FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Live Event Reports 4/21 Cage Rage 21: Judgement Day in the United Kingdom Results Including Tank Abbott and Murilo Ninja Rua

Apr 21, 2007 - 8:20:00 PM
By Randy Rowles, MMATorch Contributor

CAGE RAGE 21: JUDGEMENT DAY was held Saturday in the United Kingdom and webcast live at www.proelite.com.  Here's a rundown of the show with star ratings.

1 - James E. Niccoll won by Decision over Sunnat Ilyasov.

I missed this first fight.

2 - Xavier Foupa-Pokam won by Submission over Tom Watson in Round 2.

Professor X vs. Kong. Exciting first round, X caught him with a triangle in the second. Kong and his corner came out wearing gorilla masks and had giant inflatable bananas. (**+)

3 - Alex Owen won by Majority Decision over Brad Pickett.

Really good fight, probably (***). Pickett kept throwing lunging punches down at Owen on the ground. Pickett came out reading a newspaper in his entrance. Pickett fought hard and was really disappointed afterwards, but youth won out in this one.

4 - Cyrille Diabate won by Submission over Ryan Robinson in Round 1.

Quick submission. Not much to the match. (*)

5 - Abdul Mohamed won by KO over Ross Pointon in Round 1.

Mohamed threw a brutal spinning backfist, and his forearm landed square to the nose of Pointon, giving him a bloody nose and knocking him out cold. Crazy finish. (**)

6 - Paul Daley won by Submission over Paul Jenkins in Round 2.

Jenkins is a crazy 36-31 veteran. Daley's youth and athleticism won out with a hard body punch that made Jenkins tap. (**)

7 - Mark Epstein won by KO over Roman Webber in Round 1.

Missed most of the match, but a nice knock out.

8 - Mark Weir won by Unanimous Decision over Daijiro Matsui.

Weir was great in this match, but Matsui got spent early on and looked to neutralize the action for most of the fight. (**-)

9 - Murilo "Ninja" Rua won by TKO over Alex Reid in Round 1.

Wacky, wacky ending as Rua's knee collided with Reid's shin opening up a gusher. The fight was called because of the blood to Reid's leg. There was speculation by the announcers that Reid's leg may have been broken. With only thirty seconds of action, the crowd booed heavily, but the replay clearly showed the severity of the injury. Nobody's fault, but (*-).

10 - KICKBOXING BOUT: James McSweeny won by Majority Decision over Michael McDonald.

McSweeny took down the veteran twice in the first round, almost ensuring a victory if he could survive. McDonald came on strong towards the end, but it wasn't enough to overcome his early travails. Really good kickboxing match with an intriguing storyline. (***)

11 - James Zikic won by Unanimous Decision over Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos.

Zikic came out of retirement for this match after a 2 1/2 year layoff. Announcer Stephen Quadros called it, when he said Zikic might be hesitant for the first round. He was, and Santos dominated the first round. Zikic came out with a vengeance in the second and won the round. Santos was blown up at this point. Zikic delivered a lot more punishment in the third, but his leg was definitely the worse for wear of anything. Santos kicked Zikic in the leg so many times, the whole thing was bruised red, front and back. Zikic's leg was bruised something sick, but he continued to persevere to win the third round. Great, great slugfest. The slow first round for Zikic only added to the drama of the amazing comeback for Zikic, with one leg having been kicked to a bloody pulp. This match was on par with the Steve Berger vs. Piotr Jakaczynski BodogFight fight from this week with an Rocky-esque backstory that adds to the star rating. (****)

12 - Vitor Belfort won by TKO over Ivan Serati in Round 1.

Serati was severely outclassed in this spot. Belfort had his way with him rather easily. (*)

13 - Gary Turner won by TKO over Tank Abbott in Round 1.

Bob Sapp no-showing sucked, especially when the announcers tried to put Tank Abbott over as being a superior replacement for Sapp. One of the announcers literally said 99% of the audience would rather have Abbott!?! But as these things go, the replacement match actually ended up being surprising pleasant.

Abbott tagged Turner early and looked to be on his way to winning rather easily. Turner braved the storm, and this Tank doesn't get very good gas mileage anymore, so the storm soon quieted and Turner regained his composure. After the fight, Turner said he had never been hit so hard in his life. Eventually, Turner managed to get Abbott mounted and landed precise shots to Abbott's nose before the ref stepped in. This match was A LOT better than anyone could have ever expected it be. Turner is quite the character, as his nickname is "Smiler" and his gimmick is just that, smiling. He's the nicest guy that'll ever beat you up! This may very well have been the best fight Tank Abbott has left in him. Afterwards, before the decision was even read, Abbott had a beer in hand toasting the winner. This was good spectacle in a nostalgic kind of way, and worked in getting Turner over as a credible babyface. (**+)

FINAL THOUGHTS: All-in-all a good show. Cyborg continues to impress with another great fight, even though he lost this one. Smiler Turner and James Zikic have risen to superstardom. Professor X and Abdul Mohamed are coming along well, the veterans Marks got wins, and young Alex Owen stole the spotlight early. Despite one of the biggest stars in the world pulling out only a few days earlier, this show went well.

You can find me, Randy Rowles, in the aptly named Randy Rowles Zone on our Message Board.

ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.