- Coner Hignett hit Darren O’Gorman so hard his head bounced off the canvas like a basketball.
- Hignett was competing at the Cage Warriors 113 event in Manchester, one of very few sports events happening this weekend because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
- The Cage Warriors show was not without controversy, with one notable reporter calling it “shameless.”
- The Cage Warriors president Graham Boylan said the fighters, managers, and staff wanted the event to go on because they needed the money.
- Watch Hignett’s KO below.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A 23-year-old nicknamed “Hand Grenade” landed three right hands so hard his opponent’s head bounced off the canvas like a basketball.
Coner Hignett, an English flyweight, scored a third-round win over Darren O’Gorman at the Cage Warriors 113 show behind-closed-doors at the BEC Arena in Manchester on Friday.
Hignett finished the show late but did so in style with a fight-ending sequence of strikes.
The first right hand buckled O’Gorman’s legs and saw him touch the deck with his hand, the second was so heavy his head ricocheted off of the mat, and the third landed mere moments before the referee Marc Goddard waved the bout off for good.
It was all over.
Watch the KO here:
From the brink of defeat! 🤯
Coner Hignett with a huge KO comeback at #CW113 pic.twitter.com/4FI4nMJf3M— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) March 20, 2020
The Cage Warriors 113 event was not without controversy.
It was originally scheduled to take place in the Indigo at 02 Arena venue in London, one day before the UFC Fight Night 171 show in the larger 02 Arena site on Saturday.
But the worsening coronavirus pandemic which has gripped many countries including Britain prevented the UFC from going ahead with its weekend show. The 02 Arena's owner AEG shut down events inside its buildings.
The UFC canceled, while Cage Warriors simply moved to another city.
Cage Warriors president Graham Boylan put the show on in Manchester and put it behind closed doors.
The Bloody Elbow reporter Karim Zidan called the decision "shameless."
Speaking at the BEC Arena in between fights, Boylan said: "It was a very simple decision for us to make. We asked everybody, 'What do you guys want to do?'
"Fighters, coaches, managers, staff … some of them came back and said, 'We need this. We have to earn money. We do not know how long we're not going to be able to earn money for. We need the show to happen.'
"I made my commitment to them and there was nothing stopping this show [except] from a complete country shutdown."
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