It was almost a year to the day since the last UK “supercard” occurred at the Wembley Conference centre in

the form of much hyped Extreme Force. Then Lee Murray knocked out “Pele” Landi Jons in a fight that made

him a star. Now former Murray victim Jorge Rivera and the experienced UK star Mark Weir looked to regain

their spot in Vegas in the same arena.

The Cage Rage team have spent 2004 improving not only the in-ring action but also the visual side of its

promotion with some slick promos/interviews, flashy ring entrances, big screens and ring girls. This Cage

Rage was no exception and with a brand new all black (UFC style) raised octagon, it gave the impression

that a big night of MMA action lay ahead.

At 6.35pm the old Cage Rage theme filled the impressive venue and the usual Cage Rage choreographed

intro was in full swing with members of the Elite Fighting System putting on a show, whilst the principal

sponsor of Cage Rage ‘Pole Position magazine’ had their shirts launched into the crowd.

Fight 1 – Philly San 3-1-0 vs. Dave Elliot 4-3-0 - Lightweight

The relatively inexperienced Philly San who’s last appearance at Cage Rage was back in February 2003 was

a late replacement for the highly regarded but unfortunately injury prone Dave Roche. His opponent was Dave

Elliot who is now known worldwide for being the first man to be submitted by the infamous Twister, back on

May 9th at Cagewarriors 7. 

The fight its self was a quick affair as the outmatched San was quickly submitted by the polished Jiu Jitsu

skills of Dave Elliot who won via an armbar 30 seconds into round 1. Elliot was no doubt eager to prove that

he is 100% and will be looking for a bigger fight soon.

Fight 2 – Xavier Foupa-Pokam 4-4-0 vs. Paul Daley 2-2-0 – Middleweight

Before the eagerly awaited showdown between these big hitting Middleweights, the first 2 extremely polished

interviews (which were conducted at the weight-in/press conference the day before) were shown on the big

screen above the octagon. This added to the classiness of the event and no doubt will add some interest to

any newcomers for the sport who will watch this event on SKY TV in the UK.

Daley who looked small for a middleweight gave up a lot in height and some weight to the rangy Frenchman

who has lost his previous 2 encounters at European Vale Tudo, however he was very impressive at Cage

Rage 5 where he stream rolled over Poulo Coelho (a former Munidals Champion) in brutal fashion at Cage

Rage 5.

The fight began with both men trading and throwing down with some bombs. Daley who has looked lethal in

“k-1” style bouts this year looked to catch Xavier with his trademark left hook, which was clearly not scouted

beforehand and despite eating a knee to the chest early on, Daley avoiding the range of Xavier with some

nifty ducking and weaving before knocking the Frenchman out within a minute, leaving the Frenchman

needing medical treatment.

3rd fight - Rick Andrew vs. Bad Boy Jeremy Bailey (welterweight)

The self proclaimed Paul McKenna of the cage was up next as “Bad Boy” Bailey played up to the pre-fight

interviews by promising to put Rick Andrews from the Elite fighting System to sleep.

The usual flashy entrance of Bailey entertained the crowd whilst Andrews was wisely kept away in a huddle

by his trainer Dave O’Donnell. The fight started with a focused bailey (looking to impress after his

controversial no-contest at Cage Rage 6) sprawling as Andrews charged in and looked to take Bailey down

against the cage. Although Bailey looked to counter this early aggression with a guillotine choke, he

ultimately falls downs and is subjected to a quick Ground and Pound attack by the underdog. As the action

returned to a standing position, Bailey ate a knee from Andrews and despite slamming Andrews against the

cage, Andrews who able to fall into guard and latched on a guillotine choke for the win.

Bailey tried to work his way out, but after a brief pause the “bad boy” taps and the fight ends with Andrews’

corner celebrating wildly after 2.54 of round 1. 

During the post fight interview Andrews states how he is a big fan of Bailey and has only been training for 18

months, he thanks both Bailey and his trainer Steve Cooper, whilst bailey continues the theme of respect by

saying that the better man won.

4th Fight – Paul Jenkins 21-15-3 vs. Ronaldo Campos 4-2-0 (Champion) – Welterweight Title fight

The Cage Rage Middleweight Champion Paul Jenkins went down to his usual Welterweight limit to fight the

Cage Rage Welterweight Champion Ronaldo Campos, in a rematch of their fight in Bracknell back in March,

when an under par Campos was dominated by Jenkins and ultimately lost by verbal submission.

