Which
is the UK's n.1 Show?
Which
is the No 1 show in the UK?
I
have argued for a long time that MMA in the UK needs a pecking order, it needs
1 or 2 shows that every fighter needs to aspire to and other shows should serve
to feed this show, whether intentional or not, with their champions and stand
out fighters. Then and only then will the sport have a recognisable structure
that we can use to sell the sport to the general public as an established structured
sport.
We now
come to criteria for this pecking order.
Money
and celebrity
Right
now many fighters want to fight on Cage Rage. Cage Rage is paying better purses
than most other shows and is being shown on Sky Sports, 2 good reasons for fighters
to want to get on the show.
Paul
Cahoons show Cage Carnage seems to have paid good purses for the first show and
has promised more for the next.
Belts,
which are the most respected?
If
we look around the current established promotions in the UK today and their evolution,
2 promotions stand out as having either the best, or a top 3 fighter holding every
belt, CageWarriors and Cage Rage
HeavyWeight:
Cage Warriors Champion Tengiz has firmly established himself as the top HW
active in the UK Cage Rage title is vacant
Light
HeavyWeight: Cage Rage Champion Michael Bisping beat Mark Epstein for the
title on Cage Rage's last show, CageWarriors title is Vacant.
Other
top LHW's are Cyrille Diabaté, Matthias Riccio and James Zikic. Matthias
and James are fighting on Cage Rage in September, Cyrille holds the Extreme Force
belt which he hasn't been in a positon to defend
Middleweight:
Cage Warriors Champion Matt Ewin has beaten everyone thrown at him. Cage Rage
title is Vacant since Paul Jenkins won the Welterweight belt
Other
top Middleweights are Lee Murray and Mark Weir. Mark doesn't hold a UK belt and
Lee holds the Extreme Force one which he hasn't been in a position to defend.
WelterWeight:
CageWarriors Champion Abdul Mohamed has beaten everyone thrown at him except Mohamed
Khacha, who has also beaten Cage Rage Champion Paul Jenkins. So UKMMA could argue
that theyhave the best Champion in this division.
LightWeight:
Cage Rage Champion Jean Silva and UFC veteran Gerald Strebendt have fought twice
for the Cage Rage Belt with a win each. Gerald is in the final of the CageWarriors
tournament with Dave Roche for the CageWarriors belt.
FeatherWeight:
CageWarriors Champion Emmanuel Fernandez has beaten probably the top 3 Featherweights
in the UK including the 2 competing for the Cage Rage belt.
Foreigh
Talent/World Class matchups
It
seems that 3 shows fit this criteria
Paul
Cahoon's show Cage Carnage held a first Golden Glory V UK show with some Golden
Glory Fighters on it and has promised some of the bigger names from this team
for his future shows.
Cage
Rage Had Jorge Rivera on their last show and has Andersen Silva and his team mates
on their next. Add in the Riccios and the other french fighters that have been
on the show, Gerald Strebendt and others and they easily meet the criteria.
CageWarriors
have had Gerald Strebendt, Emmanuel and Frederic Fernandez, Jorge Rivera, Steve
Thomas and others all fight on the show.
Extreme
Brawl has had Shannon Ritch, Jeremy Horn, Nate Schroeder, Amir Rahnvardi and others
on the show. It also had Alex Reid V Mark Weir.
Ultimate
Combat have a solid base of foreign fighters but none of these have stood out
as much as the previously mentioned nor established themselves internationally.
Cage
Wars had a host of american fighters including Shonie Carter and Brian Gassaway
Longevity
and consistency
Extreme
Brawl/Millennium Brawl is the longest running UK show, it has consistently good
cards, crowds and on the odd occasion that a show is lacklustre the next one is
always exceptional.
Ultimate
Combat has been around since March 2002, held 4 shows that year, 4 in 2003 and
3 so far this year. UC has an established fanbase and consistently fills it's
venue. They also push their fighters very well.
Cage
Rage debuted in September 2002, after a few mediocre performances their shows
got better and better and are up there with any show in the UK right now. They
put top UK fighters against international talent on all of their recent shows.
CageWarriors
debuted in July 2002 and has held 2 shows that year, 3 in 2003 and 3 so far in
2004 (will probably be 5 in all). CageWarriors exploded onto the scene then held
some great shows with poor crowd attendance and have solidly established themselves
up north with their last couple of shows.
