Fighters Only

Issue 009

November 2005

Fighters Only CEO Rob Hewitt reports on another successful MMA fight night in the North East of England.

29th October

The last show I reported on was in my opinion an unprecedented success and of such a nature that for a small town in the North East of England, I was shocked. Saying that, I have experienced the phenomenon that is ‘Pride and Glory’ and the response their shows receive whenever they hold a local event. As a result I wish to applaud the fans and their love of Mixed Martial Arts in the North East of England. But not only the fans need praise but also the fighters as local talent performed their duty within the ring to entertain. Spennymoor Leisure centre was yet again the host of the Goshin Ryu Total Combat 14 event promoted and organised by Peter McQueen. As with my last report, my only and main criticism of the whole night is and was the medical staff on hand who again, despite some big knock outs, failed to raise their ‘arses’ out of the ringside seats to attend to the fighters. This is really something that needs to be sorted as we do not want the perception of the sport to be effected by an accident in the ring, least of all any hurt to come to any of the fighters that bravely step up to fight.

Returning once again to his adoring fans was newly crowned European Goshin Ryu Heavyweight Champion Robert ‘Buzz’ Berry. ‘Buzz’ who went home half way through the night to watch X Factor, returned 20mins before his fight, (after he had watched Phillip kicked out in the results of course) to warm up, put his shorts on then walk out to calmly dispose of opponent Mohammed Diakite as easily as it will be to vote off Chico next week! The overweight Frenchman looked quite tasty on his feet at the beginning of the round, claiming a knockdown within the first few seconds. A lean and powerful ‘Berry’ showed that he had trained for the fight by returning to his feet and taking the 24st giant down to the floor before swiftly avoiding being crushed by the falling fatman. After gaining a rear mount he landed blows to the back of Diakite’s head causing him to tap. A disappointing opponent for Buzz who needs to be further tested at the higher level in order for him to achieve true greatness and develop his skills.

Another local favourite was Richie ‘Bad News’ Bowser who put on a fantastic fight together with opponent Henrique ‘Chocolate’ Nogeuira. Unfortunately Richie was defeated at the very end of the 2nd round but a closely fought battle was the only way of describing such a close contest. Other fights throughout the night that impressed were the matches between Ian Rush facing the anticipated MMA debut of Sunderland’s Stu Bailey from Combat Forum. Thai Boxer Stu was outclassed by his tall and long limbed opponent whose stand up could only be described as awesome. Stu struggled to get inside Ian’s reach getting caught with a powerful right hand and later by a beautiful head kick that landed right on the chin. Despite valiantly taking the blows Bailey was unable to return for the second round. The fighter who impressed me most both in and out of the ring was another local lad Michael ‘Rocky’ Holmes. I had opportunity to watch ‘Rocky’ warm up prior to the fight and was mightily impressed by the speed of his hands and his powerful technique. One could argue that pads can’t hit back but then again neither could his poor opponent Sandy ‘The Guv’nor’ Geddes as he was literally felled with only the second punch of the round, a straight right hand off a one, two combination. Despite making a much appreciated effort with his ring entrance, paying tribute to Halloween, Sandy was pounced on by Holmes who did not relent in his attack finishing off Sandy with ground ‘n’ pound from the rear mount before referee Joe Oxley had to stop the fight.

The remainder of the night was a mixture of bouts that varied in entertainment value. A small criticism if any would be that some of the fighters attending had clearly not put enough preparation into their training for what ever reason. This however could not be said for Rhys Illes who trained with me and training partner Colin Sexton for 7 weeks in preparation for his debut fight against David Wilson. Despite facing a clearly tough opponent in Wilson, Rhys powered through both rounds to claim a victory by bar choke. Congratulations to Rhys and all the fighters who took part as well as to Peter McQueen for putting on a great and continuously improving show.