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It’s time to take our final look at the second season of Chuck Norris’ World Combat League. We’ve now reached the final four episodes, with only the third place play-off and the championship final remaining.

Third Place Play-Off: New Jersey Tigers v Oklahoma Destroyers

This was the best match-up of the season so far. The first half began with the teams exchanging victories, beginning with Shennen Maceo getting the points win for New Jersey over Thomas Longacre.

Once again the women stole the show in this half as the Tigers’ Munah Holland and the Destroyers’ Jeri Sitzes had a great fight, with Sitzes’ win complimented by that of team-mate Anthony Njokuani, until Uriah Hall gave New Jersey the half-ending win over Jesse Lawrence.

So as Oklahoma went into the second half leading 80-66 New Jersey knew they’d have to up their game, and even though David Gonzalez, Jarrell Miller and Lyman Good put on great winning performances their points wins meant that Oklahoma were still in with a chance.

The Destroyers took that chance in style as Jeri Sitzes absolutely demolished Melissa Bopp for the knockout win, taking them to a 114-115 score, and successive wins for Anthony Njokuani and Jesse Lawrence secured the win and gave them the third place in front of their home fans.

Championship Final: New York Clash v Los Angeles Stars

It was almost a Cinderella-like story. New York didn’t win a regular season match and came into the final looking for an upset.

Both teams started tentatively. An accidental clash of heads meant that the opener between Leo Valdivia and Jason Bourelly was declared a draw, and the stars eked out the next two wins courtesy of Brandon Hastings and Jack Felton.

The Clash came back into it when Pat Barry’s leg kicks demolished the squatty Matt Thomas and Jennifer Santiago defeated Jessica Covarrubias. However, Raymond Daniels took the lead back for L.A. when he overwhelmed Jaime Fletcher.

The second half began with an upset as New York’s Abraham Han made Jason look human. The teams traded the next two wins until Pat Barry’s legs demolished another fighter in the form of Chris Hawk, knocking him down four times.

Then came the turning point. L.A. coach Colin Van Deusen threw his own wife Tara into the mix, and she took a rather scrappy win over the normally dependable Jennifer Santiago.

This meant that the Stars needed a knockout to win the championship. Up stepped Raymond Daniels as he got the desired result, putting Brandon Banda to sleep with a spin kick. Los Angeles had won the title by just four points, defeating New York 137-133.

In conclusion – well, it was a long ride, but we finally got to the final two matches, and what matches they were. They definitely saved the best for last here.

So now I’ve watched over 200 fights and 22 hours of action, what’s my overall view of the World Combat League?

It took a while for me to get used to it, but this is a great concept, although it could do with a few tweaks, such as having only the top two teams from each conference in the play-offs. After all, as I’ve mentioned before, New York didn’t win a match during the regular season, and although they put in some great performances in the play-offs and the final I couldn’t help but think that they didn’t really deserve to be there.

As for the fighters there were quite a few who impressed the hell out of me. The entire women’s division were great, while the likes of Pat Barry, Raymond Daniels, Jason Bourelly, Anthony Njokuani, Armin Mrkanovic and many more put in great performances.

But I’m left to wonder what’s next for the World Combat League. This season took place back in 2008. The 2009 season was cancelled.

If you look at the WCL website you’ll see that the last news item was posted late in 2009. There’s also mention of teams from Canada and Great Britain entering the competition.

The merchandise page doesn’t work anymore either, although you can still get WCL DVDs from Amazon.

I really hope that Chuck Norris and his team bring back the WCL soon. He shouldn’t let his dream die. It’s a great concept, and if handled and promoted correctly it could become as big as that other form of hybrid kickboxing K-1, or, dare I say it, the UFC.

Hopefully we, the fans, can do our bit. Maybe my reviews will make you want to buy these DVDs so you can see for yourselves what the WCL is all about. Watching these has made me want to seek out the first season box set.

So to Chuck Norris and the rest of the powers-that-be at the WCL, thank you for sending me this box set and allowing me to review these fights. This fan hopes to see WCL Season 3 sometime in the future.

WCL Season 2 Episodes 21-24 form part of the WCL Season 2 box set, which is available to buy at the usual online outlets.

UFC 111 is all about the great British hope – Dan ‘The Outlaw’ Hardy challenging welterweight king Georges ‘Rush’ St. Pierre.

Co-main event status comes in the form of Heavyweight Interim Champion decider – Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin. Coming into the cage with Carwin, Mir was not just there to decide the interim belt wearer, but equally as important in the mind of Mir was the possibility of being booked against Brock Lesnar for a third, the opportunity to avenge a loss.

