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Ironman Fight Club - Official Thread


Alfred

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As I was setting up my fighter, I realized that your dude is 5'7" tall and 270 lbs. Maybe you're right and the clinch game won't work against him, only because my fighter's arms aren't long enough to get around the fat.

 

Things like this make me question the mechanics of the simulator, It is not the first mma fighting simulator i have played however its definately the most in depth. The first version of etapout i played did not even have a clinch in the mechanics. Anywho before i get off topic, I wonder if a guy is big if he would be harder to control in clinch. Like if i have a better clinch game but he is a 100lbs heavier lets say for the sake of this argument they have the same strength, i wonder how much being bigger effects the strength since strength helps control in the clinch. Or speed, If I am faster in speed but i am 3 classes heavier how much does the speed boost help, is the much slower smaller guy in this scenerio still going to be faster or able to match the big guys speed just because hes much smaller? I have excellent head kicks but I am short and my opponent is a lot taller than me, would i get some sort of penalty to head kicks if say a 5'3 tried to head kick a 6'4?

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Congrats to everyone advancing to round 3, unforunately i lost but good luck Jonathan Davis, I am suprised his 4 wrestling was able to stuff 2 of my takedowns but that is all he needed to knock me out in less than 30 seconds. This means that semis are Xing Pugperg vs Fay Gott and Jonathan Davis vs Micky Kirby. I so bad wanted to fight the white belt gnper with my purple bjj but oh well the training difference was just too much and even though Terry Crew has cuts easily as a hidden i am going to keep him for now.

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Nooooo!! Kirby you damn snake in the grass! Hiding away with your "i'm just a one dimensional wrestler" facade lol. Congrats man.

 

What a fun event. So many good fights.

 

The brackets have been updated going into the semi-finals and from this point on every fighter is guaranteed to walk away with at least something.

 

http://challonge.com/53e19wuk

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Ironman Fight Club XVIII - New Blood Tournament Rd. 2 (30th September 2017) - Post Fight Recap


What a great way to end the month folks! For me personally, even though tonight's event wasn't the best ratings we've had, it one of the most nail biting events so far which is no doubt due to the excitement that a tournament brings. There was some amazing fights and this tournament has definitely brought the best out of some of the fighters.


Tonight's Main Event was headlined by former IFC champion Ricky "Big Tex" Hughes (#7) taking on (#6) Wolfgang Lee Roth, two fighters that have not yet fallen outside the Top 10 since the organisations inception.


It was a close and cautious fight with both men threatening with submissions in the first round. In the end it was Ricky Hughes' scary size and power that won over as he caught Wolfgang napping with a monster right hand to end the bout by KO in the opening minute of Round 2.


With this win Ricky Hughes shows that he is still as dangerous as ever and moves back up to #3 in the rankings but will still need to put together a decent run of wins before he'll be able to challenge for the title again.


Wolfgang still stays in the the Top 10 after this little set back but moves down to #7. As a natural featherweight in an Open Weight division we'll always be rooting for him!


Other notable fights from tonight's card include a heartbreaking IFC Main Division debut for Rampai Lawang who took on the ever improving Andy Bogard. Lawang was in full control of the fight leading into the third round before a quick left, right combination from Bogard completely changed the course of the action and allowed him to take the back of the newcomer and end the fight with a rear naked choke submission.


Two other newcomers faced each other in the Main Division when Dirty WhiteBoy took out Dieter Schaafs also with a RNC submission.



New Blood Tournament Round 2


We'll make our way through the second round fights from the New Blood Tournament in order of the brackets, top to bottom


Craig "The Reborn" Marduk vs. Xing "Rufus" Pugberg


At the top of the bracket we had Muay Thai fighter Craig "The Reborn" Marduk and flyweight Wrestler Xing "Rufus" Pugberg.



The bout opened with Pugberg having to take some heavy shots in order to wrestle Marduk down to the ground and out of his element. From there it was one way traffic and not long before Pugberg was able to secure the submission sending him into the next round.



There was some disruption in the Marduk camp leading up to this fight when Marduk lost his manager just after the first round ended. This left Marduk unable to train for a period of time which is a shame as he looked very impressive in his opening fight. He has since been signed by a experienced veteran manager who can hopefully guide him to his full potential.




Pugerg defeats Marduk via Submission (Kneebar) at 2:34 of Round 1



Fay Gott vs. "The Hunk" Jack Dawson


Next up the fight that many believed would reveal the man destined to win it all with Fay Gott taking on the very confident Jack Dawson.


The fight was spent for the vast majority of the time in the clinch where despite weighing a significant 80lbs less, Gott was able to outmaneuver and outstrike Dawson over three round and won a unanimous judges decision.


Dawson will no doubt be back soon ready to continue his pursuit of becoming "The Next Knee Legend" but for now his tournament is over and Gott goes through to face Xing Pugberg in the next round.


Gott defeats Dawson via Unanimous Decision


Terry Crew vs. Jonathan "Money Shot" Davis


Next up, the bottom end of the bracket, long shot underdog Terry Crew took on Boxer Jonathan "Money Shot" Davis.


It took Davis only 21 seconds to end Terry Crew's tournament dream and march on himself into the semi-finals. Crew entered this tournament as the least experienced fighter and had almost no time to train and so we commend him for making it this far. With this win Jonathan Davis racks up yet another impressive first round finish and at this point is looking very formidable indeed.


Davis defeats Crew via KO (Punch) at 0:21 of Round 1


Terje "Nightmare" Warholm vs. Micky Kirby


At the very bottom of the bracket, Terje "Nightmare" Warholm took on Wrestler Micky Kirby and was well on his way to the progressing to next round before Kirby was able to land some viscious elbows from side control mid way through round three. Kirby had to go through hell to get it though and this fight is a true testament to his perseverance and grit. Down by two rounds going into the third and finding it difficult to get Warholm on the ground and keep him there, Kirby ate a huge amount of kicks and punches throughout the fight and will no doubt be extremely sore in the morning. The taste of victory will of course make it all worth it and Kirby advances to the semi-final and a showdown with Jonathan Davis.


Kirby defeated Warholm by TKO (Strikes) at 3:51 of Round 3



The following "of the night" awards are sponsored by IniTech Nutrition who it must be mentioned now stock both 160q Stamina Fuel and 160q Muscle Bulk along with their pioneering Chaos Energy 160q Recovery sup.


FIght Of The Night goes to Andy Bogard vs. Rampai Lawang


KO Of The Night goes to Jonathan Davis


Sub Of The Night goes Andy Bogard


Fighters Micky Kirby and Thierry Paulin also received a bonus for their impressive performances.




