Cage of Fire VII Recap

"COF Face Off"

June 23, 2007

"El Auditorio Municipal"

(Tijuana Municipal Auditorium)

Tijuana, Mexico

www.myspace.com/retomaximo

www.myspace.com/cageoffire

Lights, camera...fireworks!! as the traditional display of pyrotechnics signaled the start of the seventh edition of Cage of Fire (COF) this past Saturday night. With two COF titles on the line, the 3,000 plus in attendance settled in for another exciting show encompassing just about every scenario you could think of - including controversy in the co-main event.

leg which brought a roar from the crowd.

Unfortunately, the second round would see the end of the fight - After a quick warning from the ref to the

fighters to not hold onto the cage (as Gushiken was against the cage trying to tie up Morales from the

bottom), Morales landed an illegal knee to a downed Gushiken which caused the ref to immediately jump in

and stop the bout - the ref gave Gushiken five minutes to recuperate but it was not to be, Gushiken propped

up against the cage - visibly weary took the five minutes but in the end, motioned he could not continue.

After much debate among the commission and the refs, it was ruled it would not go to the score cards and

Gushiken was declared the winner via disqualification to the boos of the crowd. Cage of Fire ordered an

immediate rematch of the two at the next COF.

And on Sunday, COF announced that Gushiken, via telephone, declined to accept the title and in recognition

of the closeness of the bout and the ability of his opponent, has accepted the mandated rematch at the next

Cage of Fire. COF then ruled the bantamweight title vacant.

The main event was a bit anti-climatic after the bantamweight title bout but nonetheless entertaining. COF Lightweight Champion Joey Alvarado was defending his title against local Daniel Morales. After a quick exchange, they tied up early in the first, Morales looking for a takedown - Morales was eventually able to get a single leg and down they went. Alvarado from the bottom was looking for a triangle choke but Morales

defended well - Alvarado then switched for an arm bar that again, Morales defended well. And in a blink of an eye, a few elbows reigned downed on Alavardo and the fight was over - the ref signaled a verbal submission. Morales crowned the new lightweight champion to the applause of the crowd.

But the biggest roar of cheers arguably came from fight number eight - imagine Tank Abbott fighting Tank Abbott. Antonio Velarde vs. Adolfo De La Torre was a slug fest - both fighters swinging the haymakers - both having their brief moments of domination throughout the first round - De la Torre ended up with a cut under the left eye while Velarde was the victim of a low blow and given time to recuperate - and

when the fight restarted, a visibly pissed off Velarde landed a knee that opened up the cut that De la Torre

had pretty good at the end of the round. Round two started and Velarde came out a bit more technical, and

at one point, mimicking the Frank Shamrock "I putting you to sleep" gesture that Shamrock had used the

night before against Phil Baroni at Strikeforce. In the end, Velarde was too much for the Monster causing the

ref to stop the bout after De La Torre went down to his knees bleeding badly from strikes and a knee.

With fighters Rafael and Mauro Salomao, Iuri Silva, Shannon Gugerty and Warren James all walking

away with the submission win plus Scott Catlin, Virgilio Lozano and the hard hitting veteran Mike Seal

winning by TKO, COF 7 ended the night with not a single fight going the distance (Full Results).

As with all Tony Perez and Juan Noriega productions, each event out does the last - and Cage of Fire 7

was no exception - kudos to the promoters and fighters for another great event.

                                   Iuri Silva, Larry Landless              Larry and Tecate Girls                New Champ

                                           & Mauro Salomao                                                                        Daniel Morales

(6/26/07)