By Jim Page

On 28th November, the Ultimate Warrior Challenge promotion returned to Southend with its 11th show which provided another night of solid action. In the main event, highly respected BJJ black belt, Jude Samuel made his much anticipated debut in the cage as he took on Storm gym fighter, Dale Hardiman.

Fears that Samuel may show obvious weakness in the stand up proved completely unfounded, as he proficiently stepped in with punches and kicks. In fact, a hard front kick, followed by a flying knee from Samuel opened up the perfect chance to take the fight to the floor.

The famous jiu-jitsu instructor dominated proceedings on the ground, passing to mount position where he carefully manufactured an opportunity to go for an armbar. Hardiman resisted as far as possible, but Samuel’s cold technical pressure straightened the arm out, forcing the tap after 3 minutes of action.

Stav Economou played a very tight, methodical game as he over-powered talented rising star, Lynton Vassell to claim the vacant UWC Heavyweight title. It wasn’t pretty to watch, but it was effective. Vassell looked dangerous with his crisp punching, but Economou was able to brush off the blows, closing the distance at every opportunity.

After 3 rounds of gruelling but unspectacular ground-fighting, Economou was awarded the unanimous decision and cageside observers were left wondering if the 98kg Vassell would be best off returning to the Light-Heavyweight division.

The horrendously over-cooked stare down between local referee-turned-fighter, John Ruston, and the ever-theatrical, ‘Doorman’ Matt Wilkins was absolutely hilarious. To be fair, it did add to an extremely intense contest where Ruston was warned for head-butting his opponent on the floor. Keen to settle the score, Wilkins took top position and used his head to grind into Ruston’s face in a display of edgy gamesmanship.

Bloodied, but unbowed, Rushton took control of the fight in the second round and finished Wilkins with a tight North-South choke before celebrating like a man possessed.

Stuart Davis began his fight with Azran Quasid with a neat display of Thai boxing, which prompted his opponent to take the fight to the floor. As soon as the fight hit the deck, Davis began working for a triangle. Quasid elected to try and elbow his way out of danger and, despite opening a horrible gash on Davis’s face, was unable to escape the hold and tapped out 2 minutes 50 seconds into the contest.

Known as an exceptional athlete who tends to blow hot and cold, Lola Bambala put in one of the most thoughtful performances of his career so far as he wore down and stopped the flamboyant jiu-jitsu fighter, Dan Edwards.

In an up and down first round, Edwards threatened with an inside heelhook and an unorthodox kneebar attempt, while Bambala bossed the stand up exchanges with powerful right hands and low kicks – even landing with an incredible leaping side kick.

Later in the contest, Bambala began to show real dominance with his wrestling and frequently found himself standing over his opponent. Not wasting the opportunity, the Team 300 representative battered the Londoner with hard kicks to the legs.

In the final stages of the third round, it became clear that Edwards was suffering from a badly broken toe. He submitted verbally, handing the fight to Bambala.

Word on the street is that Joe Boobyer has a string of heavyweight professional boxing matches under his belt, but it did him no good in his UK-1 contest with Valentino Petrescu.

In the first round, the Team Sure Grip fighter landed a pair of hard looping right hands, some sharp low kicks and a series of brutal left switch kicks to the mid-section.

In the second, it was more of the same; Petrescu knocked down his game, but out-classed opponent three times – with a excellently timed right low kick, a left hook to the head and, finally, another devastating switch kick which landed perfectly on Boobyer’s bottom rib, sending him out of the contest.

Shane Omar immediately demonstrated his superiority in the stand up and he began catching his opponent Silvano Valenti right from the start. However, Valenti had the equalizer in the form of a giant slam as he propelled Omar half way across the cage and heavily into the floor.

Landing in his guard, Omar was unbothered and immediately took control of his foe’s right arm, straightening out the trapped limb for the tap.

Senior local hardman, Colin McDiarmaid brought the Essex crowd to life as he engaged Mo Coles is a slow motion grappling display. However, late in the first round, McDiarmaid really gave his fans something to cheers about as he took top position and rained down a stream of hard punches and elbows to his opponent’s face.
 
Battered and bewildered, Coles was withdrawn from the contest between rounds.

Experienced campaigner, Jim Burman made short work of Northampton fighter, Hayden Ward. Burman quickly took the fight to the floor and had a wealth of options from side mount; he chose the upside down straight armbar which quickly forced the tap.

Gary Banger lived up to his name by chasing after his opponent, Warren Kee, with a series of punches at the start of the match. However, the Milton Keynes fighter soon turned things around, taking Banger to the ground and banging in some hard strikes of his own.

Kee applied some aggressive jiu-jitsu pressure, catching a tight S-mount and immediately rolling out to secure the triangle choke. A clinical win, securely delivered in less than 3 minutes.

Luke Hughes-Barnatt and Alan Packman went to war in their hotly contested middleweight match-up. Packman scored an early takedown and unleashed some heavy punches on the floor, but in the stand up it was a different matter as Hughes-Barnatt landed with some hard shots, cutting his opponent badly over the left eye.

Packman seemed very concerned by the cut, but quickly shook the doubts out of his mind and came charging back with some powerful hooks to the head and body. The resurgent fighter appeared close to scoring a famous victory, but Hughes-Barnatt steadfastly refused to buckle and pounded his way to a cut stoppage mid-way through the second round.

Shane Kavanah is a cheeky monkey.

Acknowledging no other name, he insisted on being announced as ‘The Dragonslayer’ as he made his way to the cage. His opponent, Joshua Simmons looked determined and was well supported, but the Dragonslayer went to work immediately at the start of the fight, banging in a series of straight punches, thrown with bad intentions.

After a few moments, Simmons was badly shaken. A stiff jab and a sweet left hook to the jaw followed and he appeared broken as he shot in for the takedown - the referee had seen enough and called a halt to the contest.

The decision to stop the fight at a seemingly inopportune moment caught some flack at ringside. But the ref was without doubt correct in his decision; Simmons was taking a non-stop beating from the marauding Dragonslayer.

Nerves got the better of amateur fighter, Ben Costello as his game just collapsed in the cage and left him victim to a sustained attack from TSG fighter, Robert Friar. It was Christmas time for Friar, who practised an array of vicious striking techniques on his crest-fallen opponent, en route to a unanimous decision win.

Two fighters, both making their debut in the cage - Adam Hardy and Ebrahim Navabi - put on a fascinating fight. Both carried invincible looks of steely determination into the cage – but Navabi was the first to show his skills as he fired out a pair of very precise kicks.

If anything, Hardy appeared simply to be annoyed by his opponent’s bright start, as he charged across the cage to land a brutal right hand in retaliation. Seizing the opportunity, Hardy pounced on his fallen opponent and soon forced him to tap with an armbar.

Total Dojo fighter, Jay Howard made an impressive semi-pro debut as he quickly tied Karl Mead up in knots. Howard abandoned an early triangle attempt and transitioned directly into a beautiful straight armbar.

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