Line-up:

CR World Middleweight title: Anderson Silva vs. Curtis Stout
Vitor Belfort vs. Antony Rea
Mark Weir vs. Akira Shoji
Matt Lindland vs. Antonio ‘Nino’ Schembri
Alex Reid vs. Daijiro Matsui
Mark Epstein vs. Brian Adams
Sol Gilbert vs. Xavier Foupa Pokam
Robbie Oliver vs. Chris Freebourne
Robert Berry vs. Marc Goddard
Darren Guisha vs. Ross Mason
Dave Lageno vs. Alan Murdoch
Michihiro Omigawa vs. Gesias Cavalcanti
Dean Bray vs. Nigel Whitear
Paul Daley vs. Joey Van Wanrooij
Mark Buchanan vs. Ryan White

Preview:

CR World Middleweight title: Anderson Silva vs. Curtis Stout

While UFC56 featured a couple of great fighters defending their titles against opponents who simply weren’t ready, Cage Rage 14 is headlined by the best and most logical title fight the promotion could possibly book.  Silva (13-3) makes the second defence of his belt against Stout (10-6-1), a challenger who has more than earned his shot.  Stout has looked simply phenomenal in his CR career.  His CR10 debut started off slowly as he and Sol Gilbert spent far more time on the mat than anyone really expected but just 0:20 into the second round the fight was over.  Gilbert’s lights were completely out, his eyes wide and staring up at the lights and his neck snapping gruesomely off a corner of the cage as he fell helpless to the floor.  All the result of a single, perfect, left hook.  Easily one of the year’s most devastating KOs, Stout followed it up with an ever better performance as he absolutely destroyed Mark Weir in 1:45.  Again, that left hook did the damage, although he landed a couple more shots on the unconscious Weir before referee Grant Waterman could haul him away.  Then, at CR13, Stout just obliterated Chute Boxe veteran in 15 ferocious seconds – whipping him with a vicious leg kick, a flurry of hooks and then a few more for good measure on the ground.  Sheer, brutal artistry from the Kansas City fighter, that left the Brazilian unconscious and laying on the mat for several minutes.  The Castro fight completed an incredible turnaround for the likeable Stout, after a 2004 that saw him go 1-3.  True, his camp still bitterly disputes the decision in his TKO17 fight with David Loiseau, but there’s no doubting what happened against Trevor Prangley and Rich Franklin.  Stout was soundly beaten in both fights.  The South African born AKA wrestler extracting the submission with a nasty neck crank and the former Cincinnati schoolteacher dominating from start to finish.  Stout’s recent history has seen him lose only to the very best, and the champion definitely fits into that category.

Silva, already a masterful Muay Thai stylist has worked on his BJJ and boxing of late, spending most of his time in training working on his ground skills and make his pro boxing debut in August with a second round KO.  In his last fight, and first defence of this title, Silva was incredible.  He picked apart Jorge Rivera with an ease and precision you only see from fighters of his calibre.  An almost flawless showing from the champion saw him TKO Rivera 3:35 into the second round, after a fast and accurate barrage of knees and punches.  It seemed his only weak pointing that fight was his ability to cope with Rivera’s sheer strength and clear size advantage.  Silva is not a big middleweight and Rivera was able to physically move him around and bull him into the fence.  This is exactly what Stout, who walks around at 210 pounds or more, needs to do.  Stout is also a better wrestler than Silva and as, Ryo Chonan showed last New Year’s Eve, if someone continually harasses Silva on the mat, constantly striking and working for position they can nullify his striking advantages.  Stout needs to follow that example too, although a leg scissor takedown/heel hook combo would probably be unwise.  Stout is a much better striker than Chonan too and obviously has a better chin.  His main problem could be Silva’s speed and accuracy.  As Silva showed in winning the vacant title against Lee Murray a little over a year ago, once he gets into a rhythm its incredibly difficult to shake him out of it.  He displayed similar qualities against Jeremy Horn last summer as well.  Apart from his professional; debut 5 years ago, Silva’s only defeats have come against Japanese fighters with noted submission skills.  Stout is unlikely to catch Silva with a submission or really even try for one and if he did its probable the champion has learned his lesson from the Chonan and Daiju Takase upsets anyway.  This looks like being an excellent fight and with so many different angles its tough to pick a winner.  Will Stout’s size, wrestling, recent form and that huge left hook give him the edge?  How about Silva’s speed, skill and improving ground game?  Well, for me, Silva’s speed and reflexes may just be the decider.  They should help him avoid Stout’s short, powerpacked punches while enabling him to counter with strikes of his own.  Also, Stout has been stopped three times before so can clearly be hurt.  Look for Silva to defend his belt with another great display in what should be his toughest and most competitive CR fight to date.

