MMAPredictions

By Byron Wicker

In an era when we all want MMA to be taken seriously, having the names like Ninja and Professor X as a main event may not be the smartest move. Unlike some recent Cage Rage main events though, Cage Rage 24: Feel the Pain’s headlining fight was a well matched contest between two credible opponents. The word was: if it stays standing up, X has a chance. As soon as it goes to the floor- forget about it. For once; the pre-fight chat was bang on the money. Xavier Foupa Pokam just shaded the Muay Thai exchanges in round one. A couple of times, his leg kicks downed Murilo Rua- but he let him stand up. Professor X knew a ground battle would be the end of him. When the two hit the canvas- it proved the Professor’s calculations were accurate. Ninja almost finished him with his trademark side choke before taking his back and pulling a rear naked choke. A demonstration that you need an all round game if you want to go places in MMA. A solid comeback win for Ninja after his Robbie Lawler trauma.

There were not too many people left in Wembley Arena to celebrate the Brazilian victory. A combination of dirty London weather, saving beer money for Christmas and preparing for next week’s all night Ricky Hatton parties meant there were more empty seats than normal at the Arena. Cage Rage pride themselves on putting on a party. The mix of pumping music and scantily clad dancers is not to everyone’s taste, but the event runs like clockwork and there are no lulls in the action. The success of this formula means that Cage Rage now have a live two hour slot on the UK’s major sports channel; Sky Sports. Great news for the sport of MMA. Bad news for the live audience. For the last four fights of the night, you become an extra in a TV production. A series of early stoppages means the crowd are treated to the re-runs of the undercard that the viewers at home are watching. All the momentum of the show drops. Casual fans - you know, normal people who don’t stay up at night worrying about the decline of the Chute Boxe camp - headed for the exits. They had seen ten fights - why hang around?

The TV fights were short and sweet. Paul Cahoon fed Elvis Sinosic a big overhand right and the popular Aussie crumpled to the deck like an old man wearily collapsing into an armchair. Drew Fickett choked Mark Weir to submission in the first. Another UFC vet brought the crowd to their feet with a shock revelation: Ross Pointon is a good fighter. The TUF star has always had heart and a big punch but, since dropping to welterweight, he is demonstrating real signs of technical improvement. The suspicion was that he had been roped in to be a name on the record of up and comer Marios Zaromskis, but Ross had not read the script. He forced the pace and hurt the Lithuanian with some heavy blows. The classy Zaromskis countered with some sharp strikes but Ross was bossing the affair. As always seems the way though- bad luck struck as a horrific cut opened over Pointon’s eye, giving the doc no choice but to stop it. On crowd reaction alone, Pointon was the star of the evening.

Mark “The Beast” Epstein is another Cage Rage favourite in the brawling “cage fighter” mould. He was up against the Tom “Kong” Watson; fresh home from helping Rashad Evans prepare for the Michael Bisping fight. Watson takes his entrances seriously. Stepping up from the usual gorilla mask- this time he went for the gorilla mask and Victorian ladies dress. He strolled delicately down the cage as a voice narrated a fairy tale description of the fight over a backing track of the Beauty and the Beast theme. Did he back it up? The Beast got ugly when it mattered and edged a split decision.

Giant Heavyweights Neil Grove and Robert “Buzz” Berry put on a round of enjoyable madness- both gassing badly at the end of the first. Grove won- but the big hitting, wide open style both employ would make either a good opponent for EliteXC to put in with Kimbo Slice. Featherweight champ Robbie Olivier went up to Lightweight to challenge Abdul Mohammed. Two of the best wrestlers in UK MMA cancelled each other out over three hard rounds, with the bigger man getting the nod from the judges.

Cage Rage have often been pilloried for their love of a freakshow. This card was missing a Butterbean or a Tank, instead putting together some intriguing matches. Lurking on the undercard was a suspicious looking one though. James McSweeney has a name as talented Heavyweight in Muay Thai and kickboxing and made a winning debut on his first Cage Rage appearance. This time he was up against “leading Polish Sumo wrestler” Robert Paczkow. Every preview of the event (including mine) poked fun at his credentials. A massacre surely. A bad thing for the sport. The 330-pound Paczkow waddled out to laughter in his scruffy boxing shorts. James McSweeney was accompanied to the cage by the rapper Shizzio, (me neither) who did an over long rap about how hard James McSweeney was. The man himself looked all business.

Robert Paczkow marched forward, put McSweeney into the fence, double leg takedown, put his forearm across his throat and exerted 330lbs of pressure until he tapped. Simple when you think about it.

All in all- a solid night’s work from Cage Rage. You can argue that some of the fighters lack the class of other promotions, but talent-sharing with EliteXC should remedy that. The card delivered some genuine excitement and sent the punters home happy. There should be a few more next time.

Murilo “Ninja” Rua def. Xavier “Professor X” Foupa Pokam via submission (rear naked choke), R2
Paul Cahoon def. Elvis Sinosic via KO, R1
Drew Fickett def. Mark Weir via sub (rear naked choke), R1
Marios Zaromskis def. Ross Pointon via Doctors Stoppage, R2
Mark Epstein def. Tom Watson via split decision
Mark Buchannan def. George Castro via TKO (strikes), R2
Neil Grove def. Robert Berry via TKO (corner stoppage), R1
Ivan Serati def. Lee Hasdell via submission (rear naked choke), R2
Abdul Mohammed def. Robbie Olivier via majority decision
Robert Paczkow def. James McSweeney via submission (choke), R1
Ronnie Mann def. Jordan Miller via submission (triangle), R1

Byron Wicker runs HurtBusiness.com. We’re very thankful for his insight into the UK MMA scene.

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