Cage Rage Contenders 6 - Event Report by Costas Athinodorou
Event Title: Cage Rage Contenders 6
Event Date: 18 August 2007
Event Venue: The Troxy Nightclub
Event Location: London
Date submitted: 20 August 2007
Submitted by: Costas Athinodorou
Cage Rage Contenders is starting to establish itself as one of the premiere events for young talent to flock to in order to establish themselves, and Cage Rage Contenders 6 carried on that tradition by pushing a number of up-and-coming fighters into the limelight.
Contenders is also known for taking fighters who have had a hard run of luck and giving them another chance to re-establish themselves as a threat. With well known fighters such as Brad Pickett and Matt Ewin highlighting the card, and a hoard of young fighters looking to build a name, such as unbeaten prospects John Maguire and Jon Hathaway, the card didn’t disappoint. With the bout between Soli Klitchko and Charlie Francis cancelled, the card still featured 13 fights, and provided plenty of good quality action, and good exposure for the younger generation of fighters looking to break out and become household names.
Brad Pickett had to dig deep to pull out a win against talented Vaughn Harvey, who replaced Mark Chen. As the bell sounded, Harvey looked to work Pickett’s body with kicks straight away. Pickett timed these kicks, and countered numerous times by catching the kick and looking to throw bombs. After catching one of these kicks and landing some decent ground and pound, Pickett seemed to switch up his game and look for the takedown far more frequently than he usually does. Whenever Pickett would pass his guard, Harvey would scramble and bring the fight to standing again. On the feet Pickett stalked him around the cage, catching the body kicks and throwing the right hand again and again. Pickett worked some good ground and pound from the guard towards the end of the round, before letting Harvey stand. Both fighters were looking to engage as the round ended.
As round 2 began, Pickett looked to engage Harvey standing, and threw hard shots. Harvey showed why he is dangerous to mix it up with by covering well, and throwing hard counters that looked to stun Pickett. Harvey then got a takedown and landed in Pickett’s half guard, but Pickett showed improved BJJ by reclaiming full guard and stalling until the fight was stood up. On the feet Pickett unloaded with a huge barrage of punches, including some rib-bending body hooks, and grabbed the Muay Thai clinch to finish the barrage with some spiteful knees. Harvey again covered well and timed some powerful counters, before getting another takedown, landing in Pickett’s guard. Pickett worked back to his feet and again absolutely blasted at Harvey, who threw hard shots back and looked to stun Pickett again. Pickett attempted a takedown, which was stuffed, and ate another hard right that rocked him. This time he lands the takedown, passed Harvey’s guard and mounts as a great round comes to a close.
Both fighters looked fatigued at the start of the third, but Pickett again launched himself at Harvey, who was looking for punching counters and looks to have given up on the body kicks seen in round 1. Out of nowhere Pickett lands some hard shots and stuns Harvey, dropping him to a knee. Pickett looked for a guillotine from the mount briefly, before a knee to the groin of Harvey resulted in a time out. On resetting, Harvey again lands great shots, and Pickett gets the takedown. His improved ground game would win the fight for him this time, as he passed guard and worked to a top crucifix, a position often labelled the “Hughes-Newton” after Matt Hughes used it to pound out a victory against Carlos Newton. Like Hughes, Pickett landed some bombs from this position until the referee pulled him off, giving Pickett the much needed win.
Leo Negao was disqualified in his bout with Matt Ewin in what was a disappointing end to a highly anticipated fight. Both fighters were visibly fired up before the match began, with the referee having to separate them from a very intense stare-down. On the bell, Negao charged Ewin, throwing bombs and looking to stun the far more experienced Ewin. Negao followed with a takedown, and passed guard, causing Ewin to turtle. From here Negao took his time lining up a knee, before letting go a devastating illegal shot that left Ewin unconscious for some time. Medics attended him in the cage with oxygen to wake him up, and thankfully he seemed to recover fine. Negao apologised, claiming to be unsure of the rules. When somebody cage-side foolishly called out for a knee, Negao obliged and put a disappointing end to what looked to be shaping up as an impressive debut.
After fighting a technical, exciting battle at Contenders 5 which John Maguire won via close and controversial decision, Bostwick was eager for revenge. Both fighters paced back and forwards, looking fired up and ready to rumble, bringing the crowd to fever pitch. Once the bell sounded, Maguire executed his gameplan to the letter and controlled the fight. He began by targeting Bostwick’s legs with some hard kicks, giving good angles and movement, before falling into the clinch and getting a takedown. Bostwick scrambled to his feet, but Maguire would not let off-he kept the clinch and got another takedown, before passing to side control and finishing the fight by Kimura. A visibly frustrated Boswick congratulated his opponent in a nice show of post-fight class.
