Neil “The Goliath” Grove became the first Ultimate Challenge UK Heavyweight Champion with a ground and pound victory over James McSweeney.

Fittingly for panto season, McSweeney came out playing the villain; strutting down the runway wearing a black mask with the sounds of growling dogs and DMX echoing around the venue. Grove entered to greater acclaim- smiling and respectfully folding his black belt and gi jacket before entering the cage.

Once the bell rang- the hyped up crowd were well into it. Stand up guy McSweeney opened with a Superman punch and looked sharp. As soon as he got the chance, Grove grabbed James and dumped him onto the canvas with the ferocity of a Jamaican domino player.

The rest of the round was a back and forth struggle on the deck. McSweeney repeatedly put himself into good positions but was unable to finish. Twice he eagerly tried to sink in a rear naked choke without flattening his man out first and a triangle opportunity went begging.

The non stop action had obviously taken its toll on the two big men as they squared off at the start of the second. McSweeney shot for a takedown. Grove saw it coming, pushed his opponent down and began to attack from the side. “The Goliath” let him have it and, with nothing coming back, the ref had to jump in.

Neil Grove came through some sticky moments to take the belt. On the evidence of the crowd’s reaction- he must be one of the biggest ticket sellers in UK MMA. An entertaining main event. Both fighters a still works in progress- but the match was genuinely exciting from beginning to end.

Another fan favourite claimed the Middleweight belt in more straight forward fashion. Never have the pre fight video interviews been more telling. Tom “Kong” Watson talked calmly about his training camp- including his stint at Greg Jackson’s camp in New Mexico. Norwich lad Danny Cubitt told everyone he’d not been at this MMA game long.

The gulf in class was clear. Tom opened with four unchecked leg kicks. After dominating a clinch exchange- Watson made himself some space and delivered a devastating knee to the head. That was the end of the fight; but Watson let a few more punches go to make sure the ref did his job.

Danny Cubitt is a game lad but he was out of his depth. He came in as a late replacement against an opponent who looks better with each fight. Next time out- Tom Watson will face a stiffer test, in the shape of Cage Gladiators champ John Maguire.

The Lightweight title clash between Tim Radcliffe and Jason Young turned on one key moment. Radcliffe has the better ground credentials of the pair. Young caught Tim in a guillotine and decided to commit totally to finishing the fight. He jumped up, wrapped his legs round his man and dropped back. As soon as Tim freed his head- the writing was on the wall. From half guard, Radcliffe let the pounding commence. Young rolled and, at the second attempt, Tim Radcliffe got his hooks in and applied the rear naked choke.

A solid win for Radcliffe and lesson learned for Young: fortune doesn’t always favour the brave.

Chris Harman looks like he wants to nick Brad Pickett’s nickname. Early on, he rocked Robert Salmon with a punch. Robert recovered and controlled the fight for the rest of the round- almost scoring with an arm bar and a Kimura.

Round two- one punch. A left hand on the button dropped Salmon. On tonight’s showing, some will accuse Harman of being a one trick pony. If he is- it’s a pretty impressive trick and one that people will pay good money to see.

Chris Greig was incredibly hyped up for his clash with Jimi Manuwa. The pair put on a frantic ground battle in the first, with “Poster Boy” Jimi gradually taking control. If the bell had come a few seconds later- the hard shots he was dishing out would have ended the contest.

It took a while for Greig to get up and make his way back to the corner. The amount of effort he had invested in the first was apparent. A tired looking takedown attempt was his final effort. Jimi helped him on his way down, took side control and rained down left hands until the ref called it off.

Michael Pastou wanted to neutralise the striking skills of Chris Woolcott and executed his game plan to perfection. Take down – Pass to Side – Key Lock – Tap.

The game plan of Fabio Taldo must have been a piece of paper with “Heel Hook” written on it. After taking Edgelson Lua down, he only had one thing on his mind. The tap came three and a half minutes in.

The rest of the card featured a series of quick finishes. Team Titan’s Mark Smith opened proceedings with a one minute five second victory over Jody Cottham. “Babyface” dropped his man then secured a verbal tap by way of armbar. It took Jack Mason the same time to guillotine James Elson into submission.

“Brutal” Jake Bostwick simply blew away Marvin Arnold with thirty two seconds of…brutality.

Dillian Whyte made a successful MMA debut with a 12 second KO of Mark Stroud.
 

Is it still Cage Rage?

In a word YES. The name’s changed but the song remains the same. Cage Rage was always the Marmite of MMA- with equal numbers of fans and haters. Ultimate Challenge UK is pretty much Son of Cage Rage.
 

Venue

 

Whatever you think of the promotion- you have to admit The Troxy is beautiful. A great setting.

Since moving to the East End- I think that Cage Rage / Ultimate Challenge UK is a far better live experience for the paying punter.

 

Crowd

 

Many critics have slagged the Cage Rage crowds in the past. The first Ultimate Challenge UK mob got well into the action and created a genuine big fight atmosphere for the main event.

 

Best Ring Walk Tune
 

For some reason (probably copyright related) – most of the fighters entered to hits from the promotion’s illustrious back catalogue. This was great news for music lovers- who got to revisit such classics as: Cage Rage- You’re Un-Be-Liev- Able, Cage Rage- Hard as Hell and Cage Rage: Feel the Pain.

With so few originals- a dark horse from the under card took the honours.

I Wish it Could Be Xmas Everyday by Wizzard

Mark “Babyface” Smith
 

Fighter of the Night

Has to be Neil Grove. The big man brought an army of fans and worked the room all night. Once again- he showed some flaws in his game but hung in there and took the belt.