Tag: Regional MMA

British MMA is on the agenda once again, and having recently finished my mini-series of Ultimate Challenge DVD reviews, we’re going to jump straight back into Dave O’Donnell’s cage with a look at their latest TV show, UCMMA 30, shown this past Wednesday night on Sky Sports here in Britain.

The show began with kickboxing action as Aurelijus Kerpe went up against Andre McIntyre in the UK1 middleweight division.

This was very interesting. The feeling out period only lasted a few moments and came to an abrupt end when Kerpe began to swing for the fences. He was all over McIntyre like a cheap suit, putting him on the ground twice, although McIntyre disputed the first knockdown.

McIntyre’s problem was his reluctance to move away from the fence, which made him an easy target for Kerpe, and it was only when he moved to the centre of the cage in the second round that he had any form of success. He managed to back Kerpe up against the cage where he scored with a knockdown of his own.

But it wasn’t long before he returned to his old habit of going back to the fence, and Kerpe soon had him on his backside again. The referee gave him an eight count, and when he stood up on rubbery legs, the official called a halt to the proceedings and gave Kerpe the TKO win.

The regular MMA action began with a semi-final in the Middleweight tournament between Jimmy Millar and Jason Radcliffe.

Radcliffe came forward as soon as the fight began, going for a takedown after a quick combination. Millar did a great job of defending, and it seemed like an age before Radcliffe finally slammed his man down to the mat.

He then went to work immediately, controlling the action on the ground and eventually taking Millar’s back. Millar tried to take the back door route out before Radcliffe re-established control and went to work with the ground and pound, making it impossible for Millar to do anything. Radcliffe soon sunk in a rear naked choke, and the referee stepped in to give him the submission win.

More middleweight action followed as Andy Mojo Manzolo took on Louis King.

Many were wondering how King would get on in his MMA debut, having excelled in the UK1 division. Manzolo took the fight to the ground straight away in an attempt to negate King’s punching power, only to find himself on the receiving end of a guillotine attempt.

Manzolo managed to escape, but King soon reversed the positions, taking the mount and going to work with the ground and pound. King’s assault was relentless, and all Manzolo could do was cover up, so it came as no great surprise when the referee stepped in to give King the TKO win.

Then it was up to heavyweight as Carl Kingslow took on Paul Taylor. Kingslow began by trying to keep his man at range with a few well-placed kicks, but then Taylor caught one of them and countered with the heavy leather.

The pattern of the fight changed immediately. In between clinches against the cage, Taylor unloaded with the big blows, turning Kingslow’s face into a bloody mess, and when the referee saw the crimson mask he stopped the action and brought the doctor in.

And that was it. The referee quickly waved the contest off to give Taylor the TKO win. Not bad for a guy who was suffering from a chest infection!

The heavyweight action continued with the big boys of the UK1 division as Tomas Czerwinski took on Chi Lewis-Parry for the vacant title.

This was the battle of the brawler against the striker. Czerwinski’s tactic was simple, go for the big knockout blow with each and every swing. The only problem was that he kept telegraphing most of those shots, and for the first two rounds Parry did a good job of keeping his man at bay, using the Thai clinch to good effect to score with a succession of knees.

Big Czerwinski upped his game a little in the final round, but he still kept looking for the big KO while Parry, for his part, seemed content in the knowledge that he’d done enough to win in the first two rounds.

The judges saw it that way as well, as Parry took the unanimous decision and the vacant title.

The championship action continued with Dayman Lake challenging Darren Towler for the Heavyweight title.

This lasted less than a minute. After both fighters tested the waters a little, Towler connected with a big left that sent Lake crashing. The challenger looked like he was out of it as Towler went in for the kill.

Lake soon got back up to his feet and grabbed Towler’s leg as if he was going for a takedown. Towler connected with a couple of knees that sent Lake back down to the canvas. That was enough for the referee as he stepped in to give Towler the TKO win.

The main event featured UK1 catchweight action for the Superfight Championship as Luke Sines faced Jake Bostwick.

This may well have been the best UK1 fight UCMMA have staged.

For three rounds these two put on a great back and forth encounter. Bostwick threw everything he had at Sines, but no matter what he did, Sines kept coming back and repaying him in kind, opening up a nasty cut above Bostwick’s eye.

