Next Saturday sees the third helping of  MMA goodness from OMMAC. “ Only The Brave” features many of your usual Olympia favourites plus  a couple of juicy title fights.

Paul ‘Boom Boom’ Cahoon is the star attraction. Cahoon is a significant figure in the sport. Without him, in the UK in general and Merseyside in particular- MMA would not be as big a deal as it is. No Cahoon – maybe no Wolfslair. No Wolfslair- maybe no Bisping. No Bisping winning TUF: maybe no UFC expansion into Europe.  As well as being a historical figure, the good news for those heading to Liverpool is that Paul can still mix it with the best of them. Cahoon  looked like he was about to get some long overdue recognition after his destruction of Elvis Sinosic, but it didn’t quite work out. He dropped two decisions in a row. First a rejuvenated Ian Freeman put on career best performance to beat him at Cage Rage then Kazuhiro Nakamura  got the nod from the judges at Sengoku – Fifth Battle. After over a year away from the cage- Paul Cahoon will have his work cut out against tough Swede Matt Makela.

Icelander Arni Isaksson takes on Luis “Besouro” Dutra Jr for the vacant world welterweight title.

OMMAC (and Cage Gladiators before it ) is as good as it gets when it comes to domestic MMA. Do yourself a favour and get down to the most majectic venue in combat sport.

Tickets and info

MAIN EVENT

PAUL CAHOON V MATTI MAKELA

Tony Moran v Shaun Lomas
Lee Chadwick v Ronan McKay
Arron Wilkinson v Tim Newman
Jay McGuiness v Carl Harrison

WORLD WELTERWEIGHT TITLE

ARNI ISSAKSON (ICE) V LUIS “BESSOURO” DUTRE JR (BRA)

Richie Ryder v Chris Cooper

INTERVAL

Jay Gladden v TBC
Chris Oban v Tom Morris
Jay Manning v Tom Thorneycroft
Mick Solomons v Ash Pollard
David Hill v Afsul Miah

semi pro

Uche Ihiekwe v Ben Eastwood
Dan Abbott v Frazier Opie
Pietro Menga v TBC

Liverpool Echo Article

www.hurtbusiness.com

The Metrodome show was tremendous. Some local stars to pull the crowds backed by some of the most competitive semi pro fights I’ve ever seen. That’s mainly down to good matchmaking, but also to intelligence on the part of the fighters and their teams. Too often in semi pro, you see lads who put all their energy into mounting their opponents. Once they achieve their objective, they realise it’s not that great a position to be in. They spend the rest of the round dropping ineffective body shots and the audience get a parody of a real fight. Friday’s semi pro fighters took the smart option- looking to pass to side and look for subs. This meant- they got the most from the semi pro experience as they were making the best of the rules and the crowd saw a real fight. There are solid arguments for shorter rounds and other rule adjustments but the current ones are fine if the combatants use their heads. Friday night fighting is the way forward. Obviously, it’s a hassle for fighters with work commitments, but the hall was sold out and the crowd were determined to have a good time. To succeed, especially in these tough economic times, you’ve got to give the punters what they want.

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 Outcast MMA T Shirts bear the legend: WE TRAIN TOGETHER, WE FIGHT ALONE. Wouldn’t it be better training alone and being backed up by your mates in a fight?

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The crowd were well behaved on Friday. On security duty was none other than local hero Tengiz Tedoradze. I was secretly hoping it would kick off a so we could see a suplex from the Barnsley Gladiator.

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Unlike other shows, the MC didn’t announce the fighters’ nicknames. Without explanation, Billy “The Kid” Glossop wearing a cowboy hat on the way to the cage looks a little eccentric.

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www.hurtbusiness.com

Top quality MMA returns to the Barnsley Metrodome on Friday October 16th.

(Quick quiz- What landmark in MMA history took place at the Metrodome. Answer at bottom)

The event has been put together by Paul Murphy and features many of the fighters who shone on the great Ultimate Force cards.

The always entertaining Wayne Murrie takes on Bryan Moore. Also on the card are Lanus Jones and Luke Dalton, both coming off spectacular wins at the recent 10th Legion show. Ultimate Force always delivered with well matched bouts from start to finish and this show should not disappoint.

