September 18th, Troxy, London

• Kiane Sabet V Ben Smith
• Robbie Olivier V Michael Pastou
• Henrique Santana V John Maguire
• PLUS: Unfit2Fight Journalist Mark Carling V Jason Barrett

For tickets and info visit the UCMMA website

Dave O’Donnell said: “The fight card that is lined up at the moment is an International dream. We’ve got guys from Brazil, Poland, Algeria, Greece, France, Romania, Lithuania and Africa and it really is a Showdown. If this was the Wild West, people would be clearing the streets. But it’s not – it’s a spectacle for all to see and it’s going to be another sell out for the Troxy.”

“The long awaited re-match between multi-millionaire Kiane Sabet and ‘Big’ Ben Smith has already set the forums alight – they are making their statements heard around the streets and in their promos on YouTube – neither man will want to lose face. On the other side of the coin, the LW Title is up for grabs. Robbie Olivier is no stranger to titles – he held the Cage Rage belt for many years, but will Michael Pastou be too strong for him as he cuts down from 84 kilos? Everyone is talking about Pastou’s immense strength – that’s why he’s called ‘the hulk.’ The Welterweight title bout featuring Henrique Santana from Brazil is one to watch, will Santana’s slick ground game be too much for John Maguire – the current OMMAC champion? Only time will tell with these two gun slingers.”

UCMMA 15 also sees the MMA debut of action journalist Mark ‘Wartime’ Carling, who is facing up to Jason Barrett after 12 weeks of intensive training. Cornered by boxing champ Mark Prince, Nick Chapman and Dale Hatt, Carling’s gruelling journey into the cage has been filmed by BlockHouse Films for an upcoming TV series. Confident Barrett (3 – 6- 0) is coming out of retirement to put an end to Carling’s MMA ambitions – who’s going to win the crowd over and will this turn out to be the upset of the night?

UCMMA 15: Showdown – Full Card:

Pictures courtesy of RingPics

Valentino Petrescu vs Jimi Manuwa

The long awaited championship bout between these 2 guys was finally upon us. This fight was originally scheduled early this year at the UCMMA event in May, but Petrescu had to unfortunately pull out due to a hand injury. We interviewed Jimi Manuwa a few months ago and he was very much looking forward to this match up and rated Petrescu as one of the UK’s top fighters.

Manuwa looked like the much sharper fighter at the start of the 1st. He effectively used the muay thai clinch and connected with some hard knees. Petrescu tried to use some dirty boxing techniques to free himself from the clinches, but Manuwa picked his shots and a left uppercut wobbled Petrescu. The lion went for the kill and a fast combo finished the fight. Manuwa wins by KO in the 1st round, retains his light heavyweight belt. Who’s next for him?

Edgelson Lua vs Jamaine Facey

This fight between 2 great fighters and friends in the UCMMA Welterweight division was to be the fight of the night in my opinion, and it definitely didn’t disappoint.

Facey comes out quick and nearly connects with a head kick straight after touching the gloves. Edge wanted none of the stand up and his gameplan looked to be on the ground, where he could utilise his purple belt BJJ skills. Crowd favourite Jamaine Facey was definitely no slouch on the ground though, and pulled off some nice position escapes and sweeps. Edge eventually managed to get Faceys back and sink in a very tight looking rear naked choke. Bandog’s MMA fighter Facey wasn’t in the mood to tap, and the crowd went crazy (seriously they went mad) went he escaped the choke at the end of the round! Wow!

In the 2nd , Facey connected with a good kick and knee, but once again Lua wanted the takedown and managed to get it. He controlled much of the ground game, but Facey managed to pull off a great sweep where he finished the fight via GNP TKO from mount position. That has to be Jamaine Facey now in the mix for Alberto Mina’s title….

Brad Wheeler vs Francis Heagney

This was a big step up for 19 year old Brad Wheeler in the lightweight division against one of the UK’s top lightweight fighters Francis Heagney.

Heagney starts the fight with a quick combo and shoots where he took down his opponent. Brad Wheeler looked very dangerous off his back though and attempted a couple of armbar submissions, but Francis powered out of them with slams. These guys show off some great transitions and reverses on the ground, but Heagney eventually get into a good position and pounds out Wheeler for a TKO victory.