Bostwick’s fine work finally paid off in the final round. He finally managed to knock Sines down after a great combination. Sines looked out of it but managed to get back to his feet. However, the end of the fight meant that he couldn’t come back any more.

Which meant that it went down to the judges, and with one judge scoring the fight even it meant that Bostwick took the majority decision.

In conclusion—can you guess how this one is going to turn out?

Yep, you got it right. UCMMA 30 proved to be a great addition to their ever growing number of shows. For the first time the action was nicely divided between regular MMA and UK1 kickboxing action, and once again every fight featured some great performances.

As for my fight of the night I’m actually going to award two co-prizes this time, one for MMA and one for UK1.

The UK1 award goes to the main event fight between Luke Sines and Jake Bostwick, while the MMA award goes to the battle between Jimmy Millar and Jason Radcliffe.

So with that out of the way let’s wrap this thing up by giving UCMMA 30 the big thumbs up.

Don’t forget to check out my website at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com. It’s been online in one form or another for over 12 years now.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

It’s British MMA time again, and for this review we’re going to delve into the pile of DVDs sent to me by the good people at Ultimate Challenge MMA. The final review of this mini-series sees us going back in time to this past February for UCMMA 26.

We begin with the preliminary fights, starting with Florian Calin and Stephen Stanley in the featherweight division.

This certainly proved to be an interesting encounter. The first two rounds followed an almost identical pattern. After the initial feeling out periods, Calin scored with a takedown, which led to Stanley basically shutting him down in the first round. Although he did a good job, it may have been better if he’d tried to reverse the positions.

It was the same story in the second round, albeit with a slight difference. Calin took Stanley down, and Stanley tied him up again, although Calin was able to put in some better work as he tried to move around. Stanley, however, looked for a couple of submissions towards the end.

The third round followed a slightly different script. Calin scored with the takedown after a lengthy clinch against the cage, and once again Stanley tried to play the spoiler.

So with no finish in sight, the judges were called into action straight away as Calin took the split decision. Calin then revealed in the post-fight interview that he’d broken his hand in the first round.

Then it was up to welterweight as Dan Walsh, who took the fight on one day’s notice, took on Sean Carter, who was making his professional debut.

When you consider the notice these two guys had, this was a pretty good fight.

Walsh began the proceedings with a kick which Carter countered with a takedown, and from there this developed into a great back and forth battle.

Carter belied his lack of professional experience and put in an excellent performance on the ground, overwhelming his man at times with some nice work, and almost getting the submission win with a couple of armbars at the end of the first and second rounds. But as the old saying goes, Walsh was saved by the bell each time.

It wasn’t all one-way traffic though. Walsh had his moments, particularly with the effective ground and pound as he swelled the eye and bloodied the nose of his opponent.

The end came in the third round. Carter dominated on the ground again, and it wasn’t long before he took Walsh’s back, eventually locking in a rear naked choke for the submission win.

Lightweight action followed as Sam Gilbert went up against Dean Bray.

This proved to be another entertaining three rounder. Both guys were clearly going all out to get the win, and the early part of the fight belonged to Gilbert as he took Bray’s back, looking for the rear naked choke.

Bray showed some great defensive skills, however, and managed to escape via the back door. He then began to take control, and although Gilbert had his moments these seemed to be few and far between.

Everything Bray did looked so smooth. He bloodied Gilbert’s nose in the striking department, mainly because of Gilbert’s lack of head movement. He was even better on the ground with his impressive takedowns and submission attempts.

Sadly there was no finish in sight, which meant more work for the judges as Bray took the unanimous decision, winning each and every round.

It was up to middleweight next, as Miguel Bernard took on Jason Radcliffe.

This was fast. Bernard came out swinging for the fences, Radcliffe quickly countering with a big knee and a quick takedown. It wasn’t long before Radcliffe took his back and went to work with his piston-like punches, and just when it looked as if the referee was about to step in Bernard tapped to give Radcliffe the win in under a minute.

More welterweight action followed as Andy Cona went up against Walter Gahadza.

Gahadza put in a dominating performance here. It looked quite even after the initial feeling out period as both guys took a takedown apiece, but it wasn’t long before Gahadza took control on the ground as he sought to beat Cona into submission.

Cona offered next to nothing in reply, his only defensive tactic being to cover his face with his arms and hands, and after Gahadza delivered a succession of well-placed shots, Gahadza synched in an armbar for the impressive submission win.

