Event Title: Cage Warriors: Showdown 2
Event Date: 19 November 2006
Event Venue: Octagon Centre
Event Location: Sheffield
Date submitted: 20 November 2006
Submitted by: Matthew Finney for MMA Universe
After the last successful Cage Warriors Fighting Championships event at the Sheffield Octagon, Cage Warriors returned for Showdown 2, an eight man lightweight tournament, with the winner going on to fight Alexandre Izidro at "Enter the Roughhouse" in Nottingham.
Along with the eight man tournament, there were also two caged kickboxing fights, two Class B fights, (no heel hooks or elbows) and two Pro MMA rules fight.
As usual, Ian Freeman was the MC for the evening and the Spearmint Rhino girls proved to be as popular as ever.
Emmanuel opens up the night's action with a double leg and takes down Butlin, who quickly pulls guard. Emmanuel pushes Butlin into the cage, to take away some of his arsenal of strikes. Emmanuel shows off his BJJ skills learnt at the French Top Team and controls his man well on the ground. In Butlin's guard he drops some big shots into Butlin's kidneys, but the lack of action prompts a restart. It is clear that Emmanuel wants to take it to the ground, and Butlin wants to stand and trade. Butlin shoots, gets the half guard, and lands some heavy hands on his downed opponent who did not enjoy being hit. The wrong place to be, with M16 firing shots. The fighters make it to their feet and they clinch, with M16 dropping Emmanuel with a superb Thai knee straight up the middle, with Emmanuel hitting the deck hard. The referee jumps in to save Emmanuel from further damage and M16 is declared the winner at 3:39 of Round 1. M16 is the first fighter through to the semi final.
Next up, the second match of the 8 man tournament is Thomas Hytten against Jarkko Latomaki, both fighters from Scandinavian gyms.
Round One
Hytten comes out from the buzzer and takes control of the centre of the cage meaning business. Hytten opens up his opponent with an overhand right that connects, Jarkko ties up Hytten and the fighters go to the cage wall. Hytten attempts a stand up guillotine, and cranks it on tight but lets go when it is clear it was having no affect on Jarkko to conserve energy. After a narrow escape, Jarkko is then caught in a Triangle attempt, which he is not keen to be in. He manages some strikes to Hytten and the fighters are on their feet with Jarkko landing a huge knee to Hytten's body. Jarkko had just found his pace when the buzzer signified the end of an action packed first round which was all Jarkko.
Round Two
Hytten yet again opens up with an overhand shot, and pulls guard. Jarkko takes his man to the cage, and punishes Hytten. Hytten attempts various submissions, which go nowhere. Jarkko is keen to finish the fight with strikes. Hytten attempts an armbar from the bottom when the fighters are parted to let the judges decide the winner. With Hytten getting up from the canvas bloodied it was to be Jarkko's night as he is declared the winner by unanimous decision. He goes through to face M16.
Tomonari opens the fight with a heavy kick to Cohen's mid section, and takes down Cohen into side control. From here he shoves Cohen against the cage. He manages full mount and tees off prompting a referee stoppage at 57 seconds into the first round. He had barely broke sweat. Cohen rises from the canvas looking disappointed at the fight finishing so early. Tomonari has other ideas as he circles the cage to celebrate his early victory. Certainly one to watch, with the Samurai spirit prevailing.
The fighters tie up in the centre of the cage with Sinclair going for the double leg takedown. Failing to get the takedown he ushers Irving into the cage and just misses with a fantastic knee from the outside of Irving's guard. Had that have connected it would have been goodnight! Irving attempts a hammerlock whilst stood against the cage, and is unlucky not to secure a victory early on in Round One.
They go to the canvas and Irving falls into side control, dropping in some knees for good measure. He secures full mount, and rains down forearms and elbows. Talk about saved by the bell, the buzzer sounds and Sinclair has a lucky escape. Had the round gone on any longer it would have been a ground and pound fest. Irving easily takes round one.
