Jump to content

Sucker Punch Pro Series (Unrestrained) Opens in Sydney


HareRumpler

Recommended Posts

 

 

http://mmatycoon.com/images/posters/1587138283SP_Poster_170CSS.png

Sucker Punch Preview

Welterweight Cockshot Sorter Series: Round 1

Here we are again Sucker Punch fanswow, it feels like we were just doing this a couple days ago! Oh, wait, we were! But now its Welterweight time baby! Im Hare Rumpler and Im excited to bring you this event preview with our analyst, Donkey Dan, and Suzy Sucker Punch, our determined and outgoing media corresondent.

Our upcoming card this week features two bonus sparring match test fights, along with our planned 8 fight kickoff for the first round of the Welterweight Cockshot Sorter Series tournament! This tournament will be used to establish rankings as the division gets underway and will also belt our first champion for the Welterweights! Very exciting stuff, I cannot wait to see how some of these guys look tonight.

The welterweights and middleweights always tend to intrigue and excite me. Because while your lighter guys tend to come out with a ton of energy, go for some subs and generally go high aggression and accuracy (although dont tell our Featherweights from over the weekend that!), and your heavier weights are those beasts who love to throw down and put the power on displaythese guys leave you really guessing which way theyre going to go with things. Hey, if there are ever divisions that are just made to surprise you with a good kick to the balls, the Welterweight division is one of them! Haha. And for me, thats really exciting and should create a heck of a challenge for Donkey with his picks!

http://mmatycoon.com/images/company_banners/1584997096SWNB.jpg

Since youve all heard about Shadow Warrior Nutrition already, I wont bother going into detail about our sponsor. Pfffft! Yeah right, suckers! You know Im still going to tell you about their friggin fantastic Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q, THE energy loss reduction supplements and how theyre just the bomb man! Dont make the mistake of failing to get the best out of your fighters while they trainand to keep them training more often! And dont even get me started about how keeping that energy up and being right there and ready for your big fight night is totally key! So stop by and visit them today man, you wont be disappointed!

Now, let's get to it!

Bonus Sparring Session #1

Havar Bjornbak (0-0-0) v Kauko Johan Talo (0-0-0)

Once again, our upcoming card will start out with a one round, three minute sparring session test fight. These two young guns will be looking to prove they have what it takes to not only keep a spot on their managers roster and be worthy to train alongside the rest of the stable, but to also show that they may be the future superstars of that very same stable!

Bjornbak is currently managed and trained by Optimal, a member of the populous Legion of Doom alliance. Hell come into this one with a slight advantage in muy thai over his opponent, babyface (not really) Kauko Johan Talo. Talo is trained and managed by Marky Mark of the Funky Buncher, I mean, FinnFighters alliance! Talo holds an advantage in wrestling, so there really is no clear cut winner here.

Talo should have the advantage on the ground and, due to his grappling skills, may also be able to hold his own in the clinch which could be problematic for Bjornbak who would likely want to get there and exploit his MT advantage. While there isnt a significant height difference, just 4 cm for Bjornback, Talo does give up over 30 lbs to him! Will that help or hinder?

Donkey, what do you think about thisready to kick off your picks for the evening?

Donkeys Pick: Talo via TKO (Strikes)

This is a sparring match, so there is a high likelihood these two will go out there and simply try to remain healthy while showing their managers what they have. But putting a pick out there going by my normal standards, Id have to give the advantage to the heavier man in this short 3 minute match as hell probably not have enough time to get worn down and gassed. That, and the grappling comes in handy in so many ways early in a career like this, so that gives him several areas of help during the match. Ill say he takes Bjornbak to the ground and does that wholewhat is itHulk, smash! thing once there.

*********

Bonus Sparring Session #2

Douglas Cardozo (0-0-0) v TJ Kool (0-0-0)

Our second entry on the card features another of Optimals young fighters. Clearly hes hoping to come out of this with a few diamonds in the rough so he can put a cap on his newest generation of fighters for a bit!

Optimals own Cardozo will face off with TJ Kiwi Kool, trained and managed by Milo Paris out of the famous Paris & Sons Training Yard in London! I hear that while this guy may be confused about where his Fight Gear is located, hes definitely not confused about what hes looking for in a potential fighter and how to use him to kick somebodys balls in! Ouch, well thats one shot that definitely ended up Down Undah even if the threads arent there!

Kool comes into this one having been created about 2k ahead of Cardozaso while it appears they may have been brought up in life in a very similar fashion, Kool has a slight developmental advantage on top of their matching brown belts in BJJ. Hes also the lighter of the two by about 13 lbs. That wont matter a bunch in this match, being that its only going to lastmaybe3 minutes.

Donkey, I know youve probably got something to say?

Donkeys Pick: Cardozo via Submission (Armbar)

Two fresh faces on the scene, we dont have a lot to go buy here. Normally Id go with the logical pick and as you say, Kool has an advantage in development at this point that should be considered significant. But Im a gambling man, and I just feel like going out on a limb here, so Im going to go with the heavier guy again in this one, trust that he can get this thing to the ground and then after laying on him a bit, swing into a nice armbar to finish it. Hows that for detail oriented guesswork there Hare?

*********

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #8 vs. #9

Chaz Campbell (2-1-0) v Darren Thomson (3-4-0)

We move into the first of our seeded bracket matches for the Welterweight Sorter Series tournament here as Campbell and Thomson are scheduled to duke it out! Being our #8 and #9 seeds, these two should be very evenly matched, making for a great way to challenge Donkey as he tries to get rolling with these picks of his!

Five years the senior in this pairing, Campbell matches up really well with Thomson despite the age advantage and having been brought into MMAT around the same time ID wise. Were starting to get into that time frame where the youngsters will start to catch their older counterparts in development, and this contest right here should be a great indication of whether thats truly happening yet or not!

Campbell has the boxing advantage while Thomson has both a MT and BJJ advantage over his older dance partner here. These two do not lack for experience coming into the Sucker Punch org and this tournament, as between them they have 10 fights under their belts already. That gives us a bit to go by, and should make this a little easier for Donkey Id think than most 8-9 seeds are to pick!

Donkey, where do you think this one goes?

Donkeys Pick: Campbell via TKO (Strikes)

Campbell has a really nice granite chin and won his first two fights, showing that he can go for the finish or win via decision. He lost his most recent fight, and clearly showed that he does not like being in the clinch, eventually succumbing to an overwhelming amount of punishment while in there. However, that was against an extremely well developed 20 yo at the time who had a 2k ID advantage over him. Thomson on the other hand has done well when he can take the fight to the ground. When that happens, hes typically finished the fight quickly via submission. Heres the problem Harehe tends to cut. And in every single fight so far where he has failed to take it to the ground, hes bledand shortly after he does, he gets finished via TKO or KO. Soa tendency to cutand quite possibly, a lack of heart or confidence hiding behind there once he does. Im really torn on this onebut Im going to go with Campbell. I was leaning towards Thomson, believing hed get this one down quickly. But unfortunately for him, it seems hes a little low on energy and morale, and I never bet on the guy whos low on both. This is going the other wayprobably with a lot of bleeding followed by the questions, Whats your name? How many fingers am I holding up? Where are you?.

*********

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #7 vs. #10

Ronnie Bass (3-0-0) v Tik Tok (3-1-0)

Im seeing a trend here, and so far its that the Welterweight Sorter Series bracket is starting out with a couple classic standup versus ground game battles! I love this!

Bass has a big advantage in both boxing and MTwhile Tok has a huge advantage all around in grapplingand, I assumedancing! These two both boast excellent records, with Tok holding the only loss between them in 7 total fights. Not bad!

Bass has won all three of his prior QFC matches via KO or TKOand big surpriseappears to have some KO power! And he is not a fan of dragging these things out, having earned his check and hit the bar (after hitting his opponent, hardsorry, I had to) in under one round each time.

Tok has been just about as effective, winning his last three matches via submission after taking a solo TKO loss in his very first fight. Ever since that first loss, he has been very effective, and very fast, at initiating a takedown in each round, limiting the chances for his opponent to take advantage of a striking game. I hear Tok also has a special move just for the Sucker Punch fansits called the Tik Tok, knee to your, erwait, I better not go there.

Donkey, what say you sir...?

Donkeys Pick: Bass via KO (Punch)

Ronnie Bass has not been truly tested so far in his career by an opponent who wants to take him down. So we dont yet know if he can defend against it or not. This one is very simpleif he canhe wins. If he cant, hes getting submitted most likely by a quick and talented Tik Tok, just a matter of time. And if I get this pick wrong, I hope to hell we get a dance out of it! Hes had just a little more time than Tok to develop, which doesnt really mean a thing, but Im going to bet on his defense in this one. Its a 51/49 bet at most!

Suzy, you were over at the gym with Bass and his trainers earlier this week, did they have anything to say?

Suzy Sucker Punch: I did stop, yep, to get the promotional materials together for the upcoming event this week. Ronnie Bass seemed to be in a pretty good mood, and grabbed me right as I finished with his manager, Andrew Wittig. He had this to say

Ronnie Bass: This is a bad match for me if he gets it to the ground. There's no sunshine anymore, then I lose my super powers. But if I can connect with a good shot, I'll turn his sun off and watch him sleep. I hope he puts that all over Tik Tok, I want to put him to sleep just like someone should do to that shitty app.

Suzy Sucker Punch: Clearly Ronnie Bass is not a fan of the ground game, not a fan of Tik Tok, you decide if thats just the app or both the app AND the fighterand possibly not a fan of sunshine. Well have to find out if hes a fan of fish, musical instruments or just legacy college football players! At this point, Im thinking he may just be a fan of not being a fan! Back to you guys!

*********

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #6 vs. #11

Igor Nox (1-3-0) v Pietro Marchionni (1-0-0)

Igor Nox has had a rough run of fights in the QFC up to this point, with a sole win via decision sitting alongside three losses via TKOs and a submission. But, he comes into this Sorter Series as the six seed and the favorite to win in Round 1! So perhaps his fortunes are about to take a turn for the better! I will say this right now though, its going to be hard to turn things around and get those spirits up if the morale stays low, and nothing pushes morale down like a few losses and then being told by your manager that your punishment will be wearing the same stinky assed clothes around for the next month or two! Peeeyoooo!

Marchionni comes into this 7 years the junior of Igor up there (who smells like that stale urine smell in an old age home btwdid I mention he needs new clothes?!?). So yeah, I know that technically he has a skill disadvantage at this point due to the age advantage Nox has over him. But hes young, hungry and intelligentand might I add, Downy fresh! He holds a wrestling advantage, while Nox has both the boxing and MT advantage in this matchup.

Donkey, I know what I think, but what about you?

Donkeys Pick: Marchionni via Submission (Armbar)

I know you Hare, and despite the morale thing, you probably want to go with the bigger guy in this one, and thats definitely Nox. Let me guess, via KO (Odor)? Hes 20 cm taller but doesnt have any advantage in weight. Hes a stick. A very intimidating stick. But that morale worries me despite the age and height difference, and I think Marchionni showed enough on the ground in his single fight so far that I believe he can get it to the ground and finish it. And my reasonIm not sure that once down, Nox is going to have the confidence and morale to not give up.

*********

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #5 vs. #12

Hugh Saber (1-1-0) v Andrey Nikonov (1-1-0)

At this point in the bracket, were starting to get some separation in the seeds. But honestly, Im really looking forward to this one because on paper at least, it looks like a fantastic matchup! This thing could truly go in any directionup, down, sideways, you name it! Both of these guys come in with a 1-1 MMA recordand when they walk out of here, one will have taken a step forward, the other, will have more motivation to come out and prove himself as he works his way back up the ladder!

Nikonov comes in as the twelve seed and has the MT and wrestling advantage. However, his MT skillset is still sub-standard, so despite that advantage he may still decide hed rather be on the ground where hes had some success previously in his sole MMA win.

Hugh Saber has a definitive boxing advantage and has shown himself to have a big right hand, which will also only encourage Nikonov to want to get this to the ground. Saber does technically have the BJJ advantage over Nikonov, so there could be some danger on the ground as well for Andrey, but it may be the lesser of two evils. Hell want to get this one down there, try to control and dictate the action and get his shots or sub in when he can, being very opportunistic!

Donkey, you have a pick for us in this one?

Donkeys Pick: Saber via TKO (Strikes)

I love that both of these young fighters are coming in with full gas tanks and an upbeat, confident attitude! Thats the makings for a great fight right there. I do like Nikonovs chances on the ground despite being at the technical disadvantage belt wise. However, Sabers overall advantage of being able to win via standup or potentially on the ground if things go right tilts the odds in his favor some. Can you tell Im having a really tough time deciding on this one? Youd kill me if I called for a split decision given this is tournament play, wouldnt you? HAHAHA! Ok, Im going to go with the guy who seems to have more tools as finishing options at this point in his career, so itll be Saber by TKO (Strikes), but Im refusing to call it standing or on the ground! Ha!

Suzy Sucker Punch: Boss Lors, thanks for taking a few minutes with me this week as we head into the event this weekend for the Welterweights. Your boy Hugh Saber goes into this thing the #5 seed I believe. But Hare and Donkey have been reporting that this division and the seeds are much tighter than anybody would ever expect. How do you feel about Hughs chances of living up to the seed and moving on to Round 2?

Boss Lors: Saber is ready for this fight 100%. The camp is expecting a 1st round finish Via KO or Submission. Nikonov should have forfeited the fight, Saber is a beast.

Suzy Sucker Punch: Wow, those are huge words out of Sabers camp in such a tightly contested division! Apparently Boss believes his fighter will follow through on Donkeys prediction for a finish. I wonder what Nikonov will feel about this and if this is going to put a fire in his gut?!

*********

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #4 vs. #13

Sean MacCarthy (0-0-0) v Kahdi Mandinos (0-0-0)

A really, really even matchup between MacCarthy and Mandinos, this is not what I would have expected at this seeding! That just tells you that at least up through the fourth ranked in this division, its going to be a tight as hell, balanced affairwhich means great fights for us Donkey!

Mandinos has about 10 lbs on MacCarthy and will need to cut to make weight, while MacCarthy is already there and wont have to waste any energy getting down to 170 and has a 5 cm height advantage. MacCarthy also has the advantage in MT, but not by a ton. Mandinos has the advantage of a purple belt over blue in BJJ.

But both of these young warriors have shown a preference to take it to the ground in prior fights. Now, that doesnt mean that MacCarthy couldnt put a wrinkle in this and change it up, trying to use the little advantage he has in the clinch in this one. I guess well find out!

Donkey, what are you thinking?

Donkeys Pick: Mandinos via Submission (Armbar)

If I was MacCarthy, I think Id go with my height and clinch advantage and try to make something of it. Even if you want to be on the ground and go for the ground game, I think Id probably try to use that advantage to wear Mandinos down a bit, while also stuffing some takedown attempts if I can to further gas him out, being that Mandinos is the heavier contestant and will already be susceptible to fatigue if the fight doesnt end quickly. That might be the advantage that MacCarthy needs to get opportunities to finish. On the other hand, Mandinos will want to be successful early with the takedownsand hope that his purple belt in BJJ is advanced enough over MacCarthys defensive techniques to make some body parts go in directions theyre not supposed to for MacCarthy! The question iswill adjustments be made, or will the status quo continue from prior fights? I think probably status quo. So Im leaning towards Mandinos advantage on the ground.

*********

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #3 vs. #14

DJ Costune (1-0-0) v Kris Nedman (0-0-0)

We are quickly approaching the top of our card here now, as we get to our #3 seed in the tournament, DJ Costune, along with his opponent, Kris Nedman! I have to admit, Im a bit shocked at this point that the skill separation between the seeds is STILL miniscule. Id love to take credit for that, but its just the way this division is working out that seeds can be this far apart, seeded by skill estimate, and still be so close together. Donkey is definitely going to have a rough go with this division when it comes to picks!

Nedman comes into this one looking like he may be mostly pure striker, with a bit in BJJ for defense. Thats hard to say though, as this will be his first professional fight! Go get em young man! He has a considerable height advantage of 16 cm over Costune, but weights about the same. So, without knowing more about him and not having a lot to go by, Im going to assume he will stand, at distance, and try to strike this one out and use a reach advantage!

Costune holds an advantage in both MT and wrestling, and has shown in prior fights that hes not opposed to using bothboth on the feet and on the groundand many times using the clinch and grappling to get to the ground. Once down there, hes used about a balance of striking and sub technique, with some limited success. Im not sure if his game plan has quite been worked out fully yet, but one thing is for sure, hell certainly make progress with that over the next several fights!

Donkey, what do you have?

Donkeys Pick: Costune via Submission (Kimura)

Costune has shown a willingness to try out all the tools at his disposal during a fight. We also know he has a lot of power in that right hand of his. I think hell use it to do some tenderizing in this one, and once Nedman is distracted lock in a sub for the second time in his career, the first in MMA. However, as Hare noted, this is a very, very closely skilled matchup, and if Nedman can escape being taken down, and if we find he has some nice hiddens in there, he could very well finish this thing on the feet and give us and the fans that huge finish we love to see! So yeah, I just hedged my bets folks, non-commital seems to be my middle name today.

*********

Co-Main Event

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #2 vs. #15

Rayne Dame (3-0-0) v John Fuller (0-0-0)

Ahhhhhh yeah! Now here we go, our Co-Main Event of the evening featuring our #2 seed Rayne Dame and our #15 seed John Fuller. And againand yes, I sound like a broken record herethese two really are not worlds apart in skill! I absolutely, friggin love it!

Pain comes into this one with an excellent 3-0 record from QFC fights to date. He holds an advantage in this contest in boxing and BJJ. Its an interesting combination so far, because one might assume that his purple belt is mostly defensivebut he has a submission victory under that purple belt of his from his very first fight! So this is a man who clearly

 

I really admire the work and time you invest to make this Organization fun as much as possible Hare.

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://mmatycoon.com/images/posters/1587138283SP_Poster_170CSS.png

Post Event Cheap Shots

Welterweight Cockshot Sorter Series: Round 1

Hey there folks, Hare Rumpler here and I’m excited to be joined by our analyst, Donkey “Dan”, and our amazing and talented media correspondent, Suzy Sucker Punch!

Wow…just…wow. What more can I say after a night like the one we had last night?!? These welterweights…they brought it! Not a SINGLE decision the entire night, these boys were out to finish one way or another! If you include our two sparring session test fights as well, this card featured 2 submissions, 6 TKO’s and 2 KO’s…for 10 action adrenaline packed fights that the fans in Sydney got a chance to enjoy!

Now that…that right there is how you kick off your Welterweight Division Sorter Series and set the tone that this is not going to be a division to be overlooked, ever!

http://mmatycoon.com/images/company/logo/1584375781SWN.jpg

A huge thanks to Shadow Warrior Nutrition, our sponsorship partner who was there to help us make this a real party last night! Their Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q product is the only supplement you need for your fighters if you want to keep them energized up for those grueling workouts! They also kept our fans pumped with free samples all night long…and you know what Donkey…apparently that stuff goes pretty well with the hard stuff too! I swear I saw one of the most rowdy groups of fans adding little something extra to their drinks, and there was no stopping that crew! They were fired up and ready to go…clearly this Energy Loss Reduction sup really works! So get some today folks, you won’t be disappointed!

Now, let's get to it!

Bonus Sparring Session #1

Havar Bjornbak Defeats Kauko Johan Talo via KO (Punch)

Scheduled for a single three minute round…this test fight sparring session almost made it there. Almost.

This thing moved into the clinch early as Talo got in close and tried to use that big body of his to start wearing down Bjornbak. Donkey had picked Talo to win this one via strikes, thinking it might go to the mat and turn into a little GnP session. Well that was not to be, as this one stayed in the clinch from start to finish.

Talo was plenty active in 3 minutes, attempting 24 head shots in that time and 7 body shots. Unfortunately, not a SINGLE ONE of them found its mark! Not a one! That’s almost amazing to be honest. Bjornbak wasn’t half as active, but what he did try, mostly landed. 10 head shot attempts, 8 dings. 2 body shots, 1 ding. Finally two of the former were delivered as uppercuts, one to drop Talo to his knees, then as he edged back up against the cage, a final massive uppercut to finish it! Talo was pretty much out before he even dropped to the mat, the cage making it seem like he was still with us!

 

Donkey, you started the evening off with a notch in the wrong column there, eh…?

 

Donkey’s Takeaways:

You can’t get them all right, and these sparring bout test fights are especially difficult to judge being that you have NOTHING to go by on these guys…and, you’re frankly not sure who’s really trying to win…or on the other hand, who’s actually trying to lose! Sometimes their managers set them up on purpose just to see what they’re made of after a loss. Well, here’s what we found out..Bjornbak showed some big heart in this one. And Talo, clearly determined, also has a decent amount of confidence as he only dropped 19% of his morale after the loss. Some managers won’t keep a determined fighter or even a big heart one though. So the jury will be out on these two.