Carwin headed into the bout undefeated, with high hopes and tremendous power. Shane looks awesome here in this epic contest, KO’ing Mir inside round 1, earning his spot to challenge returning title holder Lesnar at            UFC 116.

GSP vs. Hardy: Cocky Hardy earnt respect in this welterweight championship contest. Hardy sells a fight, he brings the heat, plus The Outlaw backs up the talk to the best of his ability. Number one contender Dan entered the 5 round fight boasting an undefeated UFC streak.

Despite not besting the French-Canadian, Hardy is admirable for his staying power, never tapping out to GSP’s numerous submission attempts. Our lad from Nottingham indures the full 25 minutes, Pierre is so damned relentless, overwhelming, taking Hardy down and dominating on the canvas, utilising Olympic-worthy-wrestling.

Unfortunately despite training with BJJ supremo Matt Serra, the man who beat GSP, Hardy is unable to keep the fight standing. To up his game ‘The Outlaw’ needs to improve his take-down defence. The problem is St. Pierre any elite fighter appear pale in comparison, including former lightweight champ BJ Penn.

A personal fave – Nate Diaz makes an appearance in the prelims of UFC 111, facing Rory Markham. Always exciting Diaz putting in a dominating performance.

Rounding out the package giving you value for money are the bonus features on disc 2. UFC 111 Countdown is a must-see, focussing on the co main event (GSP vs Hardy was treated to the Prime Time TV specials, omitted from this release).

Behind The Scenes follows the UFC crew and fighters media-work, promoting the event in New York, a stones throw away from Newark, New Jersey, host to UFC 111. The featurette gets close up and personal with Nottingham’s latter day outlaw – Dan Hardy.

We’re also introduced to less familiar UFC family member  - Kurt Watson, the guy responsible for weighing in the competitors, with that includes taking good care of the scales.

UFC 111 – St. Pierre vs. Hardy is out now on DVD, available direct from www.fightdvd.co.uk and all good retailers.

Keep visiting BluRayMMA.com for more reviews of brand new UFC, related combat sport and martial arts DVD releases.

UFC DVD review by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

It’s time for one of those strange occurrences again, a DVD review of a pay-per-view I’ve already reviewed, and this time it’s a battle of the legends in the two disc UFC 109: Relentless.

Disc 1 begins with the preliminary bouts, and an appearance from fighting’s first family as Rolles Gracie took on Joey Beltran in the heavyweight division.

When you see a Gracie in a fight you expect a certain standard, and sadly this Gracie couldn’t live up to that standard.

He did okay early on as he scored with a take down, but he visibly tired as the first round went on and as Beltran upped his game.

Gracie looked absolutely shattered as the second round began, and there was actually one moment where referee Herb Dean asked him if he wanted to fight, so it came as no surprise when Beltran got the TKO win after some ground and pound work.

The heavyweight action continued as Tim Hague faced Chris Tuchscherer.

This was one of those fight that had it’s good and bad moments.

A good first round was followed by a lacklustre second in which both fighters were left gasping for air at times.

Hague got his second wind in the third, and as Tuchscherer continued to flounder Hague looked for the win that just wouldn’t come, bringing the judges into the equation as they gave, for some strange reason, the majority decision to Tuchscherer, a decision that left me wondering if this fight had been judged by the three blind mice.

It was down to light heavyweight for the next fight as Brian Stann took on Phil Davis.

Now this was more like it, an exciting three rounder with the debuting Davis putting on an excellent display of ground work, taking Stann down at will and controlling every aspect of the fight.

Stann tried his best but it just wasn’t enough as all three judges scored in favour of Davis, and rightfully so after this tremendous performance.

Action from the lightweight division followed as Phillip Nover went up against Rob Emerson.

The great action continued with these former Ultimate Fighter contestants. Both guys put on good performances, with Nover looking like he was going to get the submission with a guillotine.

Emerson came back well with some good ground work in the second and the third, although Nover managed another guillotine attempt.

So with the fight going the distance the judges gave their unanimous decision to Emerson.

The lightweight action continued as Melvin Guillard faced Ronys Torres.

Another good three rounder which was also a great example of the striker against the grappler. Guillard’s striking display was top notch, but on the other hand Torres’ ground work was just as good, especially his take downs. It was a pretty even fight, with Guillard taking the close judges decision.

The final preliminary saw further lightweight action between Mac Danzig and Justin Bucholz.