After today's event the Road to the Gold is currently looking a little like this



#Champion (1) Mew Choo (8-0, 191lbs)


#1 (1) Steve Butabi (5-0, 290lbs)


# 2 (2) Brooklyn Brawler (6-1, 190lbs)


#3 (7) Ricky Hughes (8-3, 264lbs)


#4 (3) Android Seventeen (7-2, 283lbs)


#5 (4) Tommy Walcott (6-1, 140lbs)


#6 (5) Eldar Tskhadaia (6-1, 243lbs)


#7(6) Wolfgang Lee Roth (4-2, 154lbs)


#8 (8) Vic Nikolai (6-4, 185lbs)


#9 (9) Don Joe (5-2, 190lbs) (FA)


#10 (10) Delwyn Baines (4-4, 168lbs)



Rankings are determined by hype/pop, p4p rank, win/loss record and a few company internal criteria. Rankings can and will change frequently after each event


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Ironman Fight Club XIX Fight Review Oct. 7 2017

 

 

Match 1- James "The Nervous" Gregor (4-5, 210lbs) vs Lavar Washington (2-1, 248lbs)

 

I pretty much keep repeating myself but what i like about James Gregor is that he has finished fights both stand up and on the ground. James Gregor does have good boxing however Lavar Washington is a world class boxer and i really do not see Gregor winning if this is a pure stand up fight. This is why I choose to see James Gregor as a gnper for this fight as he does also have dangerous ground and pound. That is where this fight gets interesting because Gregor will be able to box and bid his time until he finds an opportunity to take down Lavar Washington who does not have much wrestling yet. Lavar Washington is quick and powerful where Gregor is reported to have a granite chin has failed him in the past in less than one minute into a fight. I would have to consider Lavar Washington the favorite but I just really like James Gregor as an exciting low carder and you really never know what you are going to get from him. Also no one yet has even tried to takedown Lavar Washington so we do not really know if he has any takedown defense and what he can do once on the ground but I can say that he has yet to be finished in a fight yet.

 

Match 2- Paul Michael Levesque (3-5, 255lbs) vs Crack Head "Roks" (5-3, 153lbs)

 

This will be the Debut of already 5-3 in mma Crack Head "Roks" which is a pretty decent record for the youngest however he is one of those fighters that is competent in most disciplines but is not really good at anything. He has had a report in the past of knockout power however his 5 victories come from 3 submissions and 2 decisions. However this may be relevant because Paul Michael Levesque is one of those ground and pounders that wonderful wrestling but he is a white belt in bjj. It is also good to mention that Paul Michael Levesque has never been knocked out however he has tapped out on three previous occasions. This all does look good for Crack Head however he is only a blue belt in bjj and half as good at wrestling than Paul Michael Levesque so their might be a possibility that Paul Michael Levesque's age advantage just might be a little too much in this one. Crack Head may be able to win this one however I always have my doubts when it comes to fighters who go the all around route and their best discipline is only competent. Both fighters could really use this win though because you always want to make a good impression on your debut, also on the other end of it you do not want to be the guy who at one point had a chance to try to make his break towards the top than lose 3 in a row, losing all momentum he once had.

 

Match 3- Jan Schrijber (2-1, 237lbs) vs Chara Zaad (5-3, 210lbs)

 

This is the other classic match up you can find in mma besides a striker vs wrestler, this one is a very simple good boxer vs clinch fighter. They are also two of the good up and coming 19 year olds in the main division, not to be confused with the New Blood division. Even though one fighter has more than double the fights as the other, they both have been training in mma about the same amount of time so you can not really give an experience edge to Chara Zaad like one might assume from looking at their records. Jan Schrijbers only current loss so far is by way of submission and it will be interesting to see here how good his chin is. We had that weird 5 round non title fight that showed Jan Schrjiber can last in a longer fight but can he avoid a ko from an expentional boxer? Chara Zaad has shown the ability to win a fight and still win in a longer fight if it goes that long. This is not a match i would want to bet on because its really anyone's fight and as a lot of these close fights do it will come down to strategy and instructions from their manager which neither manager is a stranger to each other and they these camps will be doing battle more than once on this card.

 

Match 4- En "Metal Priest" Esch (3-4lbs, 238lbs) vs "The Barbarian" Battle Ram (7-2, 220lbs)

 

Battle Ram had a bitter sweet return to the IFC under new management when he lost to Terry Bogard in the first round. The thing is Battle Ram has a great record aside from his last two fights which were loses but he could easily turn this around. I am just not sure how the manager change will effect his performance in the IFC. Their is an age difference in this fight however they both seemed evenly matched in stand up and that is exactly where i expect this to be. The biggest difference between the two is En Esch is a mt fighter that can throw knees elbows and punches at you while Battle Ram is more of a boxer with the punch approach. Battle Ram was in FA for awhile and we are unclear to how much training he got to have after winning the QFC tournament. Records aside because looking at Battle Ram's record you would expect him to be the favorite, this is really a toss up and honestly I may have to go with En Esch because he has a more experienced manager to guide him while Battle Ram's new manager is exactly that new to the world of managing MMA fighters and their might of been a reason Battle Ram was dropped to begin with though no one understood the reasoning behind dropping someone who was 7-1.

 

Match 5- Taz "Crash" Bandichoo (3-3, 240lbs) vs Alex Stefanovic (2-0, 192lbs)

 

Taz Bandichoo in my opinion has had a very funny career in the IFC. Mind you we are talking about a 19 year old who is a superb boxer and still wonderful in mt so we are not talking about a terrible fighter especially when we talk about stand up however he has a very funny statistic that follows him which is he has never won a fight that has lasted more than :30 seconds in the first round. All three of his knockouts were in the first 15 seconds of the fight. Alex Stefanovic has world class mt and may be very hard to knock out in just 30 seconds. Also he is one of the very few IFC fighters i ever seen to use elbows and not only that its most often what he seems to like to throw and he has good elbows though his 2 wins come from submission from elbow strikes in the clinch and a cut. This is one of those mid card matches i get excited about even though it has nothing to do with the title picture. Two strikers that are better than the average 25 year olds in stand up and since I started managing have always wondered if there was a good way to utilize elbows and now we get to see what elbows can do in an openweight class. Alex Stefanovic will be looking for the clinch against a bigger opponent which always worries me about getting controlled however Bandichoo has almost no wrestling and i have seen smaller Fay Gott do better than who we assumed would beat him in the clinch Jack Dawson. Taz Bandichoo likes to throw big head kicks and punch combos so you always have to be on your toes when fighting him as he can quickly turn out your lights.

 

Match 6- Boss Yonic (5-3-1, 185lbs) vs Gin Kobra (4-4, 140lbs)

 

These two IFC veterans had to meet sometime and it has finally come. At one point both of these fighters were in the top of the division though they both have slightly fallen from grace, they have a great opportunity to make up for their recent short comings, against each other. Both have won 1 of the last 4 fights though it is of mention to note that in one of those fights Boss Yonic got a draw against Cattan Engoria. With that being said we have a classic striker vs wrestler match up though Boss Yonic has only lost matches by submission and closest he has come to losing otherwise was the draw vs a wrestler, but in this fight he will meet Gin Kobra the battamweight striker. Boss Yonic is one of the ground fighters who is a better wrestler than bjj however he still chooses that he win condition of choice is to go for the submission. It has only mattered vs other ground artists though and he looks in good position vs Gin Kobra. While Gin Kobra is a determined superb boxer, he will have to test if he can take out Boss Yonic fast enough vs Boss Yonic's granite chin that has not failed himself yet vs strikes. The longer this fight goes i feel like Boss Yonic will just be able to take this fight over and that Gin Kobra will only be able to fight it off for so long but I have been proven wrong plenty of times.

