Ultimate Force- Battle of Waterloo 2 - 21 July 2007

félicitations à l'équipe française sur votre exécution de suberb des affaires blessées


England v France

Wayne Murray clinched the Fighter of the Night award with a victory that was literally breath taking. Djamel Moula shot for a double leg takedown. Murray snared him in a guillotine. From the off it was deep. Real deep. The athletic Moula jerked his body like a hooked salmon, but there was no escape. He was out. The alert ref Neil Hall dived in to save Moula and the crowd went ape.
This fight showed what MMA should be all about: speed, agility, power and pain. Beauty and devastation in one handy serving, overseen by a ref as sharp as the fighters. Ultimate Force should send a tape of this one to Newsnight.

This was the only home victory in the international challenge. If the original Battle of Waterloo had seen this level of French dominance, the world would be a different place. The Donny crowd would have been at home supping pints of red wine and choking on Gaulloises as they moaned about their favourite sport being banned.

Traditionally, boxing promoters have brought over poor foreign opposition to pad out their fighters’ records. MMA is bucking this trend with a vengeance. The French fighters were pure class. All were keen to get the fight on the deck and displayed superb ground skills. Mickael Tozolgan set the tone- forcing Gareth Davies to tap due to a slick armbar. Team mate Bendy Casimir took out Ultimate Force favourite Ian 'Mongoose' Jones with a guillotine choke. For me, the pick was Norman Parisiese. After shooting early, Norman used all but six seconds of the round to work towards the submission. Using the brain of a chess master (backed up by the crashing elbow of a hard bastard) he controlled throughout. After changing positions a number of times, he finally forced a tap from the stubborn Dave Radford with a side choke.

Abdul Mohammad v Jason Ball

The main event never quite caught fire. For three rounds Abdul, who looks very powerful at welterweight, took Jason down repeatedly. Despite this, he was unable to penetrate Ball’s dogged defence. The crowd willed Jason to get up, hoping he would pull off a comeback win for the second Ultimate Force running, but it wasn’t to be. The gruelling battle went the distance, with both men looking drained by the close. Although he never managed to cause any real damage, Abdul was on top throughout and deserved the judges’ votes.

Lee Doski v Gary Savage

Lee Doski showed all his experience to account for Gary Savage. He traded strikes with the dangerous Savage but was careful not to get involved in a slug fest. On the canvas, Doski looked by far the more comfortable of the two. In Round 2, the take down came earlier. Once Lee took Savage’s back it looked all over and the Rear Naked Choke was soon applied.

Sean Mckenning v Clifford Mcarthy
Jez Tindall v David Cieplinski
Cliff Moor v Ian Rush

Sean Mckenning weighed in at 132 kilos. I’ve had cars that weigh less than that. At 120 kilos, Mansfield’s Clifford Mcarthy is no flyweight. Something had to give. Unsurprisingly, Sean packs a punch and the ref ended his ground and pound onslaught a minute in.
Cliff Moor’s fight against the very game Light Heavy Ian Rush followed a similar script.
Jez Tindall was cheered to rafters by his enthusiastic family as he battered David Cieplinski around the cage for a couple of minutes. With Tengiz and Neil Wain already in the mix- it seems that Yorkshire is becoming the Heavyweight capital of Britain.


Mark Mills v Mark Oates
Samir Mebjdeur v Mike Rutley

Mark Mills is a promoter’s dream: fireman, poster model and arguably among the 50 best looking men in Rotherham. He can also deliver a knee strike with enough power and accuracy to knock out his opponent, as he proved against Mark Oates. Something for everyone.
Samir Mebjdeur displayed a tidy MMA skill set. Big takedown, nice pass on the deck, businesslike ground and pound finish. He was so polished in every area, I suspect that even his crap victory cartwheel was a calculated move to prove he is human.


Event

The England v France contest worked well. I’m never a fan of playing national anthems, but it did get the crowd going and cranked up the atmosphere.
Great to see a female bout on the card. The crowd definitely enjoyed it and gave the fighters the respect they deserve– other promoters take note.

Fashion Disaster of the Night

Mickael Tozolgan

Ace performance- shame about the orange mask.

Ring Walk Tune of the Night

Instead of the usual death metal and gangsta rap, it seemed that the fighters were trying to outdo each other in the cheesy soft rock stakes. Foreigner, Survivor and Bryan Adams all had an airing, but the title goes to:

Bendy Casimir

Europe- The Final Countdown

 

Results

Abdul Mohammad def Jason Ball via Unanimous Decision
Bendy Casimir def Ian Jones via Submission (guillotine) 2.21 Rd1
Wayne Murray def Djamel Moula via KO (guillotine) 0.39 Rd1
Norman Parisiese def David Radford via Submission(Side choke)4.53 Rd1
Mickael Tozolgan def Gareth Davies via Submission (Arm Bar) 1.05 Rd1
Jez Tindall def David Cieplinski via TKO (Ground & Pound) 2.45 Rd1
Clifford Moor def Ian Rush via TKO(Ground & Pound) 2.09 Rd1
Lee Doski def Gary Savage via Submission(Rear Naked Choke)1.35 Rd2
Mark Mills def Mark Oates via KO (strikes) 3.07 Rd1
Samir Mebjdeur def Mike Rutley via TKO(Ground & Pound)2.56 Rd1
Sean Mckenning def Clifford Mcarthy via TKO(Ground & Pound)1.11 Rd1
Diane Berry def Anna Halliday via Submission (Arm Bar) 1.15 Rd1
Danny Mitchell def Craig Ford via Submission (Triangle Choke)1.56 Rd1
Stewart Levitt def Michael Wynn via Submission (Front Choke) 3.56 Rd1
James Williams def Liam Henderson via Submission (Arm Bar) 4.38 Rd1
Tim Close def Reece Iverson via Unanimous Decision