This past Wednesday saw the return of Ultimate Challenge UK to British television screens, with their most recent show, Mayhem, shown on a ten day delay on Sky Sports. The show received a great deal of mainstream publicity thanks to the appearance of Katie Price’s current boyfriend Alex Reid, defending his UK1 Middleweight Championship against Jack Mason. The show was presented by O.J. Borg and Dave O’Donnell, with Pierre Guillet, Rob Nutley and Malcolm Martin.

The broadcast began with Wesley Murch taking on Mark Smith in a lightweight fight. This proved to be a very enjoyable contest, with both fighters showing some good work on the ground, changing positions a number of times and going for a few submission holds. The final submission, in the first round, saw Murch synching in a kimura, with Smith making the inevitable tap. Both fighters did well here, with Smith the slightly more dominant until Murch came back strongly for the win.

Then it was up to the light heavyweight division, with Mike Edwards facing Jamie Hearn. If ever you wanted to see a dominant performance, then all you’ve got to do is look at this fight. Although Hearn scored with some good combinations early on, Edwards dominated as soon as he took the fight to the ground. His ground and pound was relentless, and it wasn’t long before Hearn was tapping. This was a good performance from Edwards, although I’m left to wonder just where Hearn’s ground game was.

The first title fight of the evening followed, with Francis Heagney challenging Tim Radcliffe for the UCUK Lightweight title. A lot of people thought that Radcliffe was going to get the win here, but things didn’t exactly go to plan for the champion. The first round saw Heagney take him down repeatedly, while Radcliffe earned a yellow card from the referee for up kicking Heagney in the head, and although the beginning of the second round saw a slightly improved performance from Radcliffe, it was Heagney who came out on top, finishing Radcliffe off with a guillotine choke to end a very good and very entertaining fight.

The fight that everyone wanted to see was up next, with tabloid favourite Alex Reid defending his UK1 Middleweight kickboxing title against Jack Mason. Fought over three three minute rounds, Reid went into this one with some critical over his apparent lack of training. Reid began strongly, and although Mason looked poor in the first round, he certainly upped his game as the fight went on, with Reid looking visibly tired, and looking like the better fighter in the third round. The commentators at ringside, and yours truly, thought that Mason had won the fight, but the judges were apparently watching something different, with Reid winning the unanimous decision. I was left scratching my head with this one.

The final fight of the show saw Ben Smith taking on Frenchman Kiane Sabet for the vacant Heavyweight Superfight title. This was another of those one-sided affairs. Sabet showed some good take down defence, but when Smith finally secured the take down, then that was it. Sabet looked like the proverbial rabbit in the headlights, and with his eyes wide open he looked like a man who just didn’t know what to do, so it came as no surprise when Smith got the submission win with an arm triangle. A good performance by Smith here, but Sabet looked very nervous and very inexperienced.

In conclusion - another good outing from Dave O’Donnell and his crew with five very enjoyable fights, but there was one thing I really didn’t like about this show, and that was the over-exposure of Alex Reid.

As readers here in Britain will now, Reid has got a hell of a lot exposure because of his relationship with former glamour model Katie “Jordan” Price, but the amount of times he was featured on this show bordered on the ridiculous. Not only did we get the usual pre-recorded pre-fight promo, we also had a pre-fight interview, as well as a post-fight interview, as well as numerous shots of his darling girlfriend during the show. Now, while it’s understandable that Ultimate Challenge would try to cash in on his newfound fame, fame he would never have got if it hadn’t been for his girlfriend, but did we really need to see so much of him here? I would like to say something else, but that would probably be considered libellous, and I really don’t want to spend a great deal of time replying to long-winded e-mails.

My latest review sees me going back to an arena I know quite well, the Waveney Sports & Leisure Centre in the Suffolk coastal town of Lowestoft. I’ve reviewed quite a few professional wrestling shows there, but I’m not reviewing a wrestling show now. We’re going to take a look at the DVD release of MMA promotion Fight Factory’s debut show Relentless, held just over a year ago.

The show features nine fights, and begins with a grappling contest featuring Fabio Ferrari and Loia Bamgbaia. I suppose you could really call this an exhibition more than anything else, as it was fought over a solitary five minute round. There was lots of feeling out early on before Bamgbaia got the first take down, before Ferrari showed some good transitions. There were a couple of submission attempts, but neither man could get the decisive win, leaving the decision for the judges, who awarded the fight to Ferrari. This wasn’t too bad I suppose, but I think that this sort of contest will take some getting used to.

