Event Title: Cage Rage 20: Born 2 Fight
Event Date: 10 February 2007
Event Venue: Wembley Arena
Event Location: London
Date submitted: 12 February 2007
Submitted by: James Hoy
Cage Rage Championships proved it would not take a UFC invasion laying down with an action-packed first show of 2007 – with great fights, theatrics and an exciting introduction for UK fans to mountainous new signing, Bob Sapp.
Wembley Arena looked packed on Saturday and the crowd was for the most part enthusiastic and knowledgeable, only booing when frankly, it was deserved.
The fights were in general of a very high standard and the London Shootfighters in particular deserving a special mention for their showing – especially with two fighters competing on such short notice.
Acting as a late replacement for London Shootfighters’ Michael Johnson, Heagney looked extremely comfortable on his way to the cage despite being largely considered an underdog to 9-8-0 Doski.
Veteran Doski had the crowd’s support and started off strongly, landing a solid knee and cross. The fighters went to the ground and exchanged positions and strikes, with Heagney ending the round holding a loose guillotine.
Round 2 had a cautious start but Heagney then piled in wildly looking for the clinch. Doski connected with a nice knee and the fight went to the floor. Heagney ends up turtled and attempts a single-leg escape but is turned. Quick as a flash he slaps on a kimura mid-transition, and it’s all over.
Another London Shooter on his Cage Rage debut, Toczyelowski has nothing on Barrett when it comes to charisma and pre-fight smack talking, but he looked to be a good fighter on the night and it was a shame we did not see more from him.
Toczyelowski began the round strongly, really surprising Muay-Thai expert Barrett. The fight went down with Toczyelowski pounding away with Barrett looking extremely uncomfortable. All of a sudden Barrett was back to his feet and reverses straight into a strong full mount.
Despite the great position he cannot capitalise and the fight is stood up. The fighters clinch for an extended period and Barrett receives a yellow card for grabbing the cage. The fight is reset in the centre and Barrett tries a low-kick – to which Toczyelowski replies with a brutal cross and takedown. Barrett has a gash on his right eyebrow opened up and it looks bad.
The doctor calls it off to the disappointment of fans and fighters – no one likes a cut to end the fight. Barrett is gracious in his loss and wants a rematch. But he hardly lets it faze him as he works the crowd. I do not think it will be long before we see either of these guys back in the cage.
Having previously fought to a tight draw in a Contenders show, fans were raring to see these young featherweights go at it and were not disappointed – although it would have been nice to see a bit more stand-up action.
Mann, cheered on my Team Trojan stable-mate James Thompson, had to be the favorite coming in to the fight with a good 8-0-1 record and largely controlled the fight. Grimshaw, who fights out of Pancrase London (misheard as St Pancreas, London, by a group of fans sat behind me) did have a very tight looking arm-bar in round two but Mann slammed him and neutralised the danger. The fight went the full 15 minutes, with Mann doing enough to convince all three judges he deserved the victory with strong striking and good control.
This was my pick for fight of the night and an excellent showing of heart and technique from both martial-artists.
Zaromskis looked extremely lively, opening with a flashy combo and dropping Riccio early on with a thunderous cross. Riccio reversed but ends up in a loose triangle, with Marios struggling to get the position tight but landing solid hammer fists which batter Riccio’s face. Eventually Zaromskis’ legs give out and Riccio passes. He is tripped after attempting to stomp but catches Zaromskis’ leg for a heel-hook attempt when he tries a stomp of his own.
Marios looks much more confident in the second round and rightfully so – he is dealing out some big damage and connects time after time. Riccio’s hands begin to drop and it looks like he’s finished. Marios lands a huge stomp after taking him down – but Riccio is still going and replies with a single leg takedown, controlling as round 2 finishes.
Round three saw more punishment for Riccio, but full credit to him - he was coming forward looking for the win right until the very end. That incredible end came after what I can only describe as a reverse spinning crescent kick (chalk it up to having never studied Tae Kwon Do) which Zaromskis lands on the button, knocking Riccio to the floor. In the heat of the moment Zaromskis fires an illegal soccer kick and while he receives a warning, a gash on Riccio’s head which has been threatening all fight is checked and the fight is ended.
