Alfred Posted February 3, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2018 He had a purple belt already? Geez lol. This is why you need to be writing some previews mate. You have a better memory than me Which by the way if anyone wants to do some writing on an as and when basis they are free to contact me for an assignment. At the moment I'm offering a 40% share of the profits for a decent preview (which isn't mega money by any stretch but that can be discussed more at the time) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timqwe Posted February 3, 2018 Report Share Posted February 3, 2018 Unfortunatly I didn't get much good training in. I was an idiot, and forgot to take him out of his whites, so his morale dropped crazy before I noticed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedry16 Posted February 5, 2018 Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 Oh man, somehow didn't cancel Danton's autoflight and he gets cut again but somehow gets the win! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted February 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 WOW! Massive upsets and surprises in the tournament. Write up coming soon but for now here's how the brackets shape up http://challonge.com/wd77uc1k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted February 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 Iron Man Fight Club New Blood Tournament V.2 – Round 2 (4th February 2018 – Hyashi’s Lounge – Los Angeles) Mohammed Ruslanov vs. Jake “The Rattlesnake” Kirby Without a doubt the most anticipated match up in the tournament with many believing this fight would decide the tournament. Both fighters were skilled grapplers with very differing styles and tonight we got to see just who’s were better. In Round 1 it was Ruslanov who showed early dominance after managing to take Kirby down almost instantly after the bell and controlling the fight from the top for the vast majority of it. Kirby worked hard to improve his position but Ruslanov used his weight superbly and was immovable. Peppering Kirby with stinging shots all throughout the round there was no question that Ruslanov want into Round 2 ahead with the judges despite a late takedown from Kirby right near the end of the bell. In Round 2, Kirby made sure to get in first after a scramble of failed takedown attempts from both fighters allowed Kirby to use his slight speed advantage and get Ruslanov to the mat. With the Kirby fans now looking forward to seeing their man dish out some punishment in retaliation for the first round the disappointment was tangible as Ruslanov swept Kirby to end up on top inside guard. Kirby worked for a sweep himself but found Ruslanov’s balance and strength almost impossible to disrupt and instead was reduced to a display of solid striking defence on the ground as Ruslanov’s relentless ground and pound failed to find it’s target. Midway through the round the referee decided that there was not enough action and stood the fighters up in the middle of the cage but no sooner than he gave the signal to restart, the action went straight back down to the floor with Ruslanov countering a poor Kirby takedown. For the remainder of the round Ruslanov stayed busy on top with ground and pound and once again took the round in even the most inept judges eyes. With Kirby down two rounds to none, he knew he would need a finish and came out with a fire underneath him. Securing the quick takedown, once again Ruslanov’s grappling pedigree began to look a few notches above Kirby’s as he easily reversed the position without taking any of the trademark ground and pound that we’ve come to expect from the Kirby’s. Ruslanov began to change up his tactics a little and started to work for a guillotine finish but to no avail. The action turned into both fighters jostling for top position with Ruslanov throwing strikes constantly. Never hurting Kirby too badly but always busy and always scoring points. A referee stand up just before the final minute could do nothing to change the outcome of this fight as Ruslanov caught a body kick from Kirby and followed it down to the ground and rode the remaining seconds of the fight into the semi-finals of the second New Blood Tournament. Mohammed Ruslanov defeated Jake Kirby by Decision (Unanimous) It was an extremely dominant and efficient performance from the Russian and there’s no doubt that Ruslanov is currently looking like a very good bet to take this whole tournament. A brave performance from Kirby who never gave up during the entire match but who just couldn’t quite deal with the bigger wrestlers advanced technical prowess. Dai Zexi vs. Carver Frost If the previous match was the most anticipated of the night, this fight featured without question the most intriguing fighter as Carver Frost returned to the cage after his brutal five second KO in the opening round and everybody was waiting to catch another glimpse of what this man could do against the unassuming BJJ fighter from China Dai Zexi. Round 1 sounded and the crowd held their breath as the fighters approached and let out a confused collective sigh as Dai Zexi emerged as the aggressor coming forward with wild punches. Perhaps with no real intention of doing damage, Zexi’s tactic worked perfectly as he was able to secure the takedown and landed in half guard. Though we knew nothing much about Carver Frost from the first round, we knew enough to know that he would not want to be on the ground with BJJ Brown Belt Zexi. Zexi took it very slow and was perhaps lucky not to be stood up as he opted to control from the top and look for submission openings every now and again. Zexi worked for a couple of arm triangles and even a forearm choke in order to make it as uncomfortable as possible for Frost but Frost showed some good defence and was able to navigate almost the entire round around Zexi’s submission skills. In Round 2 Zexi once again came out aggressively with some wild hooks and straights that missed their target. This time Frost did manage to land and opened up a cut with a nice straight left. Frost went to work and though was tagging Zexi with some decent shots was left frustrated by Zexi’s surprisingly decent strike defence and eagerness to engage on the feet. Almost two minutes in Frost threw and leg kick that missed the mark and Zexi seized the opportunity to get the fight back on the floor and spent the rest of the round on top trying to work out a way to finish the New Zealander. Once more some good defence by Frost to avoid the attempts by Zexi but as the bell sounded he knew he was most likely two rounds down. As the final round began the crowd anticipated some opening fireworks but if Zexi was nervous of the power of Frost he didn’t show it as once again he met him in the centre of the cage and began to throw down. Close to the two minute mark and with Frost getting the better of the exchanges on the feet, Zexi shot in for a takedown and much like the rest of the fight, was able to maintain top position and keep active just enough to warrant staying there. With something being said from his corner, Zexi looked up and acknowledged whatever it was and then began to step it up a notch. Throwing heavy strikes from full mount Frost had to cover up and sensing an opportunity Zexi moved in for an arm triangle. Frost defended but looked uncomfortable and once more Zexi rained down heavy blows and once again Frost covered up leaving him vulnerable for the arm triangle. This time Zexi made no mistake and was able to get the finish right at the very last second of the round. Dai Zexi defeated Carver Frost by Submission (Arm Traingle) at 4:59 of Round 3 It was a superb showing from Zexi to completely neutralise the powerful striking of Carver Frost. Zexi’s win sets up a showdown with masterful wrestler Mohammed Ruslanov and, obviously a master tactician, will no doubt have a very solid idea of how to approach that fight. A tough loss for Carver Frost who never really got going in the fight even when he found himself with space to strike. Armel Vidal vs Warren Goldner If I was a betting man it’s safe to say that I would be asking for a place to sleep tonight as if offered the opportunity to bet on what transpired during this fight, I would have bet the house against it. Natural bantamweight striker Armel Vidal had a good first round in the tournament and managed to beat a much heavier wrestler to make it here but against a much heavier striker in Warren Goldner, I gave him very little chance. There was no way Vidal could give up over 110lbs to Goldner and knock him out before getting stopped himself and in some way, I was right. Both fighters came out for Round 1 swinging with neither really gaining the upper hand and not very much landing from either. Around the minute mark Vidal latch on to Goldner in the clinch and many wondered what the much smaller fighter was up to and then instantly it all became clear as Vidal quickly pulled guard and dragged Goldner down to the floor with him and in the blink of an eye had his legs wrapped around his neck in a tight triangle choke that obviously caught Goldner in surprise and left him no option but to tap out. White belt Vidal with the triangle submission win. Armel Vidal defeated Warren Goldner by Submission (Triangle Choke) at 1:39 of Round 1 There can be no more doubting Vidal’s size against these bigger opponents now as he proves that skill and cunning are more then a match. Vidal with a superb submission victory early in the first round and avoids taking any damage so that he can get straight back to the gym the next day. Goldner, who will no doubt be just as surprised as I am with the result of the fight, now eliminated in the second round and will need to figure out his next move from here. Boris Boulder vs. Georges “The Guillotine” Danton Rounding off the second round bracket was wrestler Boris Boulder taking on a much improved Georges Danton. Boulder only had one real way to go about this fight and after taking a couple of crisp jabs to the face after the opening bell made sure to set about his task. He didn’t have much trouble in getting Danton off his feet and from there began to drop some pretty heavy shots from top position whilst keeping an eye out for any possible submission attempts. A little over two minutes in, one such opportunity appeared and Boulder started working on an arm bar from a difficult position but Danton was able to defend. He took another big shot from Boulder however which opened up a nasty cut on his head. Danton kept busy and managed to get back to half guard but still Boulder was able to land the odd strike. Danton managed to keep better control of Boulder for the last minute before the end of the round but it was all one one traffic at this point. Round 2 opened and Boulder needed more of the same but a sloppy kick followed by a half hearted take down attempt was punished by Danton who landed a nice shot to the side of Boulders head. Boulder began to desperately shoot in for doubles and singles but each time Danton timed them perfectly and countered with a stiff shot in return. A jab from Danton followed by a one-two opened up Boulder who looked a little bewildered at this point. A hook from Danton, a cross, then a massive wild overhand left that seemed to only clipped Boulder but obviously hurt as Boulder’s legs buckled. Moving in for the kill, Danton launched forward with a brutal left hook that dropped Boulder to the canvas and knocked him out could. Georges Danton defeated Boris Boulder by KO (Punch) at 0:57 of Round 2. A big win for Danton to come from behind after the first round and who now moves on to face Armal Vidal in the semi final and one thing for sure is that it is unlikely to be a straight forward stand up fight. A tough break for Boulder after a promising start to the fight. Without question a superb ground fighter but just wasn’t able to keep up with the overall improvements that Danton had made during his camp. