Dave O'Donnell (MMA promoter)

Dave O'Donnell (MMA promoter)
Dave O'Donnell
Born London, England
Residence London, England
Nationality England English
Occupation Promoter
Known for Cage Rage, Cage Rage UK
Height 5 ft 11 in

Dave O'Donnell (born in London, England) is a mixed martial arts promoter, best known for his role in the Cage Rage promotion. He is currently the CEO and founder of Cage Rage UK.

Contents

Cage Rage

Cage Rage Championships, also known as Cage Rage, was a United Kingdom-based, mixed martial arts promotion that premiered on 7 September 2002 in London. Cage Rage went bankrupt and is now no longer trading. Cage Rage had been owned and managed by Elite XC until that company ceased operating, and the British promoters behind Cage Rage formed a new organization and withdrew all the old Cage Rage titles.[1] Matchmaker and on-screen personality Dave O'Donnell was also a minority shareholder in the company. Fellow on-screen personality and co-promoter Andy Geer also owned a minority stake until he left the promotion in 2008.[2] Cage Rage events were replayed on Nuts TV,[3] along with their own weekday show on The Fight Network (UK & Ireland) until these channels closed down.[4] Archived shows are currently shown on the Extreme Sports Channel.

History of Cage Rage

Cage Rage started when Alex Jones and Tom Bell set out to raise money by promoting a small mixed martial arts show, to provide new mats for their martial arts school. The first Cage Rage event in Elephant and Castle, London was a success, which led to fans and fighters asking for a follow up show, leading to further shows and promotion as it exists today.[5]

In March 2007, after the purchase of PRIDE Fighting Championships by Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta from Dream Stage Entertainment, Cage Rage were announced as members of a promotional alliance instigated by ProElite and FEG, the parent companies of EliteXC and Hero's respectively, along with Strikeforce, BodogFight K-1 and Spirit MC.[6]

However, this working relationship barely lasted a month. When Cage Rage signed K-1 star Bob Sapp to a main event in London for their 21 April 2007, show K-1 stopped Sapp from fighting on the card. This left a desperate Geer and O'Donnell scrambling for a new main event on just days notice with aged veteran Tank Abbott eventually stepping in.

Due to the closeness of the two promotions, ProElite purchased the majority shareholding in Cage Rage in September 2007 from Cage Rage's silent partner John Faraday.[7]

Andy Geer Left the group he founded in April 2008, and was replaced by former King of the Cage boss Christopher Cordeiro.

In May 2008, Sky Sports said in a statement they would no longer be airing Cage Rage events on their channels. The official line was that they could not continue with Cage Rage as fighter Paul Daley had sworn on live TV on a previous show. However, this was thought to be an excuse as the incident (where Daley used several sexual cursewords) took place well after the 9pm "watershed". Much more likely Sky was disappointed with the average 19,000 viewers Cage Rage was getting.

EliteXC would later announce that they were filing for bankruptcy, and that Cage Rage was no longer going to be running.

Cage Rage UK

Cage Rage UK (also known as Ultimate Challenge MMA), is a mixed martial arts promotion in England.[8] The organization was formed in 2008 by Ray Ramnath and former Cage Rage executive Dave O’Donnell following the demise of Cage Rage's parent company, EliteXC. To date, all of its events have been hosted in at The Troxy in London, England.

History of UCMMA

After the collapse of EliteXC, Cage Rage quickly followed it, marking its final show with Cage Rage 28. In late 2008, Dave O'Donnell created Cage Rage UK, the parent company of a new promotion - Ultimate Challenge MMA. From here, UCMMA has been slowly but progressively making steady moves to regain the same popularity as they did with the original Cage Rage.

They currently air their shows on Sky Sports 3 in the UK, and on the PPV channel Primetime for the Warrior Creed event on the 6 August 2011.[9]

Just like Cage Rage, O'Donnell has used UCMMA to push the boundaries of MMA in the UK, doing many things such as chat shows on Sky Sports.

Cage Fighter

They show their weekly chat show, Cage Fighter, once a week every Wednesday night. Dave o'Donnell hosts the 30 minute show and interviews MMA fighters, shows clips of previous fights, GYM of the week, KO/Submission of the week and advertises their next event.[10]

UK1

Unlike the original Cage Rage, UCMMA also shows kickboxing matches during their events, refeering to them as 'UK1', named after the well known K-1 kickboxing company based in Japan.

