May 6, 2014 by katakumite

Cage Warriors 69: Super Saturday Details Revealed

Cage Warriors have now filled us in with some details regarding the much teased ‘Super Saturday’ event coming up in June. Here’s the press release…

Cage Warriors Fighting Championship is set to round off its schedule for the first half of 2014 with an unprecedented event in London on Saturday, June 7.

Following a hectic recent spell which has seen Europe’s leading MMA promotion host seven shows in the space of just eleven weeks, visiting five different countries in the process, CWFC will sign off in style for a summer break with Cage Warriors 69: Super Saturday.

The event, which will take place at The Forum in Kentish Town, London, will be CWFC’s eighth so far this year and is set to feature not one – but two! – main cards, which will follow both unaired and Facebook prelims.

With each main card to be headlined by a CWFC world title bout, Super Saturday will bring fans an extravaganza of top-class MMA, with professional action beginning at 3pm and continuing right through until approximately 11pm.

Super Saturday will kick off with an unaired preliminary card, followed by Facebook prelims – which will be streamed live and free of charge around the world – at 4pm BST.

The first of Super Saturday’s televised main cards will get underway at 6pm BST, before the second – which culminates in the meeting of Stevie Ray and Curt Warburton for the vacant CWFC lightweight world title – swings into action at 9pm BST.

“After our event in London on June 7, we’ll be taking a break until CWFC 70 in Dublin on August 16 while the World Cup takes centre stage, so we want to treat the fans to something big before we do that,” said Cage Warriors Fighting Championship CEO Graham Boylan.

“Almost every other sport has a marquee event on its calendar, whether that be the Superbowl or the Champions League final, so this is something MMA needs and it’s something we’ll be looking to make an annual event.

“Today we’ve announced some huge fights for Super Saturday, which already make it a stacked card, but there’s a lot more to come. June 7 will be a huge day, not only for Cage Warriors, but for the sport of MMA worldwide.”

As previously announced, Stevie Ray (14-5) will look to regain the CWFC lightweight world title when he takes on Curt Warburton (13-4) for the vacant strap in the final bout of the night, which will headline part two of Super Saturday.

The full card and line-up for Super Saturday will be confirmed in the coming weeks, but also on the bill will be a massive middleweight bout between Jack Marshman (14-5) and Bola Omoyele (7-2).

CWFC’s stacked welterweight division will be in focus on the night, with Simeon Thoresen (17-4-1) set to make his Cage Warriors debut against Jake Bostwick (14-8-0-1). Meanwhile, Benny Alloway (13-5) will collide with Mohsen Bahari (7-1) and Jack Mason (27-13) is scheduled to face Bruno Carvalho (15-8).

See below for details of all eight bouts announced so far, and get your tickets – priced from just £25 – for Super Saturday when they go on sale online from The Forum at 9am BST this Friday, May 9.

Cage Warriors 69: Super Saturday (more bouts still to be announced)

Stevie Ray vs. Curt Warburton – vacant CWFC lightweight world title bout
Jack Marshman vs. Bola Omoyele
Jake Bostwick vs. Simeon Thoresen
Benny Alloway vs. Mohsen Bahari
Bruno Carvalho vs. Jack Mason
Liam James vs. Nad Narimani
Brett Caswell vs. Spencer Hewitt
Jason Cooledge vs. Brad Wheeler

—
I’m in the middle of writing another article about Cage Warriors at the moment so I won’t go on here, but suffice to say this all sounds very awesome and I love the idea of a showpiece mid-summer event for the promotion and also the sheer practicality of acknowledging that they don’t want to overload their fan base during the World Cup.

The card already announced is insanely deep and with another title match still to be confirmed, I can’t wait for this one… might even need to arrange a weekend in London…

April 28, 2014 by katakumite

Cage Warriors 68: Wallhead vs. Roberts Preview

Saturday 3rd May
Echo Area, Liverpool

Simply put, this is most likely going to be the best & biggest single UKMMA card of the year (discounting CWFC’s teased Super Saturday dual card…)

That’s not hyperbole, just look at the fights!

The headliner sees CWFC veteran ‘Judo’ Jim Wallhead (25-8) return after a spell alternating between Bellator and BAMMA and is indisputably one of England’s top welterweights not contracted to the UFC, while across the cage we have in-form hometown boy Danny ‘Hot Chocolate’ Roberts (10-1) who is riding a four fight win streak.

Both men are in clear contention for the Welterweight belt now held by Nicolas Dalby and should provide a heated and competitive climax to the evening’s fights.

Experience is clearly on Wallhead’s side, but Roberts has the greater momentum and such advantage as comes from fighting with the crowd in your corner.

With both fighters being finishers (72% for Wallhead, 80% for Roberts) capable of ending a fight on the feet and each in possession of some excellent grappling skills this is sure to be a great fight to watch.

Backing up that main event we have exciting and accomplished English fighters Ronnie Mann (23-6-1) and Matt Inman (13-5) facing international opposition in Marcelo Costa (8-2-1) and Mauro Chimento Jr (15-10) respectively.

