This past saturday saw the Troxy in Bethnal Green, play host once again to Ultimate Challenge. What was unusual about this event was the overwhelming mainstream media attention, largely due to one of the events marquee fighters – Alex Reid dating a certain Miss Katie Price.

There has been a lot of talk in the tabloid media and on the internet forums about this event and so we approached the promoter, Dave O’Donnell to give a quick email interview to address some of the questions that have arisen from the furore over the event.

• Thanks for taking the time out to talk to us. First up I’d like to start by saying congratulations on the show. Although I couldn’t be there I’ve heard there were some excellent fights on the card and read some great reviews of the action, how do you feel it went purely from the point of view of the fights?

Personally I dont think we could have squeezed more entertainment into the 4 hours that we did. Start to finish, it was absolutely fantastic. The fights were out of this world .

• I haven’t had the opportunity to see the reid fight yet but some are calling it a “fix” and saying mason won, whilst others are calling it a close but correct decision. Do you have a comment on this? How did you see the fight?

At Ultimate Challenge we try to match fights as evenly as possible, but sometimes youve got to go into that rocky situation and give the underdog a chance of a lifetime which weve done on many occasions. Sometimes the underdog prevails for example Neil Grove Vs James Thompson, Gary Turner Vs Tank Abbott, James McSweeney Vs Malcolm Mc Donald, and sometimes its just a great fight Alex Reid Vs Dave Menne. I was sitting ringside on the fight 1st round to Alex Reid, 2nd round to Jack Mason and from my point of view they were exchanging excellent blows both ways. The only significant difference was Alex pushing forward all the time he never took a back step. It had nothing to do with him being the Champ; if youre a judge you look at whos pushing the fight. Anyway who am I? thats just my opinion.

• Obviously there has been a lot of media focus on Alex Reid who is an Ultimate Challenge/Cage Rage veteran, due to his relationship with Katie Price. This meant that your event has attracted a lot more mainstream press attention than it would perhaps have normally attracted. Is all press good press no matter what?

No I wouldnt say that but lets face it, no other fight including Boxing has had this much media attention from the tabloids, red tops etc.Lets face it whatever you read in the papers is always ten-fold. If I punched a guy once, in the papers it would say I punched him x10.Apart from UFC we are the only organisation to employ full time PR staff. Before Alex Reid and Katie Price came into the equation we have had The Sun and The Mirror sitting cage-side at our past events. Our main objective has always been to get MMA mainstream.

• A lot of reports in the media and on the forums have said that it was a bad decision to let Katie Price in the cage to address the crowd after the fight. Although it could be argued that she was defending herself after being jeered by some sections of the crowd, some observers feel that her reaction didnt really help the situation and only incited the crowd further?

Its easy to criticise after the situation has passed, but with celebrities like Katie Price not putting her in the cage would have been a bad call. She was in the cage and she hit all the papers on Sunday and again on Monday. She was only trying to put her point across and kept saying both guys were winners. Another comment Ive heard time and time again is the crowd thought Alex had lost, you could tell by the way they were booing him at the end. Lets reflect on this for a minute. From the moment we started talking about the fight every time we mentioned Jacks name the crowd cheered, every time we mentioned Alex name the crowd booed, that was before a punch was even thrown! What gave you the inclination that this would change after a judges decision?!

• Obviously crowd control is a concern at any event like this. Some accounts from people that were there, say the crowd are far too close to the athletes and one of Reids corner actually stated on the internet that Alex was struck by so-called fans on his way to and from the cage. Also some people attempted to gain access to his dressing room to remonstrate with Reid after his fight! What are your thoughts on the venue security at the Troxy? Will there be any changes for subsequent UC events?

Lets get one thing straight, Ive promoted 40 MMA events. We have held shows at Wembley Arena holding up to 9000 people. Ive attended events in Vegas, LA, Japan and Brazil all over the world. Unfortunately security do not have crystal balls. At any high-profile event people always try to access VIP areas if someone did try to get into Alexs room, they didnt succeed.

• Your events sometimes come in for some criticism from UKMMA fans for the way they are marketed. There is often a hard man angle presented (for example with Ben Smith hardest man in Kent”), some would argue that by marketing an event like this you will perhaps attract a crowd that are more inclined to want to go get beered up and see a scrap than those who appreciate MMA for the skills of the athletes and the art involved in the sport. What are your thoughts on this, is it all about “putting bums on seats”?

I feel this question is biased, and perhaps influenced by the forums. Firstly we dont have much of a marketing budget. Secondly How do we market our events any different to any other event and thirdly – do I & OJ look like gangsters?

Every part of our team has some involvement with MMA, judges, security you name it. This is because we believe in and love the sport. As for some of these other shows in the country, are they the ones that have gone bust? With 200 people in the audience can you hear a pin drop? Yes our events are filled, rowdy etc but what do you expect from some of the most loyal fans in the country ? If there are no bums on seats there are no shows.

• Finally Dave, is there anything else you would like to add?

Dane White got criticised for years on the forums. My pat on the back is a long way off but dont worry Im still intending on giving it my best shot and the best fighter opportunities. With that said I’d like to thank the fans, fighters, and our hard working staff who relentlessly work in making our shows such a success. If you hate Ultimate Challenge remember DO NOT tune into Sky Sports 3 on 30th September at 10pm!

Whilst we’re sure some of the events of saturday will continute to be debated on internet message boards and in the media, we hope that giving Dave the opportunity to give his side will answer some of the questions UKMMA fans may have. Love it or hate it, Ultimate Challenge and Dave O’Donnell are here to stay!

The full results from Saturdays event are as follows:
Full Results
-Ben Smith def Kiane Sabet via Arm Triangle R1 3:09
-Francis Heagney def Tim Radcliffe via Guilletine R2 3:12
-Mike Edwards def Jamie Hearn via GnP R1 2:13
-Wesley Murch def Mark Smith via kimura R1 4:55
-Jake Bostwick def Chris Harman via RNC R3 2:30
-Colin French def Liam Etabar via ref stop GnP R1 2:56
-John Kelly def Keith Singh via RNC R2 5:00
-Dan Movahedi def Michael Sidwell via GnP R1 1:37
-Shane Omar def Marcus Thomas via T/O Kimura R1 2:24
-Mark Adams def Simon Gill via T/O Guillotine R2 1.51
-Jim O’Keefe def Danny Beevor via GnP R1 2:54
-Mark Brown v Karl Lawrence (Didn’t happen as Brown failed Medical)

UK1Kickboxing Middleweight Title:
-Alex Reid def Jack Mason via unanimous decision R3 3:00