Cage
Rage 4
Cage
Rage 4 Lighting strikes
Sunday
oct 12 2003, Caesars
night club, streatham. London
Elite promotions in partnership with andrew geer ltd
I've
said it before and I stand by it, the UK audience has it made right now for MMA
shows. Between Extreme Brawl, Extreme Force and Ultimate Combat bringing over
the best from American and Europe to face UK opponents, Cage Warriors building
up a very solid card of fighters aswell as bringing production levels to a new
level and up and coming shows like XFC and UKMMAC the MMA fan is spoilt for choice.
Last
weekend I went to the most show of the UK's MMA events, bringing the fight club
to the nightclub (to steal John Lewis' phrase) Cage Rage.
The
card spoke for itself, seeing the return to UK competition of Jean Silva and Mark
Weir as well as Cage Warriors Lightweight champ Paul Sutherland taking on Dave
'Speedy' Elliot, possibly the UK's fastest growing star Ross Pettifer aswell as
fighters such as Ricky Moore, Pete Tiarks and Paul Jenkins but what makes Cage
Rage stand out from all the other UK shows right now is the work that Dave O Donnell
and Andy Geere put into making it just another MMA event but an MMA show.
Passing
by the event the day before and seeing the Huge Chariot and horses above the entrance
I knew straight away that everything Dave had told me about production and venue
was going to be true, when we went inside for the weigh in and I saw the size
and layout of the club itself I knew what was going to set Cage Rage apart from
all other UK events.
When
the show started I wasn't disappointed, each fighter was interviewed the day before
their fight and a sound byte was broadcast on 2 huge screens on either side of
the Octagon and a laser show and dance music helped to provide the atmosphere
between fights.
As for
the fights themselves, we weren't disappointed. Right from the start the matchmaking
was great and the fighters put on excellent performances From young Mark Smith
winning his semi Pro debut by submission after doing all he could to avoid Leon
dickens standup and Paul Jenkins going out and doing what he does to win by Knockout
against a heavier opponent. Pete Tiarks continued to impress with some excellent
thai skills in a tough fight against Ricky Moore, Ricky for his part showed little
fear of standing with the Lumpini veteran after some failed attempts at taking
Tiarks down. The hectic 5 minutes had it's effect on both fighters and Ricky opted
not to come out for round 2 giving Pete a win and driving him a little further
on his way towards a UK title shot.
Ross
Pettifer earned himself the worlds fastest MMA victory in just under 3 seconds
when he shin blocked his opponents low kick in the very first action of their
fight snapping Evans tibia. Evans has since had surgery and is reported to be
doing well and in good spirits.
In
another match with a weight difference Jeremy 'Badboy' Bailey took on Will Elworthy
giving away about 30kilos. Will took the fight to the floor quickly and managed
to slip an armbar on Bailey from guard. Bailey picked up his much heavier opponent
to slam him but the 30kgs extra was too much and he was forced to tap. After his
fight Jeremy called out Leigh Remedios once again, due to the weight difference
I don’t think this fight will ever happen.
Jean
Silva surprised everyone by opting to fight in his 'Kimono' sporting his newly
earned Black Belt, by the end of Round 1 he had found Andy Cooper to be a tougher
challenge than was expected and stripped off the jacket before coming back out
to win by sub. Andy proved to everyone why he's rated so highly in the UK by showing
that he's a lot more than a KO artist and not letting Jean have it all his own
way.
Dave Elliot showed
us why he's earned a shot against Jean in the next CageWarriors by tapping out
Paul Sutherland in the first, a little controversial as the Ref stopped the fight
for what looked like a fully locked in reverse armbar, Sutherland protested not
having tapped and the fight started back on the feet. Dave managed to get Paul
to the floor again and tap him with a triangle before the end of the round.
The
Main event saw Mark Weir return to action against Vo Thuat fighter from France
Jean Francois Lenogue. Jean Francois charged out of his corner looking to strike
and Mark took everyone, including his opponent, by surprise by taking the fight
straight to the ground. Jean Francois moved well from the ground and managed to
avoid Marks attacks and for a short while they both stood back up and threw bombs.
With his back to the fence Jean François clinched and Mark took him down
again and mounted. The Frenchman turned his back to get up but Mark slipped in
the Rear Naked choke and got the tap with 30 seconds to go in the first. A great
return to the scene for Mark who fought the perfect fight and got a well deserved
win.
All in all the event
was excellent, but it wasn't without its faults. The setup of the venue is great
if you happen to be octagonside or have a VIP table, but if you're not so fortunate
you have to fight your way to the front of the balcony to get a decent view of
the cage which was unfortunately the case for many of the fans.
SFUKU
Over
100 Cage Rage 4 photos by SFUKU here!
Results:
Cagerage.Co.uk
