 Some events just seem cursed from the outset. Sometimes it’s promotional and managerial ineptitude and sometimes it’s sheer bad luck. The latest in the Cage Warriors: Strike Force series definitely falls into the last category. Through no fault of their own, the CWFC team have been left with a show stricken by pull-outs and cancellations. It’s bad enough that one of the main events (Martin Kampmann defending his middleweight belt against Gregory Bouchelaghem) was scratched due to a training injury suffered by the champion but Paul Daley’s withdrawal from what promised to be a great fight with David Bielkheden was a huge loss. Hassan Muridi’s health problems and Ian Butlin’s illness ensured two of the night’s most interesting undercard fights are off too. Muridi was lined up for an intriguing rematch with Damien Riccio and Butlin was set for a shoot-out with Sami Berik. But CWFC seems able to cope with more or less anything and with what remains of the original line-up and some recent additions, this event should still provide more than enough high quality action, especially at the top of the card where Antonio Silva and Dan Hardy defend their titles. Wolfslair instructor Mario ‘Sukata’ Neto also makes his Strike Force debut, Finn Fight veteran Jakob Lovstad returns and Bielkheden has a new opponent in Ross ‘the Boss’ Mason. This is going to be another hot night of action in the freezing cold Skydome.
Line-up:
CWFC Super Heavyweight title: Antonio Da Silva vs. Tadas Rimkevicius
CWFC Welterweight title: Dan Hardy vs. Diego Gonzales
Mario Neto vs. Markus Hipp
Jakob Lovstad vs. Henrique Nogueira
David Bielkheden vs. Ross Mason
Samy Schiavo vs. Sami Berik
Jim Wallhead vs. Henning Svendsen
Hakim Gouram vs. Gulyas Zsolt
Alex Cook vs. Marcelo Salazar
Chris Rice vs. Dorian Lapaj
Aaron Behan vs. Israel Costa
CWFC Super Heavyweight title: Antonio Da Silva vs. Tadas Rimkevicius
 The monstrous Antonio’ Pezao’ Da Silva Junior (4-0), co-winner of the 2005 kakutougi.info ‘Rookie of the Year’ award makes the first defence of the CWFC Super-Heavyweight title he won last November against Ruben Villareal. Silva has enormous potential (and hands to match) and must be a nightmare to find opponents for. His combination of sheer size at 6’4” and at least 280 pounds, aggression, heavy hands and grappling skills have seen him absolutely waste Tengiz Tedoradze and smash KOTC veteran Villareal. The first of those was Silva’s stunning 48 second debut and the second was his most recent fight for the vacant title. Silva simply overwhelmed, manhandled and battered the former Greco-Roman Junior World champion from Georgia and easily walked through the Native American with the war paint and the pro wrestling background. In-between those fights he hammered 300+ pound Frenchman Marcus Tchinda and made short work of gigantic fellow Brazilian Rafael Carino at Cage Rage 12. None of Silva’s fights have gone past the 3:07 mark.
Can the unbeaten Rimkevicius (9-0) take the Liverpool-based Brazilian’s belt? Probably not. But he’s a credible challenger. Like Silva, the Lithuanian likes to finish the fight, with just one of his wins coming by decision. Unfortunately, that decision win was in late 2004 against the ancient John Dixon. Not being able to finish the old warhorse does not bode well for his chances against the huge and much more energetic Silva. But Rimkevicius is coming off a pair of inside-the-distance wins. Last September he armbarred the gifted and experienced but inconsistent Roman Savochka and two months later he made short work of chubby Pancrase heavyweight Keigo Takamura, finishing the fight by KO. Rimkevicius may be more experienced but the Lithuanian MMA scene, while lively, hasn’t really given him any opposition like Silva. Rimkevicis may give him problems, but look for the big, big Brazilian to kick off his 2006 with another dominant win.
PREDICTION: Silva by TKO late in the first.
CWFC Welterweight title: Dan Hardy vs. Diego Gonzales
 Recently crowned Welterweight champion Hardy (10-3) makes the first defence of his belt in a genuine grudge match. ‘The Outlaw’ and Gonzales (5-2) first met at CW: Strike Force 3 in October 2005 in an ill-tempered fight that ended with a submission win for Gonzales. Well, it was a win for a while at least. Overturned and declared a No Contest due to some repeated rule breaking from Gonzales (and refereeing ineptitude) these two should finally settle things here. Gonzales’ diving in for a takedown on Hardy at the very beginning of the fight as the Englishman went to touch gloves was horrible sportsmanship and immediately put Hardy on the defensive against a very capable fighter. But it was some vicious elbows to the back of the head (which the referee failed to stop) that really did the damage. With possibly the UK’s finest referee Marc Goddard scheduled to take charge this time around, both fighters can concentrate on their opponent, rather than the rules. And Gonzales is a very good challenger for the title. Aggressive and with a clear edge in submission skills, Gonzales has competed in plenty of grappling tournaments and won all 3 of his 2005 fights by submission. True, none of his opponents on Shooto Finland and Shooto Sweden shows were as accomplished as Hardy but Gonzales was still impressive. Gonzales hasn’t lost since being TKO’ed by Denmark’s talented but inconsistent Kenneth Rosfort in April 2004 in only his third professional fight. But a fired-up Dan Hardy can be a dangerous thing.
