Heagney Conquers Legato in Cage Rage Contenders
LONDON, Feb. 2 -- As the noisy London crowd has come to expect,
Cage Rage Contenders produced a night filled with stoppage wins and
hard-fought contests. All but one of the evening's encounters were
settled in the opening round, including seven victories by way of
chokehold and a few brutal knockouts for good measure.
In a super-fast and almost anticlimactic main event, London Shootfighter Francis Heagney wasted little time in taking down Italian opponent Francisco Legato before choking him into submission after just more than a minute of methodical action.
A brief exchange soon gave way to a solid takedown by Heagney, who quickly moved to mount. As the Italian attempted to force his way out of trouble against the fence, Heagney seized the opportunity to clamp on a tight guillotine choke.
The Irishman rolled to his back to complete the hold, silencing the crowd as he gave Legato no choice but to tap out at 1:07 of the opening round. It was an extremely impressive performance for Heagney, which immediately threw his name into the mix of possible British welterweight title contenders.
Heavily tattooed Polish fighter Popek Rak put on a rough and ready display as he controlled the entire fight and pounded out the game but limited Glen Reid two minutes into the second round.
Rak brought with him an army of enthusiastic fans who chanted loudly throughout the contest. He laid waste to Reid with a composed but brutal rain of punches from mount.
As Rak pounded away, Cage Rage fighter James McSweeney (Pictures) was forced to throw in the towel and save his training partner from unnecessary damage.
As well supported as his body is covered with ink, Rak can now relax and give a thought as to where he might buy a small house with the incredible amount of commission he must have made from ticket sales.
Jason Barrett (Pictures) put in a spirited but ultimately losing performance in his bout with Scott Jansen (Pictures) -- another fighter who brought his entire fan club to watch what turned out to be a devastating performance.
Jansen began the contest with a furious series of hooks and uppercuts that forced the punching preacher to cover up against the cage. Rope-a-dope simply doesn't work with four-ounce gloves, though, and after a painful lesson against the cage, Barrett fired back with a hard low kick as he worked his way back into the contest.
However, Barrett's revival was short-lived. Jansen proceeded to batter him all over the cage, landing yet more vicious punches, including a pair of leaping Thai right hands that opened a nasty gash under Barrett's right eye.
A brief look at the cut between rounds was more than Barrett's corner needed to see, and they promptly pulled him out of the contest to the ecstatic joy of Jansen's cage-side fans.
Dean Bray (Pictures) showed renewed confidence and maturity in his bout with tough ground-and-pound specialist Mark Tucker. The stocky Cornwall fighter immediately took Bray to the floor and went to work with an attempted guillotine from mount before coming close to forcing a submission with a rear-naked choke.
Bray has looked vulnerable on the mat in the past; however, on this occasion he showed vast improvements to his technical ability as he slipped out of Tucker's grip and quickly put him in trouble with a rear-naked choke attempt of his own.
Four minutes into the first round, Bray unleashed a barrage of damaging, unanswered blows from rear mount that gave referee Grant Waterman no choice but to call an end to the contest.
Lithuanian kickboxer Marius Sukys did well to avoid the ground game with the tough-as-nails Danny Fletcher (Pictures) before sealing the win after two minutes with a standing guillotine.
Fletcher scored an early takedown but was unable to mount any damaging offense. A second attempt to take the fight to the floor ended in disaster for Fletcher, as Sukys caught him in an extraordinarily tight guillotine that almost lifted the spirited Londoner off his feet.
As with many fights involving Sami "The Hun" Berik, the outcome largely depends on which Berik turns up. Would it be the relaxed, submission-prone fighter or the vicious marauding power puncher?
On this occasion, a determined, wild-eyed Berik stepped into the cage and destroyed Mark "Baby Face" Smith in only nine seconds.
A left high kick from "The Hun" followed by a perfect left hook sent Smith crashing to the ground, completely unconscious. Berik chased his opponent to the floor, cocking his fist to throw another heavy blow. However, to his infinite credit as a sportsman, he realized that his opponent was helpless and backed off, making it plainly clear he did not wish to seriously injure his opponent.
