Issue 004

June 2005

Last December a snowstorm descended upon Sheffield in the form of American heavyweight Jeff ‘The Snowman’ Monson. Victorious over the Georgian wrecking machine known as Tengiz Tedoradze, he won his first Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) championship title and became Cagewarriors heavyweight champion in a classy and almost flawless display of submission grappling prowess. An eager Tengiz begged for a rematch, confident he could win back his title, and his wish was granted. 

Originally scheduled to appear in Leeds, venue problems meant that the show was moved to what has become the spiritual home for Cagewarriors, the Sheffield Octagon Centre. To return to the place of his defeat didn’t bode well for Tengiz. Monson had choked Tengiz to submission in less than four minutes last December in the very same venue, and for the first time since following his career I saw something resembling nerves upon Tengiz’s face. Speaking with Monson before the fight, he admitted he got nervous before any type of competition, but was quietly confident that he would walk away with the win. 

Tengiz had obviously trained hard for this fight, losing some of the excess weight from his 110kg frame. Obviously not looking to make the same mistakes, it was said that Tengiz had been studying the submission game in an effort to bolster his fearsome wrestling, but more importantly to avoid being caught as before. Monson’s wrestling skills are well known — he is a former ADCC submission wrestling champion and has a list of grappling honours long enough to have him awarded 2004 Submission Grappler of the Year by Onthemat.com. 

As the fight began it seemed like only a matter of time before we could expect a takedown attempt from Monson and, momentarily stunned by a right cross from Tengiz, it came less than 30 seconds into the fight. An unavoidable single-leg takedown had Tengiz once again exactly where he didn’t want to be — on his back. Though he put up more of a challenge this time, it wasn’t long before Monson had his back and was punishing him with strikes against the fence. A clinical display of grappling followed by a brutal series of punches gave Monson the opening he was looking for, and he slipped on a rear naked choke in half the time it took before. 

A clean finish from Monson meant he retained the title, but while

Tengiz struggled to put up much of a challenge, a greater challenge beckoned when 120kg Wolfslair Team representative Antonio ‘Junior’ Silva expressed his interest in fighting for the belt. Monson has said that he would be happy to come back to the UK to fight, but has he bitten off more than he can chew? 

Michael Bisping vs Dave Radford

In an old-school, style vs style match-up, ex-boxer and grizzly warhorse Radford found himself facing young buck Michael Bisping. Radford was no slouch when he graced the squared circle, having fought the legendary Roberto Duran in the 90s but it may have been a tall order for him to face such a dynamic fighter in his MMA debut. Bisping has been on fire as of late and has been putting in the kind of performances that have had many in the business tipping him for great success. 

Fighting for the vacant Cagewarriors light-heavyweight championship title, the two engaged in a stand up exchange with Bisping clearly coming off the better. Due to Bisping’s clever footwork almost all of Radford’s punches fell short, allowing him to fire in kicks to the legs and body. This proved to be a wise strategy from the youngster, as he repeatedly scored with his left foot high and low before taking it to the canvas. Once there, Radford was done, and even though he held on for as long as possible, a constant barrage of punches was dropped until the referee called the stoppage. 

Bisping now holds title belts in both Cage Rage and Cagewarriors, and fights later this year for the inaugural FX3 light-heavyweight belt. Only the perennial Paul Jenkins has had such success in holding a title across different promotions and, with time most certainly on his side, we can expect to see Bisping add even more to his collection. 

Danny Batten vs Mohamed El-Aouji

Frenchman El-Aouji was a late replacement for an injured Alex Owen, and was making his MMA debut against a veteran of the UK scene, Danny Batten. Though this was his first MMA fight, El-Aoujis is a Shidokan Karate champion and a noted grappler, and had been training hard with the Riccio brothers in preparation for this fight. 

Both men scored well in standing exchanges, but a wrong strategy from Batten led to him coming off worse each time. Jabbing well but not following it up, he allowed the Frenchman (who was evidently more willing to mix things up) to chase his down on to the fence and take him down. Danny was very active from the bottom but El-Aouji was canny to any submission attempts, and made sure to take advantage of his top position by counter punching heavily upon the grounded Batten. 

This pattern repeated itself through the second and third rounds, and as time went on Danny was getting more and more beat up and was running out of ideas. A few close armbar attempts led to some swift defence from El-Aouji but nothing threatening was offered by Batten, though he did manage to open up a big cut on the Frenchman’s forehead with his jab. This didn’t slow El-Aouji down though, and he was way too slippy for Batten to catch a submission in the final round. In the only fight of the night to go to the scorecards, El-Aouji walked away with a comfortable unanimous decision. 

Michael Holmes vs Ian Jones

Without a shadow of a doubt this was the fight of the night! The two explosive young middleweights put everything on the line in this thrilling contest, raising everyone out of the seats throughout their battle. We’ve come to expect highly entertaining performances from Jones, but Holmes showed himself to be a true warrior as well, even going so far as to live up to his nickname by coming out to the ‘Rocky’ theme tune! Jones had huge crowd support as always, arriving in the arena to the now familiar chants of ”Goose”. 

