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CAGE CONTENDER IX : BELFAST : 30 APRIL 2011
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Just home, report now!
First time in the Kings Hall complex and i like it. Great set up, overjoyed by the fact i am cage side at my own little table sharing with two other guys from the media. We're a small unit so far i guess but technically i was on media row right ?
19:51 was the time we officially started at as eye of the tiger roared out. First fight up was Caolin Shivers vs Alan Cocoran. Brett Freeman has trouble with irish names to be fair so i won't nit pick. Sum 41 for shivers and R.A.T.M for Alan. It's the small things i appreciate from this seat already. Not as such how the ring girls look, but more so looking at her feet. She must have no feeling in her toes the way she is walking around with that number 1 card. Well done, generic blonde girl!.
Round starts and Caolin ate fist, gave a leg kick of his own which was caught by Alan who took him to the ground. Got side control early on and won the ground battle. Caolin reversed his position but left his head and lone arm in and got caught in a traingle. Looked like it wasn't going to be enough at times, Alan wasn't creating an angle but Caolin was only trying to stack him which wasn't going to work from a triangle.
Kieran Davern vs Matthew Mullan. I tried my hardest not to let bias take over here. I was nervous watching this fight being friends and training partners with Matthew. Just before the fight his coach Gary shouted :" We know what's coming Matty, don't worry " Soon enough the first take down was thrown by Kieran who is a BIG welterweight. Matty resisted well and pulled guard. Kieran landed a few shots early on. Matty was trying for a knee across stomach sweep ( technical name anyone ? ) but didn't get it. Until he got his chance, beautiful sweep of the feet put Kieran on his back and Matty got straight into mount. Landed the shots that sadly i am only too used to. He took the back and landed some more shots. Point taken off him for illegal shot to the head. However my only gripe is that i thought he wasn't warned. I couldn't hear it from a few feet away but I've now been told he was warned twice. Either way the round was now ever. Second round and Matthew landed straight away on the feet, which as expected prompted a take down. Matthew escaped mount well over the course of the second round but he was caught in mount after a stand up / clinch battle and had little to no gas left. He relaxed at just the wrong moment and ate 8/9 shots to the face. Not a bad new rule C Class Debut by any means for Matthew.
Karl Moore vs Janek Pinczura. Watching both of these guys come out i instantly felt sorry for Karl. Karl weighs 210 pounds, Pinczura didn't make weight first time yesterday and finally weighed in i believe at 265 pounds. So i heard in the arena anyway. Good stand up fight, and by good i mean it was good for Karl. Janek was swinging for the fences, which in fairness did just miss Karl. Karl has good boxing , was picking his shots in and out. Nice footwork then BOOM. Landed one straight to the nose which dropped Janek. Karl didn't follow up, infact he stopped and walked away because he knew Janek would not be getting up from that thunder effort. Broken nose i suspect from my seat, if not a bad nose bleed. 4-0 now for the 19 year old heavyweight...
INTERMISSION. Time to go buy a 1/2 pound burger. Only ever heard of 1/4 pounders this will be an experience.
Up next Arnaud Dos Santos vs Blaine O Driscoll. Both of these guys come out swinging . Arnaud ( who for my own benefit will be refered to as Arnie ) gets the takedown. Next thing i know i look up from my burger and Blaine has an armbar in. THIS is tight. As in, he was lying on top of the arm, hips up pulling it and looking at his corner in disbelief. Arnie has arms like Dan Hardy. I was bracing myself for a break. Arnaud saw out the round after an escape on top in a backward mount landing some shots. Round 2 was a stand up war, great start by Blaine who pushed the pace but Arnie landed in the better shots. Cagework ensued and it soon took to the ground where Blaine ended the round landing bombs. Arnie was saved by the bell. Round 3 . Stand up once again, i don't know why i start it like this. I mean it is an MMA fight not a BJJ comp. Blaine locked in another armbar this time a traditionally placed one. Arnie is really made of rubber , he escaped. Lit up Blaine on the feet before scoring a touch down. Side control to see out the round.
Judges scores were ANNOUNCED as 29-29 , 27-30, 29-28 meaning it was a split decision. Brett called it a UD. Perhaps i or he got it wrong. That's how i heard it. I would have given Blaine the victory for his submission attemps but Arnie landed more damaging shots and has Arms made of unbreakable bones.