PREDICTION: Silva by decision after three rounds.

Vitor Belfort vs. Antony Rea

Things have not gone well for Belfort (12-6) of late.  The former teenage sensation has lost 4 of his last 6 fights, and his only successes since 2001 have been the UFC46 'win' over Randy Couture, where the stitching of Belfort's glove and Couture's eyelids collided and gifted him a fluke win, and his masterful UFC43 annihilation of Marvin Eastman.  Aside from those fights, he pushed Chuck Liddell to the limit in a very good fight at UFC37.5 before losing by decision, took a right old beating from Couture at UFC49 and (finally) went to war with Tito Ortiz at UFC51 before falling prey to Alistair Overeem's dreaded guillotine choke in Pride's Middleweight Grand Prix.  In fact, for all the internet hype and predictable stuff about the 'old Vitor', Belfort has only actually looked impressive against Liddell, Eastman, and in the first half of the Ortiz fight, since his stunning 44 second destruction of Wanderlei Silva way back in 1998.  An undoubtedly gifted fighter, Belfort just seems to have flaws his opponents can capitalise on.  Whether it's his apparent lack of stamina (he gassed out badly after laying a real beating on Ortiz early on in their fight), his frequent hand injuries or his often uninspring ground game.  Throw in what appears at times to be a crippling lack of self-belief and it's not so surprising Belfort has disappointed the pundits who, in 1997 proclaimed the seemingly unstoppable teenage whirlwind, the very future of the sport.  Of course, many things have changed since the young Belfort, who looked juiced up to the eyeballs back then, smashed his way through the opposition.  Belfort is older, lighter, has years of hard fights and training behind him, he's injury-prone and of course, the sport itself has evolved tremendously.  With every passing false dawn it becomes less and less likely the 'old Vitor' is really back.  But if the 'old Vitor' really is gone for good, what of the man who makes his European debut here?  Belfort still has fast hands, genuine knockout power (Ortiz later admitted he was briefly bashed senseless and only survived on instinct) and has faced so many top fighters, in so many high-pressure situations that little can really surprise him once the fight starts.  All this and he's still only 27 years old.  Belfort may be one of the most overrated fighters around but beneath all the hype, there remains a very,very dangerous fighter.

The French authorities have done a lot of silly things over the years and the ludicrous ban on MMA events is one of them.  But their loss is the UK's gain as British events have played host to plenty of high quality French fighters in the last few years.  And none of them have as much potential to really break into world class as Rea (9-4).  A longtime training partner of Kristof Middoux and Jerome LeBanner, 'the Wild Thing' is a big, powerful, intelligent, heavy-handed striker.  And he has looked extremely impressive in his 3 CR fights to date.  Pitched in with the fearsome Evangelista 'Cyborg' Santos at CR10, Rea weathered the initial storm of punches from the ultra-aggressive Brazilian veteran and although clearly hurt, defended himself extremely well before taking advantage of 'Cyborg's' lack of conditioning to pummel him to a second round defeat.  That win was enough for people to sit up and take notice of Rea, and he followed it up by stopping Pierre Guillet at CR11.  After a pretty even first round, Rea just battered his opponent early in the second for another TKO win.  A somewhat surprising loss to the much shorter Eastman followed in July as Rea travelled to Texas and came home the loser by fourth round TKO.  In his most recent fight at CR13, Rea utterly dominated late substitute Remus Ciobnu before choking him out late in the first.  If Rea continues his streak of excellent CR performances, this will almost certainly not be the easy win many American fans might expect.  Physically, Rea matches up well with Belfort - broad shouldered and powerful, he also seems to have better stamina.  Belfort appears to have the better chin though and if he lands a barrage of punches early on, this one could be over very quickly.  Rea has been stopped before (including a 2002 loss to Rich Franklin where he wobbled the future UFC superstar early on) and Belfort certainly has the tools to do it here.  If Rea can survive the opening few minutes and extend the fight beyond the halfway mark, then things will get very interesting.  All logic says Belfort should win this one handily - compare their fights with Marvin Eastman, look at how much experience he has, against such high quality fighters, or the first few minutes of the Ortiz fight or the new CR rules that ban elbows - but something tells me Rea has a genuine chance of pulling off a real shocker.  I’m going for Rea to withstand the early onslaught and slowly wear Belfort down for a TKO win (on cuts) in what would surely be a career-making result.

