ProElite's British acquisition, Cage Rage, kicked off another event in England on Saturday evening that featured the return of Ken Shamrock to the cage. The card also featured bouts between Jean “White Bear” Silva and leglock specialist Masakazu Imanari, UK heavyweights Neil Grove and Rob Broughton, and a US vs. Britain showdown between Tom Watson and Pierre Guillet. The main event card had some lackluster moments, but the preliminary bouts provided some excitement for the crowd to get amped up. Surprisingly, Wembley Arena sold out for this event, and it looks like the British mixed martial arts scene is continuing to grow. Let's look at the action from today's event.
Shamrock's nonexistent gameplan causes embarrassment
For Ken Shamrock, this was to be his comeback fight. After losing his last five bouts and losing eight in his last ten fights, Shamrock was taking on a relatively weak chinned fighter in Robert Berry. The plan was for Shamrock to defeat Berry and move on to potentially take on Kimbo Slice on a CBS-EliteXC MMA show. Unfortunately, Shamrock's return was spoiled by the heavy hands of “Buzz” Berry.
Berry and Shamrock stood toe-to-toe for most of the fight, but Shamrock took a hard strike to the temple that immediately dropped him like a tree. Berry's size was a significant factor in the battle as Shamrock had problems trying to take down the larger Berry. His reach also provided enough range to keep Ken outside while he peppered him with shots.
The critical flaw in Shamrock's gameplan was exactly that... his gameplan. Ken's primary weapon in the past has been his ability to submit opponents with devastating leg locks, but his primary focus has moved away from that recently. That type of gameplan hasn't been successful for Ken, and it will continue to plague him with embarrassment if he doesn't realize the flaw.
Imanari finishes Silva quickly
Masakazu Imanari has remained relatively unknown to the casual fanbase for most of his career. While holding both the Cage Rage and DEEP titles and maintaining a top 10 ranking in the Featherweight division throughout the world, Imanari has quietly and consistently defeated mid-echelon talent. Saturday night at Wembley Arena was no different.
Imanari worked his signature heel hook submission on Jean Silva at only 2:30 in the first round. Silva was edging out Imanari early in the standup department, but Imanari pulled Silva into the leg lock position as Silva tried to work a ground and pound game. After a few attempts by Imanari to secure the lock and Silva rolling out of the hold, Imanari sunk in the heel hook and visibly hurt Silva's leg to end the fight. Silva had to be escorted out of the ring and eventually left the arena on a stretcher.
Other action
Click for Cage Rage 25 Results -
Rob Broughton over Neil Grove via majority decision
Tom Watson over Pierre Guillet via TKO (Strikes) at 2:05, Round 1
Mustapha al Turk over Gary Turner via submission (Strikes) at 3:19, Round 1
Ivan Serati over Roman Webber via TKO (Strikes) at :48 seconds, Round 1
Henrique Santana over Michael Johnson via unanimous decision
Aisling Daly over Aysen Berik via TKO (Strikes) at 1:49, Round 1
Giorgio Andrews over Ryan Shamrock via TKO (Doctor Stoppage – Broken Hand) at 5:00, Round 1
John Hathaway over Marvin Arnold via TKO (Strikes) at 1:32, Round 1
John Phillips over Jake Bostwick via TKO (Strikes) at 4:10, Round 1
It's safe to say that Neil Grove was exposed in his matchup with Rob Broughton. Grove's striking was fairly sloppy in his previous bout with Robert Berry, and he was outclassed in the first round of that battle. Grove was fortunate enough for Berry to quit at the end of the first round due to what earlier this week was described as a head cold. The matchup at this event was no different.
Grove and Broughton stood toe-to-toe with atrocious standup coming from both fighters. Both men managed to throw looping punches while leaning back to avoid strikes through most of the first round without ever really connecting any blows. As the fight escalated in the second round, Grove became increasingly tired while Broughton seemed to pour on some heat with the leather. Broughton eventually gassed out himself, but not before landing enough blows and doing enough on the ground to secure the decision. The only key conclusion that this fight created was that the Cage Rage heavyweight division needs some work.
Tom Watson's takedown defense is below average to say the least. Guillet took him down at will, but Watson was able to fend off attacks from the top early in the first round. As Guillet tried to jump over Watson's guard to obtain side control, Watson clipped Guillet with a heel upkick to the cheek that knocked out Guillet and ended the fight. A freak ending to a fight that saw Guillet easily controlling Watson on the feet by putting him to the mat.
Giorgio Andrews continued his winning ways and improved his record to 3-0 with a win over Ken Shamrock's son, Ryan Shamrock. Andrews was undoubtedly winning the first round after catching Ryan with some solid strikes early, but Shamrock seemed to be in fairly good shape going into the second. Unfortunately, Ryan's first strike of the fight saw his hand break on Giorgio's head. The doctor stepped in at the end of the first round, and Shamrock's team and the doctor made the decision to stop the fight to preserve Ryan's young career from continuing injury.
Gary Turner ruined a lot of bets tonight with a lackluster performance against Mustaph al Turk. Turner needs to work a bit on his takedown defense and overall MMA game to completely convert from his kickboxing pedigree. Aisling Daly spoiled Aysen Berik's debut by pummeling her early in the round. Berik's beauty was quickly spoiled for the men in the crowd once Daly crushed her from top control.
Overall thoughts
The production values were much better without the dancers. It was a much different look for the promotion in that capacity. The commentating core was changed up a bit as Quadros was relegated to only being featured in small analysis pieces before each fight. Although I'm not a huge fan of Quadros's recent work, he was still a good addition to the analysis of the Cage Rage event while the fight was actually happening.
The matchups for the event were adequate in providing the crowd with some excitement, but I think ProElite will be a tad unhappy with the results from Grove vs. Broughton. The fight definitely had knockout written all over it, but it eventually disappointed. Shamrock vs. Berry did not disappoint, although I think many fans wanted to see Shamrock prevail. For the many fans who still want to see Ken battle in the cage, he is currently under a three fight deal with the promotion. Will he ever see a resurrection to his career? It doesn't look like it.
Cage Rage continues to be a promotion for the casual fanbase. If you want to see heavy hitting strikers with little technical prowess, Cage Rage is where its at. Imanari vs. Silva provided a decent grappling match on the main card, but the standup battles are beginning to wear thin in this writer's opinion. Hopefully, the UK scene will begin to improve as it begins to see more exposure. Overall Grade: C