In the slowest-paced fight of the night, Matt Lindland (Pictures) methodically took Antonio Schembri (Pictures) apart. This was quite painful to watch since, one armbar attempt aside, Schembri was never in this. The Brazilian did make a valiant effort to take his opponent down at the start of the fight, but after that every time the fight was stood up Schembri would greet Lindland’s clinch by pulling guard.
With the end in sight, Lindland suddenly changed gears and stood up in Schembri’s guard. His legs wide for balance, Lindland let loose a barrage of shots that echoed around the sold-out arena. Schembri withstood the first one or two, but after that the hirsute Brazilian was clearly out for the count the referee dove in to stop the punishment after 3:33 of the third round.
Given Silva’s destruction of Stout in the main event, it would make sense to allow Lindland to make the next challenge, but the American used his after-fight interview to welcome a match-up against Lee Murray (Pictures) as soon as the Englishman is healthy again.
Mark Epstein (Pictures) was far too scary for Brian Adams, knocking the previously undefeated Cage Rage rookie out after just 19 seconds of the first round. Epstein landed a big left hook flush on Adams’ face, and the big man went down as if he were shot. With Epstein, who had also fallen over, bearing down on his prone opponent, the referee jumped in to stop further punishment.
Robert Berry (Pictures) showed that he is more than just a big brawler as he defeated jiu-jitsu stylist Marc Goddard by guillotine choke. Berry had dominated the brief stand-up exchange, which allowed him to sink the guillotine when Goddard shot to take it to the ground. Goddard tapped after 1:01 of the first round.
In the first brief controversy of the night, Xavier Foupa Pokam got himself disqualified against Sol Gilbert (Pictures). The Frenchman was clearly in control of this match-up, stunning Gilbert with strikes before following up with a clear soccer kick to the face as the Englishman fell to the canvas.
This was foolish on Foupa Pokam’s part since, had he done anything else to finish the fight, he’d have clearly walked away with the victory. As it was, the foul was blatant for everyone to see, and Gilbert, to his credit, announced that he’d be happy to sign a rematch. The fight was called off after 1:10 of the first round.
In the night’s weirdest match-up, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth re-enacted their cringingly embarrassing fight from the first Bridget Jones movie. Oh, I beg your pardon — Alan Murdoch defeated Dave Legeno by armbar. Legeno wouldn’t tap, though, so the referee stopped the fight anyway. Hugh Gra … err Murdoch took it after 4:10 of the first round.
Chris Freebourne deserves so much credit. This kid is not afraid of anyone. I’ve seen him step into the cage from out of the crowd, at a weight class above his own, just because he’s like that. Stepping in late against a fighter like Robbie Olivier is pretty brave but that’s Freebourne all over, and he was once again excellent here today, even in defeat.
Olivier was the clear aggressor in this clash, opening the fight by rushing across the cage and taking his opponent straight to the mat. Freebourne would not play ball, though, countering all of Olivier’s submission efforts; surviving all the attempted ground-and-pound; reversing position when he could; and generally making things hard for his opponent, who was awarded the hard-fought unanimous decision after the final bell was rung.
In an after-fight segment, Olivier informed Brad Pickett (Pictures) that the latter’s injury was fortunate since it let him hang on to the title a little bit longer. The two are set to clash in February.
In a scrappy clash, Nigel Whitear survived some early aggression from Dean Bray (Pictures) to finish by armbar. Some grappling sweeps and reversals highlighted this clash, with Whitear visibly ecstatic to have taken this one after 3:56 of the first round.
Ross Mason (Pictures) fired a timely reminder to his rivals in the stacked UK welterweight division by utterly decimating his previously undefeated opponent, Darren Guisha. Mason dominated every range of this fight, out-wrestling, out-positioning and out-striking his opponent. Some hard ground-and-pound finally led the referee to mercifully cut this one short after 2:16 of the second round.
Gesias Calvacante looks to have booked himself a place in PRIDE’s Bushido show with a convincing knockout victory over Yoshida Dojo’s Michihiro Omigawa (Pictures). Although Omigawa looked game in the opening stand-up exchanges, he did not have an answer for the Brazilian’s power when he really turned it on. A hard overhand right from Calvacante sent Omigawa crashing to the canvas after just 0:49 of the first round.
In a slow but intriguing match-up, Paul Daley (Pictures) showed that he’s developed some wrestling and ground skills since the last time I saw him fight.
Previously Daley had been known for his massive left hook and willingness to stand and trade, but after taking Joey van Woonroij down and hitting him very hard and very often at the beginning of the first round, Daley had clearly decided that the Dutchman’s ability to take a shot made a stand-up exchange difficult to justify. As a result, Daley spent the entire fight taking his opponent down, keeping the position and flurrying when he could.
Van Woonroij was valiant in defeat, trying to stand back up, trying to fight, but he had no answer for Daley’s strength. The fight went to the judges and Daley was awarded the unanimous decision.
In the opening fight of the night, Ryan White was too much for Mark Buchanan (Pictures). White took his opponent down and patiently worked for position before unleashing ground-and-pound, forcing the referee to intervene after 3:07 of the first round.