LONDON, Dec. 3 — Now, this is the stuff that dreams are made of. Cage Rage 14 was an absolutely superb card on paper, and only the most hard-hearted humbug would consider saying that it did not deliver.
With so many stars on the card, with so many eyes watching, this was a make-or-break show for the British promotion and I think they’ll be thanking their lucky stars after this one.
Middleweight champion Anderson Silva (Pictures) proved yet again that he really is in a class of his own. I remember rubbing my eyes in disbelief after seeing how easily the Brazilian Muay Thai technician dealt with the ultra-tough Jorge Rivera (Pictures), but for the benefit of any remaining non-believers, Silva just repeated the lesson tonight. Given Stout’s previous performances in the UK, expectations were high. But the American was never even slightly in this.
As the bell rang both fighters came forward, with Silva scoring a couple of shots before taking his opponent to the floor. Stout was quick to counter the Brazilian’s attack, though, rolling into Silva’s guard, only to find himself the victim of a triangle attempt.
A slam from the American caused Silva to disengage and both fighters returned to their feet. From here, it was doom all the way for Stout, whose failed takedown attempt ended with the wily Brazilian in side-mount. The next minute or two was taken up by some fast-paced grappling, as Stout looked to frustrate his opponent, who in turn was looking for a decent position from which to strike.
Silva’s chance came in the dying seconds of the round, as he stood in the American’s guard and started landing massive bombs. Despite the knocking Stout was clearly no longer at home, and referee Grant Waterman stepped in just before the buzzer sounded. Stout remained down for a few minutes after the fight ended, but was eventually able to leave the cage under his own steam.
The crowd’s favorite fighter of the night was clearly Vitor Belfort (Pictures). As the Brazilian’s name was announced, the crowd literally rose to their feet as one. Antony Rea (Pictures) didn’t seem too bothered though, and he took the fight to the Brazilian throughout the first round of their clash.
It’s strange, I’d expected to be blown away by Belfort’s power and skill, but I really wasn’t. Sure, he won this and won it convincingly but he didn’t dominate the Frenchman in the way that many expected him to do. This is, of course, to Rea’s credit — he’s a tough man and he probably showed Belfort too much respect — but I remember watching “Babalu” fight in the UK and just realizing quite how much better he was than anyone else.
The fight itself was slow to start, as both fighters moved around each other, throwing occasional rangefinders. It took a shot from Rea, a sprawl and a subsequent guillotine attempt from the Brazilian before the fight properly started. In terms of grappling, Belfort had the clear edge. The former “Phenom” almost scored an omo plata on his French opponent, but as Rea resisted Belfort took the decision to stand, forcing a striking and clinching exchange that lasted until the end of the round.
Round two opened with a little more action than the first had. Although Rea landed some decent strikes, it was obvious that as soon as the first thunderous uppercut from Belfort landed, the Brazilian realized what he had to do to win this thing. As Rea shot, Belfort took advantage of the moment to land another huge left uppercut, this time knocking Rea right into tomorrow, with the referee jumping in after 1:13 of the second round.
Mark Weir (Pictures) failed to beat his best time for finishing an opponent, needing a full 17 seconds to put away the durable Akira Shoji (Pictures). This was just a matter of anticipating Shoji’s forward movement and then throwing a sweet left high kick, followed by a series of heavy punches after the Japanese had crashed to the canvas.
Every card traditionally has at least one moment of controversy, and unfortunately this was the second one to involve Alex Reid (Pictures) and a Japanese opponent, in this case Daijiro Matsui (Pictures).
Despite the fact that this fight went to the judges, this was clearly one of the most exciting, adrenaline-filled clashes of the evening. Both fighters gave their all, with Matsui, in particular, looking utterly shattered throughout most of the third round.
The theme of the fight was constant: Matsui wanted this on the ground and Reid wanted to stand. In front of an audience including UFC president Dana White and an official representation from PRIDE, the Japanese fighter was the one who imposed himself on his opponent in the early stages of the match up.
To be fair, Matsui never looked like submitting the Englishman, but he did dominate the position and score with some heavy but irregular ground-and-pound. Reid, for his part, looked dangerous from his back. In the later stages of the fight he occasionally threatened to lock in a triangle, but Matsui was always too experienced to fall for that.
Reid’s strength was in his up-kicks — the Englishman endlessly bicycling his legs off his back whenever he had the chance, repeatedly slamming his heel hard into Matsui’s face every time the Japanese fighter sought to stand in order to find a way past the Englishman’s guard.
It was a war, and both men showed the effects of their exertions as the final bell rang. Matsui’s right eye was almost closed, which with the intensity of his stare in the remaining open eye, gave him the look of a Japanese Popeye. Reid, for his part, had a deep cut over his own right eye, which to my mind lent the whole of the last round a rather gruesome pink tinge.
The fight was ruled a draw, but neither the crowd nor anyone I spoke to at cage-side felt that this fairly reflected the balance of the contest. This is not to denigrate Reid’s efforts, but, for example, I had scored the fight 30-28 to Matsui. The crowd clearly agreed, with the announcement being met by a chorus of boos, followed by a spontaneous and sustained chant for Matsui over the hometown favorite.