Well.....How was it last night?

Celticfire

Can't believe no-one has posted a review or commented on the fights last night at this stage. How did it go & what were the fights like? Not all of us could make it last night, so fill us in pleeeeeease........

Maguined

Was pretty good apart from booking A row tickets so we culd be right up at the front but then showing up and being told there was no A row so it would be 4 rows back instead of the front.

the first match was a let down as the ref thought it was a boxing match not mma. but from then on in it was pretty good and entertaining especially from sissy boy and his antics

crowd was a bit small though and the atmosphere was not as good as the point.

overall was pleased and very happy to hear the next event is in december so not so ong a wait.

Tim_Murphy

Anyone going to write a bit of a review of this or even post the full results?!

Roper

Sorry gents, I was away from the PC for a bit

Not a review, but my thoughts!
First of all, in terms of fights, times ten better than the last rings. Not interms of talent but in terms of rules. The striking on the ground kept the fights alive and active at all times. There was some fantastic bouts and some excellent bouts, there really was no dull fights. My only complaint was with the first one, as someone said above, the ref stopped it awful quick. The guy had only taken one shot on the ground and I don't know what the count is all about either. But apart from that, my highlights were:
Tom Haddock weathering a storm to win by sub.
A super slam by
And some excellent jits on display in the headline event.

The atmosphere was quite poor alright, and the attendance lower than I expected for such a high quality card. IMO, the point show probably did some damage, but as long as there's quality cards like this one a coming, the audiences will come. One thing's for certain, the standard of fighter on display on Saturday was a great advertisement for MMA in Ireland and well done to the promoters for getting such top class international talent on board too. Also BJ Penn looks about ten times the man who fought Matt Hughes!
Here's the results from memory, but I may well be wrong on a couple.
International bouts
Emmanuel Fernandez (Fr) v Renato Migliaccio (Brasil) 66kgs Migliaccio by decision
Christophe Gauthierot (Fr) v Petras Morkevicius (lit) 84kgs morkevicius by sub???
Jerome Laulan (Fr) v Brandon Clifford (Eng) 93kgs laulan Doctors stoppage (cut)
Irish bouts
Francis Heagney (SBG) v Greg Loughran (PFS) 70kgs Loughran by sub (triangle)
Adrian Degorski (SBG) v Tom Haddock (PBS) 80kgs Haddock sub (RNC)
Árni Ísaksson (SBG) v Aidan Marron (PFS) 75kgs isaksson by tko
Micheal Leonard (SBG) v Neil Serry (Shika) 65kgs leonard by sub
Clive Staunton (SBG) v Alan Seery (Shika) 75kgs staunton sub (Arm bar)
Tomas Murnikas (SBG) v Owen Dempsey (NG) 70kgs Dempsey by decision
Kevin Mc Alonan (PFS) v Andy O'Connor (NG) mcalonan by tko (ref stoppage)

StrateBlastJim

Just my thoughts on the night and the fights.

International bouts
Emmanuel Fernandez (Fr) v Renato Migliaccio (Brasil) 66kgs Migliaccio by decision.
Excellent fight all round, what else would you expect from 2 black belts but Renato did seem to have the upperhand throughout. Highlight was definetly the first round where there was some slick ground exchanges.

Christophe Gauthierot (Fr) v Petras Morkevicius (lit) 84kgs morkevicius by sub(Triangle)
Right from the off Petras looked to take it to the ground with a massive slam (which im sure mick will make him pay for) but both where back up quick but not for long and once it went to ground petras had the upper hand and finished with a clinical Triangle. Excellent fight.

Jerome Laulan (Fr) v Brandon Clifford (Eng) 93kgs laulan Doctors stoppage (cut)
Unfourtunetly a clash of heads at the start forced a blood stoppage. Laulan seemed very pleased to say the least.

Irish bouts
Francis Heagney (SBG) v Greg Loughran (PFS) 70kgs Loughran by sub(triangle)
Francis seemed to be in charge standing but when the action hit the ground Greg showed his excellent guard game which francis could not get passed which turned out to be his downfall when greg pulled off a super fast triangle.