*********

Bonus Sparring Session #2

TJ Kool Defeats Douglas Cardozo via Submission (Arm Triangle)

Well Donkey, if I’m not mistaken, I believe this one makes you 0-2 on the night so far! Both with test fights, but still! Donkey got the submission call correct, just for the wrong guy, and the wrong sub!

Kool had the advantage in development between these two fighters, but Donkey went the other way with his pick instead. He should have gone with his gut though, as Kool made short work of this one. Cardozo failed at a takedown, so Kool did the honors for him and down to the mat we went. Cardozo starts throwing a few punches from down there, and as soon as his attention was on something other than defense Kool slapped on an arm triangle and this thing was ALL OVER!

Donkey, you’re not used to a cold streak like this area you…?

 

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Well, you win some, you lose some. And tonight, I’m taking care of the second part of that pretty well! Kool walks away with the win in more ways than one, as he also showed a granite chin! That means that Milo Paris, his manager, is probably a very happy camper today! Now it just remains to be seen how he handles his first loss from a morale standpoint. For Cardozo, he showed that he didn’t lose a ton of confidence with the loss, which is always a good sign! He also popped being very quick, which means either his manager, Optimal, loaded him up on speed that is covering up other good hiddens…or he doesn’t have any. Time will tell I guess!

*********

 

Bonus Welterweight Opening Fight

Chaz Campbell Defeats Darren Thomson via TKO (Punches)

 

Alright, on behalf of both Donkey and myself, I need to apologize for our preview which mistakenly had these two listed as our 8-9 seed combination for the bracket tournament. Actually, these two are in the division, and fighting for ranking spots, but not officially part of the tournament. There is another pair of fighters who will be fighting on Wednesday’s card that are the 2-15 seed combination…and that threw off all of our seeding references in our preview. Yeah, a shitty, not paying attention mistake on our part. Everybody’s human folks, we all make mistakes! Um, we just happened to make 7 of them, that’s all! Haha. Might as well get em all out of the way at once, I always say!

Now, that correction in place, let’s move on to our first welterweight division match (not bracket though!). Donkey gets back to his winning ways and puts one on the left hand column finally for this card with his pick here. And it did NOT take Chaz Campbell long to live up to Donkey’s confidence in him. Donkey always claims that you cannot…just CANNOT…come into a fight with low energy or morale…much less both…and expect to win. And he proves his point one more time here, as it was clear early that Thomson had nothing in this fight.

 

Donkey, what you expected I guess…?

 

Donkey’s Pick: Campbell via TKO (Strikes)

The bell rang…Campbell delivered an uppercut…Thomson was already wobbly from fatigue…and got cut…something I warned about. Every single time that happens, he gives up the TKO or KO shortly after. And this one was no different. As soon as he got hit and cut, he lose any will to fight. And that was it…Campbell laid it on, and it only took a few well placed strikes before the ref was stopping this one. Folks, morale and energy are key. In case you didn’t quite catch that…MORALE and ENERGY are key!!!

*********

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #8 vs. #9

Ronnie Bass (3-0-0) Defeats Tik Tok via TKO (Strikes)

During the preview we found out from Suzy that Ronnie Bass had some concerns if this went to the ground. But his hatred of Tik Tok…and no, we’re not sure if the app or the man were the driving force in that…had him determined to end this quickly.

That he did. In 20 seconds. About the same amount of time it takes to watch a Tik Tok, eh Donkey? Haha, sorry, I shouldn’t do that, I don’t want Ronnie deciding that I need to be dropped the same way Tok was! Anyways, the bell rang…Bass took this to the clinch…Tok offered his head to be used as a punching bag 4 or 5 times…and then Bass just unloaded with an uppercut from hell, bouncing Tok off the cage and back for a few more on the rebound. This one was all over!

Apparently, word has it that Bass actually started berating the official for not stopping the fight before he unloaded those last few shots on the rebound. One would think that perhaps Bass was pissed and concerned about the wellbeing of Tok…but knowing what we know about Bass, he was probably more pissed at the last few seconds that got added to the time it took for the finish and having it go down as a TKO rather than KO! Haha. Bass is one mean bastard who isn’t really a fan of…well…much.

Donkey, what say you sir...?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Hey, I’m with Bass on this one Hare! I had this one called for Bass via KO (Punch) also, and that official robbed both me and Bass with his incompetence! Ha…I kid, I kid. Sorta. Bass moves to 4-0, and more importantly, the next round of the Sorter Series, while Tok will go back, review things, and get ready to climb up the ladder of this division and prove himself! I have no doubt he’ll come back stronger and more determined. He is determined after all…

Suzy, you spoke with Ronnie Bass and his manager, Andrew Wittig, this morning as they got back to the gym...?

Suzy Sucker Punch: I did guys, and they were both eager to get back in there, evaluate the fight, and move on to training for the next one.

Andrew Wittig: Bass loves to kick a little ass!

Ronnie Bass: I was determined to not let the fight go to the ground. I figured he was going to be a slippery one and try to counter takedown, so I grabbed him and didn't let him get away. The ref sure took his sweet ass time calling it, I was afraid I was going to have to deal with a lawsuit for wrongful death or something.

Andrew Wittig: So Ronnie is anxious to get back into the cage, he said his sparring matches shouldn't be longer than his fights and wants to know who's next? What should I tell him?

Suzy Sucker Punch: Well, looking at the tournament bracket, he’ll be facing a very dangerous Igor Vovchanchyn, the #1 seed, on June 3! Get ready boys, this should be a big time fight!

*********

 

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #7 vs. #10

Pietro Marchionni Defeats Igor Nox via TKO (Strikes)

Sometimes I don’t know how you do it Donkey! Seven years the junior of the two, you called this one as an upset for Marchionni! Granted, Donkey made a solid case for why. Morale. Always with the morale or energy…or both…Donkey just won’t let go of that. And to be fair…it’s usually the correct call, so who can question Donkey about that?

Nox is the bigger of these two men, and as I mentioned, is 7 years older than Marchionni. Normally, he’d have been the heavy favorite in this one. But he came in with morale issues. And that’s never, ever a good sign as Donkey will always tell you. His clothes need changed, and after almost two full round of rolling around on the floor getting beat on by Marchionni, he probably needs them changed even worse than before!

This one went to the mat in both rounds, quickly. And from there, Marchionni basically just laid on some good ole GnP For the most part he controlled the action on the ground, and just poured on the punishment while taking almost none back from Nox. Nox clearly was not comfortable on the ground at all and just wanted to be on the feet. Unfortunately, his defense against the takedown just wasn’t there enough to dictate where this fight would take place.

Once the latter portion of round two came and Marchionni started dropping big elbows, the will to fight faded fast for Nox.

Donkey, I can almost hear you saying it already can’t I…?

 

Donkey’s Takeaways:

I’ll admit, Nox hung in there once on the ground a lot longer than I thought he would. I thought this would be over in the first if it got to the ground. But he showed a bit more will than I anticipated...but just a bit more. Eventually I knew that lack of morale would kick in and sure enough, it did. You can only watch devastating elbows come flying at your head a couple times before giving up unless you’ve got a driving will to win, and Nox didn’t have that coming in. Congrats to Marchionni for taking care of business and going on to Round 2.

*********

 

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #6 vs. #11

Andrey Nikonov Defeats Hugh Saber via TKO (Cut)

This one caught both of us off-guard there Donkey! I did not see the docs getting involved in this fight! There wasn’t much to suggest that was going to be a potential issue that reared it’s ugly, and bloody, head for this particular matchup. Not unless I missed something! But sure enough, bleed, bleed and bleed some more is what Saber did!

This thing went to the clinch early where Nikonov used those nasty little elbows of his to do some damage and open up the first portion of this bloodletting. Then it went to the ground, by Nikonov’s doing, but that looked like it might be a mistake as Saber immediately started in on the sub attempts once down!

Nikonov got wise to that fast though, and managed to get back to standup after fending off several of those sub attempts. Once there, he went back to the clinch, and then proceeded with operation “Bleed Bitch!”. Cut. Cut. Cut…this was just…UGLY. I’ll be honest Donkey, I didn’t even see the doc head in to stop this one because I just got to where I couldn’t bear to watch Saber bleed all over anymore. That gash was nastier than the town ho who dates the entire football team!

Any thoughts Donkey…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

I honestly had to go back and double check the history to be sure I didn’t miss an indication that Saber bleeds after seeing this fight. I was a bit shocked that I hadn’t missed anything, as nothing in his past indicated a proclivity for it. After this fight though, his manager may want to keep a very close eye on him and make sure this isn’t the new norm after being sliced and diced so badly! Never would have expected this one to end the way it did, I had Saber winning it and I guess we’ll never know how it might turned out if this hadn’t turned into slasher film!

Andrey Nikonov came running up to Suzy Sucker Punch after exiting the ring last night…grabbing the mic…

Andrey Nikonov: Hello Sydney! You guys are amazing! I am very happy to get a win. We had a game plan to fight in a phone booth against the cage for the whole 15 minutes and get a decision. However, it worked out even better than me and my coaches have expected and I was able to finish the fight earlier. My opponent is very good when he is fighting at a distance using his reach and I felt his power when his jab met my chin. For the past several weeks I sparred with Muay Thay fighters and trained a lot of clinchwork. It paid off in the end. I have a lot of trust in my training camp. Thank you for having me.

Suzy Sucker Punch: Well, there you have it guys! My job here is easy!

 

*********

 

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #5 vs. #12

Sean MacCarthy Defeats Kahdi Mandinos via TKO (Strikes)

Well, we said this one was such a close, evenly matched fight in the previews and that it was really going to come down to who could impose their will! But even as evenly matched as we knew it could be, I did not imagine just how easily this might have gone either way.

Both young combatants wanted this one to go to the ground…and after MacCarthy took it there, I honestly thought Donkey was going to get the right call here with a sub by Mandinos as he immediately set to work on doing just that! Amazingly, MacCarthy managed to fend him off, which was very, very impressive. In between, he initiated his own strategy of some nice (or not so nice!) ground and pound, letting the strikes fly from on top. After about 4 minutes in, it seemed Mandinos tired out some from the sub attempts and MacCarthy really laid the GnP on for a full minute.

Round 2 came, and repeat…MacCarthy again takes them down…and Mandinos goes for the sub. Not getting it, MacCarthy seemed energized after fending him off and really started to lay on the GnP again. About 2 minutes later Mandinos was showing the signs of abuse and finally got rocked with MacCarthy in half guard…and then came the massive BOOM! A few more and this one was all over…with MacCarthy jumping around the place all amped up. Clearly he’d been using some of those sups from Shadow Warrior Nutrition! Haha.

Donkey, did ya like that one…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

I was really impressed with both of these young fighters. But especially with MacCarthy because not only was he prepared to defend himself against subs on the ground, but he also showed a great amount of skill in the GnP game. He’s 26, so he did have 7 years on Mandinos and if I had to guess, that probably played in heavily on having one extra tool in the secondaries and probably better physicals. Mandinos is young and full of talent…he’ll be back!

*********

 

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #4 vs. #13

DJ Costune Defeats Kris Nedman via Submission (Armbar)

Overall I’d say this card has been a very difficult one to judge and predict. Donkey has done so-so, but not as well as he normally does. But...it sure as hell has been an exciting one! Donkey gets back into his groove on this one, accurately predicting a win for Costune via sub.

We really weren’t sure what to expect from Nedman in this one, being that he came in with a clean 0-0-0 record. Seems he’s still seeing where he’s at as well, as he first attempted to clinch, then attempted a takedown. Finally Costune took it to the clinch and takedown for him as he pulled Nedman down into his guard. Costune then managed to not only control things well, but reverse position to end up on top. Nedman’s desire to be on the ground seemed to disappear and he was trying to get back to the feet but couldn’t, instead making an awkward sub attempt. He never really looked comfortable down there to be honest.

Costune continued to control things well, and eventually went for the sub attempts of his own, trying for a kimura eventually but then switching and…as Nedman left an arm hanging out there…latched onto the arm for an armbar. Beautifully done by Costune!

Donkey, what do you have…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Couldn’t have been more on target with this one. Sure enough, Costune used that big right hand as a distraction, and eventually, when given the chance, locked in the sub. Beautifully done, well executed gameplan. He was the older fighter by 4 years, and as soon as Nedman figures out how to refine his approach and skills, he’s going to be a force as well in the Sucker Punch org! Especially now that he and his manager know that they’ve got some heavy hands to work with on their end…and very good confidence…Nedman only lost about 13% of his morale after that loss. Nice.

Suzy spoke with Matthew White, DJ’s manager, after the fight…

Suzy Sucker Punch: Mr. White, DJ had a great fight tonight and took care of business the way a higher seed should. Any comments on the evening?

Matthew White: DJ Costune is the man to beat, and if it wasn't known before it's now known....well known.

Suzy Sucker Punch: There you go fans, Matthew White is clearly very comfortable with DJ Costune’s chances in this tournament!

*********

Co-Main Event

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #3 vs. #14

John Fuller Defeats Rayne Dame via TKO (Strikes)

Ahhhhhh yeah! Now here we go, our Co-Main Event of the evening last night, and boy it did NOT disappoint!

I hope you were all buckled in for this one and nobody was standing in line for the bathroom, cause this right here, was what you call a great fight, and a big upset! Not because they weren’t close in skill, they were…but just because it involved a 3 and 14 seed combo and some big words had been thrown down before this match even got kicked off.

Dame came in with a 3-0 record, held the #3 seed in this tourney and boasted a granite chin. John Fuller came in defiant, 7 years younger and showed up with a solid chin of his own. And claiming that if Dame lost to him…he was…his words, not mine…”a bitch”. Wow.

Dame seemed to come into this set to do what he needed to…landing strikes right out of the bell and cutting Fuller early. Dame was definitely the more aggressive, and kept taking it to Fuller. Fuller was on the receiving and, but just kept coming back for more, using that nice chin of his!

Then…bam…just when it seemed Dame was in a rhythm and had Fuller where he wanted him…perhaps that was the problem…he was in a zone and perhaps not staying vigilant and guarded…Fuller goes in for the takedown and lands in guard! Dame takes it in stride though, and tries to put Fuller back on the defense with a sub attempt, but Fuller uses that to get to side control and tries for a sub of his own in the form of an arm triangle…which doesn’t work, but seemed to be sending a message of “we’re gonna do this a little different now buddy!”. That’s when the GnP started to fly…and a minute later…punches, elbows…kitchen sink…everything flying at Dame…and BOOM…a huge strike to the head…and that granite chin of Dame’s seemed to be rocked!

Not sure if Dame really knew where he was at that point, arms flying around trying to get out of there and Fuller just latched onto the opportunity and finished it with strikes! And…the crowd goes wild!

Donkey, wow, huh…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

For the preview, I had said, “Dame likes to work, work, work and work some more. He’s never going to stop pushing that jab and that right out there, and until somebody stops him, I don’t see why he’d stop. He may not have shown the abilty to land a big KO at this point, but you don’t need to if you can control the fight, score points and land non-stop, and not get gassed to the point where you get countered into hell. Not to mention that granite chin which also helps ensure that. I like Dame in this one until somebody shows me otherwise. So Fuller will need to come out and show us he’s a badass and can put this stallion down!”

Fuller did just that. Fuller came out…took his chance to become a badass…and put the stallion DOWN! Wow. This should make for some great entertainment in this division for years to come! I can’t wait to see the rematch down the line!

Suzy Sucker Punch: Rayne, I was absolutely shocked with the way that fight went! And you know Yamashita is going to be all fired up and have something to say today, being that he called Dame out in the preview...ouch. Thoughts?

Rayne Dame: Got him beat up on the feet but he managed to put this one on the ground and unleash powerful GnP, this young man is a force to be reckoned with. Respect to Fuller, a well deserved win. Good luck in the 2nd round bro we'll cross paths again soon.

Suzy also caught up earlier today with Yamashita Craven, John Fuller’s manager…

Suzy Sucker Punch: An absolutely amazing turn of events last night in the fight with Dame! You had called him out well in advance making claims against his character (haha!) if he lost to Fuller. Fuller showed himself to be more than capable with some great GnP though. Any thoughts here after the fight?

Yamashita Craven: With the lack of experience in Fuller, and Dame being 7 years older with 3 fights under his belt, I knew that we had to come out swinging early in order to win this fight. Dame hadn't been tested on the ground yet, so we wanted to take him down and see how things went - thankfully our plan worked and we layed into him from side control to get the W! Our plan was to try to advance to mount, but it looks like Fuller realized how effective he was being from side control and finished it from their instead. Quite an intelligent fighter. Props to Dame for how effective he was in the striking game before things hit the mat.

*********

Main Event

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #1 vs. #16

Igor Vovchanchyn Defeats Thanos Reigns via KO (Punch)

And finally, our Main Event of the evening! No, this one did not feature a dramatic twist of an ending like our Co-Main Event did. But, it did feature the way you end the night with a BANG!

Igor Vovchanchyn has all the tools to potentially dominate this tourney and be our first champion. Possibly. Maybe. But if there’s one thing he’ll need to learn very quickly from the fight right before this, it’s that you better be focused, and you better take care of business. And you better not overlook anybody in this division!

I’m not saying that Dame overlooked Fuller. But Fuller certainly wasn’t going to be. Thanos Reigns wasn’t able to come in and do the same in this fight. Maybe Vov was more focused after watching that prior fight. Maybe Vov simply was prepared to end this fast. Nobody knows, but end it he did. Reigns holds a six year age advantage in this one, but Vov held a creation timing advantage. And what appears to be a really fast learning speed.

Donkey predicted the potential strategy by Reigns. Reigns was attempting to move into the clinch, his one area of potential advantage…but couldn’t get there after several attempts, the entire time taking strike after strike from Vov as he made those attempts. Even into the 2nd minute of this contest, Reigns was still trying to get in close, hoping he could find a way to escape Vov’s incessant onslaught of strikes. It didn’t happen.

The third minute came, and then it did happen. No, not finding a way into the clinch. Finding his way into a nap! Reigns moved in…Vov ducked down…and came up with a sickening amount of force, unleashing an uppercut that lifted Reigns off his feet and had him in dreamland before he hit the canvas! As the announcer down there at the table called…KO of the Night baby! And goodnight…to Reigns. Ouch. Somebody get the smelling salts, and a healthy dose of Motrin!

Donkey, is there a way to come out of this one with a W for Fuller…?

Donkey’s Pick: Vovchanchyn via TKO (Strikes)

This one set the fans off into a craze and ended the night with some kind of intense energy throughout the building! What a way to end an amazing card for the welterweights! Reigns suffers a painful loss, having to clinch nine times and never having thrown a punch. He’ll bounce back though, and ride the wave of anger, hunger, drive, whatever it takes, as he climbs the ladder of this division following this bout. For Vov, stay focused my man…stay focused. You aren’t champ yet. You still have to earn that, and there are quite a few hungry, talented fighters in this division that could take you down unless you bring it every single time!

Suzy Sucker Punch: Igor, this was a big first step in the process that this tournament will certainly be. You have to be happy with the win, did it go as you expected?

Igor Vovchanchyn: I was going to sub the guy until I saw Donkey's picks, so decided to put him to sleep instead!

Suzy Sucker Punch: Hell of a fight, Igor. I'd say that you certainly sent a message to the division! You’ve got a good bit of competition coming up in the next round though, as it looks like Ronnie Bass may be a bad man as well!

*********

So there we have it Sucker Punch fans!

And there you have it fans, the first chance for our Welterweights to get out there and show what they have, and they more than showed it! What a friggin' fantastic night!!! You have to absolutely be stoked over a night of fights where EVERY.SINGLE.FIGHT ends in a finish! These boys saw what the Featherweights did mid-week and decided to BRING IT! Awesome, great job. I cannot wait to see this division face off again within the next month! Thank you for sharing it with us everybody!

Till next time folks…

Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style!

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is such great shit man. I definitely enjoy DJ being on the roster and I love the post fight interviews. Keep up the good work Hare!

 

Thanks guys, I'm really thankful for our managers in this org! Everybody has been really interactive which makes it so much more fun and easy to stay motivated to do the reviews and previews! Can't thank everybody enough! I'm having a blast, hope everybody else is too!

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aye man, a few in our alliance have mentioned Sucker Punch as the most fun of the 355k orgs, and I can't disagree. You have great previews, better reviews, and are very interactive. I am glad to see another great org around who has a bright future. Most of the 350k orgs are fading, very happy to see 355k going strong, and you're a big part of that my friend.

 

Keep it up bro, and again, if you ever need anything let me know how I can help.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey folks, again, I really do appreciate the kind words. Somebody one day asked me how I would be able to keep doing this as things grew and got bigger and all. And I told them that the key is to know what you're going for in terms of approach, and to know that variety is the spice of life and what makes everything fun for all types of peeps out there. I truly believe there are lots of different approaches to doing it right, and no one approach is going to be right or wrong. The key, I think, is to decide on how you want to do it, and then just do it the best you can!