Not enough? OK, how about a middleweight contest between ex-UFC fighter Che Mills (15-7) and the popular Leeroy Barnes (12-13, 1NC) both looking to break losing streaks?

The undercard also features Dinky Ninja’s John Cullen (17-8-2) and Dean Reilly*(6-5) so we’ve got more than a little local interest in the event as well.

*Sadly Dean’s match was cancelled due to his opponent pulling out due to injury. 😦

It’s a cracking card and we can’t wait for Saturday.

Viewing Details:

LIVE STREAMING

MMAjunkie.com | USA and Canada only
http://www.IrishMMA.tv | Ireland only
Viaplay | Scandinavia only
CageWarriors.tv | Rest of the world

LIVE TV

MAIN CARD | 9pm BST local time (4pm ET, 1pm PT)

Danny Roberts vs. Jimmy Wallhead
Marcelo Costa vs. Ronnie Mann
Mauro Chimento vs. Matt Inman
Steve Dinsdale vs. Matt Hallam
Leeroy Barnes vs. Che Mills
John Cullen vs. Dean Garnett

FACEBOOK PRELIMS | 7.50pm BST local time (2.50pm ET/11.50am PT)

Conrad Hayes vs. Paddy Pimblett
Dez Parker vs. Charlie Watts
Ant Phillips vs. Adam Ventre

UNAIRED PRELIM | 7.30pm BST local time

Ellis Hampson vs. Azi Thomas

April 27, 2014 by katakumite

KUMITE European MMA Rankings, April 2014

Sorry I’m a bit late with the rankings this month, been busy. Anyways it’s been an active month with movement in every division and a few big changes based on fighters being removed due to inactivity or bans. Check it out…

Heavyweight

1- Alistair Overeem (Holland) 37-13 UFC
2- Vitaly Minakov (Russia) 14-0, Bellator def. Cheick Kongo 4/4
3- Andrei Arlovski (Belarus) 21-10, UFC
4- Stefan Struve (Netherlands) 25-6 UFC
5- Cheick Kongo (France) 20-8-2 Bellator lost to Vitaly MInakiv 4/4
6- Alexander Volkov (Russia) 21-4 Bellator def. Siala-Mo Siliga 11/4 UP 1
7- Damian Grabowski (Poland) 19-1 M-1 DOWN 1
8- Sergei Kharitonov (Russia) 22-6 IND
9- Alexey Oleinik (Ukraine) 53-9-1 IND
10- Marcin Tybura (Poland) 10-0 M-1 def. Maro Perak 4/4 UNRANKED

Light Heavyweight

1- Alexander Gustafsson (Sweden) 15-2, UFC
2- Jimi Manuwa (England) 14-1, UFC
3- Attila Vegh (Slovakia) 29-5-2, Bellator
4- Mikhail Zayats (Russia) 22-8, Bellator
5- Ilir Latifi (Sweden) 7-3 UFC
6- Jan Blachowicz (Poland) 17-3, KSW
7- Linton Vassell (England) 12-3, Bellator
8- Stephan Puetz (Germany) 9-1 M-1
9- Maxim Grishin (Russia) 17-6 IND
10- Mikkel Parlo (Denmark) 12-2 def. Johnny Cisneros 4/4 UNRANKED

Middleweight

1- Alexander Shlemenko (Russia) 50-7 Bellator UP 1
2- Michael Bisping (England) 24-5, UFC lost to Tim Kennedy 16/4 DOWN 1
3- Mamed Khalidov (Poland) 28-4-2, KSW
4- Gegard Mousasi (Armenia) 34-4-2 UFC
5- Frances Carmont (France) 22-8, UFC
6– Luke Barnatt (England) 7-0 UFC
7- Michal Materla (Poland) 20-4 KSW
8– Vyacheslav Vasilevsky (Russia) 23-2 M-1
9- Tom Watson (England) 16-6 UFC
10- Sultan Aliev (Russia) 11-2 IND NR

Welterweight

1- Tarec Saffiedine (Belgium) 15-3, UFC
2- Gunnar Nelson (Iceland) 11-0-1, UFC
3- Cathal Pendred (Ireland) 13-2-1, Cage Warriors
4- Nicholas Musoke (Sweden) 12-2 UFC
5- Adlan Amagov (Russia) 13-2-1, UFC
6- Gael Grimaud (France) 19-6, Cage Warriors
7- Nicolas Dalby (Denmark) 12-0 Cage Warriors
8– Paul Daley (England) 34-12-2 BAMMA
9– Andrey Koreshokov (Russia) 15-1 Bellator
10- Karl Amoussou (France) 17-6-2 Bellator def. David Gomez 18/4 UNRANKED

