Fight Night at Memorial Hall

Thirty-four fighters and a full house of fans, friends, and family took over Plymouth Memorial Hall for Cage Titans XV this past Friday night, July 26.

The night began with a tribute to Shayne Stephenson, a Cage Titans fighter who had passed away the month prior, and his memory and imagery was seen and felt throughout the building the entire night. During the fights we witness a stunning head-kick KO, 2 titles changing hands, one champion successfully defending his belt and a Main Event war that ended dramatically in the last 8 seconds of the fight. 

The Main Event was a double pro debut as Remo Cardarelli and Shane Decristoforo squared off in a rematch of sorts, they faced off as amateurs exactly a year ago in which Cardarelli won via first round armbar. On this night these two warriors battled back and forth and with just 10 seconds left in the final round everyone anticipated it going to the judges scorecards when Remo fell back from mount, securing an armbar which forced Shane to tap with just 8 seconds left. 

The first amateur title fight of the night saw ‘Smooth’ Kenny Murphy successfully defend his 125lb amateur belt in a 5 round, all out war with challenger Jesse Gutierrez. Gutierrez established his effective style of stand-up early in the fight which then forced Murphy to rely on his wrestling in order to pick up the split decision victory. 

The other two amateur title fights saw the belts change hands as the challengers came in and took it to the champions in rather quick fashion. The heavyweight title fight lasted less than a minute but was full of action. Champion Ed Gillis and Mario Gonzalez came out swinging but after a huge slam takedown from Gillis a scramble ensued and Mario came out of it with a standing guillotine that Gillis had no choice but to tap from. 145lb champion Ruso Khubejashvili came in with the belt and an unblemished record but all of that was gone in just 26 seconds. 

Both challenger Peter Barrett and champ Khubejashvili were known for their brawling styles and they lived up to their reputation when they met in the center of the cage and just started unloading on one an other, before Pete connected with a perfectly placed left hand, winning by KO.  

From a release by Cage Titans Fighting Championship