 

 

Match 7- Klaus "The House" Chugman (6-2, 130lbs) vs "Dark And Light" Soul Shadow (2-1, 170lbs)

 

Klaus Chugman is tied for the most submission victories in the org with Daniel Sanity and has been getting a reputation as one of the better young talent who is also a battamweight in an openweight org. On the other hand we have exciting 17 year old who came into the org at 16 and has been doing decent considering his age and training disadvantage in each fight. Soul Shadow is currently an all around fight who is good at nothing in particular though he is reported now to have good kicks. This is worrysome because Klause Chugman is such a good ground fighter and should have no problem taking this fight to the ground where he could set him self apart from others by getting a submission victory and if Daniel Sanity does not get a submission win in the co-main event than he can have the single most submission victories in IFC fights. This honestly seems like a mismatch on paper where Chugman has remarkable takedowns to go with his brown belt in bjj and Soul Shadow seems to just be competent in everything. I am not sure if Soul Shadow will be able to utilize his stand up that he has to do enough damage to Klaus Chugman in time but bigger upsets has happened and maybe Soul Shadow can use his 40 weight advantage on his battamweight opponent since its easier to knock down such a small opponent however it has been proven in IFC that Battamweights can do just as well because they are just so much faster and I could honestly see Klaus Chugman making his way to the top 10 area pretty soon.

 

 

Match 8- Joe "The Alternate" Average (0-1, 210lbs) vs Andre "No Dice" Clay (4-0, 146lbs)

 

Andre "No Dice" Clay will be making his debut into the New Blood Division and he comes into IFC with a 4-0 record and is one of the most hyped fighters in the division to start even over people going into round 3 of the New Blood Tournament. Up until now he has just been crushing QFC fights in less than 30 seconds in the battamweight division which is a completely different beat from here. While Joe Average is not the best you will see in this division, QFC is usually a lot less quality on fighters as well as he will be going from battamweight all the way to openweight fighting a light heavyweight. We have clearly seen the success of battamweights in the New Blood division as 2 of the semi finalists of the tournament are also from the battamweight class so it is not an impossible task to perform but you have to do it well to go toe to toe with people who can easily knock your lights out if they hit you hard enough. Andre Clay is primarily a boxer with heavy hands and will be a huge favorite to beat Joe Average who is not really good at anything at least according to his first fight. From my understanding which i could be wrong but Joe got his nickname because he was the alternate for the New Blood tournament if someone could not make it after signing up which we ending up cutting it close but all matches were set up by the week of the card. It was reported in his first fight that he has basic striking and a blue belt in bjj so chances are its still early in his training and he has not came close to peaking but this may be a bad thing when fighting who easily may be the next contender for the New Blood title after the tournament crowns a winner and first champion. I think Joe Average may need to take this fight to the ground if he can which in his last fight he has able to do that vs a better striker but than was not able to capitalize on the opportunity. For all we know this may be the next Dave Brooksbank vs Cattan Engoria which everyone was certain Engoria would win but when the match took place it was a whole different fight and Dave Brooksbank was able to get the upset that no one believed would happen.

 

Match 9 (Co-main event) Daniel "The Unsanitary" Sainty (5-3, 150lbs) vs Evgeni Lomachenko (5-2, 152lbs)

 

Tonight's main events will both be big ground fights and this by far will be the closest to a mirror match we will see all evening. Both fighters are of similar weight and both share having a brown belt in BJJ. Daniel Sainty has won all 5 of his wins by way of submission and is tied for the most submission wins in IFC fights. Evgeni Lomachenko has won in a variety of different ways and has shown that he can also use gnp which may be important in this match up where neither fight has ever tapped out themselves. After losing in IFC 1 and IFC 3 Daniel Sanity has won 5 of the past 6 fights, where Evgeni Lomachenko came into the IFC with a record of 3-0 and has had some very mixed results in IFC going 2-2. It is also of note that Evgeni Lomachenko has lost a ground fight before to current #6 contender Eldar Tskhadaia where Sanity has only lost to strikers and is considered as of right now one of the top submission artists in the org. Anything can really happen in this and it would be very tough to call who would be considered a favorite in this fight without just going with who has the most experience and tied for most submission wins in IFC however the big question is can Daniel Sanity tap out Evgeni Lomachenko? If he can not and Evgeni Lomachenko gets the top position than he might get a chance to get in some good gnp because it might be difficult for either fighter to get a finish in this one. With both members close to making the top 10, this will be a crucial fight in making new top contenders.

 

Match 10 (Main Event)- Damien "The Terror" Demento (4-1, 185lbs) vs Steven "The Steamroller" Kennedy (4-4, 178lbs)

 

We have a very interesting non top 10 match up for the main event of this card. After losing to Steve Butabi in his IFC debut, Damien Demento has won 3 straight and is getting close to breaking into the top 10 and this could be his chance. On the other hand we have Former IFC champion Steven Kennedy who has been on a downward spiral losing 3 straight including the IFC championship to Mew Choo. This is actually a better match up for Steven Kennedy who is a brown belt in bjj to Demento's blue belt. Steven Kennedy even after winning the title has been the underdog in every match up he has been in and to be honest while this match up is a toss up between two ground fighters i would have to give the edge to Kennedy because he could easily win by a submission if Damien Demento slips up in his attempt to win with gnp which in his 2 IFC match ups with other wrestlers he was not able to finish but win in decision including vs Steven Kennedy's camp mate Greg Bell. I do not expect this to be a short match unless Steven Kennedy can get the wrestlers back early and take over with a submission. In the past vs wrestlers Demento has not had a problem getting the sweep being able to get to a position where he can use his gnp and out of positions that could potentially lead to a submission lost. I am not so sure it would be that easy against what is the best ground fighter he has fought to date so it would be in Demento's best interest if he could get the takedown first and stay away from his opponents guard. It is also good to note that this is the first big fight for Damien Demento who has never even been in a co-main event before. This is possibly Steven Kennedy's last big chance in a main event before he starts falling to a mid carder after a promising start, upsetting Ricky Hughes for the IFC title. With Demento failing to be able to finish other wrestlers it is possible this will be a long drawn out fight that will favor Steven Kennedy. The longer this fight goes without Kennedy getting hurt will just give him too much time to either sweep Demento would might have a lot of trouble on his back or get Damien Demento stuck in guard, which Demento has not been very effective in his transitions. Might not be the most hyped match we could have had for a main event but there is definately plenty on the line with Demento knocking on the door to the top 10 and Kennedy needing to still prove that his rise in IFC was not a fluke which you usually do not need to prove every single fight after winning the one and only title in a 65 fighter at the time org.

