Is Ronnie Pexton Ronin's new secret “Animal”, as his stablemate Chin Weakasingh hinted in his recent interview? Whatever he is, he's bloody good, making short work of Fabien Bartez look-alike, Leon Dickens in about a minute. Basically Dickens tries to shoot in, gets caught in a guillotine, gives up his back and he's done. Rocket Ronnie gave Dickens a rear naked choke for Christmas. Usually the words Great Expectations and Dickens go together. This time the great expectations are on Pexton. *groan*
From the bell (or air-horn in this case), Pokam comes out firing. Ewin ducks under and forces the Frenchman to the cage walls. There's a scramble and Pokam gets mount, Ewin flips over and gives up his back. Oh, Oh. Pokam just rides Ewin, raining down punches to the sides of Ewin's head. Most land on Ewin's gloves. This goes on for an eternity (one and a half minutes to be precise) and you begin to wonder whether this is some kind of rope-a-dope strategy, as Pokam begins to punch himself out.
Ewin, despite his precarious looking position has covered up pretty well and manages to soak it all up, roll out and gain side control. The crowd goes wild and buoyed by the cheers, Ewin gets mount. Inexplicably, Pokam just rolls over and gives up his back. From there, the predatory Ewin makes no mistake. The rear naked choke sinks in and Ewin squares his account with Foupa-Pokam.
Great fight and great performance by Ewin, who kept his cool and weathered the storm to gain a very convincing win. If you are looking for a candidate for UK Fighter of the Year, then there are few more deserving than Matt Ewin.
Tough, wiry Ricky Moore is the worthy British Title holder, but Vaughn Harvey came at him like an Umpa Lumpa from hell, giving Vauxhall Viking a fight to remember. Harvey ate a few knees as Ricky closed in, but soon he had the champ on his back and was dishing out generous helpings of knuckle sandwich. Moore flails his legs, desperately trying to pull guard or get a triangle, but the slippery tangerine head keeps slipping out and smashing heavy blows on Ricky's face.
Eventually Ricky Moore's persistence pays off; he pulls guard and in a nifty move sets Harvey up with a triangle before sweeping him to the floor and gaining full mount. Pay back time, but Harvey buries his head into Moore’s mid section to escape a beating. Moore tries to lever Harvey's face back to the canvas, but instead, Harvey twists and gives up his back. Choke time. Or not. The Umpa Lumpa's slipped out again and awards Ricky a punch in the mush for his troubles. More punches follow.
Ricky Moore, as becoming of his champion status just looks calm. Despite the maelstrom that happening above, Moore clinically performs a sweep into armbar and it looks like this is it. However, Harvey somehow manages to slip out of that one too, and we've back to the same scenario. Ricky gets the armbar from guard and this time turns with it as Harvey tries to escape. Belly down armbar this time and there's no escape. Ricky Moore retains his title yet again.
Moore has really grown into the role of champion. He looks it and acts it. Class fighter. Vaughn Harvey looks like quite a prospect, great EB debut.
Kyle Jensen has been here before. He beat Evan's buddy, Jeremy Bailey on Extreme Brawl and made it look slick and simple. Evans was also on the card that night, scoring his eleventh straight win over American Matt Shaw.
”The Fury” must be one of the most apt fight names going. Evans is exactly that. He has the capacity to unleash a burst of such intensity that it has finished most of his opponents in short succession.
Tonight though, he's simply up against a better fighter, or more accurately a better wrestler. You have to give major props to Jensen who appears to have made his way across the pond on his own, with no support team and none of his usual corner men (Mark Day filled in for him). Jensen dominated. Getting Evans' back and mounting the Englishman. Evans in an act of herculean strength managed to toss Jensen right off his back, much to the delight of the home town crowd.
Usually, at such a turning point Evans gets stronger and goes for the kill. This time, he's simply outwrestled again. He gets taken down, mounted and eventually succumbs to a rear naked choke.
Post fight, Evans, quite naturally, is beating himself up a bit over his loss. He says he's going to fight on other promotions, as there's too much pressure performing under a home-town crowd (Jardine's events are like a spiritual home to Evans). A little strange, as previously, of all fighters, Alex Evans has been able to crank up his game because of his crowd support. He seemed to thrive on it. Anyway, every promoter in the country should jump on this opportunity to sign up one of the best.
The usually critical London Shootfighters coaches were waxing lyrical about Alex Reid prior to this fight. A great fighter, with particularly good stand up skills they all nodded. Turns out he didn't need them tonight. Jean Francois Lenogue pressed the fight, forcing Reid up against the fence and scores a takedown. Reid works a triangle and then turns that into an armbar. Quick win.
