|
Navigation
|
 |
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Article Navigation:
Want to write?
We're always looking for new writers and people willing to help out with the magazine and site. If you're interested, [Click here for more info]. |
|
Stay Updated!
If you'd like to stay updated and recieve a notice when the next issue of is released, just sign up at our forums by [Clicking here]. We will send out a mass e-mail to all our members when the next issue is released. |
|
Your Comments
Let us know how you feel about this issue. We will read e-mail sent and would appreciate any comments and/or suggestions that you may have. [Click here]. |
|
|
|
 |
Cage Rage 8 - Knights of the Octagon
by Simon Rogg, Team IronLife.com Staff Writer
MMA fans around the world turned to their attention to the Wembley Conference Centre recently for the most high-profile MMA show ever hosted by a British organization. The reason for that attention was its headline event featuring British middleweight sensation Lee Murray against the dangerous Muay Thai-stylist Anderson Silva. Due to an ongoing court case Lee is currently unable to leave the country and the UFC have allowed him to fight on his home soil until the case is resolved.
 There has been a great deal of hype for the young Brit, Lee’s much talked about striking skills were put to the test in his UFC debut against Jorge Rivera, also known for his boxing skills, but Rivera wanted none of Lee’s power and took him straight to the floor where he was submitted by a triangle-armbar less than 2 minutes into the fight, without a single punch even being thrown. Silva was coming off an equally impressive win in a decision over he highly experienced Jeremy Horn, and with a record of 12-2-0 including wins over Hayato Sakurai, Carlos Newton and Alex Stiebling, this fight promised to be a true test of Lee’s ability.
The rest of the card was not to be overlooked however, the Cage Rage team managed to put together a line-up that featured 3 of Britain’s previous UFC veterans, 2 Pride vets, the infamous Damien Riccio, his brother Matthias and some world class opponents, with none other than Richard Blackwood assuming the role of emcee for the evening.
In unusual fashion the event kicked off with a title match between defending champion Pete Tiarks (6-1-0) and submission specialist and former amateur boxing prospect Ian ‘M16’ Butlin (5-2-0) in the Featherweight division. This fight was slow to start as neither fighter wanted to exchange and tied up quickly against the cage with Pete controlling most of the action. It didn’t last though as he soon fell into Butlin’s rubber guard, Pete fought off the submission attempts and the action resumed standing against the cage, after his takedown was reversed it was Pete’s turn to show off his submission skills from the guard while Ian landed some good shots. The rest of the fight went back and forth with Pete working some good knees from the clinch but mostly the action was on the ground until Pete caught Ian in a tight triangle choke in the third. Unable to escape Ian had no choice but to tap.
Winner: Pete Tiarks by submission rd. 3.
Next up were two Middleweights looking to climb the ranks as James Nicholle (3-0-0) took on Suley Mahmoud (3-2-0). James is an experienced submission wrestler but showed a wide range of skills as he totally dominated Suley throughout the first round, tying up with him and finally taking it to the ground where he controlled him from side mount and punished him with forearms and a tight-looking neck crank. Suley came out to fight in round 2 and took the dominant position in James’ guard up against the cage, but James worked his way back to his feet where he landed two hard knees to body followed by one to the head forcing the ref to jump in.
Winner: James Nicholle by KO rd. 2.
The first of the international fights began with London Shootfighter’s Mark Epstein (6-4-0) taking on Brazilian Top Team’s Silvio de Souza (2-3-0). Mark lost the Light-heavyweight title to Mike Bisping back at Cage Rage 7 and is keen to get back into the title picture. This was a close fight with the Brazilian controlling much of the action on the ground, but he just didn’t have an answer for Mark’s striking skills. Things continued to go back and forth with both fighters tiring, until late in the third Mark stood up from Silvio’s guard and tried to punish the Brazilian with strikes. Unable to fulfil his promise of a KO, Mark still did enough to pull out the decision.
Winner: Mark Epstein by Judges Decision rd. 3.
The first of our explosive middleweight and England vs. France matches was next as the powerful boxer Sol ‘Zero Tolerance’ Gilbert (4-1-1) took on French Konnection fighter Jean Francoise Lenogue (4-3-0). Sol is a tough, aggressive striker who’s polished off his ground game at London Shootfighters, but the Frenchman was coming off an impressive win over Damien Riccio at Cage Rage 7 and would be no pushover. Lenogue wanted none of the skilled boxer standing and when Sol attempted to unload he took the fight to the mat, and the action slowed for the rest of the round. Much of round 2 was spent with the Lenogue trying to work within Sol’s guard again, growing frustrated and with little time left on the clock the Frenchman opened up with strikes but this is exactly what Sol needed show off his new ground skills as he lifted his hips, swung his legs and turned Lenogue to the floor. The Frenchman struggled against the armbar but was forced to tap with just seconds left in the round.
