A WRIGHT tornado blasted through Cage Confrontation Four to storm to a York title triumph.

Adam Wright, of the Multi Masters Academy, was a whirlwind of power to seize the WRSA semi-pro Mixed Martial Arts title up for grabs in a mere 42 seconds.

He ripped into Malcolm “Big Mal” Gibson, from the Fighting Fit Academy in Blackburn, smashing two crunching left hands before a thudding right decked Cooper for the rapid-blast knockout.

The conquest proved the perfect gift for Tang Hall’s Wright, whose 23rd birthday was just two days before the cage-fighting extravaganza at York’s Energise centre in Acomb.

Clutching his belt, the delighted Wright said: “I wasn’t able to celebrate my birthday on the day because I was in training for the fight, but this is a brilliant present.

“That’s my third bout and my third win so I am really pleased with how things are shaping up. I’ll just see how far I can take this.”

He revealed how he only took up mixed martial arts training a year ago after initially starting boxing at York Boxing Club, whose base is right alongside the Multi Masters Academy in Layerthorpe.

A former basketball player, who played the sport of hoops and dreams for two years in Florida, he returned to his home city to compete at boxing. “The MMA gym is next door so I went along and tried it out. So far it’s going okay.”

The night began in equally title-winning style for the opening fight when United Martial Arts battler Jim Henry O’Neill gained a split decision to gain a WRSA kick-boxing title.

Most pundits thought the decision should have been unanimous given O’Neill’s relentless go-forward to opponent Max “The Maniac” Haste from Sleaford’s Impact gym. O’Neill’s all-round aggression was enough to outpoint his rival.

York Legions club posted a brace of fight victories starting with the ‘C’ Class Thai duel between Saban Dogan and Leeds Freestyle’s Jack Temple.

After the first of the three rounds Dogan looked to be struggling against the accurate punching of the Leeds man. But Dogan displayed abundant courage to rally, capped by a commanding third round which included two leg knockdowns for a majority points triumph.

Legions club-mate John Brough was almost undone in the final round of his K1 set-to with Olly Stansfield (Power House Camp, Todmorden).

From the outset Brough launched himself at his rival, his ramrod right hand sealing complete control. The brutal onslaught continued into the second round with Stansfield dazed, but he was far from down.

Expending so much energy, Brough started to wane and, sensing a shock, Stansfield stormed back only for Brough to dig in for a majority verdict.

The first outright stoppage went to Selby MMA’s Anthony Buttle.

In a severe test of stamina, Buttle clawed his way back to force his Wigan rival Chris Simpkin to tap out after three minutes and 21 seconds of the second round of their semi-pro MMA clash.

But Buttle’s club-mate Danny Mullins was on the wrong side of a unanimous decision by the three judges to lose his semi-pro MMA contest against Neil Bailey (Fightbase). The Wigan visitor enjoyed the bulk of pressure over both five-minute rounds to wear Mullins down.

Also tasting defeat was York MMA’s Ste Coupland. He and Henry Duxbury of Blackburn’s Kokoro gym boasted spells of mastery, but the outcome went down to a split vote. Despite Coupland gallantly countering from two slamdowns, he was outpointed.

Cage Confrontation Four results

• Max Haste (Impact) v Jim Henry O’Neil (United Martial Arts College) WRSA.

kickboxing title 40-42 kilogrammes – O’Neill won on points.

• Henry Duxbury (Kokoro) v Ste Coupland (Multi Masters Academy) semi-pro MMA 77kg – Duxbury won on points.

• Jack Temple (Leeds Freestyle) v Saban Dogan (Legions) ‘C’ Class Thai 64kg – Dogan won on points.

• Chris Simpkin (Fightbase) v Anthony Buttle (Selby MMA) semi-pro MMA 64-65kg – Buttle won in the second round.

• Danny Capeness (Hucknall Town Kickboxing) v Joe Roberts (Mavericks/Jai MuayThai) WRSA K1 title 80-83kg – Roberts won on points.

• Olly Stansfield (Power House Camp) v John Brough (Legions) K1 77kg – Brough won on points.

• Martin Sweeney (Koroko) v Richard Bourne (Impact) semi-pro MMA 77kg – Sweeney won TKO.

• Alex Ranjbar (Leeds Cage) v Mo Abul Mawa (Fight Ministry) NSAC Am MMA 84kg – Mawa won on stoppage.

• Neil Bailey (Fightbase) v Danny Mullins (Selby MMA) semi-pro MMA 84-85kg – Bailey won on points.

• Sam Boult (Sheffield Shoot Fighters) v Rob Hardman (Power House Camp) NSAC Am MMA welterweight title – Sam Boult won on stoppage.

• Malcom Gibson (Kokoro) v Adam Wright (Multi Masters Academy) WRSA semi-pro MMA title 95kg – Wright won TKO.

• Qasim Shafiq (Cage Steel) v Tom Woodfin (Multi Masters Academy) Pro MMA 77kg – Shafiq won on points.