 ‘The Outlaw’ is one of Britain’s most exciting fighters. Sometimes vulnerable against a genuinely gifted submission specialist, Hardy is a perpetual striking machine – throwing punches, elbows, kicks and knees in a seemingly never-ending torrent of physical abuse. That’s how he came back from a tough first round against Alexandre Izidro to win by decision (June 2005) and TKO’ed Spain’s Lautaro Arborelo a month later. Hardy’s last loss (7 fights ago) was to undefeated Frenchman David Baron in a typically thrilling fight. Surviving what must have felt like hundreds of submission attempts, Hardy whacked his opponent with some meaty shots before eventually being trapped in a slick triangle choke late in the third. In September last year Hardy showed a more clinical side as well, giving Sami Berik a long, careful beating to pay him back for an online war of words that seemed to have spiralled out of control. Whether he will try and take the same approach with Gonzales over 5 rounds is open to question, but Hardy certainly has the stamina to go 25 minutes. He more than proved that in November’s epic with Matt Thorpe to decide the vacant CWFC Welterweight title at Strike Force 4. Hardy survived some great submission attempts and edged the decision with his wrestling and sheer relentless ferocity of his strikes. If he can put the same kind of pressure on Gonzales, while avoiding the Swede’s submissions, he should be in for a first successful defence of his belt, and a little sweet revenge. Gonzales has never gone past 3 rounds and Hardy is perfectly capable of just draining the fight out of him, wearing him down for a late, and decisive TKO victory.
PREDICTION: Hardy by TKO late in the fourth.
Mario ‘Sukata’ Neto vs. Markus Hipp
 Ultra-experienced Brazilian heavyweight ‘Sukata’ (7-3) made an impressive UK debut earlier this month as he thoroughly controlled and physically dominated Przemyslaw Mysiala, finishing his Polish opponent with an arm triangle late in the first round. Neto, who hadn’t fought in almost 3 years, looked excellent, using powerful takedowns and his ground control to thoroughly wear down his opponent before finishing him off. The head instructor at the highly respected Wolfslair Gym is a powerfully built, highly skilled fighter who should make a huge impact on the British scene. He certainly has the pedigree. A veteran of the mid-1990s Brazilian Vale Tudo scene, ‘Sukata’ has gone 40 minutes with the 1996 version of Dan Severn, been in there with Kevin Randleman (a losing effort in 1997) and also beaten Gary Goodridge, Travis Fulton and TUF2 contestant Seth Petruzelli. In March 2003, ‘Sukata’ displayed his skills and stamina, winning the one-night WAFC tournament in Moscow and putting in more than 40 minutes along the way. He beat Roman Savochka and John Dixon before taking a decision over local favourite Valery Pliev in the final. Markus Hipp could be in big trouble. The German has yet to fight under MMA rules and despite an extensive Muay Thai background, he looks out of his depth here. While he will be dangerous on his feet he just won’t have the skills and experience to stop Neto’s energetic takedowns for long. Once they hit the ground it’s simply a matter of time. Look for ‘Sukata’ to pick up his second submission win in less than 3 weeks.
PREDICTION: Neto by submission midway through the first.