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Ironman Fight Club XIX (7th October 2017) - Post Fight Recap



A more subdued event tonight without any current Top 10 fighters featuring but still a solid one.


In our main event former IFC champion Steven "The Steamroller" Kennedy got back to winning ways with a submission victory over GnP wrestler Damien "The Terror" Demento midway through the second round. Demento put in solid effort up to that point, taking down the former champion at will and landing some efficient strikes from the bottom all the while having to contend with the constant submission threat from the BJJ Brown Belts. In the end the superior experience of Kennedy enabled him to finally catch an arm and end the fight via Armbar at 2:57 of round 2 and propel himself back into the Top 10 at #7


Co-main event of the evening was another ground war between Brown Belts Daniel "The Unsanitary" Sainty and Evgeni Lomachenko with Sainty once again relying on experience to carry him through. Lomachenko took control early with a quick take down and threatened with submission attempts but after a lull in the action and a referee stand up, Sainty was able to take control of the fight from his guard before finally cinching up a tight Triangle submission at 4:52 of Round 1. With this win marking two in a row, Sainty also re-enters the Top 10 at #8 and can once again start thinking about seriously making a run for the belt.


The sole fight from the New Blood Division on tonight's card marked the debut of Andre "No Dice" Clay who made quick work of Joe "The Alternate" Average winning via KO in just 76 seconds. Clay's record now stands at an impressive 5-0 and if he continues on this current trajectory could just be the first in line to challenge whoever wins the New Blood tournament and title belt.


Lastly and back to the main division, another successful debut as nineteen year old natural featherweight Crack Head "Roks" defeated 255lb IFC veteran Paul Michael Levesque by Submission (RNC) at 2:40 of Round 1.





FIght Of The Night goes to Klaus Chugman vs. Soul Shadow

KO Of The Night goes to Lavar Washington


Sub Of The Night goes Crack Head




After today's event the Road to the Gold is currently looking a little like this



#Champion (1) Mew Choo (8-0, 191lbs)


#1 (1) Steve Butabi (5-0, 290lbs)


# 2 (2) Brooklyn Brawler (6-1, 190lbs)


#3 (3) Ricky Hughes (8-3, 264lbs)


#4 (4) Android Seventeen (7-2, 283lbs)


#5 (5) Tommy Walcott (6-1, 140lbs)


#6 (6) Eldar Tskhadaia (6-1, 243lbs)


#7 (RE) Steven Kennedy (5-4, 178lbs)


#8 (RE) Daniel Sainty (6-3, 150lbs)


#9 (6) Wolfgang Lee Roth (4-2, 154lbs)


#10 (8) Vic Nikolai (6-4, 185lbs)




Rankings are determined by hype/pop, p4p rank, win/loss record and a few company internal criteria. Rankings can and will change frequently after each event


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Ironman Fight Club Mid Week 6 Fight Preview Oct. 11, 2017

 

Note: This is a debate for everyone though obviously Alfred can choose to rename his division anything he wants but until he decides to give it an official name is their any suggestions of what I should call the main division in the IFC in the future since I have been referring to the two divisions as New Blood and just the main division to help distinguish between the two of them especially in matches that involve 18/19 year old fighters.

 

Match 1- Boyd "The Vanilla Og" Clark (2-6, 170lbs) vs Dieter "The Sheep" Schaafs (2-2, 190lbs)

 

Someone always has to be in the bottom of the main division and it is still Boyd Clark who has now lost 4 in a row. I have also never really liked Boyd Clark's style of fighting where he does everything in mma but does nothing well and his nickname really suits him well. Dieter Schaafs lost in his IFC debut late in the first round to Dirty WhiteBoy by way of submission and in his mma career has not been really impressive as well. The thing is I do see an upside to Dieter Schaafs where i wonder if Boyd Clark should give it up so his camp can work on their much better fighters in IFC. Dieter Schaafs is excellent at MT and so far he seems to really like and be good at the clinch. Both of his loses have came by submission to ground fighters and Boyd Clark has been known to try to fight everywhere even the ground however he has not been known to be able to tap anyone out. Dieter Schaafs does have some wrestling and may be able to fend off Boyd Clark's feeble wrestling that he still tries to take people down with. I expect Dieter Schaafs to get into the clinch and dominate this fight however before we totally dismiss Boyd Clark, his highest discipline is MT and it will be a good test of is what he is best at good enough to face someone who is wonderful at that same discipline which I personally think the answer is no.

 

Match 2- Chong "The Star Fish" Tay (4-3, 210lbs) vs Sirimongkol Niyotrong (0-3, 152lbs)

 

I was just bashing how bad I think Boyd Clark is and that perhaps more time should be used on the camp's better fighters, I think Chong "The Star Fish" Tay is one of the most under rated fighters in that same camp. I mentioned in his last preview that he had been yet to be finished and in his last fight he technically was but it was by getting cut too bad rather than being knocked out. It worries me that he has so little wrestling or bjj however it is to note that in IFC we definately have more strikers than ground fighters and sometimes you get lucky to just avoid those match ups but they will eventually come. Sirimongkol Niyotrong has definately not started his career the way anyone wants to, he is starting with a three loss streak all in IFC fights. He tried moving down to the New Blood division but still came up short again Kyle "The Animal" Ryan. Sirimongkol Niyotrong has the same problem has Boyd Clark because his best discipline is being proficient in MT. However I do feel like Sirimongkol Niyotrong has a chance in this fight especially since I feel like I know the advice he will be getting coming into this fight. If you cant win a fight stand up does not mean you cant use your mediocre wrestling to try to take this fight to the ground. That i feel like is Chong Tay's weakness right now is that he has a target saying I wonder what would happen if i was taken to the ground, which in his career has only been taken to the ground once and it was helpful to Chara Zaad who has even less wrestling than Sirimongkol. The best part of a match up like this for Sirimongkol is that he does not have to solely rely on taking it to the ground and can bide his time until the right moment to do so while using his stand up skills to keep him in the fight long enough. That being said I still think if i was betting on this fight, there would be no way that i would bet against Chong Tay though I have been wrong and that is the best part of mma, anything can and will happen in these fights.

 

Match 3- Daniel Thielke (0-0, 152lbs) vs Bricks "Parpaing" Thrower (6-5, 204lbs)

 

Daniel Thielke is a an unknown entity right now and not much is known about this small fighter other than his wonderful wrestling. This fight is in the main division rather than new blood and their will be a huge experience and training difference in this fight as Daniel Thielke has only been training in MMA for a week and a half now. This is going to be a topic that I have been bringing up more often lately but I no longer assume because your wrestling is twice as good as your opponents does not mean they can not defend you off long enough to get a ko victory. Will Daniel Thielke have the speed and strength necessary to get this fight to the ground? This is something that I noticed could be a factor if you have 2 fighters with a huge experience in training difference. The other thing to note that even though Bricks Thrower is not known for his ground game he still has a blue belt in bjj which Daniel Thielke is currently a white belt. Will Bricks Thrower be able to sneak in a submission victory from the bottom position is an unknown factory but he is another one of those i try to do everything but really does nothing well and 4 of his 6 victories has been by decision.