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted February 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 Iron Man Fight Club - Official Rankings (4th February 2018) Lightweight (155lbs and under) #Champion - Vacant #1 (1) Klaus Chugman (11-2, W,W,W,W,W, 130lbs) #2 (2) Tommy Walcott (10-3, W,W,L,W,L, 140lbs) #3 (3) Luiz Correia Azevedo (12-5, L,W,W,W,W, 148lbs) #4 (5) Tzwrtzos Peidis (6-1, W,W,L,W,W, 165lbs) #5 (NE) Mister Island (9-5, L,L,W,W,W, 145lbs) #6 (6) Simon Jensen (9-3, W,W,W,W,L, 162lbs) #7 Soul Shadow (5-3, W,W,L,W,L, 162lbs) #8 (4) Wolfgang Lee Roth (7-5, L,W,L,L,W, 154lbs) #9 (8) Brock Sampson (5-3, L,L,W,W,W, 168lbs) #10 (14) Cj McGergor (5-1, W,W,L,W,W, 156lbs) #11 (9) Daniel Sainty (8-7, L,W,L,W,L, 150lbs) #12 (10) Gosha Lopez (4-1, L,W,W,W,W, 135lbs) #13 (11) Maximilian Kirby (3-0, W,W,W, 165lbs) #14 (12) Sirimongkol Niyotrong (4-3, W,W,W,W,L, 152lbs) #15 (13) Evgeni Lomachenko (7-7, L,L,W,L,L, 152lbs) Middleweight (155lbs to 205lbs) #Champ (#2) - Light Heavyweight (21-2, W,L,W,W,W, 220lbs) #1 (1) Mew Choo (11-1, L,W,W,W,W, 191lbs) #2 (NE) Roman Divac (8-0, W,W,W,W,W, 198lbs) #3 (3) Brooklyn Brawler (9-3, W,L,W,W,L, 190lbs) #4 (5) Steven Kennedy (9-7, W,L,W,L,W, 178lbs) #5 (13) Jon Ubereem (13-6, W,L,W,L,W, 218lbs) #6 (9) Fay Gott (6-1, W,W,W,W,W, 190lbs) #7 (6) Big Murha (5-0, W,W,W,W,W, 215lbs) #8 (8) Luca Brasa lii (7-3, L,W,W,W,W, 205lbs) #9 (4) Terry Bogard (6-4, L,W,L,W,W, 179lbs) #10 (7) Edson Ribeiro (10-1, L,W,W,W,W, 185lbs) #11 (11) Ispa Murhaa (5-0, W,W,W,W,W, 192lbs) #12 (12) Jaxson Wilder (7-3, W,L,L,W,L, 205lbs) #13 (NE) Bea Mason (8-4, W,W,W,W,L, 175lbs) #14 (10) Don Joe (8-5, L,L,L,W,W, 190lbs) #15 (14) Boss Yonic (9-5-1, W,W,W,L,L, 185lbs) New Blood (for 18-19 year olds, Open Weight under 265lbs) #Champion - Vacant #1 Tan Han Tuong (5-1, W,W,W,W,L, 271lbs) #2 (4) Micky Kirby (4-1, W,L,W,W,W, 230lbs) #3 (5) Kenny Tcusuk (3-4, W,L,W,W,L, 265lbs) #4 (7) Terry Crew (4-2, W,L,W,W,L, 200lbs) #5 (8) Matteo Boretti (3-0, W,W,W, 205lbs) #6 (2) Xing Pugberg (4-2, L,W,W,L,W, 130lbs) #7 (NE) Armel Vidal (3-0, W,W,W, 146lbs) #8 (NE) Dai Zexi (3-0, W,W,W, 220lbs) #9 (NE) Anton Touchard (5-1, W,L,W,W,W, 168lbs) #10 (NE) Gyukosho Fujimoto (2-0, W,W, 250lbs) Heavyweight (205lbs and over) #Champ (2) Iain Tower (8-0, W,W,W,W,W, 275lbs) #1 (3) Steve Butabi (8-1, W,W,L,W,W, 290lbs) #2 (1) Super Heavyweight (17-3, L,W,W,W,W, 280lbs) #3 (4) Japa Koniu (6-1, W,W,W,L,W, 235lbs) #4 (5) Stewart Pack (10-2, W,W,W,W,L, 265lbs) #5 (6) Vincent Lemieux (10-5, W,L,W,W,W, 270lbs) #6 (NE) Vinicio Serpico (6-2, W,L,W,L,W, 260lbs) #7 (9) Schmorgen Biscuit (9-4, W,L,W,W,W, 219lbs) #8 (8) Jack Dawson (6-2, W,W,L,W,L, 270lbs) #9 (7) Ricky Hughes (9-7, L,W,L,L,L, 264lbs) #10 (13) Hamish McTavish (6-3, W,L,W,W,W, 292lbs) #11 (10) Greg Bell (7-9, L,W,W,L,L, 300lbs) #12 (11) Vladimir Impaler (6-2, W,W,W,L,W, 270lbs) #13 (14) Wilson Reyes (7-6, L,L,W,W,W, 287lbs) #14 (NE) Randall Couture (8-3, W,L,W,L,W, 233lbs) #15 Android Seventeen (8-8, W,L,L,L,L, 280lbs **Rankings are determined by hype/pop, p4p rank, win/loss record and a few company internal criteria. Rankings can and will change frequently after each event** 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bergeroo Posted February 6, 2018 Report Share Posted February 6, 2018 Love the write ups, they really add to the org! Makes me want to sign fighters here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted February 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2018 IFC MW14 - Preview by Eric Leoanrd (07 January 2018 - King Theater, Los Angeles) Prelims Fight 1 - Heavyweight Division (2-3, 223 lbs) Kyle “Animal” Ryan VS (1-2, 265 lbs) Kirk Lazarus Kyle Ryan has had a very back and forth career debuting with a loss and alternating between wins and losses from there. He has proven to be impossible to finish even against opponents like Jack Dawson who has 5 knockouts under his belt. His problem seems to come down to in fight adjustment and or stamina as he tends to win the first round and then fall behind in the next two rounds. However, this means that he is two winning rounds from being a 4-1 fighter and as such you can not underestimate him despite the lackluster record. It has hard to declare any set style for him, but he appears to prefer boxing combined with a fairly strong takedown game. Kirk Lazarus started his career with a win the QFC, but has followed it up with two very disappointing losses since joining the IFC. He appears to suffer from a weak chin as both of his opponents managed to knock him out relatively easy (one opponent taking him down in just 6 landed punches). In his only victory he repeatedly attempted to take down his opponent where he mixed in some ground and pound to little effect, but his control of the fight yielded him the win. We have yet to see why his Muay Thai is considered exceptional in an actual fight, because he repeatedly breaks clinches and fights in other ways and this makes him a bit of a wildcard as we haven’t seen one aspect of his skill set that seems impressive. Prediction: This fight could realistically go to either one of these fighters, one with cardio concerns and the other with concerns about his chin. It seems obvious that Lazarus can not finish Ryan, but if he can manage to control the fight as he did in his first fight he can try to outlast his opponent and take home the victory by decision. Ryan on the other hand needs to take advantage of his opponents’ questionable ability to take a punch and try to finish him in the first round with his wonderful boxing. Winner: Kyle “Animal” Ryan I have serious doubts as to whether Lazarus can make it through the first round against Ryan’s boxing and as long he continues to avoid using his muay thai he will have great difficulty in fights that remain standing. Fight 2 - Middleweight Division (3-5, 185 lbs) Lord “God of Destruction” Beerus VS (2-6, 185 lbs) Sascha “Widow Maker” Koniezko Beerus has been a large disappointment for his home universe, universe 7 as he was one of the most feared warriors there, and is a less than stellar 3-5 since he started fighting in mma. His fights have never ended in a decision whether loss or win and every single one of his wins has netted him submission of the night. He will look to snap a 4 loss streak and return to his former dominant performances of the past. Koniezko is trending in the opposite as he started his career with 4 straight losses (3 in kamikaze) and has managed to win 2 of his last 4 fights since joining the IFC. Also interesting is that he went from three straight decisions in kamikaze to four straight fights that ended in the 1st round. He is your typical brawler, throwing a multitude of strikes and hoping that he lands enough of them to finish his opponent. He pursues a knockout at all costs and had not managed to win a fight that went passed the first round. Prediction: These two fighters are both struggling to become relevant within the IFC. The winner of this fight will go a long way in hopefully proving that he still has something left to give to the organization. This fight will come down to whether Beerus can use his submission game to win the match or not. Winner: Sascha “Widow Maker” Koniezko Unless Koniezko foolishly takes Beerus to the ground himself I see little possibility of this fight going there, because Beerus’ ability to get to the ground has proven very subpar to date. Undercard Fight 3 - Middleweight Division (6-4, 180 lbs) Marshall “Money” Banks VS (5-9, 140 lbs) Gin Kobra Banks is making his IFC debut just coming off a fairly successful stint in the Gamma Rising Stars organization. He has shown a concerning weakness for submission having been defeated via submission during all four of his defeats so far. He is a pure striker who likes to use long reach to abuse his opponent from range and has showed he is pretty good at defending takedowns as well. If he can ever get around the glaring weakness in his grappling he will be a serious contender. Kobra unlike Banks has spent almost all of his career in the IFC only having two fights in the QFC before signing with the organization. He started off in a very promising manner winning his first two fights in the IFC before losing 8 of his next 10 fights. He is similar to his opponent as he also loves to keep the fight standing making this one look to be quite the show as these guys trade blows. Prediction: Both of these fighters have something to prove in this one as Banks looks to make his debut in the organization and show that he is hear to stay and possibly be a contender. Kobra on the other hand wants to show the superiority of the IFC by taking down a fighter with a positive record from another organization. Winner: Marshall “Money” Banks Banks has looked impressive in other organizations and will probably continue within the IFC. These fighters have incredibly similar strategies and skill sets, but Banks’ ability to take a hit makes me believe that he has the edge in this one. Fight 4 - Heavyweight Division (10-7, 204 lbs) Bricks “Parpaing” Thrower VS (10-5, 220lbs) “The Barbarian” Battle Ram Thrower has been around in the IFC for quite a while and is floating around the middle ranks lacking only a nice win streak to crack the power rankings. Looking at his record its obvious what his issue is; 7 times being knocked out and 0 losses by decision shows both a positive and a negative thing about him. First of all its not a good sign to be knocked out so many times (many of these in the first round) as it eludes to a weak chin. However, the fact he has 5 decision wins and 0 decision losses show that if the fight goes into the later rounds you can expect him to win the fight. Having lost 2 in a row pre 30 seconds in the first round this fight will be very important to halting his losing streak and proving that he may deserve a spot in the power rankings. Ram is another one of those fighters right on the cusp of being a contender in the IFC and he will want to send a message to everyone and show that he belongs in those rankings. Coming into the IFC with high expectations after winning a QFC tournament Ram lived up to the hype winning his first two fights. The only problem is that after those victories he ran into the super fighter himself Mew Choo and has not been the same since, winning only four of his next seven matches. He is looking to build on his impressive knockout victory over the tough Zoran Sablic and maybe return to the form he was in before his lost to Choo. Prediction: This will be an exciting fight to watch with both of these fighters bringing impressive stand up skills to the octagon. Both of these fighters are on the cusp of relevancy within the IFC and are chomping at the bit to prove themselves. Expect this one to be a crazy fight with neither fighter wanting to give up ground to their opponent. Winner: “The Barbarian” Battle Ram Thrower’s concerns with being knocked out are even more concerning against an opponent who just knocked out an opponent with a granite chin. While this fight will be very competitive I have to give the nod to Ram as he has looked more impressive recently. Fight 5 - Middleweight Division (3-0, 207 lbs) Yuri “Subversion” Bezmenov VS (3-4, 190 lbs) Yoshihiro Sexyama Bezmenov is a terrifying fighter who in only 3 fights (2 in the IFC) made quite the impression on those who have watched him. He has won every fight in the first minute and a half meaning we have no idea just how far he can go. He has a frightening combination of exceptional wrestling and a brown belt in jiu jutsu that will leave opponents helpless before him as he takes them down and aggressively tries to submit them until the victory is his. He is able to utilize submission after submission, because the only thing better than his ground game is his cardio, this guy runs even while sleeping! Sexyama has only fought within the IFC, and has done slightly below average so far. He has consistently lost to good opponents, but beaten the bad opponents meaning he wins as the favorite and loses as the underdog. Similar to his opponent he likes to use strong takedowns to get his opponent on the ground where he uses a strong submission game to try and finish people. Prediction: While both fighters have similar skill sets the quality of their skills are rather different. Sexyama comes in as the clear underdog and he will have to work extremely hard to beat this outstanding 21 year old in this one. Winner: Yuri “Subversion” Bezmenov Its fun to root for the underdog, but Bezmenov is one of those fighters that only comes around every so often. I expect him to rise through the rankings in an unprecedented fashion and maybe even begin to challenge for the top spots in the IFC. Fight 6 - Lightweight Division (3-0, 165 lbs) #13 Lightweight “King” Maximilian Kirby VS (4-3, 145 lbs) Lucky Luke Kirby has looked impressive from the beginning of his career in the QFC until now sitting at 3-0 having never had to participate in the second round. He has won all of his fights in the same way, but even being predictable his opponents have failed to stop him from executing his winning strategy. His takedowns are frightening, but his ground and pound is terrifying and once he gets going nothing stops him, but the unconsciousness of his opponent. Luke has had mixed success in his career thus far and will hope to push his record from average to a more impressive standing. Three of his four victories have come by submission and if he is to have any chance in this one he will need to show his ability to submit once again. His debut in the IFC will be a difficult undertaking, but the fresh start may be just what he needs to turn his career into a great one. Prediction: This fight is guaranteed to go to the ground one way or the other. The most likely way will be via the takedowns of Kirby after which Luke will look to submit Kirby from his back before he is pounded into oblivion. Winner: “King” Maximilian Kirby Kirby has faced many opponents looking to submit him from below and has made it look easy avoiding the submission attempts and I