Fighters Only

Issue 020

December 2006

September 30, 2006, Wembley Arena, London, UK

Written by Hywel Teague, images by Kjetil Kausland

On, and on, and on, and on – that’s how Cage Rage roll. Look at their last show – they go head to head with the biggest English footballing event in four years and they come out with their largest attendance to date. After four years of promoting, these guys have discovered a formula that works for them and provides fans with no end of entertainment. This show would prove to be no different at all, as Cage Rage booked a show that featured not only some of the best UK talent out there, but also international fighters even your mum will have heard of.

The Machine churns out a chewed up Beast

After an unsuccessful return to the ring earlier this year, many followers of the game remarked that this would be the last chance of a return to competition for Ian Freeman. Fighting Londoner Mark Epstein for the British light heavyweight title, he would need a win to remain in the game. His advancing years, commitments outside of the gym and brief retirement earlier this year hinted at his sentiments; if he wasn’t winning, he wasn’t going to carry on fighting. His loss to Melvin Manhoef in July put him in a position where he felt compelled, as many fighters would, to call it a day. But the Machine has more resolve than most, and he knew if he was to go out, it would be with a bang – although this time some poor soul would be on the end of that bang, courtesy of the legendary heavy hands.

It was with this determination that the Machine steamrollered his way over the Beast. Epstein, though he almost lived up to his promise of knocking Freeman out in the first 20 seconds of the fight (unwanted flashbacks of the Manhoef fight came to everyone’s mind) he simply didn’t have an answer to the relentless attack that followed. Freeman popped back up from the left hook that momentarily dropped him and went to work in his trademark methodical fashion. They don’t call him the Machine for nothing.

Freeman repeatedly took Epstein to the mat, slamming him more than once, and constantly working from top position. A heel hook attempt in the first round had Epstein grimacing in pain, but the following rounds were a clinic in the art of ground and pound. Working from top position throughout, Freeman never let the pressure off Epstein, relentlessly punishing Epstein with strikes from side control. When the final bell ended the contest Epstein didn’t even hang around for the official result. He left the cage for Freeman to claim the title as the judges turned in a unanimous decision.

Ninja toughs out Weir's assault

Chute Boxe fighter Murilo ‘Ninja’ Rua has had something of a rough run these last couple of years. After exploding onto the PRIDE scene in 2001, he proved his worth by taking out numerous fighters, only dropping decisions to the top guys, often ones out of his weight class. The trouble began when he misguidedly went up to heavyweight to fight in the Grand Prix in 2004. A KO loss to the far bigger Sergei Kharitonov was followed by losses to Quinton Jackson, Paulo Filho and Denis Kang. A sole win (against the overmatched Murad Chunkaiev) in almost two and a half years had some people asking if Ninja still had that fire he was so known for. Was his younger brother, the exceptionally talented Shogun, overshadowing him? Regardless of the answer, Ninja is still one of the Chute Boxe top dogs, and his status makes him more than worthy of being co-main event.

The man opposite him would be Mark Weir, long considered the UK’s top middleweight. Weir has more international experience than any other UK middleweight, with no less than three appearances in the UFC, two in the WEC, one in PRIDE and a staggering ten in Cage Rage. He shares a common opponent with Ninja in Denis Kang. Both men lost to the Korean-Canadian, but while Ninja got dispatched in only 15 seconds, Weir went almost five minutes with the American Top Team fighter. A sign that Weir has something that Ninja does not? This fight would tell.

As with most fights involving Mark Weir, it wasn’t long before fists and feet were flying, but interestingly Ninja (a noted striker) seemed unwilling to trade, preferring to take Weir down. Passing to mount he locked in a deep arm triangle choke, yet Weir toughed it out and escaped. Popping up, Weir was given no chance to let his hands go as Ninja put him right back down again. When Weir finally did manage to get back up again, he found the space he was looking for and began landing shot after shot with his hands and knees, forcing Ninja to bull his way forward into a clinch. Another arm triangle choke at the end of the first round seemed moments away from ending it, but the bell was a get out of jail free card for Weir, taking him out of the submission and into the second.

Ninja looked fazed in his corner, tended to by his brother and cornerman. Though he seemed to have a clear game plan in trying to tap out Weir, he seemed surprised by the onslaught Weir delivered while they were on their feet. If he was expecting any less in the second, he would be disappointed, as Weir crashed a succession of left high kicks from his southpaw stance clean into the side of Ninja’s skull. The Brazilian staggered across the cage, barely keeping his balance, before just about getting a takedown. Once on the mat, Ninja single-mindedly worked for the arm triangle choke, this time finally securing it for the tap at 1.15 of the second. The look on his face was more of relief than of joy at his win – he had barely survived the test, but showed classy ground skills and a canny game plan in his best outing for some time.

Broughton bashes Berry for British title

Those behind the scenes at Cage Rage have seen fit to give ‘Big’ Rob Broughton the nickname of the Bear. For me, he’ll always be ‘Big’ Rob Broughton, and with good reason. 6’3” and 127kgs, he’s not exactly small. Broughton has been active in MMA since 2004 and had amassed a record of 4-2-1, but his stock rose dramatically when he came into Cage Rage 17 as a heavy underdog and late replacement and battered the favourite James Thompson. That fight was remarkable for two things – first, the shocking turnaround that saw Rob come behind from two rounds of non-stop punishment to batter James into unconsciousness, and also the way in which the Cage Rage audience took to him. At first, it was the usual cries of “who ate all the pies?” but by the end of the fight it was Broughton who was champion, and it was he who won the crowd’s hearts.

