“Shaolin” Wins Cage Rage Lightweight Title
Under card
Pedro Wrobel Sep 12, 2005
Remember that episode of The Simpsons when Bart starts
wind-milling his arms and says to Lisa: “I’m going to walk towards
you swinging my arms like this, and if you get hit then that’s
your fault,” and Lisa replies in kind, by walking forward
and swinging her legs? Well the fight between Jeremy Bailey (Pictures) and Dean Bray looked a bit like
that.
There was a lot of taunting, a lot of swinging and some clinching. It was during one of the latter occasions that Bray suddenly brought a knee up into Bailey’s face. In his own words, “as soon as I kneed him, his nose splattered all over me!” It certainly seemed to do just that, as the doctor called a stop to this bout after 4:31 of the first round.
In the night’s only controversy, Abdul Mohamed (Pictures) stole the British lightweight
title from Alexandre “Xandinho” Izidro. I’ll admit to some bias on
this account since Izidro is a personal friend, but I spoke to a
number of people on the night and since, and have yet to find one
person who agreed with the judges.
Izidro clearly controlled the first round, getting the better of the stand-up exchanges and taking the wrestler down on multiple occasions as well as passing his guard at will. A bloodied Mohamed did slightly better in the second round, spending some time in the top position where he never looked comfortable, forced to defend constantly against submission and sweep attempts.
Izidro’s own face did not bear a single mark, and the Brazilian’s jubilant celebrations were silenced by the unexpected verdict, which was greeted with boos from sections of the crowd. The official result was a majority decision in Mohamed’s favor.
On one of the few occasions where I’ve enthused about a fighter who hasn’t lost, James Nicholl (Pictures) put on an efficient and workmanlike performance to score the victory over the veteran Tulio Palhares (Pictures). The Brazilian looked much better in this bout than he had in his last appearance in the UK but he was still visibly second best here.
Although Nicholl clearly wanted the fight on the ground, Palhares refused to go down and Nicholl was forced to trade. In the end, this suited the Englishman fine as a flurry of shots caused the Brazilian to cover up against the cage and then go down in pain. The referee was forced to step in, announcing a KO victory for Nicholl after 1:37 of the second round.
The best bit of the card’s opening bout was Kuljit Degun (Pictures)’s entrance. A bunch of brightly attired Indian dancer/drummer/singer types made their musical way into the cage and then refused to leave for what seemed like a year. It was actually quite comic to see the bemused and embarrassed promoters trying to coax the camera-happy dancers out of the cage but they did eventually succeed, and the fight took place.
Basically Degun got taken down and hit a lot until he tapped out after 1:38 of the first round. A happy debut for Buchanan but why is Degun, now 1-7, still on the show?
There was a lot of taunting, a lot of swinging and some clinching. It was during one of the latter occasions that Bray suddenly brought a knee up into Bailey’s face. In his own words, “as soon as I kneed him, his nose splattered all over me!” It certainly seemed to do just that, as the doctor called a stop to this bout after 4:31 of the first round.
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Izidro clearly controlled the first round, getting the better of the stand-up exchanges and taking the wrestler down on multiple occasions as well as passing his guard at will. A bloodied Mohamed did slightly better in the second round, spending some time in the top position where he never looked comfortable, forced to defend constantly against submission and sweep attempts.
Izidro was consistently the busier fighter, working the
submissions, and coming tantalizingly close with a heel hook near
the end of the round. The third period simply belonged to the
Brazilian, who again controlled the fight (mostly from the bottom),
and ended the round on top and pounding his fist repeatedly into
his opponent’s bloodied, battered face.
Izidro’s own face did not bear a single mark, and the Brazilian’s jubilant celebrations were silenced by the unexpected verdict, which was greeted with boos from sections of the crowd. The official result was a majority decision in Mohamed’s favor.
On one of the few occasions where I’ve enthused about a fighter who hasn’t lost, James Nicholl (Pictures) put on an efficient and workmanlike performance to score the victory over the veteran Tulio Palhares (Pictures). The Brazilian looked much better in this bout than he had in his last appearance in the UK but he was still visibly second best here.
Although Nicholl clearly wanted the fight on the ground, Palhares refused to go down and Nicholl was forced to trade. In the end, this suited the Englishman fine as a flurry of shots caused the Brazilian to cover up against the cage and then go down in pain. The referee was forced to step in, announcing a KO victory for Nicholl after 1:37 of the second round.
The best bit of the card’s opening bout was Kuljit Degun (Pictures)’s entrance. A bunch of brightly attired Indian dancer/drummer/singer types made their musical way into the cage and then refused to leave for what seemed like a year. It was actually quite comic to see the bemused and embarrassed promoters trying to coax the camera-happy dancers out of the cage but they did eventually succeed, and the fight took place.
Basically Degun got taken down and hit a lot until he tapped out after 1:38 of the first round. A happy debut for Buchanan but why is Degun, now 1-7, still on the show?
