hurtbusiness

Jim Wallhead clocked up another impressive win, but a clue to his success may have been outside the cage. The Rough House guys always turn out in numbers to support their team mates. In attendance at the Donny Dome were: international superstars Hardy and Daley, TV heart throbs Amasinger and Winner, Lee Livingstone, Jim’s management and no doubt plenty of others I didn’t recognise. Fighting is the ultimate individual sport. You’re all alone; but having the backing of a good camp makes a huge difference.

Jason Ball’s shorts bore a British Fighting Championship logo. A reminder of a massive missed opportunity.

Marc Goddard: great ref, but sometimes he lets the fans down. During the Gary Enderby / Chris Fields fight, the eagle eyed Brummie noticed the cage door was unlocked. The action was stopped until the problem was sorted. Of course fighter safety is important and all that but, in these troubled times, wouldn’t we all enjoy the slapstick gold of two blokes leaning on an open door and falling through it.

Neil Fraser was wrongly announced as being from Barnsley, Fortunately, he was able to clear matters up by turning round and pointing out the huge, claret and blue Burnley tattoo on his back to the audience.

Back to team work. Neil Fraser had the Sinclair brothers in his corner. To get the most of their wisdom, he planted Chris Stringer bang in front of them at the start of the second. As the pair urged him on- they were able to point at the exact areas they wanted Fraser to work on. In no other sport do you get your coach literally in your ear while you work.

With hindsight, the main report didn’t give the Fraser / Stringer fight enough praise. Fraser was coming off a string of good wins, including dominant turn against Leeroy Barnes and the way he controlled Stringer was impressive. He wasn’t able to find a way to finish, but that is credit to his opponent. I looked up Chris “Menace 2 Society” Stringer’s record again. He’s got a few Ls but mainly early on and check the names: Grzegorz Tredowski, Samy Schiavo, Augusto Frota and Bendy. There’s coming up the hard way but that’s taking the piss. The more I think about it, the better his win over Fraser was.

Decent numbers turned up at the Dome on Saturday. Down on some previous shows, but still respectable considering the economic meltdown. They got value for money as always.

Danny Mitchel looks to have a rosy future. He got caught up in a leg lock duel early in his title challenge, kept his composure and nicked the win. Danny already brings a sizeable following at the Dome and he looks set for big things if he works hard and keeps his feet on the ground. Then again, he’s only young. He could probably get away with going totally off the rails and waste a couple of years in a haze of drink, drugs and loose women and still have time to come back and have decent career. It would make his autobiography a juicier read as well.