Then it was on to the first MMA fight of the show, beginning with a semi-pro lightweight fight pitting Tom Tailford, the guy who asked me to review this DVD, and Will West. This proved to be a very interesting contest, with both men putting in a good account for themselves, with the pace slowing down somewhat in the second, although Tom put in a bit more work. This was enough to earn him the win. I think the best way I could describe this fight is that although it was enjoyable, both fighters looked a little rough around the edges at times.

Ricky Bryans against Mill Millican at welterweight was next. This was a highly impressive performance from Millican as he went forward early on and scored with a quick take down. From there he showed some good transitions, before Bryans verbally submitted as Millican rained down with a torrent of blows. A good performance from Millican here, while Bryans didn’t really seem to have any answer to the onslaught that defeated him.

There was then a break from the MMA action as Jed Molyneaux faced Dan Weiss in a kickboxing match. This was a messy, bad tempered affair, and wasn’t that good to watch if I’m being totally honest. There were low blows, punches to the back of the head, long rest periods because of the rules infringements and lots of complaining, which is probably why the performances of both fighters were scrappy to say the least. Weiss won the judges decision, but neither fighter did themselves any credit here.

The next two fights were the proverbial blink and you’ll miss it affairs, beginning with Ashley Winn facing Paul Barnett at middleweight. Winn got the quick take down, went for the ground and pound, then took Barnett’s back before tapping out after more of Winn’s ground and pound. Nice work from Mr. Winn here.

Alex Morris against John Mezzetti at lightweight followed. I’m going to be totally biased with regards to this particular encounter. John Mezzetti and I went to the same school. I was in the same class as his sister Maria, and his Gran and Uncle used to live over the road from me. John also runs the Fighting Fit Martial Arts Academy in my hometown of Cromer. So, with all that out of the way, this one was even quicker than the previous fight. John connected with a hard kick to Morris’ ribs. Morris fell to the canvas, and the referee stopped the fight, giving Mezzetti the ten second knock out win. The kick was so loud everyone in the arena probably heard it, and it came as no surprise that Morris was sporting a nasty bruise as the announcement was made. Nice one John.

Light heavyweight action was next, with John Calderwood taking on Francesco Zand. This was another semi-pro fight that went the two round distance. There were quite a few periods of inactivity in the first round, although Zand did pull off a few good transitions. The action slowed down quite a bit in the second, with both men showing some good ground and pound. The judges couldn’t separate them though, and declared the fight a draw, although I thought Zand just edged it.

The penultimate fight saw Lee Elliott face Matt West at lightweight. For me this was the perfect example of what a referee shouldn’t do. Elliott was absolutely relentless with his punches here, and when the fight went to the ground his ground and pound was even more so, and when West was offering no defence I kept wondering why the referee didn’t step in to save him. He soon had to though, as Elliott soon synched in a guillotine choke for the submission win, and while this was a good performance by Elliott, the referee should have ended it much sooner.

The final fight saw Shaun Gruncell facing Dan Cubitt in middleweight action. British MMA fans may remember Cubitt from his appearances for Cage Rage and Ultimate Challenge UK. Cubitt also trains at John Mezzetti’s gym, so I can’t be completely unbiased here, although I don’t really need to, because Cubitt put in a great performance here, almost dominating in every aspect of the fight, from the stand up game to the ground and pound. But he was somewhat unlucky though, in the sense that he couldn’t finish Gruncell off, even though he went for a few arm submissions. It wasn’t surprising when Cubitt got the judges decision after three rounds of hard fought action. It was a well deserved win.

In conclusion, apart from the messy kickboxing bout, this was a very good show. Granted, a couple of the fighters looked a little rough and ready, but overall this was a very enjoyable show, and although some people may be put off by the lack of commentary, I would definitely recommend to MMA fans who want to sample MMA outside of a UFC octagon.

With thanks to Tom Tailford for supplying a copy of this release. For more details of this release, visit www.fight-factory.co.uk.

