Rob Whiteford was the protagonist in one of the most epic UFC entrances of all time. For his first trip to the Octagon in his native land of Scotland last July, the sold-out SSE Hydro crowd in Glasgow serenaded an emotional Whiteford on his final appr…
Rob Whiteford was the protagonist in one of the most epic UFC entrances of all time. For his first trip to the Octagon in his native land of Scotland last July, the sold-out SSE Hydro crowd in Glasgow serenaded an emotional Whiteford on his final approach to the stage as “The Flower of Scotland” played throughout the vast arena. Taking on Lucas Martins in UFC Fight Night Rothwell vs. Dos Santos in Zagreb, “The Hammer” looks forward to a similar passion in the Croatian crowd as they, too, welcome the UFC to their shores for the first time. “I want to fight ever … Read the Full Article Here
In 12 days Conor McGregor will make his UFC debut in Sweden, and in the maximum allotted time of 15 minutes he will not only define his existence as a martial artist to date, but also attempt to justify a movement that has bubbled beneath the surface o…
In 12 days Conor McGregor will make his UFC debut in Sweden, and in the maximum allotted time of 15 minutes he will not only define his existence as a martial artist to date, but also attempt to justify a movement that has bubbled beneath the surface of mainstream Ireland for a number of years.
John Kavanagh’s Straight Blast Gym produced the first charge from the Republic of Ireland to step into the octagon when Tom Egan lost to John Hathaway at UFC 93 in Dublin, and they were always destined to return based on the trail they blazed not only through Ireland, but through Europe and beyond.
It seemed the Long Mile Road club owned every title in Ireland at one stage or another—Paddy Holohan at bantamweight, Owen Roddy at featherweight, Myles Price at lightweight, Cathal Pendred at welterweight, Chris Fields at middleweight, etc.—and more often than not one of their fighters would have to headline a card to give it a stamp of approval.
Local events took in decent numbers of people attached to the sport, those who loved it, as well as the usual conveyor belt crowd sporting shirts with decayed skulls and infected pit bull terriers to go with scowls that took them weeks to master in their bedroom mirrors.
A community grew inside the events and more clubs came of age and contested for the national titles as SBG’s Aisling Daly, McGregor, Fields and most recently Pendred claimed world titles under different promotions.
Despite the obvious talent in the Irish MMA ranks, the country’s society and media struggled to legitimize the sport with the only papers that featured the sport regularly being a local free publication, Dublin Gazette Newspapers, while a handful of online magazines kept the fire burning for the community.
Cage Contender was always, and continues to be, the dominant MMA promotion in Ireland and the crowds still come in droves to see the gyms from the South of the border take on the teams from the North.
However, there was always room for young upstarts to hone their craft and compete for titles in many other national promotions—BattleZone, Rumble in Rush, Cage Gods, Celtic Gladiator, Ryoshin Fighting Championships, Man of War, Clan Wars and The Fight Before Christmas among others—with the audience being made up of teammates of the fighters, a couple of media members and fans of the sport.
Despite the level of talent that was on display, as well as former UFC veterans who continue to make appearances on the Cage Contender cards, national papers would literally laugh at the idea of featuring the sport on their back pages.
Maybe it was the hangover from the old “human cockfighting” days, the Irish attachment to boxing, the lack of people willing to advertise or just misinformation about the sport.
While interning at a national newspaper three years ago, every morning meeting for the sports section nearly descended into a sketch scene where I would blabber on about the future of the sport and the importance of being the first publication to feature it. This, while the other hacks would harmlessly laugh at my youthful innocence and steer me back toward the “newsworthy” path.
It was always going to be McGregor. He was focused, aggressive, dominant, incredibly talented and even more driven. The first time I saw “The Notorious” fight, I can remember him being perplexed after he weighed in because his original opponent had pulled out due to “car trouble.”
The notion of it had stuck with me and I can remember myself and Andrew McGahon, the only other copy journalist I’d see in the early days, laughing about it until we realised that “car trouble” was as good an excuse as any.
The replacement, Mike Woods, was torn apart by the young Dubliner after he landed a flurry of punches that signalled the end of the bout in just over 10 seconds.
