Neil Grove | UK MMA NEWS

Neil "Goliath" Grove smashes it at Bellator 24

Aug 132010

In his first round match of the Bellator Heavyweight Tournament against Eddie Sanchez, Neil Grove needed just 92 seconds to take the win. MMA Junkie Reports:

The evening’s main card opened with the first bout of Bellator’s first-ever heavyweight tournament, and the massive Grove did not disappoint. A straight left dropped opponent Eddie Sanchez in the opening seconds of the contest, and “Goliath” made sure he never had a chance to recover.

Grove unleashed a barrage of punches before returning to the feet and asking Sanchez to follow. Sanchez did, but he did so slowly. Grove returned to the attack, and several punches found their mark in addition to a powerful knee. Sanchez was wobbled, and Grove tossed him to the floor in the clinch. Grove again returned to his feet, and this time Sanchez was even slower to stand.

Sanchez did crawl back to a standing position, but his eye was closing, his body was wobbling, and he grabbed his head. Referee Jorge Alonso had no choice but to stop the fight just 92 seconds after it had begun.

After the win, Grove said the stoppage was just but also praised Sanchez’s durability.

“He’s very durable,” Grove said. “I knew I was going to have to hit him hard to finish the fight.”

With the win in his promotional debut, Grove (9-2-1 MMA, 1-0 BFC) is now unbeaten in his past three fights. Sanchez (12-4 MMA, 2-1 BFC) sees a four-fight win streak snapped.

A fantastic win for the big man as he progresses in the tournament. Congratulations to Neil from all of us here at UKMMANEWS.com and we look forward to seeing him in the next round!

Grove vs Sanchez at Bellator 24 tomorrow night!

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Aug 112010

I somehow contrived to miss this fight from my previous article, spotlighting big fights featuring UK guys in August.

Neil “Goliath” Grove (8-2-1) will take on Eddie Sanchez as the first round of the Bellator Heavyweight tournament gets underway. Whilst both men are UFC veterans, Grove had the one fight in the UFC, a loss to Mike Ciesnolevicz at UFC 95. Sanchez on the other hand has far more “big show” experience having had 6 fights in the organisation. Both men are very heavy hitters and this bout has fireworks written all over it. Sanchez is riding a 4 fight win streak with 3 of those finishing inside the distance. Grove has had mixed fortunes and is coming off a draw with Stav Economu at Ultimate Challenge back in May this year. He is definitely going to need to up his game from that fight in order to be competitive against Sanchez. In his last UCMMA fight Grove looked very tired early on, but it is testament to his toughness that he saw the fight out. At times he looked close to finishing Economu and almost had it won on points but for a final rally by “Crazy Bear” in the last round which saw him bring it level on the judges score cards.

Neil is one of the biggest men in the tournament and will be looking to use his size advantage to great effect over the California native. Whilst the list of opponents he has defeated in putting his recent win streak together has been less-than-stellar, Sanchez still provides a very real threat to Grove and as he proved in his most recent win against Marcus Sursa, even when he is looking beaten he can still find a way to win. This is a big opportunity and a big test for Goliath and UKMMANEWS would like to wish him all the best for tomorrow night.

ZT Fight Night - The Tournament: VENUE CHANGE

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Jan 152010

Due to some unfortuante circumstances with the co-promoters. Sol and ZT Promotions will be moving this event to Hove Town Hall. The date and times remain the same. 30th Jan, 6:30pm doors, 7:30pm first fight.

In another blow to the event, 2 fighters have now pulled out of the roster. Neil Grove was the first to go and now Karlos Vemola has pulled out as well. Despite these setbacks, Sol and the ZT team are determined that the event will go ahead and are doing all they can to replace these two fighters and give the fans a great show as promised.

UKMMANews urges the fans to get behind this event. Support UKMMA and support ZT promotions who are doing great things to try and push UKMMA forwards!

*EDIT*: The latest press release from the event follows:

ZT Fight Night – The Tournament, the concept that revolves around a winner takes all format aiming to prove who is the best in each Mixed Martial Arts weight category has confirmed that the event will go ahead but with a change of venue now in ZT’s hometown of Hove, Brighton. ZT Group has taken over the headline sponsorship of this first event – the heavyweights division – ensuring that the event will happen after being hit with several set backs that caused the organisers having to seek new support.

Sol Gilbert, MD commented “We have decided to move the event to ZT’s hometown where we have successfully run numerous ZT Fight Nights in and around Brighton. We have tried to run this event in London with our promoter at that time which has unfortunately not worked out due to various reasons beyond our control”

“We are 100% behind this event which is a showcase of unsigned talent in MMA. With the headline sponsorship now being ZT Group and combined with moving The Tournament back to our home ground we are ensuring that this event will happen on the 30th January – you have my guarantee on that” said Sol.