It is after all the nature of the sport but I could not help but be disappointed at this fight’s quick finish – we did not even get to see Oliver’s answer to Imanari’s leg-locks.
At only 27 seconds, master grappler Imanari slapped on an arm-bar to end the fight and take the international featherweight title. The Deep Impact fighter had attempted a jumping front kick – think Daniel-san but with more air time - and fallen into guard with one leg over Oliver’s shoulder. Sneakily though in mid-flight Imanari had started to transition to the arm-bar and despite getting slammed, gets the tap he is looking for.
Birthday boy Imanari is challenged post-fight by Leigh Remedios who said he would come out of retirement to bring the title back home – to which Imanari replies: “I’ll think about it.”
This fight was another brief one - but it ended spectacularly. After some aggressive wrestling from Wolfslair fighter Blackledge, he ended up with Howard’s back and the crowd called for a suplex.
Howard escaped - but only to turn into an absolutely ferociously instinctive high kick which left Howard out cold and blood all over the mat. After an extended period he was led out of the cage under his own power sporting a huge gash up his forehead.
A fairly straight forward victory for a comparatively big “Buzz” Berry, he had little trouble reversing a take down and Buchanan had no answer to his mounted punches apart from the tap.
After the fight, a chunky Bob Sapp presents Buzz with his trophy and tells the crowd about how he is coming to taste the British competition in King of The Cage. That minor blip aside, he is going to be a great draw for the company.
Another quick fight, the combatants engaged in the clinch very early, with Kong Watson landing a nice hook but being flattened by a great shoulder throw from Matsui. The Japanese fighter took what might be his first submission victory ever by spinning over Watson’s head and yanking an arm.
You cannot deny a man like Severn - who has competed for so long at such a high level - his right to stubbornly persist with a game plan, but it does make for a terrible fight. This was the only fight to really suffer boo’s from the fans and after all, this is a spectator sport.
Severn cannot really strike but managed to avoid any serious damage for the first two tedious rounds. Finally, part way through round three, he decided it was time and pulled off an incredibly reflexive takedown like it was nothing. Severn opened a cut on Legeno’s eye but it was not enough to stop the fight. Legeno, who cannot be blamed for the lack of excitement in the fight – took the victory via unanimous decision.
After the fight Legeno challenged Sapp to a fight – which he said he would take in the ring or out of it. Sapp was not best pleased and entered the cage – only to be met with challenges from Buzz Berry and James Thompson. Sapp was led away but not before offering to fight them all at the same time.
The heavyweight title was up for grabs in this one and Tedoradze made his intentions to take the title very clear from the start with a highly impressive sacrifice belly-to-belly suplex – sacrifice because the massive frame of Braughton landed square onto him before he took position
St Helen’s fighter Braughton clung on to half-guard but was taking a lot of damage and sustained a cut over the eye. Round two and Tedoradze started to really pound on Broughton, to the extent he started to turn away from the onslaught. Tedoradze chased him and sought the clinch, landing another huge suplex and repeated blows. Unfortunately this was another fight ended by a cut, with Rob opened up on his forehead and back of the head. But there was never any doubt Tedoradze was on his way to claming his belt should the fight have continued.
The difference between these two fighters was summed up for me when watching the VTs broadcast on the giant screens before the fight. Al Turk looked focused and sharp – you could feel every punch he threw while shadow boxing for the camera.
But Kerr stared blankly into the screen, throwing extraordinarily weak looking punches as if he had never done so in his life. I hoped he was just shy – and the strong kick he connected with at the start of the fight suggested he was still game. Kerr tried to kick again and fell, turtling up. He took repeated blows and ended up mounted. To see him tapping to the ensuing strikes instead of battling to get out was chilling. Al Turk himself commented he could not believe Kerr had tapped. After going through so much, everyone wants to see Kerr come back strong. Let’s hope this was not his last chance.
Butterbean proved he is always dangerous with a mighty right hand that just touched the tip of Thompson’s chin, instantly crumpling him to the ground. Although it appeared he might recover, the referee stopped the fight before Butterbean could rain down any more strikes. Thompson was visibly upset and deserves to be, as this loss takes away the momentum he had built up with his shock victory over Yoshida on New Years Eve.
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