Wayne Murrie v Brian Moore
Lanus Jones v Daniel Sliwowski
James Bateman v Leeroy Barnes
Jules Willis v Billy Glossop
Jason Ball v TBA
Pete Hill v TBA

Ross Price v Martin Stocks
Tom Whitaker v Nick Slack
Louie Chapman v James Green
Sean Fells v Grant Kyles
Luke Dalton v Mathew Stocks
Josh Harrop v Keith Lorenz
Daniel Dwyer v Joe Patrick

Quiz Answer: On 9th May 2004 at Cage Warriors 7: Showdown, Gerald Strebendt won his fight against Dave Elliot with a Twister. This was the first ever submission by way of Twister in MMA history.

Rob Sinclair and Paul Sass finally meet on Saturday. No need for hype- this is a fight everyone really has been waiting for. The two lightweight princes duelling to see who is the king of the Olympia.

Sass has plenty in his favour. Forget the record breaking triangle run- just check the names on his record: Jason Ball, Ian Jones, Harvey Harra, Martin Stapleton. With a CV like that, you have officially graduated from promising youngster to player. Obviously, he is exceptional off his back and people keep falling for it. You have to be pretty smart to get lucky that often. 

The closest he has come to defeat was against Jason Ball last November. Ball kept the fight standing with some neat footwork and sly fence holding. Daddy Cool was on his way to a decision victory before his discipline slipped. Unloading from half guard and looking for the finish, he was the last person in the Olympia to know he was the latest victim of the Sass triangle. Everyone knows what Sass has got, but it seems he is unstoppable.

 Rob Sinclair is the toughest challenge Sass has faced. Like Sass, his win column is full of top names, but it’s his solitary defeat that made Rob Sinclair the fighter he is. At Cage Gladiators 8, Sinclair and Greg Loughran fought a war of attrition. On my card, Sinclair was edging a gruelling clinch and ground war against one of the best guys in the domestic game. One slip, Kimura on and the old fox Loughran is volleying his mouthpiece into the crowd in celebration while Sinclair kicked himself.

To quote from the hurtbusiness report:

A good learning fight for Rob Sinclair and confirmation that there’s no substitute for experience.

 Wise words if I say so myself. Before that fight, Sinclair was good. Since then- he looks on another level. He dictated the shape and pace of his fight against Tim Radcliffe to earn a unanimous decision. Next, he relentlessly pounded the tougher than your toughest pair of old boots Aidan Marron then played a mature waiting game before clinically taking out Alexandre Izidro.

Whatever the result; Sass and Sinclair are both on the way up. Both are improving and should be making waves on the international scene shortly. Right now, I think that Sinclair is the more complete package, with a definite edge standing. With his mature attitude- I don’t see him making the fatal mistakes that others have when facing Sass. Taking into consideration his power, hurtbusiness picks Rob Sinclair to win by stoppage.

www.hurtbusiness.com

Team England were beaten 4-1 in the semi final of the M-1 Challenge in Rostov on Don, Russia.

Read Report

There were some positives. Rob Broughton put in a confident performance to confirm that he is up there with the best European heavies.  Lee Austin lost to Besiki Gerenava, but didn’t look out of place in the ring against the experienced grappler.

On the night, Russian Legion clearly deserved the win, but this shouldn’t detract from England’s achievement over the season. All involved deserve credit and hopefully they will come back stronger and go one better next year.

Read the hurtbusiness report of Team England’s decisive 5-0 win on the main site:

www.hurtbusiness.com

Hear our audio tribute:

itunes or direct

The weekend highlighted the good and the not so good aspects of the M-1 Challenge. The first two matches meant something- with all four teams in with a chance of winning a tight group. Every fight mattered. MMA as a team sport making perfect sense. Each feature being enhanced by because of its effect on the bigger picture.

With Team England requiring a landslide- the most important fight was the opener. Scott Hewitt won and the rest is history.

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Germany v World team had less riding on it- but the make up of the teams was significant. Fighters like Danny Weichel believe they belong in the big time and putting on a show for the TV cameras can only help their causes.

The Challenge is great for providing international experience and exposure for fighters- but it’s a little premature for some. Team Turkey ’s record (1-14 including a 5-0 hiding by the Russian Legion on Sunday) suggests they are not yet ready for the step up.

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In an international tournament- it is easy to stereotype the competitors. The Russian Legion lads have sound grappling, as you’d expect from the wrestling loving country that invented Sambo. The most explosive demonstration came from Rustam Khabilov. The lightweight launched Akin Duran via a belly to belly suplex. The Turk crash- landed skull first onto the canvas and wasn’t getting up anytime soon. The big screen replays made for uncomfortable viewing as Duran’s neck was stress tested to near breaking point. Thankfully, the dazed Turk walked out of the ring unassisted (but he is unlikely to be able to watch a live tennis match without the aid of elephant tranquilizers.)

