Written by James Lees
Monday, 30 January 2012 22:06
Get ready Glasgow - on April 28th, Scottish Fight Challenge will return to the Kelvin Hall Sports Arena in Glasgow, Scotland for SFC 6: 'Uprising' and today, SFC officials announced the full lineup, in what many are already calling quite possibly the best lineup in Scottish MMA history.
Brian Hyslop and Declan Williams will battle for the vacant SFC Flyweight title in a bout that is certain to blow the roof off of the Kelvin Hall, while Dinky Ninjas veteran James Doolan and the dangerous David Häggström of the Ren-Yi Fight Camp in Sweden will go to war for the SFC Bantamweight title in the night's main event.
Check out the full card below:
SFC BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP James Doolan (DNFT) vs David Häggström (Ren-Yi Fight Camp) (5 rounds)
SFC FLYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP Brian Hyslop (DNFT) vs Dec Williams (Predators) (5 rounds)
MAIN CARD
Adam Stevenson (SMAC) vs Alan Mcaully (DNFT) Lightweight No. 1 Contender fight Robert Whiteford (DNFT) vs Johannes Isaksson (Finland) Flyweight Keiran Malone (DNFT) vs Phil Flynn (Predators) Lightweight Brian Gallagher (SHS) vs Darren Gilchrist (Fighters Hive) Flyweight Davie Galbraith (Gladatorial) vs Shaun Eddmonson (Ronin) Lightweight David Hamilton (EK MMA) vs Paul Patrick (Shooters) Welterweight
UNDERCARD
Paul Craig (SHS) vs Tony Chan (Urban) 95kgs Paul Lopez (Asylum) vs Kev Devine (SHS) 69kgs Wully Mcurdy (Asylum) vs Barry Mchugh (Griphouse) 70kgs Graham Black (Lycans) vs Marco Luzarri 75kgs Chris Bungard (SHS) vs Scott Mulgrew (Lions Den) 77kgs Ross Stewart (Grip SS) vs Darren Kinloch (Shooters) 68kgs
The card will mark SFC's first event of 2012 and their second at the historic Glasgow venue, which has played host to many classic boxing bouts, as well as SFC's wildly successful fifth show, 'Rivals', which took place December 3rd. The sold out show saw Martin Svensson defeat fan favourite John Cullen in a thrilling bout to become the SFC Featherweight Champion, in what was the fight of the night. Will David Häggström follow in Svensson's footsteps or will James Doolan keep the Bantamweight title firmly in Scotland?
Tickets for SFC 6: 'UPRISING' are priced at £30.00 (General Admission) and are on sale now. You can get your tickets from the SFC website by clicking HERE You can also buy Cage Side tickets (£40.00) via TicketSoup.com by clicking HERE
Tickets are also available from any EZ Sports store in Scotland. Visit EZ SPORTS for further information.
Written by James Lees
Friday, 13 January 2012 19:26
Get ready Glasgow - on April 28th, Scottish Fight Challenge will return to the Kelvin Hall Sports Arena in Glasgow, Scotland for SFC 6: 'Uprising' and the night's co-main event is already set.
Brian Hyslop and Declan Williams will battle for the vacant SFC Flyweight title in a bout that is certain to blow the roof off of the Kelvin Hall.
The bout, which was confirmed today by YourMMA.TV is the first announced bout for, what SFC have promised will be their biggest event to date. The night's main event has yet to be announced, however SFC have guaranteed that fans will not be dissapointed.
It was also reported by YourMMA.TV that The Griphouse's Kieran Malone will face Englishman Phil Flynn at the event.
The card will mark SFC's first event of 2012 and their second at the historic Glasgow venue, which has played host to many classic boxing bouts, as well as SFC's wildly successful fifth show, 'Rivals', which took place December 3rd. The sold out show saw Martin Svensson defeat fan favourite John Cullen in a thrilling bout to become the SFC Featherweight Champion, in what was the fight of the night.
Tickets for SFC 6: 'UPRISING' are priced at £30.00 (General Admission) and are on sale now. You can get your tickets from the SFC website by clicking HERE You can also buy Cage Side tickets (£40.00) via TicketSoup.com by clicking HERE
Tickets are also available from any EZ Sports store in Scotland. Visit EZ SPORTS for further information.