Winner: Sol Gilbert by submission rd. 2.
Everyone expected fireworks in the next fight, a rematch between Jeremy ‘Bad Boy’ Bailey (5-3-0) and Phil Gildea (1-3-0), and fireworks are exactly what they got. These two first met at Cage Rage 2 where Bailey tapped Gildea out with a guillotine choke, although there is some controversy as to whether Phil really did tap out at all. Jeremy, it seems didn’t want to waste any time, and in a show of bad sportsmanship that would embarrass even Phil Baroni actually swung at Gildea when the two were called to the centre of the octagon for the referee’s instructions. This isn’t actually as dumb as it sounds; in an event like this he should have been disqualified, but hey, people came here to see these guys fight, and knowing Phil was ok the fight continued. But then again maybe it wasn’t such a good idea, despite showing some decent Muay Thai skills the Bad boy could do nothing to stop Phil’s advance as he stalked him around the ring like a man possessed. However, just when it seemed like Phil was really dominating the action, the Bad Boy sent him crashing to the canvas with a surprise right hook. In an even more surprising turn of events, literally just after the referee jumped and called a halt to the action Jeremy tried to stomp his dazed opponent several times. Proving that such actions have no place in the world of Mixed-martial arts the Bad boy was officially disqualified whilst Phil did a lap of honour to the crowd’s cheers and promised us a rematch in the near future.
Winner: Phil Gildea by disqualification.
The showdown between Damien Riccio (5-5-0) and Mark Weir’s training partner Matt Ewin (13-2-1) has been brewing ever since during one of Matt’s fights Riccio spat at Matt’s girlfriend. Matt is an extremely active and talented fighter, not one to just live in the shadow of his team-mate’s success, his impressive list of victories accumulated in just 2 years are a “who’s who” of British and French middleweight talent. Whilst Matt’s opponent does not possess the same dominant record, he is well known on the MMA scene for his ongoing feud with the Gracie family since he defeated Robin in a challenge match last year. Despite the build up to this match things began slowly with both fighters feeling each other out and circling for much of the first round. Damien clearly appeared the more confident on the night, although Matt tried to keep him at bay with front and low kicks, Damien’s confidence continued to grow and he was able to control the action standing and on the ground, even knocking Matt down with a well-timed counter, although he failed to finish. Sensing his opponent could mount little offence; Riccio took it to Matt in the second and caught him with a powerful right cross that was heard throughout the arena. Riccio landed a couple of shots to his downed opponent, but it was already over. Matt was quick to apologize to his fans on the internet for his poor performance and the two have already agreed to a rematch.
Winner: Damien Riccio by KO rd. 2.
The second title fight of the evening was between 2 Brits; submission artist Ryan Robinson (3-1-1) and San Shou champion-turned Mixed-Martial Artist Kuljit Degun (1-2-0) for the vacant Heavyweight title. I don’t think anyone in attendance really accepted these 2 as some of the best heavyweights Britain has to offer, but they came to fight nonetheless. After a surprising entrance accompanied by several drummers as part of an ethnic band, Kuljit utilized his striking skills to control the pace and land several blows to Ryan throughout rounds 1 and 2. Ryan responded with a few punches of his own, but was forced to work some submission attempts and avoid forearm shots from his guard and half-guard. It looked as though it was just a matter of time before Kuljit landed the finishing blow until suddenly he was reversed, Ryan then stood up and passed his guard, and rained down blows from the mount forcing a surprise upset in the second. After presenting him with the belt, Ian ‘The Machine Freeman, the only man to defeat UFC champ Frank Mir, announced he was coming out of retirement and challenged the newly crowned champ to defend his title at Cage Rage 9.
Winner: Ryan Robinson by TKO rd. 2.
It was back to the featherweights for the next fight of the evening as one of Britain’s MMA pioneer’s and UFC vet Leigh Remedios (11-6-0) was set to take on London Shootfighters’ Ricky “Ninja” Salhan (2-3-1). Leigh likes to make a big entrance these days and tonight was no exception as he decided he would out-ninja the ninja. As his name was announced two of the black-clad assassins stalked out, climbed into the cage and gave an impressive display of acrobatics. The fight itself was fast paced, as Leigh immediately charged in and even threw a flying-kick but Ricky was unfazed and quickly set about trying to use his hands to punish his opponent. Unable to do any damage, Ricky was soon tied up and dragged down to floor where Leigh tried to finish early with a submission, but Ricky managed to work his way up to his feet as Leigh went for a triangle. In what has to be a first Leigh actually tried to secure the triangle as he effectively sat on Ricky’s shoulders. I expected Ricky to go for what would have been a truly devastating slam, but possibly because he could not see properly he turned and pressed Leigh up against the cage. Finally Ricky managed to break Leigh’s grip and looked for the KO standing once more, but Leigh’s experience showed as he took the fight to the floor once more, took full mount, and all Ricky could do was hold on until Leigh broke his grip and applied an armbar to finish the fight in the first.