After several disruptions to the event originally planned to be held in London at the HMV Forum it seemed like it was going to be postponed or even cancelled. Sol Gilbert and the ZT Team were determined this was not going to happen resulting in the new support and a subsequent venue change.

The fighters have been very supportive of the event – James Thompson, Neil Wain, Oli Thompson, Rob Broughton, Tengiz Tedoradze and Martin Thompson are all confirmed for the night with Ian ‘the machine’ Freeman as the compare. The winner will walk away with £10,000 on the night from The Tournament and interim fights have now also been confirmed including a K1 title fight and a Boxing match. This night is packed with an exceptional line up of talent and promises to be a night to remember, setting heavyweight history. Karlos Vermola and Neil Grove have been withdrawn from the event by their Managers with replacements being confirmed shortly to complete the eight men heavyweight line up.

The Fighters, UKMMA fans, MMA media and Sponsors, have overwhelmed Sol and the team with the level of support for this event. The move results in several sponsors and supporters stepping forward to ensure that the event happens on the originally planned date of the 30th January. The sponsors include headline sponsor ZT GROUP with BBE & RY-KO – ELECTRIC HAIR – FOXYS ROAST & GRILL – BIG DOGZ FIGHT WEAR – MMA UNLTD – UK MMA NEWS – CAGE FILM – PERFORMANCE FOODS BRIGHTON – BREATHE MGMT – SOUTH COAST COMMUNICATIONS UK PR and FIGHT SKOOL. More sponsors are to announced shortly and if you are interested in sponsoring the event please email Rebecca@southcoastcommunications.com for further information.

Sol commented “The UKMMA has shown great support for this concept and moving the event has allowed us flexibility on the ticket prices which will be available from today priced from £30 for seated stalls, £40 for balcony seating through to Bronze, Silver and Gold VIP ten seated tables priced between £600 to £1000. Available through the website or by calling 01273 202 226. All VIP tables come with a gourmet buffet supplied by Foxys Roast & Grill, champagne reception, buckets of beer and even individual VIP goodie bags!

Make sure you don’t miss the action and support UKMMA by being at this event and helping the Sport of MMA continue to grow.

ZT Fight Night - The Tournament: Fighters Confirmed!

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Oct 272009

ZTFNTT LOGO
Sol Gilbert has been on the cagewarriors forum and confirmed that the following fighters are slated to take part in the 1 night Heavyweight Tournament taking place at the HMV Forum in Kentish Town on 30th January 2010 .

According to Sol, the list has been confirmed by all fighters management, although some are still subject to a medical. As ever injuries occur and so this may yet change come fight night. But one thing is for certain, whoever is in the cage come the end of January, this is looking like a not-to-be-missed event.

The winner of this tournament has a great shot at getting into the bigger shows in Europe and the USA so this is a great platform for all the fighters. The prize money on offer (£15, 000!!) wouldn’t be unwelcome either I’m sure!

The fighters are:

Rob Broughton: Standout HW fighter from UK M1-Challenge team
Neil Grove: UFC Veteran
Tengiz Tedoradze: UKMMA legend – only person in tournament to have win over Rob Broughton
Martin Thompson: Multiple UK MMA title holder
Oli Thompson: former “Britains Strongest Man”
Karlos Vemola:undefeated fighter and CFC heavyweight champion
Neil Wain: UFC veteran
James Thompson: Pride Veteran

Tickets will be available at the end of this month from Ticketmaster

Ultimate Challenge - Dynamite

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Oct 202009

On Saturday 24th October the Troxy in London once again plays host to a night of MMA and Uk1 action. Following on from the last event, which got a lot of press attention UCMMA have put together a great looking card with 5 Titles on the line.

Looking down the card the highlights include:

Martin Thompson vs Neil Grove - HeavyWeight Title Fight
Reigning champ Grove will be looking to successfully defend the belt he won against James McSweeny before his ill-fated venture to the UFC where he sustained a first round submission loss to Mike Ciesnolevicz. Thompson is the current Cage Gladiators, Strike & Submit and Ultimate Force HW champ and will be looking to add another strap to his collection. Thompson is on a 6 fight win streak including most recently a win over another UFC veteran – Colin Robinson and prior to that 2 impressive wins over highly ranked UK fighters Tengiz Tedoradze and Tom Blacklegde. Both men like to bang and have an impressive KO/TKO rate on their records. With firepower like this on display it’s a fairly safe bet that someone is getting KO’d in this fight!