Innovation
and Risktaking
We’ve
all heard the age old adage "You can’t make an omelette without breaking
some eggs", success is all about calculated risk, who takes them? who takes the
right ones? and who bounces back when it all goes wrong?
CageWarriors
has been the innovator in UK MMA ever since it's inception. It constantly changes,
constantly improves and shows the way for other shows. From the moment Dougie
held his first show he had the best cage in the UK, the proof is that other promoters
in the UK wanted to use it.
CageWarriors
have never been afraid to go back to the drawing board or to question themselves.
From softening down the ring girls that originally made the show famous, to cutting
the cards down to 8 fights a show (Quality over Quantity). CageWarriors was the
first show to have the guts to take the risk on a fan as a commentator (Yes I'm
talking about myself) rather than an established TV personality with no knowledge
of the sport. CageWarriors DVD's are top quality and are readily available from
their constantly improving website, another innovation that CageWarriors headed
... quality websites. Never to be one to let a setback slow them down, when CageWarriors
had poor attendance they moved base and established themselves up north, when
the cage was stolen Dougie started work on a bigger, better Titanium cage to debut
at his next show.
Cage
Rage is the most Glam of all the UK shows, not content with putting on world class
fights the Cage Rage team go above and beyond the call of duty with light shows,
demonstrations and anything else need to put asses in seats (let there be no doubt,
this is the most important factor in the development of our sport) which is what
brings in people off the street and not just die hard MMA fans.
Not
once but Twice, Cage Rage has announced TV deals, both of which took the UK scene
by storm. While the BEN TV show may not have been the most popular thing on TV
it gave more people an opportunity to see what our sport is all about. The recent
Sky TV deal is potentially the biggest development in UK MMA since Ian Freeman
made his UFC debut or the UFC came all the way to the Royal Albert Hall. When
the CageWarriors Cage (the one used for all of their previous shows) Was stolen
Cage Rage came back with a bigger, more versatile, lighter and easier to transport
cage in a matter of weeks.
Recognition
International and domestic
As
the UK shows establish themselves and the quality of fighters improve more and
more UK fighters see the possibility of having their dreams come true and fighting
in one of the Big 2 (UFC and Pride). While talent goes a long way in getting you
the big fight another big factor is your popularity and how much the audience
wants to see you. Do you think Lee Murray would have been given his chance if
nobody knew who he was? If the UFC didn’t know who Andy Jardine was do you
think they’d even know that Lee knocked Amir Rahnvardi out in 4 seconds on
his show? Or if Lee hadn’t had an altercation with Tito after UFC UK making
him the most talked about man on the net for weeks? It’s not enough to be
a great fighter, you have to be a sought after fighter that sells tickets, especially
when the show’sin question have to pay an extra $3,500 for a working visa.
On
discussion forums all over the world, everyone is talking about Lee Murray V Anderson
Silva just as everyone talked about Lee’s KO of Pele. When Babalu was supposed
to fight on Cage Rage everyone talked about that too (until he pulled out) Jorge
Rivera V Mark Weir was another fight that kept internet forums buzzing for weeks.
Cage Rage DVD's arealso top quality and I've heard of people all over the states
trying to get their hands on them. There have even been rumours about Dana White
doing some talent spotting at an upcoming Cage Rage event.
CageWarriors
News and Media Manager Ian Dean has proven to be a resource as useful as Josef
Goebels the propaganda minister, or Front National head man Jean Marie Le Pen,
jk, thankfully he uses his powers for good not evil. Ian has CageWarriors,
Cage Rage and any other show that sends him stuff all over the CageWarriors.com
front page and perhaps more importantly on US and other websites every day.
Cage
Wars Promoter Paddy Mooney made friends/associates with Bobby Razak and Todd Hester
and created a golden opportunity for himself in the printed and videomedia, unfortunately
he hasn't held enough shows to take advantage of this partnership. The relationship
and the will is still there so don't be surprised if Cage Wars is the Phoenix
of UK MMA and rises from the flames.
Conclusion?
While
no show has yet accepted the position as the feeder for any other, Cage Rage for
me is the show that stands out right now as the one most likely to drag MMA in
the UK kicking and screaming into the mainstream if that's at all possible. That
said, it’s definitely not time for them to rest on their Laurels. Other shows
are snapping at the Cage Rage heels while still more are beginning to establish
themselves with quality fights and professional organization.
by
SFUKU
26 August
2004
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