Cage Rage 12: Weir Back on Track, “Shaolin” Dominates Again
Weir Back on Track
Pedro Wrobel Jul 3, 2005
LONDON, July 2 — Credit must be given where credit is due. There
have been better Cage Rage cards on paper but as far as I am
concerned, this one tonight in the Wembley Conference Centre was a
landmark event.
One controversial match aside, these fights delivered everything that the promoters could have wished for — and more. We saw new stars arise, ailing fortunes recover and bright flames extinguished. We were treated to what were, on the whole, exciting, fast-paced fights filled with triumph, disappointment and frustration.
There was a worry that the withdrawal of Lee Murray from the card would
result in a severe loss of attendance but this did not seem to
materialize. Although there were quite a few empty seats at the
beginning of the show these were gradually filled up and by the
time the main event fights rolled around, the arena looked mostly
packed.
It was to be a night of revelations and reintroductions as the real Mark Weir finally stood up to the counted. No more reckless explosions at the beginning of each round - his was a performance characterized by controlled, carefully rationalized aggression.
But "The Wizard" would not be put off and just kept coming, jumping back on top of his opponent and cutting loose with rapid-fire elbows and punches. Gilbert tried to stem the flow by tying Weir's gangly limbs up.
Towards the end of the first round Weir calmly passed the guard and a desperate Gilbert rolled over. Weir gratefully took his back and seemed to have the rear-naked choke locked in tight but Gilbert gutted it out with just ten seconds left in an exciting first round.
I saw Sol Gilbert' face as he came out for the second round and he looked frustrated and intimidated. I've never seen that expression on his face before and it stuck with me as Weir moved forward, scenting blood.
A frustrated Gilbert missed a wild swing as the two exchanged, and Weir took advantage, forcing his opponent to the canvas where he punished him again with more ground-and-pound.
This was to be the story of the round. Weir patiently stalked his frustrated, retreating opponent across the cage, bossing the stand-up exchanges and scoring a second takedown late in the round, mounting and continuing to clobber his battered opponent into submission.
As the round ended we were afforded a glimpse of the future in Gilbert's mashed up face — a referee stoppage, which, sure enough, materialized between the rounds. Weir redeemed himself with a fantastic performance and a great victory to become the new Cage Rage British middleweight champion.
In a very real clash of the titans, 6-foot-4, 300-pound Antonio "Pezao" Silva beat Rafael "Earthquake" Carino senseless. There's no other way to put justice to the sheer power of the 23-year-old Brazilian.
Silva's hands look like sledgehammers and tonight they acted like that too. The younger Brazilian was clearly looking for the knockout from the beginning, testing Carino's chin with a heavy jab as the fight opened. Carino had seen enough, expending a lot of energy in closing the distance, tying up the younger man and pushing him against the cage. From here there was a brief stall as Carino was unable to take Silva down and the relatively small Grant Waterman was forced to separate the two giants and restart them in the middle of the cage.
As the fight resumed Silva once again looked for his big shot as Carino charged him; the two big men crashed against the side of the cage as Carino sought to sufficiently tie the younger man up to work out how to take him down.
This is where Silva showed his mettle, reversing the clinch so that it was Carino who was forced against the cage. The younger man then separated, jerking himself free of Carino's grip before starting to unload on his opponent. Carino is tough but the power of Silva's shots was just awesome to behold. With Carino put down and Silva following him to the ground, Carino's corner threw in the towel at 2:59 of the first round.
In the evening's only controversy Alex Reid was officially awarded a victory over Kyosuke Sasaki following what can only be described as an unfortunate sequence of events.
The fight opened well, with the pre-fight interviews showing Reid's smiling face announcing that "sushi is on the menu." Sasaki, looking soft and considerably smaller, survived a brief assault on the feet before the Englishman slipped throwing a kick.
Sasaki was in for a couple of early shocks as tried to leap into Reid's guard, only to be confronted by some surprisingly effective upward heel kicks from the prone Englishman. Sasaki had some trouble keeping out of the way of Reid's flailing legs but eventually skipped past them to take side-control.
Although Reid made him work hard for it, Sasaki moved to a reverse mount on his opponent, working first for Reid's leg before transitioning to attack an arm. As he did so, Reid began to throw knees from the bottom position, with one of these opening a deep cut over Sasaki's right eye.
Regardless of the cut, Sasaki has Reid's arm locked up tight, clearly in the process of swinging from mount to score the armbar when the fight was stopped by the referee to check Sasaki's cut.
The Japanese fighter was livid, arching his hips to show that he was moments from finishing his opponent. But the referee wanted the big cut checked out and the fighters were separated. As Sasaki was being treated no effort was made to keep Reid in a neutral corner and the Englishman returned to his corner for advice.
Eventually it was time for the fight to be restarted and Grant Waterman tried to replace the fighters in their original positions. Unfortunately the original positions happened to be with Sasaki poised to armbar his opponent and an argument ensued between Sasaki and Reid's corner as to how close the former had been to finishing his opponent.
The crowd booed and eventually Sasaki was put on top without a grip on Reid's arm. The round ended with Sasaki controlling position but failing to finish. The doctor ruled that the Japanese fighter was unable to come out for the second round and thus Reid was handed his victory.
This result was disgraceful and should be ruled a No Contest as soon as the film can be reviewed to confirm the accuracy of this account. Sasaki was wronged four times — first he had a cut opened by an illegal move (Reid was kneeing a downed opponent); then he was forced to stop just as he seemed poised to win; then he was kept in a neutral corner while his opponent received advice; and finally he was forced to restart from an inferior position when the fight was eventually resumed.