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Saturday night’s third match saw Germany defeat the World team. The heavyweight bout provided drama and a little comedy.

Early on, Miodrag Petkovic let his opponent have it. All that were missing were the shouts of “Timber” as the Thorsten ‘German Oak’ Kronz toppled face first. ‘Pele’ thought his work was done. Instead of making sure, he stood over his man and looked to the ref for confirmation of his KO win. No arms were waved. The Serb rolled his eyes and gave a world weary shrug of theatrical proportions: “Ah well: I’m just going to have to knock him out again”.

To everyone’s surprise, it didn’t play out like that. Kronz took a few more shots, but began to show signs of life. He opened a cut and this time it really was all over.

Blood, guts, a morality play and a couple of life lessons- all crammed into less than ten minutes.

How can you not love this sport?

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M-1 Events run like clockwork. Fights start at the exact time they are scheduled to. A novel experience for anyone used to attending UK MMA events.

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The ‘Mega Taping’ was held in a TV studio on a media park in Hilversum . Hopefully, next season Team England will be rewarded with a home fixture. Although I’m sure the global TV audience appreciate the slick production values- a raucous crowd getting behind their own team would enhance the spectacle.

Quality M-1 Challenge Photos

More Pictures of Team England in Action

Post Fight Interviews

Tom Blackledge and David Butlin

Scott Hewitt and Ian Butlin

M-1 Global News

Hear our audio tribute:

itunes or direct

Team England News

www.hurtbusiness.com

What’s the highlight of UK MMA in 2009 so far?

In a year when the domestic scene has stalled, with two attempts at national championships collapsing, the best news has come from overseas. The adopted Londoner Marius Zaromskis cleaning up at DREAM and the five British wins at UFC 99 in Cologne are definite candidates. Although watching Dan Hardy round off the clean sweep with his decision victory over Marcus Davis was satisfying (and hilarious after the photoshop and forum build up), the most impressive UK performance had happened a couple of months previously.

On a weekday morning at the end of April,  fans around the country settled down in front of their computer screens to watch the live stream of Team England ’s debut in the M-1 Challenge.  The mood was more of hope than expectation.  Japan away in Japan .  The home team looked strong on paper and then there’s all the weight and acclimatisation problems associated with long haul travel.  Most of us were hoping for decent performances and, with a bit of luck, sneaking one or two wins.  An honourable effort in tricky circumstances.

Team Japan 1: Team England 4.  Unbelievable stuff.  The result only tells half the story.  The fights were genuinely exciting with the away team displaying skill and guts to achieve the 80% success rate.

The second outing,  a 4-1 loss against France in June, means that Team England’s progression to the latter stages depends on what happens at the two-day regular season finale this weekend.  Basically, our lads are first up against Spain on Saturday night and they need to smash the opposition to put the pressure on everyone else.

So, you’ve got a weekend with 30 top class MMA fights taking place at the same venue over two days.  There’s the chance that Team England will pull off a dramatic result to push on into the semis.  Could it get any better? Sorry, did I forget to say this is all going off in a place that is a 20 minute train ride from the centre of Amsterdam ?

Surprisingly, the M-1 Challenge hasn’t been getting the coverage it deserves in the UK .  Forums are dominated by arguments about fights on shows that don’t get a column inch in their local rag but barely mention the British fighters who are on TV in 80 countries (including HDNet in the States).  Courtesy of his star turns with M-1, Rob Broughton is now getting spots on major US cards.  Unless you live under a stone, you may have noticed that M-1 have been in the news a little lately and their new relationships with DREAM and Strikeforce are only going to increase opportunities for the fighters they know and trust.

The elevation of Rob Broughton and the retirement of Ian Butlin mean that Scott Hewitt and Dave Keeley will line up for England on Saturday. Both will be hoping to emulate the example of Si Phillips. The welterweight announced himself on the world stage with a 20 second KO win at the Tokyo away match.

Getting through to the semis in Russia would be a huge boost for UK MMA, as well as for the current fighters and coaches of Team England . Anyone involved in UK MMA should be supporting them in any way they can.

hurtbusiness will be in the Netherlands to provide full coverage of the M-1 Challenge season finale.