 

Match 4- Heath "Lizard Arms" Bace (2-5, 300lbs) vs Rampai Lawang (2-1, 160lbs)

 

In the IFC sometimes your skills is not always known as your best quality. For Heath Bace is best quality and what has won him the 2 fights that he won is just his pure size. That is not really a good thing to be known as, a bad fighter but he is huge and can just once in a while knock you senseless because in the IFC their is no weightclass and he can often have over a 100 pound advantage which this time it will be almost a double weight advantage. While he is primarily a wrestler and purple belt in bjj, neither fight he has won has even been finished where he is good at and many believe he was able to beat Akio Yamamoto in 5 seconds just because he was twice his size. This all may be important however Akio had no stand up skills and Rampai is a striker. Rampai Lawang lost his IFC debut to Andy Bogard he dominated the first two rounds and it was a highly competitive fight. I would put my money on Rampai Lawang in this fight but he always has to be careful of Bace and one false move could lead to a devastating knock out and that is what makes someone with a bad record like Heath Bace exciting. He might not win a lot of fights but at any given time he could just up and finish the fight.

 

 

Match 5- Ken "The World's Most Lethal M" Shamrock (2-3, 175lbs) vs Lenny "Fagan Blaster" Manelito (2-5, 185lbs)

 

Once in a while you find a fight like this. Neither has been particularly impressive so far but you do not have to be the best fighters in the division to put on a good fight, just need to be evenly matched. Is this a completely even match? No, I would definately say that on paper Ken Shamrock has the better stand up game and has even broken the rule book when he got a white belt submission victory of Terje Warholm however if you analyze his accuracy in every fight, it has been less than 25% besides his last fight which his accuracy was still less than 50% including all the times he tried to clinch and he still lost even with hitting more than double the shots he normally had been landing. The problem for Lenny Manelito is though he has a very bad reputation now that in 7 fights he has never been able to finish winning 2 fights by decision and being finished himself 5 times. Some may feel that if i am correct that this may be a very inaccurate slug fest that it would be boring but in any match your not quite sure who is going to win is always a good match in my book, and being inaccurate is still better than trying to stall out your opponent. Also just because you have been known to be inaccurate so far does not mean this will have to happen forever, maybe they have been focusing too much on doing damage and not enough on accuracy which is an easy fix or just as easy of a fix, maybe they have been previously slow and have been working on that to fill in the gaps. Not everyone can be born a natural at everything and one of the most important aspects of mma is the ability to get better each and every fighter and to be able to fix something that was once your weakness and turn it into a strength.

 

Match 6- Andy Bogard (5-2, 150lbs) vs Terje "Nightmare" Warholm (1-2, 221lbs)

 

Andy Bogard is a very interesting young fighter as he does something different than the normal. Not only can he strike as a MT fighter but instead of the normal strategy of using wrestling to take it to the ground he uses his MT in the clinch to get to the takedown. This is an interesting strategy as it does hurt his ability to get to the ground however he can strike with you and the double threat of losing in a striking battle or getting tapped out is always there. Terje Warholm was recently in the New Blood tournament which he lost in the second round to Micky Kirby. Since than he has decided to go back up to the main division and this will be a very interesting match. I have been bashing a lot of fighters whose best discipline is only proficient however he does match up very well vs Andy Bogard and this will be a very interesting match to watch. Terje Warholm can match Andy Bogard's skills in stand up as long as he can defend off getting taken down by the bjj brown belt which I think he may be able to do just fine. As I mentioned, Andy Bogard uses MT instead of wrestling to get into the clinch and go for a takedown and Terje Warholm has more MT as well as respectable wrestling to help him both in the clinch and defending that take down which will allow Andy Bogard to get the finish. It is also of mention to say that Terje has also trained in boxing as well and may be the overall better fighter though his record does not reflect that. Also of note is the 75lbs advantage that might make it a lot easier for Terje to control the clinch which he has shown in the past his ability to use the clinch and this may come down to who can utilize the clinch better though what they will try to do in the clinch is very much different. This will not be your typical grappler vs striker match up and I would never completely count out either of the Bogard brothers who have shown they might be a force to be reckon with in later times to come.

 

Match 7- Brock "The Bodygaurd" Sampson (2-0, 170lbs) vs Greg "The Gronk" Bell (4-6, 300lbs)

 

As the manager of Brock Sampson, I have no problem stating how lucky he got in his last fight. He lost round 1 in a striking battle and i feel like we all expected the fight to stay standing and if it continued, Brock Sampson was going to lose. In the first strike of the second round everything changed when he was able to get a lucky hook that knocked down Mickey Bee and his brown belt in bjj was able to take over, getting a submission victory. This will most likely not be a factor in this match up but it is cool to me when fighters can win possibly in both stand up or the ground game. Brock Sampson has no wrestling however and wont be able to keep this fight from being on the ground however he is a dangerous bjj brown belt who expects to be using his brown belt from the bottom position as he does not possess the wrestling to easy take it to the ground himself. In Greg Bell's last fight he finally broke his 4 fight losing streaking beating Lenny Manlito quickly in 44 seconds by kimura. Greg Bell is not afraid to strike with you though I do not think he would win a striking battle in this fight and I am unsure how the ground battle will go. Greg Bell will most likely always be in the top position and he is known for his vicious gnp which is always dangerous to think about when you notice that he has a 130lbs weight advantage. I always want to give the advantage to the overall better ground fighter which Greg Bell has much higher wrestling even though he a purple belt to Sampson's brown belt, however i can give instances in IFC where the weak wrestling better bjj fighter was able to tap out his opponent. The two most famous IFC examples of this at this time is when Mew Choo tapped out Steven Kennedy for the IFC title or when Dave Brooksbank got his huge upset against Cattan Engoria.

 

Match 8- Dave "Tightass" Brooksbank (4-4, 160lbs) vs Terry Bogard (3-1, 179lbs)

 

Many say that the biggest upset so far in the IFC has been Dave Brooksbank vs Cattan Engoria where no one was picking Dave Brooksbank to have a chance and he did lose the first 2 rounds in points but that does not matter if you can finish your opponent in round 3 which he was able to do by way of guillotine. The thing is it really does not matter how bad you were losing or how much of an underdog you are, a win is a win. Terry Bogard is an outstanding stand up fighter with a granite chin but this match up will all come down to how fast can he knock out Dave Brooksbank vs how fast can Brooksbank get a takedown. Terry Bogard has almost no wrestling and is a bjj white belt and will be very easy to finish if he is taken down however Dave Brooksbank is a woeful wrestler himself and it is the main reason not everyone takes him seriously because while being a brown belt in bjj, which he was a purple belt in his last fight, he is not good at anything else. He has been finished in less than a minute on 3 occasions and is not known for having a good chin. After last time I refuse to say he cant win this fight though I still think it may be unlikely. To be honest we hear this come up a lot from this camp and we can hate all that we want about some of their fighters but they have won the IFC title once out of the 3 champions so far. However if we are going to bring up camps it is of note that Terry Bogard's camp is the one to dethrone that champion and is the camp of current IFC champion, the 8-0 Mew Choo.