Hideously tense moments followed as Smith convulsed on the floor and the paramedics scrambled to give oxygen to the downed fighter. Thankfully, Babyface soon recovered and received a standing ovation from the crowd as he left the cage on wobbly legs.
Egelson Lue put in a fantastic performance as he out-gunned newcomer Matt Lane with punches in just more than two minutes. Lue admitted after the fight that he was badly hurt twice in the vicious exchanges. However, a glancing right high kick quickly followed by a brutal left hook put a premature end to Lane's long-awaited debut.
Monstrous Gorilla Academy fighter Kev Simms showed some genuine power in his contest with Chris Greig. He slung Greig to the mat and thwarted his technical and sustained attempts to wriggle free.
Greig worked patiently off his back, though, before clasping his arms around Simms' incredibly chunky neck to finish the bout with an extraordinarily rare arm-triangle choke from his own half-guard.
Kym Farid (Pictures) walked to the cage with his own customized track booming through the venue's speaker system. "Kym's gonna knock you out" went the lyrics, but opponent Jack Mason (Pictures) wasn't listening.
Farid started well with some stinging low kicks, but soon he found himself tied up against the cage while the Tsunami fighter imposed his will with an awesome display of power that enabled him to land some heavy knees in the clinch.
As the fight went to the ground, Farid landed a pair of stunning up-kicks flush on his opponent's jaw. Somehow brushing off what appeared to be hurtful and concussive blows, Mason soldiered on and soon pulled guard with a vengeance, grabbing hold of a guillotine choke for the win.
London Shootfighter Tony Pasos made his return to Cage Rage and survived an early scare against Mamarizaev Jahongir (Pictures) to choke out the Lithuanian in only 84 seconds. Jahongir proved to be a very decent standup fighter. He banged in a hard high kick, followed swiftly by a beautiful straight right hand.
Once Pasos got hold of his foe, however, he drilled him into the mat and exposed a gulf in class between the two fighters on the floor. Quickly he moved to rear mount to score an impressive win via rear-naked choke.
Known primarily as a kickboxer, Steve Dossett (Pictures) once again shocked the London crowd when he latched on one of the night's many guillotine chokes in his four-minute victory over Robert Powell (Pictures).
Powell had everything going his way in the early moments. He took his opponent down and achieved mount position. However, he seemed to let the occasion get to him as he wildly opened up with punches, allowing Dossett the chance to escape.
Needing no second invitation, the tough Thai boxer made his way back to his feet and finished Powell with the evening's submission of choice in another first-round finish.
In a fantastically entertaining three minutes of fighting, Azran Quasid knocked Cage Rage veteran Rick Andrews (Pictures) out cold with a peach of a right hand. Quasid had looked uncomfortable as he came out of the blocks, narrowly avoiding some wild power shots from the Londoner.
Quasid soon found his rhythm, though, and faked a front kick before following with a sharp right hand that clipped his opponent's jaw and instantly turned out the lights. The memorable win for Quasid in his debut was to some extent marred by his jubilant but misguided celebration -- actions for which he later profusely apologized to an irate Ricky Andrews.
Richard Griffin showed some finesse and brute power in dismantling Paddy Moore to claim a guillotine choke victory midway through the first round. After a quick takedown from Moore, the tough Elite fighter caught his opponent in a triangle. He ignored the opportunity to complete the submission, electing instead to batter Moore with a stream of punches.
To his credit, Moore was able to slam his way out of trouble, but Griffin looked composed and in control throughout the bout, en route to a very impressive choke-out win.
The first fight of the night involved an absolute terror from the London Shootfighters stable, Uvais Namiev. The hard-sparring former Chechnyan wrestling champion put in an awe-inspiring debut as he slammed Jody Cottham (Pictures) to the mat and bashed him unconscious in a minute and a half.
Namiev showed the poise of a 10-fight veteran. He calmly shot in to begin his reign of control. Without needing to pass his opponent's guard, Namiev landed three incredibly accurate left hooks to Cottham's jaw that left him out for the count and in need of oxygen.