The big boys were out next, as Ollie Beard faced Chi Lewis Parry in the heavyweight division.

The early moments of this one looked like a fight in a Spanish bullring at times. Beard, looking to negate Parry’s big height and reach advantage, kept charging forward, looking for the takedown. Parry simply stepped out of the way to avoid most of these, using his reach advantage to keep Beard at bay with some nice jabs.

When Beard eventually managed to get his hands on Parry in a clinch against the cage, he seemed to use all of his energy trying to get the big man down, and Parry’s elbows didn’t help him much either.

Parry soon scored with a takedown of his own, only to blot his copybook by delivering a couple of elbows to the head, a move illegal under UCMMA rules, earning him an immediate points deduction.

Beard’s corner obviously didn’t give him any good advice between rounds, because when the second round began he began to charge again. This time, though, Parry kept him at bay throughout, and a series of standing elbows opened up a nasty cut. All Beard seemed to do was just stand in front of his opponent. He was an easy target for Parry, and it wasn’t surprising when the referee stopped the action to give Parry the TKO win. A good performance from Parry, but a pretty poor one from Beard.

The main show began in the middleweight division as Luke Barnatt faced Ben Callum.

This may well be the best three rounds I’ve seen in a British cage this year. These two began fighting as soon as the bell sounded, and although it looked very even in the opening exchanges, when Barnatt connected with a flying knee in the first round he began to take control.

We saw some excellent work from Barnatt as he dominated on the ground. Everything he did just looked so easy as he went for a variety of submission holds.

But try as he might he just couldn’t get the finish, and while Barnatt’s offensive work may have been excellent Callum’s defensive work thwarted him time and time again. The only problem was that he was visibly tiring from the second round onwards after a guillotine attempt, and he couldn’t offer much in reply to Barnatt’s work.

As you’ve probably guessed by now, there was no surprise with the judge’s decision, as all three gave everything to Barnatt.

Yet more welterweight action followed as Ben Dishman faced Michael Page.

It looked like Dishman didn’t want to waste any time in this one. His first act of the night saw him lunging across the cage as he attempted a takedown. Page simply stepped out of the way though, and that’s when the showboating began.

Dishman looked like a debuting fighter who just didn’t have a clue as Page used his reach advantage to connect with a few telling blows, and when he connecting with a spinning kick to the chest Dishman slumped to the cage.

And that was it. The referee stepped in to give Page the TKO win.

Then it was up to light heavyweight as Mohammad Ali (no, not that one) took on a guy from a town just ten miles down the road from me, Iain Martell.

Ali went into this one looking as if he didn’t really want to fight, and this was evident when Martell took the fight to the ground. All Ali did was hold Martell in position, and when absolutely nothing happened for a few moments, the referee had no choice but to stand the fighters up.

Ali tried to go back to the same tactic when Martell scored with another takedown, only this time it didn’t quite work. Martell was busy enough to keep the referee happy, and as the first round entered its final minute, Martell took his man’s back and locked in a rear naked choke for the submission win.

It was back down to featherweight for the next fight as Rae Edgar took on Ashleigh Grimshaw.

The workmanlike Grimshaw began his shift with an impressive takedown after a brief feeling out period, and form there he put in a very solid performance. Edgar did his best to try and tie his man up, but Grimshaw kept busy from the half guard throughout.

He soon took Edgar’s back and flattened him out for a spot of ground and pound. Edgar had had enough, his verbal tap out giving Grimshaw the impressive submission win.

It was then back to the big boys, and I mean big, of the heavyweight division as Tomas Czerwinski faced Stav Economou.

This was the controversial one. Economou scored with the early takedown, delivering a few good shots before working into a position where he could apply a key lock. Czerwinski then cried out in pain and tapped Economou on the back once.

But when the referee stopped the action, Czerwinski claimed that he hadn’t tapped. The referee wasn’t having any of it through, and the submission win for Economou stood.

Title action followed as Spencer Hewitt took on Cory Tait for the Interim Bantamweight title.

The blink and you’ll miss it affair of the show featured just one punch. Hewitt connected with a big right that sent Tait crashing to the ground. The referee stepped in immediately to give Hewitt the knockout win after just 10 seconds.

The co-main event saw Aurelijus Kerpe taking on Linton Vassell for the vacant Light Heavyweight title.