PREDICTION: Rea by TKO midway through the third.

Mark Weir vs. Akira Shoji

Two very experienced, very different veterans clash in one of the night’s major attractions as Weir (16-9) faces ‘Mr. Pride (12-12-5).  Shoji has only fought outside Japan twice before – and he won them both.  In 2002 he armbarred David Roberts in KOTC and 14 months later decisioned Dustin Denes in Florida.  He’s also clocked up a ridiculous 22 Pride appearances (perhaps even more than that barmy woman who SCCCRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREAMS everyone’s name) and in doing so faced some excellent fighters and MMA legends.  He’s gone the distance with Renzo Gracie, Igor Vovchanchyn, Mark Coleman, Jeremy Horn and Paulo Filho.  The short, stubborn grappler has also lost inside the distance to Dan Henderson, Semmy Schilt, Filho, both Rua brothers and Dean Lister.  His wins are less notable, even though he’s decisioned Guy Mezger, Ebenezer Fontes Braga and Alex Stiebling (a close one but he deserved it).  The slimmer, trimmed down Shoji was meant to be a force in Pride: Bushido but he’s gone 1-4 since dropping the excess fat with his only win a quick and brutal pasting of utterly hopeless middle-aged former Sumo, Tsuyoshi Tamakairiki.  Shoji has always had trouble with tall strikers, even if his near-legendary toughness often saw him through to the bitter end, and this should be no exception.

Gloucester’s finest, Weir looked to be well past his best after being knocked unconscious by Curtis Stout’s vicious left hook at CR11.  That was 4 losses in a row for the former UFC employee.  Matt Lindland had elbowed him to defeat, Gabriel Santos lay on him for 15 minutes and Alex Serdyukov had tapped him out.  He’d also been stopped by Jorge Rivera, sparked out by David Loiseau and tapped by Gregory Bouchelaghem and Philip Miller since his stunning Zuffa debut at UFC38.  Many thought it was time for one of the UK’s greatest fighters to either retire or step away from international competition.  Matched up with Sol Gilbert at CR12 for the vacant CR British Middleweight belt he seemed to have entered a new phase in his career.  But, a rejuvenated Weir gave Gilbert a frightful beating, forcing his corner to surrender after the second round.  Then at CR13, Weir demolished U-File fighter Kyosuke Sasaki in 1:52 with a merciless barrage of strikes.  That latest win, over a much shorter, slower opponent, could be very instructive here.  Shoji simply doesn’t have the range of striking skills, the speed or the size to stand with Weir.  His only chance is to take him down and work him over on the ground.  But even that won’t be easy.  Against Serdyukov at WEC14, Weir showed off some great submission defence, some excellent wrestling, almost caught the Russian with a guillotine and appeared to land punches and kicks at will until tiring and falling prey to a well-worked arm triangle choke.  Much busier than Shoji of late (this will be his 12th fight since the start of 2004, compared to Shoji’s 4th), with two excellent performances behind him and a blatantly obvious striking advantage, this should be Weir’s fight.  Shoji’s grappling skills are always a danger and I expect to have moments of control, but Weir should be able to dictate the pace of the fight and land enough kicks and punches to beat the resistance out of Shoji.  Look for Weir to win by stoppage, possibly on cuts, in comfortable fashion.

