Michele Martignoni Dominates Dominique Wooding, Captures 135-Pound Belt at CW 144

BRAVO 👏

Your 𝗡𝗘𝗪 bantamweight champion Michele Martignoni 👑#CW144 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/DyBsrIEkeF

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) October 7, 2022

The might of Italian fighters could not be challenged in Rome on Friday.

Cage Warriors Fighting Championship made its first foray into Italy on Friday, and the results were exceptional for the home country fans in attendance. When CW 144 came to a close, all eight Italian competitors ended with their hands getting raised, with five of those victors scoring finishes.

In the headliner held at Fiera Roma in Rome, Dominique Wooding put his bantamweight belt on the line against Michele Martignoni. The pair put on an entertaining battle for five rounds, with back-and-forth swings that thrilled the audience. Wooding (9-5, 3-1 CW) started strong and put his opponent in danger in the opening frame, landing several good shots on Martignoni (8-1, 2 NC; 3-1, 1 NC CW). “The Italian Thunder” rode out the storm and protected himself from serious harm thanks to his crafty footwork. Martignoni’s deep-waters strategy paid off starting in the second frame as his English foe appeared to be slowly fading. Martignoni turned up his volume, and dragged the action to the canvas when the moment presented itself. In the championship rounds, Martignoni kept his adversary at bay on the feet, while dominating any time the fight hit the mat or the cage wall. In front of a partisan crowd, Martignoni picked up a unanimous decision victory (49-45, 49-46, 49-46) before raising the championship belt to the sky.

🤯 A beautiful sweep and Pedersoli Jr gets him the finish!
Carlo takes the Italians to 7-0 at #CW144 🇮🇹 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/7YMN76YQkP

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) October 7, 2022

In the 170-pound co-main attraction, Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Carlo Pedersoli Jr. (14-4, 2-0 CW) throttled “The Latvian Express” Madars Bertholds-Fleminas (10-4, 5-4 CW) with rear-naked choke. Pedersoli and his opponent spent the opening round testing each other’s reactions on the feet. Right before Round 1 wrapped, “Semento” scored a takedown, which was the shape of things to come. Taking advantage of this perceived deficiency, Pedersoli moved the action on the mat early in the next round, where he began to hunt for submissions. Bertholds-Fleminas defended well for the first few minutes, but a wild scramble resulted in a back take from Pedersoli, where he locked up a tight body triangle. From there, it was only a matter of time until the Italian snatched up a rear-naked choke. Bertholds-Fleminas surrendered from the submission at the 3:37 mark of the second stanza.

Relentless ground and pound in an action packed performance from Dylan Hazan 💥 Another big win for the Italians 🇮🇹

📺 Watch #CW144 live on @UFCFightPass
➡️ https://t.co/VU5DW3hoxi
📍 Rome, Italy 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/faU4NJ2n6Z

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) October 7, 2022

Earlier on the billing, up-and-coming Italian prospect Dylan Hazan (9-0, 4-0 CW) smashed late-notice replacement Jefferson Machado de Filippis (2-2, 0-1 CW) with punches at 2:40 in the opening frame of their 140-pound catchweight affair; bantamweight youngster Jasmine Favero (2-0, 2-0 CW) executed a quick throw and wrenched the right arm of Awa Sow (1-2, 0-1 CW) to secure a scarf hold armlock submission at 2:01 of Round 1; Dana White's Contender Series alum Micol DiSegni (10-4, 2-0 CW) outstruck Bryony Tyrell (4-5-1, 0-2 CW) on the judges’ scorecards en route to a unanimous decision victory at strawweight; Emanuele Zaccaria (5-1, 1-0 CW) submitted Bogdan Barbu (17-14, 0-2 CW) with a slick heel hook just 64 seconds into their 135-pound clash; Dario Bellandi (3-1, 1-1 CW) forced Joan Arastey (2-1, 0-1 CW) to tap due to triangle choke 53 seconds into the second frame of their middleweight encounter; 170-pounder Emanuele Sabatino (4-1, 1-0 CW) outpointed Karol Michalak (3-3, 1 NC; 0-2 CW) on all scorecards (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).