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Ultimate Challenge MMA Invincible: Review
09 Aug 2010
By Jim Page
In the main event of Ultimate Challenge: Invincible Jimi Manuwa continued his unbeaten run as he dismantled and smashed the previously undefeated, Valentino Petrescu, in the first round. Petrescu threatened with kicks in the opening moments, but the Poster Boy soon turned the tables on his Sure Grip opponent, banging in a series of hard knees to the body and comfortably out-boxing him at range.
As Petrescu began to show distress signals, Manuwa chased after him and unleashed some tight punches, catching and wobbling him badly with a heavy left-right combination. With his opponent hurt and stumbling to the mat, Manuwa stepped in and clipped him with another vicious left which sealed the deal.
After this latest terrifying destruction, Jimi is almost certain to receive a well-earned and lucrative offer from a big promotion overseas.
Jermaine Facey flung out a nasty left high kick to begin proceedings in his match against Edgelson Lua. Edge, however, scored with a neat takedown and appeared close to choking Facey unconscious from rear mount. Amazingly, Facey refused to submit as Lua clamped on the hold. After what must have felt like a lifetime, Facey was able to force his way out of danger.
In the second round, Facey once again showed tenacity and technical proficiency as he escaped from Lua’s clutches for a second time, this time hammering his opponent out from rear mount to claim an incredible turnaround win.
Francis Heagney brought all of his experience to the fore as he methodically broke down the young jiu-jitsu stand out, Brad Wheeler with a relentless ground assault. The London Shootfighter started fast, bullrushing his opponent and taking him straight to the mat.
Heagney fought like a man possessed and cut Wheeler to pieces with punches before hammering him out from hip ride position to claim victory at 4:48 of round one.
Tom Dixon claimed the unofficial Man of the Night award as he won his first fight with Dan Shortman in doublequick time and promptly stepped up again to face evil-gamefaced Bloodline representative, John Kelly.
Kelly ripped into his 19-year old opponent and put him over with a straight right hand. To his credit, Dixon recovered well and stung Kelly with punches of his own.
In the second round, a low blow from Kelly put Dixon in a world of discomfort – but he valiantly continued, unfortunately walking straight on to a looping left hook from Kelly which dropped him heavily, forcing Leon Roberts to stop the bout.
Jake ‘Brutal’ Bostwick showed once again that he carries ‘Gift from God’ one punch knock out power, as he batted Earl Brown with a hard right hand, sending him crashing out of the contest early in round two.
Former boxer and physical specimen, Mark Potter showed a vicious streak a mile wide as he destroyed 6’6” tough guy, Ian Hawkins, with a brutal series of punches to head and body. However, as Hawkins collapsed to the mat, the debuting fighter landed an illegal soccer kick to his face, totally taking him out of the game.
Potter was rightly disqualified, but after such a savage display of punching power, it will be very interesting to see what the 35-year old is capable of when he gets used to his new caged environment.
Georgio Andrews underlined his status as one of the best bantamweights in the UK as he outclassed Spencer Morris and finished him with a rear naked choke. It was all too easy for Andrews as he planted the independent fighter on his back and went to work with ground and pound. The inevitable end came at 3:07 of the first round.
Ben Craggy continued his career revival as he pounded out resident hard man, Dan Movahedi in just over three minutes. Craggy’s smothering top game was too much for the Team Titan representative who wilted under a barrage of shots from side control.
Joe Holder returned to take on Michael Brown in a rematch of their ill-fated welterweight Grand Prix match last year. It’s a miracle he came back – a terribly unfortunate clash with the cage left him with a huge cut on the top of his head.
Brown almost took his opponent’s head off with a spectacular jump double knee at the start of the fight and followed with a vicious series of low kicks as Holder defended from his back. However, Joe was able to stand up and score a quick takedown to change the fight around, banging in a volley of hard punches to claim victory.
Dean Bray made a successful debut at lightweight as he submitted Simon Gould with a rolling guillotine in the second round. Bray made a solid start, taking his foe to the floor and opening a cut on his face with a series of heavy shots.
In the second round, Bray struggled to score the takedown, but improvised beautifully as he jumped guard with a tight guillotine, rolling to mount in order to score the tap.
Steve O’Keefe implemented a no-nonsense game plan has he immediately took Alex Harvey to the mat and battered him into defeat with a vicious, apparently never-ending combination of lefts and rights from the mount.
Fighting under UK-1 rules, Louis King steamed into Colin Wilby, leading with kicks and following with punches as he repeatedly smashed his bewildered opponent to the floor and out of the game in just over a minute.
As previously mentioned, in the first fight of the night Bandogs representative Tom Dixon made light work of Dan Shortman, submitting him with a triangle choke in only 80 seconds.
Photos Courtesy Of MMAPics.com
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