PREDICTION: Weir by TKO early in the third

Matt Lindland vs. Antonio ‘Nino’ Schembri

Team Quest standout Lindland (15-3) makes a welcome return to the UK after his well-publicised firing by Zuffa to face BJJ master Schembri (3-3).  Some fans have criticised recently crowned CR World Lightweight Champion Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Ribeiro for being a boring fighter.  If he’s boring that surely leaves few words to adequately describe the excruciatingly dull and constantly negative Schembri.  A sublimely talented BJJ practitioner with legendary submission skills in grappling competition, his move to Chute Boxe was supposed to improve his poor stand-up skills.  He can certainly stand with his opponents better these days.  The problem is, he doesn’t actually seem to initiate any offence most of the time.  He just stands there.  Currently mired in a 3-fight losing streak, Schembri really needs to be much more aggressive here in his first non-Pride fight.  Despite his comprehensive decision loss in their rematch, ‘Nino’ is still living off his headbutt-assisted TKO of Kazushi Sakuraba back in early 2003.  Since that fluky win, in a fight where the Japanese legend was literally toying with him, he’s also lost to a debuting Kazuhiro Nakamura (who has done little of note since) and Ryo Chonan in predictably sleep-inducing fights.  The Nakamura fight at least had the Takada Dojo ‘revenge storyline’ to make it interesting but the Chonan fight was 15 minutes of pure misery for the audience.  This match with Lindland, another fighter often accused of being boring could prove unpopular with the live crowd, despite the technical mastery of both participants in their original sports.

Greco-Roman silver medallist in the 2000 Olympics, Lindland is one of the sport’s very best wrestlers.  He’s by far the best wrestler to ever fight in the UK.  Currently riding a 4-fight winning run, ‘the Law’ has been efficient, if unspectacular in recent wins over Joe Doerksen and Travis Lutter.  He’s also walked through an overmatched Landon Showalter and, in his first CR fight, displayed some classic GnP against Mark Weir on his way to a straightforward, dominant TKO win.  An aggressive, ever-evolving fighter, Lindland tends to throw a few more unexpected things like high kicks into the mix these days.  His striking still looks sloppy but it’s effective at setting up takedowns and is superior to Schembri’s.  Extremely powerful and with an excellent understanding of the leverage needed to take his opponents down, Lindland is a formidable fighter.  How he will adapt his GnP game without elbows (no longer allowed in CR) is open to question though.  He also needs to be very careful as the last time he faced anyone even vaguely as talented in BJJ as ‘Nino’ he tapped out for the only time in his professional career, losing to Murilo Bustamante at UFC37.  But it’s likely he’ll find a way to just physically harass and bully Schembri throughout the fight, chasing, striking and taking him down and then using his busy hands and excellent ground control to grind out a win.  Given Schembri’s negative attitude and defensive skills this fight will probably go the distance, but with Lindland the unquestioned winner.

PREDICTION: Lindland by decision after three rounds.

Alex Reid vs. Daijiro Matsui

Kazushi Sakuraba’s long time training partner Matsui (7-13-3) makes his first visit to the UK to face Reid (7-2), a talented fighter moving up in weight.  Matsui is the ultimate survivor (that’s what years of having to deal with the greatest MMA fighter of all time day in, day out will do for you) and has been in there with some incredible fighters.  The Takada Dojo veteran has gone the distance with Carlos Newton, Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Ebenezer Fontes Braga, Ryo Chonan and Paulo Filho.  He’s also beaten Jose ‘Pele’ Landi-Jons (a hilarious fight which included the all-time classic of grabbing the Brazilian’s ears and bouncing his head off the mat) and shared a ring with Murilo ‘Ninja’ Rua and Igor Vovchanchyn.  Skilled, hugely experienced, and physically bigger, Matsui has all the tools to win his first fight on British soil.  However, the comedic hardman has not looked particularly good of late.  He is coming off a TKO win over PANCRASEism fighter Daisuke Watanabe and a deathly dull draw with Elvis Sinosic but before those fights he lost 3 straight fights, including a rare KO loss against the experienced, but pretty ordinary Brian Foster.  He was also thoroughly outclassed by Filho and soundly beat by Chonan.  Apart from that fight with ‘Pele’, he’s won just 4 fights ‘properly’, in his 8 year career, as he holds disqualification victories over Quinton Jackson and ‘Dirty’ Bob Schrijber.  And those 4 opponents were the ordinary Rick Kerns, the decent Rory Singer, DEEP regular Kazuki Okubo and Watanabe.  All are competent fighters but none are anything like world class opponents.

