UFC Glasgow: Scotland Shines

The UFC rolled into Scotland for the first time after what seems like years of campaigning by fans, fighters and anyone involved with Scottish MMA, the occasion seemed long over due but boy – was it worth the wait.

The event got off to a thunderous start with four first round TKO’s including one by Scotland’s own Robert “The Hammer” Whiteford, Whiteford walked out to ‘The Flower of Scotland’ and as I imagine he envisioned, it blew the roof off the arena. “The Hammer” made short work of Ireland’s Paul Redmond, finishing him in the middle of the first round.

Whiteford’s finish and celebration sent the crowd into overdrive as he dove out of the cage and into the crowd.

“I’m on top of Scotland right now, never mind the world. Emotions came over me at the end and I was going to start crying. I didn’t want to cry in front of 11,000 people so I was out of there and over the fence and into the crowd. Even the guys here said the hairs on the backs of their necks were standing up on end when we heard the crowd.”

Along with Whiteford’s finish, Daniel Omielanczuk blasted through Chris de la Rocha to open the show – finishing him after only 48 seconds of the first round. Straight after that American Marcus Brimage got stopped via strikes by Jimmie Rivera and later on the undercard, Ilir “The Sledgehammer” Latifi lived up to his nickname, defeating Hans Stringer via a lovely KO.

The undercard finished with fan favourite and unorthodox fighter Paddy Holohan in a fun matchup against England’s Vaughan Lee.  Holohan really comes off as a nice guy and I expect the UFC to push him a ton closer to the show in Dublin, which seems a perfect time for him to have his next fight.

The preliminarily card really got the crowd going with great finishes and fan favourite fighters but the main card still had Stevie “Braveheart” Ray, Joanne “JoJo” Calderwood, Ross Pearson and UFC Veteran Michael Bisping, could the Hydro get louder for the main event….?.

As always, Bruce Buffer kicked things off and got fans into a frenzy as they eagerly awaited the entrance of Stevie Ray, when Rays entrance music blared out of the arena PA, fans let out deafening roars, huge applause and serenaded him with his trademark Scottish walkout “Stevie, Stevie – Stevie Fucking Ray!”

Expectations were high for Ray after his finish of Marcin Bandel in Poland back in April.  Stevie took that fight on short notice and didn’t disappoint, finishing Bandel early in the second round.

Ray rocked Mafra early in the first and proceeded to stalk him around the cage looking for the finish, the crowd erupted when Ray hurled out a barrage of offence on Mafra, but Mafra, in trouble and in full defensive mode was trying to land his own punches on Ray.  Ray looked close to finishing the fight but getting in a slugfest like that has backfired many times in the past, when fighters who look to be cruising suddenly get caught with a wild punch and the fight all of a sudden turns.

Fortunately for Ray, he was able to compose himself and not let the moment get to him. Ray stayed in there but didn’t get overly aggressive, he threw many well placed shots at Mafra until Marfa’s legs gave way with Ray swarming him on the ground and landing punches until the referee stepped in and stopped the fight.

“It felt unbelievable out there. It was just so good to hear all those fans on my side. I tried to get comfortable and not get too excited but it felt unbelievable. I was expecting a war. I thought it was going to be a really tough fight but then this is the UFC, every fight is a tough fight.”

Along with this being the biggest fight of his life it was also a life changing fight. As Ray was getting interviewed in the octagon after the fight he shouted out to Dana White “two wins in the UFC, two stoppages, Dana, I think its about time you change my life.” and change his life it will, along with the victory Ray won a fifty thousand dollar performance of the night bonus for his T.K.O finish of Leonardo Mafra. Ray said about the bonus that it will be “amazing” and that it’s still surreal “It feels like a dream, It doesn’t feel like I’ve been in there fought and won. I go on holiday on Friday so that was a good wee bonus”

A fairly exciting fight followed with Leon Edwards and Pawel Pawlak squaring off. Pawel was rocked early in the first, hitting the mat in extravagant fashion, he managed to recover but the fight was all Edwards who picked up the unanimous decision victory (30-27)

to say the fan anticipation for Joanne “JoJo” Calderwood was high would be a mighty understatement, she may have been submitted in her last fight (there were reasons that have not been made public as to why she had a poor performance that night) but that didn’t take anything away from this moment, the fans were ready and JoJo looked genuinely happy to be there – who wouldn’t though? Originally scheduled to fight Bec Rawlings, one fight the fans were eagerly awaiting, mostly due to the trash Bec had been talking in the build up.  Unfortunately due to injury Bec had to pull out and was replaced by the relatively unknown Cortney Casey.  Casey may have went into the fight unknown to most but even though she dropped a unanimous decision to “JoJo” She will now be known to many as both fighters put on an awesome show and Casey should true heart.

Casey took this fight on 10 days notice and almost looked to pull off the shock victory in the opening seconds of the round as she caught JoJo with some great shots. JoJo looked to be in trouble but she managed to come up for air during the punches and clinch with Casey, once she got in the clinch, JoJo took control of the fight.  During the initial barrage of punches the fan support behind JoJo was massive, the whole arena was rooting for her and made for an incredibly special fight.

