UCMMA 25 ‘The Beatdown’

Wow! What a night!  UCMMA returned to London’s The Troxy on Saturday December 3rd and BritFights were there to take in the action.  And there was more action than a 5* action movie! 

Being the Festive Season, the crowd were in good spirits and the card was packed with some top name fighters.
Every fight was explosive with not one of the 13 on the card going the distance.  The fighters really gave the crowd what they wanted and the atmosphere was electric.  Celebrities adorned the crowd including Adam Deacon of films such as Kidulthood; Richie Campbell from Anuvahood; a TOWIE stunner and a Big Brother beauty.

Come 6.30 it was time for the first fight of the evening and with everyone ready, there was nothing else to do, than sit back and enjoy.

Micky Millar of the House of Pain made his Pro Debut against Esi Moradi of London Street Fighters who was also making his Pro Debut.  Millar weighed in at 71.8kg against Moradi’s 76.6kg so this Welterweight fight was looking like a good match up.  Millar came out fast and swinging but a fantastic take down by Moradi saw Millar tied up in a Kimura and the fight ended declaring your winner Esi Moradi at 1 minute of the first round.

Next on the card saw Brendon Katz of Trojan Fighters (4-2-0) take on Husyein Garabet of Bandogs (2-3-0) in the Featherweight Division.  The fight started slow with Garabet winning the stand-up before taking it to the floor where followed a reversal of dominance between the two on the ground.  At 4 minutes 1 second of round 1, Katz locks in a Rear Naked Choke leaving Garabet with no option but to tap.

Third on the card was Steve Brazier from the House of Pain (1-0-0) against Nathan Greyson of Lions Pride MMA, who was making his pro debut in the Bantamweight division.  Greyson started off fast, landing a good knee.  But the fight was stopped by referee Danielle Curzon at 1 minute 33 seconds due to the cuts sustained by Brazier.  Your winner by TKO due to Doctor Stoppage and winning his first fight, Nathan Greyson.  BritFights think Greyson is one to watch out for.

The middleweights followed with Peter Craete (0-1-0) an independent fighter, originally from Romania and the ex-bodyguard of Alex Reid taking on Jason Radcliffe (2-1-0) of EKBJJ.  Radcliffe went straight in for the kill with a flying knee that saw Craete go down with Radcliffe following up with Ground and Pound.  Radcliffe wins by TKO due to Ground and Pound after referee Grant Waterman stops the fight at just 20 seconds of the very first round.

Another turn for the Middleweights saw Lee Caers (3-1-0) of Combat Athletic Academy take on Ben Craggy (5-4-0) of Semtex Gym.  Both started fast with Craggy landing leg kicks and Caers landing a punch that sees them into the clinch.  The take down sees Caers on top with Craggy managing to half stand.  They break and go back to the middle with Caers then landing on top in another take down that sees him win at 2 minutes 7 seconds of the round by a Guillotine Choke.

Andy Cona (2-2-0) of Team Close Protection had the crowd behind him as he took on the undefeated Wendle Lewis (4-0-0) in this Welterweight bout.  It went to the ground quickly with Cona attempting various chokes that Lewis was able to resist.  Lewis takes side control and ends the fight with a Rear Naked Choke at 3 minutes 57 seconds of the first round.  Lewis was delighted with his win and was quick to tell the crowd how hard he had been training in BJJ with his fellow Titan Team mates.  This was Lewis’s first win by Submission so the hard work had indeed paid off.

The final fight on the undercard was in the featherweight division between Spe McMorris an independent fighter (2-3-0) and Carl Hunt (1-0-0) of Team Crossface.  Hunt went in for the take down and won, following with Ground and Pound.  Danielle Curzon stopped the fight at 1 minute 9 seconds of the first round declaring your winner by Tapout due to Ground and Pound, Carl Hunt.

There was just time to have a quick drink and a breather because the main card was imminent.  With all the excitement of the undercard, BritFights were keen to see what the main events were going to bring and boy were we in for a treat!