The whole event was once again a great success for the UCMMA organisation. Not one fight was boring, there was KO’s (Jake Bostwicks right hook must of been KO of the night), submissions (awesome triangle choke from Tom Dixon who fought twice in one night! True warrior), a Pride style soccer head kick (which Mark Potter was DQ’d for), and even 2 marriage proposals. Unfit2fight’s Mark Amor-Carling proposed to his girlfriend and UCMMA fighter Dan Movehedi proposed to his girlfriend. Both said yes, and the love in the air continued with some more MMA

7th August 2010, Troxy, East London

• VALINTINO PETRESCU V JIMI MANUWA – Title Fight
• Featuring: FRANCIS HEAGNEY, JAMAINE FACEY, MARK WEIR & MARK POTTER
• Debuting: IAIN MARTELL & JOHN PHILLIPS
• Broadcast on Sky Sports: Wednesday 11th August, 10pm

Finally, the long awaited title fight that we’ve all been waiting for is back on. Light Heavyweight Champ Jimi Manuwa gets his wish to fight one of the top fighters in the UK, Valentino “Battista” Petrescu. Both fighters are undefeated and both are hungry for the title of being the UK’s top light heavyweight warrior.

Veteran Mark ‘The Wizard’ Weir, who has been in there with the best, is looking to continue his great start of the year. He’s up against John Phillips who has never gone the distance in a fight. Phillips has won 12 of his 16 fights, with the majority not going past the 1st round! Both fighters have great technique and KO power, so don’t blink!

Dave O’Donnell said: “This event definitely has the right name. There are a lot of fighters on this card who actually believe they are invincible. Jimi Manuwa and Valentino Petrescu are both unbeaten; Giorgio Andrews, Mark Potter– both un-beaten. These guys have never tasted defeat and have no appetite for it. Other guys who do know the bitter taste of defeat are Jamaine Facey, John Phillips and John Kelly, but they’ve vowed never to look back and are now ready to prove that they too are invincible.”

“Mark Potter is the best pound for pound heavyweight in the country, but with
Ian Hawkins standing at 6’6 and not afraid of the Devil himself, this promises to be a stand up war. At the other end of the spectrum, Edge Lua, a quiet but pitiless Mixed Martial Artist faces up to the extremely vocal and talented Jamaine Facey. This fight has already set tongues wagging … “.

“After Jake Bostwick’s amazing win over Denniston Sutherland he decided to drop to Middleweight. Now, facing up to Earl Brown, who went an amazing two rounds with Paul Cahoon, Jake will be looking to take out Earl quicker than Ben Craggy to prove he’s at the very top of his game.”

“This card is stacked with powerful fighters who are determined to prove they’re invincible, so it’s certain to live up to the hype.”

Cage Fighter is the new weekly half an hour MMA Magazine show hosted by legendary promoter Dave O’Donnell, OJ Borg and top referee Grant Waterman. Each week sees celebrity guests and MMA Champions join the presenters to take a light hearted look at the toughest sport in the world. Featuring exciting fights, knock-outs of the week and up and coming fighters – plus learning moves in the cage and visiting some of the UK’s top MMA gyms.

Every Wednesday Night on Sky Sports, Cage Fighter gives an entertaining insight into the characters behind the world’s fastest growing sport. The first show kicks off with undefeated UCMMA champion Jimi ‘Poster Boy’ Manuwa dropping in to talk about his upcoming title fight, and look out for crowd favourite Jamaine ‘Mr Pain’ Facey, Jake ‘Brutal’ Bostwick, Brian from Big Brother and undefeated featherweight Giorgio Andrews joining the presenters in the next few episodes.

Dave O’Donnell said: “This is a monumental breakthrough for MMA and for Sky Sports and it’s a partnership that I see going a long way – a partnership with Sky is also what the fans have been waiting for – Cage Fighter will give the fans an insight into the fighter’s personalities and the most exciting sport in the world.”

