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- Part 1

- Part 2

It’s official, Katie Price’s (or should that be Reid?) husband Alex Reid is scheduled to fight Tom ‘Kong’ Watson in September for the BAMMA middleweight belt, at BAMMA 4, Birmingham. Watch the video, witness the war of words.

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

It was meant to be the biggest fight in British MA history, but the darling of the tabloid press, Alex Reid, got himself injured. But thankfully a new opponent for Tom “Kong” Watson was found in the form of Matt Horwich for BAMMA 3, shown on Bravo this past weekend here in Britain, with Christian O’Connell, Malcolm Martin and Pierre Guillet handing commentary duties.

The show began with welterweight action as Zach Light faced War Machine. I’m assuming that this is just a nickname, unless he’s changed his name legally. Anyway, the Machine certainly lived up to his name here. Light got the only take down of the fight, but the Machine quickly reversed, took Light’s back, and synched in a rear naked choke, which Light soon passed out to, with all of this taking just seventy seconds. Some great action to start the show with.

After highlights of some of the earlier fights it was on to the Lightweight title fight as Rob Sinclair took on Daniel Weichel. Scheduled for five rounds, this one didn’t make it past the first. Sinclair showed some good defensive work when Weichel tried to take him down, and when the fight did go to the ground Sinclair’s good work continued, and it wasn’t long before his ground and pound was too much for the German to handle, with the referee calling a halt to proceedings, giving Sinclair the impressive title retaining TKO win.

More highlights from earlier fights followed, before we moved on to the main event, with Matt Horwich challenging Tom Watson for the Middleweight title. This was the first fight I’ve seen from a British promotion that went five rounds, and it proved to be a very interesting battle, although early on it looked like it wasn’t going to get past the first round. When the fight went to the ground Horwich took Watson’s back and synched in a rear naked choke. Horwich had the hold in for what seemed like an eternity, but Watson didn’t give up, eventually escaping. From there the action progressed nicely into a back and forth affair in which both men had their moments, with the fifth round ending with Watson going for the ground and pound. So with the fight going the distance the judges were called upon to render a decision, with everyone scoring in favour of Watson, ending what was a very good fight.

In conclusion – as Pierre Guillet said on commentary, BAMMA delivered another good show. The past paced action of the two undercard fights made for great viewing, and the Watson/Horwich fight certainly delivered.

However, although I enjoyed the show, I was disappointed that only three fights were shown in full. Maybe next time BAMMA can give us less chat and a little more action.

And maybe next time Alex Reid will train properly, instead of injuring himself on another reality show.

THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne – now in it’s 10th year!
E-mail: juli316uk@yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
Sponsored by Intimidation Clothing, makers of high quality, affordable MMA apparel and T-shirts. Visit their website at www.intimidationclothing.com.

Celebrity Big Brother 7 winner Alex Reid

From the Sun:

www.thesun.co.uk

- Alex’s Bravo reality show is fun to watch but it appears it may not have been the best preparation leading towards the BAMMA bout, penned in with Tom ‘Kong’ Watson. Here’s hoping BAMMA are able to find Watson a suitable opponent for the May 15th event.

Watch Alex try his hand at Indian wrestling, on the martial arts reality show: Alex Reid – The Fight of His Life, tonight at 9pm, Bravo, Sky channel 123.

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

Cage fighter Alex Reid with wife Jordan

- Keep enjoying Alex’s Bravo reality TV show every Monday, but it appears we’ll be waiting a while longer until we witness the BAMMA showdown, with the Reidernater’s nemesis Tom ‘Kong’ Watson.

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

Watch the latest video teaser featuring Celebrity Big Brother 7 winner and BAMMA competitor Alex Reid. Alex Reid -- The Fight of his Life, coming to Bravo soon.

EDIT:

Alex Reid: The Fight Of His Life, starts Monday 12th April, 10pm, Bravo (Sky 123).

BAMMA is back, bigger, bolder and on Bravo. Recently the Brit MMA organisation returned to the scene, promoting a night of mixed martial arts action at the Roundhouse in London. BAMMA’s production is looking slick, but which do you the ultimate fighting fan prefer, the established promotion Ultimate Challenge (formerly Cage Rage) or new contender BAMMA?