expect him to do it once again against Luke. Main Card Fight 7 - Lightweight Division (5-3, 168 lbs) #9 Lightweight Brock “The Bodygaurd” Sampson VS (6-9, 160 lbs) Dave “Tightass” Brooksbank Sampson has never fought outside of the IFC and has proven himself enough to reach his current rank as the eighth ranked lightweight fighter. However, as he is on a two fight slide another loss may push him out of the power rankings completely. He has an interesting mix of boxing and jiu jitsu with an emphasis on the boxing. Generally he likes to duke it out with his opponent only resorting to his ground game if taken down or if his opponent initiates a clinch. Brooksbank also has spent the entirety of his career in the IFC having participated in IFC 1! He has been slipping as of late with 4 straight losses making his once good record look much worse. He has lost by knockout a whopping 8 of his 9 losses and won by submission in all six of his wins. His “submit you or die trying” strategy has come back to bite him lately, but he is still a dangerous fighter that you can’t underestimate, because of the depth of his career and the scary ability he has of submitting his opponents. Prediction: While both of these fighters have impressive jiu jitsu I expect a majority of this fight to happen standing. Sampson while not shy about utilizing jiu jitsu only does so if the stand up portion of the fight goes poorly for him. While Brooksbank has very few tools that he can use to get his opponent to the ground. Winner: Brock “The Bodygaurd” Sampson Its hard to see Sampson losing this one, because he has superior stand up and equal jiu jitsu. Against an opponent that has been knocked out eight times being outclassed on your feet is not something that bodes well, especially when your strong point (jiu jitsu) is matched by your opponent. Fight 8 - Heavyweight Division (7-4, 264 lbs) Naiki “The Drunken Finnish Demon” Nekele VS (6-7, 240 lbs) Taz “Crash” Bandichoo Nekele is an example of your classic Muay Thai fighter using a mix of kicks and dirty boxing to try and knock his opponent out. He also has that vaunted toughness that muay thai fighters tend to develop throughout their careers. He looks very unimpressive if you can get him to the ground, but his record against other stand up fighters is extremely impressive as he has managed to beat all of them except for the infamous Tommy Walcott. Bandichoo on the other hand has struggled lately, but managed to beat Walcott and can not be underestimated. Despite the questionable record and the four loss streak he is still a very dangerous fighter whether from the clinch or boxing from a distance. He is a rather tough fighter who seems to have trouble in long fights, but can end it early if your not careful. Prediction: On paper Bandichoo looks like the more impressive fighter, but he has had poor showings against many opponents so he will have to prove himself in this one by taking out The Drunken Finnish Demon. Nekele on the other hand has already proven himself he just needs to show he can win consistently and you will see him rise in the rankings. Winner: Naiki “The Drunken Finnish Demon” Nekele Nekele has the toughness to outlast Bandichoo’s initial rush and as such is the clear favorite in this one if you look at Bandichoo’s struggles in the later rounds. Co Main Event - Heavyweight Division (6-1, 235 lbs) #3 Heavyweight Japa Koniu VS (10-2, 265 lbs) #4 Heavyweight Stewart Pack If your not excited about this one there is something wrong with you folks as this fight looks to be a great one between the fourth and fifth ranked fighters in the heavyweight division. Both of these fighters are fairly new to the IFC, but have won every fight since they joined and there is no denying they earned their spots in the top half of the rankings. Koniu started his career out in the duel fighting club out of New York winning two of the three fights he participated in for the organization. Since joining the IFC he has won three straight fights one of which was against Bandichoo who is participating in the fight before this one. Only one fighter has managed to go the distance against him and his only loss came against a former heavyweight champion in the spartan fight club. He prefers to wear down his opponents gradually then going in for the kill when they become too tired and worn down to put up any resistance. Pack has only fought once in the IFC where he won by decision dominating his opponent in the clinch, but unable to finish him off. He likes to attack his opponents’ weaknesses and will win using whatever strategy necessary with a preference for wrestling as it is his greatest strength. While on paper he doesn’t appear to be a strong fighter he has managed to secure victory after victory even winning the QFC tournament at the beginning of his career. Prediction: Both of these fighters have made it through difficult fights in impressive fashion to get to this point in their careers and neither wants to stop their momentum with a loss. Koniu enters the fight looking to keep his opponent away and pepper him with jabs to gradually wear him down while Pack needs to close on his opponent whether for the clinch or for a takedown otherwise he will slowly be whittled away by Koniu’s superior striking. Winner: Japa Koniu Koniu’s only loss came against a wrestler, but he has since beaten another impressive wrestler by maintaining his distance and appears to have closed that weakness. I expect this fight to be a close one, but ultimately Koniu comes in as the favorite. Main Event - Middleweight Division (9-3, 190 lbs) #3 Middlweight Brooklyn Brawler VS (9-5-1, 185 lbs) #15 Middleweight Boss Yonic Finally we look to our main event of the night as the third ranked middleweight Brooklyn Brawler takes on the fourteenth ranked Boss Yonic. These two fighters are opposites in style, but both have impressive wrestling. The winner of this fight will be the one who can seize the initiative and bring the fight into his domain. Brawler is an impressive boxer who has only failed to knockout one opponent in his victories. This guy seems like an immovable object as opponents dash themselves against him in an effort to bring him down, but fail to do so and take punishment in the process. He reportedly has extremely impressive cardio, but very few opponents can make it passed the first round against him mostly, because his athleticism is trained to an extreme degree whether it be cardio, agility or strength. Yonic has his work cut out for him, but the combination of his wonderful wrestling and purple belt make him a dangerous opponent. He is a difficult opponent to combat as he is good at getting the fight to the ground where he has amazing control. While he doesn’t have the highest finish rate he has shown impressive control, rendering many opponents immobile throughout the fights making many fighters look helpless. Prediction: Regardless of who wins this fight looks like a shoo in as the fight of the night and is by far the most difficult fight to predict. On one hand you have Brawler who is extremely difficult to take down and has impressive boxing and on the other you have Yonic who seems to be able to get opponents into his domain on the ground time and time again. The winner will be the one who can control his opponent from the get go as both fighters dominate the other in their preferred area. Winner: Brooklyn Brawler This is a very difficult conclusion to come to as Yonic has looked impressive, but Brawler has looked more impressive and has repeatedly proven that he is difficult to take down in any situation. Due to his very controlled style Yonic will have a tough time finding any chinks on Brawler’s armor. This is my first write up for this organization and I’d like to thank Alfred Winterbottom the second for the opportunity. These predictions were very difficult for me and I am impressed with the quality of fighters in this organization! Good luck and I look forward to seeing the results of what looks to be a very exciting and well contested event. -Eric Leoanrd 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixFootPenguin Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 great job on the preview. as someone who has done previews for ifc before and has 2 fighters in this card including the main event iithink its a great first try. this will be a true test for brawler because he lost 2 of his 3 fights on the ground and the other he battled an amazing 16 injury to both fight with super heavyweight steve butabi. i am extremely looking forward to if boss yonic can take him down after mew choo did easily for the title but he doesnt plan on making the same mistake again. keep up the great work. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseppe Posted February 8, 2018 Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 Great fight while it lasted & Pack ALMOST had him but it wasnt to be so well done Japa Koniu on the win. Pack has been punching above his weight for awhile maybe its time to call it a day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted February 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 Great fight while it lasted & Pack ALMOST had him but it wasnt to be so well done Japa Koniu on the win. Pack has been punching above his weight for awhile maybe its time to call it a day. Damn that would be a shame mate. Was one win away from a title shot. That's no joke! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted February 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 great job on the preview. as someone who has done previews for ifc before and has 2 fighters in this card including the main event iithink its a great first try. this will be a true test for brawler because he lost 2 of his 3 fights on the ground and the other he battled an amazing 16 injury to both fight with super heavyweight steve butabi. i am extremely looking forward to if boss yonic can take him down after mew choo did easily for the title but he doesnt plan on making the same mistake again. keep up the great work. You had yourself a good night lol. 2 for 2 and both fighters riding high in the rankings again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted February 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2018 Iron Man Fight Club XXXVII (10th February 2018 – King Theatre, Los Angeles) Main Card Main Event – Lightweight Division Title (#1) Klaus “The House” Chugman (11-2, 130lbs) vs. (#2) “Gypsy” Tommy Walcott (10-3, 140lbs) The last piece of the puzzle will finally be solved with the last of the main division titles on line in the main event of the evening. Bantamweight grappler Klaus Chugman, a fighter who has been phenomenally impressive over the past few months will take on man of whom he has previously beaten only a short time ago in Tommy Walcott. Chugman has made his way up slowly from the bottom of the old Iron Man openweight division and risen to the very top of the IFC ranks. With a record of 11-2, he is by far the highest regarded lightweight currently competing and has briefly held the distinction of being the number p4p in the org. In his last bout he put on a career best performance when he took out island champion Light Heavyweight in the first round with a rear naked choke. He has become known for his lightening fast take downs and tenacious grappling assault once on the floor and is currently the number one submission specialist in the IFC with a total of nine. All the more impressive for a fighter that has shied away from any of the striking arts since beginning his MMA career but tonight he will once again need to hope that his lack of skills in that area don’t come back to haunt him. Boxer Tommy Walcott has never been in this position before. He has come agonisingly close on two occasions but both times has fallen short right at the last and lost his opportunity for a title shot. This time he has made it and he will need to step it up a gear or two if he is to defeat a fighter that has already schooled him on one occasion. Walcott has had some close fights of late and it’s fair to say hasn’t looked as impressive as when he started his career. He also perhaps owes the god of judging for a couple of gifts that have come his way but wins are wins are Walcott will take them. Walcott has improved steadily over time and as lately has made some good efforts with his defensive grappling skills. Enough to fend off jiu-jitsu specialist Daniel Sainty over three rounds at the least and that may give him some confidence going into this fight with Chugman. In their previous match up, Chugman needed only a short while to break through Walcott’s ground defence and ended the fight in under two minutes. Walcott will no doubt have made adjustments in his training and game plan to conquer this but stopping Chugman’s takedown is no easy feat. There’s no doubt that any time spent on the feet is only going to be a painful experience for Chugman but that has always been the case and Chugman has far more often than not managed