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Pro Kumite: Review
12 Apr 2010
By Michael O'Mahoney
Pro Kumite again put on a great night of fights at Croydon’s Fairfield Halls, with a couple of belts on the line, a kickboxing bout and some controversy.
Brad Scott of the Dragons Lair gym put on a great performance in the headline championship fight of the night against fighter/referee Rocci Williams of System 301 gym. Scott scored a big takedown early but Williams got back on his feet and into a clinch where they exchanged knees. Williams tried a hip toss but Scott bounced off the cage and the momentum took him into mount with Williams stuck against the cage. Scott immediately started dropping big bombs, which forced Williams to give up his back and Scott needed no invitation to sink his hooks in and secure the rear naked choke for the tap, and the bronze belt.
Mark Armstrong rounded off Carlson Gracie team’s fantastic night with a first round win over South West Black Belt Academy’s Simon Northam. Armstrong came out very aggressive but was quickly taken down by Northam. Armstrong didn’t waste anytime in catching Northam in a triangle. He secured the choke, rolled onto Northam and started to ground and pound but the referee stepped in and stopped the fight, as Northam was unable to defend himself.
Team Crossface’s Haydn Critchfield is the new 72kgs bronze belt champion after an inventive submission win over System 301’s Brenden Flannagan. Critchfield came out looking to strike but Flannagan took him down and improved to side control. From the bottom, Critchfield managed to trap Flannagan’s left arm high up his back with his right leg and grabbed hold of it, cranking it higher in a reverse kimura which left Flannagan little option but to tap. Excellent submission from a great up and coming fighter.
Aaron Lambourne took home the 77kgs bronze belt after opening up a fight ending cut on Carl Rocha’s head late in the second round. Rocha came forward and in the clinch used a hip throw to take Lambourne down but Lambourne was able to reverse midway through and slammed him a couple of times before Rocha managed to get back to his feet. Lambourne took him down again and fended off a couple of armbar attempts, slamming his way out of them and they finished the first round clinched on their feet. Round 2 saw Rocha score a takedown from the clinch and improve into side control and then mount. Rocha didn’t work much and Lambourne seized an opportunity to reverse him, where he dropped some elbows, one of which opened up a nasty cut on Rocha’s head. The referee stopped the fight and called the paramedics in who deemed it to be a fight ending cut.
Mark Fry and Sam Ward were the only fighters to bother the judges after 2 rounds of action. Ward came out looking to strike but Fry took him down and worked immediately from inside the guard. This continued for most of the round, but Ward did briefly end up on top after escaping an armbar attempt but it was Fry that was on top at the end of the round. The second was much of the same, with Fry ending up in mount at the end of the fight. Fry took a unanimous decision 30-27 across the board.
MMA Hit Pit sponsored Dan Edwards impressed yet again with a first round victory over Cambridge Fight Factory’s Will Jackson. The Carlson Gracie trained Edwards scored a takedown early, only to be reversed when trying to improve his position. Jackson pushed Edwards against the cage but Edwards isolated his left arm and slapped on a triangle choke, pulling on Jackson’s head to secure the tap for the victory.
Ollie Robinson put on a K1 clinic in the nights’ only kickboxing bout with Craig Whitler. controlling the pace of the action and mixing combination punches, with leg and head kicks and knees to both the head and body. Whitler absorbed a lot of punishment in the first round, but came back at the end as it appeared Robinson was beginning to tire. Any questions about Robinson’s conditioning were answered a mere 14 seconds into the second round, as he landed a beautiful left head kick that sent Whitler crashing to the canvas and unable to answer the count. Great performance from the Bullring trained kickboxer.
Finnbar McCarthy of Team Neil McLeod suffered an injury at the hands of Carlson Gracie’s Atef Kadri after just 32 seconds of their Heavyweight clash. Kadri secured a takedown after an initial exchange on the feet where he went for a kimura which injured McCarthys shoulder and the referee stepped in to save any more damage from being inflicted.
Pro Kumite regular Stephen Neesham was defeated by Nova Forca’s Walter Caydas in his Pro Kumite debut. Caydas looked to take the fight to the floor early, and after an initial unsuccessful attempt, managed to get Neesham to the mat and took his back, sinking in the rear naked choke which Neesham quickly tapped to. Caydas looked good in his debut and will be someone to watch out for in the future.
Scott Wildman of System 301 took care of independent fighter Charlie Bigrigg in just over a minute, beating him on the feet and forcing him to the mat before grabbing a guillotine choke for the tap and the win.
The bout between South West Black Belt Academy’s Oliver Cullingford and Tamworth MMA’s Steven Berry ended in controversy as referee Tim Radcliffe stopped the fight early after mistakenly thinking the 10 second warning was the end of the round. The fight started tentatively, with both men exchanging leg kicks and jabs until Berry shot in for a single leg. Cullingford’s defence was to punch him in the head repeatedly, which worked for a while but Berry was persistent and finished the takedown by the fence. Berry immediately secured his back and worked for the choke. Then the cage-side timekeeper signaled the 10 second warning and the referee stopped the fight. Both mens corners came in, Berry’s happy and Cullingford’s confused and annoyed. The referee checked with the timekeeper and promoter and placed the fighters back in the same position and a few seconds later Cullingford tapped out.
Kent Kaupinnen looked very impressive in his fight with Wez Lucas, taking him down early and trapped his arm before dropping elbows and punches until Lucas couldn’t take anymore and tapped out.
Carlson Gracie’s Shane Fourie got the better of Aaron Keyes of Ronin MMA in the first bout of the night. Fourie went after Keyes from the off, clinching early but was soon taken down with a hip throw takedown. Keyes attempted a choke unsuccessfully and Fourie found himself in top position briefly before Keyes got back to his feet. Keyes again looked for the takedown which he finished, only to be caught in an arm triangle from the bottom which forced him to tap.
MMA Hit Pit awards:
Fighter of the Night: Dan Edwards
Fight of the Night: Ollie Robinson vs Craig Whitler
KO of the Night: Ollie Robinson
Submission of the Night: Haydn Critchfield
Full results:
Shane Fourie bt Aaron Keyes at 3:43 of round 1 via tapout to arm triangle choke
Kent Kaupinnen bt Wez Lucas at 2:06 of round 1 via tapout to strikes
Steven Berry bt Oliver Cullingford at 4:54 of round 1 via tapout to rear naked choke
Scott Wildman bt Charlie Bigrigg at 1:01 of round 1 via tapout to guillotine choke
Walter Caydas bt Stephen Neesham at 2:12 of round 1 via tapout to rear naked choke
Atef Kadri bt Finnbarr McCarthy at 0:32 of round 1 due to injury (shoulder)
Ollie Robinson bt Craig Whitler at 0:14 of round 2 via KO
Dan Edwards bt Will Jackson at 2:214 of round 1 via tapout to triangle choke
Mark Fry bt Sam Ward via unanimous decision
Aaron Lambourne bt Carl Rocha at 3:52 of round 2 due to referee stoppage (head cut)
Haydn Critchfield bt Brenden Flannagan at 2:10 of round 1 via tapout to reverse kimura
Mark Armstrong bt Simon Northam at 1:41 of round 1 due to referee stoppage (tko)
Brad Scott bt Rocci Williams at 2:20 of round 1 via tapout to rear naked choke
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