Issue 005
July 2005
Ebbw Vale Leisure Centre, South Wales
May 21 2005
Intro
Fight fans pay attention, I have something important to tell you. Unless you were keeping a careful eye on the happenings of a regional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) show, some very important news may have slipped you by. In a quiet corner of deepest darkest Wales UK MMA history was being made. Cheri Buck took on Sabrina Cohen in the first ladies MMA fight to ever top the bill of a UK event.
Bolds steps
Grapple and Strike have long been pioneers of MMA in the UK. Devised and promoted by Ross Iannoccaro, it has served as a springboard for many notable MMA fighters’ careers. Fighters such as Mark Weir and Paul Jenkins all cut their teeth on the mats of Ross’s early events, and in recent years proceedings have grown to the extent that a Welsh national league for amateurs was born.
Due to the increasing popularity of MMA in South Wales (along with a burgeoning talent pool) it was high time that the logical next step was taken in hosting a professional event. Showing their pioneering attitude and flair for taking the initiative, Grapple and Strike made the bold move of not only holding a two-round professional female MMA bout (sadly still quite a rare occurrence), but also making it the main event of the night.
Setting the scene
The two protagonists of this momentous occasion were two well-known faces on the UK scene. Rising amateur star Sabrina Cohen has been doing a good job of getting her face and story in and on every newspaper, magazine and radio show possible, thanks not only to her obvious talent but also to her charity work.
The other player in this historic bout was Cheri Buck. Fighting out of the Trojan Free Fighters camp, Cheri has gained herself a reputation for being a tough all-rounder. While not possessing a stellar record — 0-1-1 — she had certainly shown she was durable in her blistering fight with Carla O’Sullivan. In a terrific contest, she toughed it out through three rounds of often brutal action to gain the respect of all in the female MMA community.
With both fighters eager to prove themselves, the scene was set for two young and hungry fighters to step up and perform in a match that will not easily be forgotten.
Before going into detail about the fight, one thing that has to be mentioned with regards to female fighters is that they are, almost without exception, so keen to fight that they take almost any fight offered to them. More often than not this can lead to inappropriately matched fighters facing each other or, even worse, complete mismatches taking place. In this case Cohen would find herself giving up 8kgs to her opponent, while Cheri, a veteran of two professional fights, would be facing someone making their professional debut.
In ‘normal’ matchmaking terms this would never have gone ahead but Cohen was confident in her ability to tussle with someone of Buck’s size, and Buck, wearing blue trunks, was obviously chomping at the bit as her last fight had taken place over 12 months ago.
The Fight
Before the contest began the size difference was apparent. Standing a good few inches taller, and with a much larger frame than her opponent, Buck would be enjoying a hefty advantage over her smaller adversary. Whether experience would be a factor was hard to tell as Cohen seemed relaxed and focussed when she entered the ring, even though it was her first pro fight.
The strategy of the two became apparent within seconds of the start. Buck circled, pawing her jab and possibly looking to strike, but was given no time to do so as Cohen shot in almost immediately.
Only moments into the fight Buck found herself with her back on the mat struggling to stop Cohen from passing her guard.
Stuck underneath in half guard, Buck held on for as long as possible, but Cohen smoothly transitioned to side control before settling into a cross body position that trapped Buck’s near arm.
Punching down, Cohen bloodied up the face of Buck with short chopping shots until a restart was called by the referee for moving too close to the ropes.
This pattern repeated itself throughout the first round, with Cohen deftly slipping and ducking under Buck’s swinging punches to take her down to the mat.
In the first round Cohen was obviously the superior grappler, and Buck could do little other than to hold her close and not give Cohen room to strike. Cheri was visibly frustrated at being stuck on the bottom and her corner urged her to try and regain her feet.
Buck’s fortunes changed in the second round though, possibly due to the rousing advice she received from trainer Paul Sutherland in the break. Coming out of her corner looking far less tentative than in the first round, she stuffed a number of Cohen’s takedown attempts, under-hooking Sabrina’s arms and bringing her up into clinch. As Cheri found her rhythm, Sabrina seemed to struggle with the difference in strength and Buck managed to avoid being placed on her back by any of her opponent’s shoots.
