LONDON, April 11 -- Over a 12-week training camp, Joe Mac (Pictures) has cut down from a starting weight of more than 190 pounds to an extremely lean-looking 170 pounds of muscle for Saturday's Cage Rage Contenders 9 showdown with Jason Barrett (Pictures).
"I'll feel alright now I've made it, but it's been hard work," Mac said. "But I've done it two or three times from training, cut and get back up. I've rehydrated and I've been fine, so it should be no problems."
All too aware of his opponent's Thai boxing ability, Mac is under no illusions as to where the advantage in this fight will lie.
"Strength and ground-and-pound on the floor, that's where I'll give him problems," Mac said. "On the floor, I think he'll struggle, so he'll have to keep it on its feet, moving around. … I won't have too much trouble closing him down. I won't give him no space to move and use his leg kicks. [If] he moves, I'm gonna jump on him and just finish it, as soon as possible really."
Apparently feeling just as confident himself, Barrett told Sherdog.com, "I hope Joe's been training hard because I'm bringing the whirlwind!"
In the chief supporting bout, Welshman Jordan James steps in against local fighter Suley Mahmoud (Pictures). Full of confidence, James assessed his main strengths: "It's probably my hands, so I'll like to stand and trade. But then again we've worked on everything now, so we've pretty much got the whole round package.
"To be honest, I don't know Suley at all, but I think it's a tougher fight. Obviously he's a tough boy, but I don't know a great deal about him. We'll just get it on tomorrow night and see what goes."
Eighteen-year-old Londoner Jake Bostwick (Pictures) takes on tough grappler Jack Mason (Pictures).
"He's a good fighter, good ground skills, not much of a standup fighter," Bostwick said of his foe. "If he stands up with me, he won't do much. Trust me on that one."
Asked what he would do come fight time, Bostwick was very clear.
"I'll be watching for his takedowns, picking him off and knocking him out," he said. "That's the way I go! It should be a war."
Mason was left perplexed by Bostwick's comments. "I'm surprised he said that actually because he went for a shoot on John Phillips (Pictures)," Mason said. "So it looks like he's been working on his ground game."
In what comes as quite a surprise, Mason promised to stand with the hard-punching kickboxing fighter and duke it out.
"I'm looking to prove my standup because my last few fights have just been on the floor," he explained. "I like Bostwick. I think he's got a good attitude, always up for a fight as well, always puts in a good performance. But I'm going for a knockout. Maybe take a submission if it comes, but I'm going for the knockout."
Marvin Arnold Bleau (Pictures), as usual, did not mince words as he discussed his thoughts on middleweight opponent Kes Kpokpogri.
"I've heard he's just recently got into MMA and I'm going to teach him a lesson for stepping in the cage with someone who's experienced as myself," he said. "If he wants to stand with me, he's in trouble."
The Londoner is looking to bounce back strong from a tough recent loss to John Hathaway at Cage Rage 25.
"I'm a bit insulted that he's took the fight based on my last performance at Wembley Arena against the best middleweight in the country," Bleau fumed. "So just for that alone, I want to take his face off. It's not looking good for him, I tell you. It's not looking good for him at all."
Taekwondo expert Steve Elliott was in good form as he prepares to face off against Team Sure Grip fighter Lee Wieczorek.
"If I could get my head in the right place and try and kick him in the head, it would be nice," Elliott said. "I'll try to put on a good fight and come away with another good win. Hopefully he'll make a mistake and I can capitalize."
Riding high after his last knockout win in a Contenders cage, Azran Quasid (Pictures) seems determined to put on a different kind of performance in his match with Umidjon Mavlyanov.
"In my last few fights, I've been on my back foot, forgetting to cut the angle as they are coming forward," Quasid said. "I'll be going forward, definitely. I've been working on that.
"I think it's going to be fairly quick. The guy's new, you know. His adrenaline is going to be pumping like anything, and I'm just going to pick holes in him and get a quick win, so I can get pissed," the Team Obscene fighter added with a laugh.
Only fighters who had to cut weight stepped on the scales Friday. Those not cutting will weigh in Saturday.
Lineup:
Jason Barrett (Pictures) (168) vs. Joe Mac (Pictures) (169)
Steve Dossett (Pictures) vs. Tom Watson (Pictures) (185)*
Jordan James (169) vs. Suley Mahmoud (Pictures) (169)
Jack Mason (Pictures) (185) vs. Jake Bostwick (Pictures) (185)
Christian Binda vs. Ashleigh Grimshaw (Pictures) (155)
Kes Kpokpogri vs. Marvin Arnold Bleau (Pictures) (185)
Mamarizaev Jahongir (Pictures) (185) vs. Kym Farid (Pictures) (182)
Denniston Sutherland (Pictures) vs. Ryan WhiteJody Cottham (Pictures) (158) vs. Jason Young (Pictures) (154)
Marius Sukys (Pictures) vs. Richard Griffin (Pictures) (169)
Danny Cubitt vs. James Elson (Pictures) (185)
Lee Wieczorek (Pictures)(168) vs. Steven Elliot (168)
Azran Quasid (Pictures) (160) vs. Umidjon Mavlyanov (160)
Edgelson Lua vs. Dan Mohavedi (185)
Kieran Hanbly (200) vs. Chris Gregg
* Kickboxing