12th June 2010 at General Motors Place in Vancouver, Canada

A few weeks ago I sat down and thought to myself, if I could interview 1 person about the fight game….who would it be??? My ass had barely hit the seat when I had my answer. It could only be 1 man, ‘The Voice’ Michael Schiavello! We caught up with him recently……

Warriors Of MMA - Tell us a bit about your schedule recently? How do you manage such a hectic schedule and home life with family and friends?

Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - My schedule lately has been insane. I think I have spent half of this year already on the road, which is crazy but I absolutely love the job so it makes getting through the travel much easier.

I’m very fortunate that I have a girlfriend who understands the demands of my job and while it is hard on her that I travel so often she understands that this is how I earn my living and create our future. As for my family and friends, well, they’re so used to it I think half the time they don’t even notice I’m gone!

Some trips are harder than others, such as the one I just completed which was an entire month on the road doing shows in Tokyo, Edmonton, New Mexico, Bucharest and then Tokyo again. Those tours can get long and lonely. Thank God for Skype and Facebook!

Warriors Of MMA - UFC 110 was a great event in Australia. MMA is obviously hugely popular in Australia, but how is MMA progressing there?

Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - UFC 110 was a tremendous boost for Australia. Often in Australia the nation doesn’t become interested in something (no matter how big it is abroad) unless there is Australian participation in it. For example, the World Cup of soccer. Before the last World Cup in 2006 which Australia qualified for, nobody outside of the ethnic community really gave a crap about the World Cup and the media coverage of it was poor. Now, with Australia qualifying again, it dominates the media. That attitude shits me to be honest. I’m like, “Where the hell were all of you now expert media people when Australia wasn’t in the World Cup?!”

Same too with MMA. With UFC 110 in Sydney and the success of James Tehuna and George Sotiropoulos, a lot of people instantly paid attention to MMA. The sport is growing greatly here though unfortunately in the sporting capital, Melbourne, cage fighting is illegal, which is just ridiculous. Once that changes watch MMA really take off Down Under.

Warriors Of MMA - Which fighters have been the most memorable to watch and commentate?

Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - Wow this is a tough question because I have commentated so many superstars and legends. I would say that Badr Hari is always memorable to watch and commentate, so too Masato. In MMA I would say Sakuraba, Akiyama, Fedor Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Mayhem Miller were all very memorable to commentate. Marius Zaromskis, Melvin Maenhoff, Shinya Aoki are also names that need to be mentioned.

Warriors Of MMA - Who do you think is the most underrated fighter currently in MMA?

Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - This is another very good question. I don’t know if I would say he is underrated but I tout him as literally the next big thing in MMA heavyweights and that is Nick Gaston, aka Afrozilla. Mark my words, under the right management, in two years time he will be the UFC Heavyweight champion or Strikeforce Heavyweight champion. I mean, he will be big time. The guy is an amazing specimen, incredibly athletic, monstrously strong with insane striking skills and amazing wrestling.

Warriors Of MMA - Do you think Fedor will eventually fight Overeem and how do you see that fight going?

Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - Fedor’s Strikeforce contract is coming to an end soon so there is only one more window of opportunity for him to fight Overeem in Strikeforce, unless of course he signs again with Scott Coker. Then again it could happen in DREAM, mostly likely at Dynamite. I don’t know, it’s not as easy as saying he will fight him, etc. There is so much that goes on behind-the-scenes in the fight game that makes these fights happen or not. A lot of money talk, television deals, venue talk, management interests, rules talk, purses, percentages, etc etc.

If they did fight, right now, it would be the blockbuster match of all blockbuster matches, even moreso than Fedor versus Brock, because Alistair’s striking is so fucking good. Alistair’s striking is some of the best in MMA if not the best. I mean he fights at an elite striking level in K-1 and wins there! That is insane! Fedor’s striking is also of a very high level. Both men have superb ground games too with great submissions and both and very strong. I don’t know, I still lean toward Fedor, I mean I have trouble ever picking against Fedor…but Alistair man… wow… he is just a fucking machine. Insanely big and powerful. I mean he rag-dolled Brett Rogers. Threw him through the air! Fedor couldn’t do that. Alistair handled Rogers like he was nothing. It would be an amazing fight.