The lightweight division had better take notice. Namiev is a living, breathing nightmare -- definitely a fighter to watch over the coming months.
In a super-fast and almost anticlimactic main event, London Shootfighter Francis Heagney wasted little time in taking down Italian opponent Francisco Legato before choking him into submission after just more than a minute of methodical action.
A brief exchange soon gave way to a solid takedown by Heagney, who quickly moved to mount. As the Italian attempted to force his way out of trouble against the fence, Heagney seized the opportunity to clamp on a tight guillotine choke.
The Irishman rolled to his back to complete the hold, silencing the crowd as he gave Legato no choice but to tap out at 1:07 of the opening round. It was an extremely impressive performance for Heagney, which immediately threw his name into the mix of possible British welterweight title contenders.
Heavily tattooed Polish fighter Popek Rak put on a rough and ready display as he controlled the entire fight and pounded out the game but limited Glen Reid two minutes into the second round.
Rak brought with him an army of enthusiastic fans who chanted loudly throughout the contest. He laid waste to Reid with a composed but brutal rain of punches from mount.
As Rak pounded away, Cage Rage fighter James McSweeney (Pictures) was forced to throw in the towel and save his training partner from unnecessary damage.
As well supported as his body is covered with ink, Rak can now relax and give a thought as to where he might buy a small house with the incredible amount of commission he must have made from ticket sales.
Jason Barrett (Pictures) put in a spirited but ultimately losing performance in his bout with Scott Jansen (Pictures) -- another fighter who brought his entire fan club to watch what turned out to be a devastating performance.
Jansen began the contest with a furious series of hooks and uppercuts that forced the punching preacher to cover up against the cage. Rope-a-dope simply doesn't work with four-ounce gloves, though, and after a painful lesson against the cage, Barrett fired back with a hard low kick as he worked his way back into the contest.
However, Barrett's revival was short-lived. Jansen proceeded to batter him all over the cage, landing yet more vicious punches, including a pair of leaping Thai right hands that opened a nasty gash under Barrett's right eye.
A brief look at the cut between rounds was more than Barrett's corner needed to see, and they promptly pulled him out of the contest to the ecstatic joy of Jansen's cage-side fans.
Dean Bray (Pictures) showed renewed confidence and maturity in his bout with tough ground-and-pound specialist Mark Tucker. The stocky Cornwall fighter immediately took Bray to the floor and went to work with an attempted guillotine from mount before coming close to forcing a submission with a rear-naked choke.
Bray has looked vulnerable on the mat in the past; however, on this occasion he showed vast improvements to his technical ability as he slipped out of Tucker's grip and quickly put him in trouble with a rear-naked choke attempt of his own.
Four minutes into the first round, Bray unleashed a barrage of damaging, unanswered blows from rear mount that gave referee Grant Waterman no choice but to call an end to the contest.
Lithuanian kickboxer Marius Sukys did well to avoid the ground game with the tough-as-nails Danny Fletcher (Pictures) before sealing the win after two minutes with a standing guillotine.
Fletcher scored an early takedown but was unable to mount any damaging offense. A second attempt to take the fight to the floor ended in disaster for Fletcher, as Sukys caught him in an extraordinarily tight guillotine that almost lifted the spirited Londoner off his feet.
As with many fights involving Sami "The Hun" Berik, the outcome largely depends on which Berik turns up. Would it be the relaxed, submission-prone fighter or the vicious marauding power puncher?
On this occasion, a determined, wild-eyed Berik stepped into the cage and destroyed Mark "Baby Face" Smith in only nine seconds.
A left high kick from "The Hun" followed by a perfect left hook sent Smith crashing to the ground, completely unconscious. Berik chased his opponent to the floor, cocking his fist to throw another heavy blow. However, to his infinite credit as a sportsman, he realized that his opponent was helpless and backed off, making it plainly clear he did not wish to seriously injure his opponent.
