23-year-old Scotsman Stevie ‘Braveheart’ Ray (14-4) entered a four man tournament back in October to crown the newest Cage Warriors lightweight champion. The four man field also featured mainstays of UKMMA in Jason Ball, Mick Sinclair and Ivan Buchinger, but it was Stevie who dug down deep and went all the way in the tournament, pulling off two victories in the one night to add the belt to his growing list of accolades in the sport.
Now, as he gears up for his first defense of the belt at Cage Warriors 63 on New Years Eve in Dublin, Ireland, Ray feels better than ever and believes he is improving as a fighter and fixing some past mistakes.
“I’m just getting better in every area, as usual. I still get frustrated to this day about that fight (with Curt Warburton) as I should of finished it. I went back and worked on my mistakes or just what I could of done better, like finishing the rear-naked choke, which I got against Sean Carter. but yeah just improving everywhere and now I’m Cage Warriors World Champion!”
That fight with Curt Warburton took place in March for BAMMA and resulted in a decision loss which cost Ray his BAMMA-Lonsdale British lightweight belt. In spite of the result, there were some positives to take from the fight. Having taken a UFC alumnus the distance, ‘Braveheart’ really showed that he belonged at the top of the UKMMA lightweight division, however, it doesn’t stop the feelings of frustration over his most recent defeat.
“After the fight I was just a bit disappointed. When I watch it back I realise how close it was. I didn’t get hurt at all in that fight and could of done another 2 rounds. So yeah, it was frustrating and disappointing.”
Not long after that fight, Stevie decided to make the jump to Cage Warriors and entered straight into the four man lightweight title tournament. He attributes that switch to his desire to fight regularly.
“BAMMA treated me well, but they just don’t do enough shows for me. I like to stay active, so Cage Warriors is the place to be. To get the chance to fight for the belt, I was game straight away, before I even knew the opponents.”
He entered that tournament with three other very good fighters and ever since the fights were announced, was expected to get to the final with Ivan Buchinger (24-4). It would have played out like that, had Buchinger not pulled out after his semi-final win. Stevie believes that Ivan could probably have gone in to that final, but that he most likely made a good decision.
“Buchinger fought on after he hurt his rib and got the win. I reckon he could of still faced me, but he knew he would get another chance when he was fresh, so took that option. I will show everyone the result would have been the same.”
When Buchinger pulled out of the final, undefeated Sean Carter, who had tapped out Richard Griffin earlier in the evening in an alternate bout, was chosen to jump into the title bout. Despite having to scout three opponents already, Stevie says his coach also scouted the two alternates in case such events unfolded.
“I waited to hear if he (Buchinger) was definitely out and then basically tried to get as much info on Carter that we could. Being in the best team in Britain (The Dinky Ninja Fight Team) My coach James Doolan had already researched both reserves as well. So we knew what he was about. I knew enough about him.”
That night in London is the highlight of Ray’s pro career so far, but at just 23-years-old there are surely many more to come. With team mates Robert Whiteford and Joanne Calderwood now signed with the UFC and the prospect of the UFC coming to Glasgow in 2014, the dream seems to be getting all that more realistic.
“That was just amazing to have that, especially after the work and effort I put in. UFC is always the long term goal and with 2 of my team mates now there, and me being 23, I’m sure I’ll get there.”
Stevie notably missed his baby daughter’s first birthday through training for the Cage Warriors tournament, and the big reason for it was that he was over in Canada training at the world renowned Tristar gym. While he is by no means a permanent fixture with Firas Zahabi’s fight team, he has gone over a few times now and expects to pay them a visit again in the new year.
“I would like to go to Tristar next time when I’m not on fight camp just to learn and stuff. So maybe after some family time after this fight I will head over.”
Speaking of Tristar, their biggest jewel in the crown has and probably always will be Georges St-Pierre. Ray had the honour of working with the legendary welterweight champion and so after GSP’s news a few weeks back, I was wondering what his thoughts were on Georges’ imminent departure from the sport.
“I think he will fight again, but even if he doesn’t, he’s done enough. He probably has enough money to last him the rest of his life and he will still make more without fighting. I’m sure he’ll still be training a lot and maybe coaching, so hopefully I can work with him when I go back over.”
There has been a lot of crazy rumours thrown around about GSP due to some of his comments
regarding missing chunks of memory and time and his fear of aliens. This caused a lot of fans to ponder St-Pierre’s mental state but Stevie says he never got close enough to the long-term champ to ever witness any of this or anything else worrying.
“I didn’t get to know him that well. I trained with him and sparred him and spoke a little but usually only about training.”
The first defense of his title comes against the man who should have been battling for it in the first place, Buchinger. Ivan is a very well respected fighter in the UKMMA scene and has proven himself time and time again. With 11 finishes in 14 for Stevie and 20 in 24 for Ivan this one could play out anywhere. Ray knows just how dangerous his opponent can be, despite not being impressed by him in recent times.
“He looks like a good fighter, he manages to pull of the wins and can come back from getting beaten too. He can be dangerous as he’s quite unorthodox. His last 2 fights, I’ve not been impressed by him and he was getting beat the whole fight against Magomedov and Sinclair, then just pulled off the sub so he’s definitely dangerous. I think I have the edge every area to be honest I think I have better conditioning wrestling and jiu-jitsu as well as having size and strength on him. I’m not underestimating him though, as anything can happen and I need to stay focused and not switch off what some of his other opponents have done. “
The Cage Warriors lightweight division has really been hotting up recently. With the addition of former foe Curt Warburton and others such as John Maguire, Philip Mulpeter, Mick Sinclair and Mark Glover in the division, whoever comes out as champ on New Years Eve won’t be short of potential challengers…
“Being the champion, I’ll basically fight whoever they say and whoever deserves it. I am confident that if I were to rematch Warburton I would win. I’m the champ at the moment so I will face any of them. I know I have the skills to beat any of them so I’ll just see who Cage Warriors tell me.”
Brought to you by Gregg Mullen
Photo: Mark Blundell