 

For me, I'm just trying to keep this as fun as possible for all of our managers. My approach is not to be the biggest org, or even the most hyped with top elite fighters necessarily. Do I want our guys to grow, and succeed, and with that, we'll grow some too? Absolutely! But my goal is to be a small, balanced org with about 22-24 fighters per division, and to know those fighters well and help them grow and be competitive. I don't want any of our guys to get "lost in the mix"...I want to know what direction each has been heading in, what they've got going for them, what they might need to advance and what will best help them as they move forward. Call it something like the Jerry Maguire mission statement, "less clients, more personal attention", I guess! Haha. And again, this is just one approach, there are so many...and so many orgs out there like Madness, like Hardcore, like JAG and Syn and Pulse, and like Catch Wrestling and so on...are doing just that...doing it right and their way!

 

In terms of the interaction here and trying to keep it that way and fun, man, I just have to thank our managers. This is one of those things like the old saying, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink". Man, I can try give the opportunity for us to have fun back and forth till I'm blue in the face, but at the end of the day, the managers have to buy in and dive into it and play along and love it to make it work. And I've been very blessed that our managers have done just that right out of the gate, and are only getting better as we go! So thank you to the managers, again, as Jerry would say, "Help me, help you!"...and they are!

 

So yeah, let's keep those shots low and dirty, let's keep it fun, and man, if you have a shot at giving your opponent a good nipple twister when they're not looking to rile em up, do it! Haha! Cause if you don't, they're probably gonna do it to you! At least, I hope so! :yes: :rolling:

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hare, your dedication to the org is simply amazing. I have had the same drive and tried to do my best with HFC so it is great when I see another org go all in. You made a comment to me once about doing my own previews and stuff.. Just as you showed respect for my efforts, the community respects the hell out of yours. I am not a great writer, but I did my best to entertain the managers. I have been blessed to finally have a legit writer who's very good in BH, and our guest writer Matty has helped a lot as well.

 

Our staff, writers and match maker, have made my job much easier and allowed me to focus on other things behind the scenes that tie it all together. I have to say, as much as I love your previews and reviews, I do hope you continue to do your writing. At least, until you find a writer that can deliver the same quality and excitement as you can. But on the same note, when you do find some staff to help out, it really frees you up to do more things.

 

You have my hardcore support all the way. I have a tremendous amount of respect for you and Sucker Punch, and look forward to continue to work with you and my fighters in the future. I know this may not be looked upon as kindly by some, but I feel you're already the cream of the crop from an organizational stand point in the 355k range. BFC is more established and has a ton of assets, but I still chose to put my guy in SP. Sometimes, the time and dedication that an owner puts into an org is all the difference. And you, my friend, are a difference maker for sure.

 

Keep up the great work bro! And as a fan of MMA, and the game, I sincerely thank you for your efforts.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://mmatycoon.com/images/posters/1587140156SP_Poster_205CSS.png

Sucker Punch Preview

Light Heavyweight Cockshot Sorter Series: Round 1

Hello Sucker Punch fans and welcome to Round 1 of the Light Heavyweight Cockshot Sorter Series! Hare Rumpler here along with our analyst, Donkey “Dan”, and Suzy Sucker Punch, our cheerful and beloved media correspondent. We’re happy to bring you this preview for yet another first round Sucker Punch divisional kickoff experience!

It’s hard for me to believe that we’re now heading into our fifth of six divisions, almost entirely through the first round of these Sorter Series and just passing our first month in existence since being reborn as Sucker Punch Pro Series! I’d just like to take a moment to thank all of our managers and fans out there for the encouragement and excitement you’ve helped bring to this, and really, that’s what keeps us going strong! Well, that and hoping that somebody gets just an abusive, nasty shot to their dingle-dangle! Donkey, that hasn’t happened lately, I wonder if these guys have lost their edge, or if they’re just biding their time? Knowing Sucker Punch fighters…I’d say the latter!

Our mid-week card will feature eight Light Heavyweight fights that are part of the Sorter Series bracket, as well as a late Welterweight fight that will finish off the first round of the Sorter Series for those guys. These two needed a few extra days to prepare due to having to swap in a new contestant last minute. We’ll also have a bonus sparring session test fight to start the evening off.

Very exciting stuff, I cannot wait to find out what the Light Heavyweights have in store for us!

http://mmatycoon.com/images/company/logo/1584375781SWN.jpg

I hope you guys aren’t tired of hearing me talk about our great sponsor, Shadow Warrior Nutrition! If you are tired of it, well, then you probably need their Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q, THE energy loss reduction supplements to perk you up man! If you want the best for your fighter so he can give you his best, then Shadow Warrior is the way to go! And don’t forget, get some for Mom too! It’s her day you know! You won’t be disappointed, check them out today!

Now, let's get to it!

Bonus Sparring Session #1

Kwasi Abdelrahman (0-0-0) vs. Hector Ramos (0-0-0)

Two young warriors out to prove to their manager that they have what it takes to not only earn a permanent spot in their manager’s stable, but to eventually be one of the best they’ve ever had!

Abdelrahman, wow, say THAT fast three times…comes out of the extremely demanding camp of Action Jackson. He’ll have to impress big time this week to make it onto Action’s roster, let me tell you! He’s fresh faced 18 year old with a fundamental background if Muy Thai. His opponent will come from his own training camp, another of Action’s young pupils…Hector Ramos. I guess Action has the philosophy of “Let the young eat each other and see who survives, they’ll be the strongest of the litter!” Haha. Par for the course, he’s a young 18 year old as well and also has a focus on the clinch game so we’ll see what happens here.

Donkey, here’s what I hope happens…I hope that Abdelrahman attacks Ramos with that secret cobra kai dreadlock attack…and one of them gets caught in that gap between Ramos’ front teeth! Then, Abdel whips him around through the air and slams him to the canvas trying to go for a Matt Hughs style slam KO…but with dreads baby! Then, since Abdel forgets to take his shades off and is as blind with them inside as the refs are normally, Ramos takes one of those giant oversized red gloves of his and plants it with a huge straight right, right into Abdel’s Jimmy John…and sends him to the ground, tapping out in pain!

What do ya think, do I have the call or not Donkey…?

 

Donkey’s Pick: It doesn’t matter.

Um…I don’t think so Hare. Flip a coin and pick one, it doesn’t matter who wins here. Action wants to see what they bring to the cage with them, what special things they may be hiding, and for the loser, he wants to see how they handle it morale wise. That’s all. If I had to guess, he’s probably going to let these guys drop to the mat, roll around for 3 minutes and if one of them happens to pull off a lucky sub, hey, celebrate and go home! There will be no dreadlock smashes or cheap dingle crunchers in this one Hare, I’m sorry.

*********

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #2 vs. #15

Malachi Routerhead (0-2-0) vs. LetsAG DAFight (0-3-0)

Two young lions with not a win between them, but 5 total fights so far. Bad fighters? Hell no! QFC’s…shit happens in QFC’s man! Haha. Now they get a shot to really show what they have in a real fight, one that matters and can start them down the road to glory…or get them set on the ladder knowing where they stand and what developmental work they need to get going on!

Routerhead has the advantage in MT and BJJ, while DAFight has a significant boxing advantage. DaFight must have his manager excited, as he demonstrated a granite chin for Dirty Dave early on. Surprisingly, his three losses in the QFC were all via TKO stoppages though. That’s a bit strange.

And then it gets more strange…Routerhead’s two losses in QFC…were via TKO and KO. And wait…he also has a granite chin! WTF?!? I’m very…very confused here.

Donkey, can you make some sense of this…?

 

Donkey’s Pick: Routerhead via TKO (Strikes)

Normally with this type of scenario, one would wonder if it’s a management issue in terms of sliders and strategy. I don’t think that’s the case here. One might also wonder, then, if it’s due to some underlying bad hiddens, like a lack of heart or confidence. Both of these guys? Unlikely, but I suppose it’s possible. Perhaps for now, we chalk it up to just a run of bad luck…and time will tell us for sure! Being that this is a 2 vs. 15 seed situation, and with DaFight’s morale down slightly…not terribly, but enough for a 15 seed, I’m going to have to go with Routerhead.

*********

 

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #8 vs. #9

Kano Rei (2-2-0) vs. Sacrificial Lamb (1-1-0)

 

This is a tough situation. Donkey, I really shouldn’t be allowed to even do commentary on this match, given that one of the fighters is in my own stable. And even more so due to the circumstances surrounding this matchup. So…this match gets made…the manager for Rei, Neon Richards, accepts the fight. And then, within the week, promptly goes MIA. And has been ever since for the past 24 days! So yeah, great. This comes off looking so damned fair and objective on my part eh? Wonderful. Just marvelous.

So here we are. My guy Lamb versus a poor bastard whose manager has abandoned him for almost 4 weeks. He has ZERO morale and no hope of having any for the fight tomorrow. Surprisingly he does have energy but that’s only cause the poor bastard also isn’t in a gym anymore and isn’t training.

So essentially my own guy ends up getting what more or less equates to a bye in all of this. Yeah, that doesn’t seem very dirty now does it? *sigh* So here’s the guarantee I’m going to make…if Lamb doesn’t win this match against a guy with no morale who isn’t training any longer and whose manager isn’t even preparing him, I will dump him from the org the next day, and possibly even sack his ass!

Donkey, this just reeks man, huh…?

 

Donkey’s Pick: Lamb via TKO (Strikes)

Well it’s certainly not good and doesn’t lend a lot of credibility to things, that’s for sure. But it is what it is and this one will have to play out in whatever way it does. We were hoping this guy would show back up, but that doesn’t seem to be happening. Here’s where it does get interesting...yes, Lamb should win. If he doesn’t, that’s just sad. But…Rei is a brown belt in BJJ. Skills that Lamb does NOT have. If by some strange chance Rei has the heart to get this to the ground without giving up first, he could throw a quick sub on Lamb and win this. And if that happens, I will hold Hare to it…he will sack that boy…as a true Sacrificial Lamb!

*********

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #7 vs. #10

Dougie Mcphee (2-0-0) vs. Hemmo Karhu (0-0-0)

As we move into our fourth fight of the evening, we see that the gods of MMA have decided to hand us your classic striker versus ground/submission artist matchup!

Karhu comes into this one as the ten seed and has a brown belt in BJJ. That’s about the only area where he has the advantage, but that is one very dangerous area to have it in! He’s got a clean, untouched record coming into this and that will make it tough for us to glean a lot of information on what he may be hiding behind those bleached blonde locks of his!

For Mcphee, he has the wrestling advantage but has previously chosen to skip over any ground game in favor of staying on the feet. If he continues with the trend from his first two fights, he’ll likely take this into the clinch and try to impose his will and a whole lot of pain via some up close and personal hands-on attention. He doesn’t seem to favor knees or elbows while in there. He has KO Power so Karhu will be well served to stay out of the clinch, and get this to the ground as soon as he can. Or if it does go to the clinch, pull guard baby, pull guard!

Donkey, what say you sir...?

Donkey’s Pick: Mcphee via KO (Punch)

Mcphee is the older fighter here and has proven himself previously in two fights. I think as the higher seed it’s only fair to give him the benefit of the doubt against an untested fighter. At least for now and until Karhu proves otherwise, if he can. Even if this goes to the ground, my guess is that Mcphee’s wrestling focus is defensive, which should help him fend things off long enough to get back up and finish it standing.

*********

 

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #6 vs. #11

Marat Mustafaev (3-4-0) vs. Jaxon Hiatt (1-3-0)

Uh oh, I already see something that’s going to really get under Donkey’s skin here. Next we have two young fighters facing off again in a classic standup versus ground game style.

What’s going to get Donkey going you ask? Well, we all know how he feels about morale and energy. And both Mustafaev and Hiatt are going to come into this one with just barely over half of their morale in place. He hates that!

Mustafaev comes into this as the more experienced fighter, having seven fights under his belt already. That’s a lot of action for such a young man! He is 24 years old, so he has three years on our young Hiatt. He also holds the advantage in both areas of standup.

That’s not a good sign for Hiatt, who has lost all three of his prior QFC fights via KO, despite having a granite chin. He has the advantage of a blue belt over Mustafaev’s white, so if he has any offensive sub ability, he may want to use it here.

You ok over there Donkey…?

 

Donkey’s Pick: Hiatt via TKO (Strikes)

It’s well known that I don’t care for fighters coming in without full, or close to it, morale and certainly not lacking energy. Both of these guys are low on morale, so for me, that means it’s a matter of which guy gives up the will to fight quicker in this one. Here’s something else though, Mustafaev has shown a tendency to bleed. And while he surprisingly didn’t do it in his first two wins…he did in his next four losses. And then, he didn’t in his next win. So…could be one of these guys who not only bleeds, but lacks heart once he does? Not going in with full morale certainly won’t help with that. For that reason, I’m going with Hiatt, if he can make Mustafaev bleed, my bet is that he’ll check out.

*********

 

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #5 vs. #12

Titus Fury (5-0-0) vs. Antonio Gallo (0-0-0)

Hey! I know that guy!!! Titus Fury was previously managed by one of my own Yabai-mates, Action Jackson. Now managed by AJ Walter, Fury comes into our org and this first round of the Sorter Series with a 5-0 record…five fights…five submissions to win a QFC tournament! I think we know what this guy wants to do!

His opponent will be young Antonio Gallo, managed by Mike Swerro, another very experienced manager. Up until this point, Gallo has focused primarily on grappling and holds a 2-3 record from a couple stints in the TWGC and CACC.

Fury and Gallo appear ready to go to war using the same or similar toolsets, so who can come out on top is a question that will be answered once they’re in the cage!

 

Donkey, you have a pick for us in this one…?

Donkey’s Pick: Fury via Submission (Armbar)

The seeds seem to be starting to come into play here a bit, as Fury looks to be the favorite in the areas that are going to matter for this one. If his new manager can work the strategy to get the best out of Fury similar to his prior manager, then this may be a tough one for Gallo to win. That makes this Gallo’s puzzle to solve.

 

*********

 

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #4 vs. #13

Michael Rubio (1-2-0) vs. Mike Bard (0-0-0)

My feeling is that this next contest between Michael Rubio and Mike Bard may end up being one of the more interesting ones of the evening. We get into one of our top 4 seeds here with Rubio.

Both of these two feisty warriors started their MMA careers a little later than some, but with different areas of focus. Rubio favors the clinch and grappling game while Bard is more balanced with an edge in boxing and bit more skill in BJJ.

Bard’s record is currently all goose eggs, so he’s looking to start his career out on the right foot by putting a notch in the left column! We don’t have a lot to go by, but we do know that his manager, Yamashita Craven, is an enthusiastic and passionate manager who will be looking to do whatever it takes to give his fighter the edge.

Jack Hinson certainly doesn’t plan to be outdone on his end. He’ll have his fighter just as ready to go energy and morale wise as Craven does, something that will thrill Donkey!

Donkey, what are you thinking…?

Donkey’s Pick: Rubio via TKO (Strikes)

Rubio has a win and two losses in that order so far in his career, and has shown himself to have excellent physicals with quickness and strength being showcased. One of his losses was via submission so far, so even though he has powerful takedowns at his disposal he may want to take advantage of his clinch game to wear down and punish his opponent. Being a bit more experienced, I’m going to go with this advantage, but I do love that both fighters come in fully prepared to give their best in this one! Now that’s how you do it.

*********

 

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #3 vs. #14

Harold Kerzner (0-0-0) vs. John Popeye (0-1-0)

Folks, it’s not often that you see a #3 seed with no official pro record to speak of yet. But that’s what we have here with Harold Kerzner due to his manager, Coach Steve, having worked his skill level estimates up to the point where he earned that spot!

Across the cage will be John “Jasquez” Popeye, managed by Marcus Wood. Popeye has one fight to his name so far, a decision loss in which he showed a strong preference to be on the ground working the BJJ submission game. He wasn’t able to finish it off the way he’d like, but his intentions were clear. Being that that was a first fight, you have to wonder if that is the strategy he plans to use regularly, or was a one off thing in a test fight scenario? He came off as very powerful in that fight, which means his physicals are hiding anything else from us and he’s keeping us guessing as to what intangibles are under his hood!

Popeye’s BJJ skills are limited to a white belt, so his attempts to go to the ground and work from there in his one fight may have just been to throw others off the scent. Kerzner has a blue belt, and if Popeye does go to the ground it could prove a mistake potentially if Kerz has any sub skills. Most likely Kerzner will use his significant advantage in the clinch game though while standing up for as long as they stay on their feet. This one could really end up all over the place to be perfectly honest!

Donkey, what do you have…?

Donkey’s Pick: Popeye via Unanimous Decision

Both of these men are well rested and have a good level of confidence coming into this fight. Both also have experienced managers in their corners. I like this fight because it’s really difficult to say “this is your winner”. So I’m going with a decision…but not a finished one!

*********

Co-Main Event

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #2 vs. #15

Joe Junior (0-0-0) vs. Wille Thai (0-0-0)

Did I just get done telling you how it was strange to have a #3 seed with no actual fight record to speak of? Well, nix that. Because I can now top that. We move on to our Co-Main Event featuring our 2-15 seed matchup where…neither fighter has a professional fight yet! Yes, these two will be making their pro debuts in the first round of our Sorter Series! Talk about trial by fire, eh?

Joe Junior comes into this as a 25 year old virgin. To the cage man, to the cage! Sheesh. He enjoys boxing, avoiding being submitted by Wille Thai and long walks on the beach…or so I’ve heard. Ok, shit, I’m making that crap up, but what else am I supposed to do here Donkey?

Wille Thai has the advantage on the ground in this one, with a stronger wrestling and BJJ game all around. It’ll be important for Junior not to play into the advantage, but at the same time Thai is probably going to be determined to take this to the mat. I’ll be very interested to see if he focuses on the sub game, some GnP or a bit of both!

Thai is…well, the junior to Junior…by about 7 years! Yet even though they started training MMA around the same time, their skills really aren’t that far apart.

Donkey, which way do you think this one swings…?

Donkey’s Pick: Thai via Submission (Kimura)

I’m not sure why I’m going this way. It seems like about once per card my instincts tell me to go out on a limb. I’m going with the younger warrior here. Something tells me he may be able to use both facets of that grappling and sub game to overcome the odds and pull an upset. If he does, that’s quite the upset over a #2 seed. The smart money is on Joe Junior, but nobody’s ever accused me of being the smart one!

*********

Main Event

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #1 vs. #16

Ali Hasanov (5-1-0) vs. Bruce Li (0-5-0)

Aaaaand nowwwww, our Main Event of the evening!!!! Ooh, I better knock that off before I get sued! We move into our final fight of the night, one that features the top seed in our Sorter Series tournament bracket! Two very experienced fighters here with almost reverse records, which on top of skill estimates speaks a lot about why they’re seeded the way they are.

I’m not going to sit here and blow sunshine up your ass guys…Bruce Li has his work cut out for him here. He’s an accomplished jiu jitsu artist with a purple belt. At 21 years of age, so far in 5 QFC fights he’s been unable to get rid of the big ole “0” in the left hand column. It seems he’s gotten to the ground in the majority of his matches, but just hasn’t been able to find a way to finish it.

Ali Hasanov is part of the Russian invasion currently taking place here in Sucker Punch under the guidance of Yury Bagrov. An accomplished boxer who also holds a slight advantage over Li both in the clinch and in wrestling, he boasts a 5-1 record coming into this tournament. He also has a granite chin, something that can never be overlooked or taken lightly. Hasanov’s 6 fights have all been in the QFC, the same as Li’s, and he’s demonstrated that he can win via sub or KO…via foot or fist, pick your poison!

Donkey, how do you see our Main Event shaking out…?

Donkey’s Pick: Hasanov via KO

Hasanov’s the top seed for a reason, and that’s because he has a variety of tools at his disposal. Li is a great young up and coming fighter, and as his game rounds itself out and he refines his technique and strategy, he’s going to become a threat. For now though, while he can get to the ground with relative ease, he doesn’t seem to be comfortable being active once down there. He probably needs to mix in a bit more striking and transitions while on the ground, to distract his opponent and set up for a quality sub. In his prior fights, he has probably been a little too passive to finish things off.

*********

So there we have it Sucker Punch fans!

And there we go, the Light Heavyweights about to break out on the scene here at Sucker Punch Pro Series as they kick off the first round of their Sorter Series! I can't wait to see who separates themselves from the pack and who takes a step back, but learns what they need to in order to start taking those big strides forward again!

Enjoy the action folks, and till next time…

Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style!

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is great. I wish I had a 355-360 to put there

 

 

It's a blast man!

 

 

The quality keeps getting better and better with each passing day. Great job mate!

 

Thanks guys, you're all too kind really! Enjoy the event tonight! These guys are gonna bring it. And if we're lucky, it won't all be legal! Give em a shot to the boys when the ref isn't looking, if ya don't get caught, is it really cheating?!?

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

hahaha loved the Lamb vs Rei preview

Had to do something funny with that...Christ...why couldn't it be against somebody else's fighter? LOL! Honestly, I only even put Lamb in to help fill out that bracket at the time cause we were having trouble getting to 16 in the LHW division. And then that happens. I was like, friggin' seriously?!? LOL

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://mmatycoon.com/images/posters/1587140156SP_Poster_205CSS.png

Post Event Cheap Shots

Light Heavyweight Cockshot Sorter Series: Round 1

Hello folks, Hare Rumpler here along with Donkey “Dan”, our analyst, and our amazingly talented and outgoing media correspondent, Suzy Sucker Punch! It’s the day after, and I’m thrilled to bring you some post event coverage of our Light Heavyweight Sorter Series card that fired off to the excitement of close to two thousand screaming fans last night down in Sydney!

