• Daniel Bergman Vs Thomas Lamont Bergman wins by armbar in thre first round.
• Adrian Wild Vs Michael Hoogsteg Adrian wins by KO in the first round
• Jooachim Hansen vs Raffles La Rose Draw ( best figfht of the evening)
• Andrew Burrows Vs John Dean Andrew by Choke in round one
• Lee Threlfal Vs Tomi Simonem Tomi by Ref stopage in round one
• Paul Murray Vs Lee Mc Guiness Lee by ref stopage in round one
• Michael Heaney Vs Barry Meighan Michael by KO in round one
• Greg Loughran Vs Phil Gildea Phil by knockout in round one
• Andy Lagden Vs Lars Besend Andy by guilotine choke in round one
• Dave Patterson Vs Ian Thornton Dave by rear choke in round two.

The Paul Jenkins Vs Dave Roach was canceled due to a very personal and tragic family matter with Dave Roach.We hope things are OK for Dave. - Promoter Paddy Mooney

Hells Kitchen…If you can’t stand the heat!

CW3 " Hells Kitchen" stormed into Galway on Sat31st August. This was the first time for an MMA event to be staged in Ireland and the excitement was high. The Black Box theatre was full with in ten minutes of the doors opening and many were turned away due to lack of space. The lucky ones on the inside were about to be treated to a MMA spectacular which would leave no one in any doubt that this sport is the the future of combat!

The cage took centre stage and was surrounded by tiered seating and had an awesome entrance arch at one end. Each fighter would later come through the lights and smoke to the deafening cheers of a most appreciative audience I have seen at an MMA event to date. Galway is a party town that can easily rival Dublin for hospitality and nightclubs. The people are friendly and strangers are made welcome and very quickly feel at home. Which was a good thing as fighters had travelled from Finland, Sweden, Holland and Denmark to face the UK and Irelands up and coming talent as well as a few world tested veterans.

Tonight Thomas Lamont would fight after a layoff of eighteen months and we would see Joachim Hansen face off against Raffles la Rose. We would also have Big Adrian Wild who is CW and Gladiator challenge veteran. From Finland we had new dynamo Tomi Simonem who is from the awesome stable of Finn Fight promoter Marko leinstien. Martijn Da Jong who faced Egan inoue in super Brawl would corner Raffles La rose and heavyweight Michelle Hoogsteg and cap that off with UK and Irish fighters all hell was about to break loose.

Michael Heany vs Barry Meighan

Heaney's KO

Michael Heany who is the latest to come from Tom Lamonts chum sut academy was making his debut in The opening fight of the evening Michael came out strong with a three-punch combination that appeared to stun his opponent forcing him back against the cage. Another overhand right from Michael landed and Barry instigated the clinch. After an exchange of knees Michael broke away, stepped back and executed a well-timed short right hook, which caught his opponent flush on the chin, putting him down for Michael’s first victory in the cage.

Lee McGuiness Vs Pol Murray

McGuiness started quickly rushing across the cage to meet Pol initially putting him on the back foot. Following an exchange of punches Pol instigated a take down but in the ensuing scramble Lee took the top position within Pols guard, sat up and began to deliver hard, straight left and right hands to his opponent. Pol launched a valiant attempt to regain control throwing numerous punches from the bottom but they lacked the snap to trouble McGuiness. Following 4 or 5 unanswered shots from Lee the referee stopped the contest.

Greg Loughran Vs Phil Gildea.

Phil Gildea works GnP

This was expected to be a stand up war as both fighters came in as strikers. Loughran had a few fights under his belt and all were won by striking, quick hands and very aggressive. Gildea was the new man but looked very powerful and ready to throw down Loughran came out with a tentative low kick and was immediately rushed by Gildea. The action moved to the floor with Gildea striking from all angles and landing heavy blows to Loughrans head. Gildea landed a perfect shot from the guard, which KO’d Loughran. The match was over in less than one minute, explosive stuff from Gildea and a sluggish start for Loughran.

Lee Threlfal Vs Tomi Simonem

Threlfal kicks Simonen

Tomi Simonem will be a force to reckon with in MMA. This powerfully built Scandinavian is a powerhouse who could probably shoot through a wall! Lee Threllfall is a smart fighter with great striking skills and another fighter from the UK who has great potential. Threlfal throws some great high and low kicks keeping Simonem off balance but the more powerful Finn was soon in control with a fast take down and driving Threlfal to the fence where the Finn dropped many unanswered heavy punches leaving the ref no option but to stop the fight. From under the wing of Marko leinstien, Simonem should cause a lot of problems for MMA fighters.

Dave Patterson Vs Ian Thornton

Patterson sinks the choke

This fight offered a brief respite to the frenetic pace shown in the other contests. Both fighters began slowly with Patterson trying to tie-up and take his opponent down while Thornton appeared more comfortable throwing strikes from the clinch. The fight followed this pattern for much of the first round with fighters going to the ground, Ian in Dave’s guard before being stood up and returning to the clinch. The first round ended with Ian just in the lead due to his slightly higher work rate. The second round started with a similar pattern, both fighters tying-up against the cage before a takedown by Patterson resulted in him gaining the tops position. An almost successful escape attempt by Ian resulted in him briefly exposing his back but that was sufficient time for Dave to sink in a rear naked choke forcing the tap.

Andy Lagden Vs Lars Besend

Lagden battles Besend

The fight began with a takedown attempt by Besend, which allowed Lagden to catch him in a guillotine choke from the standing position. Despite Lagden appearing to have the choke well sunk in Besend kept his composure, forced Lagden back against the cage and ripped his legs out from under him taking both men to the canvas, Besend in Lagden’s guard and the choke still in place. Lagden worked hard from the bottom and despite appearing to have lost the choke at one point, continued to work for it and succeeded in adjusting position, cementing the choke and forcing the tap.