Winner: Leigh Remedios by submission rd. 1.
Two K-1 veterans were set to do battle as London Shootfighters and former Team Shamrock member James Zikic (12-4-2) took on Matthias Riccio (4-6-0). Despite a losing record Matthias is dangerous striker who’s finished many of fights by submission and was coming off a stunning upset over UC champ Pierre Guillet. Matthias did not hang around as he quickly backed James against the fence with some unorthodox swinging. Zikic quickly went to work in the clinch but it was his experience on the ground that was to be the deciding factor in this fight, as when Matthias landed on top of him he fought to guard and weathered everything the powerful Frenchman threw at him. After a failed leg lock attempt, James managed to reverse Matthias and take his back close to the end of the first and began working for a choke, he slipped it in but Matthias was just saved by the bell. James was forced to use much the same strategy in the second, after failing to sink in an armbar while pressed up against the cage he once again took Matthias’ back, and with plenty of time left on the clock there was nothing to do but tap as James sunk the hooks then the arm for the choke.
Winner: James Zikic by submission rd. 2.
The penultimate fight of the evening was between one of Britain’s most explosive middleweights and the UFC’s fastest-KO record holder Mark Weir (12-5-0) and Pride vet Johil de Oliveira (11-6-1). Having lost his last five fights over the last five years I think few fancied Johil’s chances, and despite charging across the ring for a takedown at the opening bell he was quickly reversed by the Brit. Johil managed an impressive leg lock attempt but Mark rolled, recovered, and began to punish him from above. Helpless, Johil gave his back and Mark sunk in the hooks for a tight rear-naked choke. An impressive win for Weir who’s looking to re-establish himself after some tough loses to the likes of Loiseau, Bouchelaghem, and Rivera.
Winner: Mark Weird by submission rd. 1.
The stage was now set for the main event of the evening as ‘Lighting’ Lee Murray (8-1-1) took on the Brazilian Anderson Silva (11-2-0) for the vacant Cage Rage title. Throughout the show the organizers had been teasing the audience with footage of the tense stare-down at the weigh-in and Lee Murray’s arrival. The crowd were fired up, but despite the hype, Lightening did not strike this evening. Soon after the bell Silva landed a head kick that had Lee stumbling back. Silva had said he would be the first to KO Murray and almost did it, but not quite. He did not finish the young Brit but managed to work from the clinch against the cage punishing Lee with vicious foot stomps. Although cautious of Lee’s power and right hand, Silva fought a beautiful Muay Thai game and landed leg kicks at will throughout. Lee seemed powerless on his feet that night, and even though he managed to get Silva on his back several times, all he could do was throw very light kicks to his thighs before the ref restarted the action. The situation worsened as Silva landed another high kick with a sickening crack that had Lee stumbling back again, and although he held on, it was clear the big right hand wasn’t coming. In my opinion Lee never recovered from that first knockdown, maybe if he had been able to get his head straight, or had unloaded on Silva whilst in his guard he could have turned things around, but Silva was simply too dominant on the night and walks away with a well deserved Unanimous Decision and the Cage Rage Middleweight Title.
Winner: Anderson Silva by Judges Decision rd.3.
All-in-all it was a great show from the Elite Team and the guys at Cage Rage, who have established themselves as the UK’s biggest MMA promotion. Despite tearing a Brazilian flag at the weigh-ins Lee showed some class and went to congratulate Silva backstage. Lee can learn a lot from this loss and I hope he comes back even better take on the likes of Joseph Riggs, David Terrell, and maybe even Mark Weir. Speaking of Weir, his sponsors XFUK are reporting on the sfuk.net forums that he is confirmed to fight Matt Linland at Cage Rage 9: No Mercy on the 27th November at the Wembley Conference Centre again. Other fighters said to be appearing are none other than Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral, Ian Freeman, Leigh Remedios and James Zikic.
For more information visit http://www.cagerage.tv or for more pictures visit http://www.ringpics.co.uk.
* Article by Simon Rogg, Team IronLife.com Staff Writer.
* Back to This Issue's Frontpage
|
|
|
