SPARTANS! WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSION!?
Paul Brady vs Ray Dowd (Kilkenny Top Pro)
Shockingly enough, Ray went to take Paul down. If you listen to the cornering, you see Paul makes work for himself by not keeping the facebar on, and gets taken down as a result. Paul does well out of guard, largely because Ray grabbed Paul’s head through guard.
Paul remains calm and responds well to cornering from this point on, setting up a nice head and arm choke. Paul loses this by rushing the finish. This choke usually takes longer in competition. If you look at Ray’s left shoulder, it’s off the ground, which gives him room to breathe.
After this, (with only 30 seconds left) Paul looks out of gas and doesn’t bail quick enough on the choke after he’s rolled over.
Jon Gray vs Dean Donnelly (SBG/Irish Top Team)
Jon did exceptionally well for his first run out, displaying the same toughness and confidence he’s shown in training. He comes out and quickly establishes dominance in the stand up. When Jon goes for the takedown his opponent tries a guillotine, another “feel-really-safe-but-have-nothing” move and the match stalls for a bit.
Jon strikes well to get the pass, then makes the error of keeping his hips too close to his opponent’s hips, and as he tries the head-and-arm choke – made famous by pancakes 
– he gets put back in guard. It’s exceptionally hard to submit someone through their guard. After this, Jon let’s his hands stay a little too far forward, which denies him any opportunity to pass. Good striking through guard though.
Stephen McKevitt
Stephen grabs the head early in this fight. Again! But when he gets taken down, he responds well to cornering, stays calm, and gets the submission from guard.
Smart use of underhooks get Stephen the top position when his opponent tries to take him down early in his second match up. His opponent had a good guard game and managed to tie Stephen up very well.
When Stephen gets swept he escapes very well to take the back, but he doesn’t keep tight enough hip control, and Noel escapes back to guard. Stephen keeps trying for that arm-triangle in guard, and I think he would have been better served going for an armbar or triangle, climbing his legs up, or looking for the sweep. The arm-triangle requires your opponent to be quite close, and Noel postures well enough to prevent this.
Eamon Cumberton vs Brian Coyle (Milford Jiu Jitsu)
Eamo never really showed up. A bit of sleep deprivation and lack of focus, and anyone can have a bad day.
Overall he just seemed a little sluggish in his first match, and didn’t keep things tight enough. That’s a problem with prodigy’s like Eamo, because so often they can get away with crazy stuff, they are sometimes lacking on the fundamentals. Brian Coyle is good enough to exploit those weaknesses and pick up a deserved win in the first match.
Eamo stepped it up a gear in the second match, but failed to really capitalise on any advancements he made and dominate the fight.
I’m sure we’ll see the Tasmanian Devil back soon enough!
Paddy Cunningham vs Mark Smyth (SBG/Irish Top Team)
Paddy has been training for a total of 4 weeks, and equipped himself very very well for his first run out.
There was no other Rookies so he entered into the veteran division and faced the capable Mark Smyth from SBG. Paddy did well in terms of pressure but hadn’t the skill level to compete with Mark or respond well enough to cornering. All that being said, he gave as good as he got for the opening exchanges, and should be well proud of his performance.
Youtube Vid
Rich Crossdale vs Anton Mobian (Point Blank Submissions)
Not Rich’s day as he ate some knees early in the fight to lose by TKO. Don’t have his second video yet.
Ian Harding vs Noel Hannigan (Combat Sports Centre)
Ian came out with strong stand up, but cooled off the pressure. When Noel shot, Ian again grabbed the head! and lost the clinch battle. Solid defence underneath mount and against the rear naked choke considering his experience.
When Ian got top, he kept a hold of Noel’s head without the far underhook, which allowed Noel to escape. A little adrenaline rush.
Ian won his second match, let’s just leave it at that and forget about anything corner wise
Grabbing the head, without control of the hips, gives you the illusion of control!