‘Buzz’ Berry is a Cage Rage regular who has been working his way thru the ranks, stumbling only before the Georgian wrecking machine Tengiz Tedoradze. Having begged for a shot at Thompson for some time, it was only logical that he should face Broughton for the title. His confidence was high, coming off a win over the former sumo wrestler Sentoryu, but Broughton gave him no respect in the cage and charged him down with a vicious flurry of strikes. It wasn’t pretty, but Broughton got the job done, smashing a huge left into Buzz’s face and dropping him only three and a half minutes into the fight. It was brief, it was intense, and it was fun. Broughton’s likeable character has him marked out as something of an unlikely fan favourite, and the young Northerner is to face a bigger challenge in December when he faces the mighty Butterbean (see the interview with Broughton in this month’s issue for details).

Shaolin puts on BJJ clinic

Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Riberio is one of the top lightweight fighters in the world. A former Shooto champion, he has curiously been left alone by the big leagues, and one must wonder why. His effortlessly smooth grappling skills are renowned and sometimes revered (it is said Shaolin obtained his black belt in BJJ after only three years, a practically unheard of feat that only BJ Penn can lay claim to). Abdul Mohamed, the powerhouse wrestler originally from Afghanistan, has always struggled with good submission guys, as proved in his fights with Alexandre ‘Xandinho’ Izidrio (who was interestingly enough watching intently from cage side).

Mohammed showed some variation to his usual wrestling-based strategy by throwing some crisp leg kicks and some feeler punches. Shaolin wasted no time in shooting under a crisp 1-2 and methodically worked to pass the half guard. Slipping into mount he softened Mohammed up with some strikes before taking the back and securing a grip on one of the British lightweight champion’s arms. As Mohammed tried to roll, Shaolin went with him and cranked the arm to force a tap by way of a kimura, showing the difference between a good grappler and a world-class grappler.

Daley does business on Gilbert

Paul Daley is without dispute the top welterweight fighter in the UK right now, and his convincing win over Sol ‘Zero Tolerance’ Gilbert served to solidify his position even further. As expected, Sol looked to trade with Daley, but though Daley might be the more accomplished striker, he is known for being a smart fighter. Shooting in, he almost had Sol in an armbar in the first minute or so, but Gilbert slipped out and regained his feet. Daley seemed to be getting the better of the stand up, but took Gilbert down again to work some ground and pound.

They went up and down, jockeying for position and exchanging blows, but it was Daley who was in control throughout. Everything Sol did (and he did a lot, he didn’t back down for a second in the entire fight) Daley had answer for. It was always going to be a tough test for Sol, and at one point it looked like he might get out the other side with a stab at a decision, but once again Daley’s left hook put those ambitions to rest.

One thing about Paul is that with every fight you see something new – in this case, it was a fearsome attack from top position that finished the fight, moments after Sol had dropped from the big left. Obviously something he had been developing, Daley was especially proud of his ground and pound, saying “Fedor, baby!” as he celebrated his win. This young fighter has the world ahead of him, and with performances like these, it is only a matter of time before we see him take his place on the world stage.

Round Up

What was Kimo doing fighting on Cage Rage? The convicted drug cheat had been handed a ban by the Californian State Athletic Commission (for failing a pre-fight steroid check when he was billed to fight Bas Rutten).

That he popped up here barely weeks after isn’t good, and that he was fighting Dave Legeno, a man who had had three outings yet was still looking for his first win, well, it just beggars belief. Cage Rage saw something we didn’t though, and put a focussed and, gasp, trained Legeno into the cage and he did the unthinkable – he beat up and submitted a man who had gone almost five minutes with Royce Gracie back when jiu-jitsu ruled the world and nobody knew what ground fighting was. Legeno battered Kimo then submitted him with a guillotine choke at only 3.21 of the first.

Alex Reid, ever a controversial personality, had sparks flying in his bout with Tony Fryklund when he illegally kicked the American in the face defending a leglock. Fryklund was livid, and cranked on a heelhook that had Alex limping well into the rest of the night and possibly later still. Alex feigned ignorance of his crime, yet had asked the day before in the rules meeting what would happen if he did exactly that. Fryklund was right to be mad, but even more right to have walked away with the win.

Mustapha Al-Turk showed his improving skills once more by battering Sentoryu into a daze. Finally letting us see his stand-up, Al-Turk hunted his shorter foe down and used his strong top game to pound his way to victory. The guy’s a star in the making – a heavyweight who is light on his feet and has a decent ground game. Tougher challenges must surely await.

Brad Pickett succumbed to Robbie Olivier’s promises of revenge and tapped out for the first time in his career in the British featherweight title fight. Olivier worked Pickett over, taking him down at will and finally submitting him just over three minutes into the third. Pickett seemed a shadow of his usual self, and the grapevine is that personal problems held Pickett back from his usual level of performance. Could another rematch be needed to settle this once and for all?

Zelg Galesic made good use of the open guard rule by finishing James E. Nichol with a vicious stomp to the face, while Xavier Foupa-Pokam submitted middleweight Alex Cook with an armbar in the preliminary bouts, and giant Alexandru Lungu squashed and then submitted Mark Buchanan under his 170kg frame.