Lightweight

1- Khabib Nurmagomedov (Russia) 22-0, UFC def. Rafael dos Anjos 19/4
2- Rustam Khabilov (Russia) 17-1, UFC
3- Alexander Sarnavskiy (Russia) 26-2 IND
4- Ross Pearson (England) 15-6, UFC
5 – Marcin Held (Poland) 18-3 Bellator def. Derek Anderson 18/4 UP 5
6- Ivan Buchinger (Slovakia) 26-4 M-1 def. Sergey Golyaev 4/4 UP 2
7- Musa Khamanaev (Russia) 13-3, M-1 DOWN 2
8- Norman Parke (Northern Ireland) 19-2-1 UFC DOWN 2
9- Piotr Hallmann (Poland) 14-2 UFC DOWN 1
10- Mansour Barnaoui (France) 11-2 BAMMA DOWN 1

Featherweight

1- Magomedrasul Khasbulaev (Russia) 21-5, Bellator def. Mike Richman 4/4 UP 2
2- Conor McGregor (Ireland) 14-2, 10-1 UFC
3- Tom Niinimaki (Finland) 21-5-1 UFC
4- Marat Gafurov (Ukraine) 9-0 M-1 NR def. Lee Morrison 4/4 UNRANKED
5- Shabulat Shamhalaev (Russia) 12-2-1, Bellator
6- Daniel Weichel (Germany) 33-8, Bellator
7- Joni Salovaara (Finland) 14-7 IND
8- Sergei Greicho (Lithuania) 15-5-1 OC
9- Niklas Backstrom (Sweden) 7-0 IND
10- Robert Whiteford (Scotland) 11-2 UFC

* Dennis Siver removed from rankings due to PED ban.

Bantamweight

1- Vaughan Lee (England) 14-9-1 UFC
2- Brett Johns (Wales) 10-0, Cage Warriors © def. James Brum 12/4
3- Ronnie Mann (England) 23-6-1 Cage Warriors UP 1
4- Cory Tait (England) 8-2 Cage Warriors UP 1
5- Timo-Juhan Hirvikangas (Finland) 8-2 Cage FC def. Tymoteusz Swiatek 5/4 UP 1
6- James Brum (England) 14-2, Cage Warriors lost to Brett Johns 12/4 DOWN 3
7- Sirwan Kakai (sweden) 9-2, IND UP 1
8- David Haggstrom (Sweden) 7-2-1 IND UP 1
9- Toni Tauru (Finland) 9-1-1 Cage Warriors UP 1
10- Magomed Biboulatov (France) 5-0 IND UNRANKED

* Martin McDonough now a Flyweight

Flyweight

1- Ali Bagautinov (Russia) 13-2 UFC
2- Brad Pickett (England) 24-8 UFC
3- Pietro Menga (England) 11-0 FCC ©
4- Marcin Lasota (Poland) 8-0 Cage Warriors
5- Neil Seery (Ireland) 13-10 UFC
6- Shaj Haque (England) 4-1 Cage Warriors def. Martin McDonough 12/4 UP 1
6- Mikael Silander (Finland) 10-3 The Cage def. Daniel Barez 5/4
7- Rany Saadeh (Germany) 6-1 BAMMA def. Mahmood Besharate 5/4 UNRANKED
8- Kairat Akhmetov (Kazakhstan) IND UNRANKED
9- Kevin Petshi (France) 5-0 IND def. Victor Balica 4/4
10- Phil Harris (England) 22-12 Cage Warriors DOWN 2

Women’s P4P

(Due to the less developed state of Women’s MMA we’re ranking our top ten female fighters from across the weight classes – we hope to expand this section in future.)

1- Joanne Calderwood (Scotland) 8-0 Invicta FC
2 – Marloes Coenen (Netherlands) 21-6 Invicta FC
3 – Katja Kankaanpaa (Finland) 8-1-1 Invicta FC
4- Rosi Sexton (England) 13-4 IND
5- Aisling Daly (Ireland) 12-5 Cage Warriors
6- Milana Dudieva (Russia) 8-3 ProFC
7- Maria Hoegaard Djursa (Denmark) 5-4 IND
8- Shiela Gaff (Germany) 10-6-1 UFC
9- Agnieszka Niedzwiedz (Poland) 6-0 Cage Warriors def. Gemma Hewitt 12/4 UNRANKED
10- Pannie Kianzad (Sweden) 4-0 IND DOWN 1

April 16, 2014 by katakumite

Cage Warriors Fight Night 11 Preview

April 18, 2014 | King Hussein Youth City Boxing Arena | Amman, Jordan

Didn’t we do this just a few weeks ago? I’m not complying, I love the CWFC events from the Middle East…

Despite sadly losing the original main event of Phil Harris vs. Kurban Gadzhiev to injury, this is a tidy card which promises some awesome action.

Stepping up to headline the card, Cage Warriors mainstay Jack ‘the Stone’ Mason (26-13) looks to put his March loss to Ben Alloway behind him and recover some of the form that saw him go 9-2 between March 2012-14.

In the way stands France’s Patrick Vallee (10-5-1) who has tangled with some of the best and has amassed an impressive collection of submission victories along the way.

It’s an interesting clash of styles, with Mason’s offensive ground & pound and Vallee’s canny eye for a submission implying we are in for a competitive and explosive encounter.