Warriors Of MMA - Who do you rate as the pound for pound best fighter in the world?

Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - Best fighter? So you mean any fighter of any code? This is difficult too as I would put Fedor and Manny Pacquiao up there and also Saenchai and Giorgio Petrosian. They would be my top four, for sure. People are quick to do pound for pound lists and forget all the great Muay Thai fighters out there, all the great amateur boxers, all the fantastic female fighters like Germaine de Randamie who I put in my top ten of any pound for pound list.

Warriors Of MMA - How far do you think that striking in MMA has to develop before it is at the level of K1 or boxing?

Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - Oh man, a long way to go and it will never get there. Sorry but that’s just a fact man. They are different sports. Completely different. MMA striking cannot get to a K-1 level and even less chance of getting to a boxing level because the distancing is so different, first and foremost. You get into striking range, be it K-1 range or boxing range in MMA and you have to watch for takedowns. In boxing and K-1 you don’t have to worry about that, so you can just hone those striking skills as high as you can. A K-1 fighter can go to MMA and have mixed success. Doesn’t mean that K-1 is bad against MMA, just that the range is different. The footwork is different. The balance is different. Your balance changes, so too does your footwork when you have to defend against takedowns.

So in closing, MMA will never achieve a striking level of boxing or K-1 because it doesn’t have to. That said, the striking level in MMA has a lot of improvements to make for the most. I would love to see what someone like Rashad or Forrest or Takaya or King Mo or Mousasi could do if they went to Thailand and trained for three months solid at somewhere like the WMC camp in Koh Samui. Their Muay Thai would improve drastically and just give them an added striking edge over the competition.

Warriors Of MMA - Some people may not know that you are a 3rd degree Freemason. Why did you get involved and how does it fit into your everyday life and busy schedule?

Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - Life is one long lesson and I like to learn how I can improve my life, contribute more to society and basically become a better human being.

I once saw this slogan for Freemasonry that said “Making good men better” and I thought to myself I’m a good man but if there is something out there that says it can make me a better man I’m all for having a closer look at it. I attended some Freemason dinners and started reading up on the subject and it really intrigued me. The history, the symbology, the moral lessons for making a better life, the philanthropic endeavours of the organization all really appealed to me.

Going through the three degree was an amazing experience, especially the Entered Apprentice Degree (first degree). It was a night I will never forget. It was just mind blowing.

Unfortunately due to my schedule I don’t get to attend Lodge as much as I would like but whenever I am on the road I take my Freemasonry books with me and read and consume as much literature as I can to keep up my Masonic education.

Warriors Of MMA - You are known for your unique commentating style, energy, and one liners. With one liners such as “He’s taken more shots to the mouth than Belladonna”, and “He’s been mounted more times than Jenna Haze!”, which is your favourite line? Or maybe i should be asking which is your favourite porn star!?

Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - Believe it or not I am not a big porn fan. It’s like window shopping. Looking but not touching? Forget that. I want to buy the shop! That said the funniest porno I ever saw was called Black vs Asians and it was these black men with huge members banging this little Asian women. Funniest thing was that it was commentated! They had a black man and an Asian man commentating and the black guy was like “Oh look at his monster cock, that’s a fucking huge cock…” and the Asian man would chime in with this thick Asian accent and say “Oh no! He not human! He too big! He going to break her in half! He cock too big!” Just so fucking funny!

As for the one liners… I don’t know which is my favourite. The Jenna Haze one was probably the most memorable. I dropped that during DREAM 10. The timing was just perfect!

Warriors Of MMA - Thankyou for your time. Would you like to give a shout out to anybody, or any websites etc?

Mike ‘The Voice’ Schiavello - Thank you for interviewing me! Follow me on twitter @SchiavelloVOICE or add me on facebook and please make sure you check out the HDNet schedule at hdnetfights.com and keep it locked on Hdnet. All of us at HDNet from myself and El Guapo to Mark Cuban himself all the way to the chicks who do the closed captions have an intense passion for the fight game and delivering the best broadcasts in the world. Keep supporting HDNet and we will keep entertaining you!