Unbeaten Welshman Mason Jones rose to the occasion on the biggest night of his career to capture the vacant Cage Warriors lightweight title at Cage Warriors 113 in Manchester.

The event played out to a virtually empty BEC Arena, after being moved from the show’s original venue in London due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the lack of fan support in the stands certainly didn’t seem to affect the performances of the fighters, who served up a succession of entertaining fights throughout the card. But undoubtedly the biggest winner of the night was Jones (9-0), nicknamed “The Dragon,” who stopped Northern Ireland’s Joe McColgan in the first round of their five-round title tussle in the night’s co-main event.

Jones and McColgan (6-3-1) both came out swinging from the opening bell, then clinched against the fence, where Jones scored with a succession of knees to the Northern Irishman’s thigh. McColgan then threatened with a choke as the pair finally separated and returned to the stand-up.

With the fight back in the striking realm, Jones scored consistently with kicks to McColgan’s lead leg, while the “SBG Hunter” fired back with a big knee to Jones’ chin. But it was to be a knee from Jones that proved the difference-maker as the Welshman unloaded a barrage of punches to his opponent against the fence, then landed a powerful knee up and through McColgan’s guard to send him crashing to the canvas.

Jones swiftly moved in and applied the finishing touches to the fight with some heavy ground strikes as referee Rich Mitchell stopped the bout at the 2:51 mark.

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‘The Butcher’ gets bloodied, but still gets the win

The night’s main event saw a pair of UFC stalwarts go head to head, and it quickly turned into a bloodbath as Bartosz Fabinski was busted up in the first round, but battled through to earn the unanimous decision win against England’s Darren Stewart.

Fabinski’s forward pressure saw him score a first-round takedown, but a slicing elbow to the head left Fabinski with a nasty cut above his ear that proceeded to bleed throughout the rest of the fight. Despite his wound, Fabinski used his top pressure to hold the advantage through the first two rounds as he kept Stewart largely on his back and nullified the heavy-handed Brit’s striking threat.

Stewart turned the tables at the start of Round 3 as he scored a big takedown of his own, but he was unable to capitalize as Fabinski used his ground game to return to top position and grind on “The Dentist” for the majority of the round.

The frustration was written all over Stewart’s face as he struggled to work his way back to his feet, but it was “The Butcher” who cemented the win with a big late-round takedown to put the seal on a unanimous decision victory with scores of 30-27 on all three scorecards.

‘The’ Bear refuses to be ‘Bagged and Tagged’

Two of the quirkier nicknames of the night went toe to toe as Frenchman David Bear took on Nathan Jones in a battle between “The” Bear and “Mr. Bag and Tag.” In the end, it was France’s Bear (9-1) who picked up a unanimous decision win after dominating the grappling exchanges through a grueling three-round welterweight battle.

Bear started out working the outside, using his low leg kicks against Jones (13-10), who looked to push the pace in the early exchanges. But it was the Frenchman who seemed to have the better of the striking as he stepped in and connected with good timing during the first round.

But with both men renowned for their mat abilities, it was only a matter of time before the action hit the deck, and it was Bear who landed the takedown and moved to side control as he looked to assert himself on the mat. Jones smartly avoided an arm-triangle choke, but in his attempt to roll away from danger fell into a guillotine choke as the horn sounded to end the round.

There was more top control domination from Bear in Round 2 as he stifled Jones’ submission game by staying heavy and compact from the top position throughout the middle round, leaving Jones needing something big in the final round to turn the fight in his favor.

Early into Round 3, the Brit came out aggressively and connected with a big overhand right that stunned Bear. But, once again, the Frenchman managed to take the Brit to the mat and, after smartly avoiding Jones’ attempt to lock up a triangle choke, he returned to side control and returned to a dominant position on the mat once again. Jones managed to reverse position, but was unable to lock up the finish he needed as the bout went all the way to the scorecards, with Bear taking all three rounds on all three scorecards to claim the shutout win.

‘The Baddy’ ends 18-month hiatus with swift stoppage

Former Cage Warriors featherweight champion Paddy Pimblett (15-3) twice looked close to securing a rear-naked choke, but eventually swapped submissions for strikes to score a first-round finish on his return to action.

A combination of injuries and fighter withdrawals conspired to leave Pimblett on the shelf for the past 18 months, but the ebullient Liverpool native was determined to make a statement on his return in Manchester against short-notice opponent Decky Dalton (11-5), and he did just that.

Dalton started out looking to strike, but after slipping to the ground during a kick attempt, Pimblett pounced and ensured the Irishman wouldn’t return to his feet until the fight was over.

When Dalton slipped, Pimblett instantly took Dalton’s back, secured a body triangle and worked a rear-naked choke as he chased an early submission finish. Dalton toughed out the first submission attempt, then frustrated Pimblett’s follow-up attempt as the Scouser looked to lock up the choke at the second time of asking.

But, after Dalton survived once again, Pimblett switched gears, flipped Dalton onto his front, flattened him out on the mat and let fly with some big ground strikes until referee Rich Mitchell intervened to stop the action at the 2:51 mark.

Full Cage Warriors 113 results include:

MAIN CARD (5 p.m. ET)

• Bartosz Fabinski def. Darren Stewart via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
• Mason Jones def. Joe McColgan via TKO (knee and punches) – Round 1, 4:40 – claims vacant lightweight title
• David Bear def. Nathan Jones via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Paddy Pimblett def. Decky Dalton via TKO (ground strikes) – Round 1, 2:51

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Perry Goodwin def. Steve Aimable via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Coner Hignett def. Darren O’Gorman via knockout (punch) – Round 3, 2:12
• Adam Amarasinghe def. Jake Bond via knockout (knee and punch) – Round 1, 4:59
• Jamie Richardson def. Matthew Bonner via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
• James Hendin def. Kris Edwards via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-25)
• Aidan Stephen def. Jack Collins via TKO (elbows) – Round 1, 1:24
• Kingsley Crawford def. Lewis Monarch via submission (triangle choke) – Round 2, 2:45