However this time both men were fresh and Campos started the stronger in a cautious 1st round in which

Campos’ ground skills came into to full effect, as he took the Welshman down twice and looked for an early

sub by getting his back by the cage. However Jenkins’ strong survival sprit came into play and he frustrated

the London based Brazilian by illegally holding onto the cage (which cost the Welshman a point) and by also

managing to sweep out of a full mount late on in round 1.

Round 2 continued with Campos in the ascendancy after 2 early takedowns. Campos then spent most of the

round looking for a submission either in the top position where he countered a Jenkins kimura attempt from

guard with a slick armbar. Then later in the round Campos looked for a triangle against the cage and then

another armbar attempt whilst in guard. However the action was still slow paced.

The final round started with Campos in control again as he managed to counter some wild strikes with a

takedown and again managed to get control and take Jenkins’ back, but to his dismay the overly cautious

(or maybe tiring) Campos was stood up for inaction by referee Grant Waterman whilst in a seemingly

dominant position.

The fight then took a dramatic turn as Jenkins, (behind on points and needing to finish off the champion)

changed tact and fired in a body shot which sent Campos to the floor. Campos stood up slowly and Jenkins

again fired shots into the body which sent Campos down again. Unwilling to get up, Referee Grant Waterman

was forced to declare a TKO and Paul Jenkins was crowned as the new Welterweight champion after 2.54 of

the 3rd round.

Argument has since raged about this decision with Campos questioning it on UK forums; however in my

opinion it was a fair decision as Ronaldo was asked twice to get up and from my vantage point Ronaldo did

not look like he could intelligently defend himself and therefore could not argue with the stoppage.

5th Fight - Jean Francois Lenogue 3-3-0 vs. Damien Riccio 4-5-0 – Middleweight
The first all French professional MMA rules match, was subtitled by the Cage Rage Promoters as “the all

French beatdown” and at times it lived up it its billing, as the infamous Damien Ricco, famous for his long

running feud with the Gracie Family took on fellow Frenchman Jean-Francois Lenogue from the French

Konnection team..

Riccio, who unbelievably has fought at Light-heavyweight before (and was due to challenege for a “world” title

at 205lbs) gave up over 3 kg’s and was visibly shorter than his opponent. During the fight this proved to be a

big handicap for Riccio who was unable to get in close for much of what was a one sided fight, as Lenogue

dominated the fight in the clinch landing some heavy duty knees to Ricco’s head and body, and often

following them up with some punishing left/right punch combos.

This took its toil on Ricco, and the fight was stopped briefly in round 2, so that Ricco could be checked as

the cuts which were visible on the big TV screens were bleeding. Although in round 3 Ricco did try and go on

the attack by ducking and weaving and showing the better boxing techniques, the big height/weight

disadvantage came into play and although Ricco showed a lot of tenacity to last the 3 rounds, he was

soundly beaten and lost to a clear cut judge’s decision. Lenogue on the other hand, moved to 4-3-0 in MMA,

whilst Ricco must now consider cutting to welterweight to avoid being outmatched like this again.

6th fight - Robbie Oliver 7-5-1 vs. Sammy Schiavo 2-1-0 – Lightweight
The experienced UKMMAC 70kg Champion Robbie Oliver from the Tsunami Gym, came in as a replacement

for the injured Gerald Strebendt. Coming off a decision loss against the skilful Brazilian Marcelo "Bocao"

Ferreira 20 days earlier, Oliver faced an even tougher test against the highly touted French Top Team fighter

Sammy Schiavo, who has had 4 opponents pull out of fights with him already this year.

The smart money was on Schiavo to live up to the hype on this big show and he started off by sending Oliver

crashing to the canvas in 3 seconds, however Oliver managed to keep his composure and as Schiavo

followed in, he pulled guard. 

Everything seemed to be going smoothly for the Frenchman as he moved Oliver to the cage in a display of

textbook MMA ground control. Then in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, Oliver swept the Frenchman and

got full mount. Oliver, then made short work of Schiavo by getting his back and sinking in a Rear Naked

Choke for the win by Submission in 2.36 of round 1.

To read the rest of the recap (fights 7-11), go to: http://www.cagewarriors.com/page.asp?ID=336

You can also check out the preliminary lineup for Cage Rage 8 or see pictures of Cage Rage 7 at:

http://www.cagewarriors.com/page.asp?ID=340

(7/22/04)