The other match that jumps out to me sees Norway’s Jack Hermansson (6-2) make a quick return following his entertaining win over Enoc Solves Torres in March to face the heavy handed Ion Pascu (8-4).

With the pair boasting 10 knockout victories in a combined sixteen professional wins, my only advise would be…don’t blink.

Elsewhere we have a tasty bout between Marat Pekov and Brian Moore, Arnold Allen looking to continue his excellent form against Tobias Huber and a lot more.

As usual, it looks like well worth checking out to wind down from your work week.

Broadcast Details

Internet Streams
MMAjunkie.com | USA and Canada only
http://www.IrishMMA.tv | Ireland only
Viaplay | Scandinavia only
CageWarriors.tv | Rest of the world (excluding UK)

Main Card 9pm local time (7pm GMT, 2pm ET, 11am PT)

Jack Mason vs. Patrick Vallee
Brian Moore vs. Marat Pekov
Jack Hermansson vs. Ion Pascu
Tahar Hadbi vs. Mike Johnson
Arnold Allen vs. Tobias Huber
John Redmond vs. Craig White

Unaired Prelims
Steve Aimable vs. Waek Korked
Ihab Janeb vs. Michael Ravenscroft

April 15, 2014 by katakumite

Brett Johns: The Once & Future King

On Saturday night, Brett Johns might not have walked out with the CWFC bantamweight belt, but he earned at least one new fan.

Prior to his match against James Brum, Johns had been a fighter who’s skills I respected but that I remained unsure of, edging to the opinion that the more experienced Brum might prove too much, too soon for the young Welshman.

This feeling was only exacerbated when Johns proceeded to miss weight, which is so often a sign of a poor performance to come, combined with a sense that something was wrong in camp, be it physical or mental that caused the lapse in weight management and who knows what other shortcoming.

It would have been so easy for Johns to fold under the pressure, already knowing he’s not leaving as champion, facing one of the best in Europe and in front of an expectant hometown crowd, a mere mortal might give up inside – not necessarily consciously – and phone in a lacklustre performance.

That path was not for Brett, who proceeded to put in a sterling and above all, mature performance against Brum en route to becoming the first man to outpoint the (now former) master of the close-decision-victory.

Sticking with a tried & true formula, Johns kept the fight on his terms, grinding Brum against the cage and taking him down at will (although admittedly, rarely keeping him there for long) throughout the fight en route to a comfortable decision victory.

As Brum felt the decision slipping away he increasingly tried to push Johns to deviate from his game-plan, engaging in some plays from the Nick Diaz playbook in an attempt to incense the young Welshman.

To his massive credit, Johns barely even blinked and rounded out a championship calibre performance with a classy post-fight interview. He might not have the belt, but he’s still the Man in the Cage Warriors Bantamweight division.

Despite missing weight, which tends to irk the most understanding of promoters and matchmakers, I can’t see him being shitlisted by Cage Warriors and a return title shot at the soonest possibility has to be in the offing.

The list of potential opponents is impressive with the likes Ronnie Mann, Cory Tait and Toni Tauru heading up an exciting roster the future of the Cage Warriors Bantamweight division is very bright indeed and I expect Johns to be front & centre in that.

(photo from http://www.cagewarriors.com)

April 11, 2014 by katakumite

Cage Warriors 67: Johns vs. Brum Preview

Sat, 12 Apr 2014
Swansea, Wales
The LC Arena

In the middle of an ambitious run, Cage Warriors return to British soil tomorrow with a solid card topped by an insanely compelling main event.

That headline match sees hometown boy Brett ‘the Pikey’ Johns (9-0) make the first defence of his Bantamweight title against James ‘Job Done’ Brum (14-2).

Johns won the title back in September, defeating David Haggstrom and plucky alternate Jordan Deesborough in the final to lift the belt after the winner if the other semi final, James Pennington was injured.

Undefeated, well rounded, with cardio to burn and still only 22 years old, the possibilities for Johns career at this point are infinite.

However, this first defence comes against one of the most consistent, entertaining and dominant Bantamweights in the world.

In the 2 1/2 years since his decision loss to Erik Perez (who’s gone 5-1 since, with four UFC victories to his name), Brum has amassed an eight fight win streak including victories over Martin McDonough, James Saville and Olivier Pastor and was Cage Warriors’ fighter of the year for 2012.

Long considered the uncrowned champion by many, Brum now faces the younger belt holder to see who really belongs on top of the mountain. It’s gonna be epic.

My plus one pick has to be the flyweight encounter between Martin ‘Mr Pink’ McDonough (11-4) and Shaj Haque (4-1).

McDonough drops from bantamweight on the back of a five fight streak of submission victories and only missed out on a place in the tournament that crowned Johns as champion through injury.

Haque, despite his relative inexperience is one of the best flyweights in Europe, ranked #7 by us and #14 by FightMatrix and given that he has always gone the distance in his fights, while McDonough has only won by stoppage means something has to give.