Written by James Lees
Friday, 02 December 2011 09:40
SKY SPORTS will have exclusive rights to Cage Warriors events in 2012 after signing a 12-month contract with the organisation.
The deal will see all ten scheduled CWFC shows next year broadcast on one of Sky Sports’ four channels (Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 & 4).
Sky’s coverage will begin on February 9 for Cage Warriors Fight Night 3 in the Middle East.
“The Cage Warriors Team have worked extremely hard over the past year by pulling off 10 shows in three different countries,” said Cage Warriors director Graham Boylan.
“2012 will be an even bigger year as we visit six different countries with another 10 shows. The following 12 months will see two eight-man tournaments and every Cage Warriors champion we have will be defending their belts.
“You will see the best professional athletes in the world competing and to have them showcase their skills on Sky Sports is a great step forward and a reward for all the hard work they put into their training every day in the gym.”
Cage Warriors will also have a major online partner coming on board, with an announcement due shortly.
Written by James Lees
Thursday, 10 November 2011 17:21
Attending the huge upcoming Scottish Fight Challenge 'Rivals' show on December 3rd in Glasgow? Why not make a whole day of it. Earlier that day before the fights take place, SFC will present Scottish Grappling Challenge - a no gi grappling competition.
Scottish Grappling Challenge will be holding a NoGI grappling competition in association with the SFC5: "RIVALS" event which takes place December 3rd from Kelvinhall in Glasgow.
To take part, entry is £25 or £20 if you have already bought a ticket for the SFC 5 card later that evening. Entry feed can be paid to scottishgrappingchallenge@hotmail.co.uk using paypal. Please provide you name, weight and division with payment via paypal comments section.
6 minute rounds, first 3 mins - no points (win by submission only). Final 3 mins - points scored. In the event of a draw the referee will decide the winner, finals will have 2 mins overtime. If still a draw, first person to score wins.
Points are awarded as follows
2 - Takedown 2 - Passing the Guard 2 - Sweep 4 - Mount 4 - Back Take (2 hooks in) 1 - Advantage point for close sweeps, passes and sub attempts.
All positions must be established for a minimum of three seconds for points to be awarded.
When Changing positions points will be given in accending order. ie, no points will be given if moving to side control from mount.
Reversals are NOT considered sweeps. Sweeps must start from a guard position.
"All fighters will get 2 fights minimum" If you lose your first fight you will get to fight somebody who also lost their first fight.
Cost will be £25 per person, (£20 with SFC ticket) payable to scottishgrapplingchallenge@hotmail.co.uk on paypal. please provide name, division and weight
contact:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
, 07792046231 WEIGH INS WILL BE FROM 8.30
FIRST FIGHT 10.30ish
RULES; LEGAL TECHNIQUES
All chokes (except using the hand to close the windpipe)
All armbars, shoulder locks, wrist locks
Straight leg and Ankle locks (no twisting)
ILLEGAL TECHNIQUES
All neck cranks.
No bending of fingers or toes or small joint manipulation.
No Heel Hooks or Toe Holds.
No Striking, biting,pulling hair, grabbing ears or scratching.
No touching the groin area.
No holding of opponents clothing or using t-shirt to choke opponent.
No slamming of opponent (elevated takedowns are allowed) CLOTHING
Shorts or leggings and t-shirt, rashguard or bare topped. No GI's or loose fitting trousers allowed. NO WRESTLING BOOTS (sorry)
If a fighter breaks the rules he will normally be given a warning, if he breaks them again he will be disqualified.
Serious fouls, ie striking, or dangerous techniques will result in immediate disqualification.
Winner will be decided by;
Sumission
Points
Refs decision
Fighter must engage before pulling guard. (no just sitting and butt scooting)
After a take down or guard pull, fighters are allowed to stay on the floor if they wish.
Written by Craig Devlin
Thursday, 22 September 2011 20:27
With Cage Rage UK Welterweight champion being called up to fill in for the injured Mark Scanlon at UFC 138 we thought we should see how his boss feels about it. Not that Dave O'Donnell is your average boss, he actively campaigned for John to get his shot with the UFC by taking the mic after “The One's” successful title defence at Cage Rage UK 23 and saying how much he wanted John to move up to the UFC. For a promoter to put a fighters career ahead of their own self interest is an incredibly gracious thing to and so, before we make Dave blush (I've heard it can happen!) on with the questions!
