Man of War II: Full Report: Shiel walks away with the Gold!

Shiel and Co.

The dust has settled on Man of War II, the promotion crowning three new champions after another excellent night of fights in packed O'Mahony Hall in The Helix. FightIreland were out in force and we were seriously impressed with this event - the venue, cage, lighting and sound were second to none and one of the best we've been to this year - thankfully the fights did not disappoint either. In the evening's Main Event John Michael Shiel from Dublin's Straight Blast Gym defeated MMA Lucan's Henry "Herculez" Fadibe when referee Dave Jones stepped in after 2 minutes 53 seconds of round two. 

The opening round was a competitive affair with Shiel looking to establish cage control chasing down Fadibe. Herculez did have some luck with some accurate counters and landed at least three counter jabs on the relentless Shiel. Two solid leg kicks from Shiel backed up Fadibe and from there the SBG the man shot for the takedown  resulting in a hand fight for a minute pressed against the cage. Once seperated Shiel again shot and was succesful landing in side control and trapping an arm - Shiel showed some highly effective ground and pound from this position which was a pre-cursor to the eventual end. The round ended with Shiel on top but both fighters were up and fresh returning to their corners for break.

The second round began with at least one side of the venue on their feet - Shiel again landed with a double leg kick and this slowed Fadibe down. Shiel shot in, landing in his opponents guard. From within guard he began a composed ground and pound onslaught. He was patient mixing up hammer fists with the old body-body-head before taking a slick mount - from mount Fadibe was in trouble and despite a valiant attempt to recover guard took 10 or more unanswered punches and left Dave Jones no choice but to step in. Shiel walked away with the belt, the purse and the bragging rights - but both men should be proud of their performances.

McGuigan vs. Edgeworth

In a fight that produced the highlight of the night - Team Ryano standout Richie "Ricky" Edgeworth took on the popular/epically named Barry McGuigan from the Antrim MMA Club. McGuigan bounced out to the cage and the lad looked like he was hewn from solid oak such is the muscle the bantamweight carries around and immediately went after Edgeworth. The pair began swinging with lethal intent with Edgeworth eventualy closing the distance and landing a nice takedown from a wizzer on his right arm. McGuigan showed his strength and with great vocal support behind him bounced back up. Edgeworth backed up and landing a fantastic spinning back elbow square on McGuigan's temple. The Antrim man dropped and Edgeworth finished from side control with hammer fists leaving the crowd on their feet. McGuigan was soon up to his feet applauding Edgeworth's shot in a show of class.

The power of Staz.

At middleweight Duncan Deacon of The Next Generation club took on The Boxing Clinic's Staz. The two men looked huge in the cage and were landing some heavy shots from the off. Staz was landing the heavier shots and backed Deacon up a couple of times in the first round. Deacon landed a heavy takedown and immediately took mount - he began to posture up when Staz swept him and landed some heavy shots. The round ended with Duncan cut on the top of the head but Dave Jones deemed it not dangerous. The second round began a lot like the first with Staz landing some heavy shots on Deacon. He backed Deacon up with a massive left hook and seized his opportunities landing heavy accurate shots from all angles. He landed lead rights, left body hooks and left straights giving a game Deacon no time to recover - eventually after a serious of hooks Deacon dropped and Dave Jones called a halt to the action after 1 minute 11 seconds of round two.

O'Hanlon and Brennan trade shots!

The many fans in attendance were treated to a feast of submissions on the night in the run up to those fights - Chris Flogdell from Kokoro finished Patrick Stokes of Midlands with a swift armbar after a minute, Jason Hurley took home sub of the night for his kimura from guard over Sam Keating in what was a smashing fight and Rush Fight Academy's Dean Mitchell bested Kokoro's Rob Byrne by RNC after 1 minute 20 of round one. A special mention goes out to Alan Corcoran and Graham McCormack who swapped leg locks and sweeps for a blistering two minutes before Corcoran slapped on a tight knee bar after 2 minutes 28 seconds.

In the evenings second title fight Legend's own Oisin Coburn took on Sean Paul Power from Team Ryano for the Featherweight Teen C Class Title in an eagerly aniticipated affair. The two looked very composed in the cage with both looking to establish their presence on the fight. Coburn landed an early takedown and began to look for a pass - the pair traded mount positions and were stood up. Following another scramble Power got hold of an arm and showed perfect technique slapping on a fight ending armbar which shocked and thrilled the crowd in equal amounts - very impressive victory it must be said.

The judges were busy in the previous three featherweight fights awarding a unanamous decision to Primal's Ian Cleary over John Byrne and Kokoro's Stephen O'HanlonMMA Lucan and they drove their man right to the end a great fight - both fighters landed solid kicks and punches and I wouldn't mind seeing it again. One fight that should happen again is the Dean Knight (Legends) versus Dermot Byrne (Rush Fight Academy) - the pair put on a great show - just looking at my notes here all I'm reading "round one ground and pound, reversal, reversal, triangles, sweeps, triangle, omaplata WOAH f*ck what is that"

Round two was a slightly more organised affair with Dermot landing a takedown and landing some heavy shots before stood up - from there Dean took control and finished the round attempting a decent looking arm triangle. Round three was an all out war with both fighters trying to do enough to make the fight theirs. We cant argue with the majority draw result but we do want to see it again please Man of War III!

In the third title fight of the night - the Bantamweight Junior Title saw a fired up Robert Morrison from Antrim MMA take on Denis Chetari from PMA, in our opinion this was the fight as both juniors went out with lethal intent from the off - with Morrison landing a huge right that was heard around the arena but Chetari whipped it off and landed a chopping leg kick and takedown. The pair traded punches, takedowns and submission attempts for three rond before Morrison finished by armbar after 2 minutes 45 seconds of round three. Morrison may be one to keep an eye on and happily wore his Man of War belt around for the evening for all to see :-)

Another one to watch is Fabio "Super Mario" Viti from MMA Lucan - the bantamweight lived up his name with a stunning display of kickboxing to finish Fianna's Killian Glynn after one minute. Viti landed near on 40 shots in the opening minute and never gave Glynn a chance - the Fianna man left disappointed but will fight another day. At Junior Lightweight Daniel Warden (Evolve) decisioned Hugh Gleeson in an entertaining affair full of submission attempts. One regrettable incident on the night was Wayne Brennan (MMA Lucan) who walked away with what appeared to be a dislocated elbow following his americana loss to Evolve's John Bradley - it was tight submission with Brennan defending correctly while trapped in side mount - but a shift in weight from Bradley brought about a nasty end. Brennan left the cage composed and smiling despite the injury - he will be back and we all wish him well. Elsewhere in the evening's first night Denis Krasnoruskis from RFA landed a sweet first round armbar from mount to finish Adam McClean from Xtreme to kick off the night's action.

All in all an excellent night was had by all - another strong night for Irish MMA now roll on Battlezone!