Cage Rage Championships

Mixed martial arts promoter based in UK

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 into liquidation 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. 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. Cage Rage events were replayed on Nuts TV, along with their own weekday show on The Fight Network (UK & Ireland) until these channels closed down. Every Cage Rage event and bout is now archived as part of the UFC Fight Pass library.

Cage Rage started when Dave O'Donnell and Andy Geir 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. 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. 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 show on 21 April 2007, 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. 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 a 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 curse words) took place well after the 9pm "watershed". Much more likely Sky was disappointed with the average 19,000 viewers Cage Rage was getting. Since the closure of Cage Rage, Dave O'Donnell created Cage Rage UK, the parent company of another Mixed Martial Arts promotion, Ultimate Challenge MMA (UCMMA).

All Cage Rage fights were contested over three, five minute rounds, with a one minute rest period in between rounds.

Cage Rage used an eight sided caged arena to stage bouts similar to the UFC's trademarked Octagon, though it was smaller in size. It had foam padding around the top and between each of the eight sections, with two entry/exit gates on opposite sides. Unlike a UFC cage where the side walls are made of vinyl coated fencing, the Cage Rage cage used nylon netting as its barrier. The canvas was marked with a line a metre away from the fence at all points.

As per the Unified Rules of MMA, Cage Rage only allowed competitors to fight in approved shorts, without shoes or any other sort of foot padding. Fighters used approved light gloves (4 6 ounces) that allow fingers to grab.

The 10 point must system was used for all Cage Rage fights; three judges score each round and the winner of each receives ten points, the loser nine points or less. If the round is even, both fighters receive ten points. The decision is announced at the end of the match but the judge's scorecards are not announced.

The referee has the right to stop the fighters and stand them up if they reach a stalemate on the ground (where neither are in a dominant position nor working toward one) after a verbal warning.