You appealed for John to get his chance in the UFC after his title defence at Cage Rage UK 23, you're well known for putting your fighters best interests at the top of your priority list, actively trying to get your Welterweight champion signed by another promotion was hugely gracious though, glad you did it?
110%, everyone of my fighters that become champions are champions for a reason, if I was a fighter I wouldn’t sign with any organization for more than one fight, all my contracts give my fighters the freedom that if UFC/Strikeforce or Bellator come calling for them, they have the go ahead and the blessing from me to go and further their career worldwide.
I hope to see at one point every fighter who has fought on Cage Rage UK to end up on the UFC.
You're breeding the next generation of UK UFC fighters, is that something that you're actively seeking to do in Cage Rage or is it a happy coincidence?
You only have to look at the UFC 138 card, this is no coincidence.
John Hathaway Brad Pickett
Jason Young
Oli Thompson
And Hopefully the current Cage Rage UK Welterweight Champion, John Maguire.
John's debut will be against James Head, we'll all be cheering for him, how do you think it'll go? He's got to be in with a shout of fight of the night at the very least, can he even do dull fights?
As John and UFC right now are just roomers I can’t answer that question, but one thing I can tell you, John Maguire has never been in a dull fight!!
And there you have it, Cage Rage UK a true breeding ground for the UFC's next generation of stars and with a man like Dave O'Donnell in charge it's easy to see why. Catch John's UFC debit soon at UFC 138 and the next generation of MMA stars aswell at Cage Rage UK 24 on October 22nd.
Written by James Lees
Thursday, 22 September 2011 15:11
It’s not often that we hear about Mixed Martial Arts in the British mainstream media and on the night of September 21st when various television news outlets including Sky News and the BBC opened their nightly broadcast with the bold headline of ‘CHILD CAGE FIGHTERS’, MMA fans and fighters around the country looked on in horror.
Sky News were one of the first outlets to report on the story and in their coverage, mentioned that children as young as five years old were filmed taking part in ‘cage fighting matches’ and were filmed ‘punching and kicking’ each other. The bout was filmed at the Greenlands Labour Club in Preston. They even mentioned that one child appeared to be crying and that the fight had to be stopped for doctors to check if the children could continue. It was an ugly, misinformed, misguided report and one that the sport of MMA did not need at this very crucial stage in the sport’s existence. Other news outlets followed with the BBC picking up the story on their website and television broadcasts and newspapers such as the Daily Mail running it as their front page story.
The biggest problem with this report was the extremely poor quality of journalism displayed by such respected news sources. Yes, children were competing but this wasn’t MMA, it was a juniors grappling competition. These kids were taking part in a jiu-jitsu exhibition, where no striking is allowed and NOT in an MMA bout, yet these mainstream news outlets who provide the public information on a daily basis claimed that punches and kicks were thrown which is blatant outright lies. The news reports also claimed that the crowd in attendance had paid exclusively to see children compete against each other. Also not true. The majority of the card was made up of trained professional adult athletes which just also happened to feature a juniors grappling exhibition. It’s all very much of a case of the media and the public pointing the finger at something that they do not understand, therefore it has to be bad, right? I can fully appreciate that when someone who does not understand the sport hears the term cage fighting and looks on at a small crowd of a couple of hundred people watching kids in a cage, they may find it all very uncomfortable. However the media should be providing the uneducated public with facts – these kids weren’t punching or kicking and they weren’t competing against their will. Jiu-Jitsu is only one aspect of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts and children are taking part in classes all over the world. MMA is more popular than ever before and kids practicing jiu-jitsu today is no different than kids taking Karate lessons ten or twenty years ago. If these kids had been doing the exact same thing on a matted area or in a ring then this story wouldn’t have even made the local newspaper, nevermind the BBC. People seem to be getting extremely worked up about the use of a cage yet the BBC, Sky News and the rest of the mainstream media fail to point out that the cage is there for safety. In boxing and other martial arts, so many people have injured themselves from falling between the ropes and out of the ring. The cage is there simply to stop people falling out of the competition area and hurting themselves. The term 'cage fighting' is almost universally hated by people involved with the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. It’s a term which conjures up negative connotations and hopefully in the near future we can look to completely abolish it’s use. We don’t call boxing ‘ring fighting’ do we? Why should Mixed Martial Arts be any different? If we referred to boxing as ‘ring fighting’ then I’m sure we’d hear a lot more negative press towards the sport in the media, but simply because boxing has been around for a long time it’s seen as widely acceptable. Children’s boxing tournaments have been taking place since the dawn of time and the sport even used to be taught in schools. Boxing is a sport which centres around both competitors throwing punches at each other. The Jiu-Jitsu contest which these children were taking part in did not involve strikes of any kind and thus there was no danger of brain damage as the British Medial Associated (BMA) so inaccurately claimed.