to persevere. Despite all of Walcott’s improvements in his overall game, many believe this to be Chugman’s time and as such will be the heavy favourite. Walcott’s last win against Sainty did go some way to giving us a glimpse of how he could potentially win tonight but Chugman is a different animal and posesses much better wrestling than Sainty and that could make all the difference tonight. If pushed to give a prediction it would have to be a Chugman submission in the first or second round. Co-Main Event – Middleweight Division (#4) Steven “The Steamroller” Kennedy (9-7, 178lbs) vs. (#8) Luca Brasi Lii (7-3, 205lbs) Our co-main event of the evening features former IFC champion Steven Kennedy taking on a new signing in the IFC, Luca Brasi Lii. Steven Kennedy isn’t the most consistent fighter and currently blows as hot and cold as ever but when he wins, he wins big and it is those big wins that have kept him riding high in the overall rankings thus far. Having been a part of the IFC since it’s inception, Kennedy remains a popular figure with the IFC fans but it isn’t just nostalgia that makes him such a memorable figure. That would also have to do with his impressive submission finishes of which he is currently ranked joint second in the org with 8 in total. Kennedy also ranks highly in other categories of org statistics and currently holds third place for most wins with nine and is joint first for most appearances overall with sixteen. With such an impressive tenure in the IFC of which includes a brief spell as champion, it’s easy to see why he is ranked so highly but that can easily change as other fighters have found out for themselves before. Facing Kennedy tonight is a fighter making his first appearance for the IFC, 7-3 Luca Brasi Lii. Brasa Lii has spent the majority of his career in the Spartan Fight Club out of Amsterdam where he amassed a very respectable record of 5-3. He has become known for his strong clinch game but also for his dangerous ground skills from where he has earned numerous TKO finishes from ground and pound. Though he is coming into this fight off the back of a loss, Brasi Lii will no doubt be fired up and eager to make a good first impression for the IFC fans. In terms of match up this should be a very competitive fight. Both Kennedy and Brasi Lii have no problem mixing it up on their feet before moving into their preferred areas of expertise and we anticipate witnessing some heavy shots leather being thrown early. Both are accomplished ground fighters though both go about things entirely different in that area. Kennedy has a terrific record of submission wins and Brasi Lii isn’t far behind him when it comes to forcing TKO stoppages either. Kennedy will be giving up a fair amount of weight to Brasi Lii and that could be a disadvantage if this fight does get to the ground. Kennedy is also notorious for getting caught on his feet for too long and has been finished on more than a few occasions so Brasi Lii might feel that he can pressure Kennedy into making a mistake before hitting the ground. Early predictions have Kennedy as the slight favourite going in though Brasi Lii is not to be underestimated. He is dangerous in many areas and does have a few different ways to approach this fight Fight 8 – Heavyweight Division (#13) Wilson “KO” Reyes (7-6, 287lbs) vs. (#12) Vladimir “The Horizontal” Impaler (6-2, 272lbs) Next up, a big opportunity for young striker Vladimir Impaler to break into the power rankings and add to bad run of form currently being suffered by his opponent tonight Wilson “KO” Reyes. Reyes’ fortunes began to turn after suffering a cut stoppage to big hitter Vincent Lemieux at Mid Week 11. In his return he faced highly regarded prospect Big Murha and though wasn’t having the best of times during the fight, once again found his efforts cut short by a doctors intervention. With two cuts stoppages in a row and no previous indication that he had a problem with cuts his management were understandably baffled and no doubt asking if this is just an unfortunate coincidence? Tonight, with the type of match up on offer, we are likely to see an answer to that question. Vladimir Impaler comes from the same camp as long time IFC fighter Naiki Nakele and in the shorter time of being here has arguable overtaken his team mate in terms of ranking and hype. This is largely in part to his short run of brutal first round knockouts of which his tally currently stands at three in a row. With a overall record of 6-2 and moving into the Top 15 of the IFC Heavyweight Rankings, Impaler is beginning to pop up on a few radars of those currently above him and with another big performance tonight would no doubt break into the power ranks. Despite Reyes recent form, this is still a very difficult match up for Impaler. Reyes is relatively well rounded and even his solid basic knowledge of submission wrestling is far in advance of Impaler’s white belt level. For this fight Impaler is going to be relying on landing some big shots from striking distance and staying away from the clutches of Reyes. Reyes will have around fifteen pounds of weight on his side if he does decide to brawl with Impaler and has a very similar record of KO’s himself. Reyes will go into this fight as the odds on favourite to stop Impaler but with so much to gain from defeating Reyes, Impaler will no doubt come into this fight extremely motivated. Fight 7 – Middleweight Division (#7) Big Murha (5-0, 215lbs) vs. Terje “Nightmare” Warholm (4-3-1, 220lbs) Next up we have a fight from the Middleweight division and young mixed martial artist Terje Warholm will attempt to halt the advance of up and coming Big Murha who is one of two fighters from the Murhapuro camp that is currently residing in the IFC middleweight ranks. So far in his young career, Big Murha has managed to chew up and spit out all five of the opponents he has faced and seems to get better with each appearance. He possibly owes a lot of that to his rate of learning as for a fighter that started a little later than most in the org, he is operating on a very advanced level and doesn’t seem to look weak in any one area. In the beginning of his career he began making a name for himself with his devastating clinch tactics but of late has really started to shine at striking distance and with a combination of pin point accuracy and a very varied attack that is hard for his opponent to predict, Murha has racked up three TKO victories in a row. His opponent is Terje Warholm, a young Norwegian fighter who has made some good progress in his training but currently doesn’t look to be exceptional in any one discipline. Warholm was one of the sixteen fighters to participate in the very first New Blood tournament and managing to go 1-1, was eliminated in the second round by the infamous Micky Kirby. After losing that fight he made the decision to move out of the New Blood division and into the main Iron Man one where he feared quite well and defeated some experienced opponents. Now with a record of 4-3-1 he has a big opportunity to make a name for himself and break into the Top 15 but in order to do that he must hand Murha his very first professional loss. This is a tough fight for Warholm as there really isn’t any area in which he is better than Murha except for a very slight edge in Muay Thai which is likely to be where Warholm will base his tactics. Murha has beaten a much varied assortment of size and skills in his opponents and has yet to really struggle with any of them. Warholm on the other hand has known defeat on three occasions and really it could be said that he has struggled against better grapplers. With Murha currently marching towards the middleweight title it’s difficult to see where anyone is going to beat him. Warholm will be the overwhelming underdog in this bout though he managed to prevail from this position before. Can he do it tonight against without a doubt his toughest opponent to date? Tonight we will find out Undercard Fight 6 – Lightweight Division (#15) Evgeni Lomachenko (7-7, 152lbs) vs. (#6) Simon “Spike” Jensen (9-3, 162lbs) Action from the Lightweight Division next featuring two ranked fighters in Evgeni Lomachenko and newcomer Simon “Spike” Jensen. Evgeni Lomachenko came to the IFC with a perfect record and large expectations of future glory. Since that time however it’s fair to say that he hasn’t quite lived up to his potential having only managed four wins out of eleven. It’s difficult to pin point where exactly he has gone wrong as his loss record is rather varied. He does have some very impressive names in his win column however that include lightweight division leader Klaus Chugman and former Iron Man champion Ricky Hughes and these wins go to show that on his day Lomachenko is a very formidable opponent. Facing him tonight is newcomer 9-3 Simon Jensen who is on a rather impressive run of form of late Jensen started his career going 2-0 in the QFC both by submission finishes. Of the back of that he secured a contract with The Beatdown out of Hilo and spent the next few months in their lightweight division. Keeping his good momentum going, Jensen improved to 5-0 and earned himself a shot at the title. Suffering his first ever loss and a first round finish to boot put Jensen into somewhat of a tailspin and lead him down the path to a three fight losing streak. He rebounded in his final fight for the company and picked up his fifth submission win before moving on to the Extreme Fighting Association out of Las Vegas where he dominated with a 3-0 win streak all by first round submission. Now Jensen finds himself in a new home and will be looking to keep his good run of form going and no doubt will have one eye on the title too. Jensen will have around 10lbs on Lomachenko but it’s unlikely to make too much of a difference in this fight. Nether fighter has shown much of an aptitude for stand up but Jensen does have a fair amount more expertise in that area. This fight is much more likely to be fought on the ground where each fighter feels most comfortable. While they would most likely to be fighting from top position both fighters have shown some good offensive guard work and have ended fights from there. A difficult fight to predict as both are fairly similar and both capable of snatching a limb in the blink of an eye but based on form alone Jensen looks most likely to be the one with his hand raised by the end of this and with his current ranking of #6 a win here tonight would put him dangerously close to a title shot. Fight 5 – Middleweight Division Sam Micalinni (2-1, 220lbs) vs. James “The Nervous” Gregor (5-9, 210lbs) In the Middleweight Division, Sam Micalinni makes his IFC debut against the experienced brawler James Gregor and this one could get interesting. Sam Micalinni began his MMA journey in frustration. After working hard in the gym and going through the hell of making weight he was left disappointed to find that his first opponent had not felt obliged to do the same. With the fight called off, Micalinni had to wait even longer to make his MMA debut but when the time did come he made sure to make an impression and won with a thirty second submission finish. He comes to us from the former Gamasi Fight Org in New York where he managed a record of 2-1 and tonight looks to imrpove upon that by taking out James Gregor. After making his debut in the QFC system, James Gregor signed to the IFC and after thirteen fights is still going strong. Gregor has made some decent improvements to his skills over time but has so far seemed to struggle when it comes to putting it together come fight night. In his last bout he did manage to overcome a five fight losing streak and pick up a KO win over Kirk Lazarus and that will no doubt do wonders for his confidence going into this bout. Gregor will have the advantage in the stand up and when left with time and space is more than capable in that area. Micalinni would do well to note that, however, he is no slouch when it comes to striking either. Micalinni will no doubt prefer to be testing his black belt level jiu-jitsu against Gregor’s purple but will need to work hard to get the fight to the floor. Both fighters are currently outside the Top 15 and might need more than a win tonight to change that although a big performance never hurts the chances of fast tracking to the top. Gregor enters as the betting favourite due to his experience and previous big win but those close to Sam Micalinni are confident that no one has seen close to what he is capable of. Fight 4 – Lightweight Division Jonathan “Money Shot” Davis (4-5, 142lbs) vs. Uesugi “Samurai III” Kenshin (2-1, 155lbs) Into the Lightweight division we have a struggling Jonathan Davis taking on Uesugi Kenshin who will be making his first appearance inside the IFC cage. Ever since his loss in the semi-final of the first ever New Blood tournament, Jonathan Davis has struggled to regain his earlier run of form and has now dropped to four losses in a row. It was hoped that a new start in the now dissolved