Fighters Only

Issue 011

March 2006

Catterick, Dec 10^th 2005

Words and photos: Hywel Teague

A long-running event that provides a springboard for amateur and semi-professional fighters, Pride and Glory has been producing grass roots events for the last few years with no small measure of success. While the card usually consists of local fighters making their initial foray into the sport, the cards are always topped with a couple of professional fights.

Pride and Glory: Drop Zone was held in the famed garrison town of Catterick in North Yorkshire. A small village in the middle of nowhere, Catterick is home to 2 Para, an arm of the legendary Paratroopers of the British Army. Known as one of the most aggressive and capable fighting forces in the world, the Paras like a scrap. One such Para is the journeyman Sandy Geddes, who not only had his 35^th birthday the day of his fight, but also topped the bill in front of his fellow squaddies.

Unfortunately for Geddes, he got no presents from the matchmakers, who put him against a prison warden from the North East of England, Brian Moore. A training partner of powerhouse Micky Hobbs, Moore took down, mounted and punished Geddes before referee Colin Sexton had no choice but to stop it. Moore had started to drop some nasty elbows that opened a cut on Geddes forehead, and with the Para unable to escape his position, the fight was called in the latter half of the first round.

If they were handing them out, the Fight of the Night award should surely have gone to the battle between Peter Irvine and Arni Isaksson. Hailing from Iceland but living and training in Dublin with BJJ slickster John Kavanagh, Isaksson is a 22 year old who when asked, will tell you all he wants to do is “eat, and fight!” With a background in Thai boxing, he moved to Ireland specifically to train in MMA, and has notched up wins in the Republic.

Irvine is a well-known face in UK MMA, having been active on the UK scene for a few years now, but dropped off the radar some time ago to pursue his interest in the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He has travelled to Brazil a number of times now, and returned recently amid rumours of a vastly improved ground game. Already a submission specialist, his time in Brazil could only have sharpened his game, and he showed that in this fight.

After miming a Viking axe-smash and stamping his foot on the ground, Arni charged out with a flurry of strikes that had Irvine reeling. Obviously stronger in the stand-up side of the game, Arni blasted out combinations with fists and feet, and Irvine returned as energetically as possible both at distance and in the clinch. On the ground, the two were fairly evenly matched, with Irvine showing a more-developed guard game, and Arni showing good submission awareness and defence. The two swapped positions, with Arni almost taking the back of Irvine earlier in the round, but when Irvine scored a takedown and followed it by passing the guard, he sunk in a rear naked choke with only 10 seconds left in the round.