The BBC – one of the world’s most trusted news sources have let down a lot of people by not reporting the facts and instead resorting to cheap sensationalism. It’s a rather sad state of affairs and says a lot about modern society that on a day in which the United States executed a man who may or may not have been guilty – the story of two children competing in a jiu-jitsu competition in Lancaster is what makes front page headlines.
Mixed Martial Arts is used to having to put up a fight. The sport was called ‘human cockfighting’ when it was first created in 1993 and through years of dedicated hard work from fans, experts, UFC president Dana White and his partners Frank & Lorenzo Fertitta who purchased the Ultimate Fighting Championship a little over ten years ago, MMA has since become the fastest growing televised sport in the world. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (the sport’s equivalent of the NBA or the NHL for the uneducated) is a billion dollar business and stages monthly events all over the world generating millions of dollars both in ticket sales and pay-per-view buys. The people at the UFC have done a great job in educating people who don’t know a lot about the sport and for MMA fans all over the world to see that hard work set back in the UK by disgusting, lazy journalism is not something we should allow to go on.
To anyone who is a fan of Mixed Martial Arts – spend some time this week talking to people you know about the sport. Explain the rules, show them some DVDs, tell them that what they have seen in the news this week is nothing but misguided nonsense. Let’s get rid of the term ‘cage fighting’ once and for all. If people use it to describe the sport – correct them. Whatever you do, educate people, even if it’s just one person. For people who don’t know much about the sport and who may have stumbled across this article following recent news reports – please do not buy into the hysteria. Take some time and educate yourself. Take a moment to think about what these kids were really doing. If it was taking place in a gym hall on a matted area, would you even give it a second look? Take a few minutes to learn that MMA fighters are well educated and often have came over from highly respected, high salaried careers to take up the sport and that they are nor bald thugs as some of the media would have you believe. Don’t listen to the nonsense that the BBC and other news outlets will try to spoon feed you in order to sell a newspaper. Take some time and discover MMA for yourself.
Written by Craig Devlin
Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:42
With the BBC and the Daily Mail doing their best to whip up a frenzy with their expose of some children “cage fighting” the sport needs to be very careful in what it does next. There are a lot of ignorant people in this country that simply do not understand what MMA is and will seize upon any excuse to ban it, like they will anything they don't understand.
That the BBC should choose to find the children fighting is slightly odd however, in an email reply from their head of sports about a year ago I was informed that the BBC had no plans to offer any MMA coverage as they were focussing on Olympic sports in the lead up to London 2012. Now whether it is right that an organisation that is paid for by what is essentially a tax should be so dismissive of a sport that has so many thousands of fans in the UK and across the world is an argument for another time but their hand ringing against the children's “cage fighting” bout smacks of rank hypocrisy and I'll tell you why.
Their sneeringly condescending and arrogant reporter took great pleasure in grilling one of the boys parents on whether they thought it right that their son should be doing such a sport at such a young age. Now I will be the first to admit that the Cage used in unified rules MMA matches isn't the best advert for the sports genuine athletic and sporting credentials. It was after all first used in the early UFC bouts which had few rules and it was essentially there to keep the “caged beasts” locked inside, they at one point considered having a crocodile filled moat surrounding the cage!
