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2015-01-28 Price: Free Edition: # Previous Issues Submit Article |
 Tycoon Times - The World's Premier Weekly Mixed Martial Arts Newspaper |
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UNFC 38: Camacho vs. TakayanagiEvent Preview: UNFC 38 Camacho Vs TakayanagiIn partnership with Big Bear Brazil 160Q, Unleash Fighting Championship presents UNFC 38: Camacho vs. Takayanagi.
The undercard launches with a Fight of the Night rematch from UNFC 28. Sebastian “Silent” Kasprzyk (3-6-0) took the initial contest so Lias Kota (2-3-0) will want to even the score. Raf Camora (1-0-0) flies in from New York to take on a fellow UNFC debutant Johan Pahlm (2-2-0) at lightweight. Then Eric “Pornstache” Skinner (2-2-0) continues his remarkable run of never fighting in the same city twice. The Canadian native will need every bit of that experience to stuff the superior wrestling of Gobleedy “Lazer Tron” Gooker (3-1-0).
Once again the immortal battle of wrestling verses jiu jitsu will commence when Grayson Crakehall (4-1-0) and Ching Lalalalalalng (6-6-0) do battle. Finally, “Happy Face” Big J Smiles (4-5-0) will look to continue his winning streak against the man who started it, The Flash (3-3-0). This one definitely looks like a real grudge match.
Carefully managing a young fighter’s career is one of the great challenges of modern MMA. Fighters need to be so well rounded to really compete at the top level but also need the experience in the cage to apply training skills to fights. Both Uthe Haas (2-1-0) and Dominik “The Crusher” Kokoszka (5-2-0) have spent their early careers on this tight rope and are now blossoming into real contenders.
The issue for both men to know what to expect from the other. Kokoszka displayed great hand speed in his last two bouts but that was against the same opponent who has been overwhelmed subsequently. Haas split the highly rated Duke Datsik open like an overly ripened peach but that could be as much to do with his opponents physiology as his own skill. This fight will tell us a huge amount of about either man with the winner surely becoming an instant favourite to be a lightweight championship contender in the very near future. Who that may be is even confusing the bookies in Vegas.
Royce Gracier (7-1-0) delivered a smothering clinch that no man could escape in his first seven fights but was undone for the first time last time out. Shown to be uncomfortable against the long jab and flawed on the ground, he will be desperate to show that he is a more rounded fighter than people now think. Miles Monroe (7-4-0) will certainly offer that challenge in abundance.
Many will remember that Monroe actually started his career with a reputation of being a ground guy. He was known for being an above average jiu jitsu fighter who lacked the wrestling to bring the fight to his domain. Having to adapt to the striking game, Monroe appears to have found a real love for knocking people senseless with big power shots. Therefore Monroe incapsulates everything that Gracier is believed to be poor against. Gracier couldn’t ask for a better chance to prove his critics wrong but you have to believe that Monroe is eyeing up that chin to see if the detractors opinions are true.
Two fighters who must be increasingly infuriated with their careers get to take out that frustration on each other when Nikolay “Burdik” Burdyalov (8-5-0) and Rick “Eddy” Cricket (10-3-0) face off at 205.
Cricket may be a relatively new face to the UNFC but he is a classic case of a fighter who just misses out when it really matters. His only three losses have come in championship matches or, as in the case of his UNFC debut, a number one contenders fight. Burdyalov has been the nearly man of the UNFC light heavyweight division for a long time. He holds wins over two former champions but has never quite made it to the the top of the show. This fight will catapult the winner back into championship mix but the loser may well fall into the unenviable position of gatekeeper.
Takuji “Devil” Kawashima (11-3-0) is a highly unorthodox heavyweight. Where most in this division are looking to trade strikes, “Devil” relies on timing big takedowns and violent ground and pound to end his fights. It is inarguable that he has been highly successful with these tactics due to many big guys simply panicking when they are put on their backs. What Kawashima must now show is that he can do this to the best fighters in the division. Those who are going to defend as stoutly on their back as anywhere else.
In Vidar Nord (9-3-0), Kawashima will be getting his chance.
Nord is fresh of an opportunity at the heavyweight title but ultimately came up short against the unbeaten champion. This should not discredit Nord’s claim as being a top fighter though. He has beaten some of the biggest names in Japan and succeeded with a flair that can only be describing as breathtaking. He will surely be the strong favourite going in with Kawashima as he must be confident that his extensive wrestling background will be enough to control “Devil’s” desire to force the fight to the floor. If this proves to be true, not even Kawashima himself would deny that Nord is very likely to have his way. Still, it should not be forgotten that even Nord has not fought someone quite as persuasive in wrestling as Kawashma and “Devil” has nothing to lose.
Without being cruel to Meguru Takayanagi (7-4-0), most fans were looking past this lightweight title fight in anticipation of a super fight between two weight champion Hector “Macho” Camacho (11-1-0) and Ferdinand Cortes. Of course this went up in smoke at UNFC 37 when Coates suffered a surprise defeat and will now be concentrating on recapturing his featherweight title.
This is likely to be bad news for Takayanagi as Camacho’s focus will now be entirely on the challenger and cementing his legacy at his natural 155.
It is extremely difficult to see past the champion when considering the winner. His stand up has been so sweet over the last few fights that he might as well have let his opponents have a couple of free swings to make it fair. This has been coupled with one of the best takedown defences around that has seen less than 20% of attempts land successfully while in the UNFC. This allows Camacho to open up with flashy combinations that stun opponents into letting their guard drop. How Takayanagi is going to counter this is almost unfathomable.
So what does Takayanagi have in his favour? He has certainly proved capable of finding submissions against good quality opposition and that may concern the one triumphed as “Macho”. The champ has been on the floor so rarely we really don’t know how good he actually. There is only so much credence given to reports out of training camp who are naturally trying to hype their fighter’s up. Also, Takayanagi has been fighting at lightweight consistently while Comacho has been up capturing the welterweight title. The extra muscle mass needed to fight at the higher weight division will need to come off and done improperly could drain the champion.
These may look like small mercies to clutch to, and Camacho will be the heavily backed in the markets, but after UNFC 37 we know that anything can happen in a championship fight.
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