With Neil Seery off to the UFC and the likes of Phil Harris and Marcin Lasota appearing in Cage Warriors, both fighters will be looking to impress and put down a marker for the vacant title.

With bouts of such significance at the top of the bill and an undercard full of interesting bouts, this event should continue Cage Warriors awesome run. Get it watched.

MAIN CARD | 9pm local time BST (4pm ET/1pm PT)

Brett Johns (c) vs. James Brum – CWFC bantamweight title bout
Sean Carter vs. Mario Saeed
Shaj Haque vs. Martin McDonough
Jamie Pritchard vs. Phil Raeburn
Gemma Hewitt vs. Agnieszka Niedzwiedz
Simas Norkus vs. Stu Tyrie

UNAIRED PRELIM | 7.30pm local time BST

Mark Handley vs. Paul Rogers

BROADCAST DETAILS

LIVE STREAMING

MMAjunkie.com | USA and Canada only
http://www.IrishMMA.tv | Ireland only
Viaplay | Scandinavia only
CageWarriors.tv | Rest of the world

LIVE TV

April 7, 2014 by katakumite

Jim Alers Interview

This Friday, almost exactly a year to the day after we watched him win the Cage Warriors Featherweight title at CWFC 53 in Glasgow, Orlando’s Jim ‘the Beast’ Alers makes his long awaited UFC debut at Fight Night 40 in Abu Dhabi, facing Iraqi by way of Germany’s Alan Omer.

Jim’s willingness to give us an interview back then, combined with his skills in the cage and genuine personality has made him one of our favourite fighters.

Since winning the CWFC title, Alers made two successful defences of the belt, decisioning giant Swede Martin Svensson and submitting Scotland’s own Graham Turner (yeah, we must like him if we’re still fans after he tapped one of our beloved Ninjas) to hold on to the belt and more than earn his crack at the UFC.

Jim enters the UFC with a 12-1 professional record and riding an eight fight win streak, with only one of his thirteen fights going the distance. Let’s see what he’s got to say…

After a vocal social media campaign and a successful run in Cage Warriors, you are finally in the UFC – what does that mean to you?

The feeling is quite indescribable. How many people can say that they have reached one of their life long goals in life. I have put countless hours into making it to the big show and now that I am here. I am here to stay.

Does it make any difference that you are debuting in Abu Dhabi, rather than the card a week later in your home town, Orlando?

It does not make a difference at all I have told others that I feel maybe me fighting in Abu Dhabi is for the best. My last five fights have been out of the country so maybe fighting at home will be a bit overwhelming for my UFC debut. I hope to eventually get the chance to fight at home but right now Abu Dhabi is going to be just fine.

Your opponent, Alan Omer is also making his UFC debut and like yourself has most of his wins by submission – do you see this being a primarily grappling based match?

There is a good chance that the fight will end up on the ground but if it does I am hoping that it stays exciting. I’m going to be going for the kill the whole time either on the feet or on the ground.

We saw you win the Cage Warriors championship in Glasgow last year which is a long way from Florida. Did you enjoy your time with the promotion, despite the long flights?

I am going to miss everyone over at Cage Warriors I loved every minute that I was with the promotion. It was a blessing to be able to fly around the world, do what I love and get the international recognition I needed to get noticed by the UFC.

You were twice supposed to face Conor McGregor in Cage Warriors – is he an opponent you’d like to face now that you are both in the UFC?

If that is a fight that the fans still would want to see then I will be happy to slam him to the mat and choke him out. 🙂

Who has been your most challenging opponent and who would you most like to fight in future?

My most challenging opponent had to be Freddy Assuncao (whom Jim defeated by submission in the second round at Art of Fighting 6 in Florida back in November 2009.) I remember him coming at me with all sorts of kicks and being rocked by a superman punch. He is having a great career with me being his only loss.

I haven’t really thought about fighting anyone in particular in the UFC I just wanted to show that I belong here and will beat anyone they put in front of me. If I had to choose though it will be that cocky Irish Guy for sure.

Tell us a story from your fight related travels.

After fighting in Jordan I decided to take a trip to Lebanon with my coach for a few days. I am the type of guy who tries all sorts of new things to eat. Well I ate and ate all sorts of new and exotic foods in Lebanon and felt fine but I think once I tried the minced raw lamb my stomach said enough is enough. Lets just say I was in the bathroom for many hours after that.

What’s the last song you listened to?

That Happy song by Pharrel

What’s the monkey hat all about?

The monkey hat is who I am. I’m wild and crazy. I like to think I have ape strength. I started wearing it in the beginning of my win streak and just kept going with it

Give us a life lesson in only five words.

Live Life To The Fullest

Last of all, a quick shout out to your sponsors, team etc.

I’d like to thank my team Tough As Nails MMA for pushing me everyday. Many other people outside my team has helped me get ready as well but just to many to name. I want to thank you though. Also a big shout out to my sponsors.

We’d like to thank Jim for taking the time to speak to us and we wish him the best of luck in his fight on Saturday and fixture career.

