Cage Rage 25: "Bring It On" Results
by Robert Sargent
Cage Rage 25 was not a lucky night for the Shamrocks, as Ken was knocked out by a jab from Robert "Buzz" Berry in the main event, while his son, Ryan, was forced to withdraw after one round of his fight with a broken hand.
The main event marked Ken Shamrock's return to heavyweight, but he was knocked out by a jab, of all things, and his career seems to be hanging on by a thread.
Robert "Buzz" Berry vs "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock
This marked Shamrock's fifth loss in a row, and eighth in his last 11 fights since returning to mixed martial arts after four years in professional wrestling. He is clearly nowhere near the fighter that he once was, and there are rumblings of this being a fixed fight, due to the nature in which Shamrock went down.Both fighters circled each other early on, and this continued for the first 90 seconds, with both throwing occasional strikes and Berry finding a home for his left jab. Shamrock used a punching combination to move in and work for a takedown, but Berry's weight advantage allowed him to easily defend.
Just over three minutes in, Berry started to consistently land jabs, and had Shamrock on the defensive. Berry landed a stiff left jab, then threw a right hook that hit Shamrock's glove, and Shamrock crumpled in a heap. The right hook did not even connect, and the jab clearly did not appear to be hard enough to knock Shamrock out, but Shamrock went down nonetheless. A very bizarre ending to the fight.
Winner: Robert Berry by KO (Jab) at 3:26 of round one. He improves to 12-7-0.
Cage Rage Featherweight Championship
Masakazu "Ashikan Judan" Imanari vs Jean "White Bear" Silva
The champion, Imanari, once again made good use of his vicious leg locks, as he managed to lock in a reverse heel hook that clearly damaged Silva's knee very badly.Imanari opened up the fight with a series of leg kicks, then pulled guard and took the fight to the ground. Silva tried to land strikes from top position, but Imanari kept him at bay, then looked for a gogoplata. Imanari then transitioned into an omoplata shoulder lock and used it to reverse position and land strikes from the top. Soon after, he looked for a heel hook.
Silva gamely defended, first by attempting his own heel hook and then by rolling to escape the pressure, but Imanari switched to a reverse heel hook and rolled the opposite way, putting extreme pressure on Silva's knee and forcing a hasty tapout.
Winner: Masakazu Imanari by Submission (Reverse Heel Hook) at 2:30 of round one. He improves to 14-5-1.
Rob Broughton vs Neil Grove
Grove came out swinging in this battle of super heavyweights, and dominated much of the first round. However, his cardio failed him, and Broughton took rounds two and three to hand Grove his first defeat.In round one, Grove landed numerous leg kicks and punches throughout, with Broughton never seeming to be able to time his strikes just right. Grove had Broughton on the defensive for most of the round, as he pushed the pace and landed strikes at will. Near the end of the round, Grove scored a takedown, but was unable to do anything on the ground.
Rounds two and three were nearly identical to one another, with a fatigued Grove now being used as a punching bag, as Broughton punched and pushed him around. Grove landed occasional retaliatory strikes, but both rounds were clear-cut for Broughton. The judges largely agreed, with two awarding the bout to Broughton and one ruling it a Draw.
Winner: Rob Broughton by Majority Decision after three rounds. He improves to 7-3-1.
Tom "Kong" Watson vs Pierre Guillet
This was a short battle, but ended with an upkick that knocked Guillet senseless and forced the stoppage of the fight.Guillet scored a takedown early in the fight, then landed small strikes from the top as Watson looked for sparse submissions. After a moment, Guillet stood up and went to leap forward to land a jumping punch. However, he was met with an upkick to the orbital bone, which cut him and caused him to turtle up, where he ate a succession of punches before the referee stopped the fight.
Winner: Tom Watson by TKO (Upkick & Punches) at 2:05 of round one. He improves to 5-3-0.
Undercard Fights:
Mustapha al Turk defeated Gary Turner in a heavyweight battle after taking his back and landing a series of punches. Al Turk wins by Submission (Strikes) at 3:19 of round one and improves to 5-3-0.Ivan Serati survived a bullrush from Roman Webber in the opening seconds, then took Webber down and unleashed a barrage of strikes. Serati wins by TKO (Strikes) at 0:48 of round one and improves to 8-2-0.
Henrique "Lagartixa" Santana came back from a first-round knockdown to dominate Michael Johnson in the second and third rounds. Santana wins by Unanimous Decision after three rounds and improves to 5-3-0, 1 NC.
Aisling "Ash the Bash" Daly dominated in her much-anticipated women's bout with Aysen Berik. She scored a quick takedown and rained down punches on an overmatched Berik, forcing Berik's brother to throw in the towel on her behalf. Daly wins by TKO (Corner Stoppage) at 1:49 of round one and improves to 3-0-0.
Ryan Shamrock, son of Ken, controlled much of the striking battle in round one of his fight with Giorgio Andrews, but broke his hand in the process. Unable to continue after round one, Shamrock was forced to retire from the match, giving Andrews the TKO victory. Andrews wins by TKO (Doctor Stoppage - Broken Hand) at 5:00 of round one and improves to 3-0-0.
John Hathaway defeated Marvin Arnold Bleau by TKO (Strikes) at 1:32 of round one to improve to 7-0-0.
John Phillips defeated Jake Bostwick by TKO (Strikes) at 4:10 of round one to improve to 7-1-0.
The controversial main event aside, Cage Rage 25 was a good event, but did not turn out well for the Shamrock family.
