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on saturday at Wembley Arena Julius Francis is stepping in the Cage against Gary Turner. Francis has some Kickboxing pedigree but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll do any good in the cage. Don't know much about Turner either. It's Cage Rage so their PR isn't quite what UFC is.

Also on the Bill is Vitor Belfort, a UFC legend. glad to see him back in a cage.

hopefuly Sky will be showing the event in the near future. if not, The Wrestling Channel will probably show it

Will Francis have his soles sponsored again for when he gets knocked over?

lol

gag doesn't work so well for cage fighting as their meant to be on the ground.

Not unconscious.

Francis, WOOLWICH boy, can ruck!!!! should be good

Francis is way out of shape!! 

is it on tv?

sky sports 3

happened?

Francis was in terrible shape, barely threw a single meaningful punch or kick, got took down at will and had no defense on the ground.

His opponent, Gary Turner is a decent enough fighter, but by no means anything special.  I've been waiting to see a decent boxer step into the cage against a decent MMA fighter. still waiting on both counts I'm afraid

Vitor Belfort was very unimpressive in the fight before too. He was a fantastic fighter in UFC but he seems to have lost his explosiveness and his confidence. wouldn't last a round against the current UFC light-heavys

Same old from Francis then?  An easy pay-day without putting in the effort. 

Neverends.

not at all, he was a serious fighter back in the day, he just got old.

He wasn't any good when he was younger.  Suppose he mixed it a bit at British level, but never anything better than that.  He's lost more fights than he's won - although, yes, a lot of these losses came later in his career.

his pedigree as a kickboxer is pretty good I think, European champion.

That said European class kickboxing and world class boxing are very different propositions, particulary 15/20 years ago.

People are too critical. the guy gave pro boxing a go and got as far as he could. just because someone isn't a world class contender, doesn't mean he's not a fighter. Stepping through those ropes is scarey as hell and anyone that does it deserves some respect

I seen a few of Gary Turners last fights including against Tank Abbott and whilst he's not the most explosive of fights he's been solid and on a bit of a roll. As for Victor Belfort performance it was very disappionting considering his record.

Watched UFC 76 last night and all the fights on there were brillant such as Forest Griffin beating the hyped up Shogun who was making his UFC debut and talked up as being the best in the world. Even better was watching the "ice man" Chuck Liddell get kicked to death by Keith Jardine. Huge shock.

I think Francis could have been a lot better - which is where my criticism comes from.  Of course, anyone who fights at any level deserves respect, but he loses respect in the same way Audrey does  - by not making the most of their talents.

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Audrey has plenty of boxing talent.  He's got good hand-speed, the ability to throw combinations, the ability to finish a fight.  He just has a crap attitude.

You don't think that Audrey is a talented boxer?

yeah he has got good hand speed, to tell you the truth when he first turned pro i was sure he was going to do it, for such a big guy to that sort of speed with power it just seemed that it was only a matter of time before he's world champ but it never sat right with me that he was an amature for so long, i mean if you want olympic success you achieve it as early as possible and then get on with earning your money as a pro, then he became a pro and the procrastinating continued, fight after fight of duds, it was just weired.

he'd go on tv and say he wouldn't bow the the pressure of the media and would continue to do things in he's own time but the reality was that him and he's camp knew what the public didn't, they knew why he was an amature with the head guards for so long, why he was trying to milk the boxing game for as much dough as possible by fighting mediocrity, two reasons......1: the guy cannot take a punch to save he's life, im not just talking about a weak chin, he cant take a punch period, 2: this fact absolutely scared the shit out of him, the thought of being hurt terrified him beyond belief.

the first "proper" fight he had against williams he absolutely shit himself, all of these things that he'd been hiding from the public for so long were in plain view for everyone to see, he came back and done the business in the rematch but williams was out of shape and theres only so many times a man can be publicly called a coward through nearly every media format before he decided to take a risk and have a ruck. but the bitter taste of being called a chicken didnt last long and he wandered around the ring aimlessly for a couple of rounds before being laid out in hes next fight.

I dont think in a boxing capacity you can qualify his ability as talent because he's flaws are to great, where you said didnt make the most of his talent i dont see how he could, you cant take a punch you cant take a punch not much you can really do about that and if your an inherently shit scared person thats difficult to change as well

I was thinking about this today and I don't know if people realise but fighters at even the very highest levels are still subjected to the same physiological effects before a fight that are felt when you or me are grabbed by a nutter in a nightclub. theres a perfectly normal set of responses we and they get when there's an impending certainty of a fight and a high chance of significant pain.

One of the biggest hurdles fighters face in or out of sporting situations if conquering fear. Theres a great book by Geoff Thompson called Fear, The Friend Of Exceptional People. if you can't beat the inner opponent, the guy infront of you is twice as tough. he has your fear for back up. (Hmm, catchy, I'm using that again)

Yeah, that's one of the better UFCs I've seen in a while and there was only 4 fights, all were top drawer. The last UFC in London was absolutely awful! Sanchez Fitch was a great fight too and in the other fight the guy had Tyson Griffin's number but couldn't choke him out cos he has no neck.

It's never gonna happen but would like to see Hatton in an MMA fight or two, hes got some background.

I wouldn't want to see that, but I'd love to see Mayweather take Dana White up on the million dollar offer to step in the cage. he'd get a whooping by any of the top 10 UFC light weights (155lb)