HareRumpler Posted May 26, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2021 SUCKER PUNCH PREVIEW Sucker Punch Pro Series 61 Hello everybody! Hare Rumpler here joining my buddy and colleague Donkey “Dan” for the evening as we get ready to preview SPPS 61 which takes place over at the Bondi Outdoor Arena this evening! Now, this is a rare appearance for me these days and I’m probably going to have to shorten things up a bit tonight due to the unexpected turn of events that brought me to you tonight. My eldest, Risa Roo, was supposed to be doing the preview this evening per an agreement we made regarding my cleaning her rabbit cage so she could go scrambling back off to college to hang out with her friends yesterday. Instead, she bailed out last minute today and left this lying in my lap! Unreliable, unreliable, unreliable! Good help is difficult to come by folks, very difficult indeed! So let’s get to this thing being that I’m already under the gun from a time standpoint here. We’ve got NINE fights on tap this evening. One short of our normal full card due to an inability to book a test fight on short notice and having that plan fall through. Oh well, we’ll make up for it hopefully with some awesome regular fights in the remaining nine! Looking over things, this looks to be a very varied card that ranges from three Lightweight bouts all the way up to the Light Heavyweights getting involved a couple times. And everything in between! So the only thing we’re missing tonight are the bookend divisions of Featherweights and Heavyweights. I won’t waste any more of your time here, so after a word here about our merchandise partner and sponsor we’ll move right into the good stuff folks! When you think about training your fighters, one of the biggest concerns is keeping them in the gym and actively training, am I right? And you can’t do that if they have to be stopping to recover and rest for sessions here and sessions there! That is why you need to visit our sponsor, Shadow Warrior Nutrition, and specifically grab some of their Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q. It is literally the best energy loss reduction supplement money can buy and will keep your fighter in the gym training rather than sitting days out resting! Stop on over there today, you will NOT be disappointed! Now, let's get to it! *********************** Undercard Bout #1: Lightweights Tua Graves (6-10-1) v Ryo Hazuki (1-3-0) Our first fight of the evening is a Lightweight battle between embattled Ryo Hazuki and longtime Sucker Punch prospect, Tua Graves! I say embattled for Hazuki as he’s had four fights in his career, all here at SPPS, but has just seemed to find his way in his most recent fight against Trevor Barnes. Before that he’d had a trio of losses that left him searching for answers. Apparently the answer was found on the ground in the form of a triangle choke submission! Tonight there’s a chance he attempts to continue his success in the same manner but he’ll find that his Jiu Jitsu isn’t very much of an advantage over Graves who also has a purple belt. He does have the slight advantage wrestling though and that may very well prove useful along with his edge in Muay Thai if he decides to use the clinch as a vehicle to get to the ground. For Graves the road hasn’t been much easier despite being with Sucker Punch for a good long time! He moved over to Sucker Punch a year ago this month but in that time has managed just four wins over eleven fights. You have to go back five fights to his match in November of last year to find his last win over Montesh Dominguez and that struggle to find success likely has a lot to do with his manager, Miles Graves, making the tough decision to move on from Tua after this last fight on his contract. We’ll miss Tua, he definitely gave it his best and was a trooper heading into that cage month after month but clearly the right career for him will be found outside the cage somewhere. Most of his wins have come via submission as well in the past, so it will be interesting to see if he decides to play the same game with Hazuki, knowing Hazuki’s skills also, or if he’ll mix it up for his last go in the cage! Donkey’s Pick: Hazuki via Submission (Armbar) Graves has simply struggled to find his way. Even more so than Hazuki who at least has found a win in the past several months. I suspect this fight will go to the ground with both thinking they can pull off the ‘W’ there and if so, I have to go with the better grappler. Graves would love nothing more than to go out victorious though so perhaps his manager brings some surprises to the cage and proves me wrong this evening! *********************** Undercard Bout #2: Middleweights Colby Ortiz (9-7-1) v Edward Mills (4-7-0) The living human embodiment of the Sabre Tooth Tiger, Mills, will get in there and face off against Colby Ortiz this evening in this Middleweight contest, our second fight of the evening. Now, I know right away which direction Donkey will lean in for his picks because much like what happened at SPPS 