Cage Warriors 45 plays:
6.316 units on Chris Fields at +135 to win 8.527 units;
My biggest degen play of the night...Chris "The Killing" Fields! I've been a fan of this guy since I saw his fight with Tony Moran (Wolfslair fighter) back in 2010. Apart from being a fan of Fields, I also like to fade Mason as I just don't think he is very good. So I wouldn't tail on this as I could easily be over-rating Fields and under-rating Mason here! At last weeks Cage Warriors event I thought that most of the dogs where under-valued and put betpoints on all of them. 4 out of 5 ended up winning so was pretty p*ssed that I didnt have the balls to bet real dollar on them! So all four favourites will probably go and win tonight now that I've bet on three dogs! I also have a risk-free play on Peter Markusson in the boxing that will net me 9 units profit so hopefully have that as back-up in case these go
up!
Fields fights out of SGB in Dublin, the premier camp in Ireland. His main coach is the very well respected John Kavanagh, who happens to be the first ever Irish man to get a black-belt in BJJ. Despite starting out as a striker, Fields has evolved nicely over past 3 years in to a decent grappler as well thanks to working with Kavanagh and Matt Thornton. Kavanagh is one of the most respected coaches in Europe, and has been one of the main coaches along with Thornton involved in developing Gunnar Nelson's ground game (the best grappler in Europe and one of the biggest prospects in MMA). Thornton awarded Gunnar his blue and purple-belts, while he was awarded his brown belt from Kavanagh, and since then gone on to get his black belt from Renzo. Along with Owen Roddy who is another decent prospect in Ireland, he and Fields have developed decent ground games for professional Ireland/UK standards thanks to the work of John Kavanagh and now actually like to take fights to the ground rather than keep them standing.
Fields although not particularly bulky is still quite a big middleweight being 6ft 3 and cuts from 213-215lbs. As mentioned above, he comes from a striking background, but due to having Kavanagh as head coach and mentor, he has naturally become more grappling orientated, and tends to look to take the fight to the ground rather than keep it standing. However, his shot is very average. He'll often look for double legs but do it without any set-up and shoot from too far out without fully committing so is often stuffed easily. If he tries this he may struggle against the experienced Mason, and end up in a bad position, despite Mason being very flat-footed. Fields' takedowns from the clinch are were his strengths lie. He has solid body lock and inside trips which often lead to him ending up in side-mount or mount, or at worse in opponents half-guard. Even when struggling to get the takedowns from the clinch which he probably will early on against Mason, he has great perseverance. The fact that he has a decent height advantage in this one means that if he does get in the clinch with Mason he'll also be able to look for the plum and work knees to the liver and chin of Mason. Fields isnt one to settle for getting a takedown and lying in guard stealing rounds. He'll work ground and pound and look to be aggressive moving to full mount. His specialty is arm-bars, and also has proficient chokes such as d'arce and brabos. A great strength of Fields' is his ability to listen to Kavanagh in his corner and follow his instructions. He credits a lot of his wins due to Kavanagh telling him what to do during fights and altering game-plans.
Mason meanwhile trains at the Tsunami gym, Cambridge with UFC fighter John "The One" Maguire. He also has up and coming prospect Luke Barnatt who is 6’ 6” and a similar body-type to Fields so the combination of Barnatt and Maguire (who is a solid grappler for UK MMA standards) means that he'll be well prepared for what Fields brings. Mason clearly has a big experience advantage over Fields which is probably the main reason why he is favourite in this fight. He's fought the likes of Zaromskis, Hathaway, Paraisy, and most recently Brian Foster. Coincidentally though, he happened to get dominated in all of those fights! He most recent win was against 0-4 Miguel Bernard, who was also 0-2 as an amateur so hell knows why he has been getting fights against likes of Mason and Tim Radcliffe! Losing to likes of Zaromskis and Hathaway is nothing to be ashamed about, I highly doubt Chris Fields would have a chance against them either. But the Paraisy fight for me was very telling of Mason's abilities. In tht fight he looked downright awful! His takedown attempts were slow and predictable, his striking was stiff with no combinations, his footwork was non-existent - just completely flat-footed, and he ended up getting caught by a glancing knee and pretty much giving up in the third round. Both guys seemed to gas out by end of the second round despite the fact that they'd barely done anything in the first or second round! Maybe that was just an off day for Mason, he might come out in this fight looking completely different, but I'll take my chances against an underdog in Fields who is well-rounded, hungry, and gritty. Another thing about Mason is that he doesnt like taking punishment. Aside from the embarrassing finish to the Paraisy fight where it hardly looked like the knee connected, he also tapped to strikes from Hathaway after Hath slammed him Rory Mac style a few times and landed a couple of punches from his back. Finally, one more point to consider is that Fields trains MMA full-time, he spends his life in the gym, while as far as I'm aware Mason still works a full-time job as well as training. Something to consider, as it's difficult for a guy like Mason to evolve when he's only training a couple hours a day, and has to focus on other things while guys like Fields sacrificed a career in banking (also was an auctioneer) where he could of earned a lot more money to fully focus on MMA career.
3.158 units on Brents at +275 to win 8.685 units;
Lloret looked in good shape and obviously has a big advantage in BJJ. But Brents is experienced and powerful, and tough to finish. He may be able to keep this standing long enough to hurt Lloret. At +275 he's worth a stab as I think he should be closer to +200.
1.263 units on Wheeler at +200 to win 2.526 units.
Wheeler is another prospect I like a lot as he has solid grappling and aggressive striking, and is very tough. He recently got his purple-belt in BJJ and is very comfortable off his back so may be able to cause Reese some trouble of his back. Reese is a high-level NCAA wrestler so undoubtedly Wheeler will end up on his back at some point. Wheeler is adept at transitioning from different positions and will look for kneebars, heel-hooks, armbars and triangles straight away - he isnt the type to just let his opponent sit in his guard or get lay n prayed. He should also have a slight size advantage, especially in terms of height which I hope he'll use to his advantage standing in the clinch by using his knees which he has used to good effect in previous fights such as the Enty rematch. Reese being a ATT fighter and high level wrestler should be able to beat Wheeler who is still very raw and has holes in his game defensively, however I think Wheeler is worth a stab at +200, seeing as Reese is stepping in on short notice and fighting abroad and in differetn time zone for first time. This is particularly significant as he slowed down and tired considerably mid-way during the Bobby Greene fight, so doesnt bode well when you're stepping in on short notice and in a different time zone, unusual surroundings etc agaisnt a guy with an aggressive game, who is very durable and has reasonable cardio.