Adrian Degorski (SBG) v Tom Haddock (PBS) 80kgs Haddock sub (RNC)
I really didn't want to watch this one as Tom is a good friend and we train in SBG with Adrian who is a top guy. Tom tried to get things to the ground only for adrain to escape to his fight, a few left jabs from adrain seemed to just miss along with a right which looked like it could have ended the fight, eventually tom got it to the ground and made mount, Adrain rolled over trying to escape and tom finished with a rearnaked. Excellent match and very good result for Tom.

Árni Ísaksson (SBG) v Aidan Marron (PFS) 75kgs isaksson by tko
This was a barn stormer. Árni Dominated this from the off and showed his abilities striking, in clinch and on the ground but the experenced Aidan Marron did show signs that at anytime he might turn things around but it was not to be and Árni won TKO from strikes on the ground if i remember correctly.

Micheal Leonard (SBG) v Neil Serry (Shika) 65kgs leonard by sub (Triangle)
A normal mick fight, come out take your opponent down get mount hit him twice and take mounted triangle when he trys to defend. Best part of this was when mick had the triangle on, Neil tried to escape and rolled mick on to his back, From Neils corner i could hear 1 corner man shout "thats it your out" to which the other replied "no thats a triangle he's f*cked".
This was only Neils second match and was a bit of a mismatch but im sure he will be back for the next event.

Clive Staunton (SBG) v Alan Seery (Shika) 75kgs staunton sub (Arm bar)
Clive seemed to want to stand but when he missed a high kick and Alan tried to push and advantage with a few strike but clive was able to deal with it and was able to secure a takedown. From there it was pretty quick as clives excellent ground allowed him to take mount and subsequently the arm bar.

Tomas Murnikas (SBG) v Owen Dempsey (NG) 70kgs Dempsey by decision
Tomas as a well rounded game especially his clinch so he tried to use this to his advantage, however as he tried takedown after takedown owen kept on scoring strikes. Thats is basically they way the fight went but it was close.

Kevin Mc Alonan (PFS) v Andy O'Connor (NG) mcalonan by tko (ref stoppage)
As mentioned above this was a let down as the ref stopped it witin 15 seconds when it seemed needless. but at least he got it together for the rest.

All in all an excellent event with top class fights, atmosphere was a bit subdued, not for my lack of trying, along with a few guys at the back who sneaked in some cans.

Congrats to all the fighters and promoters.

celt2005

A Chairde,

I was critical of last rings , too much hype, not enough action etc..., but this Rings was high quality , thought all fights were good quality with some promising Irish Fighters, the International bouts were as good as you will see, the Last bout was amazing .... a BJJ Masterclass.

Unfortunately, the last Rings bad publicity affected the attendance (800+ in 2500 venue), but with regular high quality events like this, that will soon change.

cmb.

also bought front row tickets but was then told that they didnt exist - especially annoying as the building as about 1/3 full - no real production values (unlike the point show) but great action (again unlike the point show) - ref totally f'ed up in the opening bout - sympaties with andy o connor but this was quickly forgotten with a great fight next - and special mention to owen dempsey for a great performance (and his friend shouting out 'do something' when they were in the clinch - much laughter - but you had to have been there) - dissapointed with the stoppage in thelaulan v clifford fight as it seemed to have been away and to the side of the eye and totally cleared up - but i will give the benefit of the doubt to the doc - who took an eternity to get in there to check the cut - main event was very exciting - seeing brennan and penn there was great - if only this card was on the point show - it would have filled the point again - even my friend who came with me (to keep me company as my other mates wouldnt even take a free ticket to go after the last event) really enjoyed the event and was open to going again

kudos to the matchmaker - a good card - well booked and excited about the dec 17th show

whena re tickets on sale????? (but if there are ringside tickets on sale can we make sure that they are actually for ringside seats!!!!!!!!!)

paul moran

Great night and a great card with some excellent athletes.

Highlights for me....

Sissyboys triangle and entrance and celebrations!