Yet another three rounder that proved to be a nice all round affair saw good performances from both men, both in the stand-up game and on the ground.

It was a very even fight, with Danzig closest to getting the stoppage when he took Bucholz’s back and went for a rear naked choke in the final few seconds of the fight.

Yet again the judges were called upon to render a decision, with all three scoring in favour of Danzig.

Then it was on to the main show, beginning with Matt Serra against Frank Trigg in the welterweight division.

This didn’t last long. After the obligatory feeling out period Serra caught Trigg with a big right. Trigg’s legs gave out on him, and after a brief period of ground and pound the referee wisely stepped in to give Serra the TKO win.

It was up to the middleweight division for the next fight as Demian Maia faced Dan Miller.

An interesting three round battle saw both men kind of cancel each other out for the first two rounds. There wasn’t really any ground work to speak of until the third when Maia was able to take Miller to the ground. His offence was effective, although the fans weren’t too happy. The Brazilian came out on top here as he earned the unanimous decision.

Then it was back down to welterweight as Mike Swick took on Paulo Thiago.

Thiago put on a great performance here, beginning his onslaught with the first blow of the fight, a head kick, signalling his intent. Swick was able to keep up with him in the first, but a right/left combination was the beginning of the end. A d’arce choke sent Swick into la-la land, giving Thiago the highly impressive submission win.

The co-main event featured middleweight action as Nate Marquardt went up against Chael Sonnen.

For many this was the fight that put Sonnen on the map. From the moment he scored with his first take down he dominated the majority of the action.

Marquardt had a few good moments of offence, a hard elbow to the forehead that opened Sonnen up, a couple of guillotine attempts, and some ground and pound just as the third round came to an end.

However, it just wasn’t enough, and it was Sonnen who took the unanimous decision and a title shot against Anderson Silva, and we all know how that one played out.

The main event featured the battle of the legends as Randy Couture faced Mark Coleman in the light heavyweight division, the first time that two UFC Hall of Famers had faced each other.

This was vintage stuff from the Natural. Couture imposed his will on the fight from the second it started, and while Couture looked tremendous Coleman looked sluggish and unable to compete.

The ending came in the second round. Couture took the fight to the ground, took Coleman’s back, unleashed with the ground and pound before putting his lights out with a rear naked choke. Another awesome performance from Couture, while Coleman looked like someone in need of retirement.

Disc two is where you’ll find all the usual pre and post-fight stuff.

In conclusion – another good DVD release here, and although I’m still a bit miffed that they still cut out a lot of the non-fight stuff, including the majority of Bruce Buffer’s excellent introductions, it was great to see those remarkable performances from Sonnen and Couture again, and it’s for this reason that this release gets my recommendation.

With thanks to Duane Farr at bluraymma.com for supplying a copy of this release. UFC 119: Relentless is available to buy online at www.fightdvd.co.uk.

This edition of The Two Sheds Review sees us taking our fifth look at the world of hybrid kickboxing, season two of Chuck Norris’ World Combat League. The regular season is now over, and now it’s time to look at the divisional play-offs.

Eastern Conference Final – New York Clash v New Jersey Tigers

A very exciting match with a comeback performance that almost got the job done.

New York began strongly when the debuting Abraham Han knocked out Tom Grimmer. The Clash followed up with two more knockouts from Leo Valdivia and Remi Ibrahim, before future UFC star Pat Barry took a judges decision over John James.

New Jersey’s only win in the first half came when Uriah Hall defeated Jaime Fletcher. However, Jennifer Santiago saw that the Clash ended the half with a victory over old rival Munah Holland, although she re-injured her hand in the process.

New York began the second half well, as Abraham Han impressed again with a KO win over Thad Campbell. But then the Tigers began to claw their way back.

Wins from Lyman Good, David Gonzalez and Jarrell Miller upsetting Pat Barry saw them gradually lessen the Clash’s lead. The only problem was though that they weren’t getting the knockout wins they so desperately needed.

So even though Uriah Hall knocked out Brandon Banna and Melissa Bopp out-fought Virginia Baker it wasn’t enough. New York’s first half dominance gave them the 133-124 win.

Western Conference Final – Oklahoma Destroyers v Los Angeles Stars

This was the most dramatic match of the season so far.

LA began well, although Oklahoma’s Anthony Njokuani was able to hold Jason Bourelly to a single point victory.

Oklahoma took four of the five remaining fights in the first half, with impressive wins for Jesse Lawrence, Alicia Ashley, Thomas Longacre and UFC 1 finalist Patrick Smith. Only the ever-reliable Raymond Daniels kept the Stars in the match as he outclassed Chidi Njokuani.