In comparison Dave O’Donnell’s Ultimate Challenge already is an established brand, complete with recognised theme music plus fighters own entrance songs. Resurrection their most recent offering aired on Sky Sports amongst others match-ups showed a brilliant bout featuring former TUF 9 entrant Dean Amasinger in a gruelling contest. Both promoters book some excellent established fighters alongside upcoming MMA talent but ultimately I feel it’s important how the TV product is presented to sell the fights to the punters. BAMMA may just have the edge in this department, judging by their most recent output BAMMA 2, shown on Bravo.

If I’m honest I don’t follow Brit MMA as closely as the UFC, the reason being the excellent job the Zuffa brand do at putting over the cage competitors to us. We know who the present champions are and who their challengers are in good time to get hyped for the octagon showdowns.

Currently there is one Brit MMA championship bout I know of and when it takes place, Mr Katie Price himself Alex Reid versus Tom ‘Kong’ Watson in May at BAMMA 3. That fight promo video interviewing the middleweight mixed martial artists is the way forward for the sport in this country. The style of presentation is very professional, the Celebrity Big Brother 7 winner Reid comes across so natural, rather than hamming up.

Having 2 top Brit MMA fight promotions on TV is great news, meaning there is a choice for us viewers and choice where the fighters can compete, but most importantly we’ll see healthy competition between the companies fighting over the ultimate fighting pound, thus upping their game.

Over to you, who is your pick of the UK fight promotions? Comment here or feel free to air your views over on the BluRayMMA.com Facebook group.

It took a while, and there were apparently a few hiccups along the way, but the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts returned for their second show, broadcast on Bravo this past Sunday, with Christian O’Connell, Bret Freeman and Graham Little handling commentary duties.

The broadcast began with lightweight action as A.J. Wenn faced Ali McClean. An interesting fight to begin the show with, with the majority of the action on the ground. McClean showed some good ground work here, although he came up short with his submission attempts. Wenn did okay, but with the fight going the distance the judges rendered a decision, and they couldn’t separate them, scoring it as a draw. A slightly surprising decision. I thought McClean just edged it with his better work rate.

It was up to the middleweight division for the next fight as Mike Ling took on Russell Smith. This fight grabbed my attention straight away, mainly because I’ve never seen a six-foot-seven middleweight before! Ling had a massive eight inch height advantage, but that didn’t stop Smith from coming forward from the outset, rocking Ling with a series of blows. From there we got an outstanding back and forth battle with Ling synching in a rear naked choke for the submission win just as the first round was coming to an end. Ling is definitely a fighter I’ll be looking out for in the future, and given his size it won’t be hard to miss him!

More lightweight action followed, with Peter Duncan and Xandinho. A very technical battle saw the Brazilian start strongly, with the purple haired Irishman always mounting a comeback after Xandinho’s submission attempts. By the time the third round started Xandinho looked shattered, and Duncan controlled the majority of the round. It was enough to earn him the decision. A very enjoyable fight here.

Then it was on to the first title fight of the evening as Rob Sinclair faced Nathan Beer for the vacant Lightweight title. Scheduled for five rounds, this didn’t make it past the first as both men put on a good striking display until Sinclair caught Beer with a right that sent him staggering back towards the cage. A big left dropped Beer, and it wasn’t long before the referee stopped the fight, giving the impressive Sinclair the title winning knockout.

It was up to the welterweight division for the next fight, as Sam Elsdon went up against Gunnar Nelson. The Icelander came into this one with a big reputation, and he lived up to that reputation with some excellent ground work, scoring with a big take down before transitioning to Elsdon’s back, where he could apply a rear naked choke for the submission win. I have to admit that I’d never heard of Nelson before this fight, but this kid has a bright future ahead of him.

The main event saw Alan Omer take on Paul Reed for the vacant Featherweight title. This was a fight definitely worthy of it’s place on the card. The first three rounds saw Reed put on a tremendous performance on the ground as he dominated the German. Omer was only able to connect with a few shots. Then, as the fight entered the fourth round things changed dramatically as Omer went to work on the ground, and it wasn’t long before he synched in a triangle choke for the submission win in what was definitely the fight of the night.

