Cage Contender....

dendog1

like others i wasn sure about cage contender, but after seeing the fight card and the quality of the fighters have changed my opinion,
the organisers have tryed to get the best possible fighters and officals they could, although it would have been good to see some more local guys on board there.
think this show will evolve an get bigger in the future, which can only be good for local mma. good luck with it.

John Ferguson

dendog1 wrote: »

like others i wasn sure about cage contender, but after seeing the fight card and the quality of the fighters have changed my opinion,
the organisers have tryed to get the best possible fighters and officals they could, although it would have been good to see some more local guys on board there.
think this show will evolve an get bigger in the future, which can only be good for local mma. good luck with it.

Thanks for the kind words dendog, we hope that more local guys will get behind what we are trying to do!!!!

As we are less than a week away from the show and are more or less sold out of tickets could any clubs or fighters with any tickets left let us know asap, likewise if any one else needs more tickets let us know asap

cowzerp

If anyone in the north Dublin area wants tickets for this give me a shout, i've a few if you want them..

John Ferguson

Only 2 days to go!!!!!!!!!! We have now posted the final fight card on our website....

www.fight.ie

Could fighters and coaches check the weigh in times and event info

Cheers

John

Menace2Society

I was just on the website there and it says that this is a new concept in mma, open weights and 8 man tourny, - is that not what UFC 1 did?? Please elaborate on what's new or unique about it. Fight card looks pretty decent, Doski should have a good fight as he is comin off a loss at ultimate force for a European belt.

juijitsu black

NO!!! that is not what UFC1 did. they had any weight fight example 65kg V 120kg plus all diff fight styles example boxer V juijitsu. This is a great show and im looking forward to it, but what seems to be going on latley when someone wants to take a step up and make the sport more interesting and profesional is people begrudge them like when resently the Ultimate Octagon Challenge crew where staging a European Championship and even some dudes put a chatchy name like "imortal champs" these two shows where not aloud take place because of criers!!! Good Luck with the show Fight.ie........ takes some balls and determination.

Nothingcompares

Are neither barry nor kevin moran fighting on this?

Tim_Murphy

Nothingcompares wrote: »

Are neither barry nor kevin moran fighting on this?

Nope. Kev banged up his neck/spine pretty good and Barry is out with an injury too.

We've two guys on the undercard. Looking forward to heading up to it. Will be interesting to see how the show works out.

Martin Walker

juijitsu black wrote: »

NO!!! that is not what UFC1 did. they had any weight fight example 65kg V 120kg plus all diff fight styles example boxer V juijitsu. This is a great show and im looking forward to it, but what seems to be going on latley when someone wants to take a step up and make the sport more interesting and profesional is people begrudge them like when resently the Ultimate Octagon Challenge crew where staging a European Championship and even some dudes put a chatchy name like "imortal champs" these two shows where not aloud take place because of criers!!! Good Luck with the show Fight.ie........ takes some balls and determination.

What are you saying here? MMA in Ireland is Professional. Criers?
I dont get what your trying to say.

Roper

Tim_Murphy wrote: »

Nope. Kev banged up his neck/spine pretty good and Barry is out with an injury too.

We've two guys on the undercard. Looking forward to heading up to it. Will be interesting to see how the show works out.

Yup, sorry to say I have my arm in a cast and won't be out of it until next week. The card still looks strong though and no card is ever poorer without me on it:D Best of luck to John and the lads.

Judomad

Would i be right in saying Dominic Mc Connell is meant to be top of the bill next friday at Ultimate Conflict aswell as fight in the 8 man tourney??? fair play if he comes out unscaved and able to fight next week!!!!!!

Richie_Gorey

Does anyone know the results of this one?

crosstrainer1

Richie_Gorey wrote: »

Does anyone know the results of this one?

aaron lambourne of mk mma beat mervyn mulholland to be crowned cage contender champion this was a brilliant battle and the fight of the night the two men fought with grit skill and a lot of heart. over 400 supporters turned up to watch. i have to say this was a well planned and profesional show with 3 matted warm up areas for the fighters and the local crowed loved it and are looking forward to the next one.

cowzerp

Show was great, crowd loved it and the fights where entertaining and well matched, my 2 lads won so i was happy going home

Did not hear any negatives so thats a good sign, well done John on a great 1st time show which is the hardest 1 to get started..

Tim_Murphy

I missed quite a lot of the fights as we had two guys fighting. Good show overall though. It was well organised and all the back stage stuff was spot on, plenty of rooms, matted areas etc.

Two things
1. Bernard, one of our lads had his opponent in a knee bar at the end of the fight. His opponent (can't think of his name as the mo) has constantly grabbing Bernards shorts and kick him the head twice for good measure (not very hard but a foul is a foul). The ref had a clear view of all this and said or did nothing. Pretty poor refeeing in my opinion. I thought the decision should have gone to Bernard but it was close and it went to the local lad.

