Sousa submits McCorry to claim Cage Warriors title in Dublin

Gustavo Sousa won the Cage Warriors middleweight title after an impressive submission over Paddy McCorry just 62 seconds into their main event at the RDS Arena in Dublin.

The Brazilian caught the West Belfast fighter in a D'Arce choke during the opening grappling exchange, ending McCorry's first defence of the belt he won at Cage Warriors 200 in February.

After a brief clinch against the cage, Sousa dragged McCorry to the canvas and locked in the submission. McCorry managed to return to his feet as he attempted to break Sousa's grip, but the Brazilian tightened the choke before taking the fight back to the ground, where referee Daniel Movahedi quickly intervened.

"I came here to do my job and, thank God, everything worked out," Sousa told BBC Sport NI.

"When the arena fell silent after my victory, it was incredible. I knew that would happen."

Irish featherweight Maximus Lally maintained his unbeaten record with a first-round stoppage of Joao Pedro Saldanha in the co-main event, despite an early scare.

The 23-year-old from Ashbourne was briefly dropped by a jab before escaping a guillotine choke, but recovered to dominate on the ground.

Lally moved into full mount before taking Saldanha's back and securing the stoppage with punches after two minutes and 13 seconds, improving his professional record to 7-0.

"I just reacted on instinct," Lally told BBC Sport NI.

"I had a challenging camp, so I'm happy with the result. I want to put on exciting fights, that's what it's about for me."

Earlier, County Kildare's Conor McCarthy stopped Dumitru Girlean with second-round punches after dropping his opponent twice, while Blanchardstown's Keith Keogh submitted Jhonatan Cordeiro with a rear-naked choke in round two.

Ger Harris controlled much of the opening round against Anderson Soares before the Brazilian submitted him with a second-round triangle choke.

Former Cage Warriors featherweight champion Solomon Simon lost a closely contested lightweight bout to Kenny Mokhonoana by unanimous decision in the main card opener.

On the preliminary card, Belfast's Senan Coakley stopped Louis Bricusse with first-round knees and ground-and-pound to secure the first home victory of the night after three opening defeats.