UCMMA 48 Recap – From the Trenches

As I entered The Troxy on Saturday night, wisely armed with UK MMA vagabond Thomas Young (@ThomBomb17) for protection, I honestly had no idea what to expect.

This was my first live experience of Dave O’Donnell’s UCMMA and my assumptions of the event were entirely compromised by first-hand accounts I had heard from other UK MMA notables, in combination with the many hours of Cage Rage my Dad and I watched when I was a nipper.

After a relatively uneventful amateur bout between Bradley Portelli (1-0) and Jim Wyatt (0-1) kicked things off, we were treated to the first ‘oh fuck!’ moment of the evening. Heavyweights Benjamin Veveritoa (1-0) and Calvin Petrie (0-1) were next to make the walk, with both men making their their pro debuts.

Veveritoa of Romania appeared almost wooden as the bout commenced, whilst Petrie confidently crawled towards his foe à la Jon Jones. For the best part of a minute, the bout seemed to be a complete mismatch, as Petrie shelled on his counterpart with a barrage of strikes. Veveritoa barely made it through the onslaught, timidly turning away from his opponent on several occasions, attempting to escape from the shower of violence. Just as a highlight-reel finish for Petrie seemed inevitable, Veveritoa swung a Hail Mary overhand right, catching Petrie clean, causing him to face-plant limply into the UCMMA canvas.

Shortly after the bout ended, Dave O’Donnell boisterously stormed the cage, applauded both gentleman for their efforts, before firing off a plethora of expletives at Julian Kerr, who had failed to show for his preliminary bout.

The next few fights failed to produce the same kind of fucknuttery, but alas they were still entertaining. Bane Dundavan boosted to 2-1 with a rapid guillotine choke finish over questionable late-replacement Liam Johnson (0-1), Chad Griffiths (5-0) returned to the cage after a four-year hiatus, downing Poland’s Lukas Bienas (2-4) with strikes in the second, and heavyweight debutant Owen Jones (1-0) sent Ben Earls (0-2) to dreamland with a thunderous right-hand in the opening exchanges.

Next on the menu was a well-matched bantamweight clash between rising prospect Ryan Scott (5-0) and CSA product Tony Hall (2-3). The grapple-centric contest provided fans with a slightly different flavour to the slugfests that proceeded it. Despite Hall’s best efforts, he had no answer for the slick grappling of Scott, whose combination of 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu and wrestling was too much for Hall, with Scott earning 30-27 scores from all three judges.

There was no love lost between Javid Basharat (2-0) and Ionut Raducanu (0-1), who almost came to blows before their fight commenced, clashing heads during their stare-down before being separated by the referee. Raducanu was no match for Basharat though once things kicked off, as the London Shootfighters rep effortlessly dispatched of the debutant with a slick inside heel-hook in the opening minutes.

The next dose of chaos came in the form of a K-1 bout between Tommy Gunn and Tony Giles – with the unofficial title as ‘King of the Gypsies’ on the line. Before any punches were exchanged, attendees at The Troxy were treated to perhaps the most ridiculous combat sports promo your eyes will ever see! Please don’t take my word for it.

Once the cage door had closed, the two engaged in a fairly competitive first round, before Gunn gassed horribly and seemed to take to a knee anytime Giles landed a strike. Remarkably, Gunn avoided being finished, but lost a unanimous decision, with two of three judges awarding the contest 29-24 (no, that is not a typo), along with a solitary 29-27 score.

In the final K-1 bout of the evening, the fans at The Troxy were treated to a spectacular knockout, as 19-year old Jonathan Haggerty lay waste to UCMMA regular Gio Marchese with a head-kick in just 42-seconds. The speed at which Haggerty covered distance before landing the strike was remarkable and not long after the strike landed, Haggerty’s father attempted to scale the cage to celebrate with his son, only to be stopped by security.

In the penultimate bout of the night, Alex Lohore (9-1) edged Josh Collins (8-2) in one of the best regional scraps you will see this year, capturing the UCMMA welterweight title in the process. The fight was a beautiful mirage of violence for its entirety, with Lohore throwing every strike with evil intentions, whilst Collins countered with slick boxing combinations and a handful of well-timed takedowns.

Lahore started the stronger of the two, shelling on Collins’ mid-section with several nasty body-kicks. Midway through the first stanza the tide began to turn a little, as Collins settled into the bout and found his range on the feet, whilst avoiding the majority of the Frenchman’s heavy artillery.

Rounds two and three unraveled in similar fashion, as Lohore ostensibly tired, Collins upped the tempo, landing more frequently on the feet, whilst scoring a few key takedowns also. Despite Collins efforts, all three judges awarded the bout controversially in Lohore’s favour, with one judge even giving Lohore all three rounds.

The main event saw leg-lock connoisseur Pavel Doroftei (17-3) defend his UCMMA middleweight crown versus the durable Andy Manzolo (11-4). Whilst Doroftei failed to earn a finish, the result was equally definitive, as the Moldovan mauler had his way with Manzolo for the vast majority of their three round encounter.

Doroftei, who is the only man to have bested current UFC Welterweight Danny Roberts, fought with a marrow-deep aggression throughout the fifteen minute encounter, frequently bulldozing Manzolo to the mat, before hunting for his trademark leg-locks. Whilst the first two rounds were pretty much one-way traffic, Manzolo clawed back bravely in the third and final round, surviving an early knockdown, before riding out the remainder of the round in top position.

The late surge would not be enough for Manzolo, as Doroftei was rightfully awarded the victory via unanimous decision. With the win, Doroftei extends his current win streak to three, whilst Manzolo sees his own three-fight win streak snapped.

Once all was said and done, I looked curiously over at Tom, who smiled rather giddily at what had just unfolded.

Truth be told, I had a lot of fun at The Troxy. Although UCMMA is exactly the kind of event purists want rid of, Dave O’Donnell has carved a niche and frankly, it works. His testosterone-fuelled screaming in between fights, the ridiculous UCMMA theme song and the abundance of violence makes for a weird and wonderful show that all fans of UK MMA should experience.

Full results from UCMMA 48 HERE.