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FIGHT ODDS

Down the Pub: Cage Rage 13 Preview

Pedro WrobelSep 08, 2005

LONDON — My, my, it’s good to be back.

Cage Rage 13 will be hitting the Wembley Conference Centre in London on Saturday, and I, for one, could not be more pleased. As per usual, Cage Rage has had more than its fair share of injury pullouts but some creative use of musical chairs has ensured that the final card remains as mouth-watering as a (halal) Big Mac after Ramadan.

Before we come on to discuss the upcoming matches, let me take this opportunity to break some news about Cage Rage 14. The UK-based promotion has confirmed that Anderson Silva (Pictures) will be returning to Cage Rage on December 3 to defend his world middleweight title against Curtis Stout (Pictures).

This is an excellent prospect, since Stout has gone on a rampage since coming to Cage Rage and most observers feel that he is well overdue for a title shot. That said, Silva looked utterly unstoppable in his performance against Jorge Rivera (Pictures) at CR 11, and it’s hard to see Stout banging this one out. But that’s the beauty of MMA, isn’t it? Anything can happen.

Another match-up that’s 90 percent confirmed for CR 14 is a bout between UFC veteran Travis Lutter (Pictures) and Chute Boxe’s best exponent of the secret art of the sideburn, Antonio Schembri (Pictures). Awesome.

Now let’s get back to the subject at hand. The last-minute injury pullouts have been pretty bad this time around. Alex Evans and Ross “The Boss” Mason have both had to bow out so their opponents, James Nicholl (Pictures) and Tulio Palhares (Pictures), are now fighting each other. Less easy to deal with has been the loss of the Kung Fu master, Jason Delucia. Cage Rage may have lost a big name but it has also gained a funny one, as Lithuanian fighter Remus “Viteza” Ciobnu steps into the breach to face Antony Rea (Pictures).

The final card at time of press is therefore:

Jean Silva (Pictures) vs. Vitor Ribeiro (Pictures)
Melvin Manhoef vs. Fabio Piamonte (Pictures)
James Thompson (Pictures) vs. Andy Costello (Pictures)
Antony Rea (Pictures) vs. Remus Ciobnu
Darren Little vs. Evangelista Santos (Pictures)
Jorge Rivera (Pictures) vs. Marcelo Azevedo
Mark Weir (Pictures) vs. Kyosuke Sasaki (Pictures)
Tulio Palhares (Pictures) vs. James Nicholl (Pictures)
Brad Pickett (Pictures) vs. Ozzy Haluk
Jeremy Bailey (Pictures) vs. Dean Bray
Abdul Mohamed (Pictures) Alexandre Izidro
Paul Daley (Pictures) vs. Hassan Muridi (Pictures)
Mark Buchanan vs. Kuljit Degun (Pictures)