#FearTheMonkeyHat #BeastMode

UFC Fight Night 40 will be via the UFC Fight Pass service.

March 30, 2014 by katakumite

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: #CWFCJordan Edition

Cage Warriors Fight Night 10: Azaitar vs. Marshman

March 28, 2014
King Hussein Youth City Boxing Arena
Amman, Jordan

The Good

I’ve always liked the way Cage Warriors cards keep a good pace up, with minimal gaps between matches but with four first round finishes on the main card, it was all done in less than one hour and forty minutes – less time than it takes a standard football match to play out.

Thats loads of exciting finishes and having a big chunk of evening left to play with. What’s not to love?

All those finishes made it an explosive night as well, with the concussive victories of Carl Booth and Abu Azaitar sure to live long in the memory, while the slick subs of Marcin Lasota, Dave Hill and Marat Pekov a joy for any fans of the gentle art.

Competitive, aggressive action with top notch production and excellent commentary. As usual. Keep up the good work folks, you’re on a hell of a run.

The Bad

From a purely nationally biased point of view, the losses for John Cullen and Allan Love soured the evening a bit for us (and most Scottish MMA fans, I’d imagine) but both acquitted themselves well against high level opposition, with Love surely only needing another round to change the result over Paraisy.

The Ugly

It’s never nice to see a fighter concede a contest and after surviving some brutal submission attempts from Malik Merad, Mohamed Ali verbally submitted seconds into the third round. This is ‘ugly’ because it invariably indicates an injury and we hope ‘Felix’ is better soon.

Similarly, we hope Jack Marshman and Jarrah Al-Silawi recover quickly from their concussive knockouts.

Bonuses (if we had the chequebook)

Fight of the Night

Dave Hill vs. Miguel Haro was a fast paced technical fight which lit me up. With some stunning grappling on display and a real back and forth battle, I couldn’t give the award to anyone else.

Performance of the Night 1

Yazan Janeb dominated his fight with Hicham Laghzali and was a constant threat with submissions through the first two rounds. As Laghzali proved to have exceptional heart and a tendency to survive and escape subs, Janeb changed it up in the third to achieve a dominant position and earn the TKO win via ground & pound.

Tremendous skills and maturity for a pro debut.

Performance of the Night 2

Marcin Lasota may be undefeated and a submission specialist but the way he disposed of the excellent Paul Marin was impressive beyond words.

Finish of the Night

Carl Booth’s knockout of Jarrah Al-Silawi was so sudden, so brutal that I still have a sore jaw more than a day after watching the fight. In the words of Ron Simmons… DAMN!

Cage Warriors return on April 12th where James Brum will challenge Brett Johns for the Bantamweight belt in Swansea, Wales.

Main Card

Abu Azaitar def. Jack Marshman via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:34
Marat Pekov def. John Cullen via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 3:45
Malik Merad def. Mohamed Ali via submission (eye injury) – Round 3, 0:09
Norman Paraisy def. Allan Love via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) – Round 3, 5:00
Marcin Lasota def. Paul Marin via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 3:02
Carl Booth def. Jarrah Al-Silawi via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:31

Preliminary Card
Dave Hill def. Miguel Haro via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 2:11
Yazan Janeb def. Hicham Laghzali via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 2:57

March 29, 2014 by katakumite

KUMITE European MMA Rankings, March 2014

It’s been a huge month for European MMA, from UFC Fight Night London and a busy Cage Warriors schedule to the debut of Europa MMA. The rankings have certainly been shaken in several divisions, so let’s take a look.

Heavyweight

1- Alistair Overeem (Holland) 37-13 UFC
2- Vitaly Minakov (Russia) 13-0, Bellator
3- Andrei Arlovski (Belarus) 21-10, WSOF
4- Stefan Struve (Netherlands) 25-6 UFC
5- Cheick Kongo (France) 20-8-2 Bellator
6- Damian Grabowski (Poland) 19-1 KSW
7- Alexander Volkov (Russia) 19-4 Bellator
8- Sergei Kharitonov (Russia) 21-6 IND
9- Alexey Oleinik (Ukraine) 53-9-1 IND
10- Magomed Malikov (Russia) 7-2 M-1

Not a big month for the ranked fighters, but April will be huge with Minakov vs. Kongo on 4/4 and big bouts for Alexander Volkov and a host of potential contenders including Konstantin Erokhin, Blagoi Ivanov, Phil DeFries and Daniel Omielanczuk.

Light Heavyweight

1- Alexander Gustafsson (Sweden) 15-2, UFC defeated Jimi Manuwa 8/3
2- Jimi Manuwa (England) 14-1, UFC lost to Alexander Gustafsson 8/3
3- Attila Vegh (Slovakia) 29-5-2, Bellator lost to Emanuel Newton 21/3
4- Mikhail Zayats (Russia) 22-8, Bellator lost to Muhammed Lawal 28/2
5- Ilir Latifi (Sweden) 7-3 UFC defeared Cyrille Diabate 8/3 UP
6- Jan Blachowicz (Poland) 17-3, KSW
7- Linton Vassell (England) 12-3, Bellator UP1
8- Stephan Puetz (Germany) 9-1 M-1 defeated Viktor Nemkov on 14/3 NR
9- Maxim Grishin (Russia) 17-6 NR
10- Viktor Nemkov (Russia) 19-5 M-1 lost to DOWN3

Ilir Latifi was the big winner this month with his dominant win over the now retired Cyrille Diabate. Diabate’s loss and retirement allowed Maxim Grishin into the top ten, while Stephan Puetz enters at 8 thanks to his win over Viktor Nemkov who drops to tenth.

