Event Title: Gorilla Fight 2
Event Date: 05 April 2008
Event Venue: Multihalle Herzogenried Park
Event Location: Mannheim
Date submitted: 12 April 2008
Submitted by: Des Wicker
Shawn McKenning claimed a world title belt with a classy submission victory in the main event at the Multihalle, Herzogenried Park in Mannheim. The big Yorkshireman put in a confident performance to defeat the highly touted home favourite; Thorsten "German Oak" Kronz. Early on, KO king Kronz stalked his man, but McKenning kept his cool. Each time the German stepped into range, the sight of McKenning’s right hand loading for action made him keep his distance.
Finally, the pair clinched, Sean got the take down and started to turn the screw. Kronz looked less comfortable on the deck and struggled desperately to establish half guard. Mckenning pushed himself up and began to unload some venomous strikes. The home crowd briefly glimpsed some hope when Kronz grabbed onto a stray punch, but Sean used his strength to dismissively throw off the armbar attempt. Now it was Mckenning with a sub on his mind. After another course of strikes, he eased a Kimura onto the wilting German Oak, forcing the tap.
Looking lean and mean at 120 kilos - the Englishman sent out a message that he is ready make waves in the Heavyweight division.
Mckenning’s team mate Jason Ball took the scalp of the Godfather of German MMA - Peter Angerer. The man they call Yamatodamashii swaggered to the cage. This was his house. A buzz spread through the crowd as Angerer posed and stared down his opponent.
The action got underway with the fighters exchanging leg licks. To everyone’s surprise - the submission specialist had opted to stand and trade. Angerer oozed self belief and went about his business with a self satisfied grin. He landed a tasty hook and the Mannheim fans sensed their man was taking control. Under such pressure - most opponents would have crumbled, but Jason Ball proved he’s a cut above most opponents. Ball took the initiative. Angerer wanted to stand up - so Jason decided to take it to the canvas.
Throughout the gruelling ground battle that followed, Ball pushed the pace and soon the smile on Angerer’s face was replaced by a line of blood. Jason showed no sign of tiring. Near the end of the round, Angerer attempted a heel hook. Jason was wise to it and the intensity of his ground and pound assault increased, with Peter offering nothing in return.
The bell rang. As the audience politely applauded, Jason jumped to his feet, waved his arms and yelled - “He tapped, he tapped”. His message fell on stony ground, and the crowd only realised the fight was done when the doctor came in to check out Angerer - still laying where Ball had left him.
The unofficial South Yorkshire v Germany match ended 2-1, as Daniel Weichel got back to winning ways against Ian "The Mongoose" Jones. After feeling a couple of stinging leg kicks, Weichel shot for the takedown. On the way down, Jones slapped on a guillotine, but couldn’t make it pay. On the ground, Weichel began to showcase his skills with Ian fighting to maintain any kind of guard. The pressure was relentless and eventually paid off as Weichel passed into mount. Top class jiu jitsu guys don’t tend to do anything to flashy- they do simple things brilliantly. Ian Jones tried to wriggle out. In the blink of an eye, Daniel Weichel had executed a perfect armbar. Weichel has suffered some crushing defeats recently, but this performance underlines the fact that he is still a top quality fighter.
A fourth English fighter entered the cage for the most disappointing episode of the night. Leslee Ojugbana was announced and treated the crowd to one his trademark high split jumps. The MC began his next announcement, in German obviously. It went on longer than a straight introduction. Leslee waited, keeping his focus. The MC continued his story. Around the arena, plenty of heads were shaking and the mumbling was becoming louder. For a few excruciating seconds - Leslee was the only person in the arena who didn’t know what was happening. He picked up that something was amiss and started to fire questions at the MC. The MC broke the news and Leslee’s face registered total disbelief. Six weeks of training, four days in Germany - he enters the cage and, only then, finds out after everyone else: Mario Stapel isn’t coming.
The official explanation was that the veteran Stapel had injured himself warming up. It appears that he left the venue straight away. In his next fight, Leslee Ojugbana will travel to Doncaster Dome to take on Jason Ball.
All in all - a pretty entertaining bunch set of fights. Unfortunately, the title match between Marcelo "Bocao" Ferreira and Franco De Leonardis was declared a no contest after an illegal slam by the Brazilian Ferreira left his opponent unable to continue.
For me, the most enjoyable fight was between Annika Sitter of German Top Team and Tanja Hoffmann. Sitter clearly deserved her points victory, but Hoffman showed enough skill and guts to keep the contest competitive to the final bell.
The Multihalle is pretty much the perfect MMA venue. Not a bad seat in the house. The promoters had clearly aimed to make an impression and put plenty of resources into the event. Everything - from the video screen to the lighting rig - was top of the range.
Despite being bang into the show - the crowd were very, very quiet. On the positive side - there was not one boo all night. The fans ‘got’ the ground game; with escapes receiving the same polite applause as head kicks.
Man of the Night was Peter Angerer. Wherever you looked, he was there. The majority of the fights had a German Top Team representative and Angerer was on hand to corner all his team mates. After all his years on the road, he must have been gutted to get banged out at such a big event in his homeland. Despite this - he took his defeat like a true sportsman. A classy performance on a very good night for German MMA.