Jakob Lovstad vs. Henrique Nogueira
 Last seen in October taking a good pasting from Michael Bisping, Jakob ‘the Striking Viking’ Lovstad (8-3) returns to Coventry to seek some revenge against Bisping’s Wolfslair teammate Henrique Nogueira (4-3). A veteran of the ‘anything goes’ FinnFight shows, Lovstad is a tough, aggressive fighter who just had the misfortune to run into one of Europe’s brightest stars, and take a 70 second hammering, tapping out to end a furious barrage of punches. Some might question his chin since he was also KO’ed by Mika Ilmen in just 14 seconds back in 2003 but Lovstad was giving up a lot of weight in that one and besides, he just got caught with a great shot. A good finisher, just one of his wins needed the judges’ verdict, Lovstad is comfortable on his feet or on the ground. Against ‘Chocolate’ Nogueira he should probably try staying upright and pound out a win with his fists rather than going to the mat. The Brazilian is on a 3-fight winning streak since being TKO’ed by Moise Rimbon last summer at Strike Force 2. A former training partner of Ricardo Arona and now working with ‘Sukata’ and ‘Pazao’ at the Wolfslair, Nogueira has some excellent defensive skills. His conditioning looked suspect in the Rimbon fight but since then he’s taken all 3 fights by submission, including a sneaky guillotine choke that seemed to come from nowhere in his strike Force 3 win over Marc Goddard. Lovstad will be his toughest opponent since leaving Brazil and while Nogueira should be able to stifle the Norwegian’s submission attempts, he needs to be watching out for those fists. While Lovstad will press the action right from the start, ‘Chocolate’ will probably try and slow things down and frustrate him while looking for an opening for a choke. Lovstad should be prepared for this though and as long as he picks his moments carefully, will be able to land some heavy punches. Once he does, look for him to follow up until the referee hauls him away and declares him the winner by TKO.
PREDICTION: Lovstad by TKO early in the second.
David Bielkheden vs. Ross Mason
 Who needs Paul Daley? OK, that’s a silly exaggeration but if anyone can step in as a substitute for ‘Semtex’, and still offer the fans a real thriller, it’s Ross ‘the Boss’ Mason (7-4). Mason may have been comprehensively dismantled by Chris Lytle at Cage Rage 15 but he’s still a quality fighter and an excellent, well-rounded striker. Lytle’s mastery of Mason was almost as complete as Mason’s own dominance at Cage Rage 14 as he picked apart the raw and aggressive Darren Guisha. Lytle was a huge step up in class for Mason and the Redditch man’s strictly defensive style on the ground was ruthlessly exploited by Lytle on his way to a second round submission win. That was the first time anyone had beaten Mason with such ease in a long time. Spain’s Nelson Semedo looked on his way to a loss until landing a beautiful right hand that broke Mason’s nose and caused the TKO stoppage last summer. Holland’s Nathan Schouteren had to survive some punishment before taking advantage as Mason tired and the Dutchman finished him with punches late in the second round of a cracking fight 18 months ago. With his varied, fast and slick striking, Mason is always dangerous and Scandinavian star Bielkheden (9-3) will need a strong showing to pick up his second straight Strike Force win.
A former middleweight like Mason, Bielkheden should be even more dangerous at the lower weight. In his last fight at CW: Strike Force 3, the Swedish veteran of Shooto and Finn Fight made an impressive British debut against Josenildo ‘Ramarho’ Luquinha. Pounding away on his opponent with heavy right hands in a great display of controlled aggression, Bielkheden punished his Brazilian opponent before finishing with a rear naked choke late in the first. A professional fighter since 2001, Bielkheden has beaten some top Scandinavian competition and in his only trip to the US, battered Charles ‘Chainsaw’ McCarthy into  submission just over 2 years ago. Bielkheden may have lost 3 times but he’s never been stopped, dropping decisions to Arben Lafti, Ryuta Sakurai and Shikou Yamashita. The Lafti fight was Bielkheden’s pro debut over 4 years ago and both Sakurai and Yamashita are quality, experienced fighters. Yamashita in particular had to survive some heavy punches on his way to a majority decision win.
This should be a fantastic fight. Bielkheden is unafraid to stand and trade with anyone and will engage on his feet with Mason but he also has strong wrestling skills and some great single and double leg takedowns. Once on the mat, Bielkheden loves to unleash fierce barrages of punches, whether in his opponents guard, in side mount or taking their backs and smashing away with brutal punches to the back or side of the head. His submission skills are better than Mason’s and Mason will need to stay alert for some very quick armbars and guard passes. Bielkheden has beaten more impressive opposition and is the more well-rounded fighter. He should win this one but Mason’s striking should not be underestimated. Look for an explosive, fast-paced fight full of excitement. And look for Bielkheden to pick up a stoppage win.
PREDICTION: Bielkheden by TKO late in the second.