Miguel Bernard (18-6-2) from the House of Pain was against Andre McIntyre of Team McIntyre (27-10-0) who has an impressive 14 wins by KO.  This was a Middleweight K1 bout and a fantastic fight.  The first round saw Bernard dominate with leg kicks, spinning back kicks and front kicks followed by punches and knees.  At this point McIntyre was standing back and not attacking but to close the round McIntyre used jabs and a vicious attack which saw Bernard take two standing counts.  The fight was on and it was into round two where both came out strong and McIntyre landed a fantastic knee to the head of Bernard that saw another standing count.  Bernard gets up but McIntyre puts him down again seeing the last standing count before the referee Andy Sledge stops the fight at 1 minute 15 seconds of Round 2 declaring the winner by TKO Andre McIntyre.

The Light Heavyweight Division saw Earl Brown (5-9-0) of SWS Fight Team take on Iain ‘Badman’ Martell (4-0-0) from Norwich Kickstart.  Martell was looking to add to his undefeated record and he didn’t disappoint.  Martell gets the take down which sees a slow ground game with Martell landing body shots.  Martell postures up and his ground and pound assault sees him win by TKO due to Ground and Pound at 3 minutes 11 seconds of the first round.

Ricky Campbell (4-1-0) of Medway Submissions took this fight against Ben Smith (9-6-0) of Titan Fighters on a couple of weeks’ notice.  Smith was entering his first fight as a Light Heavyweight, having recently made the decision to drop from Heavyweight.  Smith lands the first punch and goes for a successful take down landing in Campbell’s half guard.  Smith lands shots in a ferocious ground and pound.  Round one is won by Smith.  Round two starts with Smith again successful in his take down and going on to win by Tapout due to a Rear Naked Choke at 1 minute 17 seconds.

The next on the card was the one the crowd were going crazy for.  Louis King (5-0-0) of Collosseum took on the legend Mark Weir of OMAA (19-0-0) in this Middleweight K1 title fight.  I have seen the crowd go wild before but this was on another level when King stepped into the cage.  I don’t have too much I can tell you about this other than at 18 seconds of round one, King lived up to his nickname of ‘KO’ by knocking Mark Weir out cold.  King is another one that BritFights will be keeping an eye on in the future.

Chris Harman (2-4-0) of Cardiff MMA took on Mark Potter (4-1-0) of Team Titan in yet another K1 title fight, this time in the Heavyweight Division.  This fight was so explosive that it was impossible to take your eyes away for a split second.  It saw Potter rock Harman early on followed by Harman putting Potter down twice.  The round comes to a close with the tables turned and Potter putting Harman down.  This fight had everyone on their feet early on.  Round two and Potter was straight to it.  With a jab from hell he wasn’t shy in using it and again put Harman down.  But what a warrior – Harman came back with punches before Potter again put him down, this time with a body shot that saw Potter win the fight by TKO at 1 minute 41 seconds of Round 2.  There is no need to deliberate, this was the Fight of the Night for BritFights because it showed skill, power and heart.

The final fight of the night was between Jake Bostwick (9-8-1) of Titan Fighters and Semtex Gym and Denniston Sutherland (16-7-0) of HMA and Team Crossface.  This, some were calling a re-match after Bostwick won the first fight between them.  Bostwick wasn’t looking for the re-match, he was looking for the Belt in this Middleweight Title Fight.  The fight saw both landing and entering the clinch before it went to the ground.  Sutherland stood back up and landed a few knees against the cage.  But Bostwick went on to win by Knockout.

The night came to a close and the Troxy slowly emptied out.  The last UCMMA of 2011 was one to remember and aptly named the ‘Beatdown’ as that is exactly what the fights consisted of.  Skill, strength and warrior like qualities gave everyone a night to remember for a long time.

BritFights give FIGHT OF THE NIGHT TO Chris Harman v Mark Potter.

BritFights give FIGHTER OF THE NIGHT TO Andre McIntyre.

BritFights would like to thank Little Red for the use of three photographs.  Please visit her site at http://www.littleredcreative.co.uk for more fantastic shots.

Bring on 2012 when UCMMA26  ‘The Real Deal’ returns to The Troxy on Saturday February 4th.  Visit http://www.cagerageuk.com for more information and to purchase tickets.