Adrian Wilde Vs Michael Hoogsteg

Hoosteg kicks out at Wild

The contest began with fighters initially standing off each other and exchanging 3 or 4 long range punches before Wilde began to close down the distance and tied-up with Hoogsteg using his body weight and upper body strength to his advantage taking Hoogsteg down. Adrian then gained the mount position where he began to throw several looping left and right hooks to Hoogstreg’s head. While Hoogsteg did not appear to be seriously hurt by these he offered nothing in return and made no attempt to improve his position forcing the referee to step in and stop the contest.

Andy Burrows v John Dean.

Andrew Burrows' long range artillery

Andy came out throwing hard leather and nearly ko'ed john with his first overhand left, John however proved to be a very tough and game opponent who clinched just longs enough to let his head clear, and throw a few hard knees to boot! Andy broke the clinch stepped back and landed two head kicks to which John answered with a strong leg kick and a stiff jab. Another clinch ensued and both fighters threw hard knees and uppercuts, Andy seeming to get the best shots in. Andy then took John down but landed in his guard. John then, showing that he had learned some ground skills, rolled Andy who kept his cool, snaked his hips out and sunk in a textbook armbar for a classy finish. Andy is now 7-1 and on his day is a match for anyone his weight in the UK. Afterwards it transpired that Andy had with his second punch broken his hand badly making this win all the more impressive.


Joachim Hansen vs. Raffles de la Rose

Raffles La Rose lands a heavy right on Hansen

What an awesome display! If there's a better MMA fight anywhere in the world this year I’d like to hear about it! This fight had everything striking, kicks, punches, knees, jumping knees, elbows, and jumping elbows! Submission after submission was slammed on only to be escaped in the nick of time and that was just the first round! Joachim Hansen is, in my opinion the finest pound for pound submission fighter in Europe but tonight he met a tough, hard relentless striker from Holland. The fight started with both fighters throwing heavy strikes. Raffles landing heavy at first then Joachim took the fight to his world with a fine double leg take down. He passed Raffles guard with ease and held side control then took the mount. Jochiam began to throw strikes and it looked bad for the Dutchman But Raffles had other ideas and managed to bridge & roll then escape to standing. From the standing position Raffles began to unload with strikes from all angles. He managed to land with two jumping knees to which Joachim answered with another double leg take down then moving skilfully to knee on stomach and a submission attempt. Once more Raffles reversed and got to his feet. Raffles landed some heavy leg kicks on his downed opponent. Joachim from his back threw a head kick which only just missed. This brought round one to a spectacular close. Round two was a carbon copy of round one with Raffles throwing hard strikes while standing and Joachim answering with classy takedowns and skilful groundwork. However both fighters in this round took a leaf from each other’s book. Joachim landing some crisp accurate strikes and Raffles even at one point taking the mount

at the end of the second and final five-minute round there could be only one obvious result. A draw. The fighters and the crowd were satisfied with this decision and embraced each other for a job well done. These two fighters are among the best Europe has to offer. And either one would not be out of place in the UFC, WFA, Deep, Pride or any show in the world. Promoters and matchmakers TAKE NOTE!

Tom Lamont Vs Daniel Bergman

Lamont knees, Berman punches

Lamont came out Big and ripped, it had been eighteen months since his last appearance in the WVC so would ring rust be inevitable. Daniel Bergman came to the show in top condition looking much bigger than his 107kg and while he waited fro Lamont to enter the cage the tension was obvious to all. Lamont Threw off his shirt and at 112kg and 6 feet 3 inches this fight would not last the distance. The fighters touched gloves and returned to their corners. Lamont took the centre of the cage in one stride and delivered a left jab, right cross and one of the most powerful low leg kicks I have ever seen in MMA. The sound was sickening and I felt sure that Bergman’s leg had been broken. Bergman dropped to the floor in obvious distress and referee Fred Rado stepped forward to stop the fight. Lamont came forward and landed some blows on Bergman and recovering from the kick Bergman grabbed at Lamonts leg and held on for a single leg take down. Lamont sprawled and both fighters scrambled with Lamont landing knees and punches to Bergman’s head. A body clinch ensued and Bergman took Lamont down, still landing punches Lamont threw Bergman from the mount. Bergman took the opportunity to go for an armbar, which he executed perfectly. Lamont pulled out of the first attempt Bergman adjusted and cinched the submission in tight. Here some confusion came into play as Lamonts hand was on the fence Bergman’s corner man shouted " he tapped" This caused Daniel to release the submission. Lamonts corner insisted that he did not tap and the referee had not seen a tap. Daniel and Tom had come to an agreement that Tom was in a position that he could not escape from and Lamont lifted Bergman’s hand in Victory. Bergman had shown what it takes to be an MMA champion as he had suffered badly in the opening moments and was still able to turn the fight around and leave with a very prestigious victory! Lamonts ring rust played a big part in this match but this was a fight to decide his future. Was he hungry enough to continue in MMA or would he call it a day? Well the big dog is hungry! So let the big dog eat!

Summation.

Once again Cage Wars brings new talent to the MMA world and Introduced the UK to Raffles, Joachim, Tomi, Lars and Daniel. These fighters will be in top shows in no time at all. Cage Wars will knuckle up again in Ireland in Jan 2003. Fighting is a sport, but it is probably the best sport in the world!

Paddy Mooney

Cage Wars Producer

• Cage Wars 1 report
• Cage Wars 2 report
• CageWars.com