Samy Schiavo vs. Sami Berik
A late replacement for Ian Butlin, French Cage Rage veteran Schiavo (4-4) faces the eccentric Berik (5-9) in an intriguing match-up that should pit the Frenchman’s high-energy grappling against ‘the Hun’s’ unusual striking and unquestioned fighting spirit. Berik has had more than his share of beatings in the last year or so. Dan Hardy, Abdul Mohamed and Leigh Remedios are among those who have giving him a good kicking but the philosophical Berik takes each fight, no matter what the outcome, as a valuable learning experience. Berik has had his successes though. He smartly elbowed his way to a TKO win on cuts despite being physically dominated by Mohamed in their first meeting at Cage Rage 9 and he edged out a close decision win over unruly kickboxer Jeremy Bailey at Cage Rage 10. Last month Berik was taken apart by Sol Gilbert at CR15 in a fight where his weakness in wrestling was continually exploited by the Brighton puncher and Schiavo’s best strategy is also to get Berik on the ground. That should not be a problem for the talented Frenchman. Schiavo may be coming off a 3-fight losing streak where he was finished with a choke in the first round each time, but they were against some strong opposition. Eiji Mitsuoka, Jean Silva and Robbie Olivier all beat Schiavo in less than 5 minutes. But Schiavo still had his moments. In his most recent fight, against DEEP and Pride: Bushido veteran Mitsuoka, Schiavo showed off some good defensive grappling skills with a nice guard and positioning. He also had some creative offensive work with an unusual armbar attempt and a head kick from the floor. It was only when Mitsuoka pounced as Schiavo tried to roll away from trouble the Japanese fighter finally got him a really vulnerable position and finished with ease. Schiavo is just too good for Berik on the mat. Berik may control the striking for a while, but Schiavo should trap him on the ground sooner or later.
PREDICTION: Schiavo by submission early in the second.
Undercard Round-up:
 The Roughouse gym’s ‘other’ welterweight, Wallhead (3-2) may not get the attention his training partners Dan Hardy and Paul Daley receive but he was one of the brightest talents to emerge on the UK scene in 2005. Starting out as a middleweight, the aggressive Wallhead now competes at 170 pounds and has looked very good in his last two fights. He just overwhelmed local boy and MMA debutant Steve Singh-Sidhu at CW: Strike Force 3 in October and then he put in a dominating, composed performance on his way to a decision win over veteran lunatic Paul Jenkins in December. His opponent Henning Svendsen (1-0) is a good grappler with knockout power and a protégé of Jakob Lovstad. Last June, Svendsen stepped in at 24 hours notice to make his professional debut and sparked out his opponent with a nice right hand in just 40 seconds. Wallhead’s fast-paced, aggressive style should help him control the fight and pound out another impressive win, possibly by TKO.
Holland based light-heavyweight Hakim Gouram (3-1), coming off a decision loss to Milco Voorn in December, faces Carlson Gracie Hungary’s Gulyas Zsolt (3-2) in both men’s British debut. Zsolt is riding a 3-fight, 3 TKO winning streak and is likely to come out aggressively from the start. This one could go either way but look for Zsolt to extend that winning run with another stoppage win.
Wolfslair middleweight Alex Cook (6-4) is back in action less than 3 weeks after his bruising decision win over Chris Rice. Both men really went for it in a cracking fight at CW: Enter the Wolfslair. The decision could have gone either way and if Cook performs like that against Marcelo Salazar (2-0) he’ll pick up even more fans, win or lose. The Holland based Brazilian will probably try and test Cook’s ground game a little but the Englishman’s constant striking and movement should see him wear down his opponent enough for the win, perhaps by another close decision.
Like Cook, Chris Rice (6-4) must really enjoy a scrap since he’s also back for more just 3 weeks on. He has a major edge in experience over his opponent Dorian Lapaj since the Doncaster based fighter was making his pro debut at the same Enter the Wolfslair show. His fight ended in just 47 seconds as he followed up a lovely left hand that floored fellow debutant Jay Kieron with a most unfortunate and illegal knee to the face of his downed opponent. With Kieron completely out of it the fight was declared a No Contest but in that short space of time Lapaj showed some good striking technique and serious power. With that and Rice’s careful, neat boxing style and good groundwork this should be an absorbing match. Look for Rice’s experience to help him on his way to a win in what could be a surprisingly close fight.
Coventry based Aaron Behan and Capoeira stylist Israel Costa (originally set to be massacred by Ian Butlin before Butlin was paired up with Berik but then pulled out) are both lightweights with 0-1 records and somebody should pick up their first win here. It could be either but Behan may have the edge with his more traditionally based MMA skills.
Predictions Re-cap:
Antonio Da Silva TKO1 Tadas Rimkevicius
Dan Hardy TKO4 Diego Gonzales
Mario Neto SUB1 Markus Hipp
Jakob Lovstad TKO2 Henrique Nogueira
David Bielkheden TKO2 Ross Mason
Samy Schiavo SUB2 Sami Berik
Jim Wallhead TKO2 Henning Svendsen
Gulyas Zsolt TKO1 Hakim Gouram
Alex Cook DEC3 Marcelo Salazar
Chris Rice DEC3 Dorian Lapaj
Aaron Behan KO1 Israel Costa
March 25th
Coventry Skydome
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