 

Match 9 (Co-Main Event)- (9) Wolfgang Lee Roth (4-2, 154lbs) vs Delwyn "Born Wynner" Baines (4-4, 168lbs)

Wolfgang Lee Roth is coming off of a loss to former IFC Champion Ricky Hughes who has been becoming a measuring stick for people trying to rise for a title shot. He is still a great talent and I think one of the more exciting smaller fighters in the top of the main division. He has wins both in standing and on the ground and I think has a huge edge in this match up because you cant quite predict what he is going to do. Delwyn Baines is a decent talent do not get me wrong however he is quite predictable in what he is going to do because his fights show the same thing over and over. Baines is going to box you and he seems to care about those head shots rather than ever try to wear down his opponent. It can be good at times to wear down your opponent especially if they may try to submit you because it takes a lot of stamina over time to try a couple submissions if they dont tap you out right away. Both strikers that have been able to finish Wolfgang Lee Roth has not been able to beat him in the first round and I feel like this easily could be a submission victory in the first round. Clearly for awhile now Wolfgang Lee Roth has been working on his wrestling to make it easier when necessary to get it to the ground though to be fair his wrestling is not much better than Baines. I just feel like he is the type that can successful mix it up until he finds the right opening to get it to the floor and finish it off with a submission. A lot of the current ground fighters in IFC do not have that capability as they have to struggle to constantly try to take the fight to the ground. I feel like if Baines would mix it up a bit more with his punch tactics he would have a lot better chance of success in this fight or any future fights really as the easiest part of defending off your opponent is knowing exactly what they are going to do every time.

 

Match 10 (Main Event)- (4) "Red Ribbon Armys" Android Seventeen (7-2, 283lbs) vs (6) Eldar Tskhadaia (6-1, 243lbs)

 

This will be a classic grappler vs striker match up but there is a lot more to this fight than that. Something I am learning slowly is that I am used to predicting match ups of 25 year olds however it is a little different with these 18 year olds that are now 19 and had time to train things that we might not assume they have on paper. For example in New Blood round two Terry Crew had double the wrestling than Jonathan Davis though Davis had a longer time to train and was able to sprawl Terry Crew easily and knock him out. What relevance does that have to this fight? I often pick the wrestlers especially when they have double the wrestling than their opponent and will "obviously" be able to take down their opponent and win on the ground. Eldar Tskhadaia has not truly had a good test vs a striker yet though, as you can argue the best striker he has fought to date is Boyd Clark who I reported earlier in this preview is currently in last place in the division. This is an opinion rather than a fact but I think what people were calling an even stand up battle between Android Seventeen vs Mew Choo was wrong. I think Android Seventeen was winning the title fight until he decided to mix things up a bit too much and decided take Mew Choo to the ground where he got tapped out. Eldar Tskhadaia has yet to tap anyone out though he is more known for his powerful ground and pound that he has used to cut people up too bad or just get them to give up by way of strikes. The best part about matches like this is I took a little time to talk to both camps to see if I could get the reactions I was expecting from each side and with little surprise, these confident camps said exactly what I expected. When I asked Android Seventeen how confident he was that he could beat Eldar Tskhadaia, he was just as confident as you would expect from the most confident camp in the entire IFC. I than decided to ask Eldar Tskhadaia how confident he was that he could take down Android Seventeen and in almost the same fashion he told me that if and when he feels like it he will be able to chop down the big tree that is Android Seventeen and I really like his confidence and choice in how he said if he chooses meaning he feels like he will be able to control the pace of this fight. It is kind of expected at this high level of competition that could help shape the picture for the next title fight after our current booked #1 contender match, that everyone would think they are good enough to be next in line and within good reason as you can tell from their popularity hype and win/loss record. Android Seventeen may have been the last challenger for the title but I could honestly see a rematch in his future if he continues his path of destruction because i truly believe that he was the first fighter to really have the undefeated Mew Choo on the ropes. I would also like to think that he would not make the same mistake twice though I do wonder what he was thinking when he decided to take Mew Choo to the ground. With rankings going all over the place as of late and people rising and falling in a single match, this has to be the most important fight in either fighters career.

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Ironman Fight Club Mid Week 6 Fight Preview Oct. 11, 2017

 

Note: This is a debate for everyone though obviously Alfred can choose to rename his division anything he wants but until he decides to give it an official name is their any suggestions of what I should call the main division in the IFC in the future since I have been referring to the two divisions as New Blood and just the main division to help distinguish between the two of them especially in matches that involve 18/19 year old fighters.

 

Match 1- Boyd "The Vanilla Og" Clark (2-6, 170lbs) vs Dieter "The Sheep" Schaafs (2-2, 190lbs)

 

Someone always has to be in the bottom of the main division and it is still Boyd Clark who has now lost 4 in a row. I have also never really liked Boyd Clark's style of fighting where he does everything in mma but does nothing well and his nickname really suits him well. Dieter Schaafs lost in his IFC debut late in the first round to Dirty WhiteBoy by way of submission and in his mma career has not been really impressive as well. The thing is I do see an upside to Dieter Schaafs where i wonder if Boyd Clark should give it up so his camp can work on their much better fighters in IFC. Dieter Schaafs is excellent at MT and so far he seems to really like and be good at the clinch. Both of his loses have came by submission to ground fighters and Boyd Clark has been known to try to fight everywhere even the ground however he has not been known to be able to tap anyone out. Dieter Schaafs does have some wrestling and may be able to fend off Boyd Clark's feeble wrestling that he still tries to take people down with. I expect Dieter Schaafs to get into the clinch and dominate this fight however before we totally dismiss Boyd Clark, his highest discipline is MT and it will be a good test of is what he is best at good enough to face someone who is wonderful at that same discipline which I personally think the answer is no.

 

Match 2- Chong "The Star Fish" Tay (4-3, 210lbs) vs Sirimongkol Niyotrong (0-3, 152lbs)

 

I was just bashing how bad I think Boyd Clark is and that perhaps more time should be used on the camp's better fighters, I think Chong "The Star Fish" Tay is one of the most under rated fighters in that same camp. I mentioned in his last preview that he had been yet to be finished and in his last fight he technically was but it was by getting cut too bad rather than being knocked out. It worries me that he has so little wrestling or bjj however it is to note that in IFC we definately have more strikers than ground fighters and sometimes you get lucky to just avoid those match ups but they will eventually come. Sirimongkol Niyotrong has definately not started his career the way anyone wants to, he is starting with a three loss streak all in IFC fights. He tried moving down to the New Blood division but still came up short again Kyle "The Animal" Ryan. Sirimongkol Niyotrong has the same problem has Boyd Clark because his best discipline is being proficient in MT. However I do feel like Sirimongkol Niyotrong has a chance in this fight especially since I feel like I know the advice he will be getting coming into this fight. If you cant win a fight stand up does not mean you cant use your mediocre wrestling to try to take this fight to the ground. That i feel like is Chong Tay's weakness right now is that he has a target saying I wonder what would happen if i was taken to the ground, which in his career has only been taken to the ground once and it was helpful to Chara Zaad who has even less wrestling than Sirimongkol. The best part of a match up like this for Sirimongkol is that he does not have to solely rely on taking it to the ground and can bide his time until the right moment to do so while using his stand up skills to keep him in the fight long enough. That being said I still think if i was betting on this fight, there would be no way that i would bet against Chong Tay though I have been wrong and that is the best part of mma, anything can and will happen in these fights.

