What’s Beef?

With so many fighters/promotions/media outlets the UKMMA scene is rife with a host of characters. And given the amount of personalities across the scene it is perhaps it’s no surprise that not everyone gets along.

Just switch to twitter or Facebook and you are likely to see some heated conversations between fighters, fans, media and promoters.

So with an ever increasing number of “beefs” on the UKMMA scene we take a look back at five of our most memorable UKMMA beefs in recent times (in no particular order);

Patrick Pimblett Vs Artem Lobov & Andy Ogle

This particular incident started following an interview Pimblett had done ahead of his last fight at FCC 12 in which Pimblett claimed that if he fought Ogle, he would “get leathered.” Ogle responded and which led to Pimblett telling Ogle to consider a new career.

Up stepped Artem Lobov to defend Ogle but in doing so opened a door to a torrent of abuse about his professional MMA record. No match ups between the three have yet been made with Lobov hoping to become a cast member on the next TUF series and Pimblett signing up to fight again at FCC. But who knows what the future holds?

Alex Reid Vs Jason Barrett

Well what can I say about this one? It certainly created the attention it had set out too even though the fight itself ended in a somewhat bizarre fashion. Barrett was calling out Reid for a few weeks, following him into his gym and demanding that Reid, sign the contract. The two nearly came to loggerheads during an in ring interview.

But perhaps the most infamous moment of the rivalry came when Barrett found Reid dining in the West End and bought a megaphone outside the restaurant to call out Reid who was with his other half at the time. Barrett tussled with Reid’s security before vowing to follow Reid everywhere until he signed the contract. Barrett wasn’t so vocal after the two competed at UCMMA 22 and was submitted within two minutes nineteen seconds.

Leeroy Barnes Vs Matt Ewin

Ahead of Leeroy’s fight against Che Mills he run into an argument with Che’s teammate and former opponent Matt Ewin which escalated very quickly out of control with Leeroy claiming that Ewin had threatened his family. The two constantly went back and forth, threatening to slap each other when they next saw each other and Barnes even approaching Cage Warriors to not allow Ewin to be present at the weigh ins for the show.

Ewin also even claimed that Leeroy was a “women beater” but luckily come fight night there was no actions taken by either. Leeroy was solely focused on the job at hand and Ewin focused on his corner duties in Che’s corner. Certainly a rematch which would undoubtedly bring up some of these old squabbles between the two but with Ewin retired it’s very unlikely we will see the two in the cage again.

Dave O’Donnell Vs Harry Shoebridge

These two fell out in a big way when Harry left UCMMA to set up his own promotion, Warrior Fight Series. O’Donnell was upset that Shoebridge not only left but also looked to take over a number of his roster to WFS and issued a UCMMA ban against any fighters/media members who attended/fought on the WFS promotion.

Clearly a number of issues between the two will never become public knowledge so we will never really get to see what was said between them, but it seems that the dual will never be able to repair their once excellent working relationship.

Brad Wheeler Vs Ian Entwistle

Following their first fight at Cage Warriors 41 which ended controversially (Punches to back of the head from Wheeler) the question was asked on the Cage Warriors online forum about who would like to see the rematch. Entwistle piped up and didn’t show much interest in it, until Wheeler responded accusing Entwistle of “roiding”.

The pair then went back and forth with Entwistle questioning if Brad has “the most fucked up nose in MMA” before mocking his strawberry blonde hair. The comments saw Brad reply “So u got bingoed by a pasty ginger” and then again calling Entwistle a “juicehead”. The schoolboy cussing between the two caused a big riff and made the anticipation for their rematch at Cage Warriors 43 even more exciting. A fight which Wheeler got the better of to bring the scores to one a piece.

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