Cage Rage 21

Introduction by Alan Orr

With MMA (mixed martial arts) becoming the new super sport we will start to see more shows and bigger events. Cage Rage is the UK's answer to that call. I sent along my student / fighter Aaron Baum to cover the last event to give you all the insiders view of the show and fights.

A full house, a great venue and a banging lineup of fighters can only mean one thing and that is Cage Rage 21: Judgment Day at Wembley. The Cage Rage guys really know how to put on a show and with this event being on the same night as the UFC in Manchester, London needed to premier an eventful night of fighting and they did that in style. Not only was the lineup full of up and coming fighters like Paul Daley and james Zikic but they also had veterans of the UFC and other topflight shows, including Vitor Belfort and Tank Abbot. All in all with the numerous hospitality and ring girls thrown in the event looked certain to thrill!

The arena at wembley is a huge space and yet combined with the crowd and the characters on show the atmosphere was electric. One of the main characters from previous Cage rage shows is that of Brad Pickett. always one for a grand entrance brad entered the arena in denim dungarees and reading the Sun. He was facing a good jiujitsu specialist in Alex Owen who has slowly worked his way up the ranks and is always a very slippery customer. Brad is known for his punching but managed to get little off in the way of bombs and much of the 3 rounds was on the floor. Brad has been working with Top Team for his groundwork and this has played off because he managed to escape numerous submissions. He reversed Owen a number of times but the BJJ man wouldn't let his man away and eventually triumphed with a majority decision. This was close to call and many weren't happy but Brads face showed the outcome of the fight clearly with the punchers face cut, bruised and banged up.

Highlight of the night for me and for many in the crowd was Abdul Mohammed. Renowned for being a wrestler with freakish strength and phenomenal takedowns and slams, he didn't disappoint. He was fighting Ross Pointon of Ultimate Fighter fame, who always comes to the table with power and heart. Unfortunately he never got to show it, as out of nowhere, Mohammed dropped a spinning backfist with 3.20 of the 1st round gone. Maybe Pointon was expecting the shoot from his opponent as was predicted, but when that bomb landed on his jaw, he was out cold. Top marks for Mohammed coming to the table with a well thought out game plan and shocking everyone with his standup. Best knockout of the night and an absolute peach. Just goes to show that anything can happen in this game. Well after that encounter the crowd was looking for more and they weren't disappointed as Paul Daley and Paul Jenkins rocked into the cage. Daley came to the cage looking calm, focused and above all pumped up for a tear up. Jenkins had the biggest laugh of the night coming in wearing a Borat thong. Always the joker! Both like to bang with their hands and so were cautious in the 1st, just eyeing each other up and not wanting to make a mistake. However with 40 secs left on the 2nd round clock, Daley caught jenkins in a good Thai clinch, ragged him, and then exploded with 3 knees, a left elbow, 2 more knees and a left liver shot that dropped him for the win. Daley looks likes his improving with the same aggression but calmer outlook he showed on the night.

Alex Reid had a tough looking match up with Murilo Rua and started well. Unfortunately he threw a low kick as 'Ninja' came in and caught Ruas knee, opening up a horrendous looking cut, that went to the bone, just below his knee. The ref had to stop the fight due to the horrific injury and the 'Reidinator' had to retire before he could even get going. Mark Epstein, Mark Weir also had 2 victories to go home with as well after well-fought wins against Roman Webber and Matsui respectively. Epstein was as usual strong, fit and full of hate and won with a TKO due to punches and Weir won a decision after a strange bout with the Japanese. Matsui really didn't want to know in the standup game and tried to take Weir down with to no avail. On a number of occasions he tried to forward roll towards Weirs feet for the takedown, with no result until he tried to do it one time too many and rolled into a sweet right hand that had the crowd laughing and cheering. Different but not effective!

The heavyweights had some good bouts with James Zikic beating a tough as ever Santos over 3 rounds. This really could of gone to either fighter as both fought with the heart of a tiger and both deserved the victory. Neither tried to take each other down once over the 3 rounds and were quite happy to stand in front of each other and see who would win the battle of attrition, with both throwing punches and kicks. Santos must have landed at least 40-50 low kicks to Zikics left thigh, to the point were his leg was literally black form the bruising. Zikic was one tough boy to take the punishment and come away with the win, but I'm sure walking down stairs was out for the lad for a few weeks after! Take the lift my friend, you deserve it! The big Brazilian, Vitor Belfort looked lively for once with both hands and feet and comfortably beat the Italian Champion in Rnd1 with a flurry of his famous punches. Good to see him back to his best.

Final fight of the night saw the one and only Tank Abbott take the place of Bob Sapp who pulled out at short notice. He got the call the day before the show, got off his bar stool, got on a plane and was fighting 24 hours later. There's only one Tank! Know everyone knows Tank and how he fights, but I'm sure his opponent Gary Turner was surprised how quickly Tank came out of the blocks. For the first minute he wobbled Turner and backed him up against the cage, causing the crowd to rise and cheer like the UFC days of old. But predictably Tank tired, ran out of steam and ran into a flurry of punches that ended the bout with a TKO two minutes, 30 seconds into the 1st round.

Overall a good night for Cage Rage and the fighters. There was a good crowd, plenty of ring girls, knockouts, submissions, some old favorites and the best knockout I've seen for a longtime with Mohammeds backfist exploding on Pointons jaw like juggernaut. Good times!

Alan Orr is a disciple of Robert Chu Sifu and the European representative of the Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun system.

Teacher of Tui Na Chinese Massage Therapy

He is also the UK representative for Guro Mark Wiley in the Filipino martial arts and Sensei Eddy Millis of Shark Tank in NHB/Grappling.

Web:
www.alanorr.com
www.thechinesemedicineacademy.co.uk
www.warriorfunctionaltraining.com

For further information Tel: 07958 908 196 or email: info@alanorr.co.uk