McGregor took the mic and praised the last-minute replacement, a mature act for a young man of 22, and from there his case to be among the best in the world snowballed.
Just over a handful of fights and two world titles later, won in his beloved Dublin, McGregor is one of the hottest pieces of property in Irish sports. He is a knockout artist that has shown fantastic grappling skills, charismatic, hilarious and unconsciously intimidating.
The papers that once chuckled at my attempts to get work published now herald the dawn of the future champion, MTV made a documentary and national news stations can’t get enough of him.
Now when Irish people hear that you are interested in MMA they might bring up a UFC fight they’ve seen, ask you if you train, maybe even bring up McGregor.
It’s a far cry from the days when people would nearly expect you to be a criminal, some type of “hard man”or just an individual who was drawn to violence.
McGregor does not want to be “the token Irish guy” and with a five-fight deal penned, he certainly isn’t. His performances have won him a place on the UFC roster and now the future is as bright as he wants it to be.
A lot is hanging on this debut, not only for Conor, but the whole MMA movement in Ireland. With a win we can expect the media intake to get even more frenzied and maybe some jobs will be created out of it. We can also expect a whole new breed of regional MMA fans to be created in the country and a new level of understanding to be acquired about the sport. If he continues to win throughout his contract we can expect the global flagship promotion to return to Ireland sooner than expected.
Having long admired McGregor, it’s hard to even consider a loss. It would seem his intensity alone could win him the bout, but in Marcus Brimage he is faced with a very serious opponent that has already notched three wins in his UFC career.
Like in any war, mixed martial arts’ battle with the Irish mainstream may lose some ground if its champion doesn’t bring home the bacon on April 6, but it’s a resilient animal and I’m sure the Irish athletes will pay back the investment the publications, people and community have made in them as they take on the giants of the UFC in April and the future.
Owen “Rowdy” Roddy confirmed that he is ready to face world class opposition at Cage Contender XIV last Saturday, when he earned a split decision win over UFC veteran Shannon Gugerty in a bout of Rocky proportions. Gugerty wasn’t taki…
Owen “Rowdy” Roddy confirmed that he is ready to face world class opposition at Cage Contender XIV last Saturday, when he earned a split decision win over UFC veteran Shannon Gugerty in a bout of Rocky proportions.
Gugerty wasn’t taking any prisoners in the first, he put pressure on Roddy, who danced around the cage, but a scramble led to the San Diego native taking the Dubliner’s back and, after securing a body triangle, he sunk in a rear naked choke that could’ve tamed the most stubborn of lions.
The Ballymun crowd screamed their support at their champion, who seemed to be in the choke for about three minutes—the arm was under the chin, Roddy’s head was going purple—but still the courageous protagonist of the card managed to escape.
The second round began with a big knee from the American in the first 10 seconds which opened up the nose of his opponent, but Roddy began to come into his own, slipping, weaving and landing sharp punches with Gugerty appearing to wear throughout the round.
The only time Roddy seemed in trouble in the second was when he, in an attempt to take the back, secured one hook and tied it up and tried to drag the black belt onto the ground. Gugerty managed to take the back himself from the situation, but Roddy was quickly up again and finished the round in dominant fashion.
Out for the third round and the whole National Basketball Arena were on their feet, throwing every punch, kick and shot with their hero. He fought well and certainly won the round, really hurting the former UFC lightweight on two occasions.
Roddy took the split decision win, and he rightfully was given a standing ovation by the crowd.
He mentioned that he would prefer to fight at bantamweight in his post-fight address, but after making such a big ripple in the featherweight waters, it may be hard to get top-class opposition if he drops down again.
Certainly, he has paid his dues to make a big splash in the mainstream of the sport, and the whole country will be behind him when the day comes.
Fraser Opie and Ivan Salaverry squared off in a fight to determine the Cage Contender light-heavyweight strap in the match before, and despite being quite the spectacle, it is destined to be remembered for it’s stoppage that didn’t seem warranted.
