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Cage fighting high beats cricket - Hollioake

Adam Hollioake is unsure whether he will continue his cage-fighting career after his professional debut ended in a draw on Saturday

Peter English
Peter English
05-May-2012
Adam Hollioake with his cage-fighting coach

Adam Hollioake with his cage-fighting coach

Adam Hollioake, the former England one-day captain, is unsure whether he will continue his cage-fighting career after his professional debut ended in a draw on Saturday.
Hollioake, who played four Tests and 35 ODIs, was buzzing after his three-round mixed martial arts bout in Australia, claiming the high was greater than any moment in his 17-year cricket journey.
However, he was left wishing he was fitter after running out of stamina towards the end of the nine-minute contest with Queensland's Joel Miller.
"In hindsight I would have taken a bit longer to prepare for this," he said. "I made a silly mistake in the first round and that cost me. I won the second round and the third round was a non-event really."
The next combat steps depend on Hollioake's wife Sherryn, who had a cage-side seat and wasn't comfortable with the spectacle.
"I'll do what she says," he said when asked if he'll fight again.
In the main report: "The real issue is not whether cricket is more exciting than cage-fighting. It's why a 40-year-old who spent so long involved in the genteel game - most of it as a captain who had to fit within the establishment's constraints - has joined the growing craze of mixed martial artists, whose objective is to paint and pummel opponents using pretty much any method they want. Inside the six-sided wire cage it's a bloodsport, a self-preservation village of the van Dammed."
Click here for Peter English's brilliant study of why an England captain has taken to cage fighting.

Peter English is former Australasia editor of ESPNcricinfo