It’s dream match-up time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Following Couture v Nogueira, Rich Franklin takes on the returning Vitor Belfort, headlining a strong show at UFC 103: Franklin versus Belfort, shown live in the early hours of this past Saturday morning on ESPN in Britain, with Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan handling commentary duties.

The broadcast actually began with a first, with four preliminary fights that were being shown for free on Spike across the pond (although we Brits still had to pay for them!). They began with a middleweight fight between Drew McFedries and Tomasz Drwal. This certainly proved to be an interesting fight. While Drwal looked great, at the opposite end of the scale, McFedries looked very disappointing, almost straining to unleash any blow, so it really came as no surprise when Drwal got the win in the second round, rocking McFedries early on before taking him down, quickly taking his back and synching in a rear naked choke, with McFedries tapping soon afterwards. A good performance by Drwal here.

Then it was down to welterweight for Rick Story against Brian Foster. This proved to be a great contest, with some good action from both men in the first round which continued into the second. When the fight went to the ground, Story went for an arm triangle choke from within the guard, something which hasn’t really been seen before. The referee checked if Foster was okay, but it wasn’t long before he tapped out. This was a very good fight, with Story winning the submission of the night award for his efforts.

Efrain Escudero against Cole Miller at lightweight was up next. This one started slowly, with Escudero scoring with a take down and letting Miller back up, before knocking him back down to the ground with a hard right, following up with the ground and pound before the referee stepped in, giving Escudero the TKO win. Nice stuff.

The final fight of the prelim show saw more lightweight action, this time between Jim Miller and Steve Lopez. Miller was clearly on top in the first round, with a couple of blows that sent Lopez down. Lopez looked a bit lethargic, although he was able to escape from Miller’s guillotine attempt. He looked a bit better in the second round, but unfortunately he injured his shoulder while throwing a left, and immediately pulled out of the fight, giving Miller the TKO win. With the way that he was starting to come back you couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed for Miller here. Maybe these two will hook up once again when Lopez is fit and ready to go.

Then it was on to the main show, beginning with Tyson Griffin against Hermes Franca. Franca came into this one with a crazy blue rinse hairstyle, but his main problem here was that he didn’t actually make the lightweight limit. Whether this played on his mind, I don’t know, because he certainly put in a disappointing performance, looking very sluggish throughout the first round. The second saw Griffin knock Franca down with a big right, before knocking him out with the ground and pound. A top performance from Griffin here, but I’m left to wonder what was wrong with Franca her.

Then we saw the first big return of the night, with Frank Trigg taking on Josh Koscheck in the welterweight division. This one took a while to get going, but when it did it was explosive, with Koscheck connecting with a big right that sent Trigg down to the ground. Koscheck went for the ground and pound, and the referee quickly stepped in and called a halt to proceedings. Trigg complained about an early stoppage, but replays showed that he’d made the right call. A very good performance from Koscheck here over the former champions.

More welterweight action followed, with Martin Kampmann facing my fellow Brit Paul Daley, so I think you can guess who I was rooting for here. A tremendous performance from Daley in his UFC debut saw him rock the Dane with a relentless torrent of blows, with the referee stepping in when he saw that Kampmann was out on his feet. Daley looked great here, and hopefully he’ll go on to big things in the UFC.

Filler material was next, with Robert Emerson facing Rafael Dos Anjos at lightweight. This was a very enjoyable three round encounter, with Dos Anjos putting in a very good performance. The way he was centring his attack on Emerson’s right leg was brutal at times. I hadn’t seen that much bruising since a wrestler punched me in the right arm and I had bruising from my shoulder to my elbow! In all though it was great stuff from Dos Anjos, who controlled Emerson in almost every aspect here, earning himself the unanimous decision.

The co-main event was up next, with Mirko Cro Cop taking on Junior Dos Santos in the heavyweight division. I was expecting big things from the Croatian here. Needless to say that I was a little disappointed. Although Cro Cop looked good in the first round, Dos Santos took over from the second, showing much better striking as the fight went on. All Cro Cop seemed able to do at times was push the Brazilian off him. The end came in the third round. After Dos Santos had scored with a series of knees to the head and body, he connected with a big right to Cro Cop’s left eye. Cro Cop immediately complained that he couldn’t see, and verbally submitted, giving Dos Santos the biggest win of his short career, and leaving many to wonder if there’s anything left for Cro Cop to give.

