The Severe Spotlight: Oban Elliot

The first instalment of the latest Cage Warriors Trilogy took place last night with Dominique Wooding showing his experience to weather some early adversity to come back and win the coveted Bantamweight strap with a KO win over grappling ace, Nathan Fletcher.

The card itself was full of fantastic matchups, with only Rory Evans and Wesley Maia fighting to a decision. That fight, and Rory Evans’ performance likely deserves a spot on the Severe Spotlight for Rory’s toughness, and ability to implement a gameplan when his leg was badly impaired.

However, the fighter in focus is the Welshman, Oban Elliot. Fighting out of Shore MMA the Merthyr man had been out of the cage for a full year before his outing last night. Two fights fell through, one through opponent injury, and after a full camp, fight week and a weight cut, his opponent fell out due to failing medicals. Thankfully, this fight came together without issue.

The pre-fight conversation was around Elliot moving up in weight, to 170lbs. McManus is a tall 6”2 welterweight, how would Elliot manage the range and the distance. Would he be able to navigate around the ground game of McManus should it get there?

All of those questions were answered very quickly. Elliot was the faster, sharper man. A sign of a confident fighter is when they attempt to beat their opponent at their own game.

Elliot burst into the fight with a side kick and a slip left hand. After a lovely couple of combinations, he entered the clinch ran McManus to the fence. After some positional fighting, catching a McManus knee, turning the corner and taking McManus down, Elliot reacted very well to the Brit’s attempt to lock up an arm-in guillotine. Posturing, entering into the correct side of half guard, controlling the shoulder of McManus to limit the torque of the choke, and followed McManus’ hips whilst drawing his head out. Disengaging smartly from closed guard and standing, beckoning his man to stand with him.

A nod to Ian Garry shone through with the thunderous leg kicks that followed. Elliot always the aggressor found his breakthrough with a left hook, right hand. The blood was in the water, and Oban was happy to chase it, elbows, uppercuts, straight rights all in the phone booth range landed on McManus, who with the final right hand was stiff before he hit the canvas.

That sends Elliot to 4-1 in his pro career, with his only loss to Cage Warriors standout Mike Figlak. Is 170lbs the new home for the Welshman? Who do you want to see him stand across the Cage Warriors canvas with next?