Issue 005
July 2005
Fight Club UK
May 28, 2005
Ponds Forge,
Sheffield, UK
The steel city of Sheffield further cemented its position as the epicentre of UK Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) action on Saturday May 28, 2005, with the successful show Fight Club UK. Featuring a mix of some familiar names and young up-and-comers, the show benefited from a little surprise by hosting what is my choice for fight of the year. An epic battle between Sami Berik and Abdul Mohammed proved to be the highlight in an evening.
With the recent influx of MMA events into this South Yorkshire city, one might worry that the quality of entertainment ends up being diluted. Not so in this case, as Fight Club UK showed that the more competitions there are, the more opportunities there are for today’s young stars to develop their skills.
One young fighter who has been taking as many opportunities that are offered him as possible is Sami ‘The Hun’ Berik. A regular face on the UK scene, he attracts as many critics as he does fans, partly due to paying homage to his Chinese Martial Arts origins, and partly as people see him as something of a sub-standard fighter out of his depth. Whatever opinions he attracts nothing seems to faze this young man. He quietly goes about his business, preferring to allow his actions in the ring to do his talking.
His opponent was the fearsome Afghan wrestler Abdul Mohammed. Something of a bogeyman among the UK welterweight scene, he possesses not only great strength and wrestling ability but has recently joined forces with Ian Freeman to help round off his MMA game. He has added considerable skills to his wrestling base. And a fighter who knows all about Abdul’s wrestling is Sami, as they met previously in a short-lived contest back in Cage Rage in 2004. In this controversial fight Abdul came straight out as expected and hoisted Sami in the air time after time, subjecting him to some terrific slams. Keeping his composure, though, Sami stayed alert and cut Abdul over the eye with an elbow strike thrown from his back. The doctors would not allow Abdul to continue and Sami won in a fashion many thought unfair. Well tough, a win is a win and Sami won. Abdul may not have been beaten but he certainly lost. However, the matchmakers at Fight Club UK showed great presence of mind in putting on a rematch.
Facing each other once again, Berik and Mohammed cut very different figures. Abdul — short and stocky, 111/2 stone of pure fast-twitch muscle fibres — would be suffering a reach disadvantage to the British Turk, but if there was a muscle-off to decide a victor, it could only have been Abdul that won. Calm and collected as ever, Sami stalked out of his corner carefully but, surprisingly, Mohammed, hammered in a leg kick that resounded through the arena, leaving more than a few scratching their heads. A wrestler throwing leg kicks? Oh yes! In came another, and just as Sami thought he would have a stand up fight and started letting his hands and feet go, Abdul was in and wrapping up his legs for the takedown. Securing a nice side control, Abdul seemed to be settling in to start some ground ‘n’ pound when from nowhere Sami had bridged and rolled, taking Abdul over and reversing position. Stepping quickly over into mount Sami launched a couple of rights and lefts.
Abdul wasn’t wasting any time in getting out though, turning and rolling and putting Sami’s back to the canvas once more, only this time in Sami’s guard. Last time they fought this was the very position that Sami was in when he used those elbows to such effect, but Abdul showed another improved side to his game by deftly passing to half guard to avoid any chance of being cut. Securing a tight front headlock and bringing the fight back to the feet it seemed Abdul was close in securing a guillotine choke, but Sami slipped out and they clinched near the fence. As soon as there was space Berik was throwing leather in an attempt to score but Mohammed’s defence was sound and he kept just enough out of range to fire in the odd leg kick.
With a blistering pace established, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a repeat of their last encounter. Some spurring advice from coach Ian Freeman had Abdul listening intently during the break, but any hopes of ending the fight quickly were dashed when Berik came out firing from the bell of the second. Chasing Abdul down against the fence, he let loose with a barrage of kicks and punches that had the Afghan pressured enough to be shooting in for the takedown. Catching one of Berik’s low kicks he put his foe down on the mat again, but this time he postured up to start dropping bombs on the face of Berik.
Glancing blows bothered Berik enough for him to start kicking up at Abdul from his back creating enough space to regain his feet, only for Abdul to close the distance once more. A break from the clinch had Berik taking the opportunity to use his favoured strikes, but Abdul caught a leg and looked to be moving around to Berik’s back as if to set up a takedown. Before he could establish his footing though, Sami launched the wrestler over his shoulder with a Seio Nage judo throw!
Unfazed and spinning out off his back, Abdul quickly regained his position, answering with a takedown of his own, but Abdul’s takedowns are quite different to Sami’s. Trapping an arm, Abdul secured a body lock around Berik’s torso and by driving his hips in and arching his back he slammed Berik’s head into the canvas with a picture-perfect suplex to rousing cheers from the audience. Though Berik survived this, Abdul had found his rhythm and twice more picked Sami up in the air to drop him to the mat, Matt Hughes-style.
With the break called for round three, it was clear that Abdul was ahead, but even though he’d had a torrid second round Berik looked fresh and composed. He wasn’t given any opportunity to try and end it quickly though, as once again a quick single leg takedown from Abdul had Sami on his back and against the cage. Sami managed to lock a kimura from his half guard on to one of Abdul’s arms, negating his striking ability and putting him at risk of a submission loss!
Abdul was wise to the attempt, though, and cleverly held onto his own shorts (which is allowed under the rules, it is only illegal to grab on to your opponents shorts). Stopping his arm from being twisted, Abdul slowly and methodically passed from half guard to side control as Sami expended more and more energy trying to force the submission.
With Sami burnt out from the kimura attempt, Abdul slid easily into mount and forced a stoppage from ground ‘n’ pound at 2:19 of the third round. While Sami was not beat up too badly, Abdul’s accurate strikes and firm mount had referee Grant Waterman stopping the contest lest any serious damage be inflicted upon Berik.
The outcome wasn’t too out of the ordinary for Abdul, as he racked up another win with his legendary ground ‘n’ pound but no-one expected the fight to last as long as it did. Grant Waterman put it best after the fight by simply stating, “Sami Berik is the real deal.”
In the other bouts of the evening Abdul’s team-mate and fellow Team Fighters Only member Hassan Muridi played a perfect game in taking down, controlling and submitting Paul Jenkins, with what seemed like ease, in a little over two minutes. His future as a welterweight seems a bright one, though he has unfinished business at the middleweight division and will face Alex Reid at Cage Rage on July 2.
Sunderland Jiu-jitsu fighters Robert ‘Buzz’ Berry and Leslee Ojugbana both won easily by out-striking their opponents on the ground. Buzz had the quicker of the two victories by dispatching Kuljit Degum in little over 20 seconds! The Brazilian Alex Sandro forced a premature end to a blistering fight with Carl Burns of Scotland, as a cut to Burns meant he was unable to continue. Though reputedly a holder of a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu black belt, Sandro loves to strike and is like a mini-version of another Brazilian, last issue’s cover star ‘Cyborg’ Santos.
Full Results
MMA
Hassan Muridi def Paul Jenkins, Submission (RNC) — 2:19 R1
Robert Berry def Kuljit Degum, TKO — 0:21 R1
Leslee Ojugbana def Danny Fletcher, TKO (GnP) — 2:36 R1
Abdul Mohamed def Sami Berik, TKO (GnP) — 4:35 R3
Alex Sandro def Carl Burns, doctor’s stoppage (cut) — R1
KICKBOXING
Gena Kachenka def Paul Daley, Judge’s Decision
Pete Leaviss def Anthony Rowe, Judge’s Decision
Chris Freeborn def Amjed Shaffique, Judge’s Decision
Julia Ingram def Bridie Murphy, Judge’s Decision