This cannot be right. Any of these is a reason for a No Contest and I'm sure that Reid, who is an excellent fighter in his own right, will not be satisfied by this outcome. This was not a fair outcome and everybody knows it.
One controversial match aside, these fights delivered everything that the promoters could have wished for — and more. We saw new stars arise, ailing fortunes recover and bright flames extinguished. We were treated to what were, on the whole, exciting, fast-paced fights filled with triumph, disappointment and frustration.
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It was to be a night of revelations and reintroductions as the real Mark Weir finally stood up to the counted. No more reckless explosions at the beginning of each round - his was a performance characterized by controlled, carefully rationalized aggression.
Weir opened with a takedown, landing in Sol Gilbert's guard and announcing
his intentions with a flurry of strikes on the ground. There were a
couple of pauses in the punishment as the prone Gilbert managed to
push Weir off him with his feet.
But "The Wizard" would not be put off and just kept coming, jumping back on top of his opponent and cutting loose with rapid-fire elbows and punches. Gilbert tried to stem the flow by tying Weir's gangly limbs up.
Towards the end of the first round Weir calmly passed the guard and a desperate Gilbert rolled over. Weir gratefully took his back and seemed to have the rear-naked choke locked in tight but Gilbert gutted it out with just ten seconds left in an exciting first round.
I saw Sol Gilbert' face as he came out for the second round and he looked frustrated and intimidated. I've never seen that expression on his face before and it stuck with me as Weir moved forward, scenting blood.
A frustrated Gilbert missed a wild swing as the two exchanged, and Weir took advantage, forcing his opponent to the canvas where he punished him again with more ground-and-pound.
This was to be the story of the round. Weir patiently stalked his frustrated, retreating opponent across the cage, bossing the stand-up exchanges and scoring a second takedown late in the round, mounting and continuing to clobber his battered opponent into submission.
As the round ended we were afforded a glimpse of the future in Gilbert's mashed up face — a referee stoppage, which, sure enough, materialized between the rounds. Weir redeemed himself with a fantastic performance and a great victory to become the new Cage Rage British middleweight champion.
In a very real clash of the titans, 6-foot-4, 300-pound Antonio "Pezao" Silva beat Rafael "Earthquake" Carino senseless. There's no other way to put justice to the sheer power of the 23-year-old Brazilian.
Silva's hands look like sledgehammers and tonight they acted like that too. The younger Brazilian was clearly looking for the knockout from the beginning, testing Carino's chin with a heavy jab as the fight opened. Carino had seen enough, expending a lot of energy in closing the distance, tying up the younger man and pushing him against the cage. From here there was a brief stall as Carino was unable to take Silva down and the relatively small Grant Waterman was forced to separate the two giants and restart them in the middle of the cage.
As the fight resumed Silva once again looked for his big shot as Carino charged him; the two big men crashed against the side of the cage as Carino sought to sufficiently tie the younger man up to work out how to take him down.
This is where Silva showed his mettle, reversing the clinch so that it was Carino who was forced against the cage. The younger man then separated, jerking himself free of Carino's grip before starting to unload on his opponent. Carino is tough but the power of Silva's shots was just awesome to behold. With Carino put down and Silva following him to the ground, Carino's corner threw in the towel at 2:59 of the first round.
In the evening's only controversy Alex Reid was officially awarded a victory over Kyosuke Sasaki following what can only be described as an unfortunate sequence of events.
The fight opened well, with the pre-fight interviews showing Reid's smiling face announcing that "sushi is on the menu." Sasaki, looking soft and considerably smaller, survived a brief assault on the feet before the Englishman slipped throwing a kick.
Sasaki was in for a couple of early shocks as tried to leap into Reid's guard, only to be confronted by some surprisingly effective upward heel kicks from the prone Englishman. Sasaki had some trouble keeping out of the way of Reid's flailing legs but eventually skipped past them to take side-control.
Although Reid made him work hard for it, Sasaki moved to a reverse mount on his opponent, working first for Reid's leg before transitioning to attack an arm. As he did so, Reid began to throw knees from the bottom position, with one of these opening a deep cut over Sasaki's right eye.
Regardless of the cut, Sasaki has Reid's arm locked up tight, clearly in the process of swinging from mount to score the armbar when the fight was stopped by the referee to check Sasaki's cut.
The Japanese fighter was livid, arching his hips to show that he was moments from finishing his opponent. But the referee wanted the big cut checked out and the fighters were separated. As Sasaki was being treated no effort was made to keep Reid in a neutral corner and the Englishman returned to his corner for advice.
Eventually it was time for the fight to be restarted and Grant Waterman tried to replace the fighters in their original positions. Unfortunately the original positions happened to be with Sasaki poised to armbar his opponent and an argument ensued between Sasaki and Reid's corner as to how close the former had been to finishing his opponent.
The crowd booed and eventually Sasaki was put on top without a grip on Reid's arm. The round ended with Sasaki controlling position but failing to finish. The doctor ruled that the Japanese fighter was unable to come out for the second round and thus Reid was handed his victory.
This result was disgraceful and should be ruled a No Contest as soon as the film can be reviewed to confirm the accuracy of this account. Sasaki was wronged four times — first he had a cut opened by an illegal move (Reid was kneeing a downed opponent); then he was forced to stop just as he seemed poised to win; then he was kept in a neutral corner while his opponent received advice; and finally he was forced to restart from an inferior position when the fight was eventually resumed.
This cannot be right. Any of these is a reason for a No Contest and I'm sure that Reid, who is an excellent fighter in his own right, will not be satisfied by this outcome. This was not a fair outcome and everybody knows it.