Next month sees big fights for Linton Vassell, Volkan Oezdemir and veteran Vladimir Matyshenko who could all improve their standing or enter the top ten.

Middleweight

1- Michael Bisping (England) 24-5, UFC
2- Alexander Shlemenko (Russia) 50-7 Bellator UP1 defeated Brennan Ward 28/3
3- Mamed Khalidov (Poland) 28-4-2, KSW DOWN 1
4- Gegard Mousasi (Armenia) 34-4-2 UFC
5- Frances Carmont (France) 22-8, UFC
6– Luke Barnatt (England) 7-0 UFC
7- Michal Materla (Poland) 20-4 KSW UP1 def. Jay Silva 22/3
8– Vyacheslav Vasilevsky (Russia) 23-2 M-1 DOWN1
9- Tom Watson (England) 16-6 UFC
10- Ramazan Emeev (Azerbaijan) 11-2 M-1

Wins for Shlemenko and Materla boost their stock a bit, while wins for Abu Azaitar and Norman Paraisy at Cage Warriors push them closer to the top ten.

Big fights for Michael Bisping, Mikkel Parlo and Max Nunes to come in April.

Welterweight

1- Tarec Saffiedine (Belgium) 15-3, UFC
2- Gunnar Nelson (Iceland) 11-0-1, UFC
3- Cathal Pendred (Ireland) 13-2-1, Cage Warriors
4- Nicholas Musoke (Sweden) 12-2 UFC
5- Adlan Amagov (Russia) 13-2-1, UFC
6- Gael Grimaud (France) 19-6, Cage Warriors
7- Nicolas Dalby (Denmark) 12-0 Cage Warriors def. Sergeo Churilov 22/3
8– Paul Daley (England) 34-12-2 BAMMA
9– Andrey Koreshokov (Russia) 15-1 Bellator
10- Jim Wallhead (England) 25-8 Cage Warriors

Aslambek Saidov drop out to accommodate Andrey Koreshkov after a big win, but otherwise a quiet month for the top of the division.

With Koreshokov, Saidov and Ali Arish all in action next month, there could well be more movement.

Lightweight

1- Khabib Nurmagomedov (Russia) 21-0, UFC
2- Rustam Khabilov (Russia) 17-1, UFC
3- Alexander Sarnavskiy (Russia) 26-2 IND
4- Ross Pearson (England) 15-6, UFC
5- Musa Khamanaev (Russia) 13-3, M-1
6- Norman Parke (Northern Ireland) 19-2-1 UFC Majority Draw with Leo Santos 23/3
7- Ivan Buchinger (Slovakia) 25-4 Cage Warriors
8- Piotr Hallmann (Poland) 14-2 UFC
9- Mansour Barnaoui (France) 11-2 BAMMA
10- Marcin Held (Poland) 17-3 Bellator NR

Ramazan Esenbaev drops out to accommodate the rejuvenated Marcin Held but has a fight on 5th April to possibly sneak back in. Khabib Nurmagomediv has a big match on 19th April and Held has another Bellator tournament bout on the 18th. Elsewhere, Ivan Buchinger, David Khachatryan and Colin Fletcher are all in action throughout the month.

Featherweight

1- Dennis Siver (Germany) 22-9, UFC
2- Conor McGregor (Ireland) 14-2, 10-1 UFC
3- Tom Niinimaki (Finland) 21-5-1 UFC
4- Magomedrasul Khasbulaev (Russia) 21-5, Bellator
5- Shabulat Shamhalaev (Russia) 12-2-1, Bellator
6- Daniel Weichel (Germany) 33-8, Bellator NR defeated Matt Bessette 28/3
7- Joni Salovaara (Finland) 14-7 IND DOWN 1
8- Sergei Greicho (Lithuania) 15-5-1 OC
9- Niklas Backstrom (Sweden) 7-0 IND NR defeated Max Coga 22/3
10- Robert Whiteford (Scotland) 11-2 UFC NR defeated Daniel Pineda 15/3

Chris Fishgold, Akira Corassani and Marat Gafurov drop out due to big wins for Weichel, Whiteford and Backstrom while victories for Alexey Butorin, Martin Svensson and teddy Vilet push them into contention.