 The Ace blog of Team England Coach Aaron Chatfield

Matt Thorpe Interview

Event details including trailer

M-1 Challenge standings

MMA Unlimited Event Preview

Why the M-1 Challenge is ace (2008)

www.hurtbusiness.com

The videos of the fights from Cage Gladiators XII: Immortals are now available at:

http://www.p4tv.com/player/index.php

hurtbusiness caught up with Rob Sinclair after his second round TKO win over Alexandre Izidro at Cage Gladiators XII: Immortals. (report on main site)

The CG champ had been due to fight Paul Sass, but injury caused the unbeaten up and comer to pullout. The two outstanding lightweights are now due to meet later in the year.

Can you talk me through the fight from your point of view?

When I came out, I wanted to take a few shots because I haven’t really taken many shots in my career. I just wanted to feel him out first, get into the fight a little bit. As soon as I got into it; I realised that he probably didn’t have as much power as I expected. Then I stepped it up a bit and went in for the kill.

Was it difficult for you that your opponent got changed?

Yes and no. He was a submission guy. The same sort of thing; probably wants it on the ground, but Izidro’s the kind of person who jumps for submissions so you’ve got to be a bit more aware. Paul Sass sets things up a little bit and he creeps for submissions. Nothing really changed in training though.

 As well as taking a few shots, you spent a bit of time on your back in the first. It’s a position we don’t see you in very often; were you happy with the way you handled it?

Yeah- I nearly caught him didn’t I. I’m actually decent off my back- it’s just I never seem to end up there. I nearly caught him but he got out of it.

 In the second round- you really stepped it up and hunted him down. Were you happy about the way it finished?

I knew I could catch him. He drops the left hand quite a lot and we worked on that. I watched him do it recently- he got caught with an overhand right. I caught him with the overhand right and I dropped him. I don’t remember throwing the shot to honest. I just saw him on the floor and unloaded from there and fortunately I finished him.

Now Sass is on the horizon. Everybody who has fought him has been watching for the triangle. What are you going to do that’s different to everyone else he’s ever fought?

I think the thing is: everyone has an idea of what he wants to do so people defend the triangle choke. When it’s half coming on- people let it come on then try and escape it instead of not getting there in the first place. I’m pretty difficult to sub anyway. It’ll be a good fight.

Excluding those fighting on international shows; would you say that this is the unofficial British lightweight championship?

We’ve got to get it on haven’t we. He’s walked through everyone he’s fought to be fair. Beaten them in the first round, except for Jason Ball who was a bit unlucky. It should be a good fight.

Many people would look at it as: will you be able to pound him out before he gets a triangle. Is that the way you see it?

Yeah. He’s got to take a shot to get close in. Can he take a shot? I don’t know.

www.hurtbusiness.com

Fantastic to see a major UK show headlined by a Bantamweight bout. The match between James Doolan and James McGuinness is for the vacant British Title.

James Doolan is best known for his Muay Thai but pulls off enough sub’s to show he is the biz. He fights out of the Griphouse in Glasgow, home of European #1 Muff Buzz McVeigh, and is unbeaten since coming unstuck in the Japanese GCM tournament last year. McGuinness has performed well in his previous Olympia fights, but this represents a step up in class for the Glimmer Man. A win here for Doolan would bring the inevitable Dinky Ninja invasion of the WEC a step closer.

Read James Doolan MMA Unlimited Interview here

 Liverpool Echo piece

Rob Sinclair has to be fancied to beat Alexandre Izidro. Sinclair has ground and pounded the stuffing out of everyone in his path lately and will want to put in a big performance before his mega fight with Paul Sass on August 1st.

As usual on a Cage Gladiators’ show, there are quality match ups down the card. Ronnie Mann has vacated his British title due to his commitments in Sengoku. Ashleigh Grimshaw and Vaughn Harvey will battle for the crown. With a solid supporting cast featuring a plenty of Scouse crowd faves, it promises to be another good un.V

Vacant British Bantamweight Title

James Doolan v James McGuiness

Vacant British Featherweight Title

Ashleigh Grimshaw and Vaughn Harvey

73kg Rob Sinclair v Alexandre Izidro
70kg Luke Smith v Aaron Wilkinson
84kg Kev Axworthy v Alex Makonin
70kg Richie Downes v Colm Gillane
77kg James Gladden v Lee Doski
73kg Danny Withington v tbc
90kg Richie Ryder v Mike Edwards
61kg Chris Garry v Antony Murphy
77kg James Manning v Tom Morris
HW    Sean Jones v Ashley Pollard

For further details and tickets visit:

www.cagegladiators.tv