Down the Pub Preview: Cage Rage 16

LONDON — Hello again and welcome back to the pub. It's been a long time coming but you know how it is with New Year's resolutions. I promised that I would no longer be caught dead with a pint in my hand and a slapper on my knee, but unfortunately I was killed yesterday and Limbo's a bit boring without a drink.

Fortunately there's some company down here and what with having all of eternity to think about my sins, I've managed to spend the time gainfully picking up tidbits of information about the world of UK MMA. Amazing how much the dead know about such things.

Anyway, let's bring things up to speed. Firstly, there have been some significant changes in the card for Cage Rage 16. Matt Lindland (Pictures) was supposed to have challenged Anderson Silva (Pictures) for the latter's Cage Rage world middleweight title. Unfortunately the American has now pulled out of the fight due to having "received an offer he can't refuse" in the U.S.

Piling misery on misery, Lindland has been joined in the absentee list by Vitor Ribeiro (Pictures) and Andrei Semenov (Pictures), both of whom are injured.

That's not too much of a problem, believe it or not, because an enforced last-minute card-shuffle seems to have become par for the course with any Cage Rage event. Merrily swinging to the rescue, therefore, come clashes between Dave Strasser (Pictures) and Paul Daley (Pictures), Jess Liaudin (Pictures) and Gesias Calvancanti, James E Nicolle and Amar Suloev (Pictures), and Daisuke Nakamura (Pictures) and Michael Johnson.

Last but not least, Tony Fryklund (Pictures) politely let it be known that he'd like a crack at Mr. Silva's title. Tasty.

And because a Happy Meal always comes with a free toy, Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) has agreed to show up and look gorgeous, something for which he is famed throughout Kazakhstan.

It's probably worth reiterating too, that this is the last Cage Rage to be held at the Wembley Conference Centre. From Cage Rage 17 onwards, the British promotion will be heading to the much bigger Wembley Arena, where a capacity of up to 13,000 people will potentially be able to partake in the visceral thrill of trying to buy a drink during the interval.

In all seriousness, though, this does represent a genuine step up — Wembley Arena is a huge and respected venue and I am certain that this will prove to be another stride towards respectability for the sport in this country.

In the final paragraph of this painful preamble, I'll note that Cage Rage has also signed a sponsorship deal with Nuts magazine. This is one of Britain's leading "lad's magazines," which will be featuring previews and reviews of Cage Rage events in its sports section. This is big news and good news, and will no doubt increase the promotion and the sports' exposure to its target demographic.

Anyway, let's recap on the card:

Tony Fryklund (Pictures) vs. Anderson Silva (Pictures)
Dave Menne (Pictures) vs. Alex Reid (Pictures)
Dave Strasser (Pictures) vs. Paul Daley (Pictures)
Amar Suloev (Pictures) vs. James E Nicolle
Jorge Patino (Pictures) vs. Curtis Stout (Pictures)
Hiroyuki Abe (Pictures) vs. Brad Pickett (Pictures)
Gary Rawlings vs. Robert Berry (Pictures)
Ryan Robinson (Pictures) vs. Mark Epstein (Pictures)
Jason Barret vs. Jeremy Bailey (Pictures)
Tengiz Tedoradze (Pictures) vs. Edson Drago
Daisuke Nakamura (Pictures) vs. Michael Johnson
Gesias Calvancanti vs. Jess Liaudin (Pictures)
Martin Thompson vs. Mustapha Al Turk
Fereidoun Naghizadeh vs. Mark Buchanan (Pictures)