British Cage Fighting - OMG!

[Jayden]

http://i50.tinypic.com/28tl6he.jpg

 

British Cage Fighting Timeline

 

11/11/95

– British Cage Fighting is formed, running shows exclusively around London using mostly local UK talent

29/03/97

– BCF adopt the Unified Rules of MMA

01/01/98

– After drawn out negotiations through the second half of 1997 halted BCF’s progress, Dutch Company OMG (Oranje Media Group) complete their purchase of British Cage Fighting

03/01/98

– OMG announce that founder Robyn Bleasdale will retain his position as BCF Chief Executive with OMG’s Steffen van der Reefers overseeing the sporting output of the Promotion

21/05/01

– a deal is struck with UK Broadcasting Digital to air four TV-taped British Cage Fighting Specials. Ratings for the show are solid if unspectacular and the deal is not extended.

15/09/02

– BCF announces plans to build a Featherweight division with a BCF title planned slated for early – mid 2003

06/11/02

– with the popularity of Mixed Martial Arts continuing to grow UK Broadcasting Digital agree to air four new Live shows, British Cage Fights, with the potential for the deal to be extended based on its ratings

10/11/02

– With WEFF in financial turmoil OMG complete an aggressive purchase of the failing promotion.

23/12/02

– OMG asset-strip WEFF and close the Company down. OMG cite false promises from television networks regarding potential deals as the reason for the closure.

 

Heavyweight title

 

Retaining the title from the previous ownership, “the Brixton Butcher” Stafford Alois made his third defence against veteran Heavyweight Harry Milne in May 1998. In what would be named Fight, and Main Event, of the year Milne scored a huge comeback stoppage in the third round to take the belt.

 

Milne’s first defence would come against “the Beast of Birmingham” Rav Kapur. Kapur had been on a tear, smashing his way through Carter Potter and Eddie Whelan and it took him little over a minute to Knockout his seasoned opponent. So began an era of dominance that would only end when Kapur called time on his BCF career.

 

Stafford Alois, Sylvester Collins, Bob Dozier and Fritz Phipps were destroyed as Kapur cemented his spot as British Cage Fighting’s biggest star. His success had not gone unnoticed and after defeating Phipps in May of 2001 Kapur walked out on his deal with the Company and left for GAMMA in the United States, where he has since gone on to become their Heavyweight Champion.

 

With no Champion in place a quasi-tournament began in November that year. Brazilian Monster Renato finished former Champion Stafford Alois on the same night that Mark Bicknell beat Iancu Trailescu. The match was set pitting the Winners against each other in February 2002.

 

Bicknell would sustain an injury in training just three weeks prior to the fight and it was up to New Zealand’s Carter Potter to step up and try to stop the Renato express. Potter was blasted out in less than four minutes as Renato improved his MMA career record to 8-0 and had the Heavyweight belt strapped around his waist.

 

Mark Bicknell would eventually get his shot at the belt in November of 2002 but was eventually knocked out in a largely uneventful Heavyweight bout. Renato has already set his sights on Rav Kapur’s record of four successful defences of the title.

 

Light-Heavyweight Title

 

For over four years Scottish judo player Curt Kitson ruled the British Light Heayvweight scene. Garry McSweegan, Daniel Hornsby, Tikhon Diev and Murray O’Hare all came up short in their attempts to dethrone the Champ and only Diev pushed Kitson to anything approaching a tough night, lasting into the fifth round before getting caught in a rear naked choke.

 

Still something didn’t seem quite right in the Kitson camp. Constantly linked with moves away from BCF – either to Europe’s SIGMA or the big show in Japan, Alpha-1 – Kitson’s focus was called into question when Daniel Hornsby pushed him to a controversial split decision in January 2001. The difference between their first fight was vast. Kitson looked to have barely anything left in the tank once they got into the third round and many people believed he should have lost the decision.

 

Had the alarm bell not rung that night, foreshadowing what was to come, Kitson’s August 2001 defeat to BCF newcomer Yoritomo Ina would have been considered a huge upset. The fact that Ina immediately lost the belt to Tikhon Diev – a fighter Kitson had himself beaten previously – further suggested that Kitson was not the same fighter that had been ranked as high as #3 in the World.