Iron Man division would reignite his fire but two losses there proved otherwise. Now with third time perhaps being a charm, Davis will once again have the opportunity to start anew and this time in a division with opponents much closer to his natural weight. His first fight in the lightweight division will be against recent signing Uesugi Kenshin who looks to have made some very solid improvements in a relatively short amount of time. Kenshin comes to the IFC from the now defunct Ultimate Violence Championship out of Hilo where he managed a 1-1 record bringing him to 2-1 overall. This fight looks to be a very competitive one with both fighters fairly close in skill across the board although Davis will have the slight edge in the stand up and Kenshin in the grappling. In winning, both fighters have been dominant with both having perfect percentages for finishing. Davis will be disappointed not to have made the Top 15 of the new lightweight division rankings and so will need to overcome his poor run of form if he is to be counted amongst the top half of the division where he no doubt feels he truly belongs. He will be giving up around thirteen pounds in weight and so will likely need more than one big shot to put away Kenshin tonight. Kenshin may look to stand with Davis but will more likely look to take the fight to the floor and work his submission game. A tough fight to predict but based on Davis’ current form Kenshin might be the favourite going into this. Fight 3 – Heavyweight Division Kendrick “Ni Klaus” Michaelson (1-1, 253lbs) vs. Francisco “The Count” Babyara (1-2, 270lbs) Another fight that is a potential sleeper for fight of the night is in the Heavyweight division and is between two fighters making their IFC debuts. Kendrick Michaelson, with a record of 1-1, looks to pick up his first win in his new home against out and out Spanish striker Francisco Babyara who currently holds a record of 1-2. On paper Babyara looks to be the heavy favourite on the feet but has worryingly already suffered two KO losses in a row. Perhaps sensing that Babyara is ripe for the picking Michaelson has been taunting Babyara on social media in the build up to this fight. With both fighters having KO’s on both sides of their win/loss records this fight screams finish. Michaelson has a massive advantage with his wrestling but with it likely for defensive purposes it remains to be seen whether it will be a factor in this fight. The oddsmakers have this fight dead even with the general consensus being that either one of this fighters could end this fight at any point and it really comes down to who get’s in there first. Prelims Fight 2 – Lightweight Division Christopher “Acid” Allen (1-0, 135lbs) vs. Nate Diaz (5-2, 162lbs) Round out the prelims we have what should be a very entertaining match up with IFC newcomers Christopher Allen taking on former Island fighter Nate Diaz. Allen has been around for a little while now but has so far made only one appearance in the cage and that was in the QFC where he made a successful MMA debut winning a three round unanimous decision. His opponent has a decent amount more experience and comes to the IFC with a record of 5-2. Nate Diaz started off his career on the Island with a fantastic five fight win streak all by submission but slipped a little near the end and in his last fight suffered his first finish loss. Diaz, the submission specialist and Allen the wrestler both possess some decent stand up ability and could potentially finish the fight standing though it’s likely Diaz would prefer to be on the ground. Both fighters will be beginning near the bottom of the IFC lightweight ranks and will be looking to get off to a good start here tonight Fight 1 – New Blood Division Jason “Arm Bar” Card (4-2, 280lbs) vs. Guy Vohmann (1-0, 161lbs) Kicking off the evening we have a fight from the New Blood Division with young up and coming fighters Jason Card and Guy Vohmann doing battle. Card managed to win his New Blood debut last time out with a nice first round TKO over Rock Lee and improve his overall record to 4-2. Vohmann, who will be making his IFC debut tonight, arrives with a 1-0 record from the QFC system where he made short work of his opponent to win a TKO in the first. Card has been training for a little while longer then Vohmann but has also chosen to learn his craft in the cage as opposed to the gym like Vohmann and as a result looks a little more rough around the edges on paper at least. Vohmann will be giving up a lot of weight in this one and is going to need to hope that his reflexes are on point to avoid the heavy hands of Card who has a perfect 100% record of four KO’s in four wins. Card on the other hand is going to need to make sure not to become a walking target over three rounds and find a way to get past Vohmann’s speed advantage. Card will be the slight betting favourite going into this one with the bookies suggesting that the odds of Vohmann taking out Card before getting caught with a big shot are long. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humble Posted February 11, 2018 Report Share Posted February 11, 2018 Simon Jensen: Get me another fight if you can. My manager forgot to fix my gameplan before the fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted February 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2018 Iron Man Fight Club - Official Rankings (11th February 2018) Lightweight (155lbs and under) #Champ (1) - Klaus Chugman (12-2, W,W,W,W,W, 130lbs #1 (3) Luiz Correia Azevedo (12-5, L,W,W,W,W, 148lbs) #2 (5) Tzwrtzos Peidis (6-1, W,W,L,W,W, 165lbs) #3 (NE) Bruce Mafaking (15-4, L,L,L,W,W, 164lbs) #4 (NE) Mike Van Rijn (11-5, L,W,W,L,W, 163lbs) #5 (5) Mister Island (9-5, L,L,W,W,W, 145lbs) #6 (8) Brock Sampson (6-3, W,L,L,W,W, 168lbs) #7 (11) Maximilian Kirby (4-0, W,W,W,W, 165lbs) #8 (7) Soul Shadow (5-3, W,W,L,W,L, 162lbs) #9 (8) Wolfgang Lee Roth (7-5, L,W,L,L,W, 154lbs) #10 (15) Evgeni Lomachenko (8-7,W,L,L,W,L, 152lbs) #11 (10) Cj McGergor (5-1, W,W,L,W,W, 156lbs) #12 (6) Simon Jensen (9-4, L,W,W,W,W, 162lbs) #13 (11) Daniel Sainty (8-7, L,W,L,W,L, 150lbs) #14 (12) Gosha Lopez (4-1, L,W,W,W,W, 135lbs) #15 (14) Sirimongkol Niyotrong (4-3, W,W,W,W,L, 152lbs) Middleweight (155lbs to 205lbs) #Champ (Ch) - Light Heavyweight (21-2, W,L,W,W,W, 220lbs) #1 (1) Mew Choo (11-1, L,W,W,W,W, 191lbs) #2 (2) Roman Divac (8-0, W,W,W,W,W, 198lbs) #3 (3) Brooklyn Brawler (10-3, W,W,L,W,W, 190lbs) #4 (8) Luca Brasa lii (8-3, W,L,W,W,W, 205lbs) #5 (7) Big Murha (6-0, W,W,W,W,W, 215lbs) #6 (5) Jon Ubereem (13-6, W,L,W,L,W, 218lbs) #7 (6) Fay Gott (6-1, W,W,W,W,W, 190lbs) #8 (NE) Ribociclib Kisqali (8-1, L,W,W,W,W, 220lbs) #9 (4) Steven Kennedy (9-8, L,W,L,W,L, 178lbs) #10 (9) Terry Bogard (6-4, L,W,L,W,W, 179lbs) #11 (11) Ispa Murhaa (5-0, W,W,W,W,W, 192lbs) #12 (12) Jaxson Wilder (7-3, W,L,L,W,L, 205lbs) #13 (13) Bea Mason (8-4, W,W,W,W,L, 175lbs) #14 (10) Edson Ribeiro (10-1, L,W,W,W,W, 185lbs) #15 (NE) Yuri Bezmenov (4-0, W,W,W,W, 207lbs) New Blood (for 18-19 year olds, Open Weight under 265lbs) #Champion - Vacant #1 (1) Tan Han Tuong (5-1, W,W,W,W,L, 271lbs) #2 (2) Micky Kirby (4-1, W,L,W,W,W, 230lbs) #3 (3) Kenny Tcusuk (3-4, W,L,W,W,L, 265lbs) #4 (4) Terry Crew (4-2, W,L,W,W,L, 200lbs) #5 (5) Matteo Boretti (3-0, W,W,W, 205lbs) #6 (6) Xing Pugberg (4-2, L,W,W,L,W, 130lbs) #7 (7) Armel Vidal (3-0, W,W,W, 146lbs) #8 (8) Dai Zexi (3-0, W,W,W, 220lbs) #9 (9) Anton Touchard (5-1, W,L,W,W,W, 168lbs) #10 (10) Gyukosho Fujimoto (2-0, W,W, 250lbs) Heavyweight (205lbs and over) #Champ (Ch) Iain Tower (8-0, W,W,W,W,W, 275lbs) #1 (3) Japa Koniu (7-1, W,W,W,W,L, 235lbs) #2 (1) Steve Butabi (8-1, W,W,L,W,W, 290lbs) #3 (2) Super Heavyweight (17-3, L,W,W,W,W, 280lbs) #4 (NE) Grigori Rasputin (16-2, L,W,W,W,W, 241lbs) #5 (5) Vincent Lemieux (10-5, W,L,W,W,W, 270lbs) #6 (6) Vinicio Serpico (6-2, W,L,W,L,W, 260lbs) #7 (7) Schmorgen Biscuit (9-4, W,L,W,W,W, 222lbs) #8 (8) Jack Dawson (6-2, W,W,L,W,L, 270lbs) #9 (10) Hamish McTavish (6-3, W,L,W,W,W, 292lbs) #10 (12) Vladimir Impaler (7-2, W,W,W,W,L, 270lbs) #11 (4) Stewart Pack (10-3, L,W,W,W,W, 265lbs) - FA #12 (9) Ricky Hughes (9-7, L,W,L,L,L, 264lbs) #13 (NE) Naiki Nekele (8-4, W,L,W,W,L, 268lbs) #14 (11) Greg Bell (7-9, L,W,W,L,L, 300lbs) #15 (14) Randall Couture (8-3, W,L,W,L,W, 233lbs) **Rankings are determined by hype/pop, p4p rank, win/loss record and a few company internal criteria. Rankings can and will change frequently after each event** 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affekonig Posted February 12, 2018 Report Share Posted February 12, 2018 What happened to the IFC 36 after card writeup 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted February 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2018 What happened to the IFC 36 after card writeup I just didn't have the time mate. For the moment it's either previews or reviews and I figured that previews were more popular. I'm going to try and do something at the end of each week though that isn't as time consuming. Maybe just a brief recap of results from the week, of the night winners and the end of week rankings. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra7 Posted February 12, 2018 Report Share Posted February 12, 2018 I just didn't have the time mate. For the moment it's either previews or reviews and I figured that previews were more popular. I'm going to try and do something at the end of each week though that isn't as time consuming. Maybe just a brief recap of results from the week, of the night winners and the end of week rankings. I'm good with that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hello301 Posted February 13, 2018 Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 IFC MW15 - Preview by Eric Leoanrd (14 January 18 - King Theatre, Los Angeles) This event looks to be yet another exciting show for us all to witness together. As a spectator I will be on the edge of my seat with the rest of you and I expect to see a night full of ups, downs, and everything in between. As a person new to the organization I was very interested in the fact this organization was originally open weight and had only recently switched into having three separate weight classes and one newcomer’s open class. Being the curious cat that I am I had to ask the owner why he decided on this three class division and if he would ever consider going to the more normal delineation of weight classes. His answer was “Originally it just made sense to me after seeing new orgs struggle and fall trying to spread themselves too thin. Divisions with three or four fighters in it seemed pointless and so I decided to just go with a one division open weight gimmick and to be honest, if was a dream to run that way. I decided to split it into three as I was getting the impression that the majority of those signed here enjoyed it in spite of the gimmick and not because of it. That and I think it was discouraging a lot of the lighter weight fighters from joining and the org was getting a bit top heavy so to speak. Splitting into three divisions has already made matchmaking more difficult so I can't see myself splitting it further to be honest. Not anytime soon at least.” Great answer, anyone planning to run a new organization ought to pay attention as an organization that has made it this far and is ranked second in Los Angeles speaks for itself in how effective this management style is. Prelims Fight 1 - Heavyweight Division (3-3, 186 lbs) Paul “Tapout” Walker VS (2-1, 205 lbs) Jammu Seta Walker as a fighter has always gone into the octagon with the sole purpose of utilizing his jiu jitsu skills to come away with a submission victory. The problem is that he has very poor skills in other areas making it difficult for him to get the fight onto the ground unless his opponent wants the same thing. In his losses his weak stand up gets abused by fighters, and in every one of his victories his opponent took him down and was then finished by submission while Walker was on his back. Walker has a disappointing 1-3 record in the IFC and will hope to improve his track record within the IFC and hopefully start to rise within the rankings. Seta debuted as an MMA fighter in the QFC with submission victory, but then participated in the TWGC world championship qualifiers where he was knocked out of the tournament in the second qualifier round by the fighter who would go on to win the whole tournament. After the two fight stint in the TWGC Seta came back to the MMA world won yet another QFC fight and then signed with the IFC. In his IFC debut he had a poor showing and lost via knockout in the first round. He will look to redeem himself against a fellow grappler in this one. Prediction: This fight will seem almost like a TWGC showdown with both these fighters having poor stand up, but really strong grappling. Seta definitely has the wrestling advantage and should be able to get the fight to the ground on his terms. However, Walker has the Jiu Jitsu to go toe to toe with Seta once the fight gets to the