Opie’s elbows opened a massive cut across the forehead of Salaverry in Round 1, but the former UFC middleweight didn’t look uncomfortable at all, standing in a karate stance for the majority of the matchup, landing straight punches.
The 41-year-old ATT legend may have let the first round slip, but Fraser took his licks in the second before Salaverry went for a leg lock, to which Opie followed suit.
With both fighter in a 50/50—both exchanging leg locks—Salaverry seemed to be looking to kick Opie’s arm for a way to stop the his sub attempt, but his foot grazed him in the face.
Personally, I didn’t think the shot even landed, but Opie, fully conscious, turned to referee Peter Lavery and said “he kicked me in the face,” after which the fight was then stopped and the belt awarded to the South African.
Lavery is a quality referee and it’s undoubtedly the hardest job to have in MMA, but such a big call in a title fight should never happen, especially when the promotion has done so much to attract a legend like Salaverry to their event.
Paddy “The Hooligan” Holohan, after a knock out in his last bout to secure a place in the final, showed his amazing versatility when he submitted Artemij Sitenkov in the decider of the bantamweight grand prix.
Holohan was quickly put in a heel hook by Sitenkov, but the Tallaght man’s flexibility and knowledge on the ground led him to a successful escape, despite the submission looking very deep.
After he got out, Holohan forced his opponent into his guard, where he put on a masterclass of jiu jitsu from the bottom—first looking for an omoplata, then for a gogoplata, before sinking in a beautiful triangle just beyond the halfway mark of the fight—a bridge too far for Sitenkov.
Holohan looks like he’s cleared out the majority of bantamweights in the country, and it’ll be interesting to see who the animated customer is matched with next.
Karl Moore took his first professional win under the Cage Contender banner at the weekend, when he faced off against experienced campaigner, Washington Ferreira, who boasted a record of 17-8 coming into the bout.
Moore looked to push the pace in the first round, but the bout constantly turned into a Greco roman matchup against the fence, and the same could be said for the second, but Moore took his chance when it came after landing a few good shots, taking his opponent’s back and finishing with a rear naked choke.
We’ve still a lot to see of Moore, but there’s no doubting he has talent, a match with Jonny Dargan who recorded a 16-second knockout on the undercard on the same night could be a cracking matchup, to see how the man from the North deals with a top-caliber striker.
Another interesting situation that came out of the undercard was another win for Joe McColgan, over another SBGi fighter, James “Sexual” Heelan.
McColgan, in his post-fight interview, declared himself as the “SBGi Hunter”, and I have no doubt that he’ll get a chance to prove the legitimacy of that statement soon, having now won decisions against Levi Kehoe and Heelan.
Preliminary Card
Jonny Dargan (SBGi) -v- Keith Elliot (Lucan MMA)
Result: Dargan, KO
Jonny Origan (Coolmine MMA) -v- Glenn Moore (Kyoujin)
Cage Contender XIV in Dublin’s National Basketball Arena this Saturday will see the featherweight champ, Owen “Rowdy” Roddy get the “big fight” he has been waiting for to project him into the limelight of international MMA. Long considered one of …
Cage Contender XIV in Dublin’s National Basketball Arena this Saturday will see the featherweight champ, Owen “Rowdy” Roddy get the “big fight” he has been waiting for to project him into the limelight of international MMA.
Long considered one of Europe’s pound-for-pound best, standing in the way of Roddy is Shannon Gugerty, UFC veteran and Dean Lister black belt, but the Ballymun brawler is focused on the task at hand and believes he has an arsenal that will overwhelm the American.
“I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time,” said Roddy, “Gugerty’s scalp would be a massive one to claim, and I’m delighted that John Ferguson has put this fight together.”
Master of leg locks Dean Lister has already made a debut for the Irish promotion, seeing off the legendary Rodney Moore on his way to a solid win.
With one of his students now set for a Cage Contender debut, Gugerty’s skill set is something that the Irishman believes he can match everywhere, having trained for the specific threats he poses.
“Between myself and Paddy Holohan, who’s also fighting a well-versed submission and leg lock expert, I’m ready for wherever the fight goes, but I don’t think he’ll be able to catch me.