 

Diev’s first defence would be made against Croatian sensation Zvonimir Asanovic at the end of year 2002 show. Asanovic’s signing had been a huge statement of intent as BCF continued to grow and in only his second fight with the promotion he knocked out Diev in the second round to claim the Championship belt.

 

Middleweight Title

 

Since OMG took over the Company – with Davis Spyrou as Middleweight Champion – the Middleweight Division has been a story of “era”’s. Talented young fighters have stepped up to the top of the division, looking set to dominate for years to come, only for their inexperience to cost them as the torch is passed once more.

 

When elite-level Dutch kickboxer Edgar van den Hoogenband took the belt from Spyrou with a head kick knock-out in July of 1999 he quickly became one of the Company’s most marketable stars. Unfortunately he lost the title just as quickly, losing a contentious split decision to Rob Baines in March of 2000.

 

The Norwich born Baines would make two successful defences of the belt, first winning by decision against Ramon da Silva Ramos before stopping former Champion Davis Spyrou in the third round of their 2001 fight.

 

Brazil’s Ramon da Silva Ramos would return to haunt Baines at the big end of year show 2001. Ramos had destroyed highly rated Tuck Durdell – who had just beaten van den Hoogenband - since coming up marginally short in his first shot at the title. This time he was not to be denied outstriking Baines en-route to a wide five round victory.

 

Ramos, like van den Hoogenband before him, looked ready to take on the World. His first defence came against Ireland’s Ivor “the Engine” Orr. Orr came into the fight off the back of two victories over former champions, Davis Spyrou and Edgar van den Hoogenband and pulled off the upset once again. Behind on all three judges scorecards Orr caught Ramos late in the fourth round and battered him out to take his place at the top of the division.

 

Welterweight Title

 

While not always packed with stars BCF’s 170lb division has largely been its most competitive with little to choose between the talents at the top end of the division. Not only has no single fighter been able to put a long run of defences together, but none has ever been expected to.

 

After a successful, super exciting, one round title defence against David Webb, Will Kane was knocked out cold by Mills Mullally in January of 1999. Mullally’s win was considered a big upset at the time and he would not hold onto the belt for long.

 

The Dubliner would put Gordon Idle away in spectacular fashion in his first defence before tapping to the armbar of Iain Fussell in August of 2000.

 

Unlike those before him Fussell did manage to make it to two title defences, winning a split decision against Timothy Latchkey in a poorly received fight before subbing Martin Cupples. Fussell’s title reign would go no further though as he fell victim of Vikram Sithalayan’s guillotine in June of 2002.

 

Sithalayan has made one defence to date, submitting Stian Adgestein in the first round of their fight at the big end of year show in 2002. Whether he can do what those before him couldn’t, and carve out a title legacy in the division remains to be seen.

 

Lightweight Title

 

BCF’s Lightweight Division has been dominated by two men, Jake Keane and Seth O’Breen. In fact it was O’Breen who dethroned inaugural Champion Keane at the big end of year show in 1998. The two men had fought back and forth through five exciting rounds before O’Breen landed a vicious left-hook that had Keane out cold.

 

With such a great fight ending in dramatic fashion it was only a matter of time before the two would meet again. While O’Breen made successful defences against Jochen Bellof and Mal Beswick, Keane was working his way back to the title despatching Dominick Oppenheimer and Xavi Castillejo. Thus their rematch was set for the big end of year show in 2000.

 

Keane came out and controlled the first round seemingly getting settled for another competitive five round war. One minute and thirty four seconds into the second round though Keane was caught in an armbar and O’Breen made it 2 – 0 against the fan favourite.

 

That would however be O’Breen’s last British Cage Fighting performance as American juggernaut GAMMA came calling. Just two fights into his GAMMA career O’Breen has already won their Lightweight title and now sits as the number 2 Lightweight in the World and a genuine pound for pound contender.

 

Following O’Breen’s decision to leave and vacate the title matches were made for April of 2001 that would determine the future of the division. Nigel Collett lost to former Champion Keane, while Jochen Bellof knocked out Dominick Oppenheimer. The two winners would go on to meet just two months later.

 

Keane was determined to win back the belt that meant so much to him and he took less than five minutes to do so, stopping Bellof towards the end of the first round. Subsequent first round victories in defence of the title, against Brian Hirst and George Astaire, have seen Keane spark debate over what would happen if he did get the chance to complete the trilogy with O’Breen.