Denniston Sutherland vs Tom Watson – Middleweight Title Fight
Both fighters are on a tear at middleweight at the moment and this is arguably a fight for the right to call themselves number 1 middleweight in the UK right now (although the author accepts there are other legitimate challengers for this position!). Sutherland has come down from heavyweight and is a powerhouse at middleweight. Watson has been honing his craft at one of the best MMA camps in the world: Jacksons MMA. The ever-confident Watson will no doubt be making one of his trademark entrances but once the cage door locks he’s all business – favouring the stand-game he will be looking to pick Sutherland off whilst setting up the big shots. Sutherland is no slouch though and despite Watson probably having the crisper standup game, he won’t be afraid to trade with him. This one is a potential contender for fight of the night in my opinion!

Alberto Mina vs Edgelson Lua - Welterweight Title Fight
Since Mohammed Khacha vacated the title through being unable to defend it, the undefeated Mina and Cage Rage /Bamma/Ultimate Challenge veteran Lua will contest the belt. Mina is an undefeated fighter and has never been out of the first round, winning his last 3 fights with quick submissions (albeit against mediocre opposition). Lua also has submissions in his arsenal and this could be an interesting battle to decide who walks away with the title. In his favour is the fact that Lua has been quite active this year with 3 fights already whereas Mina has not fought since his victory over Steve Elliot at Cage Rage 28.

Jason Young vs Abdul Mohamed Lightweight
Up and coming lightweight talent Jason Young faces off against one of his toughest opponents to date in the shape of veteran Abdul Mohamed. Everyone in UKMMA knows about Abdul, it’s like he has been around for ever and he is still one of the toughest lightweights out there. With awesome wrestling, powerful hands and great strength he is a difficult test for any fighter. However he is coming off the back of an uncharacteristically poor performance against Tim Radcliffe. Radcliffe fought an excellent gameplan against Abdul and managed to stuff his takedowns and keep Abdul totally off his game. One would think that Young will be looking to emulate this successful strategy against Mohamed – as one thing you don’t want is to get slammed by Abdul and then be looking up at him as he throws down those fists and elbows! For his part Mohamed will just be looking to get back to winning ways after his set back against Radcliffe when they contested the BAMMA Lightweight Title. Interestingly, Young and Mohammed both share losses to Radcliffe but Young has beaten Francis Heagney – who defeated Radcliffe to win the lightweight title at the last Ultimate Challenge. This could set up an interesting rematch for the title if Young can get past Abdul first. Abdul of course will have other ideas and will be looking to earn his own shot at the title.

Dean Amasinger vs Scott Jansen - Welterweight
Amasinger is coming off a stint in the TUF house on series 9 of the Ultimate Fighter. No doubt the training and experience there will have improved him as a fighter and training with UFC stars Paul Daley and Dan Hardy at the Rough House Gym in Nottingham makes him a strong favourite in this match. Jansen is a good striker with KO power and has just won the Ultimate Challenge UK1 title. His MMA form however is not so great, with 1 win in his last 5 fights. His best hope in this fight is to keep it on the feet, hit Amasinger with a big shot and end the fight. He has shown that he has great conditioning taking Ross Mason to a decision on Cage Rage so would be fine with a stand up war. Amasinger however will probably not be interested in playing Jansen at his own game and instead will be looking to put Jansen on his back and use his strength and wrestling ability to keep him there and pound him out for a win. If I was a betting man I’d put my money on Amasinger in this fight but this is MMA and anything can happen!

The Ultimate Challenge – Dynamite card is rounded out with the following undercard fights:
Brad Wheeler V John Joe Ellis – UK1 Featherweight Title
Lee Doski V Jamaine Facey
Ian Hawkin V Ashley Pollard – UK1 Heavyweight Title
Ben Craggy V Tam Khan
Scott Rogan V Michael Brown
Dai Smith V Joe Holder
Abdullah Hamden V Shah Hussain
Pablo Ben V Tommy Kelly

We also caught up with Pablo Ben who is looking to gain his first professional win at the event. “I have been training on my stand up more than ever” said Ben. “I have been sparring with K1 world champion Galore Bofando. Working on my strength and technique. My wrestling is already good as I have been been wrestling for quite a while now. I also have a good ground game, so nothing there to worry me”.

When asked on his opponent Tommy Kelly, Ben replied “I do take each and every of my opponents seriously, but there isn’t anything special in him..I have fought better fighters before and there is nothing about him that scares me or worries me. I’ m sure this man has got his own game but i’ll be by gods will very wary and ready for what his going to bring..”

Props to the UCMMA team for putting this together, the spotlighted fights alone make this a really strong card and it is great for UKMMA that fights like this are getting put together. The jury is still out on whether UCMMA can achieve the heights of Cage Rage in it’s heyday, but with cards like this it could be well on the way.

With this card, the finals of the UCMMA Grand prix matches, the upcoming Bushido MMA card, UFC 105 and ZTFightNight “The Tournament” all happening in the next 3 months. The UK MMA fan really is spoilt for choice when it comes to top class MMA in this country.