UCFC6: My final thoughts on an interesting day

My review of UCFC 6

by John Haigh @JohnBJayHaigh

I went to UCFC6 not knowing much about the promotion but went with an open mind and was just glad to see an mma event being held in Yorkshire (the promised land).

Prior to the event I’d heard rumours of a few fighters pulling out for various reasons, Ken Shamrock had also pulled out of the main event over contract problems. But there was still 14 fights to watch including seven amateur bouts and two title fights so still plenty of action to watch.

From walking in I realised I was in for an interesting afternoon, I literally walked right in to the stadium and nobody stopped me or questioned me as to who I was or what I was doing. When I did finally find someone to speak to they just looked at me blankly. Eventually I found where I needed to be and had to sit about for three hours because the media brief I was told I had to attend before the event didn’t happen.

When the action finally got underway the amateur bouts were great, the first fight was spoiled by a doctor stoppage at the end of the first round.

In the second fight a young Tom Howard defeated a considerably larger fighter in 51 seconds with an impressive arm bar.

One of the highlights of the night for me was the bout between Dragan Pesic vs. David Stone. Pesic showed unbelievable speed and had Stone locked in an arm bar within 27 seconds of the opening round.

On to the main card, this is where a few more of the problems occurred.

As I was sat around the cage in between fights I was starting to hear that another fight had been cancelled, this was later confirmed when Craig Burke was interviewed in the cage saying the fight was off because Paul Taylor has not shown up to fight despite being at the weigh ins. No reason was given in the interview but the rumour was over money.

Original main event fighter and mma legend Ken Shamrock had already pulled out weeks ago over his contract and the Neil Grove v Oli Thompson was also cancelled prior to the event when former UFC fighter Grove pulled out due to a disagreement with the promoter, that’s now three fighters pulled out (there must be something in this.)

Back to the fights, again the fights that did take place were great lots of action and never a dull moment. Karl Etherington v Harry Duivan Jnr had a controversial result in my opinion when Duivan Jnr was disqualified for shots landed to the back of the head knocking out Etherington with one shot leading to him needing oxygen in the ring. In my opinion and from my view I think he caught him clean but after some confusion after the stoppage Duivan Jnr was disqualified. Still I believe he is a fighter to watch out for the future, I think he could quite easily trade with Junior Dos Santos and better him.

Bamma fighter Jack Marshman took on Scott Askham for the UCFC British Middleweight title, this fight was one of the only fights that went to a decision. It was a three round grappling match with both fighters battling for top position. As the fight went on Askham started to get the better of Marshman and ultimately took the decision and retained his title.

On to the main event for the UCFC Legends Heavyweight World Title Bout between Ian “The Machine” Freeman vs. Ricco Rodriguez. Former UFC heavyweight champion Rodriguez has moved up on the card to replace Ken Shamrock and Freeman had not been in the cage for five years and at 42 years of age many were considering him too old.

When the fight started Rodriguez pushed forward clipping Freeman backing him up against the fence. It was then that Freeman fought away from the fence and began chopping Rodriguez down with brutal leg kicks, he was hurt after two but the fifth one dropped him to the canvas and Freeman finished the fight with ground and pound.

Freeman quickly scaled the cage side shouting “too old, my fucking arse”

This wrapped up the action for the night, there was supposed to be a performance by Professor Green but due to “safety reasons” this didn’t happen instead a small meet and greet took place for those that waited around for a long time (about 3 hours) between the last fight finishing and him getting to the stadium.

Looking back at the event the fights that did take place were great but it was the lack of organisation and poor ticket sales that really overshadowed what could have been a great event. 

Results – Main Card

Ian Freeman (20-7)  Def. Ricco Rodriguez (51-21) by TKO

Scott Askham (11-0) Def. Jack Marshman (12-3) by UD

Colin Robinson (10-11) Def. Darren Towler (9-8) by TKO
Zi Shah (4-0) Def. Khaled Radman (1-1) by SUB
Karl Etherington (9-0) Def. Harry Duiven Jr (0-1) by DQ (illegal strikes)
Danny Tombs (1-0) Def. Ryan Boyd (4-2) by TKO
Drago Pesic (3-1) Def. David Stone (2-7) by TKO