TITLE triumph thrilled to a treble yell for York fighters at Cage Confrontation Seven – the seventh mixed martial arts show in the city.

Martin Baulkans of the United Masters Academy in Layerthorpe was joined by Liam Goodwin and Liam Brough, both of the Legions Club in Tang Hall, in capturing championship belts before a knowledgeable crowd at York’s Energise centre.

The most emphatic triumph of the night for local fighters was that of Baulkans for the Cage Confrontation Low Kick title for contestants weighing in at 67 kilogrammes.

Scheduled for five one-and-half-minute rounds, the bout was just 54 seconds into the second round when Baulkans delivered a crushing kick to the head that floored Waj Shafique of the Sheffield Academy of Martial Arts.

He was instantly attended to by the referee, who confirmed the knockout, and medics at the side of the octagonal cage.

Fortunately after prompt medical attention Shafique returned to the dressing room and was given a clean bill of health.

Said show co-organiser Tony Dias – he and Gaz Watkinson have run all the Cage Confrontation tournaments under their United Masters Promotions standard: “It was a hell of a blow, but thankfully as with all our shows there is expert medical attention on hand.

“I’ve since spoken to Shaf, who is a mate of mine, and he’s all right.”

Legions’ Goodwin was another title-winner after he conquered Yorkshire MKA fighter Richard Lambing in the Cage Confrontation K1 title, again over five rounds.

He also stopped his opponent with a knockout in the second round.

His club-mate Brough followed suit and underlined his credentials as one of the city’s most talented Thai-boxing talents when he stopped Jack Temple (Leeds Freestyle) just before the end of the third round of their five-round bout. That gave Brough the WRSA K1 area title belt for 63.5kg.

The major setback of the night was in the headlining bout for the NSAC title featuring United Masters Academy favourite Adam Wright and James Walker of the Wigan MMA Academy.

Walker came out swinging from the outset and caught Wright with a fortunate knockout blow after a mere 15 seconds of the contest.

More success was achieved by the Legions club, whose Thomas Reynard marked his debut with a unanimous points decision over Kaoloi Rippon’s Lee Parker in a K1 bout.

There was also a triumph for Ste Coupland (United Masters) with a knockout in the first round against Peter Green of the Independent club.

Said Dias: “It was an excellent show.”