Reid on the other hand has only really faced world class fighters twice.  Mark Weir stopped him a legendary war in March 2004 and Jorge Rivera blitzed him in 41 stunning seconds at CR10 in February this year.  A fast, accurate puncher with an underrated ground game, he’s also coming off a controversial win over another Japanese fighter, Kyosuke Sasaki.  That one, at CR12 saw Sasaki dominate until a few bizarre moments involving what may or may not have been an illegal knee by Reid, a serious cut opened up on Sasaki’s head, some confusing refereeing and general chaos.  In the end everything seemed sorted out but it was an unsatisfactory win for a talented fighter like Reid who holds much more impressive submission wins over Matt Ewin and Jean Francois Lenogue.  Of course, he’d be nuts to try out his grappling skills with Matsui and his best bet is keep the fight standing to take advantage of Matsui’s weaker stand-up.  It’s doubtful he’ll be able to do that for a full 3 rounds though and once on the mat he could be in trouble.  Matsui may not be the best finisher in the world but he’s excellent at controlling his opponent and nullifying their skills.  If he can do that with Reid and the Englishman gets frustrated then Matsui may just pull off the first submission win of his career.  Perhaps, perhaps not.  But he is more than good enough to earn a decision.

PREDICTION: Matsui by decision after three rounds.

Mark Epstein vs. Brian Adams

London Shootfighters ‘Beast’ (8-7) has been here before.  At CR7 Epstein was facing a fresh, relatively untested fighter many expected him to batter.  Then it was a 2-0 Mike Bisping, now it’s a 4-0 Brian Adams.  Many felt that fight was too much too soon for Bisping and many feel the same for Adams, but Bisping battered Epstein in a real back-and-forth war.  Can Adams repeat the trick?  Well, he’s scored a pair of TKO wins and a pair of submissions with chokes in his short career.  Oh, and none of his fights have gone more than 3 minutes.  Of course, none of his opponents have ever won a professional fight either so this is a big step up in class for Adams.  Still, Epstein has lost 4 of his last 6 fights – two to Bisping, one to Fatih Kocamis and one to Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos.  And he’s been KO’ed or TKO’ed in all of them.  He did bash up Mathias Riccio in his last fight at CR12 but for an iron-chinned fighter, ‘the Beast’ seems to be losing quite a few inside the distance.  Adams could well be catching him at exactly the right time as all those hard, hard fights (both in and out of the cage) may be catching up with the ever-popular Londoner.  The problem for Adams is that Epstein has been in there with so many good fighters – Bisping, ‘Cyborg’, Moise Rimbon and Travis Lutter spring to mind.  The problem for Epstein is they’ve all beaten him.  There’s a chance Adams will seize this massive opportunity with both fists, and bludgeon Epstein to defeat but the likeliest outcome is a win for ‘the Beast’.  Still, every show should have an upset or two and if anyone has the raw potential to pull one off here, its Adams.

PREDICTION: Adams by TKO late in the first round.

