That said, Delucia is much more than Royce’s hapless nemesis. Since those early UFC years the Kung Fu expert has properly learned and rounded his craft, morphing from a one-dimensional striker to a well-rounded fighter via 40 fights for the Pancrase promotion in Japan.
Extremely active up until 2001, Delucia has competed only once since then, winning by submission in the first and only of Frank Shamrock (Pictures)'s Shoot Box events in 2003.
Fabio Piamonte (Pictures) (1-2-0) is a Chute Boxe fighter who has fought two of his three professional bouts in the UK. In his first appearance, at Cage Rage 12 he defeated lanky French kickboxer Cyrille Diabate (Pictures) by triangle choke. He followed this up with a devastating knockout loss to current Cage Rage champion Melvin Manhoef (Pictures) at Cage Rage 13.
Piamonte is well-rounded, favoring the striking game, but, as he showed with Diabate, he's perfectly willing and able to go to the ground if he sees a greater chance of victory there.
Both of these fighters are basically unknowns. Despite his vast experience, Delucia hasn't set foot in a cage for well over two years. Likewise I really haven't seen enough of Piamonte to judge him. It'll be an interesting one to watch, but a rational man would bet on Delucia for the experience factor alone.
Tengiz Tedoradze vs. Robert Berry (Pictures)
A Cage Rage card would not be complete without a clash between the big boys. And these boys are really big.
Tengiz Tedoradze (16-5-0), a 240-pound transplant from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, has been dominant in the UK circuit, destroying whoever was placed in his path. Tedoradze is more easily judged by his losses than his wins — notably the fact that it has taken really top quality opposition to stop him, in the shape of Jeff Monson (Pictures) (twice), Fabricio Werdum (Pictures) and Antonio Silva (Pictures) (the other loss came early in his career against undefeated UK fighter John Thorpe).
It goes without saying that the former Greco Roman champion's strength is his wrestling and he has an excellent range of suplexes that he utilizes to put his opponents on the floor and open them up to his heavy ground and pound game.
The two matches against Monson, especially, have highlighted Tedoradze's vulnerability to submission. But that really isn't Robert "Buzz" Berry's game.
Berry (6-2-0) is an old-fashioned brawler, albeit an experienced one who has developed a calm and well-rounded understanding of the MMA game. This isn't to say that the 250-pound Berry is a technical fighter, but just that he doesn't look as wild as uncontrolled as someone like "Cyborg" Santos. Berry likes to hit often and hard and two-thirds of his victories have come via KO or TKO.
Berry and Tedoradze have actually met before, at the thirteenth Goshin Ryu show in July last year, with the result being a dominating TKO victory for Tedoradze.
To be honest, I can't see this going any other way. Berry's best bet will be to keep this standing, but for this to happen the Englishman will have to outfox Tedoradze's wrestling game. And that just isn't going to happen without a lot of good fortune.
Brad Pickett (Pictures) vs. Robbie Oliver (Pictures)
Brad "One Punch" Pickett (4-1-0) is one of Cage Rage's favorite sons. Young, talented and charismatic in the extreme, Pickett brings an entertaining blend of striking, guts and hard work into the cage. Although primarily a striker, Pickett has made vast strides in improving his ground game, especially since he started training full time last year.
Picket started his Cage Rage career in style, knocking out the undersized Stuart Grant (Pictures) in 13 seconds at Cage Rage 9. The bout against Chris Freeborn at Cage Rage 10 showcased all his vulnerabilities though, as the veteran Freeborn systematically took Pickett apart, exposing his ground game and inexperience. Since then Pickett has gone 3-0, tearing through Aaron Blackwell (Pictures) and Jordan Miller (Pictures) and, most significantly, the tough and seasoned Ozzy Haluk (Pictures).
Robby "The Flame" Olivier (11-5-1) is a well-respected veteran of the European circuit. Having made his professional debut in early 2002, the judo black belt has fought many big European names, pulling out impressive wins against the likes of Thomas Hytten (Pictures), Samy Schiavo (Pictures), Chris Freeborn and Dave Elliot (Pictures) as well as drawing with current CageWarriors featherweight champion Danny Batten. Olivier is a well-rounded fighter with heavy hands, a good wrestling base and an excellent and tricky ground game.
The shadow of Chris Freeborn hangs over this bout. Whereas "The Freak" dominated Pickett, he had a much more difficult time against Olivier. The latter man has the experience and the strength to dominate Picket but much will depend on how much the youngster has learned and improved since that tough loss. The evidence is that he's come on in leaps and bounds since then but Olivier really is very good and I don't think Pickett’s quite at his level yet, despite the improvement. It'll be a great fight but I'll be shocked if Olivier doesn't come out on top.
On the under card:
Mark Epstein (Pictures) should have little trouble knocking out the game but inexperienced Daren Little.
Sol Gilbert (Pictures) will be hoping to re-launch himself with a victory over Sami Berik (Pictures). Despite the latter's penchant for unexpected victories, Gilbert should be good enough for the win.
Brian Adams should be able to take out his frustrations on a returning Ryan Robinson (Pictures).
Michael Holmes should be good enough to put a stop to Zelg Galesic's rise up the middleweight rankings.
Mindaugas Arbocius should have enough of a ground game to expose Jason Barret.