But first, before we get going, a quick word from Suzy!

Suzy Sucker Punch: Hey guys, thanks for giving me a moment here, really appreciate it! This was a slow week for a media correspondent, as we really weren’t able to catch up with many folks before the event. I’m happy to say that we have a few words of feedback after the event, but it’s still fairly quiet on the Light Heavyweight front compared to the Featherweights and Welterweights! So remember guys, I’m here, and if you have something to say to the fans, to your current or future opponents…even to Donkey…get in touch with us and I’ll be thrilled to talk with you and feature the conversation in these reviews or previews! Thanks guys, back atcha!

So there we have it from Suzy, sounds like she had a slow week there Donkey! I guess you don’t have to be worried about any feisty managers calling you out to badly this week, haha. Darn, I kinda enjoy that!

So let’s move on to the card, which started out with a one round, three minute sparring match test fight, then a lingering welterweight matchup from the prior card that needed to get figured out…and then we moved on to the main action of our eight bracket fights for the Light Heavyweight Sorter Series!

http://mmatycoon.com/images/company/logo/1584375781SWN.jpg

Shadow Warrior Nutrition! That’s it really. I don’t need to say a lot more! If you don’t know by now, you should know that their Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q is the absolute best energy loss reduction supplements on the market to keep your fighters’ energy up so they can get as many training sessions in as possible during the week, and be ready faster when it comes fight night! If you haven’t tried them out yet, I don’t know what you’re waiting for man! Do it today, you won’t be disappointed!

Now, let's get to it!

Bonus Sparring Session #1

Hector Ramos Defeats Kwasi Abdelrahman via Unanimous Decision

Well, it’s a good thing that Donkey decided to give an attitude and go with his, “It doesn’t matter” pick on this one! Haha. Because these two young lions decided it was time to go out there and bang for the full three minutes! Unfortunately for me, there were no dreadlock smashes or dingle boppers involved in this one…dang.

And they also didn’t come out and roll around on the mat for 3 minutes like Donkey suggested…and that makes me wonder if their manager, Action, saw our preview and decided to screw with us by giving his boys instructions to go out there and instead make it a three minute kick-fest! LOL!

Leg kick, body kick, leg kick, leg kick, body kicks. Pretty sure these two had very hard and fast instructions from Action that there was to be NO action above the torso and that if somebody came out of this with so much as a broken lip they’d be hearing about it the whole way home! Way to protect those assets Action!

That about right Donkey…?

 

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Action thought he was clever to have these two go out and have a pillow fight with their feet for three minutes to protect them. Unfortunately, karma might have come back to bite him. Ramos may have won, but in the long run, nobody won last night between these two and their manager. Abdelrahman showed that he prefers standup. Ramos showed that he’s very confident. Both undoubtedly pissed off their manager and tempted him to leave them behind at the arena with no ride or flight home! On top of that, Abdel showed a 46% drop in his morale after the fight. That explains why he’s immediately unemployed today, while it appears that Ramos may be getting a longer look, surprisingly.

*********

Welterweight CSS Round 1: #2 vs. #15

Malachi Routerhead Defeats LetsAG DAFight via TKO (Strikes)

Our second fight of the night finished off our Welterweight Sorter Series bracket. The majority of that bracket was fought on the preceding card on Wednesday, but these two were a late matchup that needed just a few extra days to be fully prepared.

It was really encouraging to see that these two didn’t come out just fold within the first few minutes. Both have granite chins, but there was some question about why they’d both previously been KO’d or TKO’d in all of their prior fights. But this one went through the entire first with both men slugging it out, and then continued with more of the same into the second round! I love it!

Routerhead managed to get this one over the older DaFight, proving Donkey correct in his prediction! Great, now I have to hear it from Donkey for another few days about making a perfect call! This lets Router shrug off his winless record and move to 1-2, but leaves DAFight still searching for that first notch in the left column as he moves to 0-4.

 

I bet you’re just so proud of yourself, huh Donkey…?

 

Donkey’s Takeaways:

No need for pride Hare. I’m expected to be right more often than not! This was a good quality stand up and bang it out fight. The type of thing the fans like to see! There weren’t any huge fireworks or changes of fight location in this one, but it was a rock solid go by both young fighters. Congrats to Routerhead as he moves on to Round 2!

*********

 

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #8 vs. #9

Sacrificial Lamb Defeats Kano Rei via TKO (Punches)

 

I’m really not going to have a ton to say on this one, as it involved my own fighter. And there is no pleasure or pride to be taken from beating up on a stranded fighter. That’s certainly what Rei was…as this fight had been offered, accepted and locked in…and then the manager went MIA.

Rei came into this with zero morale. And it absolutely showed. He basically allowed himself to be a punching bag until he just couldn’t take it anymore and then folded. After about 1 minute. A real shame for a fighter with a granite chin. If any of you guys find this poor soul on the waiver wire later, he might be worth a grab.

What we expected Donkey…?

 

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Pretty much. It was impossible to really expect this to go any other way. If it had, there is no doubt I would have made Hare follow through on sacking this guy. Unfortunately, this was not the type of fight you want as a tune-up fight before heading into Round 2 where you are going to have to face the top seed in the tournament. Truly a lamb being led to slaughter!

*********

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #7 vs. #10

Dougie Mcphee Defeats Hemmo Karhu via KO (Punch)

Moving on to our fourth pairing of the evening, we saw Dougie Mcphee come in as the seven seed over our ten seed, Hemmo Karhu.

Karhu looked a little bit like a deer in headlights out there last night. He offered up a miniscule nine strike attempts the entire match, landing none. At the same time, Mcphee was unloading on him with bomb after bomb. Just the first stat alone was daunting, going 24/24 landed head punches. That’ll rock any chin, granite or not.

Mcphee took this one to Karhu early and often, eventually rocking him midway through the third minute, cutting him towards the end of the fourth and then clinching up to deliver more punishment during the fifth! Ouch.

They came back out for the second round, but at this point, I think Karhu had probably had enough and might have even begged his manager to just call it and not send him back out there. The two shots to his eye and temple dropped him to the canvas…and it looked like he was hoping the ref might call it. Mcphee and the ref coaxed him back to his feet though, setting up for a nasty hook that send him to dreamland. Kinda brutal. And of course…Donkey called this one perfectly with the KO (Punch) call!

Donkey, you’re on a roll tonight eh...?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Karhu was untested prior to this and was up against an older more experienced fighter due to the way the seeds worked out. It’s fantastic that he comes away having shown a granite chin, we just have to hope that that nice hidden hasn’t been damaged any by this KO. Also encouraging for his manager is his relatively low morale loss after this fight. Kid has some good confidence, which is awesome along with that granite chin! He has a bright future, it’ll just have to start heading upward next fight. For Mcphee, he’s now 3-0 and has put that KO power of his on display again! He’s certainly one to be concerned about in this tourney.

*********

 

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #6 vs. #11

Marat Mustafaev Defeats Jaxon Hiatt via Unanimous Decision

This one looked like trouble very, very early for Mustafaev! In our preview, Donkey had pointed out his tendency to cut and had also noted that anytime that happened, a loss usually followed shortly after. So when Musta took a cut within the first 30 seconds of this one, his chances seemed to take a turn for the worse.

Surprisingly though, he bounced back from that cut, and not only managed to avoid being finished shortly after, but turned things around by instigating the clinch and really taking the offensive in this one. The clinch was his focus the entire fight, and good for him as that turned out to be an area he was able to gain the advantage. Hiatt never seemed able to adjust well, with his tools limited apparently to knees…and not just knees, but knees to the head…that just weren’t landing.

We ended up watching these two dance in close for the majority of all three rounds as they went the distance, Musta picking up the well-deserved decision victory.

Donkey, you got this one wrong huh…?

 

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Hey, you can’t be perfect! Well, you can’t Hare, I can try. But this time, the dance partners got the better of me. Hiatt has a beautiful granite chin, something he put to good use in this one. If he hadn’t had that, this one likely would have been finished and never gone the distance. So that’s a big positive. Some things to work on though are keeping that morale up, and maybe tweaking out the sliders some to mix things up a bit and not try for a single trick non-stop. He’s got a bright future, will just need to prepare a little differently. Musta proves us wrong on this one, goes out there with a plan and gets it done. Good for him, as he moves his record to an even 4-4 and, more importantly, moves on to Round 2!

*********

 

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #5 vs. #12

Titus Fury Defeats Antonio Gallo via Unanimous Decision

It’s not often that I’m completely shocked Donkey…and as we move into the top half of the card here I certainly was! This one had a submission finish by Fury written all over it. Sure, we didn’t know much about our young Gallo here, but still. Well, it seems we were wrong, and we now know a bit more about young Gallo!

Aside from not getting the submission finish, Fury came into this and did exactly what we expected. He controlled in the areas that matted, exactly as we knew he could. He clinched, controlled and use it to go to the ground. He went for sub after sub after sub. When standing again, he was able to get it right back to the ground at will almost. Hell, at one point he even rocked Gallo, showing some striking skills to boot! But…

He could not put young Gallo away! Which is quite amazing to be honest. Gallo was able to break from the clinch, surprisingly, several times in this. Gallo was also able to fend off so…soooo…many sub attempts! And, as we mentioned, he got rocked at one point and even fought back from that. Wow.

 

What did you think Donkey…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Absolutely correct Hare. I’m highly impressed with Gallo. Despite showing “inexperienced” in the tale of the tape, certainly not the best of hiddens, this kid seems to be hiding one hell of a heart! This was a rough one, as Gallo really didn’t appear to have any offensive path to victory. With wrestling being his strongest skill, along with a blue belt, he would need to put himself in harm’s way by playing into Fury’s strength to have any shot at a win or finish. So the fact that he pushed this one out to go the distance should really be considered the victory for him. On top of that, he didn’t show a huge morale loss after, so the kid definitely has confidence. Fury got it done, and got the win, but I think he’d have liked to have been able to finish in this one. I can’t wait to see both of these two kids continue on in Sucker Punch!

 

*********

 

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #4 vs. #13

Mike Bard Defeats Michael Rubio via Submission (Armbar)

Moving into our final and top 4 seeded fights, we get to one of our biggest upsets of the evening! A heavy favorite to continue on and prove the rightful claim to the four seed, Rubio falls to Mike Bard via submission!

We didn’t have anything to go by with Mike Bard coming into this one but suspected Bard might have a variety of potential tools given he went a bit more balanced with his build. This is where it gets interesting, and to some degree, proves Donkey’s intuition in the preview correct. Donkey specifically stated that one of Rubio’s losses, his very last one actually, had come via sub, so perhaps he should consider using his advantage in the clinch and try to stay off the ground, despite having powerful takedowns.

Well, Rubio didn’t pay any attention to our silly thoughts, and followed instigating the clinch with big powerful takedown of Bard. Unfortunately, that put him right in Bard’s crosshairs, as it turns out Bard didn’t mind being there, was able to secure a reversal, and was more than happy to lay down some beautiful GnP…all with the intention of tenderizing Rubio before slapping on an unexpected armbar for the sub finish!

Donkey, surprised by that one…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

We’d be lying if we said we knew Bard had a submission game to be afraid of, as we didn’t. But, we did know that going to the ground COULD be dangerous for Rubio given his prior loss. This was a really surprising and exciting upset though, given the seeds…and just how much Bard dominated the action once it was on the ground. He was in full control all the way to the finish. Congrats to him, it will be fun to see if he can pull off more upsets going forward. Oh, and let’s not forget that nice granite chin he suddenly showed in the TotT! Yamashita Craven must be thrilled with that.

Suzy actually caught up with Bard right before he headed out to the cage for the fight…

Suzy Sucker Punch: I talked to Bard just before he headed out there. He didn’t have a look of doubt in any way, and didn’t seem to show any concerns about the seed difference. In fact, he seemed to know exactly what he wanted to do…

Mike Bard: Michael Rubio can't fight outside of the clinch. I'm going to pound him unless he can keep the fight there, like a wuss.

Suzy Sucker Punch: Apparently, even Bard didn’t realize he had a submission in him and was simply planning to use some GnP on Rubio if he could get him to the ground. Guess opportunity knocks and you take it! That, or he had one more trick up his sleeve that he didn’t want to tell us about!

*********

 

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #3 vs. #14

Harold Kerzner Defeats John Popeye via Submission (Kimura)

Another wrong pick for Donkey! And at such a high seed too! Well, it certainly doesn’t make it easy when some of these guys come in with a such limited…or no…record. That’s no excuse though, we’re supposed to be professionals, damnit! Professional what…you make the call. I know what I think Donkey is!

Kerzner was the favorite but Donkey chose to go against him in this one. Truth be told, it was really difficult to decide upon a winner despite the seedings. This one was fully engineered by Kerzner and was your standard, “Clinch, pull guard, reversal, go for those subs!” Kerz tried just about every sub technique in his book, first going for a leg, then an arm triangle, then a forearm choke…until he finally settled on the winning choice of a kimura!

To his credit, Popeye was using his defensive grappling and transitions to full effect and with some success getting back to where he wanted to be on defense many times, but he just couldn’t fend Kerzner off forever.

Donkey, what do you have…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

I still say this is a close one and we’ll want to watch both of these young fighters going forward and see how they develop! Kerzner will undoubtedly progress well with his sub game and be able to lock one on faster in the future, and Popeye will either improve his ability to control on the ground and take the fight where he wants to, or defend against those takedowns and work his opponents on the feet. The Tale of the Tapes didn’t tell us a lot of great stuff, so we’ll just have to discern it ourselves as we watch their future fights!

*********

Co-Main Event

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #2 vs. #15

Wille Thai Defeats Joe Junior via Submission (Triangle)

I hope you didn’t walk away and miss this one folks! And if you did, well, you deserved it for walking away from the Co-Main Event, frankly. But this was easily our upset of the evening and as such turned into our Fight of the Night!

Thai came into this a distant underdog at the 15 seed. And here’s where it gets crazy…Donkey called this one!! Yes, yes he did. Granted, he called kimura rather than triangle…but hell man, he called it! He squarely looked at these two, knew their seedings, and said, “Ya know, I’ll take the 15 seed!”. Damn Donkey, I gotta give it up to ya on this one.

Donkey said that the smart money was on Joe Junior, but that he was going with the younger Thai because he liked the potential for him to use both facets of the grappling and sub game to overcome the odds. Well, in 1:52 he did just that! He got tagged by Junior early, and then scored a takedown, but Junior quickly escaped back to the feet. Joe proceeded to stuff several takedowns, making it look like Thai was going to have a rough night and potentially get gassed out.

Unfortunately for Junior, they ended up against the cage, not officially in the clinch, but good enough, grappling around there and Thai dragged it to the ground again, wriggling around on the bottom like some sorta crazy octopus reaching and grabbing for just about anything he could latch onto. Junior didn’t seem to realize the danger he was in, maybe not thinking that all that wriggling around was serving a purpose when suddenly, bam, a leg comes up, he gets locked on and say goodnight, this one’s all over…and Junior is out for a nap!

Was that some fun stuff or what Donkey…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

I wasn’t truly convinced I was making the smart play when I called the upset on this one, but I did like the potential for it! That being said, this was a fun one, and an impressive performance by Thai! Junior got the short end of not being able to stay upright, because if he had this would have gone very differently. However, both managers come out of this one with smiles on their faces…as this was the first fight for both young men, and Junior showed KO power while Thai threw up a granite chin! Now there are a few nice hiddens being presented folks!

*********

Main Event

Light Heavyweight CSS Round 1: #1 vs. #16

Ali Hasanov Defeats Bruce Li via TKO (Strikes)

This was our main event ladies and gents…and also featured our widest separation between seeds. Our top man in the bracket, Hasanov, was set to kick off his quest for the championship here and it really didn’t look like the ending would be in question. Sure enough, this thing was over in record time, but was still packed with power, energy and excitement that sent the fans scrambling for the exits, but still talking about what they’d just seen!

We said Li had his work cut out…but sometimes the fight gets on you before you realize what happened. That seemed to be the case last night in this Main Event. You want to see what makes a KO of the Night? Here it is! You know what, I’ll just shut up, and let the some of the play by play speak for itself!

“The bell rings for round one and we are underway! Boom, another hit is landed.”

“"You're gunna get knocked out" taunts Hasanov, as that shot connected.”

“Hasanov lets his hands go wild with a nice combination. Left! Right! Uppercut! Spinning backfist! Li goes down and covers up as Hasanov starts wailing on him! The ref watches the action closely before stepping in and putting a stop to the fight!”

Donkey, how’s that for a finish to the evening…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Hasanov sent a message to everybody in the Light Heavyweight division with this 15 second stoppage. If you want to make it to the top…if you want to get past Ali, you better not blink at the bell. And you better come in with a game plan, and an ability to weather the storm! He’s the top seed for a reason. It’s not because he wants to dance and whisper sweet nothings in your ear. He wants to hurt you, he wants to knock you out…and apparently he wants to taunt you in the process. This is one mean Russian. I’m still very convinced Li is going to develop and move forward. But tonight wasn’t the first step for that.

*********

So there we have it Sucker Punch fans!

And there we go, the Light Heavyweights broke out. Some brought the pain. Some went the distance. Some made you tap out or go to sleep and wonder, “How in the hell did that just happen?!?” Either way though, it was a night full of energy and fun! Thank you for joining us!

And remember, till next time…

Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style!

  • Upvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://mmatycoon.com/images/posters/1588937564SP_Poster_155CSS.png

Sucker Punch Preview

Lightweight Cockshot Sorter Series: Round 1

Oooh, talk about last minute, eh Sucker Punch fans? Unfortunately we had some actual work to get done over the past 24 hours for that place that helps pay the bills and keep these things running for us! Haha. Anyways, here we are finally, still a good 12 or so hours before the event kicks off, so that counts as on time and a good preview in my book! Hare Rumpler here along with our analyst, Donkey “Dan”, and Suzy Sucker Punch, our media correspondent who will be meeting and greeting her pretty little tail off as we run through this look at what’s coming with the Lightweights this evening! It’s the first round of the Lightweight Sorter Series!

And can you believe it Donkey? With tonight’s event, we will have officially made it through the first round of all of our divisions! That’s really something and I’m so thankful for all of our managers and fighters here at Sucker Punch for being a part of it!

So let’s see what we have in store! Our event this evening will feature eight Lightweight fights that are make up the Sorter Series bracket and two bonus fights, one Middleweight and the other a one round, three minute sparring session (test fight).

I cannot wait to see what our Lightweights bring to the cage tonight, as their managers have already been a lot more vocal and talkative than the Light Heavyweights were! To me, that always bodes well!

http://mmatycoon.com/images/company/logo/1584375781SWN.jpg

Thanks to our sponsor, Shadow Warrior Nutrition, we’ve brought in an extra 4k or so per show that really does help to offset the losses that our events incur at the moment. Thanks to that, we’re able to do the KO of the Night, Sub of the Night and Fight of the Night for each event! So if you haven’t grabbed yourself and your fighters some Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q, their fantastic energy loss reduction supplements, now would be a great time to do that and show them the love for being there for us! And bonus, you get yourself some fantastic sups to help your fighters out, you won’t be disappointed, check them out today!

Now, let's get to it!

Bonus Sparring Session

Veljko Besic (0-0-0) vs. Ethan Hawk (0-0-0)

Besic and Hawk are just about the same height, only off by 2 cm, and weigh in on the nose at 175 lbs each. So from a physical standpoint, we’re looking at mirror images! Both are 18 year old fighters making their debut, with Besic attempting to impress his manager, Optimal, while Hawk will do the same for his man in charge, Xyel Pain!

It’s always fun to see brand new talent step into the ring! We get our first peek at what they might be hiding, and how they might react to the fight, especially to a potential loss early in their career. Both gentlemen (I sure hope they aren’t…I want to see some cheap shots baby!) start their career with basic standup skills…Hawk focusing more on the boxing side of the game and Besic preferring to get in close and dance in the clinch!

Aside from that, there’s really not a whole lot to say here other than let’s pray for granites and big right hands, and see a nice warm-up fight to get the night kicked off!

 

Donkey, anything I might have missed…?

 

Donkey’s Pick: Nah, not going to bother.

You didn’t Hare. I said the same thing in our last preview, and quite frankly, I didn’t sleep so well last night, so I’m going to cheat and just say it again! Ha! Flip a coin and pick one, it doesn’t matter who wins here. Both managers want to see what they bring to the cage with them, what special things they may be hiding, and for the loser how they handle it morale wise. That’s all. I’d be surprised if you get any cheap shots in this one Hare, but you never know! Most likely, it’s going to turn into a basic slider fest with a little bit of all over the place served up fresh for three minutes…or less.