The first round can only be described as blistering — the pace was frenetic throughout and neither fighter stopped working wherever the fight went. Holmes was always looking to push the action, putting Jones on his back quite a few times with takedowns from the clinch, but he had to defend quite a few close subs from the well-rounded submission fighter from Wakefield. Jones was doing well, showing a technical side to his game, but he seemed stuck in first gear and looked worried at the end of the first round. 

Due to the heavy atmosphere in the Centre (another argument for non-smoking venues!) both fighters seemed close to giving up during the break, but with spurring advice from their coaches they came out for the second determined to battle on. The second round was again relatively even with much more stand up action than in the first. Many of Jones’s strikes fell short and even though he wrapped his shin around Holmes’s head with a high roundhouse kick, in true Rocky-style Holmes kept on coming! 

There was more from Rocky working on top on the mat, with Jones defending from in guard and looking to counter but Holmes proved too strong and too slippery from the sweat to be caught in any finishing hold. It was certainly a close call going into the third, but Holmes looked marginally ahead on the cards due to his aggressiveness, takedowns and ground control. 

The third round looked to be a repeat of the earlier rounds, but as they clinched against the fence Jones caught a guillotine and dragged Holmes to the mat, almost choking him unconscious in the process. A valiant Holmes could not escape, and Jones went on to win his fourth fight in a row by submission. A massive roar went through the arena as Jones’s victory was announced — and rightly so, as it was a well deserved win in a highly competitive and entertaining fight. 

Jim Wallhead vs Leslie Ojugbana

Though this fight featured on the under card, I felt it warranted a mention for two reasons. First, Ojugbana’s entrance wasn’t one to be ignored. Dressed as a pimp, he strolled to the cage with a lady on each arm and roused enough laughs from the crowd to guarantee their interest. Second, this was the professional debut of the fearsome ‘Judo’ Jimmy Wallhead. Travelling from Leicester, he brought a sizable portion of the evening’s crowd with him, much the same as when he fought on the semi-pro feeder show Cagewarriors Quest three weeks earlier. On that occasion Wallhead dismantled his much heavier opponent with ease in a blistering 30-second fight. 

In this contest he proved his last win was no fluke, and went on to win in similar fashion. Cracking Ojugbana with a big right, he forced the shoot but outwrestled him with ease. Hounding Ojugbana on the mat, it was an inevitability that Wallhead should take the submission, as Ojugbana seemed to have no answer for Wallhead’s smothering control and dynamic movement. Though small for a middleweight, Wallhead obviously posses great strength but should possibly think about going down to welterweight to realise his potential. Either way, this reporter was pleased to have seen the debut of such a hot prospect. 

Prelim fights

The under card was marked by a series of short finishes, with almost all of them by submission. Ste Dawson locked a slick triangle on Jason Ball with little trouble; Neil Coleman pounded out Andy Melia on the mat in a technical display of ground ‘n’ pound; Jimmy Gains and Gav Keane both took their respective opponents down and choked them to submission; and Simon Boulter caught an armbar to earn a win over David Riley. 

Full Results

Main Event — Cagewarriors Heavyweight Title Fight

Tengiz ’The Barnsley Gladiator‘ Tedoradze (GEO) vs (CWFC Champion) Jeff ’The Snowman’ Monson (USA)

Monson by Rear Naked Choke 1.59 round 1

Cagewarriors Light-Heavyweight Title Fight

Michael ’The Count’ Bisping vs Dave Radford

Bisping by TKO (Ref Stoppage due to strikes) 2.46 round 1

Featherweight

Danny Batten vs Mohamed El-Aouji (FRA)

El-Aouji by Unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Middleweight

Michael ’Rocky’ Holmes vs Ian ‘Mongoose’ Jones

Jones by Guillotine 0.37 round 3

Lightweight

Alexandre ‘Xandinho’ Izidro (BRA) vs Yohan Quoniam (FRA)

Izidro by Guillotine 0.51 round 1

Middleweight

Leslie ‘Hollywood’ Ojugbana vs Jim Wallhead

Wallhead by Rear Naked Choke 1.20 round 1 

Welterweight

Ste Dawson vs Jason Ball

Dawson by Triangle 1.37 round 1

Welterweight

Andy Melia vs Neil Coleman

Coleman by TKO (Ref Stoppage due to strikes) 3.57 round 1

Heavyweight

Steve Matthews vs Jimmy Gains

Gains by Rear Naked Choke 1.07 round 1

Welterweight

Sam Bradley vs Gav Keane

Keane by Rear Naked Choke 1.11 round 1

Lightweight

Simon Boulter vs David Riley

Boulter by Armbar 3.07 round 1