May sees big fights for Magmomedrasul Khasbulaev, Corassani, Gafurov and Tom Duquesnoy

Bantamweight

1- Vaughan Lee (England) 14-9-1 UFC NR def. Nam Phan 1/3
2- Brett Johns (Wales) 8-0, Cage Warriors ©
3- James Brum (England) 14-2, Cage Warriors
4- Ronnie Mann (England) 23-6-1 Cage Warriors
5- Cory Tait (England) 8-2 Cage Warriors
6- Timo-Juhan Hirvikangas (Finland) 8-2 Cage FC
7- Martin McDonough (Wales) 11-4, Cage Warriors
8- Sirwan Kakai (sweden) 9-2, IND
9- David Haggstrom (Sweden) 7-2-1 IND
10- Toni Tauru (Finland) 9-1-1 NR Cage Warriors

Brad Pickett’s drop to Flyweight opens a whole at the top which is swiftly filled by Vaughan Lee after a stunning win over Nam Phan. Toni Tauru enters the rankings after his dominant performance on Cage Warriors.

April promises movement at the top with Brett Johns vs. James Brum and a fight for Timo Hirvikangas.

Flyweight

1- Ali Bagautinov (Russia) 13-2 UFC
2- Brad Pickett (England) 24-8 UFC NR defeated Neil Seery 8/3
3- Pietro Menga (England) 11-0 FCC © UP 1 defeated Sotir Kichukov 22/3
4- Marcin Lasota (Poland) 8-0 NR Cage Warriors defeated Paul Marin 28/3
5- Neil Seery (Ireland) 13-10 UFC DOWN 3 lost to Brad Pickett 8/3
6- Mikael Silander (Finaland) 8-3 IND DOWN 1
7- Shaj Haque (England) 4-1 Cage Warriors
8- Phil Harris (England) 22-12 UFC DOWN 5 lost to Louis Gaudinot 8/3
9- Paul Marin (Romania) 7-4, Cage Warriors DOWN 2 lost to Marcin Lasota 28/3
10- Paul McVeigh (Northern Ireland) 19-8 Cage Warriors DOWN 2

Very intense month for the division, with Brad Pickett and Marcin Lasota earning big wins and with Silander, Saadeh, Haque and Martin McDonough all in action

Women’s P4P

(Due to the less developed state of Women’s MMA we’re ranking our top ten female fighters from across the weight classes – we hope to expand this section in future.)

1- Joanne Calderwood (Scotland) 8-0 Invicta FC
2 – Marloes Coenen (Netherlands) 21-6 Invicta FC
3 – Katja Kankaanpaa (Finland) 8-1-1 Invicta FC
4- Rosi Sexton (England) 13-4 IND
5- Aisling Daly (Ireland) 12-5 Cage Warriors
6- Milana Dudieva (Russia) 8-3 ProFC
7- Maria Hoegaard Djursa (Denmark) 5-4 IND
8- Shiela Gaff (Germany) 10-6-1 UFC
9- Pannie Kianzad (Sweden) 4-0 IND
10- Joanna Jedrzejczyk (Poland) 4-0 IND

It’s been a quiet month for the girls, with Lena Tkhorevska and Kamila Porczyk earning wins but not yet being enough to crack the rankings. Expect things to speed up once Invicta comes back into action.

European National Rankings
(Each ranked fighter scores points for their nation, with a no.1 ranking earning 10 points, down to a 10 ranking earning 1 point. This is just for fun.)

1- England – 113pts UP 1
2- Russia – 110pts DOWN 1
3- Poland – 34pts UP 3
4- Sweden – 32pts UP 3
5- Finland – 31pts DOWN 2
6- Ireland – 29pts DOWN 3
7- Netherlands – 26pts DOWN 2
8- France – 23pts –
9- Germany – 21pts –
10- Wales – 13pts DOWN 1

March 28, 2014 by katakumite

#Menga4UFC

Over the past week, since Pietro ‘Pitbull’ Menga extended his unbeaten record to 11-0 with a win over Sotir Kichukov at FCC9, I’ve seen the hashtag #Menga4UFC pop up a lot on my Twitter feed.

Before we go any further, check out the match…

Ranked 31st in the world and 3rd in Europe on Fightmatrix, few can argue against Menga’s worthiness for a crack at the brightest lights, but aside from continuing to decimate all comers in the North West of England, what can Menga do to expedite his progression to the world stage.

Without intending any disrespect to Full Contact Contender who are a fantastic promotion, if a UFC call isn’t immediately forthcoming I believe Menga should sign for Cage Warriors.

‘Pitbull’ would immediately be amongst the top contenders for the Flyweight title vacated by Neil Seery and successful outings against the likes of Paul Marin, Mikael Silander or Shaj Haque on the well respected and internationally broadcast show, especially when combined with his record and dedicated fan base in the north west could raise his stock enough to get a UFC call sooner rather than later.

To be honest, if I was in Sean Shelby’s shoes I’d have signed Menga up already, the UFC’s Flyweight division is shallow as it is and Menga is already at least as good as half the guys they have under contract in the weight class and would give the rest a damn good fight.

He’d be a really good fit for the upcoming Dublin card in July, but if that doesn’t materialise then a winning run in Cage Warriors should make him a lock for the early 2015 London card.