He told us afterwards he :"Would not tap infront of his home crowd"
Levi Kehoe vs Milan Kovac. Round starts and Milan throws a kick which Levi catches and takes him to the ground . Did little else , Milan fought hard to get back up which he couldn't do. Levi has a great sprawl . Second round and Levi catches another kick straight away. Milan wasn't setting it up with strikes as his corner had instructed. Levi tried a few g/tine attempts but Milan is experienced enough to know his way out of them. Milan got into Levis guard and started to land a few bombs. Closing seconds saw Levi set up a triangle at the expense of getting mashed in the face a few times by Milans red 6oz gloves. Round 3 saw Milan come out with improved stand up, much improved. Setting up his kicks with straights and hooks, Until Levi timed another kick and got the take down, once again did enough to keep Milan down and work. Milan had good wrist control to block sub attempts. Took the back at the end of the round and couldn't finish. For me cage side i thought i seen an illegal shot, something Matthew was pulled up on earlier but it wouldn't have affected my score card. I had it 30-27 for Levi and the judges scored it 30-27, 30-28 , 29-28. Milan Kovac does not like SBG!!!. 2 of his 3 losses coming from that camp now i believe.
Alan Duffy vs Dec " The Bandit " Larkin
Instant leg kick to Declan is met by two straights to Duffy's face. Larkin has massive support here. Dec can't get the take down at the cage . Out of nowhere he lands a big slam. Sets Duffy into an absolute Frenzy. He exploded back up and in return took the back standing against the cage. Landed strong headshots in on Dec while having a hook in. Dec regained wrist control and was being talked to intently by his corner. I had a feeling he was going to push back his right foot and roll for a knee bar. Instead he elbowed duffys hook then rolled for a knee bar. The Knee Bar was missed as Duffy showed good posture, but the ankle lock went on very very quick and Duffy tapped. I don't blame any one for tapping to that. Career > Fight any day of the week.It might have been the hometown buzz but Dec Larkin called out Myles Price. I laughed to myself, Parke is fight mate. Get in line.
Chris " The Killing" Fields vs Lee Chadwick.
Lee Chadwick is an Animal. I can see that had to do this as a catchweight. Any lighter and he would have had to cut off a limb. First of all i think this is a big fight for Chris. Big test against a stronger opponent, if he loses it will really give Redmond the edge coming up to their title fight. Chris comes out to jailbreak which brightens my spirits immediately. They feel each other out, Chris gets hooks in up against the cage and trips Chadwick. His coach then shotus out :"Try push off the cage and turn on him " You can see the strength difference as it worked straight away. Chadwick was straight up and slipped off Fields back after losing hooks. Lee spent the last 15 in Side Control and landed heavy shots in the last 5. Round 2 Lee's coach is telling him to feint, in which Lee is just stamping his lead foot forwad, it's not fooling chris just yet. Lee's left knee is also strapped. It seems at the break either JK or Aisling Daly pointed out that and now Chris is targeting it. 4 leg kicks went unanswered by Lee. It was on the 8th one when you noticed the grimace of pain and he was checking leg kicks that weren't even coming after that allowing chris to open him up standing. Lee landed a hard spinning back kick and had a guilotine in which he dropped and i thought chris might go out.Chris got out and dropped a shot to end the round. I counted 13 leg kicks by Chris that round all to the injured knee. Round 3, Lee ROCKS Chris early, great head movement from Chris allows it not to be an early night for him, he shoots in but it's a feeble attempt. He's still on queer street, YES finally got to use that example.Lee looked in control here, until it went to the ground. Good battle, but Lee is gassed. Chris took the back and fired in unanswered shots and finished it off. He did very well vs a bigger guy, John Redmond stands up in the crowd and makes a I WANT YOUR BELT MATE . gesture.
Marius " Pit Bull " Lapenas against Vilmar " The Animal " Erenberg. Both these guys Sambo guys, so it didn't shock me at all to see the round end in a lot of leg lock submission attempts. It opened strong on the feet, Vilmar opening with a trademark leg kick which left a welt on the back of Marius's leg already. However The pitbull was the one pushing the pace as he went for it and targed Vilmar's left leg specifically.
Round 2 saw good stand up once again from these guys, i had expected it. I also expected it to be a bit of a hug fest. I wrote on my page, reminds me a big of Cathal vs Liam 1 then then out of nowhere WHAM The Animal lands a brutal elbow. It was only brutal since i was about 5 feet away from it but still. Round 3 see's Vilmar land some hard strikes early on and tries to take down Marius who locked in a g/tine while he was being taken down. Had it in for about 10 seconds before Vilmar tapped and the NEW CAGE CONTENDER LIGHT HEAVY WEIGHT CHAMPION. Marius " Pit Bull " Lapenas.
