Ultimate Challenge UK Crowns New World Champs

Grove, Watson and Radcliffe earn UCUK Heavyweight, Welterweight and Lightweight gold last weekend in London.

From The Mirror...

Neil ‘The Goliath’ Grove smashed James ‘The Hammer’ McSweeney on Saturday night to become the World Heavyweight Champion of the newly formed MMA organisation, Ultimate Challenge UK.

The 6ft 7in, 20-stone South African made life difficult for himself in the first round though after a feeble guillotine attempt allowed McSweeney to surprisingly gain ground control. The Muay Thai specialist from London was able to mount Grove and get his back to twice to pull off Rear Naked Choke attempts – the second and tightest just as the bell went for the end of the round.

Obviously buoyed by his success on the ground in the first, McSweeney recklessly went for a take down attempt early in the second. This time The Goliath made no mistake with a monster sprawl that flattened his 48lb lighter opponent. He followed up with heavy-handed ground ‘n’ pound that gave the referee no option but to step in and stop the fight to send the near partisan crowd wild.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, the event at The Troxy in the east end of London was billed as Cage Rage 29. But as their American parent company Elite XC became another victim to the current financial troubles, the British promoters behind Cage Rage quickly moved to form a new organisation. Ultimate Challenge UK was born and all the old Cage Rage titles were withdrawn.

In the Welterweight World Title fight, Tom ‘Kong’ Watson delighted his blow-up banana waving supporters with an easy victory over Norwich’s Danny Cubitt.

The nervous Norfolk boy, a late replacement for the experienced Matt Ewin, looked way out of his depth and managed to last two minutes only because of Watson’s initial cautious approach. When Tom Kong did finally let rip, he made short work of his opponent with some vicious uppercuts from clinch, knocking him to his knees then to his back before the ref stepped in to end the onslaught.

The biggest upset of the night came in the other World title fight when Jason ‘The Shotgun’ Young lost his undefeated record to the relatively unknown Tim Radcliffe.

The former Cage Rage Lightweight Champion was hoping to replace his now defunct belt with the new Ultimate Challenge UK one. Instead, it was Radcliffe who was crowned champ after dominating the fight from the outset. The BJJ brown belt looked in full control as soon as it went to ground, twice going for a Rear Naked, and making no mistake on the second attempt.

Nice guy Young looked absolutely gutted to have relinquished his record so easily. Radcliffe was of course jubilant.

While I'm not familar with Kong and Radcliffe, I am familar with Neil Grove. While I've only seen his KO win over James Thompson, I can tell you that Grove is a really fast Heavyweight. McSweeney, while a great striker, got cocky and got stopped by Grove's speed and experiance.

Congratulations to the winners and to Dave O'Donnell for starting this new venture in place of his old one. Best wishes to all.