Since those days however the somewhat anachronistic cage has stayed but the sport itself has evolved almost beyond recognition. Gone are the fat bar room brawlers of the early UFC's and in have come Olympic athletes such as Yoshihiro Akiyama and Satoshi Ishii from Judo, Top collegiate wrestlers such as Brock Lesnar and Josh Koscheck, BJJ world champions like B.J. Penn and Fabricio Werdum. These people are highly skilled proponents of their arts and have cross trained in all of the martial arts available to them in an attempt to become the best martial artists they can be and test themselves against the best.
The sport itself now has proper rules and has for a long time now, the unified rules set up by the athletic commissions in the United Sates, the same people who regulate boxing, have been adopted almost uniformly across the globe. I won't list them all here but if you're reading this and thing of MMA as nothing more than one person trying to kill another by any means necessary I would suggest you educate yourself and read up on them, yu may be pleasantly surprised.
Now back to the BBC and their hypocrisy. They say they are focussing on Olympic sports these days yes? Sports such as Judo and Wrestling? That would be the type of sports that they're covering. Now I myself am a Judoka and have been since I was 7 years old and I believe my first competition would have happened when I was either 7 or 8, I still have my bronze 3rd place trophy somewhere! That would have made roughly the same age as the children in the video that has so appalled the masses. I was applauded for competing and unlike the children in the video, I fought 4 times that day instead of once and at the end of each bout my opponent and I did not both have our hands raised in honour of what we had achieved, no, one of us won, one of us lost and that was that.
Like the kids in the video my Judo fights did not involve and kicking, punching or striking, they involved, take downs and pins, infact the kid in the video uses a Judo hold known as Kesa gatame to hold down the other child, exactly the same hold I used when I was in my first competition,
Why, then was there no moral outrage and BBC cameras interviewing my parents for brutalising me at such a young age? The only difference was that I was fighting on a mat whilst wearing a Gi. That the BBC should be so hung up on the fact that the bout took place in a cage and the crowd were grown men (it's all adults that watch kids sports anyway, theyre usually their parents that drove them there!) is just clutching at straws. The BBC has shown itself to be thunderingly ignorant of grappling and the techniques involved, I do hope that should one of the children featured grow up to be a successful MMA fighter, Judoka or Wrestler they would be inclined to tell the BBC's by then fawning reporter that if they had had their way they would never have made it.
Children should not be kicking and punching each other at 8 years old, which they weren't doing here at all, as for grappling and pinning (without submissions) I await the BBC's expose on the world of Judo and their letter to the IOC explaining that they simply can't cover such a sport as children take part from a young age.
The BMA deserve chastisement for offering this quote without checking what article their quote would be used with;
" [cage-fighting and boxing] are sometimes defended on the grounds that children learn to work through their aggression with discipline and control".
But it said many other sports such as athletics, swimming, judo and football "require discipline but do not pose the same threat of brain injury".
Which clearly shows that the BBC did not offer them the footage of the event they were commenting on as striking and head trauma were not an issue for the boys at all. In fact it was again the BBC trying to whip up hysteria and rail against MMA in general which is pretty disgusting from a supposedly impartial news agency there to report the facts and not imprint their own agenda onto their stories.
MMA will today find itself in a very strange situation where the sport will come under fire from a wide range of people who will be inclined to believe the "trustworthy" BBC version of events. The sport and it's community must stand stronmg against the ignorance displayed by these news organistaions and fight back, but not with fists or wrestling but by reasoning and calm judgement [Tacitus] as together we lead the sport into the mainstream and expose such bigotry and ignorance for what it is.
Written by Craig Devlin
Thursday, 22 September 2011 00:15
John Maguire will get his chance with the UFC sooner than expected as he steps in for Mark Scanlon at UFC 138 in Birmingham on November 5th reports mmajunkie.com
After his 3rd defence of his Cage Rage UK welterweight title promoter Dave O'Donnell went on the mic to plead for John to get his chance with the sports premier organisation such was his belief that his champion deserved his shot. Now with Scanlon pulling out for as yet undisclosed reasons The One is set to get his opportunity and infront of a home crowd too.
He won't have an easy debut, if there is such a thing in the UFC these days, as he will face American James Head (7-2) who holds a notable victory over former UFC fighter Gerald Harris. He did however lose his UFC debut to Nick Ring at UFC 131.
As we posted yesterday it is indeed high time John got his chance with the UFC and it is one he is sure to grab with both hands. Fullmount would like to express our congratulations to John, someone we have interviewed several times, and wish him all the best in the big time!