ground. Its anyone’s guess as to who will win, but one only has to look as far as their records to know this one won’t go to decision. In the nine fights these two fighters are involved in, only one ended in a decision. Winner: Paul “Tapout” Walker Walker has never lost to an opponent on the ground. It is hard to vote against a guy when he is undefeated in a fight that has any grappling against an opponent who relies on grappling for his victories. Fight 2 - Heavyweight Division (7-8-1, 245 lbs) Maddox “Hitman” Wood VS (2-1, 255 lbs) Vinnie Sixx Wood has been put through the ringer participating in 16 fights in 5 different organizations throughout his career. He has taken a lot of beatings throughout his career having lost by (T)KO 7 times and even in his victories he took some abuse of which his fight against Matej Batinic is a clear example as within that victory he submitted his opponent while rocked! You can never count this Muay Thai Jiu Jitsu out of any fight, because you never know what he can do. Matching up against the wily vet we have Vinnie Sixx. He is also participating in the IFC for the first time coming from two fight stint in the TRFC. He has the unfortunate (especially for a boxer) quality of cutting easily, but his boxing technique more than makes up for it. He is a textbook boxer who uses his Sensational boxing technique to punish opponents from a distance while trying to take a minimum of hits from his opponents. Prediction: This fight is yet another example of Muay Thai versus boxing in the ages old rivalry between the two premier forms of stand up combat in the MMA world. Wood has five times as many fights as his opponent and will look to use this experience to earn the victory against his younger opponent. Sixx on the other hand will have to avoid closing with his opponent and letting him try to use elbows or knees to attack his weakness to cutting strikes. Winner: Vinnie Sixx Sixx is an extremely strong boxer and his opponent Wood has lost to worse boxers than Sixx thus I see it as a victory for Sixx maybe even within the first round. Undercard Fight 3 - Heavyweight Division (7-6, 210 lbs) Chong “The Star Fish” Tay VS (1-4, 210 lbs) Joe “The Alternate” Average Tay has been around the IFC since the early days having taken part in IFC 2 for his MMA debut. He has fallen into the win one lose one over and over again repetition struggling to string together two wins in a row. He has lost in a number of ways, but all of his wins have been via (T)KO. Generally he likes to strike from range, but his ability to fight within the clinch is no joke either making him a very tricky opponent to try and fight on your feet. Average hasn’t even lived up to his namesake as he has been well below average in his fights resulting in a 1-4 record. He is a jack of all trades and master of none trying to focus on his opponents’ weaknesses, but having very little success at it in large part it seems due to his inability to take a punch. Losing by (T)KO 4 times in 5 fights is not something to boast of and he will hope to try and get a fresh start in this fight and right the ship that may be sinking. Prediction: Average will need to abuse Tay’s weak point which appears to be his ground game using a combination of wrestling and Jiu Jitsu he just may be able to find an advantage in this fight. Tay on the other hand will look to do just what he always tries to do and keep this fight standing and punishing his opponent when he fails with takedown attempts. Winner: Chong “The Star Fish” Tay Its hard to have any confidence in Average with his record in the past, but he has a very real chance of coming away with a victory in this one through his wrestling game. However, I give the advantage to Tay and look for him to string together 2 victories in a row for the second time in his career. Fight 4 - Heavyweight Division (6-5, 300 lbs) Blitz “88” Krieg VS (5-9, 238 lbs) En “Metal Priest” Esch Krieg is an exceptional boxer with nothing else to speak of in terms of skill. It worked well for him in his QFC fights, but when fighting in an organization he hosts only a 1-3 record as people have managed to abuse his lack of anything other than boxing. However, if this guy can stay away from his opposition beware, because his boxing is so potent that if it was a contest of only boxing he would be contesting for a title. Esch is another one of those fighters who has spent his entire career in the IFC organization, making his debut in IFC 3. His fights tend to last into the third round and he has participated in 6 fights that came down to decision. He is hoping to turn around a tough 4 fight loss streak, within which he has still managed to maintain strong moral with his firm belief in himself. Like his opponent in this one he prefers to keep the fight on his feet, but he prefers to fight within the clinch instead of from a distance and therein lies the big contest of this fight. Prediction: This fight will almost for sure end up being a fight spent entirely standing as neither fighter has a strong showing on the ground. If this fight stays at a distance expect Krieg to absolutely demolish Esch, but if Esch can close Krieg will have a very poor showing of himself. Winner: En “Metal Priest” Esch Krieg has had trouble maintaining distance against opponents looking to close and Esch will be trying very strongly to close this fight into the clinch. This fight could easily go either way, but I give Esch the edge in this one. Fight 5 - Middleweight Division (7-7, 210 lbs) Chara Zaad VS (1-0, 185 lbs) Wrecking Ball I talked about an extremely skilled boxer previously in this card, but Zaad is even more impressive on his feet. This guy has the boxing to take out even those with the toughest of chins down in the first round as evidenced by his last fight against The Requis. Zaad has extremely precise boxing combined with very strong cardio which he uses to gradually whittle his opponent’s down until he sees an opening to finish them. However, as with most boxers he has proven somewhat susceptible to those looking to grapple with him. Ball, although only one fight into his career seems to have skills well beyond his experience. He uses an interesting combination of using his boxing skills to get an advantage which he then uses to get into the clinch, from which he takes his opponents down to the ground where he can use his wrestling to its fullest. This will be his first IFC fight and a victory here would go far in proving that he is here to stay. Prediction: While Zaad has proven poorly against grapplers, Wrecking Ball hasn’t proven anything at all other than that he can win a QFC fight. This should make for an interesting fight as the veteran takes on the newcomer in a no holds barred fight to the finish. Winner: Wrecking Ball I give the advantage due to the aforementioned weakness to grappling that Zaad has shown in the past. Although Ball comes in untested his manager is not and I find it doubtful that he would accept a fight his fighter wasn’t prepared for. Oh and by the way.....HE CAME IN LIKE A WREEEECKING BAALLLLLLLLL!!!!!!! Fight 6 - Lightweight Division (4-3, 152 lbs) #15 Sirimongkol Niyotrong VS (8-6, 153 lbs) Crack Head “Roks” Niyotrong is a stellar example of a fighter who has turned his career around. He started out in the IFC with three straight losses, but has since turned it around achieving four straight victories via decision. He appears to be extremely strong, but little of this strength finds its way into his actual knockout power. However, due to his own shortcomings he learned from those three defeats and has since evolved into a very controlling fighter who may not knock you out, but will render all your efforts useless by controlling you from the clinch and leaving you little opening to capitalize on. Head is the opposite of his opponent as he started out his career in the IFC with three straight victories and has since slipped into a three fight losing streak all via (T)KO. He is a very dangerous fighter on the ground having earned himself sub of the night honors three times in his career utilizing his purple belt in BJJ. While he wins most of his fights via submission he is more of an all-round fighter as all of his skill sets are around the same quality. He has definitely seemed to have troubles taking shots in his recent fights and either needs to get better at ducking blows or at least using his knockout power to trade back in spectacular form. Prediction: One of these fighters is looking to cement his place in the lightweight rankings while the other is trying to make his way back into them. Niyotrong will need to keep this fight standing to come away with the victory while Head will look to bring it to the ground so he can bring his superior Jiu Jitsu to bear. Winner: Sirimongkol Niyotrong Normally I would give the advantage to the BJJ fighter in a fight against the clinch as he can pull guard. However, in this one I give the advantage to Niyotrong as I believe he won’t even need to use the clinch just as he showed in his fight against Zoran Sablic in the past, the clinch is a mean to an ends if he thinks boxing gives him a better chance at victory he will use it to dominate a fight and get the decision victory in that way. Main Card Fight 7 - Heavyweight Division (8-8, 281 lbs) “The Red Ribbon Armys” Android Seventeen VS (4-3, 266 lbs) The “Big Daddy” Requis Seventeen has had a lot of quick finishes and has also been on the receiving end of some quick finishes. One of which was in his last fight where he knocked out En Esch in 28 seconds and received knockout of the night honors for the second time in his career. Between the day of that fight and now he dropped from 15th in the rankings and will be looking to take that spot back with an impressive showing here. Requis may have found himself on those rankings himself if he had not lost his debut fight in the IFC to Chara Zaad who fights earlier on this card. He looked very impressive in his tenure with the TRFC and will hope to show that his skills within that organization transfer over to the IFC. His Superb wrestling is overshadowed only by his exceptional boxing making him a fighter who is both difficult to takedown and frightening to clinch with as you have to watch out for his ability to take you down from the clinch if necessary. Prediction: Both fighters have very good boxing and are looking to put on a show in order to hopefully make it into the lightweight top 15 rankings. Winner: The “Big Daddy” Requis Requis has the advantage in boxing and wrestling going into this one and after losing to an even boxer in Zaad he gets to fight a worse boxer in Seventeen and hope to redeem himself. Fight 8 - Lightweight Division (8-7, 150 lbs) #13 Daniel “ The Unsanitary” Sainty VS (4-1, 135 lbs) #14 Gosha Lopez Sainty has shown himself to be a solid fighter, but since he got into the higher rankings and has fought tougher opponents he has been winning one and losing one unable to rise in the rankings further. This will be only his second fight since switching into the 3 division format and he will hope to show that his first fight since the switch was merely a blip and he still belongs in the rankings for the division. Lopez is coming off of his first ever loss and we will see how badly that loss affected him in this one. He has never failed to finish an opponent managing 3 submission victories and 1 (T)KO. His loss came about, because he failed takedown after takedown and just couldn’t seem to find his bearing in the octagon eventually losing consciousness to an uppercut late in the third round. He has strong skills in all aspects, but has shown exceptional boxing skills and a brown belt make for a very strong combination. Prediction: Both of these fighters have earned their place within the rankings, but Sainty has struggled to rise while Lopez being relatively new to the IFC hopes to show that his hiccup in his last fight was nothing, but a speed bump on his way to the top in the rankings. Winner: Gosha Lopez Lopez has proven himself, in a relatively short time period, as a very good fighter on the ground and he is superior to his opponent in every aspect of the game other than Jiu Jitsu of which is even with him. Its hard to see Sainty pulling off a victory against this, but you never know in the world of MMA. Co-Main Event - Middleweight Division (5-0, 192 lbs) #11 Ispa Murhaa VS (9-7, 180 lbs) Alexander Porto Murhaa burst into the IFC scene in November and has amassed 4 straight victories since, starting off with a couple decision victories and then finishing his next two opponents. His last fight especially stood out, because he finished it with a flying knee something you don’t see often. He is a true blue striker with remarkable boxing and muay thai even matching these with exceptional wrestling. Don’t expect to stand toe to toe with this guy and walk away from it. Porto started his career on the island where he lost in the second round of the tournament. Since then he has fought twice in the IFC