Clan Wars 8 ISKA MMA European title Challenge
Clan Wars is fast becoming one of the most popular MMA shows in Ireland and is certainly one for the best fights. The menu for Clan Wars 8 at the Ulster Hall in Belfast on August 27th had a banquet of Mixed Martial Arts for the stalwart fans that packed the Madison Square Garden of Ulster to the rafters. Two titles on the line, a lightweight tournament and an undercard of the best fighters around had everyone in attendance hoping for fireworks and not a one went home disappointed by what was in all likelihood the best Clan Wars show to date!
We have all heard the stories of the local boy returning home having made good in the wider world, not often it has to be said, but when it does happen there is a palpable aura of pride to the event, a vicarious thrill from the knowledge that it can indeed be done; how much sweeter must it be for the man himself to be able to display his new found status to the folk he came from many of whom would have probably said “he will never amount to anything”? We can put that question to Chris Stringer formerly of Chum Sut in Lisburn, now training day in and day out with the likes of Terry Etim and Paul Kelly in Team Kaobon in Liverpool. He returned to native soil for Clan Wars 8 with a singular goal, to take the Irish ISKA Lightweight Title, and take it he did.
The 4 man format is always a risky proposition in an event, one that promoter Paul McLaughlin didn’t take lightly, but the advantages outweigh the risk sometimes and the opportunity to have four fighters like Chris Stringer, Myles Price, Dec Larkin and Aron Jahnsen square off for the title was certainly one of those occasions. The initial draw of Stringer / Price and Larkin / Jahnsen was a mouth watering proposition to anyone with even the most casual interest in the sport and the matches didn’t disappoint. Stringer and Price was a three round war with only the narrowest of margins between the two giving a decision win to Stringer. Jahnsen vs Larkin was the other end of the scale; in the time it takes to say “that’s not a loose head and arm choke, it’s a crank!” Jahnsen was able to win by submission in the opening minute of the first round.
A betting man will always chose fresh over tired whether it comes to horses or prize fighters, but he would have been heading home with a lighter wallet on this occasion. Stringer commented in his first post fight interview that his cardio was good enough that he would be just as capable in the next three rounds as he was in the last. Bravado or not he certainly made good on the promise. Though Jahnsen was always dangerous, and in the ascendancy for long periods a small mistake in the final round allowed Stringer to lock in a guillotine which he finished with gusto. No more than three hundred yards from the Europa hotel, where he had lost his first two semi-professional bouts, “Menace 2 Society” Stringer had shown everyone that the local boy had “done” good.
Fighters pulling out is the nemesis of every promoter across the World, but Clan Wars Primo Paul McLaughlin had a particularly bad run trying to match both Joe Frey and Joe Clarke, seeing more withdrawals than Catholic contraception. Joe “Ulster” Frey is arguably one of the top amateur prospects getting ready to take the pro ranks by storm and never shy from a challenge; when he learned of the issues Paul was having he asked to be matched with the vastly more experienced Joe “Kid Chaos”Clarke. After much deliberation with his fellow IFS coaches Paul gave the okay to the match and the two Joes found an easy way to find opponents – fight each other. Joe Frey showed his ability in the opening salvo getting a takedown early in the first and working well within Clarke’s dangerous guard. Experience quickly became the difference maker and “Kid Chaos” forced a mistake from Fry to latch onto a guillotine that could have easily been used to end Marie Antoinette. Clarke as always showed his class getting his enthusiastic fans to cheer Fry after the match. Though Fry might be disappointed, this is a rematch many fans would pay to see a couple years down the line.
Geoff “Hummer” Hall is a fan favourite at Clan Wars and the tumult and clamour as he entered the octagon in Belfast must have been an intimidating sound to his opponent Glen Surgenor, though he certainly gave no sign that it affected him. A spirited battle ensued between the two, though Hall seemed to be always a step ahead. The contest was ended by referee Dave Jones as Hall landed a flurry of punches in mount on the defeated Surgenor. Hall certainly looks like he is ready for the next level. Fights like Surgenor and Hall are the type of brou-ha-ha that highlight the kind of venue the Ulster Hall is, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas could hardly have the same atmosphere as the traditional home of Amateur Boxing in Belfast when Clan Wars is in town!
The Featherweight title bout between Connor “Done Deal” Dillon and Steve “Taz” McCombe was an out and out war, as the usually technical striker McCombe decided to match like with like and brawled toe to toe with the slugger Dillon. Neither fighter gave any quarter in what can only be described as an encyclopaedia of striking technique; jabs, crosses, hooks, uppercuts, kicks, knees even a spinning backfist from each fighter all had the propensity to end the match in an instant. They threw everything short of the kitchen sink at each other in their attempts for ascendancy, we thought we had seen it all, we hadn’t; Dillon took a chance in the final minutes of the last round and threw a spinning back elbow strike straight from Anderson’s Silva’s playbook that put McCombe down and out! Definitely one of the most spectacular finishes I have seen to a match in quite some time.
5 knock outs, 5 submissions, 2 title fights, a four man tournament, tremendous production values, the best venue for fighting of any kind, roaring crowd, adrenaline, ring girls and all in all the best Clan Wars event to date. I for one cannot wait until the next event rolls around.
29 August 2011
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