The Cage Rage Contenders show is a breeding ground for hard-fought battles.

Tough, largely unnoticed fighters from the top gyms in and around London fight for local pride and a chance to make it into the Cage Rage main show. The pressure is on, and it comes as no surprise that the hungry combatants throw down with bad intentions while their friends and families watch from only feet away.

The vicious battle between Azran Quasid (Pictures) and local fighter Rick Andrews (Pictures) at Cage Rage Contenders 8 last weekend is a prime example.

Quasid said that as he made his way to the cage, some of his opponent's supporters took the opportunity to heckle him with a few choice words.

"Basically, as I was walking into the cage, one of his fans said, ‘You c---, you're dead,'" Quasid explained. "I was angry first of all because I got called ‘The Buffoon.' That's not my fight name -- it's ‘The Kid.' It was a personal joke between someone who told the MC to call me ‘The Buffoon' as I walked out."

Andrews looked very calm in comparison, making his way to the cage smiling and shaking hands with spectators. Things were about to change, though, as the two fighters tore into each other in the opening seconds of the fight.

A series of front kicks from Quasid seemed only to fuel Andrews' fire. The Londoner forced his way back in the fight, swinging a series of malicious power shots that whistled past his opponent's face.

Andrews then began straightening up his punches. After tasting some genuine success, he quickly appeared close to sealing a memorable win.

Quasid, however, was reading from a different script. He faked a knee strike before coming across with a perfect right hand to the Elite fighter's jaw, knocking him out cold after three minutes of action.

As the paramedics revived Andrews and fit an oxygen mask around his face, Quasid -- who has been known to smile to cameramen mid-fight -- adopted an even more insulting pose: He knelt beside his fallen opponent with a less than pleasant hand gesture.

After the fight, Andrews was understandably livid to have been mocked as he received medical attention.

"We're all sportsman," he said. "When I was getting oxygen, I heard he was walking around, calling me a wanker. He wants to call me a wanker? He caught me with a lucky punch!"

In fairness to Quasid, after watching the replay of the knockout on the big screen and realizing the terrible offense he had caused, he issued a humble apology on the spot.

"To be honest, I didn't think I was going to win," he said. "I know Ricky Andrews is a good fighter. He's a great guy too. I can understand him being pissed off with me. I'm sincerely sorry and I've actually just been on the Cage Warriors forum on my [cell phone] to apologize to him and explain why I done that."

In an attempt to call a halt to the hostilities, Quasid sought out and faced his furious opponent.

"I went up to him about half an hour later and said, ‘I'm sorry for calling you that,' and he just flipped out," Quasid said. "He wouldn't let me get a word in edgeways."

With the event fresh in his mind and in shock at the Team Obscene fighter's reaction to victory, Andrews seemed in no mood to accept any form of apology.

"If he wants to go for it again, I'll go for it again all day long," Andrews said. "But I know for a fact that if he was on the floor, I would have been concerned about him, not calling him a wanker.

"It's a sport. It might be a vicious sport, but at the end of the day, it's a sport. Fair enough, he knocked me out. I'm more pissed off that he called me a wanker when I was on the floor because I'm far from a wanker. You're a wanker and no one else is, that's all I've got to say. As for the fight, I don't remember f--- all about it."

Quasid told Sherdog.com that in hopes of leaving previous confrontations securely in the past, he has a policy of never accepting rematches. However, in a twist to the tale, Andrews is set to face Quasid's teammate Jared Farre in March in the Reading-based FX3 promotion.

The bout could give Andrews a measure of retribution. This time, though, it's his turn to step out of his hometown and into a cage that is deep into an opponent's territory.