Vassell quickly took the fight to the ground in this one, and it was one-way traffic as he went on to dominate the fight. Kerpe offered nothing in response as Vassell went to work with the ground and pound, taking his man’s back for a few seconds before working back to the mount and apply an armbar for the submission win.

The main event featured kickboxing action, as Peter Irving challenged Luke Sines for the UK1 Welterweight title.

This three-rounder proved to be a very intriguing back and forth encounter. Both guys put in good performances here; Sines with his front kicks and Irving with his boxing close in.

After the first two round it looked like it could go either way but the sight of blood running down from Sines’ nose seemed to spur Irving on, although he couldn’t get the finish.

Which meant the judges had one last job as Irving took the title winning split decision.

In conclusion—this is another example of British MMA at its finest.

UCMMA 26, when viewed in it’s entirety in DVD form, is another quality release from Dave O’Donnell and his crew. Every fight delivered big time, from the lesser fights on the undercard right through to the main card and the main event.

But despite the fact that I found every fight extremely enjoyable, I had no problems in choosing my fight of the night. This time the no-prize goes to the middleweight battle between Luke Barnatt and Ben Callum, That fight was just so good.

So with all of that being said let’s wrap this review up and give the DVD release of UCMMA 26 the big thumbs up.

With thanks to the powers that be for supplying a copy of this release.

Don’t forget to check out my website at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com. It’s been online in one form or another for over 12 years now!

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

British MMA is on the agenda once again as we take a look back at the 10th show from the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts (BAMMA), held at the world famous Wembley Arena and shown live on Channel 5’s sister station 5* (5-Star) this past Saturday night here in Britain.

The broadcast began with middleweight action as Denniston Sutherland went up against Leeroy Barnes.

This was a pretty enjoyable 3-rounder. Sutherland made a complete mockery of the 11-year age difference by putting in a dominating performance.

It began with the obligatory feeling out period, but it wasn’t long before Sutherland began to take control, going for the win with a kimura attempt.

Barnes had his moments but there weren’t very many of them and, more often than not, he was on the receiving end of Sutherland’s hard blows, whether it be on the ground or suffering a series of knees to the rib cage in a clinch against the fence.

The only thing missing from Sutherland’s performance was a finish, which meant that the judges were called into action as Sutherland took the unanimous decision.

The next fight saw Andrew Punshon challenging Jack Marshman for the British Middleweight title.

No feeling out period in this one, these two went to work straight away.

Punshon began his shift with a flying knee attempt and it wasn’t long before he took the fight to the ground, getting off some good punches and opening up a cut near Marshman’s eye.

Marshman quickly retaliated with a triangle attempt, Punshon countering with an attempted toe hold submission. Nothing came of that though and he was soon back in top position.

Seconds later, Marshman went for the triangle again, locking it in tight while raining down a barrage of blows. Punshon was tapping within seconds, although to the referee it looked like he landing a few blows of his own.

The main event saw former Ultimate Fighter finalist Andre Winner challenging BAMMA’s resident gas fitter Rob Sinclair for the World Lightweight title.

This proved to be an intriguing 5-round striking affair.

The first two rounds clearly belonged to Sinclair. While Winner looked like he was going around the cage with a ball and chain around his ankle, Sinclair took control with some nice striking. Although he never managed to score with a takedown he clearly controlled the action in the clinches.

The shackles seemed to come off Winner in the third round when he upped his game a great deal. His striking was a hell of a lot better as he put the champion on the back foot, although Sinclair came back strongly towards the end of the round.

This was the perfect set-up for the final two rounds.

Winner’s increased work rate made things a little more difficult for Sinclair. He was still able to give his challenger some great combinations but left Winner shrugging his shoulders at times as if he was saying “is that it?”

With neither man able to get the finish, the decision was placed in the hands of the judges as Sinclair took the close decision to retain the title.

So, how did BAMMA’s debut on another new channel go?

The fights shown certainly delivered, although it was a little disappointing that we only got to see three of them. But, then again, maybe that’s because the show was broadcast live instead of on tape delay.

The performances themselves were certainly worth watching and, while the Winner/Sinclair fight was great from an entertainment point of view, it’s the Marshman/Punshon battle that gets the no-prize for my fight of the night.

So with that being said let’s wrap this thing up by giving BAMMA 10 the thumbs up.

Check out more from Julian Radbourne at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com