Written by Craig Devlin
Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:46
Cage Rage UK 23 – Champions face the Ultimate Challenge
There’s only a few days left before the latest action packed card from Cage Rage UK and as usual it set to be a great card. Cage Rage UK puts on some of the best cards in the UK at a pace few organisations can keep up with. Also, notice the name? Cage Rage is back! The Cage Rage name holds a lot of history in the world MMA scene and holding a Cage Rage belt is something that puts you in esteemed company with fighters like Anderson Silva being former title holders. With that in mind it's easy to see why John Maguire wants to keep his belt and with the HW belt vacant, two of the best UK heavyweights will go to war to get it.
The anticipation has reached an unprecedented level and, on September 17th, great champions will face their toughest tests to date. Of course the biggest name is Welterweight champion John Maguire, he stands at the peak of the division and has soundly defeated any challengers who have stood in his way. This time however he faces Peter Irving . Peter will not stand on ceremony and comes into the biggest fight of his life knowing that a victory would be the greatest possible statement to the watching world, taking the strap from John Maguire won't come easily though and the fight promises to be exciting and the quality of skill on display will be hard to find elsewhere.
Heavyweights Darren Towler and Ben Smith both possess phenomenal strength and skills but there can only be one champion. The vacant title is on the line and the foundations will rumble when Big Ben and the Powerhouse lock horns for the heavyweight belt. Ben has held the strap before though and has a victory over Darren already but the Darren Towler of today is a very different beast and I use beast for a reason, he's a lot bigger and better and will really bring the fight to Ben this time, I just hope they bolt the cage together well for this one! Dave O'Donnel told us;
"If I saw this fight going the same way I wouldn’t have booked it, Darren Towler has improved dramatically since his last outing with Ben Smith, if he puts in a performance like he did with Big Tomasz then Smith has to be top of his game, Both of these huge Heavyweights will be looking to go the extra mile to take home the vacant silver wear."
Moving to the featherweights and new champion Nathan Beer is one of the most ferocious and dominant prospects around. The Welshman has showcased his exceptional skills on many occasions but, against Corey Tait, he’ll be facing one of the most innovative strikers in the sport.
These three tremendous bouts top a stacked card that will also see TUF veteran Ross “The Gladiator” Pointon bring the noise against Jamaine “Mr Pain” Facey.
Cage Rage UK 23 is sure to raise the stakes once again so, whatever you do, make sure you don’t miss what will surely be one of the hardest hitting events of the year.
Peter Irving vs. John Maguire (c) - Welterweight Title Darren Towler vs. Ben Smith - Vacant Heavyweight Title Cory Tait vs. Nathan Beer (c) - Featherweight Title Ross Pointon vs. Jamaine Facey - WW Davin Byfield vs. Rae Edgar - BW Brett Bassett vs. Ben Craggy - WW
Preliminary card:
Peter Waterhouse vs. Afakasi Sione - LW Jimmy Millar vs. Tony Giles - WW K1 Louie Coco vs. Dominic Taylor - WW Ricky Campball vs. Brett Cole - LHW Brendan White vs. Charlie Curtain - LHW - K1 Spencer Morris vs. Florian Calin - FW
Get ready Glasgow - on April 28th, Scottish Fight Challenge will return to the Kelvin Hall Sports Arena in Glasgow, Scotland for SFC 6: 'Uprising' and today, SFC officials announced the full lineup, in what many are already calling quite possibly the best lineup in Scottish MMA history.
Get ready Glasgow - on April 28th, Scottish Fight Challenge will return to the Kelvin Hall Sports Arena in Glasgow, Scotland for SFC 6: 'Uprising' and the night's co-main event is already set.
SKY SPORTS will have exclusive rights to Cage Warriors events in 2012 after signing a 12-month contract with the organisation.
Attending the huge upcoming Scottish Fight Challenge 'Rivals' show on December 3rd in Glasgow? Why not make a whole day of it. Earlier that day before the fights take place, SFC will present Scottish Grappling Challenge - a no 
John Maguire will get his chance with the UFC sooner than expected as he steps in for Mark Scanlon at UFC 138 in Birmingham on November 5th reports mmajunkie.com
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