Clan Wars 7 defies the odds
Ash clouds, Champions League final and Kings of Leon at Slaine would have been enough to wave good night to any other event that got in their way on the same date but not the European Mixed Martial Arts Juggernaut Clan Wars! Over 1000 fans filled the Ulster Hall for an historic event and an action packed afternoon of Mixed Martial Arts Action.
Clan Wars 7 had a host of special guest and International fighters such as Top American MMA commentator and play by play specialist Ray Flores who is a regular interviewer for many UFC, Strike Force and former WEC shows. Also on the card was fighters from Jamaica, Trinidad and France, not to mention top management company Showsport International who currently have a host of fighters in the UFC looking for new Irish talent to propel them onto the next level.
Clan Wars 7 took Mixed Martial Arts to another level regarding Professionalism and production values, the show gave me goosebumps with the first class lighting,sound system,announcing and action packed fights. All the small attention to detail really paid off, one of the guys we spoke to in the crowd said all the music was hand selected months ago and that every song had its own lighting sequence! This kind of detail is top level and theres no doubt it doesn’t go unnoticed as the feedback I am getting from fans and speaking to MMA pundits is that Clan Wars is one of the best shows around at the minute, not only in Ireland but in Europe and further a field.
We got speaking to Ray Flores from Chicago after the event to ask him how did Clan Wars compare to shows in the states, Ray said - ‘For years I have worked on shows all over America and Canada and before I came to Belfast I was hearing reports of this show called Clan Wars and how the fighters where always talking about how much they wanted to fly over to Ireland for this quality show, this wasn’t just run of the mill fighters, this was former UFC and Strikeforce stars! The more shows I went too the more and more guys were talking about it, one of the shows I was at in London we met Clan Wars Promoter Paul McLaughlin by accident as he was cornering the IFS fight team and he invited me over for Clan Wars which of course I was delighted to do however nothing prepared me for what I experienced - man these guys are on to something big, they look after their fighters excellently, they put on top notch fights and the event itself was one of the best I have been to and I have been to a lot! All I can say is WOW ! I hope to hell they bring me back as this show is off the hook,I loved the Belfast crowd and hospitality and think Clan Wars is definitely living up to its reputation, I can see now why many International fighters are busting a gut to get on the show!
Rays thought were echoed by Paul Henessey the ISKA European Director and Showsport International Director who thought the show was very well run, had excellent fights and top production values.
This was the first time an MMA event was passed by the Council for the Ulster Hall and it was a huge success, there was no stone unturned in the planning for this show, everywhere you looked there was stewards only to happy to assist fans to their seats, security personal over looking proceedings and Ulster Hall staff working hard for the viewing pleasures of the crowd. The crowd themselves where fantastic showing support to all fighters and creating an electric atmosphere especially for the local fighters. One fight stood out for me was Geoff Halls fight from IFS, I thought the roof was going to lift off the Ulster Hall with the noise, absolutely unbelievable! Infact every IFS fighter was getting an awesome response, they had seven tough fights but won them all! An absolutely sterling perfromance for the IFS fighters, these guys are going places!
The fights were action packed and fans were spoiled for variety of finishes from Knock outs and technical knocks outs to slick submissions with only a few fights going to the decision, all fights were very close and could have went either way, I think this just shows how well the promoters did bringing out this evenly fight card.
The main event featured Chris ‘Da BadMan’ McDonald who is from Team Dungeon in Jamaica and holds two title belts taking on Merv ‘The Mad Man’ Mulholland from IFS who also holds two title belts - this was a huge grudge match with perhaps Mervyn being the underdog due to Chris never being stopped before and his 8-1 pro record. Fight started with a shoot from Mc Donald to which Mulholland answered with a punishing knee to Mc Donalds face to which McDonald made of stone shook off to finish the takedown. From his back Mulholland started to land elbows from the bottom and then seen an opportunity to switch for a lightning fast armbar which he sunk in deep hyper extending Chris Mc Donald arm giving him no other choice but to tap and that armbar was in deep! All this in under 16 seconds with the crowd on their feet and again the noise and atmosphere for Mulhollands win was deafning. Merv Mulholland is now the Irish ISKA Welterweight Champion!
I thoroughly enjoyed the show and cant wait for Clan Wars 8 on the 27th of Aug back at the Ulster Hall where we see alot of top fights like Decky ‘The Diamond’ Dalton from FAI take on Antrim man Steven ‘Taz’ McCombe from the Devils Fight Club for the Irish ISKA Featherweight title, also we will see Clan Wars ref Decky ‘The Bandit’ Larkin take on Daniel ‘Bingo’ Abrol in a highly acclaimed lightweight match up with many more top fights planned!
If you are a Martial Arts fan I would urge you not to miss Clan Wars 8 on the 27th of August, if it was half the show we seen on the 28th of May we are in for a huge treat!! Tickets will be on sale next week and can be got from Clan Wars 8 fighters or Promoter Paul Mc Laughlin on 07714013021.
Report by Marc Turbitt
Results are as follows for Clan Wars 7
Stephen Cheevers vs Robert McGlone (Cheevers by unanimous decision)
David Carmichael vs Robert Rea (Rea by KO RD2)
Kendal Rankin vs Simon Peoples (Peoples by TKO ref stoppage RD3
Sam Brennan vs Jon Morrison (Morrison by TKO RD1)
Christoff Boiche vs Adam Byrne (split draw)
Keith O’Neill vs David Armstrong (Armstrong by tKO RD2)
Gavin Carlin vs Stephen Owens (Owens by unanimous decision)
Dominic O’Kane vs Patrick Sheridan (O’Kane via armbar rd3)
Kurtis Robinson vs Geoff Hall (Hall via rear naked choke rd2)
Decky Dalton vs Andy young (Dalton by unanimous decision)
Gavin Kelly vs Anthony McGrath (Kelly by TKO rd1)
Dwayne Hinds vs Herny Fadipe (Hinds via rear naked choke rd1
Jonathan Faivre vs Paul Redmond (Redmond via TKO rd2)
Chris McDonald vs Merv Mulholland (Mulholland via armbar rd1)
31 May 2011
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