Hideously tense moments followed as Smith convulsed on the floor and the paramedics scrambled to give oxygen to the downed fighter. Thankfully, Babyface soon recovered and received a standing ovation from the crowd as he left the cage on wobbly legs.
Egelson Lue put in a fantastic performance as he out-gunned newcomer Matt Lane with punches in just more than two minutes. Lue admitted after the fight that he was badly hurt twice in the vicious exchanges. However, a glancing right high kick quickly followed by a brutal left hook put a premature end to Lane's long-awaited debut.
Monstrous Gorilla Academy fighter Kev Simms showed some genuine power in his contest with Chris Greig. He slung Greig to the mat and thwarted his technical and sustained attempts to wriggle free.
Greig worked patiently off his back, though, before clasping his arms around Simms' incredibly chunky neck to finish the bout with an extraordinarily rare arm-triangle choke from his own half-guard.
Kym Farid (Pictures) walked to the cage with his own customized track booming through the venue's speaker system. "Kym's gonna knock you out" went the lyrics, but opponent Jack Mason (Pictures) wasn't listening.
Farid started well with some stinging low kicks, but soon he found himself tied up against the cage while the Tsunami fighter imposed his will with an awesome display of power that enabled him to land some heavy knees in the clinch.
As the fight went to the ground, Farid landed a pair of stunning up-kicks flush on his opponent's jaw. Somehow brushing off what appeared to be hurtful and concussive blows, Mason soldiered on and soon pulled guard with a vengeance, grabbing hold of a guillotine choke for the win.
London Shootfighter Tony Pasos made his return to Cage Rage and survived an early scare against Mamarizaev Jahongir (Pictures) to choke out the Lithuanian in only 84 seconds. Jahongir proved to be a very decent standup fighter. He banged in a hard high kick, followed swiftly by a beautiful straight right hand.
Once Pasos got hold of his foe, however, he drilled him into the mat and exposed a gulf in class between the two fighters on the floor. Quickly he moved to rear mount to score an impressive win via rear-naked choke.
Known primarily as a kickboxer, Steve Dossett (Pictures) once again shocked the London crowd when he latched on one of the night's many guillotine chokes in his four-minute victory over Robert Powell (Pictures).
Powell had everything going his way in the early moments. He took his opponent down and achieved mount position. However, he seemed to let the occasion get to him as he wildly opened up with punches, allowing Dossett the chance to escape.
Needing no second invitation, the tough Thai boxer made his way back to his feet and finished Powell with the evening's submission of choice in another first-round finish.
In a fantastically entertaining three minutes of fighting, Azran Quasid knocked Cage Rage veteran Rick Andrews (Pictures) out cold with a peach of a right hand. Quasid had looked uncomfortable as he came out of the blocks, narrowly avoiding some wild power shots from the Londoner.
Quasid soon found his rhythm, though, and faked a front kick before following with a sharp right hand that clipped his opponent's jaw and instantly turned out the lights. The memorable win for Quasid in his debut was to some extent marred by his jubilant but misguided celebration -- actions for which he later profusely apologized to an irate Ricky Andrews.
Richard Griffin showed some finesse and brute power in dismantling Paddy Moore to claim a guillotine choke victory midway through the first round. After a quick takedown from Moore, the tough Elite fighter caught his opponent in a triangle. He ignored the opportunity to complete the submission, electing instead to batter Moore with a stream of punches.
To his credit, Moore was able to slam his way out of trouble, but Griffin looked composed and in control throughout the bout, en route to a very impressive choke-out win.
The first fight of the night involved an absolute terror from the London Shootfighters stable, Uvais Namiev. The hard-sparring former Chechnyan wrestling champion put in an awe-inspiring debut as he slammed Jody Cottham (Pictures) to the mat and bashed him unconscious in a minute and a half.
Namiev showed the poise of a 10-fight veteran. He calmly shot in to begin his reign of control. Without needing to pass his opponent's guard, Namiev landed three incredibly accurate left hooks to Cottham's jaw that left him out for the count and in need of oxygen.
The lightweight division had better take notice. Namiev is a living, breathing nightmare -- definitely a fighter to watch over the coming months.
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