Sherdog’s Top 10: Defunct Promotions

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7. Cage Rage (2002-08)

The United Kingdom’s Cage Rage promotion nurtured the region’s early bursts of future talent and played an important role as a home for international stars. It started off small, featuring a few fighters from outside the country and local talent, but by its seventh event, Cage Rage had grown into a real force. That card, entitled “Battle of Britain,” featured Jorge Rivera, Michael Bisping and Paul Daley, and it was a harbinger of things to come.

The next run of events featured future great Anderson Silva in an outstanding scrap with future bank robber Lee Murray, along with Bisping, Rivera and Daley again. Melvin Manhoef, Matt Lindland and the well-traveled Renato Sobral also took part. Evangelista Santos made his first appearance, as did Vitor Belfort, who fought three times under the Cage Rage banner. Lighter-weight pioneer Vitor Ribeiro had four bouts in the promotion. One of the best all-violence fights in MMA history, Manhoef-Evangelista Santos, took place at Cage Rage 15.

The promotion put on a total of 43 events in a six-year stretch. By the end of that run, other organizations such as Cage Warriors Fighting Championship had eaten into its market share in the U.K., and poor ratings for its television broadcasts were the final straw. Still, the vibrancy of the MMA scene in Western Europe has a great deal to do with the foundations that Cage Rage built.

Number 6 » International Fight League