*********

Bonus Middleweight Undercard Bout

Bishop Templeton (0-3-0) vs. Paolo Gaia Motif (0-0-0)

This one here is a little preview of the next card coming up on the 20th. We have so many middleweights right now that we needed to sneak one over here, and it worked out perfectly as we had the empty slot and a house full of fans to cheer them on!

Motif comes into this with the advantage in boxing and, while his official MMA record won’t show it, has used those hands of his to take care of business in one fight over in KT land! That fight took all of 14 seconds for him to drop his foe…and all while having shown a granite chin. Nice…very, very nice.

Templeton comes into the cage later tonight in his second bout for Sucker Punch, his fourth overall MMA fight and fifth all time fight if you count a quick match in the TWGC. He’s still looking for his first win, having lost his last match to Scott Summers in the first round of the Middleweight Sorter Series. This man can go the distance, with all of his fights having gone to a decision to date, which has to be leaving some lingering bad taste in his mouth for judges! His granite chin has been a big part of why he’s able to dance with his opponents for so long.

Where do you think this one goes…?

 

Donkey’s Pick: Motif via TKO (Strikes)

You’re really putting me on the spot here Donkey. This one is a really, really even match and is going to most likely come down to what we can’t see, such as physicals, and the strategy and slider usage by their managers. Well, at least, normally it would. Unfortunately, Templeton has his energy just a tad low to be heading into a fight in 12 hours and his morale isn’t low, but it isn’t topped off either. And in a close match like this, you know I’ll always lean towards those little things making a big difference. So Motif has to get the nod here I think.

*********

 

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #7 vs. #10

Veljko Bakocevic (1-4-0) vs. Corona Virus (0-0-0)

 

And now we head into the bracket matches…but maybe not in the order you expected! Ha. We decided to technically do things the right way for a change here and try to serve the interests of the org by putting the highest hyped fighters up towards the top. So…that means we skip the combined 8/9 seed hype and go straight to the 7/10 seeds!

Corona Virus comes into this one with no victims to date…if only! He holds the advantage in standup over Bakocevic, but gives away a bit in the grappling game. He’s 5 cm taller, with the weights being about even, perhaps a lb or two separating them. Since we know nothing about this boy other than that you want to stay away from that nasty haired face of his…and that for whatever reason Donnie Jackson lets him into his gym to train…I guess we move on to Bakocevic!

A tad bit different when it comes to record, Backocevic arrives with a 1-4 record. Not something shiny and bright, but also not as bad as it may seem. His last fight was in the QFC, and was likely a level 2 QFC match…he probably didn’t realize he was going to run into a cheap ass can crusher who puts a well-established fighter into the QFC occasionally for easy wins.

Donkey, I have a feeling I know what you’re going to say, right…?

 

Donkey’s Pick: Virus via TKO (Strikes)

Well, if you felt I was going to go on a rant about morale being low, then yes, you’re partially right Hare. Bakocevic’s morale isn’t horrendously low, but it’s also nowhere close to ideal heading into a fight. Somebody needs take this boy on a shopping spree at the mall for some new clothes. Do people still go to the mall? I dunno, but he’s stinky and needs a refresh! And for that reason, I’m going with Virus to start his career off with a win.

*********

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #6 vs. #11

Conor Notorious (1-3-0) vs. Rock Lee (0-0-0)

Conor Notorious and Rock Lee! Now there’s a combo of names for ya! These two will continue our evening as the 6/11 seed combo and should offer you one of those classic standup versus ground game scenarios!

Conor is...well…hmm. I was going to work in a Notorious joke here, but Donkey told me I wasn’t allowed to. He said, and I quote, “Just don’t.” Killjoy. Anyways, Conor is a strictly stay on the feet and pound it out guy. He’s been taken down before and managed to survive, but he’s also been subbed once in his career. He’s also lost via TKO, but his sole win so far was a KO punch that dropped Rodrigo DiMarco in a QFC fight. Notorious is an intelligent fighter, and that makes me wonder whether his manager, Boss Lors, will rely upon his own slider skill, or set Conor free to see how it goes and adjust on his own?

Lee will have the advantage on the ground. It’s not a huge advantage, but it is one. And while his boxing and MT are both competent, he clearly gives away any advantage there to Notorious. We haven’t seen him fight yet, so we have a lot to learn tonight about this young warrior. Will he go to the ground and try some GnP or a sub? Or will he hope that he can overcome the difference in the standup and stay up there and bang? We’ll find out!

Donkey, what say you sir...?

Donkey’s Pick: Notorious via KO (Punch)

This is really going to be a great fight I hope. Both of these young men started training around the same time, but Notorious was 7 years the senior over young Lee there. Yet, looking at primary skills alone, Lee surprisingly has a slight advantage overall. My guess…Notorious has much better physicals, and that should make the difference tonight and allow him to dictate where the match takes place and control the action. And for that reason, he gets the nod and possibly another notch to the left to help even up his record!

*********

 

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #5 vs. #12

Bobolo Jubbly (0-0-0) vs.Sho Pereyra (0-2-0)

Moving on, we have Bobolo Jubbly (damn, that’s a fun name!) and Sho Pereyra facing off tonight in the 5/12 seed matchup. This is going to be a case of a ground based guy, likely with a preference for submissions, going against a guy who also might instinctually want to go to the ground…but…that would be a mistake.

Jubbly comes into this with remarkable wrestling skills and a purple belt to go with it. He has no official record yet in MMA, so we can’t say for certain what he’ll do…or try to do. He does have a 5-5 grappling record, which at least gives SOMETHING to go by, and his wins there were almost entirely via submission! So I can tell you pretty easily it’s going to go to the ground if Jubbly has any say in the matter! And likely go to a sub from there.

Pereyra comes into this match with a fairly balanced build. He has the advantage in boxing and MT, but it’s not by a ton. He’s lost previously by decision, where he fended off a ton of sub attempts by his opponent, and also via TKO, losing in 9 seconds…ouch.

Donkey, I’m not gonna lie man, I smell a problem in this one for Pereyra…you…?

 

Donkey’s Pick: Jubbly via Submission (Kimura)

This is likely to be an issue for young Sho Pereyra. Unfortunately, balanced builds are tough to work with in this game at times and have success. Typically the fighter needs to be a little more focused on an area he wants to establish himself in. That, and he showed inexperienced and hates pizza in his early fights, both not great signs. He lacks a little morale coming into this, but Jubbly lacks in energy just a tad also, so that might help him out. If he can gas Bobolo out, he could find a way. But I’m thinking this one is going to end with him tapping out or going to sleep via a sub.

*********

 

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #4 vs. #13

Ko Artist (1-1-0) vs. Valery Bokov (0-1-0)

We go into the top half of the card here now, and get into the excitement of some of the top seeds in the tournament! Our four seed, Ko Artist will take on Velery Bokov, part of his manager’s proclaimed “Russian Invastion”!

Both of these young fighters have respectable wrestling, which I love to see as a base for things. That’s where the comparison in their skills ends though as Bokov has a purple belt in BJJ and Artist, naturally with his name, wants to use those hands to box!

Bokov lost his only MMA bout via decision, but also has a loss in grappling via sub. Which is surprising, as I figured that purple belt meant a focus on the sub game. So far though, that hasn’t looked to be the case, and instead, he has tried to stand when given the chance. I think tonight, if he goes that route, somebody may be waking him up from an uneasy sleep. He’s got a solid chin, but that only goes so far.

Artist has two fights under his belt, both QFC based, with a win and a loss. And a need to change those clothes boy! Phew! Stinky! Donkey is not going to have nice things to say about that, you should know that by now! He has shown KO power…so can he demonstrate it?

 

Donkey, you have a pick for us in this one…?

Donkey’s Pick: Artist via TKO (Punches)

For Bokov, I’m worried that the area he wants to win this in, standup, isn’t an area of strength for him in this particular matchup. Similar to some of our other matches tonight strangely enough. Guess that’s going to be a trend? Artist has KO power showing, but he also showed “powerful” in a prior fight, so that could be a false KO power based upon having come to the gym to start his career with a lot of strength. Despite those questions, and even despite the lack of morale going on there, I’m going to lean towards him taking this one. It’s difficult sometimes to see a path to success for Bokov, but maybe he surprises us tonight!

Suzy caught up with Bokov earlier this week and had a chance to ask him about the event tonight…

Suzy Sucker Punch: Valery, you go into the fight later this week the underdog, ranked as the thirteenth seed overall. Bokov fancies himself quite the striker, do you see yourself struggling in this matchup?

Valery “Sambist” Bokov: I am put against a fighter who calls himself a KO Artist. In Russia you don't call yourself a KO artist if you never Ko'd anyone. I will show you why on 16th of May. Watch me implement my Russian Combat Sambo game in the cage.

Suzy Sucker Punch: Russian Combat Sambo! Wow, that sounds exciting Donkey! Are you sure about your pick still?

 

*********

 

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #3 vs. #14

Tua Graves (2-3-1) vs. Erik Versteeg (0-1-0)

For a three seed matchup in the first round of the tourney, this one is screaming for everybody to make sure they are in their seat and prepared for a potential upset!

Versteeg gives up seven years in age in this one and comes in as the underdog. Yet this kid’s skills are improving daily most likely due to being a fast learning 17 year old! Arguably, one could say that in the time between now and back when this fight was scheduled he has already surpassed the older, 24 year old Graves in basic primary skills.

Graves on the other hand has a ton of experience on his side. With a 2-3-1 record…yes, this man already has a draw to his name, starting out his first fight that way…he’s got lots of action to fall back on and use to refine his approach. His two wins are via submission and that will probably be the direction he tries to take this one tonight. Especially given that his last three fights have ended in KO, KO and TKO.

This is a 3/14 seed matchup, but it hardly looks like one at this point.

Donkey, what are you thinking…?

Donkey’s Pick: Graves via Submission (Armbar)

This Lightweight division is giving me fits when it comes to picking a winner. And that is a good thing. Our young Versteeg is loaded with potential and will want to take advantage of the clinch this evening to punish and wear down Graves, eventually setting him up for yet another TKO. Graves on the other hand will want this one on the ground early so he can put it away via submission and get back to a .500 record…and move on to Round 2 in the tourney. The one thing I’m sure about in this one, is that it’s going to end via a finish. Which way for sure…is anybody’s call! But since I have to make a pick…I’m going to go with age and experience here and take Graves with the sub finish. But by the next time these two meet, the odds will have shifted in Versteeg’s favor, if they haven’t already!

*********

 

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #1 vs. #16

Frankie Logan (1-1-0) vs. Rey Bargos (0-2-1)

No need to rub your eyes and check your eyeglass prescription folks…yes, those seeds are correct…and yes…this is the third from last fight of the night, not the Main Event. But it very well could be, and I know if I were you I certainly wouldn’t miss it!

I will not lie, Bargos is a talented young fighter who comes into this match with a very good amount of skills in his primaries. But again, as I say, I cannot and will not lie…he’s in a world of trouble as he will look across the cage tonight at the #1 seed in the tournament, Frankie Logan.

Logan is a load of badness waiting for just about anybody in the tournament I think, and has to be the hands down favorite to win this thing and establish himself as the first champion of the Lightweight division at Sucker Punch. Logan’s boxing, wrestling and purple belt in BJJ all stand over Bargos’ skills in those areas. He even has the slight edge in the clinch. Recently off winning the Tycoon World Grappling Championship at 170 lbs, he is amped and ready to go, trying to make this two tournaments in a row.

Bargos is no joke either though. And even as our bottom seed, demonstrates that this is a strong division, even if it barely boasts 16 full fighters. He can win this…he just has to demonstrate better physicals, control the fight, and probably win it in the clinch. Or with a puncher’s chance baby!

Donkey, Bargos should probably aim for the dingle dangle, dontcha think…maybe a throat punch…?

Donkey’s Pick: Logan via Submission (Armbar)

Ha. No, I don’t think so Hare, although I know that would make your night! Bargos does have his work cut out for him, but it’s not an insurmountable challenge. It is a serious challenge though. I want to see this kid come out and put it on the line, pick and choose his spots and strike opportunistically when it’s there! An upset in this would be mind-blowing, and would just put this place into a fever pitch tonight! That being said, it’s probably Logan’s to walk away with so long as he stays focused.

Suzy Sucker Punch: I reached out to the gym office over where Frankie Logan trains, and they sent over this bio for Frankie. “Coming from Falkirk Scotland and with a reputation as a street hood and dirty fighter, Frankie joined Far Q to try and turn his life around. His nickname is scottish slang for head butt due to him sometimes getting a bit carried away in matches. Winner of TWGC Div 4 155lb title in 2020.”

Suzy Sucker Punch: Then his manager, P J Jones, surprised me by calling me back shortly after. It was a pleasure speaking with him…

P J Jones: Suzy, Frankie Logan’s nickname is Scotch Kiss, which is slang for a head butt. And that makes sense, he’s a good grappler but prefers to bang, dirtier the better!

Suzy Sucker Punch: Hare, he seems like just your type of fighter! You had better keep your eyes on this match I think!

*********

Co-Main Event

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #8 vs. #9

Piney Winston (4-1-0) vs. Otto Fon Abiht (2-1-0)

These two get the nod in the Co-Main event not because of their seedings or necessarily their overall skill, but more due to hype being that they have 6 wins between them. Our 8/9 seed matchup brings us two very evenly matched fighters going by skills.

What worries me in this one though, is Piney Winston’s weight. Word has it he’s struggling to make weight right up to the fight here tonight, and will likely need to take advantage of a local gym’s sauna in the final hours to drop the final pound or two needed to get there. That can take a lot out of a fighter, between cutting so much up front and then sitting in a sauna for a couple hours! Ouch. So it will be really interesting to see what effect that has and if he comes into this one a bit drained.

From a strategy and matchup perspective, this is, again, your standup versus ground game battle! Winston has mediocre wrestling and a nice purple belt in BJJ. His four wins, the most recent of his fights I might add, all have come via submission. He’ll clearly want to take this to the ground immediately tonight, and finish this one off fast so that conditioning and energy never come into play.

Abiht, managed by yours truly, has the better boxing and MT, but is seriously disadvantaged on the ground. I’m not giving any secrets away by saying that Abiht had better keep his ass away and at distance, and strike to win! If he gets into a grappling situation with Winston, it’s likely to end up on the ground and I’m likely to be chewing his head off, if Piney didn’t twist it off for him already, for the entire ride home!

Donkey, which way do you think this one swings…?

Donkey’s Pick: Winston via Submission (Kimura)

As much as I want to give your boy the nod there Hare, I just cannot do it. Objectively, if this goes to the ground, Abiht is in trouble. And it likely will go to the ground, and quickly. Abiht had better pray that he has takedown defense, and good takedown defense at that, and that he can manage to knock Winston’s head off before “the bad stuff” happens. Good luck Hare, you’re gonna need it.

*********

Main Event

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #2 vs. #15

Demi Achilles (3-0-0) vs. Vinicius Verreira (0-1-0)

And here we are! The Main Event folks! Wow, you know, after preparing this, I’m even more excited than I normally am! The Lightweights look to have a ton of great matches on tap for the folks down at the event this evening, and that place is sure to be rocking with energy!

Achilles comes into this final match of the evening boasting a perfect 3-0 record to date! Nice. Very nice. He’s the two seed in this Sorter Series bracket, and very much should NOT be overlooked in any way. He can win both ways…with his hands…or by twisting yours…or another body part…off in five different directions while waiting for you to tap out! He’s won via a flat out KO and used both triangle and kneebar subs. And what a nifty red outfit he’s got there Donkey! All energized up and morale peaked out!

Verreira is 5 years the junior here, but has also been practicing MMA for about 5k ID positions ahead of Achilles, which at this stage should more than make up for that age advantage. And he appears to be learning very quickly, as he’s progressed really well since the fight was originally scheduled. He has the advantage in MT and wrestling, so the path to victory here is clear…clinch up, and smash up! He has a big right hand but there will be some question about his chin as he got KO’d in his first and only fight so far. Granted, it was against another guy with KO power as well…a real slugger fan’s delight!

 

I don’t think that this one will be disappointing as the Main Event, do you Donkey…?

Donkey’s Pick: Verreira via KO (Punch)

No, this one most definitely will not be disappointing, nor will it finish in a decision! One of these two is finishing and one is losing…and it’s your guess or mine which one it’ll be there Hare! I have to pick, so I’m going to go with the BIGTIME upset here with Verreira as the 15 seed in the tournament, and say that his purple belt in BJJ is defensive enough to hold off Achilles and give him a shot to finish with the power in those hands of his. And, I could be very wrong, and this thing could be over in 43 seconds via a nasty, sub of the night caliber finish by Achilles! Non-commital as always, I’m Donkey, and that’s a wrap!

*********

So there we have it Sucker Punch fans!

The Lightweights are in the house tonight, and boy do they look ready to make this entire city of Sydney feel their power! I cannot wait, this is a great group of fighters and boy, will it be a treat for these fans down undah this evening! Way to start out weekend, that’s for sure.

Don’t miss it folks, and till next time…

Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style!

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

FYI guys, for those of you who were on the card last night/this morning for our Lightweight Sorter Series card, and were either on there for test fights, or had a fighter with no prior record, Mike has asked me for the Fight ID's and he will manually generate the Tale of the Tape for each of those. That way, you guys can at least get a look at the hiddens that might have shown. I appreciate him doing that, and I really felt it was important for you guys to get those pieces of information to work with. I don't know when he'll have the chance to work on it, but I'll keep checking and will post here when I see them. FYI, it looks like he already did take care of the first fight, which was a test fight between Optimal and Xyel! Nice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FYI guys, for those of you who were on the card last night/this morning for our Lightweight Sorter Series card, and were either on there for test fights, or had a fighter with no prior record, Mike has asked me for the Fight ID's and he will manually generate the Tale of the Tape for each of those. That way, you guys can at least get a look at the hiddens that might have shown. I appreciate him doing that, and I really felt it was important for you guys to get those pieces of information to work with. I don't know when he'll have the chance to work on it, but I'll keep checking and will post here when I see them. FYI, it looks like he already did take care of the first fight, which was a test fight between Optimal and Xyel! Nice.

 

Mike fixed those that I asked for due to some of them having their first fight. Wow. I think some of you are going to be happy with the results.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://mmatycoon.com/images/posters/1588937564SP_Poster_155CSS.png

Post Event Cheap Shots

Lightweight Cockshot Sorter Series: Round 1

Hey there Sucker Punch fans, Hare Rumpler here along with our analyst, Donkey “Dan”, and our most amazing media correspondent, Suzy Sucker Punch! We’re a day later than usual here as we wrap things up from our Lightweight Sorter Series card two nights ago. We apologize for the delay, but there were some technical difficulties down at Hyashi’s Lounge in Sydney.

Word has it that the technical department guys there pushed a couple of wrong buttons and next thing we know the big board was no longer displaying any of the Tales of the Tape and other cool information that goes up there. Now, we’ve worked through some of that, and luckily have the information on hand for the fights that involve our younger, new to the cage dudes…but some of it is gone forever.

I’ve heard through the grapevine that the IT guy in charge of all of that has been canned, and from what I’ve been told has taken up a new career as a plumber. Donkey, I wish him the best of luck and hope he doesn’t do a shitty job with that too! Get it Donkey…plumber…shitty job…? Nevermind. Anyways, let’s get on with seeing how things went for the Lightweights…and a couple other fun fights to start it off!

 

http://mmatycoon.com/images/company/logo/1584375781SWN.jpg

Thanks to our sponsor, Shadow Warrior Nutrition! Simply put, want the best? Get the best! Grab yourself and your fighters some Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q, their fantastic energy loss reduction supplements! This is the way to get the absolute best training out of your fighters. And you do that by keeping them training, not sitting around trying to regain energy! You won’t be disappointed, check them out today!

Now, let's get to it!

Bonus Sparring Session

Ethan Hawk Defeats Veljko Besic via Unanimous Decision

 

Clinch, break clinch, clinch…a few punches here and there…I’m just surprised these two who were out to see what they’ve got in this little slap fest didn’t roll around on the ground a little too just because they could! Haha. Anyways, in a fight where neither manager really wants to see their guy walk away damaged, this is about what to expect. And the winner of the actual fight doesn’t matter as much as what you find out about your guys!

Donkey, what did we find out…?

 

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Both managers are going to walk away feeling like winners here Hare! Besic proves to his manager, Optimal, that he’s a keeper with a granite chin and only about a 10% morale drop after a loss! Great stuff! For Hawk, he shows up with some heavy hands for his manager Xyel! Boom…literally...! Both should be happy!

*********

Bonus Middleweight Undercard Bout

Paolo Gaia Motif Defeats Bishop Templeton via TKO (Strikes)

In our first non-test fight of the evening, Motif and Templeton came out in a bit of a preview for the card coming up this Wednesday on the 20th! These two middleweights looked like they might be able to take this one deep as Templeton had previously gone the distance in all of his fights.

Templeton was looking for his first win, but unfortunately for him Motif had other ideas. Much like Motif’s other fight in KT land, he finished this one early, taking only 42 seconds to solve the puzzle on how to get to Templeton’s granite chin!

