Down the Pub Special - Cage Warriors: Strike Force Preview
Preview
Pedro Wrobel May 20, 2005
LONDON — In the beginning, there was pride …
Then, there was conflict …
Finally, there was a big bag of chips with salt and vinegar, a
saveloy and an orange Fanta. Yummy.
Saturday sees a turning point in the history of UK MMA. Traditionally CageWarriors caters for an audience of the Northern persuasion, whilst Cage Rage attracts the more cosmopolitan London crowd. But, as Bob Dylan so eloquently said, "the times they are a'changin’."
CageWarriors: Strike Force is one of the three new CageWarriors offshoots, and is set to become the biggest UK-promoted MMA show ever held on these shores, at least in terms of gate. That's the name of the new "southern" promotion, rather than the name of the event tacked onto the promotion.
The event itself is called "UK vs. France" for the simple, yet compelling, reason that the event will feature 10 fighters representing the UK and 10 fighters representing those frog-munching chaps from across the channel.
They fight for national pride and to show off to the ladies around the cage. But who, you ask, will be victorious?
That, my friends, only Sherdog.com can tell you, for we own a crystal ball. Let's take a peek into it, shall we?
Mohamed El-Aouji vs. Danny Mann
A lightweight battle kicks us off. Mann, the UK representative, trains at the Tsunami gym in Cambridge. This is his fourth pro fight and he sports a 2-1 record. Mann has been extremely impressive in his last two outings. He's a good wrestler who aggressively works for position before unleashing a barrage of strikes and submission attempts.
El-Aouji is a training partner of the infamous Riccio brothers. Like the Riccios, he's a hard-nosed brawler with decent ground skills. His only pro victory is over the extremely skilled Danny Batten, and this happened three weeks ago at CW: Ultimate Force, although that fight was at featherweight.
Mann is the bigger of the two, having come down from welterweight, but I reckon the Frenchman's going to be tough enough to take him out of his game. Let's go for El-Aouji by decision.
France 1, England 0.
Bendy Casimir vs. Dave Swann
Dave Swann represents the UK in the second lightweight fight of the night. Swann is trained by Andy Jardine and boasts an impeccable 2-0 record with both fights coming by quick and brutal knockout. He's got power in his hands but he'll have his work cut out for him tonight.
Bendy Casimir wins the prize for best name of the night. He is, more importantly, a tough and experienced grappler. At 3-2-1 his record may look spotty, but his two losses are to superior grapplers in Robbie Olivier and Leigh Remedios — and both came very early in his career.
His last loss was over two years ago and since then he's got three wins, with none of the fights going to decision. His last fight was a draw a few months ago with Team Scandinavia standout Tom Niinimaki at SHOOTO Sweden.
On paper, this is a classic striker/grappler match-up. Either Swann bangs out the KO or he'll get submitted very quickly. I think he'll get submitted very quickly.
France 2, England 0.
Boris Jonstomp vs. Jim Wallhead
Wallhead is a middleweight who sports a 1-0 record in professional MMA. His background is in Judo and Muay Thai, with his only victory coming over Leslie Ojugbanna at CW: Ultimate Force — a classic ground-and-pound performance. The youngster came through the semi-pro ranks in CW: Quest, with the highlight being a win over heavyweight Steve Matthews.
Jonstomp, the Frenchman, only has two MMA fights under pro rules and both of these took place in the Jungle Fight promotion in Brazil. He boasts a 1-1 record, with the loss coming to no less than Jorge Patino in October last year. His background is in Judo and Muay Thai, and he is a student of the PRIDE Bushido veteran Bertrand Amoussou.
It pains me to say this but once again it appears that the French rule the roost. Wallhead is young enough and hungry enough that he could pull out the upset but all the signs point to Jonstomp stomping a hole in Wallhead and taking the win by decision.
France 3, England 0.
Then, there was conflict …
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Saturday sees a turning point in the history of UK MMA. Traditionally CageWarriors caters for an audience of the Northern persuasion, whilst Cage Rage attracts the more cosmopolitan London crowd. But, as Bob Dylan so eloquently said, "the times they are a'changin’."
CageWarriors is rapidly spreading is expansionist tentacles
southwards and they've reached what I believe to be part of the
British West Midlands — it's hard to tell with the bits of England
in the middle. Well, they've got to Coventry anyway, and it looks
like they'll be putting on one hell of a show.
CageWarriors: Strike Force is one of the three new CageWarriors offshoots, and is set to become the biggest UK-promoted MMA show ever held on these shores, at least in terms of gate. That's the name of the new "southern" promotion, rather than the name of the event tacked onto the promotion.
The event itself is called "UK vs. France" for the simple, yet compelling, reason that the event will feature 10 fighters representing the UK and 10 fighters representing those frog-munching chaps from across the channel.
They fight for national pride and to show off to the ladies around the cage. But who, you ask, will be victorious?
That, my friends, only Sherdog.com can tell you, for we own a crystal ball. Let's take a peek into it, shall we?
Mohamed El-Aouji vs. Danny Mann
A lightweight battle kicks us off. Mann, the UK representative, trains at the Tsunami gym in Cambridge. This is his fourth pro fight and he sports a 2-1 record. Mann has been extremely impressive in his last two outings. He's a good wrestler who aggressively works for position before unleashing a barrage of strikes and submission attempts.
El-Aouji is a training partner of the infamous Riccio brothers. Like the Riccios, he's a hard-nosed brawler with decent ground skills. His only pro victory is over the extremely skilled Danny Batten, and this happened three weeks ago at CW: Ultimate Force, although that fight was at featherweight.
Mann is the bigger of the two, having come down from welterweight, but I reckon the Frenchman's going to be tough enough to take him out of his game. Let's go for El-Aouji by decision.
France 1, England 0.
Bendy Casimir vs. Dave Swann
Dave Swann represents the UK in the second lightweight fight of the night. Swann is trained by Andy Jardine and boasts an impeccable 2-0 record with both fights coming by quick and brutal knockout. He's got power in his hands but he'll have his work cut out for him tonight.
Bendy Casimir wins the prize for best name of the night. He is, more importantly, a tough and experienced grappler. At 3-2-1 his record may look spotty, but his two losses are to superior grapplers in Robbie Olivier and Leigh Remedios — and both came very early in his career.
His last loss was over two years ago and since then he's got three wins, with none of the fights going to decision. His last fight was a draw a few months ago with Team Scandinavia standout Tom Niinimaki at SHOOTO Sweden.
On paper, this is a classic striker/grappler match-up. Either Swann bangs out the KO or he'll get submitted very quickly. I think he'll get submitted very quickly.
France 2, England 0.
Boris Jonstomp vs. Jim Wallhead
Wallhead is a middleweight who sports a 1-0 record in professional MMA. His background is in Judo and Muay Thai, with his only victory coming over Leslie Ojugbanna at CW: Ultimate Force — a classic ground-and-pound performance. The youngster came through the semi-pro ranks in CW: Quest, with the highlight being a win over heavyweight Steve Matthews.
Jonstomp, the Frenchman, only has two MMA fights under pro rules and both of these took place in the Jungle Fight promotion in Brazil. He boasts a 1-1 record, with the loss coming to no less than Jorge Patino in October last year. His background is in Judo and Muay Thai, and he is a student of the PRIDE Bushido veteran Bertrand Amoussou.
It pains me to say this but once again it appears that the French rule the roost. Wallhead is young enough and hungry enough that he could pull out the upset but all the signs point to Jonstomp stomping a hole in Wallhead and taking the win by decision.
France 3, England 0.