Round Two
Sinclair kicks off the second of two rounds with a knee, but Irving takes him down, again into side control and Sinclair gives him his back. Not a good idea and Irving capitalises, the hooks go in, and Sinclair taps from the textbook rear naked choke at 3:46 of Round Two. A very hard fought battle, he deserved the win and he goes on to fight Tomonari.
Fight 5 was the first Class B fight of the night, so no elbows and heel hooks.
Kent Cooper was matched against James Winston who was making his MMA debut in the UK's ultimate proving ground.
Round One
Both fighters look nervous as they emerge from their respective corners, with Winston charging Cooper into the cage wall. Cooper starts to unload and catches Winston with the dreaded low blow. He goes down, and the Ref jumps in to pause the action. After getting his breath back, the action is restarted and Cooper comes out with a knee attempt, but Winston picks him up, and slams him much to the crowd's appreciation. Cooper pulls guard on the deck, and Winston unloads shots to his downed opponent. Referee stops the fight at 2:22 of Round One. Cooper is still down for safety as Winston celebrates his first fight and victory in MMA. Certainly one to keep an eye on, looked very promising.
Fight 6 of 13 was the second of the Class B match-ups, Andy Denny against Aaron Behan.
Round One
Denny comes out of his corner meaning business, firing shots in, Behan pushes him into the cage. They fall to the mat, into Behan's guard. Denny escapes the guard and gains side control and unloads shot after shot prompting a referee stoppage, with only 1:27 on the clock. Andy Denny wins his MMA debut in style by ground and pound.
Fight 7 was a caged Kickboxing bout with the local favourite Scott Sykes fighting Bret Healy.
Round One
Bret opens up the action with a big side kick into Scott's mid section, which Scott answers with a left right combo to put the fighters into close contact. They trade shots in the centre of the cage feeling each other out. Bret fires in a sweet body hook followed by a heavy headkick, which forces Scott to tie his dangerous opponent up and weaken him with some Thai clinch work and knees. End of the round sees a huge knee from Scott and some wild left right combos which given 20 seconds longer would have had Bret on his hands and knees. Round one to Scott.
Round Two
Second of the scheduled 3, 3 minute rounds yet again sees Bret straight out of his corner first with a Thai front kick to Scott's mid section. Scott replies with a left right combo and clinches to stick the knees in. Both fighters exchange low kicks, with the end of round buzzer yet again seeing Bret in trouble as Scott catches him in a clinch, pulls his head down to greet his rising knee. Round two again to Scott. Round Three
With Bret needing to claw back the first two rounds he comes out with a spinning roundhouse that just misses, which was unlucky as it had the hallmarks of a showstopper. Scott looks unfazed by his opponent's flash kicks and keeps his guard high and tight. Bret rocks Scott with a big head hook, which Scott answers with a flurry of lefts and rights, the buzzer again stopping the action as it heats up. Scott, the local from Sheffield's popular SDF gym wins by unanimous decision after three hard fought rounds.
Jarkko comes out from the bell immediately tying his man up and forcing him to the fence. He picks up M16 and slams him to the canvas. With M16 in trouble against the cage, Jarkko is free to rain down unanswered punches and knees into his opponents exposed kidneys. M16 manages to roll out and get Jarkko in a guard but Jarkko looks for an early finish with strikes. M16 manages to get to his feet but yet again Jarkko picks him up and slams him back down. He drops in some big shots, which M16 is powerless to stop, and ends up giving Jarkko his back. Jarkko capitalises, gets the hooks in, straightens M16 out and wins via tap out by rear naked choke at 3:21 of the first round. Jarkko secures his place in the final.
Tomonari literally kicks off the round with a heavy low kick and follows up with a head kick which Irving checks. Irving follows with a left right combo, and attempts a rear naked choke which Tomonari easily rolls out of. Irving closes the guard, which Tomonari escapes with ease. Irving finds himself against the cage, and Tomonari has some golden opportunities to finish with strikes which he does not take advantage of. He eventually gets busy and attempts a Kimura, which sees Irving saved by the bell.