It was a little bit of a strange fight, as Templeton took Motif to the ground early via a clinch/trip takedown…but then stood right back up! That may have been a mistake. As soon as he motioned Motif to his feet, Motif obliged and then dished out a right and a left as a word of thanks that knocked Templeton off his feet and left him cut.

The very next shot was all she wrote, as a big left from Motif left Templeton rolling on the floor and it wasn’t long before the ref saved him.

 

Donkey, you called this one huh…?

 

Donkey’s Takeaways:

I did Hare. And despite this being a really even match skill wise, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…you can’t come into a match with low energy or suffering from confidence with your morale not up to snuff! And that’s what happened here, and to me, Templeton’s heart was never in this one. No way should he get dropped this easily and quickly when he has a granite chin. Not by another guy, who incidentally, also came out and showed a granite chin for his manager tonight. Nice one for Motif, welcome to Sucker Punch land young man, that’s the way you debut!

*********

 

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #7 vs. #10

Veljko Bakocevic (1-4-0) vs. Corona Virus (0-0-0)

 

Well, you can’t get them all right, and you certainly didn’t on this one Donkey! You had concerns about Bakocevic’s morale being a little low heading into this match, but apparently that wasn’t an issue!

Virus came into this one a virtual unknown to us…but we now know two things. First, that he’s very confident. Second, that he may be over-confident and opened himself to a takedown almost immediately in this fight! After that, it was just a couple of sub attempts and Virus was tapping out before he got put to sleep by a beautiful rear naked choke from Bako!

Bako really seemed to roll into the takedown and cycle through transitions to get to Virus’ back pretty easily in this. So either he has really, really nice ground skills going on, or Virus is going to have to buff up those defenses!

Donkey, feeling the pressure now that you’re starting out 1 and 1…?

 

Donkey’s Takeaways:

This one surprised me. It wasn’t over immediately as the fight went for almost 2 minutes, but it might as well have been. After the takedown, Bako was in full control moving on the ground at will. There was very little Virus could do to stop or impede him, and that was bad news for him. He takes his first loss in Sucker Punch, but he’ll be back and I’m sure stronger and more ready to go! Congrats to Bako who moves on to the second round.

*********

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #6 vs. #11

Conor Notorious Defeats Rock Lee via KO (Head Kick)

Donkey was really excited about this one in the previews earlier this week, feeling that this could be one of the best fights of the night! Notorious has the age and possibly physical advantage, but Rock Lee certainly came to this fight with some skills of his own.

We were not disappointed! This one went on for over 8 minutes as these two warriors decided to stand up and bang! Sometimes in the clinch, sometimes out…but definitely bringing it. Lee’s shots were effective, and he was landing a reasonable percentage of them. Both with the fists and the feet. The same could be said for Notorious though.

I was a bit surprised that Lee wanted to take this to the clinch, trying four times and succeeding twice, but didn’t really seem to have a lot once there, attempting only 3 body shots but failing to connect with all of them.

I was super impressed when halfway through the first Notorious tagged Lee and rocked him temporarily…but Lee managed to recover, get his wits back, and not only continue on but take this one deep into the second! As I said, these two continued to pound at one another, throwing shot after shot, some connecting, some not, both with the hands and feet…and then finally…just into the fourth minute in the second, Lee got slammed with a right hook to the temple and dropped. Notorious wanted him back on his feet, so up he went…and decided it was time for a show ender...Lee sized up Notorious and went for a huge head kick. Unfortunately for Lee, it missed, and was returned with a counter head kick that had “Goodnight” written on the bottom of it! WOW! Huge finish, huge KO!

Donkey, what say you sir...?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Suspected this would be a fun one, and it sure was! The fans got a treat, with these two pulling out all stops and definitely taking it to one another! I love it. Yes, those high head kicks at the end are risky…but damn, when they land…and the one by Notorious definitely did…it can be hella dramatic! What a finish!

*********

 

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #5 vs. #12

Bobolo Jubbly Defeats Sho Pereyra via Submission (Armbar)

We approach the midpoint of the evening here as we get to the 5th match of the evening! Jubbly and Pereyra were staring at each other across the cage and honestly, I’m not sure they like each other Donkey! Haha. Well, I might be making more of that than there is, both are competitors who were focused on trying to get a win there in the first round of this Sorter Series.

Donkey and I both suspected that this fight might be an issue for Pereyra, and that the path to success might have to rely upon hanging in there long enough to gas Jubbly out, who came in a little fatigued. Unfortunately, by the time this fight happened, it seems Pereyra came in a bit fatigued as well! So that certainly wasn’t going to help.

Not that energy ended up mattering. The bell rang…Jubbly goes for the takedown and gets it. That…was a very bad sign for Pereyra who certainly did not want to be on the ground with Jubbly. Jubbly had him in side mount and appeared content there, until Pereyra got complacent and bam, Jubbly had mount and was landing some GnP! Keeping the strikes up, or at least the pretense of them, Jubbly was just waiting for the right moment to strikes…well, not strike but…bam, suddenly he’s got an arm and this one is ALL OVER! Wow, beautiful transition from GnP to sudden sub to finish!

Any good takeaways from this Donkey…?

 

Donkey’s Takeaways:

“But I’m thinking this one is going to end with him (Pereyra) tapping out or going to sleep via a sub.” That’s what I called in the preview, and that’s what we got. Jubbly’s manager, Jay Stanley, will be especially happy as he walks away also knowing that his fighter has a granite chin to boot! Unfortunately, Sho Pereyra moves to 0-3 after this loss and may have to do some soul searching. I’m sure he’ll come back more prepared and ready to get his first win in his next fight, but let’s hope it’s with a full gas tank and his confidence on high!

*********

 

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #4 vs. #13

Valery Bokov Defeats Ko Artist via Submission (Americana)

The Russian Invasion continues Donkey!!! Wow. Yury Bagrov’s boys continue to impress here at Sucker Punch. And you know what, I think Yury and his boy Bokov may have head faked us on this one Donkey!!!

In prior fights, we had noted that Bokov had a tendency to want to keep standing back up after being on the ground. Because he has a purple belt in BJJ, we were surprised by that and figured maybe it was defense focused. So we really saw him as a bit of an underdog in this one being that KO Artist was supposed to be the favorite in standup.

That’s not the way this went at all, and Bokov basically caught us, and possibly his opponent as well, by surprise when he took this one to the ground about 30 seconds into the fight! And boy, once this went to the ground, Bokov locked in that Americana so fast, Artist barely had time to register that he was in trouble…and this one was over before he knew what happened. You could see the disappointment on Artist’s face afterwards, probably realizing he should have avoided that one.

He’ll likely want a redo at some point in the future, but for now, Bokov chalks up the win. And apparently, a few of the ring girls’ phone numbers while at it!

 

Not exactly an easy night to call after all, eh Donkey…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

This makes another fight where Artist hasn’t KO’d anybody, and that’s only going to get Bokov talking more than before! I’m sure it’s coming, but this fight wasn’t the one where it was going to happen apparently. Bokov walks off showing his versatility, and perhaps, his smarts in the cage, switching gears and going at it differently than he has before to get the win. Great job.

 

*********

 

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #3 vs. #14

Tua Graves Defeats Erik Versteeg via Submission (Guillotine)

Your instincts were right Donkey, and you managed to call this one for the three seed favorite via submission! Not that that’s exactly going out on a limb, but Versteeg is coming along extremely quickly and could have easily turned the tables in this one.

I’m beginning to think that these sub artists like Graves are playing a little game tonight of “I see your 49 second sub, and will raise you a 40 second one!”. Hahaha. He got to this quick like! That’s for sure.

Our thought was that Versteeg would try to get this to the clinch, wear down Graves some and then go for a KO or TKO. But the key was staying on the feet. That…didn’t happen. The bell rang, Graves knew he had a 49 second sub from the prior match to beat out…and went immediately for the trip takedown which he got with Versteeg landing in his guard!

Graves was clearly comfortable on his back. When Versteeg starting sitting in a little too close, probably trying to avoid being reversed or bucked, and doing a little lay and pray…the mistake was already in place and Graves suddenly sank in the guillotine…tight! Versteeg had no choice but to tap on this one...or take a nap.

Donkey, any thoughts…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Definitely got the right call on this one, but it wasn’t easy to make and if Versteeg had been able to stay on the feet this could have gone another way. But he didn’t and couldn’t, so that’s not what we’re discussing. The next time these two meet, I suspect Versteeg will have progressed a ton. But for now, Graves takes the victory lap…and the fastest sub of the night…and heads to Round 2! Congrats!

*********

 

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #1 vs. #16

Frankie Logan Defeats Rey Bargos via Unanimous Decision

Wow, there is no way I saw this fight, featuring the one seed in the divisional Sorter Series, going the distance! But it did! Which is a testament to Bargos’ will and heart…and perhaps also a little bit of an indictment of Logan’s strategy? Perhaps? Hard to challenge or criticize a guy who wins though!

Logan controlled this fight, taking it in and out of the clinch in the first and third rounds at will and being the more aggressive fighter. Bargos got his shots in here and there, but generally wasn’t active enough to win the points he need with the judges.

Here’s the thing…it wasn’t until the final half minute of this one that Logan finally took this to the ground. And Donkey had picked him to win this via submission. You have to think that if he’d been able to get this down there sooner, this one might have ended via finish for Logan. Again, a testament to Bargos having stuffed three takedowns from the clinch earlier in the fight? I suppose so!

As surprised as I was that this went the distance…I was just as much disappointed that there were no head butts, no shots to the family jewels, no tickling, nothing dirty and underhanded in any way!

Donkey, surprised this went the distance as much as I am…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

I am Hare. I expected this to be a finish, but that means I’m highly impressed with Bargos and his ability to keep this one from ending early! Now, here’s the suprising part. We were told by his manager the next morning that Bargos was going to be let go from their stable and not to set up another fight for him. Wow. I’m shocked by that. Even though his record doesn’t show it, this kid has potential and I sure hope he catches on elsewhere and we see him fighting again for us. For Logan, maybe he just doesn’t want to show us all of his tools yet knowing that he’s got future competition in this thing scouting him. Another surprise…well…I’ll let you wait for the other surprise. Stay tuned for our next fight! How’s that for a cliffhanger?!?

*********

Co-Main Event

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #8 vs. #9

Piney Winston Defeats Otto Fon Abiht via Submission (Kimura)

Well, I had a feeling I was in trouble with this one there Donkey. We knew that if Piney got our boy Otto to the ground, this one was not going to last long. And sure enough, that’s what happened. Took a bit longer than I thought it would, but the end result is the same. A sub, a tap, and a W for the bad guy…er, I mean, for Winston! Haha.

Winston came out swinging after the bell on this one, but it was mostly ineffective with Abiht getting the better of the exchange. But that was mostly just a distraction, as the main intent for Winston was to get the takedown, which he did after about 20 seconds or so.

Once on the ground Winston went for the sub, then switched to some GnP to soften the hero…er, I mean, our boy Otto…up a bit. Winston went back to the subs again just before the minute mark, trying again for an arm triangle that didn’t happen. Abiht did his best to try to get back to the feet but Winston wasn’t having it. Another arm triangle attempt…no go! HA! Then a kimura attempt! Nope.

“HA! You think you can sub me?”, whispered Abiht…and apparently that’s all the challenge Winston needed before locking in the next kimura attempt! Ouch.

Donkey, you called it exactly. I don’t like you sometimes, you know that…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Abiht’s only hope was to catch Winston with a nasty shot early and put this one to bed before the inevitable happened and it went to the ground. He didn’t. It did. The rest is kimura history! So congrats to Piney Winston, who moves on in the tourney to Round 2…er…wait…maybe not?!? Yeah, that’s right, we got word through the Sucker Punch front office that Piney declined his fight with Frankie Logan for Round 2, and has backed out of the tourney! Wow. Well, that’ll certainly give fans and his opponents some ammunition going forward!

*********

Main Event

Lightweight CSS Round 1: #2 vs. #15

Vinicius Verreira Defeats Demi Achilles via TKO (Strikes)

And here we are, our Main Event! We said this one would be finished, one way or another! Either KO or Sub, somebody was taking a fall well before the end of the third round in this one. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened, and Donkey had the call!

I hope you didn’t blink. Damn, if you went to take a piss between fights, you better have gotten back on time!!! Cause this one went all of…10 seconds…and BOOM! You have a HUGE upset for the evening in the Main event!

The bell rang…our #2 seed, Achilles, took a jab…and then a body shot. Apparently, he must have had a certain look in the eye that said he was susceptible to some abuse…because then Verreira went wild…and here’s the play by play to show you how this one goes down!

Left! Right! Uppercut! Spinning backfist! Achilles goes down and covers up as Verreira starts wailing on him! The ref watches the action closely before stepping in and putting a stop to the fight!

Demi Achilles was so shaken after this fight that he stepped up to the mic, claimed he was out of shape, and congratulated…um…Ken Lee…on the fight. Um, this man literally thought he was still back in a fight from April! Damn, I don’t ever want to get on Vinicius Verreira’s bad side Donkey, that man will knock your ass into last month!

 

I don’t think that this one will be disappointing as the Main Event, do you Donkey…?

Donkey’s Pick: Verreira via KO (Punch)

Well, Achilles was certainly a bit confused about the way this one ended Donkey. Unfortunately for him, the fight with Lee was a W for Achilles. This one was not. Achilles may have come into this one underestimating his opponent, and while sometimes you can get away with that, sometimes it bites you! This time, it bit back. Verreira saw an opportunity and he pounced like a tiger. He’ll move on to the next round, and I don’t think anybody will take him lightly ever again! We’re looking forward to seeing both of these young men fight again soon…but not before Achilles returns with his time machine.

*********

So there we have it Sucker Punch fans!

Lightweights set off the fireworks and put on a show for all the screaming fans in Sydney, and made us here at Sucker Punch proud! This definitely starts getting things organized in the division, and they’ll be back to continue that process in Round 2 of our Sorter Series!

Thanks again folks, and till next time…

Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style!

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://mmatycoon.com/images/posters/1587921192SP_Poster_185CSS.png

Sucker Punch Preview

Middleweight Cockshot Sorter Series: Round 2

Welcome Sucker Punch fans as we kick off the beginning of our second round Sorter Series cards! Hare Rumpler here along with our analyst, Donkey “Dan”, and our media correspondent, the incomparable Suzy Sucker Punch.

The Middleweights return tonight, with four fights remaining in the bracket highlighting the top of the card along with five other Middleweight matches based upon first round results. These fights will continue to spread out the division and help establish the hierarchy of things after the tournament is over. We’ll also have one sparring match test fight to open things up for us this evening!

Each of the top eight warriors tonight has earned their way to this point, defeating their rival in the first round of the Cockshot Sorter Series and settings themselves up to represent this division in the top half once things are all said and done. These men will have to come in focused and ready to go tonight if they want to move on to the semi-finals…and a chance to be considered a champion right way or, if not the champ, at least be one of the top contenders once this is all over!

I’m really excited to see what the action brings tonight, I expect these fights to either outstanding contests! Some maybe going the distance, others ending with big finishes!

And for those who are paying attention, you’ll see that we’ve moved this round to a slightly larger venue and will have close to 3,000 screaming fans in attendance at the Hard Knocks Arena in Sydney this evening!

http://mmatycoon.com/images/company/logo/1584375781SWN.jpg

Shadow Warrior Nutrition always sets us up brilliantly at these events, dishing out the samples and generally creating a party atmosphere with the swag and games and general craziness they bring all around the concourse! For those who want their boys to come prepared with the best training possible, these are the guys to visit! Their Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q is the best energy loss reduction supplement money can buy and will keep your fighter in the gym training rather than sitting days out resting! Check them out today, you will NOT be disappointed!

Now, let's get to it!

Bonus Sparring Session

Conan Kennedy (0-0-0) vs. Yura Iljyuk (0-0-0)

Two newcomers to the cage kick things off for us this evening in a quick, three minute, one round sparring match! These two will be looking to impress their masters and prove they have what it takes to be worthy of one of those valuable roster spots.

Conan Kennedy, known by his friends and foes as “The Celt”, comes to us from Optimal’s camp. He’s a muy thai fighter just starting out his training as a fresh faced 18 year old! We know very little about this young man other than that Optimal wants to see big things from him, and that doesn’t necessitate a win. Just a great effort, good levels of confidence and maybe a cool hidden attribute!

He’ll be facing off against one of Aylib’s students, Yura Iljyuk. This boy clearly needed some sun, and has relocated to Los Angeles to train under Aylib. This pasty faced gentlemen is also a muy thai fighter of 18 years, much like his opponent this evening. Again, other than that he’s seriously lacking vitamin D, we don’t have much background on this kid.

 

Donkey, anything I might have missed…?

 

Donkey’s Pick: Why?

Not really Hare. Two new faces to the MMA scene, two new chances to impress and grab a permanent spot alongside some other talented fighters in each camp. Expect this one to mostly stay on the feet I’d think unless their managers told them to go out there and mix it around a bit. Being they both have white belts, I wouldn’t expect much action on the ground, and if we do get some, it’d probably be a bit messy. The winner here is the one who comes out with a granite chin, big right hand, KO Power, or at the very least a solid chin with some great confidence and morale! Get it boys, we want to see you go on to great things!

*********

Middleweight Undercard Bout #1

Crisis Smoove (0-1-0) vs. Jacques Piaget (0-1-0)

The first of our Middleweight undercard bouts for the evening, both of these fighters head into the evening with something to prove! Both are relatively inexperienced 18 year olds who have only one actual MMA bout each to their names. Each would very much like to even up their record to 1-1. Most likely, only one will do that this evening, while the other will go back to the drawing board to try to figure out what adjustments need to be made!

Piaget was the seven seed in the Sorter Series tournament but fell via submission in a surprise upset by Kirill Krasnov. The fight was over a little over a minute in and went to the clinch and then the ground very quickly, so we never truly got a chance to see what standup skills Piaget has and how effectively he can use them. Maybe that will change tonight!

Looking across the cage this evening, we have a newcomer to the Sucker Punch Pro Series with Crisis Smoove having fought his only MMA contest in a QFC match. He also prefers standup and it does indeed look like both men will get a chance to demonstrate what they have on the feet tonight after all. But maybe with a different approach by each.

Smoove’s talents lay in the boxing discipline and he’ll likely try to keep separation tonight and use his height and reach advantage. Flip to Piaget, and his skills are muy thai based and he’ll very likely want to clinch up and bring the dirty stuff! Just my style!

This is a really, really solid even matchup, eh Donkey…?

 

Donkey’s Pick: Piaget via TKO (Strikes)

It is and I love getting the evening going with such a great balanced fight! This one will definitely help establish the pecking order for each in the division and help give some structure to things once the tournament is over! One will establish himself and take a step towards the middle of the pack and the potential to climb fast, the other will have a feel for what work needs to be done. Smoove comes in tonight with his morale just a tad off. Not terribly so, but in a fight this close, every little thing counts.

 

*********

 

Middleweight Undercard Bout #2 – Cooper vs. Brisco II

D B Cooper (1-3-0) vs. Al Briscoe (0-3-0)

 

Our next bout features two fighters who also made their Sucker Punch debuts as part of the Round 1 contests for the Sorter Series bracket last time around. Both fell just short of their goals and will look for a rebound tonight! And to make it even more interesting…these two know each other a bit! Cooper’s and Briscoe previously met in a QFC fight. It was the first professional fight for Briscoe and for Cooper, was his sole win coming two fights back just before joining Sucker Punch. So we have some background on these two, which we’ll get to!

Cooper came into the tournament last time around as the nine seed but fell victim to Vinchito Routerhead via KO. The fight went to the clinch, which is an area of strength for Cooper, but then ended up on the ground where Cooper wasn’t quite prepared to handle Routerhead’s GnP. One would think that getting into the clinch tonight against Briscoe, who also prefers standup but likes to keep the distance, would be his goal. But if he goes with what’s worked, he didn’t need the clinch last time they met, and seemed to exploit perhaps a questionable chin on the other side.

Briscoe faced off against the #2 seed in the tournament last time around. That was a tough matchup to get served and he ended up on the wrong end of a KO punch. He’s a very quick and determined fighter, but will need to be careful and perhaps adjust his strategy and plans a little to protect that chin, as he’s been KO’d twice via single takeout delivery punches!

Over to you Donkey, what do ya have for us…?

 

Donkey’s Pick: Cooper via KO (Punch)

The goal in this one for Briscoe will be to see if he can adjust tactics and protect the chin while being effective enough with his striking to win. Obviously the jury is out on whether his chin is stable enough to give him a chance in standup battles. For Cooper, will he come in with the same strategy as the last time they met, or will he change it up to avoid being predicable? My guess is that you go with what’s worked, and worked pretty well. This could be the start down the road to redemption for either one of these boys and should be a fun one to watch regardless of a big finish or seeing them both develop and pull out all the stops!

