Saturday night was not a good night if your last name was Shamrock. Both Ken Shamrock and son Ryan were unsuccessful in their EliteXC debuts last night in London, England, at Cage Rage 25: "Bring It On."
In the main event, Ken Shamrock was just out manned by his opponent once again -- a common theme in his last few fights. Buzz Berry was able to stuff any take down attempts Shamrock made and from there dominated the fight on the feet.
Shamrock was in great shape last night, there's no doubt about that, but he just seems to not have it in the cage anymore. I have a lot of respect for him -- he's a hall of famer -- but if he can't take a punch from Robert Berry then he doesn't really have any business standing across the cage from Kimbo.
For some reason I still wouldn't mind watching him fight again ... just not in a main event. And why is he fighting at heavyweight if he's weighing in at 216?
In the featherweight championship fight, Masakazu Imanari retained his title with a first round heel hook on Jean Silva. This was a great fight on paper and looked like it was going to turn into a war before Silva got caught.
I'd love to see them fight again ... this, as predicted, was the televised fight of the night even though it didn't last too long.
Rob Broughton defeated Neil Grove in a yawner. Broughton grinded out the three round decision over the usually tough Neil Grove. It was Grove's first loss of his career and his a nice feather in the cap for Broughton, who goes to 7-3-1.
Tom Watson (not the golfer) beat Pierre Guillet with a first round technical knockout and Mustapha Al Turk forced Gary Turner to submit from strikes in the first round of their fight.
In the untelevised portion of the card, bantamweights Ryan Shamrock and Giorgio Andrews went toe-to-toe for the entire action-packed first round. However, Shamrock did not answer the bell for the second round because of a broken hand.
Oh well.
All in all it was an okay night of fights and some decent filler MMA action between bigger shows.
EliteXC and Showtime continue to put on solid events. Exposure is something most professional athletes crave, and EliteXC is apparently offering plenty of that.
It won't be long before we see some bigger named fighters in the cage fighting on Showtime. In fact, it will be another Shamrock, Frank, later this month against Cung Le on March 29.
Now that's a fight.
For complete results of Cage Rage 25: "Bring it On," as well as a detailed fight-by-fight account, head over to MMAWeekly.com.