“This has been a really tough fight camp for me so it’s great to get the win. This is the least nervous I’ve been; I’ve been so excited for this fight. I just enjoyed it – I’ve always been a slow starter. I was just enjoying it so much out there. As long as I put on a good performance for the fans, that’s all I want.”

This fight earned ‘fight of the night’ honours and rightfully so, even though JoJo controlled most of the fight, for Casey taking this fight on 10 days notice she was certainly game and made a fan out of me and a lot of people in the arena.  Casey tried to explode early on, most probably due lack of camp and the short notice fight.  As the fight went on she tried to stay in the fight but visibly she did seem to fade and was almost finished in the third round when JoJo caught her with a spin kick that landed flush on the stomach, taking away what little breath she had left. Casey crumbled to the floor and the crowd erupted as JoJo swarmed her but Casey managed to survive the onslaught and stay in the fight but by this point she didn’t have much left to challenge JoJo.  JoJo controlled the fight for the rest of the round and won a unanimous decision.

Next up was Joe Duffy or as he seems to be known now as ‘The last man to beat Conor McGregor’ Duffy was taking on Brazilian black belt Ivan Jorge.  Duffy looked good in this fight, he looked light on his feet with his movement and attacks looking crisp, Jorge on the other hand didn’t seem to get out of the gate, getting caught with a head kick early and then when he tried to take Duffy down into his world, Duffy caught him with a slick triangle that ended the fight soon after.  For a guy that retired from MMA young after his first loss, Duffy really has shined in his comeback and I am excited to see what he does next in the UFC, definitely one to watch.

“I feel real good. I feel like I really showed growth as a fighter. I had a game plan and I stuck to it. Now I’m going to go back home, keep teaching at the gym, let the body recover and then it’s back to the grind. I’m looking forward to going home with the win, and having ice cream with my daughter.”

The co-main event was a matchup between Evan Dunham and Ross Pearson, one the fans were excited to see as Pearson – a recognizable name had some great fights before. Unfortunately for Pearson, Dunham was there to spoil the party, Dunham shined with superior wrestling that Pearson just wasn’t able to counter and won the fight via unanimous decision.

The main event in Glasgow was an intriguing one between number 9 and 10 ranked middleweights – Michael Bisping and Thales Leites.

Leites who was riding an impressive 8 fight win streak was looking to continue his way up the ranking and get another shot at the middleweight title but Bisping who going into the fight was 16-0 when fighting in the UK was wanting to make his own stamp on the division, showing that it’s finally time for his long awaited title shot.

Bisping for most of the fight fought on the back foot, spending a lot of time against the cage but in true Michael Bisping fashion he was still able to score points and keep active. For most of the rounds Leites started off well with Bisping coming back into it and finishing the round strong. This was probably one of the major factors in his split decision win as this was an enjoyable and super close fight.  All credit to Leites, he came into this fight looked strong and had he not caught Bisping when he connected with a great uppercut the fight could have gone a different way. Both fighters came out for the fifth round and still looked fresh, the action was kept to a good pace and never got boring as you could sense that if anyone of these two fighters connected cleanly the fight could dramatically change in an instant.

“I felt I was in control of the fight for the most part. He hit me with a couple of good shots on two occasions but other than that I felt great and I felt in control. I think I’m 17-0 in the UK now and it means the world to me to still be taking out top 10 guys after 10 years with the organisation. Thales is a tough guy and he was on an eight fight win streak, you know. I went in there and beat him. I’ve beaten many, many good opponents. And I am capable of fighting for that title.”

Bisping took the split decision albeit to mixed emotions from the crowd, a split decision of this type is bound to bring out the emotions of the fans as it was extremely close.  So what’s next for Bisping? personally I’d like to see the Vitor rematch and with Vitor being higher in the ranking it makes sense, a win over Vitor puts Bisping right in contention and with the way the UFC merit title shots it could even secure him a shot at Weidman.

This was a great event for Scottish MMA and MMA in general as it showed that Scotland can put on a quality show and it also put a spotlight on our local talent, the crowd reaction was amazing and the fights were stellar. I don’t expect to see the UFC out of this country for too long.

Main Card
Michael Bisping defeated Thales Leites by Split Decision (48-47, 47-48, 49-46)
Evan Dunham defeated Ross Pearson by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Joseph Duffy defeated Ivan Jorge by Submission (Triangle Choke, Round 1, 3:05)
Joanne Calderwood defeated Cortney Casey by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
Leon Edwards defeated Pawel Pawlak by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Stevie Ray defeated Leonardo Mafra by TKO (Strikes, Round 1, 2:30)

Preliminary Card
Paddy Holohan defeated Vaughan Lee by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Ilir Latifi defeated Hans Stringer by KO (Punches, Round 1, 0:56)
Mickael Lebout defeated Teemu Packalen by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Robert Whiteford defeated Paul Redmond by TKO (Punches, Round 1, 3:04)

Preliminary Bouts
Jimmie Rivera defeated Marcus Brimage by TKO (Punches, Round 1, 1:29)
Daniel Omielanczuk defeated Chris de la Rocha by TKO (Punches, Round 1, 0:48)