Fighters Make Weight for Cage Rage 12

LONDON, July 1 — The weigh-in for Cage Rage 12 was smooth and pretty entertaining. There were laughs to be had as Kyosuke Sasaki posed for photographers whilst wielding a deadly Japanese fan, and "One Punch" Pickett felt the need to stand up on tip toes so as to mediate some of the height difference between himself and his opponent, the rookie Jordan Miller. Gerald Strebendt's expression of fear as he weighed-in after his opponent, "Shaolin" Ribeiro, was also priceless.

The highlight of the night was probably seeing the two giants — Carino and Silva — stood next to each other. The stare down between the two was pretty intense and it was amusing to watch the expression on the faces of the onlookers who worried that maybe they'd have to try and separate the two big men. Nothing came of it but, damn, the cage is going to shake when these two get together, with 264-kilos (582 pounds) of weight between them.

On a lighter note, I finally understood why Phil "The Gladiator" Norman is so-called. My American readers will be aware that they have (or had?) a show called "American Gladiators." We copied it in the UK and called it "Gladiators.” Well Phil Norman was the winner of the first series back in 1993, and if memory serves he also got to the semifinal of "International Gladiators.” Pointless trivia but I remember watching that series.

Phil will now face the Ian Freeman-trained wrestler, Hassan Muridi, in his under card bout after his original opponent, Darren Guisha, was forced to withdraw through injury.

The official weights were as follows.

Dave Lee - 74 kg (163 lbs.)
Jason Barrett - 77.1 kg (170 lbs.)

Rick Andrews - 74 kg (163 lbs.)
Tony Thompson - 77 kg (170 lbs.)

Alan Murdoch - 96 kg (212 lbs.)
Tom Blackledge - 99 kg (218 lbs.)

Cyrille Diabate - 92.9 kg (205 lbs.)
Fabio Piamonte - 92.5 kg (204 lbs.)

Phil Norman - 76 kg (168 lbs.)
Hassan Muridi - 77 kg (170 lbs.)

Jordan Miller - 65 kg (143 lbs.)
Brad Pickett - 65 kg (143 lbs.)

Mark Epstein - 93 kg (205 lbs.)
Matthias Riccio - 93 kg (205 lbs.)

Travis Lutter - 83.9 kg (185 lbs.)
Matt Ewin - 83.5 kg (184 lbs.)

Nilson de Castro - 83.5 kg (184 lbs.)
Curtis Stout - 83.9 kg (185 lbs.)

Vitor Ribeiro - 70.3 kg (155 lbs.)
Gerald Strebendt - 70.3 kg (155 lbs.)

Kyosuke Sasaki - 82 kg (181 lbs.)
Alex Reid - 83.9 kg (185 lbs.)

Antonio da Silva - 137 kg (302 lbs.)
Rafael Carino - 127 kg (280 lbs.)

Sol Gilbert - 83.9 kg (185 lbs.)
Mark Weir - 83 kg (183 lbs.)