 

Match 3- Daniel Thielke (0-0, 152lbs) vs Bricks "Parpaing" Thrower (6-5, 204lbs)

 

Daniel Thielke is a an unknown entity right now and not much is known about this small fighter other than his wonderful wrestling. This fight is in the main division rather than new blood and their will be a huge experience and training difference in this fight as Daniel Thielke has only been training in MMA for a week and a half now. This is going to be a topic that I have been bringing up more often lately but I no longer assume because your wrestling is twice as good as your opponents does not mean they can not defend you off long enough to get a ko victory. Will Daniel Thielke have the speed and strength necessary to get this fight to the ground? This is something that I noticed could be a factor if you have 2 fighters with a huge experience in training difference. The other thing to note that even though Bricks Thrower is not known for his ground game he still has a blue belt in bjj which Daniel Thielke is currently a white belt. Will Bricks Thrower be able to sneak in a submission victory from the bottom position is an unknown factory but he is another one of those i try to do everything but really does nothing well and 4 of his 6 victories has been by decision.

 

Match 4- Heath "Lizard Arms" Bace (2-5, 300lbs) vs Rampai Lawang (2-1, 160lbs)

 

In the IFC sometimes your skills is not always known as your best quality. For Heath Bace is best quality and what has won him the 2 fights that he won is just his pure size. That is not really a good thing to be known as, a bad fighter but he is huge and can just once in a while knock you senseless because in the IFC their is no weightclass and he can often have over a 100 pound advantage which this time it will be almost a double weight advantage. While he is primarily a wrestler and purple belt in bjj, neither fight he has won has even been finished where he is good at and many believe he was able to beat Akio Yamamoto in 5 seconds just because he was twice his size. This all may be important however Akio had no stand up skills and Rampai is a striker. Rampai Lawang lost his IFC debut to Andy Bogard he dominated the first two rounds and it was a highly competitive fight. I would put my money on Rampai Lawang in this fight but he always has to be careful of Bace and one false move could lead to a devastating knock out and that is what makes someone with a bad record like Heath Bace exciting. He might not win a lot of fights but at any given time he could just up and finish the fight.

 

 

Match 5- Ken "The World's Most Lethal M" Shamrock (2-3, 175lbs) vs Lenny "Fagan Blaster" Manelito (2-5, 185lbs)

 

Once in a while you find a fight like this. Neither has been particularly impressive so far but you do not have to be the best fighters in the division to put on a good fight, just need to be evenly matched. Is this a completely even match? No, I would definately say that on paper Ken Shamrock has the better stand up game and has even broken the rule book when he got a white belt submission victory of Terje Warholm however if you analyze his accuracy in every fight, it has been less than 25% besides his last fight which his accuracy was still less than 50% including all the times he tried to clinch and he still lost even with hitting more than double the shots he normally had been landing. The problem for Lenny Manelito is though he has a very bad reputation now that in 7 fights he has never been able to finish winning 2 fights by decision and being finished himself 5 times. Some may feel that if i am correct that this may be a very inaccurate slug fest that it would be boring but in any match your not quite sure who is going to win is always a good match in my book, and being inaccurate is still better than trying to stall out your opponent. Also just because you have been known to be inaccurate so far does not mean this will have to happen forever, maybe they have been focusing too much on doing damage and not enough on accuracy which is an easy fix or just as easy of a fix, maybe they have been previously slow and have been working on that to fill in the gaps. Not everyone can be born a natural at everything and one of the most important aspects of mma is the ability to get better each and every fighter and to be able to fix something that was once your weakness and turn it into a strength.

 

Match 6- Andy Bogard (5-2, 150lbs) vs Terje "Nightmare" Warholm (1-2, 221lbs)

 

Andy Bogard is a very interesting young fighter as he does something different than the normal. Not only can he strike as a MT fighter but instead of the normal strategy of using wrestling to take it to the ground he uses his MT in the clinch to get to the takedown. This is an interesting strategy as it does hurt his ability to get to the ground however he can strike with you and the double threat of losing in a striking battle or getting tapped out is always there. Terje Warholm was recently in the New Blood tournament which he lost in the second round to Micky Kirby. Since than he has decided to go back up to the main division and this will be a very interesting match. I have been bashing a lot of fighters whose best discipline is only proficient however he does match up very well vs Andy Bogard and this will be a very interesting match to watch. Terje Warholm can match Andy Bogard's skills in stand up as long as he can defend off getting taken down by the bjj brown belt which I think he may be able to do just fine. As I mentioned, Andy Bogard uses MT instead of wrestling to get into the clinch and go for a takedown and Terje Warholm has more MT as well as respectable wrestling to help him both in the clinch and defending that take down which will allow Andy Bogard to get the finish. It is also of mention to say that Terje has also trained in boxing as well and may be the overall better fighter though his record does not reflect that. Also of note is the 75lbs advantage that might make it a lot easier for Terje to control the clinch which he has shown in the past his ability to use the clinch and this may come down to who can utilize the clinch better though what they will try to do in the clinch is very much different. This will not be your typical grappler vs striker match up and I would never completely count out either of the Bogard brothers who have shown they might be a force to be reckon with in later times to come.

 

Match 7- Brock "The Bodygaurd" Sampson (2-0, 170lbs) vs Greg "The Gronk" Bell (4-6, 300lbs)

 

As the manager of Brock Sampson, I have no problem stating how lucky he got in his last fight. He lost round 1 in a striking battle and i feel like we all expected the fight to stay standing and if it continued, Brock Sampson was going to lose. In the first strike of the second round everything changed when he was able to get a lucky hook that knocked down Mickey Bee and his brown belt in bjj was able to take over, getting a submission victory. This will most likely not be a factor in this match up but it is cool to me when fighters can win possibly in both stand up or the ground game. Brock Sampson has no wrestling however and wont be able to keep this fight from being on the ground however he is a dangerous bjj brown belt who expects to be using his brown belt from the bottom position as he does not possess the wrestling to easy take it to the ground himself. In Greg Bell's last fight he finally broke his 4 fight losing streaking beating Lenny Manlito quickly in 44 seconds by kimura. Greg Bell is not afraid to strike with you though I do not think he would win a striking battle in this fight and I am unsure how the ground battle will go. Greg Bell will most likely always be in the top position and he is known for his vicious gnp which is always dangerous to think about when you notice that he has a 130lbs weight advantage. I always want to give the advantage to the overall better ground fighter which Greg Bell has much higher wrestling even though he a purple belt to Sampson's brown belt, however i can give instances in IFC where the weak wrestling better bjj fighter was able to tap out his opponent. The two most famous IFC examples of this at this time is when Mew Choo tapped out Steven Kennedy for the IFC title or when Dave Brooksbank got his huge upset against Cattan Engoria.

