In July boos rang round the Harvey Haddon when Matteo Minonzio upset the odds to end Wayne Buck’s unbeaten record on a cut.

Three months on- same venue, same boos, same winner.


Minonzio loves being the bad guy. The huge Tap or Snap contingent in the stands heckled him all the way to the ring and he milked it to the max. The same fans went ballistic when Buck made his entrance. The scene was set: the home hero was going to bash up the panto villain, right the perceived wrong and send the crowd home happy. Unfortunately, Captain Hook didn’t read the script.

Minonzio looked composed from the off. In a wide stance to avoid the take down; shoulders hunched and hands up- he waited for Buck to make his move. Last time out- the Italian’s ground game looked very flimsy, but Buck was happy to keep the action standing up. Although Buck managed to get off a couple of good looking right hands, the knee power of Matteo was the difference between the two. Whenever the pair clinched, he was able to create enough space to unload to the body. A knee to the ribs is always bad news. Buck was on the end of few: thrown with venom by a heavyweight Muay Thai specialist.

Eventually- a crushing right knee from “The Brutal” caused Wayne to fold to the ground. Buck was in an awkward position next to the bottom rope. Minonzio took advantage- standing over his opponent and unloading some hard punches. Buck tapped the canvas and the ref stepped in. End of story….well not quite.

The boos rang out. Buck’s fans- mainly in the tiered seats, on the blind side side of the hall from where the final action occurred, booed loudly- convinced their man had been the victim of an unfair stoppage.His corner seemed to agree. Wayne Buck seemed to agree. Despite, the protests- the result stood.

Wayne Buck clearly tapped the canvas. He may have been demanding a reposition because he felt he was entangled in the ropes. He may have been disoriented. It doesn’t matter.

A tap is a tap: end of fight. This isn’t about fairness. If a referee has to start wondering if a fighter really means it when he taps out- we’re headed for a future full of serious injuries.

On his visits to the UK, Matteo Minonzio has shown he is a match for anyone on his feet. With his "interesting" tattoos and “no one likes me and I don’t care attitude”, he plays his role with relish. The nasty foreigner from central casting. With such wonderful crowd (dis)pleasing attributes, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of him over here.


Shoot – sprawl – clinch – down - bang – bang – KO.

That’s the full account of Jim Wallhead’s victory over Igor Araujo – and, at one minute nineteen seconds, it didn’t take much longer than that.

Araujo came to Nottingham with a big reputation and a long list of submission victories. Judo Jim kept the jiu jitsu black belt out of his comfort zone and took him apart.

Wallhead turned to the crowd and shrugged. It was almost like he was apologising for being too good. His last fight, a back and forth war against Fabricio Nascimento, was as exciting as this sport gets. This time out- he clinically executed a game plan in double quick time.
A class act.

 

In the only all British clash of the night- Christian Smith put in an impressive performance to defeat Cliff Hall. Hall has been on a great run of late- but he was under the cosh from the off. Physically, Christian looked much bigger than Cliff, and he set a relentless pace- dominating the first round on the deck. At the start of the second- Hall tried to mix it up, throwing a couple of kicks- but Smith had a one track mind. From the clinch- he heavily slammed his man to the canvas and quickly secured mount. Smith got carried away- throwing a flurry of ineffective shots. He paused, refocused and finished the fight with a series of powerful single punches to Hall’s head.

A big performance from Christian Smith.




The M-1 Challenge

Russian Legion v World Team
Red Devils v USA


The M-1 Challenge is a very good idea. Putting on fights as part of an international team competition is a great way to create interest in the sport. The production values are high and the guys behind it mean business. Not only that- the events are presented as straight up sporting events- without tacky gimmicks or fake hype. Next year, we will have our own team in the UK. This is a fantastic opportunity for UK fighters to gain experience and live the life.

The standard of fights you get at these events is usually high (a few examples here) and British involvement will add to this..



Whenever a fight night is billed as UK versus- it cranks up the atmosphere. The crowd at the Harvey Hadden were coming into this cold- with no emotional attachment to any of the teams and no interest in the M-1 Challenge league table. What it needed was a real barn burner to get them on their feet. Unfortunately- it didn’t really happen. Russian Legion v the World consisted mainly of dour ground battles. The Red Devils comfortably overcame the USA.

This is not a criticism of the fighters, who all gave it their best, or the M-1 concept. The fights just didn’t have enough oomph to warm up the neutrals. I understand that injury had caused a lot of regular fighters to pull out and this will have had an effect.

As a dress rehearsal- this was fine, but it lacked something as a spectacle. When we have a UK team to cheer on- I think the M-1 Challenge’s visit to these shores will be and essential date of the calendar.

And think how great it’ll be taking a firm to away matches!


 

Running Gag of the Night

Cornermen, Fighters and Photographers nearly getting hit on the head by the swinging TV camera.


 

Best Inflatable Letter of the Night

The massive M outside the main entrance. Totally pointless- but quite pleasant in its own way.


Crowd

Desperate to get into it. Went absolutely nuts for the home fighters. An indication of what the next M-1 Challenge will be like.


Best Ring Walk Music

Rosen Dimitrov (World)

No tune can ever beat Eye of the Tiger in this category.



Man of the Night

Christian Smith

An unstoppable force.