Mark Buchanan showed that he is much more than just a stand up fighter with a submission win over Kev Sims early in round 1. Sims looked for a takedown right away, and Buchanan almost managed to get his back. Recovering position, Sims struggled to control Buchanan, who looked to stand up from his guard. When Sims re-established a top position, Buchanan showed an improved guard by throwing up an armbar for the tap.
Jon Hathaway established himself as a real emerging talent with a unanimous decision over tough Charles Barbosa. Hathaway showed relentless pressure and brutal ground and pound in the first, busting up Barbos from the guard and leaving him bloody and swollen at the round’s close.
Round 2 saw a more even fight, with Hathaway showing a well rounded game. Whenever he ended up on the bottom, Hathaway scrambled well and established top position, continuing to pound at a fast pace. He defended a Barabo choke well and continued to work over the tough Barbos, who wouldn’t quit despite being worked over for much of the round. Barbos managed to scramble and land in Hathaway’s guard to end the round, but it was too little too late to steal it away.
Round 3 saw some solid submission defence from Hathaway, as he avoided a triangle and a sickeningly tight armbar attempt before continuing with his relentless ground and pound assault. The round ended giving the young Hathaway a very impressive win.
Jeff Hayes prevailed against Kym Farid in what was a back and forth ground war, with numerous reversals and scrambles. Farid even got Hayes’ back at one point, though failed to apply the choke he was looking for. When Hayes finally established good ground control, he worked to the mount and unloaded big shots, causing Farid to turtle. Hayes looked for a rear-naked choke of his own, and got it at 3.57 of the first round.
Luke Smith kept his unbeaten run going with an impressive triangle to close the night against debut fighter Will Russell. Russell started promisingly, landing a huge slam right at the start of the fight. Russell landed in a dominant position, but failed to land any strikes, and the ref stood them up. Again Russell drove Smith to the mat with a huge slam, but this time found himself in a triangle. He tried to power through the choke, but when Smith unleashed a barrage of punches, all the while tightening the choke, Russell had nowhere to go and tapped at 3.33 of the first.
Jared Fahre looked impressive in defeating Scott Janason by guillotine choke at 48 seconds of the second round. He controlled the first round with his superior wrestling, and worked some good ground and pound. Janason couldn’t get up off his back and ate punches for the majority of the round, with Farah working from the mount at the close of the round. After a brief exchange in the second, Fahre again established top position. This time Janson managed to scramble and attempted to work to his feet, though ended up in a guillotine for his troubles. With nowhere to go, Janason tapped out.
Mark Smith blasted Michael King to the ground in what was a highlight reel worthy KO finish. Smith immediately engaged at the start of the first, and King fired back. During the exchange, Smith landed some bombs that dropped King face first onto the canvas.
Glen Winslade demonstrated his kicking prowess by absolutely devastating down the legs of Jack MaGee. He gave angles and movement the whole first round, working relentlessly on both the inside and outside of Magee’s lead leg. Magee ate the kicks the whole round before finally landing a takedown as the bell sounded. The second round saw more vicious leg kicks, which were visibly having an effect now. Winslade followed a low kick with a partially blocked high kick which had enough sting to drop Magee. Winslade pounced and finished the fight with ground and pound.
James Elson overcame the superior strike on paper, Steven Dossett, and blasted him out via ground and pound in the second. Elson managed to get a number of huge takedowns in the first, and attempted an armbar after a massive slam. Dossett escaped and fired an illegal head kick, resulting in a point being docked from him. The pair engaged in some vicious exchanges, with Elson stunning Dossett with some big bombs at one point. Dossett showed great heart by weathering the storm and blasting back. Dossett looked to be taking over the stand up at the close of the first, hurting Elson with a succession of big right hands. In the second, a visibly tired Elson somehow gutted out a fast shot to land in Dossett’s guard, before passing and moving to mount. From here he let his hands go, absolutely blasting Dossett into unconsciousness.
Mark Tucker worked Steven Elliot over with relentless ground and pound before closing the show with a 3rd round armbar. Elliot couldn’t stop the takedown, and the pattern was established-Tucker would work his way to side control, look for keylocks and pound with hammerfists and punches. Elliot tried a few submissions, but Tucker defended well and stuck to his game. Elliot was steadily worked over for 2 rounds, and badly swollen by the third. After more ground and pound in the third, Elliot turtled and gave his back up. Tucker worked for a choke before switching for the armbar to get the tap.
Jody Cottham managed to work an armbar to submit Danny Beevor in the first round of their fight. Beevor attempted a takedown, but wound up on the bottom position, where Cottham managed to stay for the rest of the fight, working ground and pound. Once mounted, he kept up the ground and pound before switching off to the armbar and ending the fight.
Contenders provided a stellar card full of up and coming British talent, as well as helping a few well established veterans back into their winning ways. Look for some of these fighters to be appearing on the big cards before long, making way for the next generation of young hopefuls.
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