Oklahoma changed their tactics in the second half, using alternates for all of the fights. It proved to be their undoing.

Randy Blake was their only second half success, and slowly but surely LA began to work they way back into the match, and when Travis McRoberts out-pointed Douglas Edwards the scores were tied going into the final fight.

Raymond Daniels stepped up to the mark again, this time out-classing Scott Clark as LA defeated Oklahoma 144-137 to progress to the final.

In conclusion – these episodes have been by far the best of season two. Splitting the matches so each half took up one episode made for great viewing, although I imagine that some fans would have be waiting for baited breath when they were originally broadcast as a weekly series on television. I would have been, because I hate cliff-hanger endings.

So now it’s on to the third place play-off and the final, and what looks to be a cracking encounter.

With thanks to the powers-that-be at the World Combat League for supplying a copy of this release.

WCL Season 2 Episodes 17-20 form part of the WCL Season 2 box set, and is available to buy wherever DVDs are sold.

9 times out of 10 when asked to review a DVD, I’m not blessed with a shop retail release version. On this occasion I’ve been spoilt, having in my hands Twelve in all it’s glossy covered goodness.

Past the glossy cover, Twelve is all about grittiness. A British martial arts action flick, pitting 12 fighters of different fighting skills and backgrounds, in bouts organised by high-rollers. £500,000 is up for the taking, it’s a submission or knock-out to win each bout, other than that it’s no-holds-barred.

Having recently reviewed American made MMA-movies, the raw, rough, grittiness of this British made fight-flick is very refreshing. 12 doesn’t boast a huge line-up of UFC names, accompanied by a big budget, however the smaller budget works as an advantage, picturing a realistic rawness, leaving the required impact on the viewer.

Fight venues the 12 tournament contestants battle it out in include warehouses, nightclubs, scrap yard and even the back of a lorry, whilst being filmed on CCTV, viewed by the room of high-rollers, betting on the outcome, each backing a chosen fighter.

Brutal, blood-thirsty fantastically choreographed kick-ass scenes aplenty here, throughout the 88 minutes.

The story is told via a narrator, although we are introduced to the competitors individually, being made aware of their backgrounds and martial skills there isn’t one lead hero focussed on, unlike a traditional Kung-Fu flick with Bruce Lee or Jet Li. Twelve presents a unique style,  it’s very much a 21st century post-modern British picture.  What we get here is a grittier, grimey film, which feels very realistic.

Brit-MMA fans will recognise the Cage Warriors logo, when the final showdown happens in a cage. This final scene is Brit UFC competitor Ross Pearson’s  favourite fight of the entire film by the way. Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping comments his favourite fight scene is The Triad vs The Soldier.

Look out for some recognisable faces in Twelve, including Danny John Jules AKA The Cat in Red Dwarf, amazing record breaking female martial arts expert Zara Pythian, Gary Webster from Minder plus see Eastenders Dr Legg actor playing one of the fighter money-backers.

Director Chee Keong Cheung has done a brilliant job conjuring up a very realistic scene-scape of an underground no-holds-barred illegal fight world.

The DVD comes with many special features, including biogs of the actors, a look behind the scenes plus an exclusive fight between Leon Walters vs Guy  Golden from Pain & Glory kick-boxing event.

My home-town  Bournemouth & local ultimate fighting gym – Bulldog is featured in a mini documentary, following Twelve actor and fighter Mark Strange prepare for a special cross-promotion bout on a Pain & Glory card. The special features round off the package brilliantly.

Twelve is out now on DVD, available from all good retailers.

Visit www.intenseproductions.co.uk and the official Twelve DVD website www.12dvd.co.uk for further information.

Keep visiting BluRayMMA.com for more reviews of brand new UFC, related combat sport and martial arts DVD releases.

DVD review by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

UFC 110 was a landmark for the Zuffa brand, busting through to a new territory – Australia. Interestingly the Sydney card featured many non-American fighters, including Croatians, Kiwis, Auzzies, Brazilians and Brits, giving the event a truly international feel.

Money-matches featured here are heavyweight contenders Antonio Minotauro Nogueira and Cain Velasquez colliding, along with international middleweight clash – Brazilian Wanderlei ‘The Axe Murderer’ Silva facing Britain’s own Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping.

So let’s see what you get for your money on this 2 disc release from FightDVD.

