Fighters Only

Issue 013

May 2006

Spennymoor, Co Durham, Saturday 11th March

Written by Alex Wright & photographed by John Watson

There was another great night of MMA action at the famous Goshin Ryu/Total Combat event, which had a new look thanks to the introduction of a cage. Amongst the highlights of the night was an excellent team performance from Sunderland Jiu-Jitsu and MA club as well as Mickey Hobbs’/Brian Moore’s club The Bear Pitt. Nine of the Sunderland team entered, with all winning their fights, and The Bear Pitt saw four out of five of their fighters win with finishes ranging from submissions from Anth Barker & James ‘Conan’ Downie to a TKO from the sharp striking of Danny Wright.

Dave Wilson (cornered by Fighters Only’s MD Rob Hewitt and veteran MMA fighter Colin Sexton) put in an impressive and dominant performance against Anthony Hopper from the Combat Forum in Sunderland, getting back to winning ways with a hammerlock in round one.

What was possibly the best technical display of the night was the much anticipated battle between Gav Bradley and Dave Metcalf; Both these fighters having a strong Jiu-Jitsu game and both of them have been off the circuit for a while- this had the makings of a classic encounter. The first round saw kicks exchanged and some strong throws from Dave Metcalf, followed by a to and fro battle on the floor. Both fighters put their technical floor skills head to head, with Bradley reversing Metcalf’s earlier top position and both fighters taking damage from strikes on the ground. Gav started the second round the stronger and took a double leg takedown against the cage. Dave’s guard skills and incredible flexibility eventually paid off, securing a triangle choke that finished the fight. This fight for me summarized what is so great about MMA, with two evenly matched and highly skilled fighters in a battle that could have gone either way, and was finished with a flash of skill that capitalised on a momentary mistake.

Leslie Ojugbana fought a three round snoozer, retaining his TC middleweight crown and never looking too troubled by John O’Malley, but never really looking like finishing it either.

In contrast Rob ‘Buzz’ Berry smashed his way to a 1st round KO victory over Polish fighter Artur Gluchowski with an explosive display that should keep the likes of Cage Rage interested in retaining his services. Who knows who else is watching with the UFC heavyweight category looking so thin on the ground at the moment?