Onto the main event now, first of all we need more genuine MMA fans. Not just those who buy the tickets to see family members etc. Mass exodus of bodies by the time the main event comes round. That's fine i thought to myself , less NEWRY NEWRY NEWRY chants to deal with from the man who's managed to drink 8 bottles of beer since the last interval. Damien Rooney vs Mark Connor.
This is a short one folks, starts off well by Mark. Good movement from the Dinky Ninjas man. Picking his leg kicks . However out of nowhere and the first proper exchange of the night, Rooney lands a massive overhand right which drops Connor straight away. Still moving though so Rooney landed 4/5 elbows to seal the deal. Connor needed oxegen after which is a horrible thing to see regardless of the fighter but my god Rooney looked on top form.
With the rumors that Paul McVeigh will be vacating his title for TUFfer pastures. Perhaps we could see a rematch of Neil Two Tap Seery and Damien The Rage Rooney for the belt ?
Overall, great venue, good standard of fights and fantastic company. What more could you ask for. OH , YES i remember a photo with Brett Freeman. To whom i kindly said : " In two/three years, I'll be doing your job " . Probably not the right thing to say but who cares. He's a nice guy. SEE you on the 23rd
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Very good night of fights. For the quality of fights was probably one of the best Cage contenders yet. Blaine against Dos Santos was one of the best C-class fights you'll see all year. Did feel it was a real hometown decision especially when Ian Freeman Chris Brennan and Rodney Moore all gave Blaine the fight. Brett Freeman even looked very confused when he was handed the announcement, But this stuff happens and its impossible to put Blaine down. He'll be back very soon
Moore's KO was very impressive. Gotta expect good things to come from this kid. At his age already 4-0.
Chris and Levi's fights (although Levi's was very stale) show the SBG guys can put a good gameplan together and follow it too perfection. Good to see chris gettin into some longer fights too. Itll stand to him well.
Dec's Kneebar I think rivals Lukes armbar for submission of the year. Especially since innitially Alan was defending very well and Dec was just slick enough to pull it out.
Marius showed his experience in his fight. Was an example of purely how to wear your opponent down. With his condidtioning if he gets a hold of your neck in the 3rd its gonna be hard for anyone to fight it off. Villmars put on one hell of a fight though. The 1st 2 rounds were very hard to score.
Now for just a couple wee negatives.
Thought the second break was pretty needless. There was only 9 fights on the card and ive no complaints about that given the quality of the show but 2 breaks is a bit much and makes the night go on longer than it has to.
One mismatch on the card. As good a fight as the lad put up a debutant goin up against a lad who's 2-2 is a bit of a big ask. But turned out to be a very good fight.
Also the atmosphere just didnt give the same buzz as the Dublin crowd. Night just didnt have that electricity in the air.
Finally some cowboy in Maoire is sellin dodgy diesel it looks like. Rimas' car engine was destroyed last night and the culprit looks to be bad diesel with some sh1t floating round in it. I know you cant be blame for this John but we're still gonna :P0 -
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David Jones wrote: »
Rodney was a judge on the night and the score cards are as above so not sure your reference to him giving him the fight is all that accurate. Normally I wouldnt comment on score cards but as they appear to be public knowledge and as I was referee for that fight and not involved in decision.
Maybe Im mistaking who Rodney was. Coulda been someone who just looked like him. But He called Blaine aside and said he gave Blaine all 3 rounds. Either way a 30-27 score against blaine I thought was pretty strange especially for the second round was won by him convincingly. Not havin a go just voicing my opinion like. Hopefully we can see a rematch between these 2 in the near or distant future as it was such an entertaining fight.
Great Job yourself anyway Dave. See ya at the next one.0 -
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Hi Guys!!
A massive thanks to everybody involved in any way with CC9 - fighters, coaches, officials, time keeper, fans, production team, CC Team, press, bloggers and even the doubters, haters and begrudgers. Without you guys there would be no show!!
Those backstage will notice that yet again we changed more small things to make team facilities the best that they can possibly be. Thanks to the coaches who took the time to find me and show that they notice (lol it's not often we get praise so cheers )
Even after pull outs, cards changes and others behind the scenes trying to make life difficult we still pulled one of the most exciting fight cards to date. Our ticket sales were down slightly on this event but we still had just shy of 1700 people in the arena.
So just a massive thanks again to you all - We are already looking forward to a great night in Dublin on 23rd July!! See you there
PS: I was stopped in the arena and asked by a fighter why I never have fighters from his club at CC. To clear it up, I will take fighters from any club if the fighter is right. So fighters if you want on a CC event speak to your coach and get him to contact me0 -
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