ace report by SFUKED

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Mark Weir (UK) vs Frank Ledroumaguet (Fr) Ledroumaguet opened with a body hook before the clinch and took Weir down to scarf hold. Weir T-barred with his arms and was able to fight his legs in to gain the guard. Ledroumaguet began to throw short hooks to Weir's ribs while Weir was setting him up for the armbar. Weir put it on and Ledroumageut jumped to his feet picking Mark off the mat but Weir did not relenquish his hold despite a hard landing and Ledroumaguet's punches. The french fighter managed to grab his own arm but Weir broke the grip and snapped on the lock. Ledroumageut had no choice but to tap out. Weir seems to improve every time I see him.

Alex Reid (UK) vs Rosaire Letapin (Fr) Unfortunately I lost this fight due to tape error, not my fault this time, so this is kind of from the top of my head. Apologies to Alex and Rosaire. It became obvious from the bell that Reid was going to dominate this fight standing and although Letapin was a game and obviously skillfull fighter Reid managed to down him about three times. Once was a beautiful left hook that put Letapin on his backside and almost through the ropes. On the ground both fighters were going at full speed and were more evenly matched. So much so that Reid soon realised it was to his advantage to stand the action up whenever possible and when acheiving the mount in one instance simply popped up to his feet to dish out more punishment in the stand-up phase. This is not to imply that Letapin did not put up a good fight, he did. He also seemed comfortable on his feet and was able to land a few bombs of his own. Reid was simply up to the challenge and delivered some devastating combos of punches and kicks as well as holding his own on the ground, trying for submissions when the opportunity presented itself and escaping from Letapin's attempts to submit him. Reid by decision. An exciting bout.

Gaz Roriston (UK) vs Jean-Louie Albrecht (Fr) As the French fighter was making his way to the ring, Levo turned to me and said that he expected this guy to be a bit special. "What makes you say that?" I asked. He pointed out all the other French guys had left the dressing room and come to watch the fight. Several of them were videoing it. From his feet Albrecht looked very dangerous. As Roriston closed to punch Albrecht delivered a powerful low kick and followed it up with a heavy combination. Roriston shot in to clinch and after pummelling, Albrecht took him down. Roriston gained the guard but Albrecht passed. In a scramble both fighters got to their feet only for Albrecht to take Gaz down again, this time into Roriston's half guard. Gaz quickly attained full guard as Albrecht tried to strike to the body. Roriston attacked with a sweep but Albrecht landed a hard shot that put his back to the canvas. Albrecht stood and backed out of the guard. He met Gaz standing with another hard low kick, Roriston replied by taking him down. Quickly back on their feet again, Roriston threw a high kick which missed and a body kick which didn't. Albrecht clinched throwing knees and turned to execute a good hip throw landing in the scarf hold. Albrecht began to work on Roriston's arm and managing to scissor it betwen his legs, applied an armlock. Roriston was unable to resist and had to tap.

European Title Fights:

James Zikic (UK) vs Bartolome Aguilera (Lux) Aguilera attacked straight away from standing and had Zikic somewhat on the back foot. Aguilera threw fast, strong punches and Zikic barely had time to counter. A strong combination from the man from Luxembourg forced Zikic to turn his head and scoot away but he turned back and immediately clinched. Zikic took Aguilera to the mat with a spinning throw, aguilers acheiving guard. Zikic attacked constantly all the time they were down, initially going for the leg before being returned to the guard. Applying a couple of knees Zikic fought to half guard and then passed completely taking side control. James threw knees to the body while working for a key lock. Shifting to north/south Zikic landing hard shots to the body before switching back to side control to fire in more knees. Zikic flew straight into an armbar attempt but lost it and ended up with Aguilera in his guard. Zikic tried another armbar, this time from the guard. Aguilera managed to escape but gave up his back. James put the hooks in and began to work the rear naked. Aguilera turned but Zikic managed to climb around to the mount in the process. Using strikes to set up another attempt on the arm Zikic instead saw an opening for a knee bar and took it. Aguilera tried to strike James to break the hold but Zikic cranked it and forced him to tap. An impressive victory. Zikic totally dominated on the ground and just went for submission after submission. He's now the European pancrase champion. Nice going James!

Danny Rushton (UK) vs Loic Pora (Fr) Pora attacked with a low kick, Rushton replying with one of his own, flowing into punches to the head and then clinching. Using a go-behind Rushton took Poira to the floor where he moved into the mount. Poira tried to apply a keylock from the bottom. Breaking the hold Rushton threw punches to the body before switching to side control. From here he threw powerful knees to Poira's arm and body. Poira tried the head scissors to escape but Rushton avoided the attempt easily. Poira managed to put Rushton in his guard and Rushton bega to throw shots to Poira's ribs.. Rushton popped up to his feet and planted a good knee shot right onto Poira's coccyx. After another knee and some inactivity the ref stood them up.

From standing Rushton closed with a low kick, both fighters exchanged punches before Rushton clinched and took Poira down to side control. Rushton began to switch from side control to north/south and back again in order to keep control of Poira. From north/southhe locked Poira's head under his arm and standing, hoisted Poira off the mat in this position applying awesome pressure to the neck. He couldn't hold Poira in this position and they dropped to the mat again, Rushton in side control. Poira attained full guard but they were stood back up by the ref for inactivity.

Once standing Poira seemed to be limping slightly. Rushton landed a heavy kick to the weak leg and Poira shot in to prevent more damage. He ended up flopping to the guard but Rushton passed and acheived side control again firing the shots in with his knees. Poira acheived guard and attacked with a triangle, Rushton stacked him and managed to weaken the hold enough to get a stand up. On their feet again Poira shot in again falling to the guard. Heavy shots from Rushton forced Poira's guard to break open. Rushton's knee came through and he applied a knee bar to the Frenchman. Poira attempted to resist but ended up screaming in pain as his knee was injured by the Englishman's submission hold. This left Poira on the canvas at the end of the match and Danny Rushton the winner and new European heavyweight Pancrase champion.

Video still by Cass

Thanks to Fred Rado for a great night of quality fights! Excellent atmosphere, with great sportsmanship between the fighters and the fans. In how many other sporting events would you see English fans cheer and clap French athletes!

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Pancrase Highlights - video clip

Watch Rushton crank it up! 16megs! - video wizardry by Cass

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