Our number one Brit middleweight contender Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping, has his hands full facing Brazilian Wanderlei ‘Axe Murderer’ Silva. Pride FC legend Wand doesn’t like Bisping’s apparent cockiness, he seemed to have rubbed him up the wrong way.

The heat heading towards the octagon showdown gave this bout high expectations. The 3 round battle doesn’t fail to entertain, a shame the close fight goes in favour of the Brazilian on the score cards. It would have been brilliant to have witnessed Bisping KO Silva, like Wolfslair team-mate Rampage wanted, thus elevating him closer to a title shot at another man named Silva – Anderson Silva.

Heavyweight contenders collide: Antonio Nogueira versus Cain Valesquez. Another former Pride warrior in action in Australia, Big Nog looks to climb back to the top of the division, against young gun Cain.

A superb opportunity to see why Cain is tipped to become future heavyweight champion, KO’ing Big Nog, in this one sided affair. Judging from this performance, Velasquez is the man to place a bet on at  winning the UFC heavyweight crown.

Joe ‘Daddy’ Stevenson against Auzzie – George Sotiropoulos is THE must see match-up.  Home-town hero ‘Wizard of Oz’ Sotiropoulos earns a name for himself locking horns with the American Joe-Daddy. You can feel the energy of the Auzzie audience, backing their fighter.

George’s impressive performance must put the great grappler on the map. Wicked match-up between 2 lightweight warriors.

Stacking up UFC 110, sees K1 and Pride superstar Mirko Cro Cop in action, Keith Jardine, TUF icon Stephan Bonnar and Chris ‘Lights Out’ Lyltle.

Disc 2 rounds off the package nicely, giving you UFC 110 Countdown, Fighter Interviews, Weigh Ins, plus Behind The Scenes is a hidden gem, showing us the pre-fight promotion ‘down-under’. Brilliant how accessible the UFC fighters are to the fans. See Bisping chillax on Bondi Beach, then follow Big Nog around Sydney Zoo.

Overall a worthy addition to your MMA DVD collection.

UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez is out now on DVD, available direct from www.fightdvd.co.uk and all good retailers.

Keep visiting BluRayMMA.com for more reviews of brand new UFC, related combat sport and martial arts DVD releases.

UFC DVD review by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

It’s time for one of those strange occurrences again, a DVD review of a pay-per-view I’ve already reviewed, and this time it’s the turn of the two disc UFC 108: Evans v Silva.

Disc one begins with the prelims, starting with Rafaello Oliveira against John Gunderson in the lightweight division.

This was a dominant performance from Oliveira. While Gunderson’s attacked seemed somewhat one dimensional, Oliveira’s performance was such that he completely overwhelmed Gunderson, going for a number of submission attempts. He would surely have got the win had it not been for Gunderson’s defensive work.

The judges decision – unanimous in favour of Oliveira, so no great surprise there.

It was up to the welterweight division for the next fight as Mike Pyle faced Jake Ellenberger.

Another fight that featured some great ground work saw Ellenberger score with a couple of impressive takedowns. However, Pyle was able to frustrate him for most of the round, although he ended it by saying he’d broken a rib.

Round two didn’t last that long. A big right dropped Pyle, and Ellenberger quickly followed him down for the ground and pound, with the referee quickly calling a halt to the proceedings and giving Ellenberger his first UFC win.

Action from the middleweight division followed as Mark Munoz went up against Ryan Jensen.

This was an impressive performance from the man from the Philippines. As soon as he took the fight to the ground Munoz was in control, and as soon as he took the dominant position he unleashed with the ground and pound. Jensen actually had to tap out twice before the referee eventually stopped the onslaught and gave Munoz the TKO win.

Then it was back down to the lightweight division with Cole Miller and Dan Lauzon.

This was a great back and forth affair. Lauzon rocked Miller early on with a left hook, but Miller was able to come back strongly with some impressive ground work, wrapping his legs around Lauzon’s head and neck and getting the submission with a kimura from a reverse triangle. A really great performance from Miller here.

Back up a division for the next fight as Martin Kampmann faced Jacob Volkmann.

Another of those back and forth affairs saw Volkman get in some good shots, but he was rather reckless in doing so because Kampmann was able to counter with strikes of his own.

The second time this happened Kampmann took control and soon got the submission win with a guillotine. An impressive comeback for Kampmann after his previous defeat.

The main show began with the big boys of the heavyweight division as Junior Dos Santos went up against Gilbert Yvel.

Dos Santos proved once again what a great striker he is. Although Yvel got in a couple of good shots Dos Santos was on top throughout, with a big left sending the Frenchman to la-la land momentarily. A few seconds of ground and pound later and Dos Santos had another great win.