“I’m going to put a pace on him that he won’t be able to live with; he’s decent in every aspect of the game, but he’s not outstanding.
“I think I’m going to finish him with strikes,” said the Ballymun native.
“Rowdy” also boasts the greatest supporters on the Irish scene and during his last title defense, the crowd were deafening as they cheered him on to victory over the dangerous Ben Davis.
Despite his great love for his fans, Roddy is adamant that the noise and the expectation will not get to him and it will be business as usual.
“I love to hear the crowd cheering my name; it gives the event an amazing backdrop and I get a great buzz hearing my name chanted in the arena.
“But to be honest, I can’t hear anything on my way to the cage, I’m completely focused, I can’t hear or see anything outside of the enclosure once the bell rings.
“It’s not ’til after I get my hand lifted that I can really enjoy it and get butterflies in my stomach, and I’ll make sure I’ll get that same feeling come Saturday,” said the featherweight champion.
However, Shannon Gugerty has ambitions of his own, fighting his third bout at featherweight, the San Diego native wants to use this fight to showcase his own skills and look for a spot back in the UFC.
“I know that I’m coming here to fight a well respected opponent, but I won’t be a stepping stone for anyone,” said the young veteran.
“At this new weight I feel better than ever, back in my days at 155, I wouldn’t have to cut any weight, so I feel I have new advantage as far as my size is concerned.
“Roddy has got to know that as much he wants to elevate himself to the mainstream, I’m looking to get back into the UFC, and I’ve never been more mentally and physically prepared in my career,” said Gugerty.
The new featherweight is a frequent visitor to the Emerald Isle due to his Irish lineage on his father’s side, and claims he would welcome an offer to defend the title if it changes hands on Saturday night.
“I really love it over here, when I win the fight on Saturday, I’d definitely like to come back and defend the title, the people are great over here and I’ve met a lot of new friends on my visits.
“But the bottom line is, I know I’m going to win, I mean that with no malice, but I will take the victory and I will be classy, humble and respectful to Owen in doing so,” said the jiu jitsu black belt.
Playing the adversary of the hometown hero is something that the American is also quite familiar with, having done so on two occasions during his UFC career, and he believes he will gain the respect of the Irish audience with his performance at Cage Contender XIV.
“Fighting Spencer Fisher in Chicago and Terry Etim in Manchester definitely gave me the experience of fighting someone in their back yard; it’s something that I’m quite comfortable with and I’m glad I have that knowledge.
“I hope to go out there and impress the crowd, and I really think the match up between me and Owen will be the fight of the night,” said Gugerty.
Tickets for Cage Contender XIV are available in Xtra Vision stores nationwide and on www.cagecontender.com
Colin “Big C” Robinson and Neil “Old Skool” Wain have traced their respective lines in the sand, trading insults before Saturday night’s heavyweight title contest in Kings Hall, Belfast. Until the press call last week, the…
Colin “Big C” Robinson and Neil “Old Skool” Wain have traced their respective lines in the sand, trading insults before Saturday night’s heavyweight title contest in Kings Hall, Belfast.
Until the press call last week, the Cage Contender XI lead-up contrasted greatly with the landmark Cage Contender X’s, due to the lack of fighting words exchanged between the latest headliners compared to that of Chris Fields vs. John Redmond.
However, these beliefs were put to bed as soon as Robinson insulted Wain, jibbing at his opponent’s fight name claiming he was going to send his fellow UFC veteran “back to school.” Without hesitation, Wain fired back at the Ballymena man declaring he would “expose Robinson’s glass jaw.”
The two KO artists will have even more reason to go in and swing for the fences with Cage Contender CEO John Ferguson having already predicted a quick ending to the affairs in the main event.
In another big development, “Stormin” Norman Parke will now face off against BJJ black belt Marcos Nardini of Dinky Ninjas. Due to Myles Price’s injury, the lightweight belt will now be vacated for either Parke or Nardini to claim the spoils of the strap on the night. His new opponent brings a completely different set of tools to the matchup, with Parke’s training undoubtedly having being geared toward his reaction to Price’s striking skills.