*********

Middleweight Undercard Bout #3

Buster Scruggs (1-0-0) vs. Ionel Balaban (0-2-0)

I’m super excited about this next one Donkey! Our fourth fight on the card, third for our Middleweights, will be a fun one as this could end up anywhere and everywhere inside the cage! Both of these kids have a bit more experience in the gym behind them even if the fight experience isn’t there yet at 26 and 25 years old each.

Our 25 year old, Ionel Balaban, is managed by Ronnie Steeler and went three rounds as the underdog in the first round of the Sorter Series last time. He was bested, at least according to the judges, by Brandan Moker but definitely showed he can push it the full distance. Balaban has a solid chin and his advantages in this matchup look on paper to be in boxing and MT. However, he’s also shown he likes to get to the ground, and once there, mix it up with some ground and pound along with sub attempts thrown in when you least expect it. He wasn’t able to finish things out last time, but you can bet that whichever approach he takes this time…on the ground or on the feet…he’ll be looking to change the end result!

Scruggs is new to Sucker Punch with one win in the QFC to date under his belt. In that fight he closed things out with one second remaining in the first round. He was forced into the clinch by his opponent, but that turned out to be a mistake for the other dude! Scruggs went on to land 31 of 31 shots in the clinch, three to the body and a hellacious twenty-eight to the head! Eventually those took their toll and Souza, his opponent, went down! He doesn’t have the MT advantage in this one, but will he still pull upon his physical dominance in his sole prior fight to go about it the same way?

Donkey, what say you sir...?

Donkey’s Pick: Scruggs via TKO (Strikes)

Another really, really great matchup for our card tonight there Hare! So far, the fights on this card, even at the undercard stages here, are “must see, can’t miss” fights! These fans at Hard Rock Sydney are definitely going to get what they came to see, and then some. Scruggs has some KO power and has shown an aggression that can be lethal. Balaban could easily turn the tables on him tonight with a solid chin potentially, but until Scruggs is stopped I have to go with the man on streak…even if it is a one fight streak!

*********

 

Middleweight Undercard Bout #4

Longsun Zhao (1-0-0) vs. Jim Beam (0-1-0)

The last of our undercard bouts of the evening, Zhao will look to extend his winning streak in Sucker Punch Pro Series while Beam will be looking to right the ship and get on track!

Zhao came into the SPPS world in with his professional debut on our last Middleweight card and promptly put his submission game on display, taking out Daniel Son Karate in just under three minutes.

Beam came into his last fight with a counter striking approach but got tagged with an unfortunate hook that send him tumbling down…down…and out. To his credit, Beam appears to have bounced back solidly and his manager has him coming into this one full of energy and confidence!

Technically Beam has the boxing advantage with Zhao having the upper hand in the clinch. But with a submission under his belt, will Zhao still try to go to the ground in this without a discernable advantage there?

What direction to you think this goes in Donkey…?

 

Donkey’s Pick: Zhao via Submission (Triangle)

Zhao has a considerable height and reach advantage in this one and that could make Beam’s striking hit or miss, possibly more miss. I’m thinking Zhao gets this to the ground at some point while fending off Beams strikes and then wraps that long body around Beam for the sub win! Or not…who knows, they pay me to do this, that doesn’t mean I’m good at it!

*********

 

Middleweight Main Card (Non-CSS Bout)

Ivan Smirnov (1-0-0) vs. Daniel Son Karate (0-2-0)

As we head into the top of our card we get a mix and match, back to back fight combo here! Smirnov last faced Beam from the match before this one, and Daniel Son Karate last faced off with Zhao, also facing beam in the fight just prior to this. So yes, this was an intentional, “cool, we have some well-matched fighters here, let’s see how they shake themselves out in a mini-seeding tourney of their own”!

Smirnov took out Beam via TKO in about 42 seconds last time he stepped into the cage. Karate on the other hand was subbed by Zhao, so now Karate gets to step into the cage against a completely different style fighter. Potentially. He will have to be on guard, as Smirnov has the advantage over him in wrestling and could decide to take this to the ground for some nasty assed GnP! We know he likes to use the fists, we just don’t know if he’s opposed to doing it on the ground as well, or if he’s pretty much good with using them wherever!

Karate has the advantage in MT, but that may simply be the way he came to the gym originally and simply retains that base. Does he intend to become a standup guy? Or does he intend to start using that clinch and abusing his opponents? We don’t know yet, but we do know that his wrestling is not yet functional, so that could potentially limit his ability the clinch. We do know he doesn’t want to be on the ground. We mentioned he lost by sub in his last match and prior to that via some ground strikes. So the ground is a no-no for now.

 

Donkey, you have a pick for us in this one…?

Donkey’s Pick: Smirnov via TKO (Strikes)

Karate has some skills, but it looks like the long game may be the plan and his overall build will develop over time. Right now though, it may not have quite gelled yet and that could put him at a slight disadvantage for a while until the full plan comes together. Finding a clear path to the win is tougher right now for him that it is for Smirnov, and it’s hard not to think that Smirnov may simply plan to repeat the same process this time as last.

 

*********

 

Middleweight CSS Round 2: #5 vs. #13

Angenor De Oliveira (2-0-0) vs. Bill Sherman (2-0-0)

The first of our fights in Round 2 of the Middleweight Sorter Series! And here we go peeps!

These two successfully passed their first test in Round 1. Now they move on to see who improves their 2-0 record to become 3-0 and retain perfection, the other…well, not a perfect record. But still darn good!

The higher of the seeds, De Oliveira has won both fights to date via submissions. He has the advantage in boxing and BJJ, but the boxing advantage is really just in numbers only. There’s no reason to think he won’t attempt to take this to the ground again for the submission trifecta! With a nickname like “Anaconda”, you would hope those are exactly what his bad intentions are! Either that, or he just likes to give his competition really, really big hugs! Like Olaf!

Sherman has the advantage in muy thai with the clinch, but has preferred to strike thus far in his career…specifically, with his feet! If you don’t have your head on a swivel, this boy will try to take it off and knock it one city block away! He has two professional wins, and both via TKO stemming from head kicks. That’ll leave your ears ringing if you’re on the receiving end!

Donkey, the one thing about head kicks is they can leave you open to the counter, and when the guy standing across from you wants to get you to the ground, that becomes an awfully tempting scenario. So if he throws them, he better land them or Angenor may have him on the canvas and wrapped up in a big, warm hug…the kind of warm hugs that put you to sleep!

Donkey, what are you thinking…?

Donkey’s Pick: De Oliveira via Submission (Armbar)

Wow, this is a really tough one to call Hare! Two young warriors with identical, flawless records so far! I almost want to see both of these guys win, but we can’t have that. I’m very tempted to go with Sherman, but the only hesitation I have is because we haven’t seen him try to handle somebody wanting to take it to the ground yet. Can he defend? Will he leave himself open with those kicks? Having a ground game is very versatile at the younger stages, so that bodes well for Oliveira if he can avoid getting his block knocked off in the process of getting to the ground…ouch. This is really tough! But I’m going to go with De Oliveira going for the counter takedown, and getting that sub…against my normal choices against low morale or energy.

*********

 

Middleweight CSS Round 2: #3 vs. #6

Scott Summers (1-1-0) vs. Brendan Moker (1-0-0)

Now here is a treat Donkey! Things are about to get real, for reals! A three seed up against a six seed! Ohhhh baby!

Summers took his first round fight with Bishop Templeton to the limit, a full three rounds of war, and came out the victor. He was by far the more aggressive fighter, striking to the head and body with precision from the standup and even making several, albeit unsuccessful, submission attempts from the ground after getting takedowns. He dictated the entire fight and dominated the action, leaving the final decision in the hands of the judges, but it was nothing more than a formality.

Moker comes into this one with a slight edge in boxing and muy thai. To be fair, it’s very slight though, and most would probably say he is legitimately the underdog in this fight despite the close seeding. He had a successful professional debut with us on the last Sorter Series card, picking up a decision victory over Ionel Balaban. Moker displayed quality striking in that fight, but a concern will be whether he can stay off the ground. He stuffed 31 takedown attempts by Balaban. That’s a good thing, but also raises some questions as well. It’s great that he could stuff him that many times. It’s also great that although he was on the ground three times, the fight was never finished by Balaban. The question is raises though, is did Balaban gas himself out and would it have been a more difficult fight for Moker if his opponent hadn’t been so one predictable and dimensional?

Donkey, I’m going to toss this one to you, ok…?

Donkey’s Pick: Summers via Submission (Armbar)

I think this one may prove to be more of a challenge for Moker than the last fight, and therefore may not go the distance. Summers has proven he can work the opponent on the feet and on the ground, and that flexibility may prove the difference maker in this one. Moker is a quality young fighter, and this isn’t taking anything away from him in that stead. He’s going to hopefully develop really well and be around for a while, but this may be Summer’s to win. Moker also has a tendency to cut that he has to watch out for…so my secondary call here is going to be…watch out for a stoppage by the doc!

Suzy Sucker Punch: A week or so after Scott’s last fight, I reached out to him to see what this thoughts were on the win against Bishop Templeton and what he was focusing on leading up to this next round of the Sorter Series.

Scott Summers: I was disappointed in my performance after the last fight, but we decided on a game plan early on and stuck it out. I'm on the right track though, I'm young, and I've got a bright future ahead of me. Bring on the best there is to offer!

Suzy Sucker Punch: Well, he asked for the best, and tonight’s fight should be yet another step up and test for Scott! Can’t wait to see what plan they went with this time, and if they stick to it or adjust on the fly!

*********

Co-Main Event

Middleweight CSS Round 2: #2 vs. #10

Wanderson Machado (2-0-0) vs. Kirill Krasnov (2-2-0)

Heading into our Main Events here! We have two fighters who physically are very similar with Krasnov having only a slight height advantage. Machado comes in as the #2 seed, and that’s something to definitely be aware of, both for the fans and his opponent! However, don’t underestimate Krasnov. He already pulled an upset last round over Jacques Piaget, so overlook him at your own risk!

Machado is 2-0 in his career with one QFC win and the other from the first round of the Sorter Series here at Sucker Punch. He’s (T)KO’d his opponents both times and will attempt to clinch up with bad intentions…but has also proven he doesn’t need the clinch to get the job done with his hands! He can also afford to take some chances while attempting to punish his opponents as he has a granite chin. So buyer beware!

Krasnov is 2-2, but two of those losses were at the beginning of his professional career in the QFC. Since then he’s 2-0, one QFC and the other here in the first round of the Sorter Series. Both wins were via submission, so whichever way Machado decides to go, clinch or no clinch, he’d be well served to keep it standing! Krasnov has won both fights in the first round, initiating takedowns both in the clinch and out, usually within the first 30 seconds of the fight.

The ultimate goals here are clear. For Krasnov, get the fight to the ground early, and do it before getting walloped! For Machado, stay on the feet, stuff those takedowns which are definitely coming, and put the hurt on Krasnov!

Donkey, I’m thinking…throat punch Machado when the ref looks away, then trip takedown with a knee to the boys upon landing in half guard for Krasnov?

That should certain “soften him up”, ya think Donkey…?

 

Donkey’s Pick: Krasnov via Submission (Kimura)

Hare, I’m embarrassed for you and admittedly, a little surprised you went this long in the preview before calling for the nasty stuff! But you do what you do, what can WE do! I think that’s generally where Krasnov wants to end up, and getting there by hook or by crook probably is fine by him. But I don’t think the refs are going to miss those shenanigans. To be clear, we here at Sucker Punch would be disappointed if nobody ever tried it though! I’ve become a believer in the Russian Invasion happening here at Sucker Punch with Yury Bagrov’s boys…and have learned not to underestimate them. Krasnov is definitely the underdog, but hey, every dog has to have his day. In this case, two of them maybe back to back?

Suzy caught up with Kirill Krasnov earlier this week as he was finishing yet another grueling tune-up training session…

Suzy Sucker Punch: Kirill, I can see you’re clearly training very hard for this upcoming fight next week. I think it’s safe to say that as the underdog once again, you’re taking this very, very seriously. What is your focus going into this fight?

Kirill Krasnov: Wanderson Machado is going to be the toughest opponent in my career so far. I've trained hard and lived in the gym for the past several weeks in preparation for the fight. If I want to beat Wanderson I have to stay focused and show the iron will in the cage. I have nothing to lose and everything to gain, whereas my opponent has all the pressure put on him by his training camp. I heard that his coaches and his manager feel that it would be embarrassing for them if Wanderson loses this fight to me. I believe they underestimate my ability.

Suzy Sucker Punch: There you have it fans! Krasnov obviously intends to give this everything he has, win or lose! And has also laid down the gauntlet again, putting all the pressure on the opposing camp. Get ready for a show everybody!

*********

Main Event

Middleweight CSS Round 2: #1 vs. #8

Tyrion Lannister (6-0-0) vs. Vinchito Routerhead (1-0-1)

Ladies and (not so) Gents…our Main Event!!! Tyrion Lannister comes into this with an astounding 6-0 record…and as our #1 seed in the Middleweight Sorter Series tourney! And yet, despite that, there are some rumblings that he could actually be considered the underdog in this fight! Wow, now that’s some kinda shit to say peeps!

Six years Lannister’s junior, Routerhead was fairly inexperienced in his professional career coming into the Sucker Punch org. But that certainly didn’t stop him from putting on a show in his first non-QFC fight with us in Round 1 of the Sorter Series! Finishing it via KO in the first round, he dispatched a talented D B Cooper to move on and face Lannister tonight.

While Lannister enjoys taking his opponents to the ground and then trying to turn them into Gumby…boy…did I just show my age there Donkey!...Routerhead is no stranger to the ground game either. He has a brown belt just like Lannister, but so far we don’t know what his sub skills are. Routerhead instead has shown that he likes to GnP his opponent into dreamland and treat the other guy’s head like a basketball bouncing off the canvas from shot after shot!

 

This should be a blast, eh Donkey…?

Donkey’s Pick: Lannister via Submission (Armbar)

The path to victory is clear for Lannister…get to the ground, bend things in directions they normally don’t prefer to go…and make Routerhead tap the hell out before getting punched in the damned head too many times. For Routerhead, it’s going to be a little more interesting. Lannister has close to zero actual boxing or MT skills. Routerhead has wonderful MT and superb wrestling to compliment his brown belt in BJJ. So does he instead try to clinch up and abuse Lannister a bit rather than simply going for the GnP angle, trying to avoid exposing himself to a nasty sub? It’s going to be a show, and I can’t wait to see how this one goes!!!

*********

So there we have it Sucker Punch fans!

Our Middleweights are back in action, and this card…my god, these fights…should be by far our best event to date! If you don’t have a ticket for this one, you’re going to wish you did, I’m pretty damned sure of that. I know I wouldn’t miss it, and if I wasn’t paid to be there already, I’d probably have my seat picked out…and have my ass parked in it for each and every one of these fights tonight! Don’t miss one, it could be the one people will be talking about for years!

Enjoy the show, and till next time…

Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style!

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://mmatycoon.com/images/posters/1587921192SP_Poster_185CSS.png

Post Event Cheap Shots

Middleweight Cockshot Sorter Series: Round 2

Hello Sucker Punch fans, and welcome to the Post Event Cheap Shots the day after! Hare Rumpler here along with our analyst, Donkey “Dan”, and our illustrious media correspondent, Suzy Sucker Punch. And…dannnnnnng…is all I can say! I was super excited about this card when we did the preview and thought it was looking like the best one yet. Well, it did NOT disappoint!!!

These Middleweights put on a show that was not to be missed. Let me break this thing down for you guys…10 Fights. 10 Finishes. All via KO or TKO! And of the nine fights that Donkey made picks for, he only got 4 correct. Three if you don’t count how absolutely wrong he was on the Zhao/Beam fight finish! Donkey has never been that far off on his predictions before, and to me that just shows how competitive and exciting this card was…either that, or Donkey just really sucked this time around, but I’m thinking that wasn’t it! Well, it might have been that too, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a hell of a card!

Can you tell how absolutely stoked I am over this? Our highest rated event to date, and damn, packed with action! I cannot wait to go through the Cheap Shots on this one Donkey! So I say let’s get going and get to this thing…

 

http://mmatycoon.com/images/company/logo/1584375781SWN.jpg

First though, I always have to acknowledge our fantastic sponsor! Shadow Warrior Nutrition gets it done! Not only for us as a fantastic sponsor, which btw, helps all of our managers and fighters with the Of the Night awards, but they also get it done for your fighters! Their Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q is the best energy loss reduction supplement money can buy and will keep your fighter in the gym training! Use it, and you’ll have less sessions lost with your fighter needing to rest to keep his energy up! Check them out today, you will NOT be disappointed!

Now, let's get going!

Bonus Sparring Session

Conan Kennedy Defeats Yura Iljyuk via TKO (Strikes)

Donkey declined to make a prediction for this one as it was a sparring session test fight scheduled for one-three minute round. He was right about this one staying on the feet mostly…as they first felt each other out at range for about a half minute and then Iljyuk decided it was hug and pinch…er I mean, hug and clinch time!

Unfortunately for Iljyuk, once there his lack of conditioning at such a young age started to show…with a little help from the body blows Kennedy was dishing up. Kennedy tenderized him nicely for a bit mixing in a good amount of head shots that all landed…and then, once Iljyuk had that “I’m ready for the big one baby!” look, sent him home with a monster uppercut! Wow, that boy was against the cage, eyes open, but lights out! Brutal.

That’s how you finish! And boy did this set the tone for the evening...great start in what was expected to be a 3 minute match and instead only lasts all of 1:48! The fans were loving it and this clearly got them pumped up and ready for a night of mayhem!

and he quickly was tenderized and primed for a fall.

 

Donkey, did you get any good info from this test fight…?

 

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Sure did Hare! And before I go there, let me absolutely agree with you! This was the way you start a big event and kick things off. The fans were engaged and fully in on this and you could tell the chatter around the stadium spread quickly about what had just gone down and this might be one of those “get your butt in your seat and keep it there!” nights. For Optimal, Kennedy’s manager, he found out that his boy has a BIG right hand. That’s not bad, he has to like that. On the other hand, Aylib got some less than exciting news, finding out that the best thing about his boy is that he prefers standup…and unfortunately, also finding out that his morale is really not ideal after a loss. And that means his confidence in general will lack at times. Not necessarily what you’re looking for in a young fighter. Suzy, I’m told you have more on this?

Suzy Sucker Punch: I do Donkey! Believe it or not, after the fight last night I went to find Aylib, Yura Iljyuk’s manager. What I found, surprisingly, was both he and Hare chatting it up. Aylib was talking through what he’d just seen with Hare, and getting Hare’s view on it as well. They invited me over and allowed me to be a fly on the wall for the convo!

Hare Rumpler: Well Aylib, I saw your boy prefers standup and had about a half morale loss there eh? Not exactly what you were looking for I'm sure. Any thoughts for the fans out there on where he stands now, the fight or his future?

Aylib 2.0: Yeah, I’m thinking of cutting him, despite his fast learning speed; what's your take on that?

Hare Rumpler: Well, that sucks that he has such a high learning speed but came up small. Unfortunately, if you were to ask a lot of folks from top crews, they would all say that that lack of confidence in the morale drop is a killer, and combined with poor hiddens he's a goner. Of course, if you talk to others throughout the MMAT universe and follow recent debates, people will say that other areas will compensate and you never know and a fast learner can overcome a lot. Me, I'd probably sack and try to recruit a better prospect.

Aylib 2.0: I’d agree. Poor morale pretty much excludes the possibility of countering, so I agree with your assessments. I’m not a fan of fast learners that suck everywhere else; thank you for letting me process this. Sack!

Suzy Sucker Punch: So there we have it folks! Years from now, if this kid turns out to be a beast but ends up sacked by Aylib first, Iljyuk can come back around and tell Hare just what he can do with his opinions and his part in possibly getting him canned early in his career! Haha, Donkey would probably love seeing that, somebody going off on Hare for a change!

Optimal MMA Picks, manager for Conan Kennedy, was also available ringside following the fight…

Suzy Sucker Punch: Optimal, good things for your young fighter here. Do you think he has a future with you and the rest of your guys?

Optimal MMA Picks: The Celt showed an excellent clinch game last night, and early signs are that his right hand looks dynamite! He's certainly earned himself a spot on my roster.

*********

Middleweight Undercard Bout #1

Jacques Piaget Defeats Crisis Smoove via KO (Head Kick)

If you thought our first fight of the evening kicked things off in a big way…well, then I hope you didn’t miss this one! Piaget tried to kick things off…literally…against Crisis Smoove. And by things…we mean Smoove’s head! And not just once…TWICE!

This fight lasted all of 18 seconds. Now…I have to wonder…is there some sort of time warp here in MMAT? I ask because frankly I don’t know how it’s possible to throw three strikes…then head kick somebody to the damn mat…then wave them back up…wait for that to happen…have 4 or 5 more strikes happen…and then have time remaining to axe kick their ass into next week? Just seems like you’d have to have the entire sequence on fast forward or something doesn’t it? Ok, well anyways…that being said…let’s get to what happened in this fight! Oh…wait, that’s exactly what happened! Ha.

