Down the Pub – Cage Rage Special

Hello my friends! I must start by apologizing in advance for the tardiness of this fortnight’s column, but it seemed that every time I finished writing, some new piece of news would appear and I’d have to start again from the beginning.

Such is the life of a roving reporter, doomed forever to spend his days wandering into random pubs and pleading for gossip from the stern, uncaring patrons that reside therein.

As it happens, this week’s column is going to be a bit of a first. We’re going to concentrate entirely on the upcoming Cage Rage 10 show, dubbed “Deliverance.” You lucky, lucky people are going to be subjected to my predictions and opinions, but rest assured that all of what you read will be based on real, 100-percent genuine hearsay. Oh, and some of those “fact” things.
Let’s get started now, shall we? Mine’s a Guinness.

Updated card

Ours is a sport that is vulnerable to a number of plagues, and none more merciless than the devil known as Injury. The scourge has struck again, and this raid has been fierce, leaving Cage Rage co-promoters Dave O’Donnell and Andy Geer to make a last-minute scramble for replacements. Despite a couple of disappointments, the line-up doesn’t look too bad.

We’ll start with what we already knew. Matt Ewin is out, and Mark Weir is in to replace him in the fight against Gabriel “The Gladiator” Santos. So far so dandy, as Weir, a UFC veteran, is actually the bigger name. There is some disappointment that Ewin will not get to shine this time around, but he’s young and Weir is great fun.

Now we’re in uncharted territory, and the worst announcement yet. Chris "The Westside Strangler" Brennan, owner of one of the funniest pair of ears in the fight game, has been hit by the injury jinx. This, for me, is the worst news possible since it was his fight that I was looking forward to the most.

Joining Brennan on the proverbial sidelines will be Robbie “The Flame” Oliver, who has been forced to pull out of his featherweight title match against Leigh Remedios. This will be a real disappointment for Oliver, who has been impressive since moving down a weight category, and would have been looking forward to a high-profile bout against UFC veteran Remedios.

As so often happens, tragedy and fortune are inexorably linked in this world. It is sad that Jean Silva will not have a chance to display his dazzling abilities against Brennan, since a victory in that bout could have brought the Brazilian the international attention that he so sorely deserves. However, the twin tragedies outlined above have resulted in a rematch being signed between Silva and Remedios, who last clashed at Cage Rage 5. This match will be for Silva’s Cage Rage world lightweight title.

Another exciting piece of news is that, due to the hole being left in the card from the two fights noted above, UFC veteran James Zikic has been added. The soft-spoken British fighter will be facing scary Dutch knockout artist Melvin Manhoef.

Before I get into how some of the individuals match-up, let’s take a look at how these changes, and a couple of others, leave the card:

Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. Pierre Guillet
Sol “Zero Tolerance” Gilbert vs. Curtis Stout
Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos vs. Antony Rea
Alex Reid vs. Jorge Rivera
Jean “White Bear” Silva vs. Leigh Remedios
Mark Weir vs. Gabriel “Gladiator” Santos
Jeremy “Bad boy” Bailey vs. Sami Berik
James Zikic vs. Melvin Manhoef
Andy “The Rock” Costello vs. Daniel Burzotta
Andy Harby vs. Robert “Buzz” Berry
Dave Lee vs. Rick Andrews
Rodrigo Araujo vs. Andy Walker
Brad “One Punch” Pickett vs. Chris “The Freak” Freeborn