CFC 19 - Nick Honstein vs Gustavo Falciroli

Cage Fighting Championships, Australia's premier mixed martial arts promotion, returned to its usual home ground at Sydney Luna Park's Big Top Arena on Friday night for CFC 19 "Falciroli vs. Honstein" It did not disappoint.

In the main event of the evening, Australian-based Brazilian Gustavo Falciroli (11-3-2) defended his CFC bantamweight title for the first time, defeating Sydney-based Nebraskan "Quick" Nick Honstein (11-5) by arm triangle at 3:14 in the second round.

The scheduled five-round fight started with a furious pace, as both fighters sat down on their punches early on the feet until Honstein shot in for a double-leg takedown that was nicely defended by the Brazilian. The exchanging of heavy shots restarted immediately, and this time Falciroli landed a clean punch that put Honstein down, where the Brazilian followed him to the ground and methodically worked to mount position. Honstein was able to hip escape to side-control momentarily and briefly employed his trademark rubber guard, but the champion again got to mount and then took the American's back to finish the first frame with a body triangle. The start of the second round mirrored the first, as both fighters traded aggressively. Platinum Extreme's Honstein was the first to land a meaningful strike in the round when he threw a left-hook, straight-right combination. Falciroli then waved him in, and Honstein obliged before shooting for a nice double-leg followed by some heavy punches and elbows to the grounded champion. Falciroli reversed nicely straight into full mount and proceeded to give a little of his own.

Falciroli then locked up an arm-triangle and passed back to side control. Honstein defended bravely but eventually succumbed to the choke, ending the exciting affair.

Following the bout, CFC promoter Luke Pezzutti entered the cage and offered Falciroli the opportunity to represent CFC in a champion versus champion fight in Jakarta, Indonesia, to mark the beginning of a working co-partnership between the CFC and the newly formed OneFC in 2012.