 

The WEFF Debacle

 

When Oranje Media Group completed their purchase of the failing Women’s Extreme Fighting Federation at the back end of 2002 they promised to rebuild the Company and lift it to new heights. Television deals were talked about and assurances were made that OMG would not stop until they had made a success of the project.

 

Little more than a month later the promotion had been closed down with most of the fighter’s contracts terminated. But why?

 

A press release issued by OMG listed a handful of contracts that had been retained and tellingly, was accompanied by the announcement that the organisation planned to start taking BCF’s shows right across the UK, not just in London. In the same breath OMG officials were insisting the Company now had no plans to promote Women’s Mixed Martial Arts in the near future.

 

UK MMA journalist John “Boy” Richardson published a damning article soon after that suggested the purchase was nothing more than an attempt to gain the sort of competitive credibility the Company had failed to achieve last time they attempted to grow their business outside of London. Essentially if they could retain contracts for some of the more highly ranked female stars their business would be seen as more relevant. Conversely the relevance of Women’s MMA would be called into question with only the much smaller Xtreme Cage Combat in the USA left to promote Women’s fighting.

 

Richardson insisted that in one ill-advised, ego-centric move OMG had irreversibly damaged the future of Women’s MMA. Time will tell just how true that statement will turn out to be.

 

The Future

 

What does it hold? With BCF looking to promote their show nationally, and with a more secure Television deal heading into 2003, the Company is now perceived to be the number 4 promotion in the industry. They have seemingly alienated large sections of the MMA media, and outside of the UK fan support seems almost non-existent. With the controversial OMG at the helm there's a lot of work to be done to ensure the future remains Oranje

[Jayden]

BCF RANKINGS – January 2003

 

FEATHERWEIGHT

 

Champion: Vacant

 

1 – Kenji Akita (15-1)

 

2 – Aidan McHugh (16-0)

 

3 – Graeme Sparx (16-0)

 

4 – Freddy Lomax (13-0)

 

5 – Louie Sullivan (11-0)

 

6 – Zuenir Merquior (17-1)

 

7 – Stephen Conti (7-0)

 

8 – Jay Dorridge (15-1)

 

9 – Arturo Diaz (19-4)

 

10 – Ivano Ancic (4-1)

 

LIGHTWEIGHT

 

Champion: Jake Keane (28-6)

 

<IMG SRC="

http://i48.tinypic.com/33cw1hs.gif"

ALIGN="left">

1 – Mal Beswick (6-1)

 

2 – Cyril Kamoze (16-0)

 

3 – Sid Morgan (10-0)

 

4 – Pedro Smith (10-0)

 

5 – Folke Dalen (5-1)

 

6 – George Astaire (12-7)

 

7 – Goncalves Cassaro (10-4)

 

8 – Nigel Collett (6-2)

 

9 – Xavi Castillejo (7-3)

 

10 – Johan Kavli (7-1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

WELTERWEIGHT

 

Champion: Vikram Sithalayan (22-3)

 

<IMG SRC="

http://i46.tinypic.com/o85ksw.gif"

ALIGN="left">

1 – Iain Fussell (10-1)

 

2 – Mills Mullally (17-5)

 

3 – Timothy Latchkey (8-1)

 

4 – David Webb (16-5)

 

5 – Martin Cupples (11-3)

 

6 – Will Kane (17-6)

 

7 – Stian Agdestein (7-1)

 

8 – Gordon Idle (13-5)

 

9 – Grant Kyle (14-0)

 

10 – Ragnar Gunnlaugsson (5-2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

MIDDLEWEIGHT

 

Champion: Ivor Orr (7-2)

 

<IMG SRC="

http://i46.tinypic.com/4kcwig.gif"

ALIGN="left">

1 – Rob Baines (31-12)

 

2 – Ramon da Silva Ramos (11-2)

 

3 – Tuck Durdell (12-1)

 

4 – Hans-Peter Schneider (14-8)

 

5 – Edgar van den Hoogenband (11-3)

 

6 – Henning Olsen (14-7)

 

7 – Ram Phookan (10-5)

 

8 – Jens Halle (15-6)

 

9 – Ginger Beaumont (6-2)

 

10 – Osvald Kikkas (10-2)

