LONDON, Feb. 4 — Cage Rage 15 was a great show. Although there were the usual moments of controversy, this was a show stacked with exciting fights, and with a main event that will stay long in the memories of those who were there.
This is to Cage Rage's credit, but the most important result here was that the fans went home happy. After all, the main event was worth the ticket price alone.
In a fight that could have come out of a mixed martial arts version of "Rocky," Evangelista Santos (Pictures) put on a mature and much improved performance to come within a whisker of dethroning Dutch fighter Melvin Manhoef (Pictures).
Manhoef looked confident from the outset whilst Santos showed uncharacteristic thought and restraint in the cage. The fight opened with the two fighters circling, throwing the odd punch and kick, though more as a range-finder than as a statement of serious intent.
Although there were some serious, swinging exchanges, the hallmark of the first round was controlled aggression with a lot of time spent clinching and both men looking to establish their psychological dominance over the other.
Santos came closest to finishing the match in the first round, falling back from inside his opponent's guard to work on Manhoef's ankle. The Dutchman was clearly in pain, but the bell saved him from having to make any rash decisions and he was able to limp back to his corner under his own steam.
The tension from the first round of this battle had already brought the crowd to their feet but it was the extraordinary display of courage and determination in the second round that lifted this clash into something special.
Manhoef and Santos were already visibly tired by this point — and as each man grew weary his reactions slowed and his guard lowered. Then punches started to land and first Manhoef and then Santos were forced to show their toughness as they took turns landing shots on each other.
As the round wore on the fighters lost all pretense of skill and technique. Both swaying like drunks they stood in front of each other, hands down and taking turns to hit each other with clean shots to the face, each one daring the other to fall.
In this game someone always loses and in this case it was Santos who crumpled to the floor first, following the last of many Manhoef right hands. The Dutchman looked like he was going to join "Cyborg" on the canvas, but his jubilant team were quick to pour into ring, physically supporting their fighter throughout his post-fight festivities.
In a sense this match asked many more questions than it answered. "Cyborg" showed that he is capable of being much more than just a brawler with big looping punches and no defense. Manhoef, meanwhile, showed that he is human, and potentially vulnerable to a decent submission fighter.
What would have happened had it been Belfort in there instead of Santos?
In the second controversial decision of the night, Daijiro Matsui (Pictures) was handed the win over Curtis Stout (Pictures) by way of majority decision. My initial reaction to this call was one of disbelief — Matsui had done nothing to harm Stout in the entire fight.
The American, meanwhile, had completely shut down his opponent's game, and while he was incapable of doing too much damage to the tough Japanese, he was at least able to impose his game and knock Matsui down on at least two occasions.
The opposite argument would be to say that although Stout displayed a sound defense, stuffing Matsui's takedown attempts and punching him whenever they got stood up, he nevertheless fought a very defensive fight.
Stout didn't really push the action. Instead he was content to land potshots on the Japanese, forcing his opponent to shoot in on him and reacting to that stimulus. The crowd was clearly in Stout's corner for this one, and Matsui's victory was greeted with a chorus of boos.
Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures) made light work of his opponent, Dave Legeno, forcing the much larger man to tap out due to an Achilles crush. Legeno looked like he meant business, matching Minowa's showmanship by bringing to the cage an effigy of a Japanese head impaled on the end of a samurai sword. But Minowa never looked bothered.
Although the Englishman landed a couple of punches, he never put the experienced Japanese fighter off his stride. Minowa managed to place the bigger man on his back and worked for the submission. When a chance presented itself Minowa pounced, leaving Legeno with no course of action but to tap and then complain afterwards.
"I'll fight anyone who stands in front of me and fights like a man," Lebeno said. "But I don't want to fight someone who crawls around on the floor like a worm."