The main event saw Rich Franklin going up against the returning Vitor Belfort in a catch weight contest, made at 195 pounds. This one started very slowly, with a long feeling out process, before Belfort suddenly sprang into action, knocking Franklin off his feet with a left, and then knocking him out with a series of lefts on the ground, getting the KO win. Well, this was slow to start, but at least we all got to see the Belfort who had impressed everyone all those years ago.

With plenty of time to spare, two more preliminary fights were shown. The show ended with a second showing of the Rick Story/Brian Foster fight, but before that we got a three round battle between Nik Lentz and Rafaello Oliveira at lightweight. This was a very enjoyable contest. Oliveira looked good in the first round, as did Lentz, whose favourite submission hold seemed to be the guillotine choke. I actually lost count of the number of times he went for that hold in the first round. As the fight went on Oliveira began to visibly tire, while Lentz just got better, taking more control over the fight, and getting the judge’s unanimous decision.

In conclusion - once again the UFC impressed. Once again there were no bad fights here, and the addition of the preliminary fights before the main show was a nice touch, reminding this old wrestling fan of the Free For All shows that WWE used to put on before their pay-per-views. Let’s hope they continue with this.

As for the performances, I agree with Rick Story getting submission of the night, and Belfort getting knockout of the night. Our esteemed commentators began to wonder if Belfort could now challenge Anderson Silva for the middleweight crown. That would certainly be a mouth watering prospect.

As for Cro Cop, I’ve been a big fan of the guy ever since I saw him KO Bob Sapp in a K-1 fight years ago, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been disappointed by his tenure in the UFC. Has he lost it? Should he retire? If he doesn’t call it a day, then maybe Dana White and his band of merry men should give us the fight that Gabriel Gonzaga took away from us a couple of years ago - Mirko Cro Cop versus Randy Couture.

As an appetiser to this Saturday’s coming show, the Ultimate Fighting Championship travelled to Oklahoma City for their nineteenth Ultimate Fight Night show, shown live her in Britain in the early hours of Thursday morning, and headlined by a lightweight battle between Nate Diaz and Melvin Guillard. Commentary for this one was handled by Mike Goldberg and Kenny Florian.

The broadcast began with middleweight action as Nate Quarry faced off against Tim Credeur. This was a great fight to start the show off with. Credeur almost got the win in the first with a rear naked choke, which Quarry managed to escape from. From there, Quarry really upped his game, getting the better of Credeur in both the stand-up and ground games, and looking like he could get the win any minute with his ground and pound. Credeur was on the defensive for the rest of the fight, save for the brief moment when he went for a heel hook. With the fight going the distance, it really came as no surprise when Quarry got the majority decision, and rightfully show.

The second fight saw former WEC star Carlos Condit take on Jake Ellenberger at welterweight. With the way that the first fight panned out, this one had a lot to live up to, and not only did it match the first fight for action and drama, it exceeded it. This one was a back and forth encounter in which both fighters put in great performances, with Ellenberger, a relatively late replacement, looking exceptional. This was one of those fights you just couldn’t take yours eyes off, and another that went the distance. With two great performances, it was surprising that the judges had differing views, with the split decision going to Condit. Condit did well here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see these two paired with each other again.

Fight three saw Gray Maynard facing Roger Huerta at lightweight. After two great fights, this one also had a lot to live up to, and succeeded in being just as good as those that went before it. The first two rounds saw some good exchanges between the two fighters, with both men getting some good shots in, and it wasn’t until the third round that the fight went to the ground, with Maynard scoring with some great looking takedowns. Huerta tried to escape, but Maynard just took him down again, and it wasn’t long before Maynard went for a kimura. Huerta’s arm was at a really hideous angle, and while everyone, myself included, thought he would tap, he actually escaped. This was the third fight in a row to go the distance, and again the decision was split, with Maynard picking up the win. Two more good performances here.

The main event saw more lightweight action, with Nate Diaz going up against Melvin Guillard. You just knew that this was going to be intense when you saw their stare down. The first round looked pretty even, with both men getting take downs, although Diaz was soon sporting a nasty cut above his right eye. He didn’t have to worry about the cut for long though. Although Guillard was able to get a messy looking take down early in the second, it wasn’t long before Diaz was on the offensive, synching in his modified version of the rear naked choke, with Guillard soon tapping and giving Diaz the submission victory. An exciting match up, and a fitting way of bringing the evening’s proceedings to an end.