 

 

 

 

 

LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT

 

Champion: Zvonimir Asanovic (34-4)

 

<IMG SRC="

http://i50.tinypic.com/68uba1.gif"

ALIGN="left">

1 – Curt Kitson (15-1)

 

2 – Tikhon Diev (10-2)

 

3 – Makhak Kirakosyan (7-3)

 

4 – Crow Leddy (7-2)

 

5 – Garry McSweegan (21-10)

 

6 – Yoritomo Ina (24-13)

 

7 – Murray O’Hare (7-4)

 

8 – Jethro Munter (13-9)

 

9 – Daniel Hornsby (13-6)

 

10 – Volker Herzog (4-2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

HEAVYWEIGHT

 

Champion: Renato (9-0)

 

<IMG SRC="

http://i46.tinypic.com/339hkrn.gif"

ALIGN="left">

1 – Jacco Landeweerd (9-2)

 

2 – Carter Potter (18-7)

 

3 – Sylvester Collins (10-3)

 

4 – Iancu Trailescu (8-3)

 

5 – Mark Bicknell (11-4)

 

6 – Guy Broom (5-2)

 

7 – Fritz Phipps (7-3)

 

8 – Kerlon Guerra de Bastos (9-4)

 

9 – Percy Catcher (10-4)

 

10 – Reynolds Baer (8-6)

[Jayden]

<IMG SRC="

http://i48.tinypic.com/2cdwiv7.gif"

ALIGN="left">

TUCK’S DATE WITH EVERLASTING DESTINY AS BCF GO NATIONAL

 

BCF have confirmed their final lineup for the 17th February card in Manchester, headlined by

Ivor Orr (7-2)

making the first defence of the Middleweight Title against

“the Everlasting” Tuck Durdell (12-1)

. The 25-year-old Challenger who fights out of the Strike Force camp has always believed it is his destiny to wear Gold. Durdell had no problems fighting in the UK to achieve his goals, moving to the UK part-time in 2000. The bout promises to be a war of attrition with both fighters displaying punishing ground 'n' pound in previous BCF fights. After all it was that sort of vicious assault that led to the Champion stopping four of his last five opponents on his way to claiming the BCF Title.

 

The Middleweight division is further showcased in the co-main event as two men looking to rebuild their careers hope to take one step closer to the belt.

Henning Olsen (14-7)

has rebounded from early losses in his BCF career to earn back to back decision victories over Pierce Jeeler and Tucker Plumm. His opponent, former BCF Champion

Edgar van den Hoogenband (11-3)

has every reason to back himself in a striking battle with any fighter in the World and will be desperate to get back on the winning trail after almost a year away from the cage.

 

Elsewhere

Jochen “the Barrage” Bellof (8-5)

moves down to Featherweight to try and regain momentum as he takes on Sunderland’s undefeated prospect

Louie Sullivan (11-0)

. At Lightweight

Hokusai Araki (7-2)

and

Mal “Bad Intentions” Beswick (6-1)

will face off, both men coming into the fight off a win last time out. Slugging Rowley Regis Heavyweight

Howard Pursglove (10-8)

takes on

“the Halifax Smasher” Linton Renn (7-4)

in a “blink and you might miss it” battle of the big men. The six fight card is completed by the Lightweight contest between rising stars, Ireland’s

Geraint O’Connell (3-0)

and Milton Keynes’

Neil Entopolski (4-0)

.

 

The event marks the first since the Oranje Media Group closed down WEFF and gives British Cage Fighting a much needed opportunity to garner fan interest for the right reasons.

[Brycec03]

Looks great! Like the write ups, real good so far

[Jayden]

<IMG SRC="

http://i49.tinypic.com/w1ehid.gif"

ALIGN="left">

CONTRACT SPECULATION A THING OF THE PAST AS CURT KITSON HEADLINES APRIL SHOW

 

British Cage Fighting announced this week that their second show of 2003 – 4th April in Birmingham – will be headlined by Light-Heavyweights

Crow Leddy (7-2)

and

Curt Kitson (15-1)

. With sources close to the Company hinting that the winner could be in line for a shot at the Light-Heavyweight title, currently held by Zvonimir Asanovic, Kitson talked in great length about the current state of his career and the new focus that he hopes will drive him on to regaining the 205lb strap.