When the two separated Cheri started stalking Cohen, swinging power shots with the obvious intent of scoring a KO, and at one point in the round she almost did. A wild shot caught Cohen unawares and had her reaching out to clinch to try to survive the next precarious seconds. Later admitting she was briefly out on her feet, Cohen managed to close the distance but found herself on her back and defending strikes from her guard.
Cheri sensed her moment and unleashed a barrage of punches, some falling short but others finding their target. Cohen did a good job in tying her up and controlling her arms, but the larger Buck managed to break free of her grip and looked to pass the guard. Another standing restart gave Sabrina time to think, and she used the opportunity to place a lovely high kick to Bucks head. Caught but undeterred, Buck soldiered on and managed to bundle Cohen to the canvas.
Slipping through the guard, Buck established top position in much the same way Sabrina had done in the first round but couldn’t quite capitalise on it the way Cohen had done. Sabrina managed to slide a knee through and regain her guard, but Buck kept her on her back until the round came to an end.
The scores were tallied and Buck squeezed out a marginal split decision. Though Buck clearly controlled the second round, Cohen had convincingly taken the first. By my scorecard I made the fight a draw as I gave it 10-9 to Cohen for the first round and 10-9 to Buck for the second. A third round would most likely have removed any doubt as to the winner, but Buck earned her first professional victory in a gutsy and hard fought performance.
Overview
If anything, this proved to be a classic grappler vs striker match. Though Sabrina has kickboxing fights under her belt, her strategy was to try and out-grapple Buck. In this instance it was an effective plan, but fell short in the second round when she forgot to start setting up her takedowns with feints or strikes. Her offence in round one was sound, but she gave up submission opportunities for the more attractive choice of punishing her opponent.
Buck struggled in the first round, unhappy at her hopes of duelling it out not going according to plan. Annoyed at her inability to do any damage in the first, she more than made up for it by moving up a gear in the second and almost knocked Cohen out. Failure to follow this up led to her having to resort to grappling, but she managed to control the fight from this point on and easily won the round.
Interestingly Cohen weighed in at only 52kg, with Buck tipping the scales at only half a kilo under the specified weight limit of 60kg. But, and this is where things get really interesting, I know for a fact that the scales used were weighing-in 2kg light. So, whereas the listed weights were 52kg and 59.5kg respectively, the weights were actually 54kg and 61.5kg. A total weight difference of 7.5kg is huge in fighters of that size. In women’s boxing the two would have been four weight classes apart. Again, this comes down to lack of suitable opponents.
Fallout
Though pleased with her win, Buck was actually unhappy that the fight didn’t go to a third round. “I’m quite disappointed,” she told me afterwards. “I was looking forward to going a full three rounds. Performance-wise, I’m happy it’s a win at the end of the day. I don’t think the decision was a close one, I was the more aggressive”.
What of her thoughts on her opponent? “She’s a good grappler, but I think she should have had some semi-pro fights before going straight to pro. She’s all right; I’m sure she’s got a future if she keeps at it”. Asked where she sees herself going, coach Paul Sutherland jumped in and stated they would be very interested in a rematch with Carla O’Sullivan. “Carla’s a bit bigger than Cheri, so we’d have to meet her halfway with the weights, but that’s what we’re after”.
Cohen was gracious in defeat, if a little unhappy at the decision. “I don’t see how it could have been scored as anything other than a draw, but in a way I’m glad I lost. It’s made me think hard about my training and how I’m going to approach fights from now on. There’s no way I’m giving up that much weight again, it was a bit of a stupid decision but I was eager to take any fight I could.”
So even though she lost her first bout, she hasn’t been put off trying to succeed. “I’m really grateful that my sponsors, Vydex and Scientific Streetfighting, have decided to take me on, so I owe it to them to come back and show everyone that I’m worth it. Just you wait, my next fight will be awesome!”
The Future?
As yet, nothing has been heard about Cheri arranging a match with Carla, but Cohen is scheduled to fight again in the upcoming House of Pain promotion on July 24. Hopefully, the profile of both these fighters will have been raised by the fact they were part of UK MMA history, and finding suitable opponents in future will become easier.