Round Two
Tomonari emerges from his corner with a body kick swiftly followed by a low kick into another body kick. Irving is taken down by Tomonari, and whilst on the bottom, Irving attempts an armbar, from which Tomonari is lucky to have escaped from. Tomonari drops in unanswered shots to Irving's head and body who rolls onto his front to save his face from the beating being handed out. Tomonari needs no invitation to his opponent's back and sticks the hooks in, and loosens Irving up for the Rear Naked Choke. Due to the ferocity of strikes, the choke is not needed as the referee stops the action at 3:36 of the second round to ground and pound. Tomonari advances to the final to meet Jarkko.
Fight 10 was another non tournament Pro-MMA bouts, a welterweight match up betweens Richard Taylor and Francesco Ligato.
Round One.
Liagto comes out on the bell, and unloads, catching Taylor with what looked like an intentional low blow between the legs. After pausing the fight so Taylor can get his breath back, the action starts again. Taylor takes his stronger opponent to the mat, and attempts a choke. They scramble to their feet and Ligato unloads. Taylor takes him to the mat, and the end of the first action packed round sees Taylor in control after escaping Ligato's arm bar attempt.
Round Two
Ligato rushes Taylor and forces him against the cage where he gets the takedown and drops in with a knee. Taylor gets to his feet and attempts a flying knee. Ligato pulls guard and punches up to his opponent. Some heavy shots considering he was punching from the ground. They roll out and Ligato grabs Taylor's arm, tapping him out with a lightning fast Kimura. Ligato wins via tapout at 1:31 of the second round.
Fight 11 was the last of the caged kickboxing fights between Alex Mackenzie and Lee Chadwick.
Round One
Lee opens up with a spinning back kick into Alex's mid section which knocked the wind out of his sails. Seeing his opponent in trouble, Lee unloads, and sends Alex to the mat, only just managing to get to his feet. The rest of the round sees both fighters taking it in turns to fire hooks whilst the other blocks with his gloves, both fighters fatigued from the opening action.
Round Two
Lee rocks Alex from the bell and unfortunately catches Lee between the legs. After a brief pause, Alex rocks Lee with a heavy low kick to his legs. Alex then finds his pace and fires in shot after shot, dropping Lee to the mat with a shot to the solar plexus. The referee jumps in and stops the action at 2:24 of the second round, with Alex declared the winner, much to the appreciation of his home crowd.
Fight 12 was the last of the non-tournament fights, a heavy weight bout between Ivan Serati against Riciardas Ziatkus.
Round One
Ziatkus comes out from the bell and slips onto his backside. Serati capitalises and fires in numerous big heavy shots. Ziatkus gives Serati his back, and Serati grounds and pounds his unlucky opponent to prompt a referee stoppage at 45 seconds before the fight has even got going.
Ziatkus was very unlucky as he didn't get a look-in. Serati needed no invitation to make the most of his downed opponent.
This one for a chance to fight Izidro for the CWFC lightweight belt.
Tomanari comes out and shoots for Jarkko and gets the single leg. He then switches to a flying triangle which he locks on with Jarkko still on his feet. Jarkko slams Tomonari to the ground, but he still has the triangle on tight. Jarkko attempts a knee and a few shots but his head soon fills with blood and he is tapping. Tomonari wins a chance at the lightweight belt at 1:13 of the first round.
Once again, thanks to MMAUNIVERSE.COM for the opportunity of covering this event and also to Ian Dean, the media manager at CWFC. Also to the very helpful security.
Thanks for reading, I am looking forward to the Enter the Roughhouse event, Dan The Outlaw' Hardy dropped by to say he is ready for his upcoming fight in December and is busy cutting weight, being only 3kg's off his target weight with three weeks to go.
By Matthew Finney for MMA Universe
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