Nostalgia-killer Travis Lutter (Pictures) copied his performance straight from a textbook entitled "How to beat Jose Landi-Jons." The American was smooth, never giving "Pele" a chance. A short stand-up exchange was just a disguise for a Lutter takedown. Although the fight hit the floor quickly, I wasn't expecting Lutter to dominate quite as much as he did— “Pele" is a veteran after all — he's fought good submission guys before.
It felt like watching UFC 2 all over again as Jason DeLucia fell prey to a straight armbar from guard. The American veteran looked extremely nervous as he surged forward to clinch with his visibly bigger opponent, Fabio Piamonte (Pictures).
DeLucia got the takedown but seemed completely clueless on the ground as his weak ground-and-pound metaphorically offered his arm on a silver platter. Piamonte, ever the gentleman, took the veteran up on his kind offer, shifting his hips and forcing DeLucia to tap.
Paul Daley (Pictures) was unlucky to find himself on the losing end of a match against Jean Silva (Pictures). This was an intriguing bout, with Silva looking for redemption after suffering back-to-back losses, and Daley hungry for his first "name" scalp.
Silva was the more aggressive of the two, coming forward and bringing his unorthodox stand-up techniques to bear on his young opponent. Daley, for his part, showed a much improved range of stand-up weaponry, mixing some surprisingly effective kicks with his powerful boxing.
Daley was getting the better of the match, punishing Silva's lead leg with low kicks in the first round and then opening up a deep cut above Silva's left eye in the second round.
It was not to be his night, however, as, at the end of the second round, Daley drew the referee's attention to a problem with his thumb. The referee, alerted, called the doctor in and Daley was diagnosed with a dislocated thumb and deemed unable to continue — a decision about which he made no attempt to hide his displeasure. With Daley unable to continue, Silva was awarded the victory.
Ross Mason (Pictures) proved his toughness once again but Chris Lytle (Pictures) underlined the difference experience can make. Mason had his chances in the initial stand-up exchanges but once the fight hit the floor, the Englishman was in Lytle's world. Although he survived the first round — due to sheer guts rather than because he managed to reverse the American — it was always just a matter of time.
Lytle was giving Mason a ground clinic, trapping one of the Englishman's arms with his legs and hitting him repeatedly in the head. The more Mason squirmed the more tangled he seemed to get. Finally, Lytle managed to take Mason's back in the dying seconds of the second round, forcing the Englishman to tap out to a rear-naked choke.
In the first of three nostalgic moments, David “Tank” Abbott made his way to the cage to discuss his future plans with Cage Rage broadcaster Stephen Quadros. Abbott came across well, noting that there are two things that he can't turn down: parties and fighting. Fortunately Cage Rage offers him both, and the American is happy to take on his challenger, Amokrane "Kiane" Sabat. The latter is a burly man who has only been training for six months. Despite his lack of experience, Sabat assured the audience that he will "end the legend of 'Tank' in my first fight.”
In the first of the two controversial judges' decisions, Brad Pickett (Pictures) was handed a majority decision over a tough Robbie Olivier. This match was much closer than I thought it would be. Having seen Pickett's fight against Chris Freeborn, and having seen Olivier's bout against the same fighter, I was convinced that the veteran Olivier would dominate Pickett en route to an easy win.
This was not to be, as Pickett showed the improvements that he continues to make as a professional. Although Olivier scored with repeated takedowns, Pickett seemed happy enough on his back, squirming and shrimping well to stay out of danger and/or reverse Olivier. When it was all said and done I had it two rounds to one for Olivier, but the judges disagreed and Pickett claimed his biggest scalp.
In a clash of the big men, Tengiz Tedoradze came out victorious over Robert Berry (Pictures). Berry was game, but Tedoradze had this from the start.
A flurry of stand-up activity was ended by a clinch from the Georgian, who eventually put his opponent down with an excellent suplex. A scramble on the ground ended with Tedoradze taking Berry's back, from which position he landed a series of powerful punches that forced the referee to intervene.
On the under card, Mark Epstein (Pictures) took his Cage Rage winning streak to three in a row as he punished an overmatched Darren Little (Pictures), forcing the referee to stop the bout on Little's behalf.
Sol Gilbert (Pictures) looked strong at welterweight, dominating Sami Berik (Pictures) with his takedowns before knocking him out.
Former Cage Rage heavyweight champion Ryan Robinson (Pictures) defeated Brian Adams with an armbar.
Zelg Galesic looked very fast and very sharp in his TKO victory over Michael Holmes.
Jason Barrett (Pictures) beat Mindaugas Arbocious by TKO after the latter seemed to refuse to fight back or, in fact, do anything.