Tonight saw the third of the Enter the Rough House events being held at Nottingham’s Harvey Haddon complex. In keeping with the usual format, Ian Freeman was the MC and Marc Goddard the referee. Due to fighters not making weight and injury there was some changes to the original card, the most notable absence was that of Steve "Psycho" Tetley who was unable to fight due to injury.
I managed to get a few words with Mark O'Toole from Ireland’s UFR fight team. He was happy to be fighting at an event like CWFC and was set for his scheduled fight.
Mark Goddard laid down the rules to the fighters in the pre fight rules meeting, most of the guys looked relaxed ready for the action to start.
FIGHT ONE
First fight of the night was the only Class B rules fight of the night so no heel hooks, elbow strikes or crucifixes. This saw Dave Bownds from Burton MMA making his pro MMA debut against Team Relentless Rob Cooper.
ROUND ONE.
Both fighters come out of their corner meaning business, exchanging blows in the centre of the cage. As the fight goes to the mat Rob gets side control and looks to finish. Dave reverses the position and is then in the dominant position. Looking to finish early Dave switches from the rear naked attempt into ground and pound and wins via referee stoppage.
Dave wins his pro debut, and rightly so, he switched from one finishing attempt to another, showing skill at a variety of ranges. Watch for this guy working his way through the ranks.
FIGHT TWO
First of the Class B fights, Team Rough House’s Lee Livingstone was matched against Dogs of War fighter Kevin Reed from Wales.
ROUND ONE
Showing his Rough House breeding Lee comes out from the buzzer throwing low kicks onto Kevin’s thigh which all connect with audible accuracy. Looking to take the fight to the ground Lee feints the punch and shoots gaining side control. Both fighters look to end the fight on the ground with submission attempts from both. It’s Lee that comes better off at the end of the round, grinding down his man with ground and pound. All Kevin can do is hold onto him and wait for the buzzer.
ROUND TWO
Lee opens up the action yet again coming out throwing punches. Kevin knowing he needs to salvage the lost round wants the takedown as he can’t match Lee’s stand up skills. The 2 fighters clinch and Lee showcasing his Thai skills fires in a punch, swiftly followed by a knee which connects with the chin has Kevin out on his feet. To make doubly sure Lee drops in a few more shots which send Kevin face down to the mat.
You wouldn’t think this was only Lee’s second fight; the Rough House is one mean stable of fighters, another one to watch for the future and the big time.
FIGHT THREE
ROUND ONE
The round kicks off to a promising start with Aaron coming out looking to trade. This was followed by him landing a spinning back side kick which connects flush in Ashley’s mid section.
The rest of the round was quite disappointing as it never really got going.
ROUND TWO
Pretty much a copy of the first round, with the exception of it going to the mat, with a heel hook attempt which could have finished the fight from Aaron. With only one round remaining, Aaron is looking favourite, as he is willing to risk getting caught to land shots and submission attempts.
ROUND THREE
The round gets off to a slow and scrappy start, with it going to the mat pretty early on. Aaron pulls guard and looks for his submission finish with an arm bar from the bottom. Ashley picks him up and slams Aaron 3 times into the mat, but Ashley holds on tight looking for the finish. The fighters go back to their feet, and Ashley is in trouble, clearly gassed out from lifting Aaron 3 times to escape the arm bar and the buzzer moves the decision of the fight to the judges, and there can be only one winner, and its Aaron via unanimous decision.
Ashley loses his first fight, maybe being too cautious and Aaron’s fight record shows he isn’t scared to risk getting sparked to secure the win.
FIGHT FOUR
ROUND ONE
Knowing the danger he faced against the Brazilian Lee comes out from his corner meaning business landing some heavy shots which puts Nogueira to the mat, and dazed. Lee sinks in a rear naked attempt which should have finished the fight early on. Somehow managing to escape from the RNC, Nogueira pulls guard and gets a guillotine choke which lee cannot escape from and the fight is won in the first.
This was so nearly Lee’s victory, how on earth Nogueira escaped from the RNC is a mystery as it was on so tight, with the hooks in and everything. Credit where it’s due, a good fight, just a shame it only lasted 3 minutes.
FIGHT FIVE
Another Rough House fighter, Jim Wallhead was taking on Soli Clichko. Scheduled for 3 x 5 minute rounds, this was not expected to go the distance in this Welterweight match up.
ROUND ONE
Jim comes out meaning business, taking Soli straight to the mat and pushing him against the cage getting side control. Looking to pass the guard Soli attempts to pull guard, but cannot answer Jim’s bombs being dropped onto him. The fight is finished with a textbook arm triangle from Jim.
I managed to get a few words with Jim after his early win, and he was disappointed with his performance. I had to question why and he wanted a more ‘showy’ fight with some big shots and maybe a knock out, but a win is a win and it was an impressive one at that!
FIGHT SIX
ROUND ONE
Matt comes out and immediately takes Vasile to the mat. Vasile looks to choke Matt out but the huge size difference in Matt’s favour is too great. Matt lands shot after shot and Vasile is forced to tap due to the punishment being dished out.
FIGHT SEVEN
This was to be 3 rounds of pretty much the same action, with both fighters feeling each other out with kicks and some clinch work with neither capitalising nor securing the win. Andre did look the tidier combatant, firing in some nice Thai clinch work techniques in the form of elbows and knees.
Denzil got his first blemish on his unbeaten record and Andre notches up another win after 3 rounds and a unanimous decision in Andre’s favour.
FIGHT EIGHT
The highlight of the night and fight of the evening. Ireland’s Mark O'Toole was pitched against Tap or Snap’s Christian Smith. Both fighters fought at the last Rough House event and were keen to impress.
ROUND ONE
Manslaughter opens the action with a low kick which Christian answers with one of his own. Manslaughter drops Christian with a sweet punch which has him heading to the mat like he’d been pulled down. Mark steps in to pause the fight as Christian is cut pretty badly, yet again fighter’s safety is paramount, Mark really is the best in his game, if I ever stepped into the cage I’d like to know he was there to look after me!
The fight is allowed to continue once the Paramedic has cleared Christian to go on.
Seeing his opponent dazed from the opening action Manslaughter steps up and continues the beat down and Christian looks to be in trouble. The fight goes to the mat and with Manslaughter on his back he wraps his legs round Smith’s arm and secures a textbook arm bar from the bottom forcing a tap out from the Tap or Snap fighter in the first and only round. Christian did attempt to escape from this but to quote my colleague it was like a crocodile on a death roll, the more Christian twisted, the harder Manslaughter cranked the pressure.
Certainly a character and from his performance on the night a mean fighter and one to watch, Manslaughter entertained the crowd no end.
FIGHT NINE
The last of the evening’s fights, a welterweight bout between Paul Kelly against Team Bloodline’s Sami Berik. Being the headline fight big things was expected from these 2 seasoned fighters.
From the buzzer Paul comes out and drops Sami with one punch, which had him rocked and would have KO’d any mortal man. Seeing Sami in trouble Paul goes in for the rear naked choke and locks it in tight securing the fight in the opening seconds of the first round.
And so ended another successful evening of combat at the Harvey Haddon centre. Working as hard as always was Ian Dean, a true credit to our sport, he never seemed to be in one place longer than 30 seconds, constantly buzzing around ensuring the evening ran as it should.
A huge thank you to Ian and also Dean who sorted out seating for the MMAU crew, it did not go unnoticed.
I look forward to the next event which is to be held in October, this will hopefully see the return of Steve Tetley and Dan Hardy, who has been competing in Japan. 
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