he landed a counter right hook to drop Anyanwu before getting the finish.
It remains to be seen if Spohn will get a call back to the UFC after the win, as he’s now 4-0 with three finishes since his time on The Ultimate Fighter 19. I’m sure he won’t be too upset if he has to defend his CFFC title one time before getting the call back to the big show.
“If I don’t have marks on my face then I wasn’t in a fight,” Spohn said after the fight, glad that he got a good scrap from Anyanwu.
Dan “The Dragon” Spohn is the NEW CFFC Heavyweight Champ!!This man has dynamite in his hands!!!! Dan Spohn is the NEW CFFC Heavyweight Champion!!!
Posted by Cage Fury Fighting Championships on Saturday, December 5, 2015
Morrison gets the upset
In a matchup of two Philly area fighters, WEC veteran Anthony Morrison (18-9) earned a decision win over Jordan Stiner (9-4). Morrison clearly won the first and third rounds and said he’d like to drop to featherweight after the fight.
On the flip side, once a top prospect, Stiner has now lost three in a row and it has to leave him wondering where his career is going to go from here.
Fun fights
A pair of fairly technical fights took place in the pro ranks, as Jacob Bohn (4-1) used his superior grappling to top Ryan Cafaro (2-2) and Sean Brady (3-0) used a brawling style to top Aaron Jeffery (2-1) in the fight of the night.
Bohn was clearly out classed on his feet, but his grappling was too much for Cafaro to handle as he was continually able to get the fight to the ground.
Jeffery stormed back in the third round but it was too little too late as he also had to overcome a point deduction for illegal shots to the back of the head in the third round.
Heavyweight challengers
Aside from the main event, there were two other heavyweight bouts on the pro card, and both ended in stoppages as Chris Birchler (6-1) and Shawn Teed (1-0) threw their names into the hat as potential future challengers for Spohn.
Birchler returned after two years out of action, and the former CFFC champ looked great in his return, as he stopped Ed Abrasley (0-2) with punches in the first round.
Teed came back after losing the first round against Chris Daukaus (2-2) and got a quick takedown in the second round before locking in an Americana submission for the win.
Photo courtesy CFFC