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  - CAGE RAGE'S DAVE O'DONNELL TO FORGE AHEAD
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - by Lee Whitehead - MMAWeekly.com
And so the fallout begins… as EliteXC hit the wall, there will understandably be a massive scurry for top tier talent as well as speculation on the future of all the other brands that were held under the umbrella. One such brand cut its teeth in the U.K. and tittered on the edge of international expansion before being amalgamated into the behemoth that was ProElite.
Originally founded by Dave O’Donnell and Andy Geer as a small regional show before taking onboard once silent partner John Faraday, the company started to grow and attract talent from Brazil, the U.S., and Japan; and in turn relocate from venue to venue before settling on Wembley Arena and crowds that varied between 4,500 and 8,000 depending on the card. High times indeed, but since ProElite came onboard there has been a significant cost-cutting and business streamlining process that lead to a date for Cage Rage 28 at the smaller Troxy venue in East London and a trimming of staff, some left, others had their roles reduced and pursued other business endeavours.
Dave O’Donnell, the one constant since its inception, told MMAWeekly.com of the demise of the brand’s parent company, “For Cage Rage it is business as usual. The next show is Contenders. It’s still going ahead. I can tell you that much.”
An interesting statement, and one that begs the question: so if ProElite pull out of MMA with EliteXC, does that mean they are going to sell their umbrella brands back to their previous owners? “Put it this way, one way or another we will still keep going, maybe it’s eventually under another name, maybe it’s not, but we will still be here, that’s all I can say,” added O'Donnell.
It did seem that Cage Rage had been treading on water with the last card, but the upcoming Cage Rage 29 card had been shaping up to be a return to some of the previous competitive cards we have seen in its past. And love it or hate it, they had been targeting a new audience with the series on Nuts TV “Fighting Hurts.”
O’Donnell addressed the future of the series stating, “There will be another series after this one, a Fighting Hurts Series 2, a platform for guys who want to try this cage fighting stuff they have heard about and try to give them a chance to taste it, start their careers.”
So with irons in the fire, it would appear that the promotion will be soldiering on regardless – ultimately when it comes to distributing ProElite’s assets, things may change, but O’Donnell for one remains confident in there being a future in MMA for himself and his team.
Will we see a return of Andy Geer into the fold? “Andy was at the last show, and will be at the next one as well, but I don’t think he will be doing MMA again. He’s one of my best friends, but he is a successful businessman in his own right and has his own interests to look after,” concluded O’Donnell.
Back to the original point, will Cage Rage continue? In one form or another, the answer is yes from the main man. The bigger picture is that if the show ends, the effects on U.K. MMA are negative and will dovetail with the situation in the U.S. – an increase in the free agents flooding the market, thus devaluing the fight purses offered to “name” fighters because of an abundance of resources and in turn stifling the chances of developing fighters to come through.
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