achieving one victory and one loss. He tries to spend a majority of all of his fights in the clinch controlling his opponents and punishing them with dirty boxing until either getting the knock out, which he has done in 8 of his 9 victories. When this fighter is involved you can expect a finish whether he loses or wins he has only gone to the judge’s scorecards once in 16 career fights. Prediction: Murhaa looks to continue his rise in the IFC as he makes his first fight since the open weight was turned into three separate divisions. Porto on the other hand wants to show that an island fighter come back to the mainland is just as impressive as those raised on the main land. Winner: Ispa Murhaa This guy is undefeated for a reason and I expect him to continue his winning streak against a fighter weaker in just about every way. However, if this fight goes into the clinch you can’t completely count Porto out of it. Main Event - Middleweight Division Title (21-2, 220 lbs) Champion Light “Son Of” Heavyweight VS (8-0, 198 lbs) #2 Roman “The Pain Train” Divac And now for the moment you have all been waiting for! This is the first event I’ve written for in which a belt may or may not change hands and I’m excited for it! Coming into this event I decided to ask the organizer his thoughts on this match as we have an undefeated fighter making his IFC debut in Divac versus the man who finally dethroned Mew Choo in Heavyweight. I also asked why he decided to give Divac a title shot in his debut fight with the organization. He had this to say “I gave Divac the shot at the title as it made the most sense at the time and still does currently. He's undefeated and on an eight fight win streak plus a former champion at 185 elsewhere and relatively well hyped. As to whether Heavyweight can win I think absolutely yes! He's the champ and his manager is ranked in the Top 10 so obviously knows a thing or two about the game. It's anybody’s fight though and I'd hate to have to make a prediction.” Now lets get onto the fighters themselves. Heavyweight in his 23 fight career has only lost twice once in a title fight on the island and for a second time in his IFC debut after leaving the island. Ultimately in the end this man was the best fighter at the 205 weight class from the island and as such can not be underestimated. You can’t help, but respect a man with an insane 21 (T)KO victories in 23 fights. He has only lost via submission showing that if you can get him to the ground you may have a shot at beating him, but getting him to the ground through his Wonderful wrestling is a difficult prospect. On the other side we have Divac making his IFC debut as an undefeated fighter having fought in the TRFC and holding a belt in the Sydney FC. He has also won all of his fights via (T)KO, however he prefers to do so from the clinch unlike his opponent. Although he seems to take quite a few shots he always gives as good as he gets and his ability to take a punch is almost Rocky Balboa level and going against a fighter managed by Ivan Drago this may prove necessary to achieve the victory. Prediction: Just as Winterbottom said in his interview this is one of those fights that no matter who you pick people would find it hard to argue against that man winning. Both are powerful fighters who look to duke it out on their feet, and both have extremely impressive records and obviously belong in a title fight. Who will win is in the air and It will be an exciting fight that if you blink you may miss the finish as both of these men could end it in a flash. Winner: Light “Son of” Heavyweight I’ve got to give the edge to Heavyweight in this one, because he has shown that despite his abysmal muay thai he can still fight from the clinch with the best of them and his opponent relies on the clinch heavily for his wins. These fights speak for themselves there is nothing more I can say to hype this event any more than the men fighting do by sheer mettle. Once again thanks to Winterbottom for giving me the opportunity to write for this amazing organization and thanks to all of you for reading my preview. Good luck to those participating and enjoy the show! -Eric Leoanrd 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted February 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 Awesome write up mate. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra7 Posted February 13, 2018 Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 Betting against my android lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted February 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 Especially after the curse of the submission has been broken too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hello301 Posted February 13, 2018 Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 just because of the name I found myself wanting to pick Android to win, so I found it especially hard to choose that one due to nostalgia over DBZ lols. So far across all orgs I'm right approximately 67% of the time so I like to think I'm doing pretty well with my predictions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra7 Posted February 13, 2018 Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 Stand up vs stand up Android for the win Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra7 Posted February 15, 2018 Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 IFC MW15 - Preview by Eric Leoanrd (14 January 18 - King Theatre, Los Angeles) This event looks to be yet another exciting show for us all to witness together. As a spectator I will be on the edge of my seat with the rest of you and I expect to see a night full of ups, downs, and everything in between. As a person new to the organization I was very interested in the fact this organization was originally open weight and had only recently switched into having three separate weight classes and one newcomers open class. Being the curious cat that I am I had to ask the owner why he decided on this three class division and if he would ever consider going to the more normal delineation of weight classes. His answer was Originally it just made sense to me after seeing new orgs struggle and fall trying to spread themselves too thin. Divisions with three or four fighters in it seemed pointless and so I decided to just go with a one division open weight gimmick and to be honest, if was a dream to run that way. I decided to split it into three as I was getting the impression that the majority of those signed here enjoyed it in spite of the gimmick and not because of it. That and I think it was discouraging a lot of the lighter weight fighters from joining and the org was getting a bit top heavy so to speak. Splitting into three divisions has already made matchmaking more difficult so I can't see myself splitting it further to be honest. Not anytime soon at least. Great answer, anyone planning to run a new organization ought to pay attention as an organization that has made it this far and is ranked second in Los Angeles speaks for itself in how effective this management style is. Prelims Fight 1 - Heavyweight Division (3-3, 186 lbs) Paul Tapout Walker VS (2-1, 205 lbs) Jammu Seta Walker as a fighter has always gone into the octagon with the sole purpose of utilizing his jiu jitsu skills to come away with a submission victory. The problem is that he has very poor skills in other areas making it difficult for him to get the fight onto the ground unless his opponent wants the same thing. In his losses his weak stand up gets abused by fighters, and in every one of his victories his opponent took him down and was then finished by submission while Walker was on his back. Walker has a disappointing 1-3 record in the IFC and will hope to improve his track record within the IFC and hopefully start to rise within the rankings. Seta debuted as an MMA fighter in the QFC with submission victory, but then participated in the TWGC world championship qualifiers where he was knocked out of the tournament in the second qualifier round by the fighter who would go on to win the whole tournament. After the two fight stint in the TWGC Seta came back to the MMA world won yet another QFC fight and then signed with the IFC. In his IFC debut he had a poor showing and lost via knockout in the first round. He will look to redeem himself against a fellow grappler in this one. Prediction: This fight will seem almost like a TWGC showdown with both these fighters having poor stand up, but really strong grappling. Seta definitely has the wrestling advantage and should be able to get the fight to the ground on his terms. However, Walker has the Jiu Jitsu to go toe to toe with Seta once the fight gets to the ground. Its anyones guess as to who will win, but one only has to look as far as their records to know this one wont go to decision. In the nine fights these two fighters are involved in, only one ended in a decision. Winner: Paul Tapout Walker Walker has never lost to an opponent on the ground. It is hard to vote against a guy when he is undefeated in a fight that has any grappling against an opponent who relies on grappling for his victories. Fight 2 - Heavyweight Division (7-8-1, 245 lbs) Maddox Hitman Wood VS (2-1, 255 lbs) Vinnie Sixx Wood has been put through the ringer participating in 16 fights in 5 different organizations throughout his career. He has taken a lot of beatings throughout his career having lost by (T)KO 7 times and even in his victories he took some abuse of which his fight against Matej Batinic is a clear example as within that victory he submitted his opponent while rocked! You can never count this Muay Thai Jiu Jitsu out of any fight, because you never know what he can do. Matching up against the wily vet we have Vinnie Sixx. He is also participating in the IFC for the first time coming from two fight stint in the TRFC. He has the unfortunate (especially for a boxer) quality of cutting easily, but his boxing technique more than makes up for it. He is a textbook boxer who uses his Sensational boxing technique to punish opponents from a distance while trying to take a minimum of hits from his opponents. Prediction: This fight is yet another example of Muay Thai versus boxing in the ages old rivalry between the two premier forms of stand up combat in the MMA world. Wood has five times as many fights as his opponent and will look to use this experience to earn the victory against his younger opponent. Sixx on the other hand will have to avoid closing with his opponent and letting him try to use elbows or knees to attack his weakness to cutting strikes. Winner: Vinnie Sixx Sixx is an extremely strong boxer and his opponent Wood has lost to worse boxers than Sixx thus I see it as a victory for Sixx maybe even within the first round. Undercard Fight 3 - Heavyweight Division (7-6, 210 lbs) Chong The Star Fish Tay VS (1-4, 210 lbs) Joe The Alternate Average Tay has been around the IFC since the early days having taken part in IFC 2 for his MMA debut. He has fallen into the win one lose one over and over again repetition struggling to string together two wins in a row. He has lost in a number of ways, but all of his wins have been via (T)KO. Generally he likes to strike from range, but his ability to fight within the clinch is no joke either making him a very tricky opponent to try and fight on your feet. Average hasnt even lived up to his namesake as he has been well below average in his fights resulting in a 1-4 record. He is a jack of all trades and master of none trying to focus on his opponents weaknesses, but having very little success at it in large part it seems due to his inability to take a punch. Losing by (T)KO 4 times in 5 fights is not something to boast of and he will hope to try and get a fresh start in this fight and right the ship that may be sinking. Prediction: Average will need to abuse Tays weak point which appears to be his ground game using a combination of wrestling and Jiu Jitsu he just may be able to find an advantage in this fight. Tay on the other hand will look to do just what he always tries to do and keep this fight standing and punishing his opponent when he fails with takedown attempts. Winner: Chong The Star Fish Tay Its hard to have any confidence in Average with his record in the past, but he has a very real chance of coming away with a victory in this one through his wrestling game. However, I give the advantage to Tay and look for him to string together 2 victories in a row for the second time in his career. Fight 4 - Heavyweight Division (6-5, 300 lbs) Blitz 88 Krieg VS (5-9, 238 lbs) En Metal Priest Esch Krieg is an exceptional boxer with nothing else to speak of in terms of skill. It worked well for him in his QFC fights, but when fighting in an organization he hosts only a 1-3 record as people have managed to abuse his lack of anything other than boxing. However, if this guy can stay away from his opposition beware, because his boxing is so potent that if it was a contest of only boxing he would be contesting for a title. Esch is another