2. Paul Delaney's fight against the Rush lad. We were told the fight was at 70, the rush lads were told 73. That's a pretty big f up. Great fight all the same.

Like I said, overall very good show, hopefully these guys will continue to put on MMA events.

John Ferguson

Hi Guys

We would like to take the time to say a massive thanks to everyone who helped us with the show both in the run up and on the night. As there are so many to name i will not try incase i miss anyone out ...... We thought the show was a success, it was sold out and feed back has been quite good so far.

Congratulations go to the new Cage Contender(70-80kg) champion
Aaron Lambourne who won an epic final against Mervyn Mulholland.
These lads have agreed a rematch in about 12 weeks time, we will announce further details for that show as they are available. Any clubs who have fighters who will be available to fight at the end of november let us know.

Thanks again everyone!!!!!!

John & Mark
www.fight.ie


(We will get you a sat nav for the next one peter )

John Ferguson

Full results will follow in the next few days

weemate

sat nav indeed.....I knew exactly where I was going...I just thought I would take the scenic route!!!
A great show in my opinion,I think the format worked really well.....but.....the only issues I would have and before I mention them I must point out that this was the first show organised by John and Mark so it is a learning curve for them.
The refereeing was a bit off to say the least.In the first fight the young guy from Strabane repeatedly kneed his opponent in the back without any warnings or interuption from the ref.In later fights the cage was held by fighters as well as shorts etc again with no warnings given.The fighter who made it through to the final was and guilty of kicking a downed opponent commited the same offence in his previous fight and in my opinion should have been disqualified according to the rules,the ref had to be asked in the final if he was deducting a point!!!
This gripe is nothing to do with the promoters I hasten to add but more at the ref who in my opinion even though he was a great fighter,needs to be a bit sharper when reffing.
Im sure that the promoters [ who incidently made sure both Dave and myself were well looked after]will address this matter in time for the next show.I would whole heartedly endorse the event to any coaches who have fighters free for the next show in november.

Roper

Was it not Grant Waterman?

John Ferguson

Roper wrote: »

Was it not Grant Waterman?

NO!!!! Grant decided he wanted to do Ultimate Challange instead!!! he is their head ref and double booked us(although we had him booked well before they announced the show), the ref was Alex Owen.....

John Ferguson

Roper wrote: »

Was it not Grant Waterman?

REF: Alex Owen

JUDGES: Peter Lavery, David Jones, Paul James

ICTA 87

A great night for MMA in the Down area, alot of hype and an overdose of great fights to match the hype. Well done to all the fighters for producing the goods... Win or loose you lads all done great.

David Jones

Really enjoyed the show and thank you to Mark and John for looking after us so well. I would have to agree with Peter re the refereeing. Basically it isnt as easy as people think, not by a long shot. The knees to the spine in the first fight seemed to go unnoticed and the kicks on the ground too. If the Referee had taken the points as he should have done from Graham, Bernard would have rightfully won that fight. I have refereed close to 300 fights at this stage and Im sure Peter has done similar. You have to be prepared to take criticism as sometimes teams can be unhappy at the time with your decisions but you have to be confident in yourself that you can assess what is an infringement and what action needs to be taken. I think Alex needs more practice at that.

Great show apart from that, really smoothly run, and the 3 round end to the tournament final was the icing on the cake. Well done to all who organised it and I look forward to the next one and I would have no hesitation in recommending this show to coaches for their fighters.

John Ferguson

Cage Contender

*
NOTE: This press release was written by Fight Night Media not fight.ie


Cage contenders first event in downpatrick Cricket club was packed to the rafters *and complete success with people travelling as far Strabane, Geneva and Reading to attend the event.

The first bout of the much anticipated event took place between local lad Hugh the baby faced assassin Malone and Ronnie Brennan of Strabane fight team. Nerves showed early for these young fighters but quickly left them as they got stuck in with Brennan taking the advantage and dominated throughout the first round on the ground as he landed knee after knee on Malone . The second round followed a similar pattern as Brennan dominated comfortably won both rounds. After the second round the fight ended as the young Malone was unable to continue. With both fighters only aged 15 with both showing a lot of promise and *for the future.

The second clash was between Aaron Devlin and Alan Kerslake, with Kerslake winning by split judges decision. Both landed some hits throughout the clash with Kerslake certainly the more aggressive fighter. Taking nothing away from Devlin he held his own dealt out some punishment . The result was fair with Kerslake coming out the victory.

Graham The Joker Ochiltre of ICTA fought Bernard O’Connell, this bout was to compete with the final of last man standing as fight of the night. With the local lad clearly feeding off the crowd, the fight went back and forth with each landing heavy blows, both fighters competing on the ground it was hard to make out who was winning the bout after two rounds. As the final round commenced Ochiltre stepped up and gave a brilliant display, both fighters showed massive heart. As the fight spent of its time on the ground there was no shortage of blows and this is the point were Ochiltre pulled away with a well deserved victory after a unanimous judges decision .