In conclusion – well, we had to wait nearly ten months, but BAMMA certainly delivered with their second show. The quality of the fights was good, with performances ranging from good to outstanding. Production-wise it had a different feel to their counterparts over at Ultimate Challenge. While Dave O’Donnell is often seen getting very excited during his shows, BAMMA could really be described as having a decidedly understated British feel about it, and that’s a good thing, because the MMA scene here in Britain would look dull if everyone tried to copy each other. Let’s hope that they don’t go too over the top for their next show in May, which sees Tom “Kong” Watson taking on the over-publicised Mr. Katie Price himself, Alex Reid. My money’s on Watson for that one.

Review courtesy Julian Radbourne @ www.twoshedsreview.com

Cagefighting Celebrity Big Brother winner Alex Reid.

Wow, it’s all happening for the national man of the moment Alex Reid. Straight after winning over the nation and being voted by the public to win Celebrity Big Brother 7, Alex jetted off to Las Vegas with Katie Price to marry his glamour girlfriend. Next stop is appearing on the ITV2 programme What Katie Did Next, starting this Thursday at 9pm.

That’s not all, despite the cage fighter’s new found celebrity status, Alex is working hard in training, towards a title showdown against Tom ‘Kong’ Watson on 15th May. Building up to the bout in May, you can follow Alex in his very own programme – Alex Reid: Fight For His Life. The 6 part series airing on Bravo, following Alex in training towards his title clash in May.

In related news,  BAMMA the promotion banner The Reidernater will be fighting under is back with brand new programme on Bravo. BAMMA 2 kicks off Sunday 21st February.

Right now it’s never been a better time to be a Brit MMA fan.

Visit Bravo.co.uk and BAMMA.net for further information.

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

The monumental UFC 100 has not long passed us that took place on Saturday 11th July on The Racing channel. A bit of a strange choice of TV channel for the Ultimate Fighting Championship historic event but wasn’t it great to see the 3 hour event live without any ad break interuptions? It appears as the UFC 100 got closer a deal could not be agreed in time so something was worked
out to include the mammoth fight card on Seatanta Ireland and The Racing Channel owned by the Irish channel. Not only did we get the whole event free but on top of that the UFC treated us to a very nice bonus of several extra hours of UFC TV programming including the top 100 of UFC fights.

Post July 11th we are still left not knowing the new home for the UFC on British airwaves. With the Disney owned ESPN looking to expand in the UK by buying premiership football games available since the demise of Setanta Sports it appears the forthcoming ESPN subscription channel will be the likely UK television home for the UFC, although at this point has not been confirmed.

Since July 11th I have been fortunate to have the use of Sky + including Sky Sports and Bravo. Not many days after on Wed 15th July Cage Rage successor Ultimate Challenge aired Sky Sports 3. After seeing UFC 100 so this British MMA offering was not likely to compare but to be fair the show was pretty good including 2 UK1 kickboxing bouts, one of which featuring top name on the circuit Aldershot’s own Alex Reid. Reid is top class showman as well as one tough competitor. TUF 9 entrant totally outclassed his opponent.

Next next month on the small screen will hopefully be the return of Affliction to Bravo for their 3rd event titled Affliction M1 Global Trilogy taking place August 1st in Anaheim, Claifornia. The fight card will boast awesome heavyweight title bout main event of Fedor Emelianko taking on challenger Josh Barnett. As yet there are no adverts for the event on Bravo but fingers crossed Bravo won’t let us down.

The following week it’s UFC 101 on August 8th. Anderson Silva vs Forrest Griffin fighting at lightheavyweight is the scheduled headliner. Again though we are still presently in the dark regarding what channel, but have faith I’m Dana and co will not let us down.

Hopping back over to Bravo we have the 2nd BAMMA event airing August 16th from London.

If you are lucky you might just be able to catch another showing of the fantastic programme from The Biography Channel – How Bruce Lee Changed The World. I highly recommend viewing this 2 hour covering ways Bruce Lee was such massive influence on our modern cultural including being the Father of Mixed Martial Arts. Hear what Dana White, The RZA, Jackie Chan and many others have to say about this iconic figure of the 20th century who long after his death continues to be a huge inspiration on into the new millenium.

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

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