Sol Gilbert vs. Xavier Foupa Pokam

Brighton puncher Gilbert (6-3-1) hopes to bounce back from a pair of heavy defeats against high quality opposition as he faces French striker Pokam (7-5) in a fight that could easily steal the show.  Few British MMA fighters have the kind of boxing background, skill and technique Gilbert possesses.  Those skills didn’t help much against Curtis Stout or Mark Weir though.  Actually Gilbert was doing well against Stout until the American unleashed 2005’s most violently picturesque KO at CR10 but last time out, at CR12 Gilbert came up short in every department.  Dominated from start to finish by the veteran Weir, Gilbert’s corner refused to let him come out for the final round.  Many had tipped Gilbert to beat Weir as a string of poor results had left ‘the Wizard’ looking well past his prime.  But Weir took the vacant British middleweight belt with great display of technique and controlled aggression.  So Gilbert returns 5 months later with an easier, though still very dangerous fight against the Frenchman.  ‘Professor X’, a former welterweight who looks about 7 foot tall, fought just a couple of weeks ago in Japan’s DEEP promotion, coming away with a split decision.  While Gilbert has lost two in a row, Pokam has won his last two, but before that he dropped 3 straight, including being hammered by Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley at CR7.  Very tall, with long limbs, Pokam will try and use his Muay Thai skills to keep the shorter Gilbert at a distance.  That might work for a while but once Gilbert gets inside and fires off some of his short, powerful hooks, Pokam’s chin will be tested.  Also, Gilbert, while primarily defensive on the ground has underrated mat skills and pulled off a slick armbar to beat Jean Francois Lenogue at CR8.  Gilbert will need to regroup and develop further before he’s ready for the likes of Stout and Weir but he should be able to beat Pokam in what will most likely be yet another entertaining CR slugfest.

PREDICTION: Gilbert KO2 Pokam

Robbie Oliver vs. Chris Freebourne

For all the amazing talent on this show, there’s just something missing.  And that’s Brad ‘One Punch’ Pickett.  CR’s British Featherweight Champion was due to defend his title against Olivier but a training injury means CR is missing it’s local ticket seller and Pickett’s streak of fighting on every single show ends at five.  A real pity for Oliver (10-5-1) as not only was he booked for a title fight, but most insiders felt he’d be too experienced and too skilled for the new titleholder.  Now he faces the only man to have beaten Pickett, as he meets ‘fight anyone, anytime’ warrior Freebourne (5-13).  ‘The Flame’ Oliver may not have fought in just over a year but is coming off three impressive wins, including choking out Samy Schiavo at CR7 and KOing Dave Elliot at CR9, and will simply be too good for ‘the Freak’.  Freebourne has gone 1-3 since exposing Pickett’s mat weaknesses (which have improved greatly since) at CR10 in February.  And while he has some decent wins behind him and has improved immeasurably since his early career, he tends to lose against high quality fighters.  And Oliver is certainly that.  Look for Oliver to outclass him and win in dominant fashion.

PREDICTION: Oliver by submission midway through the first.

Robert Berry vs. Marc Goddard

The biggest and best heavyweight clash on this show features the terrifying Berry (5-2) facing Birmingham based veteran Goddard (5-5) in a major clash of styles.  Tattooed Northern hardman ‘Buzz’ Berry is an absolute monster, coming off a dominant win (despite an early knockdown) over 300 pound plus Frenchman Mohamed Diakite in October.  That fight saw him return to winning form after a July mauling from Tengiz Tedoradze.  Before running into the Georgian GnP machine Berry had reeled off a string of quick, brutal wins.  Kuljit Degun lasted just 21 seconds, Andy Costello stayed in there for 82 seconds in a wild brawl at CR11, Andy Harby went almost 3 minutes in a sloppy but entertaining slugfest at CR10 and Wil Elworthy was choked out in 25 seconds.  Still raw but immensely strong and violently aggressive, ‘Buzz’ brings a strong following from up North and Goddard could be in real trouble unless he can take the fight to the ground, fast.  Outclassed by the smaller, but highly skilled Henrique ‘Chocolate’ Nogueira in his last fight at CW: Strike Force 3, Goddard is one of those fighters who generally only loses to quality opposition.  Twice battered by rising star James Thompson in 2003 (one of their fights lasted a mere 18 seconds), he’s also lost to Tedoradze.  Like Berry, Goddard has beaten Elworthy by submission and Degun (in just 15 seconds) but has lost 3 of his last 4 fights.  More skilled than Berry on the mat, Goddard simply may not get a chance to fight on his terms.  It won’t be easy and Goddard is certainly dangerous (as well as one of the best referees in the business) but look for Berry to score another quick and explosive win by stoppage.

PREDICTION: Berry by KO late in the first.