Nardini may cause some problems to Parke, whom many believe to be the uncrowned champion of the 155 division. Although only fighting in MMA just over a year, Nardini is a well-celebrated jiu jitsu player across Europe, known for his formidable guard.
“I’m very glad that we’ve managed to secure Marcos,” Ferguson said. “After Myles pulled out, we had to find another worthy opponent for Norman, and thanks to John Nicholson from Dinky Ninja’s, we made it possible.”
With an already-stacked fight card, the comments of Robinson and Wain will just add to anticipation surrounding the 11th outing of Ireland’s most successful MMA promotion.
As “Sandstorm” blasted out of the sound system, the audience’s level of appreciation rang through the packed out MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. The blind aggression was in the face of the great Wanderlei Silva, with his lines and scars…
As “Sandstorm” blasted out of the sound system, the audience’s level of appreciation rang through the packed out MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. The blind aggression was in the face of the great Wanderlei Silva, with his lines and scars telling their own story.
While it is undoubtedly exciting to see “The Axe Murder” in that mindset, I couldn’t help but think why he would approach this fight in such a manner.
I know what you’re thinking—Silva can only fight one way. Swinging wide hooks from his hip, “a berserker” is the description they constantly play with in an effort to describe the wild attacks of the Curitiba native.
The Boston CEO confirmed that the 27-second knockout to Chris Leben could have been the last action we ever see from one of the most exciting fighters in the history of the sport.
I believe these suggestions to be completely premature and in all honesty, perhaps the UFC should think of what was expected from Wanderlei Silva before he even stepped into the Octagon last night.
We all know the Pride champion. The Wanderlei Silva that only has one gear. Some of his fights were so graphic, you could see the Japanese audiences cover their eyes in an effort to block out what appeared to be an assault, despite it actually a competitive MMA matchup.
When Silva signed up to the UFC, we all expected to see the same man in the Octagon. Beginning his second wave with the promotion at 205, Silva fought Chuck Liddell and despite losing a decision, at least we still saw the man we had waited for.
Again, in May 2008, three years ago, Wanderlei banked the last knockout of his career against Keith Jardine up to this point. The punch went on to win him Knockout of the Night honours as well as Knockout of the Year honours at the MMA awards.
Then, the third part of the Rampage trilogy came upon us, with Rampage laying out the former Pride champion, with a left hook that signaled the end of Silva in the light heavyweight division.
This also signaled something else in Silva, in his next two fights we saw a calculated approach and a real game plan from the master. At a catch weight of 195, Silva was unlucky not to edge out a decision against Rich Franklin, the man who went on to “retire” Chuck Liddell.
This led to Wanderlei’s full middleweight debut, in February of last year at UFC 110. His opponent was Michael Bisping, a man known for his ability on his feet and his improving ground game. Silva approached this bout like a true professional, his game plan was evident and he was unlucky to not finish the fight on two occasions, coming out with the decision in the end.
Bisping is now going on to coach the newest season of TUF alongside Jason Miller, and is widely regarded as one of the top five middleweights in the world after stringing three wins together after his loss to Silva.
This brings us to last night. “The Axe Murderer” has such a long lay off due to injury, and was put into a fight where he was basically being coaxed into fighting in his old style. Something he hadn’t really done since his last knockout loss to Quinton Jackson three years before.
There was talk from the UFC of “Fight of the Decade” and with Wanderlei Silva’s loyalty to the fans, I think he decided he would go back to his roots and swing for the fences and hope for the best. This is not how Wanderlei should perform these days, and I think he showed an awareness of that in his two previous contests.
A tough contest still lies in Chael Sonnen who dished out the dirt after last night’s performance in an interview Ariel Helwani. However, with the outspoken former contender out for the time being, why not put one more challenge in front of this great entertainer before ruling him out altogether. He has shown he is capable of fighting in the new world of MMA, now let him try. He has given the sport too much, and he deserves another fight.
In 12 days Conor McGregor will make his UFC debut in Sweden, and in the maximum allotted time of 15 minutes he will not only define his existence as a martial artist to date, but also attempt to justify a movement that has bubbled beneath the surface of mainstream Ireland for a number of years.