Clives G n' P before setting the armbar. Also some nice crazy monkey defence to weather the brief storm before it went to ground.

Owens great clinch and takedown defence and cool strikes (specially that perfect spinning back kick, right in the breadbasket)

The right hand that floored (Andy O' Conner???) in the first fight.
I don't know what people are complaining about, I didn't see the fighter or his corner complaining. He was dropped with a beautiful right cross, the ref intercepted and gave an 8 count to help him out and then he was nailed with a solid right on the ground.

The big slam during the international fight.

Toms Rear naked choke on Adrien.

The Icelandish guy and his standup skills.

The French guys celebrations after he won by referee stoppage due to cuts?!?!:)

The Mic/sound turning Michael's intro's into Buck Rodgers Robot, twiggy:)

The atmosphere was different, seemed like I was sitting in at a Pride show with the Japanese. Very informed and educated audience who knew the ins and outs of the MMA sport and showed their appreciation when appropriate.

Nice Job John Kavanagh and all the fighters. Let us know as soon as you have an idea of the card for the next. Any chance of seeing Dave Roche in action???

Clive

Well since myself and Mick are at least 10kgs apart and on the same team, I'd say that's unlikely to happen!

Personally, I'd like to see Mick fight Emmanuel Fernandez!

TwoKingMick

I wouldn't say that clive, we've both fought sucessfully at -75kgs, why not? Apart from the same team/mates thing that is.
I'd personally like to see a clive versus tom haddock rematch, can't really think of any other interesting matches for him at -75, have you considered dropping to -70?

Clive

I don't think Mick would get thrown around by Emmanuel Fernandez. Also a rematch between Tim Murphy and Mick would rock.

Clive

70 eh? That's a lot of weight to cut, and I've decided sweating is a bit undignified. Also my mother would kill me.

As the man said though, it's all up to the promoters...

TwoKingMick

clive, you,me and a car park, the fans demand it!

TwoKingMick

hey now, i represent that comment.

Clive

TwoKingMick wrote:

clive, you,me and a car park, the fans demand it!

Apparently so!
To fully set the mood, I insist that this video be playing somewhere in the background:

http://www.transbuddha.com/mediaHolder.php?id=23

TwoKingMick

I think i have new entrance music.

Scramble

I wasn't at the last rings event in the point, so I have no point of comparison there ... in fact, this was the first MMA show that I have been to. My overall impression was very positive, I thought it was a good card and the ticket was money well spent. Two guys from work who don't really train also came along, and enjoyed it likewise (barring the triangles, which they didn't recognise as submissions at all).

Some thoughts on the fights that stand out in my mind:-

Emmanuel Fernandez (Fr) v Renato Migliaccio : As mentioned, the brazillian seemed to be dominant, but I'm not surprised it went the distance given that both guys were BJJ blackbelts. If I remember correctly then Migliaccio spent the last 30 or 40 seconds trying to sink in a choke, with Fernandez defending successfully. Bit of a lacklustre finish, but there were moments of technical brilliance and quick reversals during the fight that made up for it.

Adrian Degorski (SBG) v Tom Haddock (PBS) : I was pretty surprised by the outcome of this fight, although admittedly I was basing this on what I'd heard over and above anything else. I don't think Degorski ever got into his stride with his striking, although one right he threw did seem to rock Tom in the first round. The guys I was watching with were impressed by how clinically Tom won on the ground, it ran totally counter to their assumptions about how the fight would go (kind of a UFC I moment for them).

Micheal Leonard (SBG) v Neil Serry (Shika) 65kgs leonard by sub (Triangle): I remember this one as being a really quick finish (not actually sure how long the fight even lasted). When Mick shot in successfully I thought it was pretty much over bar how it was going to happen. My mates had no idea what the hell the triangle was, but I thought it was a really clinical finish.

Clive Staunton (SBG) v Alan Seery (Shika) 75kgs staunton sub (Arm bar): Thought Clive looked really relaxed (maybe even too nonchalant?) as he got into the ring, but he dominated technically and this was also a very clinical finish. Nice standup defense too.