Because they hold these fights in the same events as they show MMA, the kickboxers use the cage to compete in.

Each fight will be a three 3 minute round with a minute rest period in between rounds, and if it’s a draw one more round will be fought. Each round will be scored using the 10-point must system. Fighters using the most effective aggression and effective technique will win the round. Also the three knock-down rule applies, and a fighter can only be saved from a count by the bell in the final round. the choice to use MMA gloves or standard kickboxing gloves are agreed to by both fighters. Because of the pace of the action, if fighters get into a clinch they will be allowed a single knee strike and then must break clean. If the referee says ‘break’ they must not hit on the break. Rules are set so that certain things that are allowed in MMA are not used in the UK1 bouts, such as standing/clinching elbow strikes, ground fighting (grappling nor striking), or trips, take-downs or throws.[11]

Since its first bouts, it has gained popularity, as it makes their fight card more exciting and keeps the audience entertained if the prior fights were boring due to slow pace striking or grappling. It also allows the company to reach the type of audience that dislikes the use of small 6oz MMA gloves, grappling and striking to a grounded opponent. There are also titles in each weight division, which follows the same as their MMA divisions.[12]

White Collar MMA (WCMMA)

Dave O'Donnell created White Collar MMA (WCMMA), with the idea that "gives the average man the chance to experience the thrill of hand to hand combat inside the octagon. Competing in the disciplines of boxing, kick boxing, Muay Thai and MMA, WCMMA lets nine to fivers take the frustrations of the office out on the man to stands toe – 2 - toe with them in the cage." He says: ‘Every man who sits behind his desk at work watches MMA fights on YouTube or at home on TV can now give it a go. WCMMA gives that man the chance to live the dream. These guys will compete against each other in three 90 seconds rounds in a safe and controlled environment putting their skills to the test in a safe arena against fellow nine to fivers.’ Dave will make sure that all fights are fair and each competitor is in the right condition to fight. There will not be cuts cost on production will give them the opportunity to make their dreams come true. This will be their chance to become Rocky for one night. They will also hold amateur and semi-pro fights as well to allow actual Mixed Martial Artists a chance to grow their skills before going professional[13]

They held their first WCMMA event in June, 2011, and was a success.

They will now hold their second event, WCMMA 2, on November 12, 2011.

Notable Fighters under Dave O'Donnell

External links

References

  1. ^ Granet, Chris (12 August 2008). "Neil ‘The Goliath’ Grove crowned Ultimate Challenge UK champ". Mirror.co.uk. The Daily Mirror. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/more-sport/2008/12/08/neil-the-goliath-grove-crowned-ultimate-challenge-uk-champ-115875-20955677/. Retrieved 2008-12-28. 
  2. ^ MMA Weekly (2008). [http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=6109 & option=com_content&task=view&id=311&Itemid=9 "Cage Rage promoter Andy Geer steps down"]. mmaweekly.com. http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=6109 & option=com_content&task=view&id=311&Itemid=9. Retrieved 19 May 2008. 
  3. ^ Cage Rage 18: Battleground. Sky Sports 3. 10pm, cagerage.tv. Retrieved 21 November 2006.
  4. ^ Cage Rage (2006). "Cage Rage SLAMS onto TWC Fight!". cagerage.tv. http://www.cagerage.tv/index.php?. Retrieved 6 December 2006. 
  5. ^ TheKnucklepit.com website Retrieved 18 October 2006
  6. ^ mmaweekly.com (2007). "K-1 ANNOUNCES SHOWTIME EVENT & NEW ALLIANCES". mmaweekly.com. http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=3679. Retrieved 19 May 2008. 
  7. ^ mmajunkie.com (2007). "EliteXC and Cage Rage Championships Join Forces". mmaweekly.com. http://mmajunkie.com/news/2805/elitexc-and-cage-rage-championships-join-forces.mma. Retrieved 19 May 2008. 
  8. ^ http://www.mmauniverse.com/news/SS3690
  9. ^ [1]
  10. ^ [2]
  11. ^ [3]
  12. ^ [4]
  13. ^ [5]

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  • Cage Rage Championships — Cage Rage Championships, also known as Cage Rage, is a United Kingdom based mixed martial arts promotion that premiered on September 7 2002 in London. It is owned and managed by ProElite, with matchmaker and on screen personality Dave O Donnell… …   Wikipedia

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