The final bout of the under card was that of Matty hyndes against luke O’Neil. The bout did not last long as hyndes slammed O’Neil into the ground, with hyndes was caught with a guillotine choke and quickly tapped out. All the fighters on the under card proved to be worthy fighters and done their respective fight teams proud. *

The competition moved on the main event, The Last standing Competition were there was suppose to be eight competitors but two pulled out due to injury. So the rules were changed slightly all winners go through with one loser, would gain a spot in the next round with a golden ticket.

First fight was between Nigel The Pitbull Whitner and Juinior Barata, the first round was fast and furious with both fighters connecting with big hits. As the fight progressed into the second round Whitner tapped out by the way of an armbar by Junior Barata and progressed to the semi finals.

The second bout brought together Andy Walsh who was making his MMA debut against Dominic McConnell. This encountered proved to be a quick one as Walsh was TKO’d after 48 Seconds by McConnell as he slammed Walsh to the ground and came under barrage of blows were the referee had to stand in and stop the bout.

The Final fight of the first round proved to be a twist of fate as both fighters would face each other in the final. Mervyn Mulholland squared off against Aaron Lambourne. *This fight was a ferocious contest as both fighters connected with blows standing and on the ground were Mulholland finished the victor by way submission.

Then competition moved on to the semi final stage with Junior Barata facing off against Mervyn Mulholland this proved to be a quick affair after both party’s stood trading blows in the first round. Mulholland won by way of submission in the second round and booked his place in the final.

The Second Semi final proved to be an exciting fight as both Aaron Lambourne who got through on a golden ticket fought Dominic McConnell. Both fought hard with McConnell coming out on top after dominating on the ground for long periods. As the second round was to begin McConnell’s corner called an end to the bout as the fighter had broke his left hand.

The final was a repeat of the First round bout between Aaron Lambourne and Mervyn Mulholland. *The bout lived up to expectations as it had everything. There was some stunning displays of skill mixed in with controversy. As the first round began both showed they meant business as they both started to trade blows, as he round continued both were attempting submissions and looking for the knockout, with the crowd vocal in there support for the fighters. When the second round commenced these two warriors of the octagon returned to battle were they showed speed and strength with their striking skills, with both going to ground in an attempt to end the fight. As the round ended fighters were neck and neck as both wanted to win 1000 pound prize money. When the final round began you could sense both were looking for the knockout and went for it but with both unable to find it, controversy struck when Mulholland striked Lambourne to the head while both were grounded. Under the rules this is an illegal move Lambourne seemed to feel the effects of the strike. The match referee Alex Owen rightly deducted a point from Mulholland, when the bout recommenced Lambourne hit Mulholland with a flying knee to the chest and dominated the rest of the round.

While the scorecards were counted former IBO World Super middleweight champion Brain Magee entered The Octagon to congratulate the fighters and present the winner with his check for 1000 pound to Aaron Lambourne of MK MMA Team.

Spokesperson for the organisers said “this event was a Complete success and all fighters done themselves and the sport *proud “He further commented that there would an future event planned for November so watch this space MMA Fans” * * *

*

*

cowzerp

the 2nd fight was won by alan kerslake and not aaron, and alan was the aggressor so they obviously messed up on the fighters, i hate when writers do this.

ollieo

Will there be any videos of this event put up?

John Ferguson

ollieo wrote: »

Will there be any videos of this event put up?

We will put some videos on YouTube this week. The rest will be on www.fight.ie when we launch the full site in the next fortnite or so.

The new site is almost complete, it will include: news, up coming Irish mma events, results, video archive and clubs will have the option of a club page to include club and fighter profiles as well as an online shop and other features...,

ollieo

Thanks I was hoping to get to see some of these fights somewhere.

carrickcrazy

hi im new to the boards.ie site (very interesting reading)

ive seen posters advertising cage contender in carrickfergus, im really looking forward to this.

what was the last one like? anybody at it?

and also i dont understand how 6 fighters works in a competition is it like a league where they all fight each other once, or knockout (6 goes to 3, so theres a man too little)

pj

John Ferguson

carrickcrazy wrote: »

hi im new to the boards.ie site (very interesting reading)

ive seen posters advertising cage contender in carrickfergus, im really looking forward to this.

what was the last one like? anybody at it?

and also i dont understand how 6 fighters works in a competition is it like a league where they all fight each other once, or knockout (6 goes to 3, so theres a man too little)

pj

Hi PJ

In my humble opinion the last one was great ...... There was a capacity crowd and tickets for your local show are selling well so make sure to get sorted soon....

The 6 fighter contest works quite simply, 3 fights in round 1, winners go through to the semi final, there is a draw between the lads who lost in round 1 and 1 goes back in under a "golden ticket".

In the last show the golden ticket lad beat the person who put him out to win the final and title (and the £1000)

Hope to see you and your mates at the show


John
www.fight.ie