©Marc Wickert
www.knucklepit.com
11 August, 2006
Since 2002, Cage Rage promoters Dave O'Donnell and Andy Geer have been presenting UK's premier ultimate fighting events. And from humble beginnings to now packing out Wembley Arena, they are currently delivering some of the world's best MMA contests.
The boys had consistently filled Wembley Convention Centre, and were forced to pack up their mats and move to the bigger Wembley Arena for Cage Rage 17 (July1, 2006) – a problem Dave and Andy welcomed with open arms.
"We were over the moon – it being England's semi-finals day. All the magazines, all the forums… Everyone was saying it was such a shame it was going to clash with World Cup fever. That was going to lose half the stand. They wouldn't turn up. We were over the moon with the support we actually had," says O'Donnell.
For Cage Rage 17, they filled the short hall of six-and-a-half thousand. Cage Rage 18 is set for eight thousand, but the arena can open out to hold fourteen thousand. At the rate CR is growing, it won't be long before they're using the entire complex.
But it wasn't always like this: "September, 2002, that was our first show in Elephant Castle, London. We only did that to raise some money for mats for the club. We now run six martial arts clubs as well as Cage Rage.
"I've been doing martial arts for 29 years. And I saw UFC about eight years ago (November 12, 1993). I watched a little man called Royce Gracie rewriting martial arts with takedowns and BJJ. I mean, I've got some good shit… I was doing this street fighting style, which is an excellent style, but after watching Royce, I thought, I'm going to leave that and do mixed martial arts. It's just a way forward.
"It was a bit of a shock for everyone, but you can either shy away from MMA and go back to what you were doing or you go forward. And I was one of the ones who just went forward – luckily at the right time. I was a bit before my time in England, so it was fantastic."
Dave O'Donnell, Royce Gracie & Andy Geer at Cage Rage 2
Then Geer came along, and the pair forged a bond that would later change the course of UK's fighting disciplines by combining the best of all styles. "Andy's done a bit of judo and boxing through the years, and then he heard about my club – probably about four-and-a-half years ago. He liked the combat bit, where we actually fight each other, and he said, 'Yeah, I'll have some of this.' He joined in and then we became friends.
"We actually sat down – after putting our guys into different tournaments and realizing how badly they were run… We said it would be nice to put them in a tournament that we would run, and show how to do it properly. Basically, we were just going to do one tournament, and after the first one, we said never again. But so many people wanted more, more, more.
"Then for our second one, we were lucky because I'd just trained with Royce Gracie and received my blue belt with him, and we asked him to be our special guest at Cage Rage number two. He actually refereed some of the fights for us. That was after having Frank Shamrock as our special guest at number one. Both were sell-outs and both had documentaries made about them, so we've done really well."
Dave O'Donnell with Royce Gracie
Dave, a lot of sound is muffled by the audience when you have a full house. But Gilbert Yvel's punches rang right through the arena, didn't they?
"Yeah, man, that guy… We were just on the phone to his manager yesterday, and they want to come back in December and fight for the heavyweight title. It should be an awesome fight. I actually felt for Fabiano Sherner because Gilbert's punches were incredible.
"And a bit of information, just hot off the press: We're probably having Kimo at Cage Rage 18, and if contracts come back from his managers, he'll be fighting Dave Legeno. Dave's in America at the moment. He trained with Don Frye last night. He's doing a little tour, training with different camps over there."
With the likes of such international names as Gilbert Yvel, Melvin Manhoef, and UK's own Ian Freeman, have UK fighters had to grow up fast?
"Three years ago we were behind, but now we've got so many black-belt jiu jitsu guys here… The guys go to America. We send them to America's Top Team, Brazil's Top Team, Shoot Box…They train at world-class camps, so now we're catching up to the rest of the world.
"Look at Ross 'The Boss' Mason fighting Chris 'Lights Out' Lytle, Paul Daley vs Dave Strasser, Alex Reid fighting Tony Fryklund… I mean, they're fighting world-class fighters. And you look at Zelg (Gesiac); he tapped out Curtis Stout at Cage Rage 17. They're unbelievable, some of these guys."
Would Mark Epstein's KO of Dave Legeno be the biggest you've seen?
"No. Sol Gilbert's one of Curtis Stout was our biggest KO, and it's still playing all around the world. It was even bigger than Mark Epstein's."
You've got Mark up against Ian Freeman at Cage Rage 18. How will fans take to that?
"They're loving it already over here. You've got a legend (Freeman) and an up-and-comer (Epstein). People say how do you call it? And it's really hard."
There's a lot at stake for both men, isn't there?
"They both need to win it: Epstein because he wants to move on and have a shot at Melvin (Manhoef), and Ian because he wants to win the title back."
What did you think of the James 'Colossus' Thompson vs Robert 'Bear' Broughton fight?
"Actually, I was on the phone to James yesterday, and he was going, 'Dave, just let me have another shot at him and I'll smash him up.' He just took Robert lightly. He looked at him as a pie man and took it easy for the last three weeks. James just knows he under-trained himself. That's what let him down."
How much does crowd support play in the outcome of a bout? The crowd seemed to get behind Robert and lift him.
"If you watch Rocky IV, when Rocky was fighting the Russian, that was the same thing. We had six-and a-half thousand people shouting for the pie man, and they turned it around because he was such an underdog. And that's what happens some times. The crowd loves an underdog."
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