LONDON, March 8 -- Robert "Buzz" Berry (Pictures) shocked the sold-out Wembley Arena on Saturday and knocked out MMA legend Ken Shamrock (Pictures) in the first round at Cage Rage 25.
A wild flurry of punches from Shamrock, a forefather of modern MMA, gave him a chance to get inside. Berry, however, used his 20-pound weight advantage to manhandle Shamrock and escape from the clinch.
After three minutes, Berry began to taste some success in the standup. A glancing right hand from the Sunderland fighter put Shamrock on his back foot. Then a hard jab from "Buzz" swiftly followed by another right hand sent his 44-year-old opponent crashing to the floor and forced referee Grant Waterman to stop the contest.
"I said in the interviews, ‘I'm gonna knock him out,' and I did that tonight," a jubilant Berry told Sherdog.com. "I've worked really, really hard. I believed in myself. I knew I could do it and now I want to move on to bigger and bigger things. … Gary Shaw said he was going to make me into a superstar."
Asked if he would now replace Shamrock as a potential opponent for vicious brawler Kimbo Slice, Berry smiled from ear to ear and said: "If it's Kimbo … it's Kimbo.
In the chief supporting bout, Masakazu Imanari (Pictures) defended his Cage Rage world featherweight title in an incredible display. He stamped his authority on his bout against Jean Silva (Pictures) from the outset with a trio of hard low kicks. However, it was on the ground that the Japanese leglock expert would do his most impressive work.
He worked a beautiful omoplata attempt from rubber guard before sweeping his way into top position. Then Imanari impressed every section of the arena with his sublime skill and topped off his crafty display with a nasty inside heel hook that forced Silva to tap out frantically and howl in agony.
Rob Broughton (Pictures) made his return in impressive fashion. He weathered a first-round storm of hard low kicks and punches from Neil Grove (Pictures) to bash his way back into the contest and claim a well-earned majority decision.
Grove looked extremely dangerous in the first five minutes. His work rate appeared to drop off in the following two rounds, though, allowing Broughton the chance to score with some hard shots.
To his credit, Grove soaked up the punishment like a dry sponge, but Broughton fought like a man possessed, charging in with looping left hooks and straight right hands to seal an impressive win.
In one of the most unusual conclusions to a fight in Cage Rage history, Tom Watson (Pictures) knocked out UK-stationed American serviceman Pierre Guillet (Pictures) with a stunning up-kick two minutes into the contest.
Guillet looked to be in good form when he took his opponent down with unexpected ease in the opening seconds of the fight. However, as the aggressive U.S. serviceman leapt in the air to deliver a brutal flying punch on his downed opponent, he was met with a perfect kick to the jaw from Watson that brought his night to an abrupt end.
Mustapha al Turk (Pictures) made short work of Gary Turner (Pictures) in their heavyweight encounter, bashing the overmatched former K-1 fighter and forcing him to submit with a stream of hard punches from rear mount.
The London Shootfighter caught an attempted kick from Turner and drove him into the mat with a well-timed takedown. Al Turk then applied some extremely effective pressure on the floor and gave Turner no choice but to give up his back.
Once in position, al Turk hammered his opponent relentlessly. After a vicious flurry of right hands, Turner understandably called it quits.
Ultra-aggressive Milton Keynes fighter Roman Webber (Pictures) let the occasion get to him in quite dramatic fashion. He tore across the cage to confront Italian opponent Ivan Serati (Pictures) in their light heavyweight encounter.
Serati duly took him to the floor and quickly unleashed a barrage of punches that ended the contest after only 48 seconds. The irate Italian then proceeded to goad his downed foe after the stoppage in retaliation for Webber's pre-fight posturing.
Henrique Santana (Pictures) showed vast improvements in terms of both his stamina and takedowns. He repeatedly took Michael Johnson to the mat to earn a clear-cut unanimous decision after three rounds of action.
Johnson landed some heavy blows in each round, dropping the Brazilian in the first round and landing a hard knee to the face in the third. Santana refused to buckle, however, and impressed the judges with an array of takedowns and submission attempts to take the win.
In the much-anticipated female fight, Aisling Daly (Pictures) showed that she is the real deal by dispatching of Aysen Berik in less than two minutes.
The pink-haired terror quickly took the fight to the floor and teed off on her overmatched opponent. A nasty flurry of punches soon left Berik damaged and in trouble, prompting her brother and cornerman Sami Berik (Pictures) to throw in the towel.
Ryan Shamrock (Pictures) -- the 18-year old son of headliner Ken Shamrock (Pictures) -- put in a gutsy but ultimately losing performance as he went toe-to-toe with aggressive Londoner Georgio Andrews.
In a wild contest, both fighters enjoyed success on their feet while the action flowed from one side of the cage to the other. However, after an entertaining first round, Shamrock could not continue due to a broken left hand.
In the opening bouts of the night, John Hathaway quickly took Marvin Arnold-Bleau out of his element and hammered him from mount position, and John Phillips came back from an early scare against Jake Bostwick (Pictures) to batter the South Londoner in just more than four minutes.