A second Miller came out to play next as Cole’s brother Jim faced Duane Ludwig in the lightweight division.

Miller was just as impressive as his brother. A right hook sent Ludwig down. Miller quickly followed and went for an arm bar. Ludwig tried to fight it but tapped out a few seconds later.

Speaking of brothers, Dan Lauzon’s brother Joe followed, taking on Sam Stout in another lightweight encounter.

This was a great example of a grappler versus striker battle Lauzon controlled the early part of the first round with his takedowns, and he opened up a nasty cut above Stout’s left eye with an elbow.

But from there the majority of the fight belonged to Stout with his superior striking. He clearly out fought Lauzon, whose only other notable moment of offence came in the third when he went for a guillotine. This didn’t last long though as Stout was able to escape and get back to his feet.

No surprises with the decision here as all three judges scored in favour of Stout.

The big welterweight encounter saw Dustin Hazelett facing Paul Daley.

Semtex certainly lived up to his nickname here. After a feeling out period Daley unleashed with a left hook that sent Hazelett crashing. Two seconds of ground and pound later and Daley had the knockout win.

This was a really impressive performance from Daley. It’s just a shame the way his UFC career turned out the way it did.

The main event saw Rashad Evans taking on Thiago Silva in the light heavyweight division.

This battle of former champions was certainly worthy of it’s spot on the card. Evans controlled the first two rounds, using his boxing to set up numerous takedowns, one of which saw him barge Silva from one side of the cage to the other.

Silva came back towards the end of the third. After a bit of showboating he rocked Evans with a big right. But unfortunately he just didn’t have enough energy to finish the job, showboating even more as Evans recovered.

Once again the judges were called into action as they gave Evans the unanimous decision.

Disc two is where you’ll find all the bonus features, the interviews and other stuff.

In conclusion – well folks, this was full of great fights. There wasn’t one bad encounter on in this DVD set, and it was nice to see all of these encounters again.

But there are still down points on these DVD releases, including no introductions from Goldberg and Rogan, and no fight introductions from the legend that is Bruce Buffer until the main event.

So once again a good DVD release from the UFC. But remember, if you saw this show when it was on television be prepared for a few edits.

UFC 108: Silva v Evans is available to buy online at www.fightdvd.co.uk.

Timed well with the cinematic release of The A-Team in the UK, sees the DVD release of Death Warrior, featuring UFC star – Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, who also plays BA Baracus in the big screen nostalgia action flick.

As you can imagine by the title, Death Warrior is not for the faint-hearted, this film is aimed at those who like their action 100% hard hitting. Rampage plays ‘Wolf Jackson’, basically the Jackson we know already, a bad-ass, howling, body-slamming, cage-fighter.

The action kicks off with Jackson doing what he does best, slamming his way to victory. Lead character – Rainerio Isandro, played by the screen writer Hector Echavarria challenges Jackson post-fight, wanting one more big fight before quitting the fight game.

Just like the UFC but with but perhaps a little more dramatic so far, until the gangsters turn up, forcing Rain and Wolf to fight to the death or face the consequences imposed on their loved ones. Echavarria being the writer and starring actor unsurprisingly survives the no-holds-barred fight to the death against the former UFC light-heavyweight champion.

It transpires Rain and Wolf aren’t the only fighters manipulated by sinister gangsters. Rashad Evans, Georges St Pierre and Keith Jardine’s characters are all tricked to compete to the death or face the consequences, forced to fight on web-cast pay per views, being bet on for big bucks by bloodthirsty punters.

The MMA-movie follows Rain’s attempts to break free from the grasp of the crooks, to save his wife’s life.

A tale of heroic cage-fighters, gangsters, fights to the death, loyalty and betrayal. As to be expected from an Echavarria film, along with hard-hitting  graphic fight scenes, gratuitous female nudity and sex scenes are thrown in for good measure, perks of the job eh? Well you can’t blame him.

Admittedly Echavarria’s latest offering isn’t up to the previous standard set by Unrivaled, but if gangsters, suspense, bare-knuckle-fight action featuring UFC icons battling to the death is your thing you are sure to enjoy this latest release from E1 Entertainment.

Death Warrior is out now on DVD, available from all good retailers.

Play.com are currently offering the brand new DVD for an amazing £7.99.

Keep visiting BluRayMMA.com for more reviews of brand new UFC, related combat sport and martial arts DVD releases.

