It was a damp night in Winnipeg, with a crisp warm breeze draping the city streets. The Winnipeg Convention Centre was quickly filling up with Ultimate Cage Wars (UCW) fans awaiting the action to begin.

V.I.P tables beginning to become full, ordering drinks and snacks from the kind wait staff and chatting amongst themselves about the fight card.

The sirens go off; the lights become dim, and out come the first fighters of the night Guillaume DeLorenzi and Keith Perrigon.

DeLorenzi coming into this fight with a 2-0 record fighting out of Quebec City, his opponent not far behind in experience was Perrigon who came into this fight with a 1-0 record fighting out of Temecula California.

DeLorenzi who looked big for 170 pounds hit a few leg kicks right away, but it didn’t stop Perrigon from attempting and successfully executing a beautiful takedown. Which, should be expected when training with Dan Henderson at Team.

But DeLorenzi was persistent and stood up, this time using his hands to pick Perrigon apart hitting him with a straight right connecting dead on which looked to do some damage to Perrigon’s face.

Perrigon then starts with some leg kicks of his own and manages to head kick the taller DeLorenzi who then came in like a freight train landing a good solid punch and rocks Perrigon sending him to the mat.

Where it was finished by DeLorenzi on top with some ground and pound making it a matter of seconds before the ref steps in and saves Perrigon from anymore punishment.

Guillaume DeLorenzi wins in the first round at 2:41 via ref stoppage.

The next fight was in the 155lbs division with Winnipeg’s own Dwight Sutherland who was fighting out of the Bears Den, and Justin Knox who was fighting out of Port Colborne Ontario with Dayboll Jiu Jitsu.

Justin Knox was no stranger to the UCW putting on an amazing fight at UCW 11 against Dino Camire. Knox was beating the hell out of his opponent in that bout and was seconds away from the ref stopping the fight however Knox got caught in an arm bar and tapped.

Needless to say Knox was looking to come back to the UCW and avenge his loss.

Dwight Sutherland, looked to be the under dog in this fight, much smaller then Knox, and this being his first professional bout.

BUT the home town boy shocked everyone coming out strong from start to finish, getting Knox down and controlling him pretty good from the ground. When in the guard Knox does a great job tangling up Sutherlands arms making sure he can’t do any damage also managing to better his position getting into Sutherlands guard.

While setting up to rain down some damage on Sutherland (as he did in his last bout against Camire). Knox gets caught in a triangle choke, and from there desperately tries to slam his opponent to break it. But Sutherland holds on and eventually gets Knox to tap.

Tarec Saffiedine from Team Quest and Rich Bondoc from Bruckmann MMA were next up in the cage.

But as fast as they jumped into the cage, the bout was over due to a verbal tap out by Bondoc, who was submitted at 2:18 in the first round with an arm bar.

Saffiedine being the only Team Quest member at UCW 12 to win.

Dino Camire, was the fan favorite in this next bout. As soon as his name was announced the crowd went crazy. Camire is best known in the UCW for his impressive win over Justin Knox on the last card.

Ironic enough, in his bout against Anthony Romita the role was reversed. Camire takes Romita down, and begins to rain punches down inside the guard. Romita attempts an arm bar or two but Camire successfully manages to escape, HOWEVER the third arm bar attempt ends up being deep and Romita submits the home town boy in 1:38 in round one.

In the semi-main event was Port Colbourn’s Alexis Davis and her opponent Kate Roy who flew in from St. John’s NB.

This would be Davis’ second time fighting in the UCW cage. The last time she was in Winnipeg she fought Sarah Kaufman(who is now 7-0 in her pro MMA career). She lost to Kaufman via TKO making that still her only loss to date.

Davis’ submitted her opponent in 3:30 in round one, sounds easy doesn’t it?

But Roy held on for most of that round with her arm in a deep arm bar, twisting and turning trying to figure out how to get out of Davis’ grip. At one point Davis’ had her body in a “superman” position pulling Roy’s arm up with all the pressure on her elbow and still Roy held on.

The crowd was in shock (as was I), to how deep that arm bar was locked on, and the heart and determination Roy showed while still keeping her composure. Great respect after the fight between both women towards each other.

The main event of the evening was at a catch weight of 160lbs between UFC veteran Alberto Crane, who is a well known BJJ fighter, and 22 year old Simon Marini who fights out of Cutting Edge MMA in Caledonia Ontario.

Going into this fight, Crane was probably the fan favorite. Everyone knowing his name through his fights in the UFC and through the exploding world of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Crane is a known master of submissions, his record showing he’s won the majority of his fights from the ground, not only that all of them in the first round.

Needless to say Marini had his hands full, making sure to watch his back (pardon the pun) on the ground, and to find away to pick apart his opponent.

In the first round, Crane didn’t look like he wanted to bang, he ate a few punches and then immediately took the take down when Marini threw a leg kick. But as fast as he took Marini down, the fight was back on their feet. Marini again throws another leg kick, and again Crane takes him down. After that it was one unsuccessful take down after another Marini looking to be relaxed and calm.

In round two that’s when the crowd starts to see how tired Crane looks, his arms aren’t up where they need to be, and he seems to look like he’s falling apart. The heavy hands of Marini sure didn’t help much delivering one blow after the other. At one point while Crane was down on all fours Marini was raining down punches, everyone couldn’t believe their eyes and were at the edge of their seats with anticipation of the ref stopping the fight.

BUT the fight goes to a third round; Marini hits a hard punch down the pipe which bloodies up Crane, who just keeps pressing forward showing a lot of heart but eating a lot of punches. A few times Marini had Crane wobbling falling to his knees, at this point Marini just working off of his jab. His corner man Bryan Edge yelling out combos for him to throw. Unfortunately without anyone knowing it, the hard punch he threw down the pipe (which possibly broke Crane’s nose) injured Marini’s power hand making it hard to throw his right hand.

With the bell ringing at the end of the fight, Crane looks relieved and is bloodied up pretty good; Marini goes back to his corner and is greeted by his MMA coach Bryan Edge (who has a huge smile on his face).

The crowd is on their feet and loud applauding both fighters.

 

Simon Marini takes the win via unanimous decision.

The Next Ultimate Cage Wars Event will be held September 12 2008

For V.I.P Tables contact:
Tony: 204 229 9173
Genevieve: 204 997 1048

Christina Sears - MMA Reporter
ChristinaSears@xtremelifestylemag.com

 

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