Darren Guisha vs. Ross Mason

Unbeaten Guisha (4-0) was originally supposed to fight Phil Norman at CR12 but a late injury forced that fight’s cancellation and instead he faces former middleweight Mason (6-3).  Guisha was the UKMMAC’s welterweight titleholder and was consistently impressive, scoring three wins with strikes and one by decision.  However, none of his opponents to date even have winning records and this fight is a real challenge for him.  Now recovered from the shoulder injury which forced him out of a potentially fascinating fight with James E. Nicolle at CR13, Mason has moved down a weightclass.  Already a very dangerous striker with a decent, if very defensive-minded ground game, Mason should now enjoy a size advantage too.  He lost his last fight CW: Strike Force 2 to Nelson Semedo after a punch by the Portuguese debutant floored him heavily and shattered his nose.  A few seconds later the fight was stopped on doctor’s orders.  It was a real shame for Mason, particularly as he was coming off a very impressive win over Damien Riccio at CR11.  Mason’s only other losses have come against international opposition in Dutch veteran Nathan Schouteren and Brazil’s Vitelmo Kubis Bandeira.  Mason has a good takedown defence and some strong Muay Thai skills and should be able to exploit them for the win here, especially as Guisha tends to rely on brute power more than technique at this stage of his career.

PREDICTION: Mason by KO midway through the second.

Dave Lageno vs. Alan Murdoch

Expect fireworks in this undercard heavyweight match as newcomer Dave Lageno takes on Britain’s most ferocious looking man, Alan ‘Mad Rady’ Murdoch (1-2).  A professional for less than a year Murdoch made a remarkable Cage Rage debut at CR12 in July.  Wolfslair standout Tom Blackledge tapped him out with a first round armbar but the intense Murdoch stunned everyone by stubbornly surviving a vicious heel hook that should have him tapping away faster than a demented woodpecker.  Blackledge dominated throughout but Murdoch’s reckless courage has earned him another shot in what should be a real brawl.  A typical CR undercard heavyweight match, this could go either way but I suspect Murdoch’s greater professional experience will see him to victory.

PREDICTION: Murdoch by TKO late in the first.

Michihiro Omigawa vs. Gesias Cavalcanti

Cage Rage shows sometimes feature the most unexpected fights and this is definitely one of them.  Hidehiko Yoshida protégé Omigawa (0-1) meets one of American Top team’s seemingly never-ending stream of Brazilian fighters in Cavalcanti (6-1-1).  Rookie MMA fighter Omigawa turns 30 just 12 days after this fight and has some fantastic Judo skills.  Omigawa competed all over the world (though he never made it to the Olympic level) and showed real courage and ability to absorb punishment in his MMA debut at Pride: Bushido 7 in May.  A totally one-sided battering from Hook n’ Shoot and UFC veteran Aaron Riley, the American sparked Omigawa out with a stunning high kick.  Oddly enough, Riley is one of Cavalcanti’s teammates, so Omigawa gets his second crack at ATT here.  But he could be in for another rough night with the highly skilled ‘JZ’.  A Shooto and Hook n’ Shoot veteran, Cavalcanti has fought in Britain before.  Last December he choked out Cengiz Dana just 5 seconds from the final bell after putting on an efficient grappling clinic at a Cage Warriors show.  Coming off a draw with Team Quest wrestler Ryan Schultz at Sportfight 11 in July, the only other blemish on Cavalcanti’s record is a loss to the awesome Joachim ‘Hellboy’ Hansen in 2004.  The Scandinavian star couldn’t put ‘JZ’ away inside the distance either, and had to settle for a majority decision in a close fight.  Like many Japanese fighters, Omigawa is being thrown into deep water to see if he sinks or swims rather than being carefully matched up to build a winning record first.  It’s very likely Omigawa will lose again here but if he can avoid Cavalcanti’s favourite finisher, the guillotine choke, displays the same fighting spirit he did against Riley and can use his Judo skills to their full effect, he can at least survive until the end of the fight and potentially cause ‘JZ’ some problems  Whatever happens, this will be a great learning experience for Omigawa.  He just may have to learn things the hard way.

PREDICTION: Cavalcanti by decision after three rounds.