DVD review by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

It’s time to step into the world of hybrid kickboxing as we return to the second season of Chuck Norris’ World Combat League, as we take a look at the play-offs with episodes 13 through 16.

Texas Dragons v Oklahoma Destroyers
The first Western Conference play-off was another of those one-sided affairs as Thomas Longacre, David Taylor and the always impressive Anthony Njokuani racked up three wins for Oklahoma.

Texas took a share of the spoils as Mike Sheppard drew with Jesse Lawrence, but the Destroyers got back to winning ways when Jeri Sitzes defeated Angela Hayes for the third time. The Dragons’ only first half win came when Lawson Baker defeated Alex Beck.

The second half followed the same pattern, with further wins for Taylor, Longacre and Njokuani. With three fights remaining Texas needed knockouts to stay in the match, and although Mike Sheppard beat Randy Blake there was no knockout. So when Lawson Baker drew with UFC 2 runner-up Patrick Smith Texas had no chance of making the finals, with Oklahoma winning 163-116.

New Jersey Tigers v St. Louis Enforcers
This was an incredibly close contest. New Jersey began the first half well when Uriah Hall got a stoppage win against Dusty Miller. But with St. Louis taking the next three fights Jerrell Miller’s win over John Turlington brought the Tigers back into it and evened the scores, although the Enforcers’ Tim Connors took them to a six point half-time lead when he defeated Shennen Maceo.

With Fernando Calleros and Jennifer Han winning the first two second half fights for the Enforcers New Jersey knew they had to really up their game to stay in the contest, and this they did, winning the next three fights, with the highlight being John James’ knockout win over Samir Seif.

It all came down to numbers in the final fight. John Greubal had to defeated David Gonzalez by eight clear points to give St. Louis the win, and although he dominated for the most part Gonzalez’s performance was just enough to give the Tigers the two point win, 133-131, and entry into the Eastern Conference final.

Los Angeles Stars v Denver Fury
This Western Conference play-off between the top and bottom teams was a one-sided affair.

As soon as Jason Bourelly knocked out Denver’s Gabe Walbridge in the first minute it was obvious that the Stars were going through to the final.

Denver won only one fight in the first half, trailing by forty-one points at half time, even though their luck changed in the second half when Matt Callahan earned a disqualification win over Donald Vickers and Colby Snyder knocked out Jack Felton.

But by the time Raymond Daniels sent El-Java Abdul Qadir down for the count Los Angeles had already won by a massive margin, gaining victory by 151-102.

New York Clash v Miami Force
Miami were supposed to walk over a team who had never won a match in WCL history. New York hadn’t read the script though.

The most enthralling play-off saw the Clash and the Force trading wins until Craig Oxley and the impressive Armin Mrkanovic built up a good lead for Miami. However, New York ended the first half when their best fighter Jennifer Santiago returned from injury to defeat Jessica Bednark.

The pattern continued in the second half, with Leo Valdivia’s win for the clash against Mark Spaziano evening the scores at 91 apiece. The teams remained tired when Terry Bullman and Rick Cheek contested a draw.

But with the teams trading the next two fights Miami went into the final fight four points ahead, needing reserve fighter Kelli Cofer to get the win. Jennifer Santiago was standing in her way though, and another impressive win for her sealed the deal for New York as they won 137-132.

In conclusion – this DVD box set continues to impress me. There were a ton of great fights on this fourth disc, all of which were really enjoyable.

However, and this is my only criticism of the WCL so far, the play-off format was a little perplexing, mainly because all eight teams were entered into the draw, making the regular season results slightly irrelevant, especially when you’ve got a team that didn’t win in the regular season going over a team that was undefeated.

But apart from that this slice of WCL action gets the thumbs up.

With thanks to the powers-that-be at the WCL for supplying a copy of this release. These episodes form part of the WCL Season Two box set, which can be purchased from the usual online retailers.

This is going to be one of those strange events for me, as I’ve been asked to review a DVD release of a pay-per-view I’d already reviewed. The release in question is the two disc UFC 107, headlined by B.J. Penn defending his Lightweight title against Diego Sanchez.

Disc one is where you’ll find the fights. First up are the preliminary bouts, beginning with Kevin Burns against T.J. Grant in the welterweight division. An interesting back and forth battle saw Burns drop Grant early on. But Grant came back well with some good ground work.

An inadvertent low blow from Grant gave Burns a brief rest period, but it didn’t do him much good when Grant connected with a big right that sent him down. Grant followed him, with the referee stepping in to give Grant the TKO win.

