Cage Rage 22: Hard as Hell - July 14th in London - preliminary line-up

Top of the bill, Eric "Butterbean" Esch will meet the British heavyweight champion Tengiz Tedoradze. Esch is coming off three wins in a row, most recently his submission of Wagner da Conceicao Martins in Pride. Tedoradze is a Greco-Roman wrestler by trade, so his style may not translate well to the bulk of Esch – Tedoradze loves to suplex his opponents but there’s no way he’ll be able to secure a grip around Esch even if he could lift him. The British champ will have to bring some new tricks to the table, and not make the mistake of standing in Butterbean’s line of fire that saw James Thompson come undone.

Second on the bill is the return of the man acknowledged as the father of MMA in Britain – Lee Hasdell. Whilst he hasn’t competed since April 2004, Hasdell was fighting in RINGS as early as 1996 and has tangled with the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Renato "Babalu" Sobral and Gilbert Yvel. As a promoter he held the first MMA events in the UK in the 90s, but in recent years Hasdell moved away from the sport and made a very comfortable living as a bodyguard, while running his martial arts school in Milton Keynes. It will be the return of a British legend when Hasdell steps into the cage. His opponent is three time world BJJ champion and three time ADCC winner Mario Sperry. The Brazilian’s last match was his loss to Tsuyoshi Kosaka at Pride 31, but with his level of submission experience, Sperry should give Hasdell an interesting night.

Fresh off his TKO of David "Tank" Abbott, Gary Turner returns to face former British heavyweight champ Rob Broughton.

Broughton lost to Tedoradze on a cut in December, but he was being manhandled and out punched prior to the doctor’s stoppage and Broughton’s slightly unpolished striking skills may not be sharp enough against the K-1 veteran Turner. If Turner gets past Broughton, he will be in prime position for a shot at the British belt. In more heavyweight action, James McSweeney will look to follow up his K-1 rules win over Michael McDonald with a win under MMA rules against Mark Buchanan. McSweeney’s jump knees in the Thai clinch are terrific and he’s a big guy with even bigger punches, so expect Buchanan to try to bring him to the floor to avoid those bombs coming his way.

Down a class at lightheavyweight, Mark Epstein will meet Paul Cahoon in a battle of strikers that promises to be short and sweet. Last weekend at Cage Rage 21 Epstein asked for a rematch with the man who took his lightheavyweight British title, Ian Freeman, but the Machine has announced his retirement, leaving the belt vacant, so there’s the possibility that this fight will crown the new champion.

One of the most exciting bouts announced is the welterweight meeting of Ross Mason and Marius Zaromskis on the undercard. This one promises fireworks galore, since both men are technically polished Muay Thai stylists, only too happy to let their fists and feet do the talking. Zaromskis match against Damien Riccio at Cage Rage 20 was the fight of the night so hopefully he’ll be able to match that performance against the very tough Mason, who will want to get back on target after losing by heel hook to Jess Liaudin in December.

Undefeated Ronnie Mann, 10-0-1, will challenge Robbie Olivier for the British featherweight title. At 13-7-1 Olivier is the more experienced and will be hungry for a scrap, as he’s coming off a quick submission loss to Masakazu Imanari in his unsuccessful attempt to unite the British and World titles. Mann lacks Imanari’s lightning fast submission skills and unorthodox style, but like Olivier, he is a very well rounded competitor and neither man has any obvious gaps in their arsenals. This may come down to who wants the belt more and who has the bigger heart.

Promoter Dave O’Donnell has announced that Cage Rage is trying to bring Vitor Belfort back again, either to take on his countryman Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos or to challenge newly crowned world lightheavyweight champion James Zikic. Given Belfort’s pedigree, he’ll be a heavy favourite against either man and while Zikic showed incredible durability in his win over Cyborg this past weekend, you can’t condition your chin against someone with Belfort’s power.

Source: www.cagerage.tv