 

Kitson has already set up camp with Rob Baines Fighting, home to some of the UK’s top talents such as Baines himself, David Webb and more recently Ian Fussell, in preparation for the fight.

 

“I’m back in the game now ya know. I lost my way but these bunch of b#?tards are kicking it out of me daily. People need to remember this is my Division. Yoritomo (Ina) never beat me ya know. I beat myself.”

 

And it was that loss, in August of 2001, that shocked fans of British MMA ending a run of five straight title defences that spanned over four years. Looking back now Kitson admits he got lazy but suggested that other factors were distracting him from the task in hand.

 

“Things weren’t right before I fought (Daniel) Hornsby the second time. A lotta sh#t got talked from a lotta people that didn’t know what was going on. I’ve spent the best part of two years negotiating with BCF, OMG, van der Reefers, whoever just to keep fighting here. It’s been a fight by fight deal but now that’s in the past. I’m signed into a multi-fight deal now and that means I’m sticking around long enough to get my belt back.”

 

There is no question that a win over Leddy would get him closer to another Title shot. Leddy's two career defeats have come against fighters Kitson knows pretty well, Tikhon Diev and Daniel Hornsby, but he boasts a 4-2 record in the BCF cage and carries the sort of power capable of springing upsets.

 

More details regarding the full card are expected in the coming weeks with rumours flying that the show could see the crowning of BCF’s first ever Featherweight Champion.

[Jayden]

Durdell Throttles the Engine to Become Middleweight Champion; Featherweight King to be Crowned in April

 

<IMG SRC="

http://i47.tinypic.com/6qxwdz.gif"

ALIGN="left">UK MMA’s favourite Canadian resident

Tuck Durdell (13-1)

became the 7th Middleweight Champion in BCF history, finishing

Ivor “the Engine” Orr (7-3)

in the 3rd round of their title bout this past weekend in front of a 4203 strong crowd in Manchester. Two uneventful rounds had passed when Durdell caught Orr in a guillotine coming out of a scramble. Seven seconds later his arm was being raised and a title belt was on its way to the ring.

 

Earlier in the night OMG Vice-President Steffen van der Reefers made an announcement regarding the Featherweight division. Upcoming in April at the Kitson Vs Leddy show the Company would crown its first ever Featherweight Champion as

Kenji Akita (15-1)

and

Aidan McHugh (16-0)

will fight for the belt. The two men entered the cage and chose an intense stare down over a handshake.

 

In the co-main event of the evening

Henning Olsen (14-8)

and

Edgar van den Hoogenband (12-3)

battered each other for the best part of three rounds in the Fight of the Night. Neither man tried to take the fight to the ground, intent on trading punches, kicks, elbows and… knees, one in particular leaving a spectacular mark on the show. With three minutes and thirty seconds gone in the third round van den Hoogenband exploded out of a Muay Thai clinch with a knee that had Olsen out cold before VDH dropped him to the floor and won the Knockout of the Night award.

 

Elsewhere

Jochen Bellof (8-6)

failed to stop his losing run in his Featherweight debut, outboxed for three rounds by undefeated

Louie Sullivan (12-0)

. At Lightweight

Mal Beswick (7-1)

impressed in a third round submission win over

Hokusai Araki (7-3)

. The judging of the Heavyweight bout between

Howard Pursglove (11-8)

and

Linton Renn (7-5)

drew the ire of the Manchester crowd as Pursglove was given a questionable split decision victory.

Neil Entopolski (5-0)

looked fantastic in obliterating

Geraint O’Connell (3-1)

in the opening bout, taking just two minutes and twenty four seconds to stop his Irish opponent.

 

Full Results

Tuck Durdell (13-1) def. Ivor Orr (7-3) Sub 2:31 Rd3

Edgar van den Hoogenband (12-3) def. Henning Olsen (14-8) KO 3:30 Rd3

Louie Sullivan (12-0) def. Jochen Bellof (8-6) 30-27:30-27:30-27

Mal Beswick (7-1) def. Hokusai Araki (7-3) Sub 2:13 Rd3

Howard Pursglove (11-8) def. Linton Renn (7-5) 29-28:28-29:29-28

Neil Entopolski (5-0) def. Geraint O'Connell (3-1) TKO 2:24 Rd1