The welterweight action continued with Demarques Johnson and Edgar Garcia. Another great back and forth affair with Garcia looking like he was going to get the submission early on with a Peruvian neck tie, which Johnson was able to escape from.

But despite being rocked Johnson came back strongly, hitting Garcia with an up kick which set up the triangle choke for the submission win.

It was up to the middleweight division next as Rousimar Palhares faced Lucio Linhares.

So what do you get when you put two BJJ black belts against each other. A great ground fight.

Palhares put on a great offensive display in the first round, with Linhares countering with a great defensive display.

Palhares looked a little gassed in the second round but he did enough to once again show his mastery of leg locks by getting the submission win with a heel hook.

It was back down to welterweight for the next fight as Johny Hendricks took on Ricardo Funch.

The first fight on the show to go the distance was a very cagey fight to begin with, but as the fight progressed Hendricks began to dominate more and more. Everything he did was impressive, and it came as no surprise when he got the unanimous decision.

Matt Wiman against Shane Nelson in the lightweight division was next.

This was a scrappy affair to begin with, with Wiman complaining about an eye poke early on. But as the fight went on it became a very entertaining affair, with Wiman looking the stronger throughout.

There was another unfortunate incident early in the third when Wiman caught Nelson with an accidental low kick. He ended the fight strongly though, and it was enough to earn him the unanimous decision.

The final preliminary saw Alan Belcher face Wilson Gouveia in a catchweight bout, made at 195.

Nothing but striking in this one, no ground work to speak of as both men basically tried to beat each other up, with Belcher connecting with a right to the body and following up with an uppercut. It wasn’t long before the referee stepped in and gave Belcher the impressive TKO win.

The main show began with heavyweight action as Paul Buentello took on Stefan Struve.

I really enjoyed this fight first time round, and it was just as good second time round. The highlight for me was when Buentello cut the giant Dutchman down in the second, dropping him with a big right as he telegraphed his flying knee.

As well as that we saw some great ground work in the first and great kicks in the third from Struve, which was enough to earn him the majority decision.

The lightweight fight between ESPN’s best MMA analyst Kenny Florian and Clay Guida was up next.

These two put in a great effort, and both were bloodied up by the end of the first, with Guida the worse of the two.

The end came in the second when a big Florian right to the jaw sent Guida crashing. A rear naked choke later and Florian had the submission win.

By the way, am I the only one who thinks that Guida needs a haircut?

The welterweight clash between Jon Fitch and Mike Pierce followed.

Now considering that Fitch’s five previous fights had all gone the distance it was pretty obvious how this one was going to play out.

It was a workmanlike performance from Fitch, solid and not overly spectacular, controlling the fight for the most part until the final few moments, when Pierce rocked him with a left hook and finished the fight with a flurry.

No surprise from the judges as Fitch took the unanimous decision.

Brock Lesnar’s best buddy Frank Mire took on French kickboxer Cheick Kongo in the heavyweight division next.

The blink and you’ll miss it affair of the show. After a brief feeling out period Mir connected with a big left that sent Kongo down, and after a guillotine choke Kongo was out of it, giving Mir the very impressive submission win.

Then it was on to the main event as Diego Sanchez challenged B.J. Penn for the Lightweight Championship.

Mike Goldberg said it best when he said that Penn is great at making good fighters look ordinary, and that was certainly the case here.

From the very beginning of the fight, when Penn knocked Sanchez down you knew that he wasn’t going down easily. His striking was superior, his take down defence was superb, and Sanchez just couldn’t handle him.

Penn looked as fresh as a daisy when the fifth round started, while Sanchez’s face looked a mess, and it was in this particular round that Penn finally finished his man off. The doctor was called in after Penn opened up a cut above Sanchez’s left eye, and he quickly stopped the fight. This was Penn at his best, and it was a joy to behold.

Disc two is where you’ll find the special features, pre and post fight stuff. You know what I mean.

In conclusion – this is the first UFC DVD release I’ve reviewed since UFC 78, and my opinion of them hasn’t really changed.

While the fight action is great, there are little things that missing here, and while I can understand that the fighters entrances are, for the most part, left out so they don’t have to pay royalties for the music they use, there are other things that could easily have been included.

For instance, we don’t see the initial introductions from Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan. Most of Bruce Buffer’s ring introductions are also cut, except for the two feature fights. That’s a shame because he really is the best in the world at what he does.

So in all, good fights, but missing those little touches that make UFC shows so special.

UFC 107: Penn v Sanchez can be purchased online at www.fightdvd.co.uk.