In conclusion - as you can probably tell, I really enjoyed this show. The fights just seemed to get better and better as the show went on. We had three great tactical battles, nicely topped off with a great submission win. These may not have been the UFC’s marquee names on display here, but they’ve certainly set the stage for Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort on Saturday night. Let’s hope that they can pick up the ball and run with it.

Over the past couple of years I’ve had quite a bit of contact with a guy called Tom Tailford. Tom is a mixed martial arts fighter, based in sunny Lowestoft, who also works for the Fight Factory promotion and website. He also spends a lot of time travelling the country filming various MMA shows.

Recently Tom was kind enough to send me a batch of DVDs to review, but instead of reviewing one of them, I’m going to take a look back at the promotion Tom was involved with a couple of years ago, the short-lived Cage Fight Series. They held their debut show in May 2007, at Trinity Park in Ipswich. Most of the fights were uploaded to their website, so yours truly downloaded them and burned them onto DVD, and it’s these matches that I’m going to take a look at now.

First up was a welterweight contest, featuring Jared Ferre against Daniel Thomas. This was a very enjoyable opener in a way, although I’d hardly describe the action as top notch, as it was somewhat messy at times, although both fighters did show a lot of raw talent. Thomas came out on top in this one, with Ferre submitting to a guillotine choke in round three.

The second fight veered away from MMA, and saw young ladies Shalina Roberts and Alexis Rufus taking part in a cage boxing bout. I always though that cage boxing was an interesting concept, one that, sadly, the Cage Fight Series guys couldn’t get off the ground, mainly because they had to cancel their first show because for logistical reasons. This certainly was a good contest, fought over three rounds, in which both women put on a good showing, with Rufus winning by majority decision. My only criticism of this is that it could have done with a few more rounds.

Then it was back to MMA action, with Lee Doski facing Kevin Reed in welterweight action. This was a great little fight, with good stand-up action, and ever better action on the ground. Doski looked very impressive here, getting the win in round two, unleashing with the ground and pound on Reed, with the referee stepping in and calling a halt to the action.

Lightweight action followed, with Vaclav Pribyl taking on Lautaro Arborelo. I had been really impressed with the Spanish contingent during my recent Ultimate Combat DVD reviews, so I was looking forward to seeing Arborelo in action. His performance was both good and bad. He totally dominated Pribyl at times, but even though he was overwhelming his opponent for the most part he just couldn’t find that extra push to put the guy away. Pribyl was clearly getting frustrated though, and was warned by the referee for elbowing Arborelo in the back of the head. The fight went the three round distance, with Arborelo getting the unanimous decision.

Tim McCory against Florian Muller at light heavyweight was the proverbial blink and you’ll miss it affair here. Muller avoided McCory’s take down attempt, took his back, and synched in a rear naked choke for the 44 second victory. Impressive stuff from Muller here.

The next fight saw another Spanish fighter, Oriol Gaset, taking on Che Mills at welterweight. Gaset didn’t do as well as his countryman. This one began quickly, and soon went to the ground, with Mills getting the win with a rear naked choke. A good display from Mills here.

Then it was on to Phil Harris against Michal Hamrsmid at featherweight. This one had a rather unfortunate ending. When Hamrsmid slammed Harris down to the mat close to the fence, some of the protective padding came loose, and Harris sustained a cut to the back of his head. The referee stopped the fight immediately, ruling it a no contest.

The final fight saw Jake Blyth face Paul Jenkins at middleweight. This was a great way to end the show. Blyth took the fight to the ground early, and worked well with the elbows and the ground and pound, opening up a nasty cut above Jenkins’ left eye. Jenkins survived the round, but was pulled out by the doctor shortly afterwards, giving Blyth the win.

In conclusion - this was a very enjoyable show. There were some good fights here, although things did seem a little rough around the edges at times. Production wise it was okay, although there were no pre-fight introductions from announcer Ian Freeman, which made things a little confusing at times.

Now while this event is not commercially available on DVD, some of the fights are available on my Youtube page at www.youtube.com/twosheds316.