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 Gladiator Fighting Championship will be making its first visit to the Hard Knocks Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. After three wildly successful events that were held in the 2,200 seat Palmtree, org owner Todd Chandler felt like it was time to take things to the next level. A full card of ten fights is on tap with the card being topped of by a main event featuring two of the top welterweights in GFC and a co-main event featuring a title eliminator between two top lightweight contenders. Let's take a moment to run down each fight on the card.
Starting the night off will be a pair of heavyweights who will be looking to set the tone for the night. In one corner will be Seem Less (4-10). Less has had a less than stellar career thus far and has shown a bit of a suspect chin in his career. A loser of six fights by KO or TKO, Less will need to protect himself from un-necessary punishment if he hopes to stay conscious. Less is a decent boxer who has at times surprised opponents with underrated BJJ and come away with a few submission wins. In the opposite corner will be a young fighter named Kalle Kaataja (0-0) making his MMA debut. Little is known about Kaataja other than the fact that he has a reputation of being a solid wrestler with strong management team. Less will be looking to build on a win in his last outing while Kaataja will most certainly be focused on coming away with an impressive W in his first career fight.
Moving from the highest end of the weight spectrum in GFC to the lowest, the lightweights will take to the cage in the second fight. Anthony Villia (8-7) is coming off of a win in his GFC debut last month and will be aiming to put together a nice win streak. Villia has proven himself to be the master of outpointing his opponents, with all of his wins coming via decision. Villia has good boxing skills but spend ample time trying to get his opponents to the ground and then employing lay and pray tactics. Shane MacLain (8-10-1) is a well balanced fighter who came up short in his first GFC fight. MacLain is an aggressive fighter who likes to work on the ground. His effort won him a Fight of the Night award in his last outing. He tends to go heavy on the takedown attempts and and relies heavily on ground and pound and the occasional submission attempt. MacLain has been on the receiving end of nine KOs or TKOs in his career and could be susceptible to the knockout punch.
Middleweight Mike Hunt (9-4) will be making his GFC debut against Jonny Utah (14-18) in our third fight. Hunt comes to GFC having been very inconsistent in his last few fights. Hunt is a very fine boxer who also relies heavily on his ground game. Hunt has been known to win in a variety of ways. He is a well rounded fighter with a solid chin and a great deal of experience. Utah is also a highly experienced fighter with a tremendous amount of endurance. Nineteen of Utah's career fights have gone the distance. He has shown flashes of power at times but the majority of his wins have come by decision. Utah lost in his GFC debut and will be making every effort to change the fans' initial impression of him.
In another middleweight battle, Charlie Manson (7-2) will square off with Nikira Stag (2-1) in our fourth fight. Manson is an extremely popular fighter with an excellent skill set. He relies heavily on his boxing and and high percentage punches to overcome his opponents. Manson is able to hold his own on the ground as well and has even picked up a couple of wins via submission. Stag comes in as the far less experienced fighter. Stag is a wrestler at heart and desires nothing more than to dump his opponent on his back and pound him out. Stag's strategy will be no secret going into this matchup. Can he impose his will on Manson or will he be forced to try and stand and compete?
Terry Smith (7-4) will be making his GFC debut in the fifth fight when he takes on Nicolas Karkmananis (2-1). Smith is an extremely heavy handed boxer who is anything but well rounded. Smith's mission is to come out and pound his opponent with his fists until he goes to sleep. Six of Smith's seven career wins have come by way of KO or TKO and he will most certainly be looking to extend that streak against Karkmananis. Karkmananis is a good striker in his own right, but tends to dabble in all aspects of MMA. He is comfortable standing from a distance, in the clinch, or on the ground. He has shown occasional power and can be very dangerous. This bout is sure to be a crowd pleaser!
After suffering a tough five round decision loss to Kosmo Kramer at GFC II, Bobby Tupper III (17-18) will be looking to come back strong when he takes on Jynkka Levanen (4-2-1). Tupper III is a pure BJJ specialist with all seventeen of his career wins coming by way of submission. His mission is clearly to put his opponent on the ground and go to work looking for the submission. It will be interesting to see how Tupper III approaches his matchup with Levanen who is a BJJ black belt and prefers to grapple as well. Levanen has far less experience in the cage and will be making his GFC debut, but is outstanding on the ground and always a threat to submit an opponent. This could turn out to easily be some of the best grappling we've ever seen in GFC's brief history.
The seventh fight on the card will feature middleweight Auron Almasy (13-8) facing Harrison Hansen (6-3). Almasy is an extremely powerful striker who is coming off of a Knockout of the Night performance at GFC II that saw him finish his opponent in just 36 seconds. Almasy is primarily a boxer who stalks his opponents and is always looking for the kill shot. Hansen enters the fight riding a three fight wins streak and has been very impressive in both of his GFC fights. Hansen's strong suite is his grappling game and he will most certainly want to get Almasy off his feet and make him tap. This should be an interesting classic striker vs grappler battle.
Two heavyweights will be making their much anticipated GFC debuts in the eighth fight when Cael Sanderson Bot (13-4) locks horns with TheRock Obama (9-7). Bot is a master of ground and pound and has shown some heavy hands when he gets his opponent pinned to the ground. Bot is likely one of the best wrestlers in all of GFC and has the killer instinct to finish fights. Obama prefers to make his living on the ground as well but tends to rely more heavily on his BJJ rather than wrestling. Each fighter has their own unique style and it will be interesting to see the strategies that they employ.
The co-main event will be a title eliminator fight between lightweight contenders Jean Charles (11-7) and Jesse Wolfe (16-8). The winner of the fight will move on to face Rolando Garcia for an opportunity to become GFC's first lightweight champion. Charles is a fearsome striker who is coming off of a heartbreaking split decision loss to Garcia. He is bound and determined to get a rematch and avenge the loss. Charles will look to mix up his striking and feed Wolfe a steady diet of kicks and punches to keep him off balance. Charles has the gas tank to go the distance and has shown some hints of power in the past, indicating that if conditions are right he may be able to end the fight abruptly. The first fighter to ever sign with GFC, Wolfe comes into this fight with a very impressive five fight win streak. Wolfe has really worked hard to round out his skill set and has done a tremendous job. He is a very accomplished striker who has shown that he can be equally dangerous on the ground when needed. Wolfe has displayed impressive power of late and has finished his last five fights in the first round. This one is going to be a slobber knocker!
Luke Skywalker (18-6) and Risky Gamble (20-4-1) will go toe to toe in our main event in a battle for middleweight supremacy. Skywalker is an incredibly gifted fighter with no glaring weaknesses in his skill set. Skywalker pulled off a a very nice first round submission win at GFC II and is looking to build his case to be the best welterweight in GFC. He is an aggressive striker who will go for the kill when warranted, but he is also in excellent shape and has not problem going the distance and outpointing his opponents. Gamble is a tremendous boxer with a very impressive professional record. He has thunder in his fists and owns sixteen career wins by KO or TKO. Gamble will most certainly try to keep the fight standing and is likely to come out aggressively looking for the knockout early on. The longer the fight wears on, the greater the chance of Skywalker getting Gamble to the ground where thing could get dicey.
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