 

Match 8- Dave "Tightass" Brooksbank (4-4, 160lbs) vs Terry Bogard (3-1, 179lbs)

 

Many say that the biggest upset so far in the IFC has been Dave Brooksbank vs Cattan Engoria where no one was picking Dave Brooksbank to have a chance and he did lose the first 2 rounds in points but that does not matter if you can finish your opponent in round 3 which he was able to do by way of guillotine. The thing is it really does not matter how bad you were losing or how much of an underdog you are, a win is a win. Terry Bogard is an outstanding stand up fighter with a granite chin but this match up will all come down to how fast can he knock out Dave Brooksbank vs how fast can Brooksbank get a takedown. Terry Bogard has almost no wrestling and is a bjj white belt and will be very easy to finish if he is taken down however Dave Brooksbank is a woeful wrestler himself and it is the main reason not everyone takes him seriously because while being a brown belt in bjj, which he was a purple belt in his last fight, he is not good at anything else. He has been finished in less than a minute on 3 occasions and is not known for having a good chin. After last time I refuse to say he cant win this fight though I still think it may be unlikely. To be honest we hear this come up a lot from this camp and we can hate all that we want about some of their fighters but they have won the IFC title once out of the 3 champions so far. However if we are going to bring up camps it is of note that Terry Bogard's camp is the one to dethrone that champion and is the camp of current IFC champion, the 8-0 Mew Choo.

 

Match 9 (Co-Main Event)- (9) Wolfgang Lee Roth (4-2, 154lbs) vs Delwyn "Born Wynner" Baines (4-4, 168lbs)

Wolfgang Lee Roth is coming off of a loss to former IFC Champion Ricky Hughes who has been becoming a measuring stick for people trying to rise for a title shot. He is still a great talent and I think one of the more exciting smaller fighters in the top of the main division. He has wins both in standing and on the ground and I think has a huge edge in this match up because you cant quite predict what he is going to do. Delwyn Baines is a decent talent do not get me wrong however he is quite predictable in what he is going to do because his fights show the same thing over and over. Baines is going to box you and he seems to care about those head shots rather than ever try to wear down his opponent. It can be good at times to wear down your opponent especially if they may try to submit you because it takes a lot of stamina over time to try a couple submissions if they dont tap you out right away. Both strikers that have been able to finish Wolfgang Lee Roth has not been able to beat him in the first round and I feel like this easily could be a submission victory in the first round. Clearly for awhile now Wolfgang Lee Roth has been working on his wrestling to make it easier when necessary to get it to the ground though to be fair his wrestling is not much better than Baines. I just feel like he is the type that can successful mix it up until he finds the right opening to get it to the floor and finish it off with a submission. A lot of the current ground fighters in IFC do not have that capability as they have to struggle to constantly try to take the fight to the ground. I feel like if Baines would mix it up a bit more with his punch tactics he would have a lot better chance of success in this fight or any future fights really as the easiest part of defending off your opponent is knowing exactly what they are going to do every time.

 

Match 10 (Main Event)- (4) "Red Ribbon Armys" Android Seventeen (7-2, 283lbs) vs (6) Eldar Tskhadaia (6-1, 243lbs)

 

This will be a classic grappler vs striker match up but there is a lot more to this fight than that. Something I am learning slowly is that I am used to predicting match ups of 25 year olds however it is a little different with these 18 year olds that are now 19 and had time to train things that we might not assume they have on paper. For example in New Blood round two Terry Crew had double the wrestling than Jonathan Davis though Davis had a longer time to train and was able to sprawl Terry Crew easily and knock him out. What relevance does that have to this fight? I often pick the wrestlers especially when they have double the wrestling than their opponent will "obviously" be able to take down their opponent and win on the ground. Eldar Tskhadaia has not truly had a good test vs a striker yet though, as you can argue the best striker he has fought to date is Boyd Clark who I reported earlier in this review is currently in last place in the division. This is an opinion rather than a fact but I think what people were calling an even stand up battle between Android Seventeen vs Mew Choo was wrong. I think Android Seventeen was winning the title fight until he decided to mix things up a bit too much and take Mew Choo to the ground where he got tapped out. Eldar Tskhadaia has yet to tap anyone out though he is more known for his powerful ground and pound that he has used to cut people up too bad or just get them to give up by way of strikes. The best part about matches like this is I took a little time to talk to both camps to see if I could get the reactions I was expecting from each side and with little surprise, these confident camps said exactly what I expected. When I asked Android Seventeen how confident he was that he could beat Eldar Tskhadaia, he was just as confident as you would expect from the most confident camp in the entire IFC. I than decided to ask Eldar Tskhadaia how confident he was that he could take down Android Seventeen and in almost the same fashion he told me that if and when he feels like it he will be able to chop down the big tree that is Android Seventeen and I really like his confidence and choice in how he said if he chooses meaning he feels like he will be able to control the pace of this fight. It is kind of expected at this high level of competition that could help shape the picture for the next title fight after our current booked #1 contender match, that everyone would think they are good enough to be next in line and within good reason as you can tell from their popularity hype and win/loss record. Android Seventeen may have been the last challenger for the title but I could honestly see a rematch in his future if he continues his path of destruction because i truly believe that he was the first fighter to really have the undefeated Mew Choo on the ropes. I would also like to think that he would not make the same mistake twice though I do wonder what he was thinking when he decided to take Mew Choo to the ground. With rankings going all over the place as of late and people rising and falling in a single match, this has to be the most important fight in either fighters career.

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I am one of those people who are super self critical of myself when i write stuff and i often refuse to call it finished until I am happy with it so that often will be a good thing for you readers because I may always be thinking it is never my best work but I will rewrite a whole match if I dont think it is good enough or makes enough sense.

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I am one of those people who are super self critical of myself when i write stuff and i often refuse to call it finished until I am happy with it so that often will be a good thing for you readers because I may always be thinking it is never my best work but I will rewrite a whole match if I dont think it is good enough or makes enough sense.

 

You do a great job

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I am one of those people who are super self critical of myself when i write stuff and i often refuse to call it finished until I am happy with it so that often will be a good thing for you readers because I may always be thinking it is never my best work but I will rewrite a whole match if I dont think it is good enough or makes enough sense.

 

It's great stuff mate honestly. Adds so much flavour to the fights

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Damn good writing! I really inspires me to want to resign Fay Gott after the New Blood Tournament.

I hope you resign because lets face it, I made 2 predictions for the tournament, that Kyle Ryan would win the tournament or Jack Dawson and you beat both of them so as far as I am concerned even though you have 2 decision wins in the tournament that you would be the new favorite.

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