one of those fighters who has spent his entire career in the IFC organization, making his debut in IFC 3. His fights tend to last into the third round and he has participated in 6 fights that came down to decision. He is hoping to turn around a tough 4 fight loss streak, within which he has still managed to maintain strong moral with his firm belief in himself. Like his opponent in this one he prefers to keep the fight on his feet, but he prefers to fight within the clinch instead of from a distance and therein lies the big contest of this fight. Prediction: This fight will almost for sure end up being a fight spent entirely standing as neither fighter has a strong showing on the ground. If this fight stays at a distance expect Krieg to absolutely demolish Esch, but if Esch can close Krieg will have a very poor showing of himself. Winner: En Metal Priest Esch Krieg has had trouble maintaining distance against opponents looking to close and Esch will be trying very strongly to close this fight into the clinch. This fight could easily go either way, but I give Esch the edge in this one. Fight 5 - Middleweight Division (7-7, 210 lbs) Chara Zaad VS (1-0, 185 lbs) Wrecking Ball I talked about an extremely skilled boxer previously in this card, but Zaad is even more impressive on his feet. This guy has the boxing to take out even those with the toughest of chins down in the first round as evidenced by his last fight against The Requis. Zaad has extremely precise boxing combined with very strong cardio which he uses to gradually whittle his opponents down until he sees an opening to finish them. However, as with most boxers he has proven somewhat susceptible to those looking to grapple with him. Ball, although only one fight into his career seems to have skills well beyond his experience. He uses an interesting combination of using his boxing skills to get an advantage which he then uses to get into the clinch, from which he takes his opponents down to the ground where he can use his wrestling to its fullest. This will be his first IFC fight and a victory here would go far in proving that he is here to stay. Prediction: While Zaad has proven poorly against grapplers, Wrecking Ball hasnt proven anything at all other than that he can win a QFC fight. This should make for an interesting fight as the veteran takes on the newcomer in a no holds barred fight to the finish. Winner: Wrecking Ball I give the advantage due to the aforementioned weakness to grappling that Zaad has shown in the past. Although Ball comes in untested his manager is not and I find it doubtful that he would accept a fight his fighter wasnt prepared for. Oh and by the way.....HE CAME IN LIKE A WREEEECKING BAALLLLLLLLL!!!!!!! Fight 6 - Lightweight Division (4-3, 152 lbs) #15 Sirimongkol Niyotrong VS (8-6, 153 lbs) Crack Head Roks Niyotrong is a stellar example of a fighter who has turned his career around. He started out in the IFC with three straight losses, but has since turned it around achieving four straight victories via decision. He appears to be extremely strong, but little of this strength finds its way into his actual knockout power. However, due to his own shortcomings he learned from those three defeats and has since evolved into a very controlling fighter who may not knock you out, but will render all your efforts useless by controlling you from the clinch and leaving you little opening to capitalize on. Head is the opposite of his opponent as he started out his career in the IFC with three straight victories and has since slipped into a three fight losing streak all via (T)KO. He is a very dangerous fighter on the ground having earned himself sub of the night honors three times in his career utilizing his purple belt in BJJ. While he wins most of his fights via submission he is more of an all-round fighter as all of his skill sets are around the same quality. He has definitely seemed to have troubles taking shots in his recent fights and either needs to get better at ducking blows or at least using his knockout power to trade back in spectacular form. Prediction: One of these fighters is looking to cement his place in the lightweight rankings while the other is trying to make his way back into them. Niyotrong will need to keep this fight standing to come away with the victory while Head will look to bring it to the ground so he can bring his superior Jiu Jitsu to bear. Winner: Sirimongkol Niyotrong Normally I would give the advantage to the BJJ fighter in a fight against the clinch as he can pull guard. However, in this one I give the advantage to Niyotrong as I believe he wont even need to use the clinch just as he showed in his fight against Zoran Sablic in the past, the clinch is a mean to an ends if he thinks boxing gives him a better chance at victory he will use it to dominate a fight and get the decision victory in that way. Main Card Fight 7 - Heavyweight Division (8-8, 281 lbs) The Red Ribbon Armys Android Seventeen VS (4-3, 266 lbs) The Big Daddy Requis Seventeen has had a lot of quick finishes and has also been on the receiving end of some quick finishes. One of which was in his last fight where he knocked out En Esch in 28 seconds and received knockout of the night honors for the second time in his career. Between the day of that fight and now he dropped from 15th in the rankings and will be looking to take that spot back with an impressive showing here. Requis may have found himself on those rankings himself if he had not lost his debut fight in the IFC to Chara Zaad who fights earlier on this card. He looked very impressive in his tenure with the TRFC and will hope to show that his skills within that organization transfer over to the IFC. His Superb wrestling is overshadowed only by his exceptional boxing making him a fighter who is both difficult to takedown and frightening to clinch with as you have to watch out for his ability to take you down from the clinch if necessary. Prediction: Both fighters have very good boxing and are looking to put on a show in order to hopefully make it into the lightweight top 15 rankings. Winner: The Big Daddy Requis Requis has the advantage in boxing and wrestling going into this one and after losing to an even boxer in Zaad he gets to fight a worse boxer in Seventeen and hope to redeem himself. Fight 8 - Lightweight Division (8-7, 150 lbs) #13 Daniel The Unsanitary Sainty VS (4-1, 135 lbs) #14 Gosha Lopez Sainty has shown himself to be a solid fighter, but since he got into the higher rankings and has fought tougher opponents he has been winning one and losing one unable to rise in the rankings further. This will be only his second fight since switching into the 3 division format and he will hope to show that his first fight since the switch was merely a blip and he still belongs in the rankings for the division. Lopez is coming off of his first ever loss and we will see how badly that loss affected him in this one. He has never failed to finish an opponent managing 3 submission victories and 1 (T)KO. His loss came about, because he failed takedown after takedown and just couldnt seem to find his bearing in the octagon eventually losing consciousness to an uppercut late in the third round. He has strong skills in all aspects, but has shown exceptional boxing skills and a brown belt make for a very strong combination. Prediction: Both of these fighters have earned their place within the rankings, but Sainty has struggled to rise while Lopez being relatively new to the IFC hopes to show that his hiccup in his last fight was nothing, but a speed bump on his way to the top in the rankings. Winner: Gosha Lopez Lopez has proven himself, in a relatively short time period, as a very good fighter on the ground and he is superior to his opponent in every aspect of the game other than Jiu Jitsu of which is even with him. Its hard to see Sainty pulling off a victory against this, but you never know in the world of MMA. Co-Main Event - Middleweight Division (5-0, 192 lbs) #11 Ispa Murhaa VS (9-7, 180 lbs) Alexander Porto Murhaa burst into the IFC scene in November and has amassed 4 straight victories since, starting off with a couple decision victories and then finishing his next two opponents. His last fight especially stood out, because he finished it with a flying knee something you dont see often. He is a true blue striker with remarkable boxing and muay thai even matching these with exceptional wrestling. Dont expect to stand toe to toe with this guy and walk away from it. Porto started his career on the island where he lost in the second round of the tournament. Since then he has fought twice in the IFC achieving one victory and one loss. He tries to spend a majority of all of his fights in the clinch controlling his opponents and punishing them with dirty boxing until either getting the knock out, which he has done in 8 of his 9 victories. When this fighter is involved you can expect a finish whether he loses or wins he has only gone to the judges scorecards once in 16 career fights. Prediction: Murhaa looks to continue his rise in the IFC as he makes his first fight since the open weight was turned into three separate divisions. Porto on the other hand wants to show that an island fighter come back to the mainland is just as impressive as those raised on the main land. Winner: Ispa Murhaa This guy is undefeated for a reason and I expect him to continue his winning streak against a fighter weaker in just about every way. However, if this fight goes into the clinch you cant completely count Porto out of it. Main Event - Middleweight Division Title (21-2, 220 lbs) Champion Light Son Of Heavyweight VS (8-0, 198 lbs) #2 Roman The Pain Train Divac And now for the moment you have all been waiting for! This is the first event Ive written for in which a belt may or may not change hands and Im excited for it! Coming into this event I decided to ask the organizer his thoughts on this match as we have an undefeated fighter making his IFC debut in Divac versus the man who finally dethroned Mew Choo in Heavyweight. I also asked why he decided to give Divac a title shot in his debut fight with the organization. He had this to say I gave Divac the shot at the title as it made the most sense at the time and still does currently. He's undefeated and on an eight fight win streak plus a former champion at 185 elsewhere and relatively well hyped. As to whether Heavyweight can win I think absolutely yes! He's the champ and his manager is ranked in the Top 10 so obviously knows a thing or two about the game. It's anybodys fight though and I'd hate to have to make a prediction. Now lets get onto the fighters themselves. Heavyweight in his 23 fight career has only lost twice once in a title fight on the island and for a second time in his IFC debut after leaving the island. Ultimately in the end this man was the best fighter at the 205 weight class from the island and as such can not be underestimated. You cant help, but respect a man with an insane 21 (T)KO victories in 23 fights. He has only lost via submission showing that if you can get him to the ground you may have a shot at beating him, but getting him to the ground through his Wonderful wrestling is a difficult prospect. On the other side we have Divac making his IFC debut as an undefeated fighter having fought in the TRFC and holding a belt in the Sydney FC. He has also won all of his fights via (T)KO, however he prefers to do so from the clinch unlike his opponent. Although he seems to take quite a few shots he always gives as good as he gets and his ability to take a punch is almost Rocky Balboa level and going against a fighter managed by Ivan Drago this may prove necessary to achieve the victory. Prediction: Just as Winterbottom said in his interview this is one of those fights that no matter who you pick people would find it hard to argue against that man winning. Both are powerful fighters who look to duke it out on their feet, and both have extremely impressive records and obviously belong in a title fight. Who will win is in the air and It will be an exciting fight that if you blink you may miss the finish as both of these men could end it in a flash. Winner: Light Son of Heavyweight Ive got to give the edge to Heavyweight in this one, because he has shown that despite his abysmal muay thai he can still fight from the clinch with the best of them and his opponent relies on the clinch heavily for his wins. These fights speak for themselves there is nothing more I can say to hype this event any more than the men fighting do by sheer mettle. Once again thanks to Winterbottom for giving me the opportunity to write for this amazing organization and thanks to all of you for reading my preview. Good luck to those participating and enjoy the show! -Eric Leoanrd Android with the win just as I knew would happen. He was in a storm of losses but has not weathered the storm and is on a 2W streak? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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