The final call on this one was great, and this really does land itself right up there early as a contender for KO of the Night!

Smoove is keeping his hands low and just asking to be knocked out. Piaget Raises his leg and lands a stunning axe kick! Smoove is out cold, face down on the mat!

Hell of a finish, eh Donkey…?

 

Donkey’s Pick: Piaget via TKO (Strikes)

The excitement started early and certainly didn’t stop with this fight, that’s for sure. Smoove attempted one head shot and one body shot in this match. That’s all he got the chance for, and beyond that it was Piaget’s feet doing all of the talking! Two to the body, two to the legs…and two to the head! And goodnight, that’s all she wrote for Smoove! A nasty finish, we just hope Smoove recovers just fine and comes back strong and even more determined in his next fight. For Piaget, statement fight! Killer feet…and I’m fairly certain it wasn’t the odor that did Smoove in…although it may have factored in possibly?!?

 

*********

 

Middleweight Undercard Bout #2 – Cooper vs. Briscoe II

Al Briscoe Defeats D B Cooper via TKO (Strikes)

 

The rematch! And Donkey was very, very off on this one. Not only on the result, but even Briscoe’s entire approach to this fight! Which, most likely, is telling for why Briscoe was successful and the result wasn’t what Donkey called for.

These two had previously met in a QFC fight and at the time, Cooper came out on top with the W. This time around, Briscoe and his camp, led by Ray Lori, showed that they took this rematch seriously and did their homework! Briscoe surprised everybody and took this one to the ground early…and then proceeded to initiate a brutal, but brilliant, display of GnP!

Cooper got caught off guard right from the bell and ended up right where he didn’t want to be. This had to be like a personal nightmare for him given it was very similar to how he was ousted from the Sorter Series tournament by Vinchito Routerhead in his last fight! And that’s what we meant earlier when we said Briscoe’s camp did their homework, as you have to think they looked at that fight and used it as the template for how to come out with a win in this one. Takedown, establish position, fists, knees, elbows, kitchen sink! Well, good plan, it worked!

How bout that Donkey…?

 

Donkey’s Takeaways:

You just about said it all there Hare. Brutal GnP. Seems they looked at what Cooper’s weakness might be and decided they could also exploit it. That’s a thinking man’s approach right there and you have to give kudos to Briscoe’s management for the success, and Briscoe for making it happen! For Cooper, clearly he and his camp know what area they need to bone up on. And that’s defending on the ground or preventing the fight from getting there in the first place.

Suzy Sucker Punch: I’m here with a clearly tired, very sweaty, but also very happy Al Briscoe! Al, tell us how you’re feeling after a huge win. You’ve finally shaken the monkey off your back and gotten a notch in the win column, that has to be a relief, especially against a quality opponent?

Al Briscoe: Like my manager told you guys, I will win my first fight soon and I did it in a way that everyone deserves. And my next fight is against a very talented fighter. I will do my best.

Suzy Sucker Punch: Could this be the start of a winning streak? It’s one fight and one step at a time from here out. Good luck Al!

*********

Middleweight Undercard Bout #3

Buster Scruggs Defeats Ionel Balaban via TKO (Strikes)

Donkey nailed this one, but he was bound to finally get one…even a blind squirrel and all that nonsense! This was our longest contest of the night so far, lasting almost a full two rounds. Seems almost like an eternity after the way these other fights were in and done in almost no time!

And Donkey, let me tell you something…Scruggs may be my new (or at least latest) favorite fighter here in Sucker Punch! Why? You guessed it! This man embraces what it means to be a Sucker Punch Pro Series man…dirty to the core and not apologetic about it! Donkey… *chuckles*…he did it man…he nailed Balaban in the dingle-dangle for us!!!

About three and a half minutes into the first…and suddenly this happens…and you know me, I was on my feet with a huge, “Ooooooooohhhh!” which mimicked the play by play: “Oooooooooooh, not good. A low kick from Scruggs lands where it shouldn't have, right in the... well, you know what he did? He kicked him in the penis. He's injured, injured bad. The referee sends both fighters to their corners and Balaban has 5 minutes to recover. He's OK now though... a thumbs up from Balaban and we're back underway with a touch of gloves.

Shortly into this fight Balaban showed that he was determined to take the same approach he has previously and get this fight on the ground. The only problem? He wasn’t able to get it there this time. Scruggs was stuffing the TD attempts left and right, and continued to do so throughout the entire match, going on to eventually stuff all twenty-eight attempts! 28. Yes, you saw that right. Balaban had tunnel vision with that goal and really never swayed from it, which was probably an issue as I’m sure it became predictable…and obviously gassed him out after a while.

In the meantime, Scruggs was dishing out the pain in standup, striking from distance and not taking it to the clinch at all as we suspected he might. We talked about how in the last fight on our card Briscoe’s camp strategized well and had a clear idea of what they wanted to accomplish and how it could be successful. Well, Scruggs’ camp clearly had the same mentality. They knew they didn’t have the clinch advantage in this one, so they went with what they thought would work against this particular opponent, and it worked beautifully!

With the amount of abuse Scruggs was dishing out, and the pace at which Balaban was burning energy, this one was destined to end exactly as it did, with Balaban being saved by the ref from any further punishment!

Donkey, anything more...?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Well, I wouldn’t want to be Scruggs the next time these two meet, be it in the cage or outside it! You have to wonder if Balaban is going to retain any ill-will towards Scruggs after that nasty illegal blow in there. You also have to wonder if that took all of the wind out of his sails or if the end was inevitable in this one. Scruggs is a nasty one, because to me, that looked intentional. And of course, we all know you love it Hare! I said in the preview I had to go with the man on a streak, even if it was only a one win streak. Well, now it’s a two fight streak for Scruggs!

*********

 

Middleweight Undercard Bout #4

Longsun Zhao Defeats Jim Beam via KO (Punch)

 

The last of our undercard bouts of the evening…and while Donkey may have gotten the victor correct, you have to think it was dumb luck as Zhao surprised me, Donkey, Suzy and just about everybody else in attendance with a sudden demonstration of “fist meet face”!

Zhao extends his record to a perfect 2-0 while Beam will still be searching for that first win after dropping to 0-2. It was surprising the way this one went down given that Beam had the boxing advantage. To be fair though, this one didn’t seem to come down to who was able to control the fight and dictate things via aggression or anything of that nature. There really weren’t a ton of strikes thrown and only four landed…But it only took one to matter and that was the stiff left jab from Zhao that sent Beam down!

There was a bit of talk after this one that perhaps the stoppage was a little premature as Beam didn’t seem to truly be gone or out of this one after taking that shot though. The play by play guys seemed to think that Beam was out…but I’m telling you, I’m not sure I’m buying it. These two may have some unresolved business again in the future.

Ya think Donkey…?

 

Donkey’s Takeaways:

It’s definitely possible that Beam will agree with you after this and his camp is very likely to claim that this thing was not over. I tend to think that he did crumble a bit and that that hard jab did phase him just long enough for the ref to call it. The fans didn’t seem to mind much either, as they were in a frenzy when this one ended in 54 seconds. But that’s not saying a lot, these fans were already worked up into a lather from the brutal fights we’d seen all night! I’m going to say that this fight might demand a rematch at some point. For now, congrats to Zhao on continuing to establish himself well here at Sucker Punch Pro Series!

*********

 

Middleweight Main Card (Non-CSS Bout)

Ivan Smirnov Defeats Daniel Son Karate via TKO (Strikes)

Well, Donkey strikes again…haha, get it, strikes…cause, you know, Smirnov won via Strikes? Sheesh, nevermind. Anyways, yeah, Donkey called this one and nailed it right on the nose! Get it…damnit…sorry, I can’t help it…hahaha!

Easily our longest fight of the night, this one went well into the third round and was really starting to look as if it would go the distance and put the decision in the hands of those damned judges and their nasty little cards!

In the preview, we mentioned that… “(Karate) will have to be on guard, as Smirnov has the advantage over him in wrestling and could decide to take this to the ground for some nasty assed GnP! We know he likes to use the fists, we just don’t know if he’s opposed to doing it on the ground as well, or if he’s pretty much good with using them wherever!

Well, this ended up a long, miserable three rounds for Daniel Son unfortunately. He threw one strike that landed all three rounds. Beyond that, Smirnov proved that he was indeed also comfortable using his hands while on the ground, as well as trying a few subs while at it! He succeeded in taking Karate to the ground at will six times during the fight, and once down there pounded on him off and on while controlling the position. Eventually, it wore on Karate and openings started presenting themselves until finally…BOOM…a big crack and head bouncing off canvas had Karate curling up into the fetal position so the ref could call an end to his misery! And with only 11 seconds to spare before the final bell!

We knew the ground was a bad position for Karate. Until he works on the ground skills, the ground will continue to be no-no for that boy!

 

Donkey, nice call…proud of yourself huh…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

This was one of the few easier to call fights of the evening. The skills and such matched well in terms of total skills and developmental time, etc. but the route each is taking to long term success is different and Karate’s will take a little longer before he starts to shine. So I suspected Smirnov might get the upper hand and indeed, that was the case. Smirnov moves on to 2-0, while Karate drops to 0-3. But that’s nothing to panic about at this point! We’re a patient org here at Sucker Punch and want to see long term success just as much if not more than the instant gratification that our ravenous fans feed off of!

Suzy had an opportunity to speak to Ivan Smirnov’s manager, Tyler Hammond, while the fighters were still preparing to leave the cage…

Suzy Sucker Punch: Mr. Hammond, a big win tonight! Smirnov is out to impress! Any reaction to the fight, words for the fans or thoughts on his upcoming matchups?

Tyler Hammond: I am not going to pretend that the fight was insanely exciting, however Ivan still dominated the fight with his ground game and finished the fight in the final round. Two fights, two finishes. Cannot ask for much more.

Suzy Sucker Punch: Truer words have never been spoken! Nobody can complain about a perfect 2-0 record, and a finish is always exciting for the fans!

 

Suzy also caught up with Donnie Jackson, Daniel Son Karate’s manager, just as he was about to leave the arena…

Suzy Sucker Punch: Mr. Jackson, tonight didn't go in your young man’s favor unfortunately. Any thoughts for the Sucker Punch fans out there on where he stands now, the fight or his next upcoming opponent?

Donnie Jackson: Daniel Son has started his mma carreer with 3 L's. With that said, he showed improved grappling last night. Due to being known as the karate kid, no one wants to stand and bang. Daniel will continue to work on his grappling skills and become well rounded. Fans should know that Daniel will crack the code soon and lay the smack down on his next opponent karate style.

Suzy Sucker Punch: Exciting to hear that they are taking this in stride in camp Karate and see this as all part of a long process! Good things are sure to come.

 

*********

 

Middleweight CSS Round 2: #5 vs. #13

Bill Sherman Defeats Angenor De Oliveira via KO (Head Kick)

Wow, not one…but two gasp inducing head kick KO’s last night Donkey!!! I love this shit! You’ve seriously got to be kidding me, these guys just keep on upping one another! This is what I’m talking about…this is what the fans want…this is what I want…this is what makes MMA and Sucker Punch Pro Series exactly what it should be! Well, that and throat punches and shots to the boys, but ya know, short of those…yeah, what I said.

Our first fight of the evening for the quarterfinals of the Middleweight Sorter Series, this one caught Donkey picking the wrong horse. Is that because Donkey isn’t a horse?!? I’m confusing myself here. Er…anyways…

De Oliveira came in and planned to take this one to the ground. Unfortunately, that plan was derailed when he failed on the attempt, and next thing he knew, he was the one on the ground…on his ass from a huge head kick! He got waved back up though, so even that stay on the ground was short lived! He got back up, but he certainly wasn’t steady on his feet at that point…and one could question whether the ref really should have stood it back up or not.

De Oliveira tried to muster some offense, throwing out a big combo but it wasn’t well placed and Sherman avoided it easily. Another takedown attempt…another unsuccessful one…and it was only a few more seconds before Sherman suddenly unleashed a monster head kick that sent De Oliviera crumbling into the side of the cage, out cold! Seriously, I was actually concerned for a few moments there that Sherman had killed that poor kid…until the docs had him waking up with some salts! Wow…that was…just wicked! The crowd didn’t seem to share my concern though, as they simply went insane and the place erupted with that kick!

Donkey, did you like that brutality…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

Well, I got this one wrong…but…and that’s a huge BUT…I did also mention I was tempted to take Sherman but just wasn’t sure how he’d handle a guy who wants to take him down. Would he be able to defend? Well, we now have our answer, and yes, yes he can defend! And also, btw…I went against my normal rules about morale and energy…which should have had me choosing against De Oliviera. So there you go, always stick to your principles! Don’t come in low on energy. Don’t come in lacking confidence. And don’t get kicked in your damn head…especially twice! And if you don’t heed any of that advice, then at least listen to this bit of advice…Have the aspirin ready by ringside…cause that headache is gonna be one hell of a doozy!

*********

 

Middleweight CSS Round 2: #3 vs. #6

Brendan Moker Defeats Scott Summers via TKO (Strikes)

Another contest…another TKO! Both for the finish and for Donkey’s picks! This was a night that simply had Donkey struggling with his picks from the preview, and again, that’s not a bad thing! It means these matchups weren’t easily called and were great, exciting battles that could go either way and came down to who planned better, who was better prepared to step into the cage and, in some cases, who got a little lucky…or created their own luck!

Our second match from the remaining Sorter Series bracket contestants, Summers was the #3 seed against Moker, the #6 seed, and our closest contest by seeding from the remaining bracket. We expected a good one from these two young warriors, and we got just that, for almost two and a half rounds!

Donkey called this one as a submission victory for Summers. And truth be told, I think that’s only because Donkey loves the art and mastery of a well executed submission. But this was an evening that evidently was destined to be submission-free!

What was surprising for us…and clearly the play by play announcer thought the same at one point…was that Summers clearly decided that going to the ground, despite his BJJ advantage, was not part of his strategy in this fight. He never made an attempt to take it there, instead choosing to strike in standup. I like that strategy as well, as it’s worked for him in the past, but the part that seemed to be his undoing was his dependence on a high number of combinations. Moker seemed to pick up on this after a while, and while Moker was landing an effective percentage of his strikes, the 62 combo attempts with only 3 successful completions seemed to gas out Summers.

Over to you Donkey, you got this…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

The combos were definitely an issue. Great if they land, but to be so dependent upon them is very, very risky. Moker came in and did what he does, and depended upon being accurate and biding his time. He’s previously been able to go the distance and figured that if he could stay out of harm’s way then he’d find some success. Well, he did and he did. Congrats to Moker on a solid performance and finding that finish for his second win…and moving on to the Semis! For Summers, this has to be disappointing as the three seed, but he’ll continue to train and come back strong, I have no doubt about that.

Suzy ran across Jeff Mma, manager for Brendan Moker, while he was up looking over things at the Shadow Warrior Nutrition stand...

Suzy Sucker Punch: Jeff, congratulations, your newest pupil had a big night tonight out there! What's the next move for him as he prepares for Round 2, but also with an eye on the long term?

Jeff Mma: Thanks Suzy! Brendan showed his class in his last fight. After a couple of days of rest he will be back in training camp to prepare himself for his next fight. I can assure the fans they haven't seen the real Brendan yet. This is just the beginning, a lot of big things will be happening in the future and Wanderson will be the next on his list! He is hungry for more and can't wait to get back in the cage again!

Suzy Sucker Punch: There you have it Hare and Donkey! The official write-ups and numbers may show Moker as the underdog in that next fight, but Moker's heart seems to have a different opinion!

*********

Co-Main Event

Middleweight CSS Round 2: #2 vs. #10

Wanderson Machado Defeats Kirill Krasnov via TKO (Punches)

Our Co-Main Event featured two fantastic young fighters with some solid skills! Donkey got this one wrong too btw. Did I mention that Donkey has been wrong a lot. Well, he has. A lot. So much so…oh, wait…we have to move on Donkey? Funny you’d think that!

Anyway, the key to this fight for Krasnov was to get it to the ground early, as he’d done in his prior fights usually well within the first minute. Machado has shown an ability to win in standup, in or out of the clinch, with the clinch being an especially nasty place that he likes to do his dirty business. Fortunately, he was able to weather the storm of takedowns by Krasnov early, stuffing three in just over a minute of action. In the meantime, he began dishing out punishment, surprise surprise, from the clinch shortly after the bell.

Krasnov did get this to the ground once, but unfortunately for him, he was unable to really control well and use it effectively, leading to a ref standup. That was a killer for him as he needed this fight on the ground, and he never got it back there again. Machado directed this into the clinch again, and began the first part of his evil plan…tenderize, demoralize and then…well, I don’t have something else that rhymes, but essentially it’s lights out times…there ya go, close their eyes! You like that Donkey? NO?!? I’d like to see you do better bub!

Ok Donkey, if you’re so hot, then you finish up, ok…?

 

Donkey’s Takeaways:

I’m not a poet, and you know it! There, Hare! See how sad that is going about it like that? Anyways, I don’t need cheap vehicles like that to get my point across. After Machado was able to gain the clinch in the latter portion of Round 1, and do the damage he did, it was important for Krasnov to get this to the ground and finish it or suffer for not doing so. When Machado was able to take it right back into the clinch to start Round 2, the writing was on the wall, and it wasn’t saying good things for Krasnov. A shot or two to Krasnov’s already softened up body had him busy protecting down low, but open for the huge uppercut, which was delivered with devastating effect! Machado moves on to the next round and Krasnov will be looking to tighten a few things up before his next fight. Good luck to both!

Yury Bagrov, Kirill’s manager, found Suzy at the Sucker Punch after-party and was grinning ear to ear, slurring his speech just a bit…and didn’t wait for an intro before grabbing the mic…

Yury Bagrov: Kirill was outskilled in that fight but not mentally broken. He wanted to go to the gym straight after the fight to work on the weak points of his game but I didn't allow that. He has to rest for the next several days to lick his wounds and drink some vodka.

Suzy Sucker Punch: Priorities. It’s good to have priorities gentlemen!

*********

Main Event

Middleweight CSS Round 2: #1 vs. #8

Vinchito Routerhead Defeats Tyrion Lannister via TKO (Strikes)

And finally, our Main Event! And yes…yes…broken record here, but Donkey cannot catch a break! He’s off again on this one!

Tyrion Lannister came into this fight 6-0, having left behind a path of submissions and terror! He’d been unstoppable up to this point, taking his opponents down, controlling and dictating the action, and inevitably, making things very, very uncomfortable for body parts that weren’t intended to do things he made them do!

Routerhead had other ideas. His ideas weren’t what we thought they might be! We thought maybe he’d avoid the ground and use his considerable standup advantages to win this one, despite having had a lot of success with his ground game and brutal GnP in the past. Well, I guess he was out to prove that he likes dishing out the pain, beating his opponents in their own kitchen and gardening all about the same!

Lannister got the takedown he was looking for almost immediately. And then began his quest for a submission. Router quickly made the statement that he wasn’t the same ole deal that Lannister has dealt with before and reversed position, then fended off several Lannister sub attempts while beginning to dish the GnP to finish off Round 1.

It seems that one Router gets a taste of that good ole ground and pound lifestyle, he just can’t get enough, so to start Round 2 he initiated the game of “roll around on the floor” instead! Lannister went to the watering hole, trying for a kimura but was once again denied. In doing so though, he gave up the mount to Router…and that was a HUGE mistake! Despite being solid on the ground, this was not the position to be in against a guy who loves to beat the shit out of you down there…and that’s exactly what Router started to do, with enthusiasm! Lannister looked to be desperate for the reversal but couldn’t get it and Router started dropping bombs to his head, giving the ref no choice to but jump in and call it!

 

Big finish by our #1 seed there, eh Donkey?…?

Donkey’s Takeaways:

I really didn’t think Router would decide that the ground was the place to be in this one, but he sure proved me wrong! Not only did he embrace the challenge, he went into Lannister’s home and set the record straight that it was HIS house! Honestly, I think if these two were matched up three times, it would likely end up a record of 2-1, and for whom, I’m not sure. It could have gone either way, but Router got the advantage early in this one, did a great job defending against the subs and proved that last night, he was the better of the two and ready to try to take the remainder of this tournament! Don’t agree with him, well, I guess you’re going to just have to stop him then, if you can!

Suzy talked to Vinchito Routerhead immediately following his fight…

Suzy Sucker Punch: I’m here with Vinchito Routerhead after a huge win to move on to the semi-finals in the Middleweight Sorter Series! Vinchito, you just put on a show and a clinic on the ground, but defensively as well as offensively. Anything to say to your fans out there?

Vinchito Routerhead: I hope that all of you enjoyed this new finish, my team and I are very focused on winning the tournament!

Suzy Sucker Punch: A man of few words, he’s clearly focused on the goal and willing to let his fists do the talking guys!

*********

So there we have it Sucker Punch fans!

Last night was one hell of a night of fights! This is why I do this, and this is Sucker Punch Pro Series! Damn, I can’t wait to see these boys again! I hope you all enjoyed the show as much as we did!

And till next time…

Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style!

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...