Dean Bray vs. Nigel Whitear

An interesting welterweight clash sees Bray (1-1) and Whitear (1-4) meet in a fight that should see both fighters receive some noisy support from the crowd.  Both are locals who should shift a few tickets and both need a win here.  Elite fighter Bray (a teammate of Brad Pickett) needs to build on his CR13 performance where he just overwhelmed the ever-controversial Jeremy Bailey with knees and punches for a first round TKO win.  Whitear badly needs the win to snap a three-fight losing streak where he’s been stopped or submitted to strikes in the first round.  Last time out he lasted just 54 seconds against debutant Paul Kelly.  Both Bray and Whitear have lost to John O’ Mally this year, Bray in April where he lasted just 48 seconds and Whitear in September.  In Whitear’s only professional win he showed some decent ground skills and real aggression on his way to a TKO win over Scotland’s Jason Simpson.  The fight was stopped due to Simpson’s broken nose but Whitear had clearly established dominance after some wild early exchanges.  Look for this one to end suddenly as both are likely to come out with sheer aggression from the opening bell.  This is anybody’s fight but I’m going for Whitear to snap that losing streak.

PREDICTION: Whitear by TKO early in the first.

Paul Daley vs. Joey Van Wanrooij

It’s pretty unusual for Roughhouse prodigy ‘Semtex’ Daley (7-3-2) to be the older man, but that’s what he’ll be here against 20 year old Dutch striker Wanrooij (3-0).  A heavy, heavy handed striker, the 22 year old Daley has scored some eye-catching wins with his fists, most notably his hammerings of Xavier Foupa Pokam at CR7 and Jess Liaudin at CR9.  Explosive and full to bursting point with young, raw aggression, Daley has had a few setbacks.  His bitterly contested draws with Abdul Mohamed and Paul Jenkins (CR11) are two, as was his submission loss to Pat Healey at Sportfight 11.  Daley’s US debut (he spent time out there working with ATT) saw him looking very good against the much more experienced Healey before being caught with a guillotine in the second round.  Daley was certainly unlucky not to get the decision against Mohamed but against Jenkins he had a bad night and really, neither man did enough to win.  Still, Daley looked unstoppable in his utter destruction of Sami Berik in June and, in his last fight finished Germany’s Peter Angerer with a vicious knee.  All 7 of Daley’s wins have come by TKO, usually with a referee hauling him away from thoroughly beaten opponent and I expect him to make it 8 in this one.  Wanrooij made his MMA debut in Britain, needing just 60 seconds to score a TKO win in February.  After a first round KO win in Holland he returned to the UK in September and went home with his first submission victory.  Like Daley, Wanrooij is primarily a striker and this fight should be fast, furious a and a real treat for the fist-happy London crowd.  Wanrooij has never faced anyone with Daley’s skills though and ‘Semtex’ looks like a very, very good fighter in the making.

PREDICTION: Daley by TKO early in the second.

Mark Buchanan vs. Ryan White

The evening kicks off with a pair of unbeaten, inexperienced heavyweights as Buchanan (3-0) faces White (1-0).  White made a winning start to his professional career in September, scoring a first round TKO win against fellow debutant Nathan Tao.  Buchanan opened up CR13 as well battering Kuljit Degun in just 1:39, a trick he repeated a month later as he hammered the ‘Asian Sensation’ (who’s on a less than sensational 7 fight losing streak now) to defeat in 1:49.  Buchanan’s other win also came in the first round, a TKO over veteran Adam Woolner in April.  Big, powerful, aggressive and heavy handed, Buchanan should take this one in what could be a quick fight.

PREDICTION: Buchanan by TKO midway through the first.

Predictions Re-cap:

Anderson Silva DEC3 Curtis Stout

Antony Rea TKO3 Vitor Belfort

Mark Weir TKO3 Akira Shoji

Matt Lindland DEC3 Antonio Schembri

Daijiro Matsui DEC3 Alex Reid

Brian Adams TKO2 Mark Epstein

Sol Gilbert KO2 Xavier Fopua-Pokam

Robbie Oliver SUB1 Chris Freebourne

Robert Berry KO1 Marc Goddard

Ross Mason TKO2 Darren Guisha

Alan Murdoch TKO1 Dave Lageno

Gesias Cavalcanti DEC3 Michihiro Omigawa

Nigel Whitear TKO1 Dean Bray

Paul Daley TKO2 Joey Van Wanrooij

Mark Buchanan TKO1 Ryan White