60 last weekend another Ortiz, again led by Alex Conors, heads into the cage tonight with low morale! Almost none to be exact. Oh, and did I also mention only about 50% energy? Yeah, this one is already a done deal and they haven’t stepped into the cage yet! Ortiz might as well just turn this in as a No Contest and save himself the pain! However, there is the possibility of a huge KO this evening if Mills can land the ole Pickle Punch of his right on the button…so there’s some excitement to be hoped for here! Now I know there was some thought that Nati Batti doing this preview would be something of interest and while she wasn’t the one tapped for this preview…her sister was…who proceeded to let me down…I’m going to go to her now to see what she has to say about this one! “I think Mr. Pickles has got this win pretty easily. I like Mr. Pickles cause he’s pretty cool. I don’t need more of a reason than that. Mr. Ortiz here seems to come from an entire family of slackers who don’t prepare for their fights. Mr. Pickles will win this pretty easily probably by TKO. We don’t believe in formal goodbyes, I’m not getting paid for this review, so that’s all you get from me and my star power!” Well, there you have it folks, a few words from our local celebrity (in her own mind at least!) and we’ll turn this over to Donkey! Donkey’s Pick: Mills via KO (Punch) Ortiz does have a history of being able to finish on the ground with his formidable ground and pound skills. However, those days were when he came into the cage prepared and he’s now been on a losing streak over the past four fights with a draw in the one before that. Two of those losses have come here at Sucker Punch via Decision and TKO most recently to Brennan Brunswick last month. Given his morale and energy issues heading into this one it’s highly unlikely he can last three minutes much less pull off a win. But ground guys can sometimes surprise, so Mills needs to come in focused on getting the job done this evening! *********************** Undercard Bout #3: Light Heavyweights Andrei Averyanov (3-0-0) v Sacrificial Lamb (6-7-0) Our third fight of the Undercard will be a Light Heavyweight bout between my own former fighter, Sacrificial Lamb, and undefeated Andrei Averyanov! Lamb has been under the management of Khrog Decklov now for the past three fights but has struggled to keep up the success he had earlier in his career. That success had started to trickle off some in the final fights under my own management and it’s been suspected that his chin could perhaps be a little suspect. He’s an intelligent fighter which means he could find some success on the ground but that hasn’t been a focus for him so far in his career. It is important to note that Jiu Jitsu is the one area he’ll have a big advantage this evening so if he’s started working on some offensive ground skills that brown belt may pay off! Averyanov will have the slightest of edges in both Muay Thai and wrestling this evening but we’ll have to wait to see if that finally becomes useful for him. I say that because to date his wins have come without the use of the clinch as he’s taken it to both his prior opponents here at Sucker Punch with superior, accurate, heavy handed boxing! Expect the same this evening given Lamb’s proclivity to fall to the (T)KO unless Lamb can find a way to change things up gain the advantage! Donkey’s Pick: Averyanov via TKO (Strikes) While Lamb has the definitive skill advantage heading into this fight it’s the suspect chin or heart that is the bigger concern. Averyanov has proven an ability to land his strikes, land them hard and land them accurately. That’s a bad recipe for a guy who has struggled against strikers of late. Unless Lamb pulls a fast one and surprises us I think perhaps Averyanov gets his fourth win this evening! *********************** Undercard Bout #4: Lightweights Bradley Brunswick Jr (4-1-0) v Trevor Barnes (5-4-1) Our final fight of the Undercard will pit two closely matched fighter who also have very close MMAT registration ID’s against one another! You don’t get more even than that and in such a fight it’s the small things that really matter. That said, Barnes heads into this contest with only about 60% morale and with that lack of focus he may find himself taking his second loss in a row after starting his run here at Sucker Punch on a really solid 3-1 prior to that loss. Unfortunately, lack of attention and preparation can hamper the best of fighters and bring their careers crashing down! We’ll see if Barnes can overcome that disadvantage this evening. When Barnes wins it’s usually via strikes and most of the nasty work is done in the clinch. He won’t have the Muay Thai advantage this evening, giving up a slight edge to Brunswick, but he does have the smallest of advantages in wrestling. If he has the better overall supporting skills he could still make the best of things in the clinch. So that’s always an option. Outside those areas Brunswick has the boxing and Jiu Jitsu advantages. He grabbed his first ‘W’ with Sucker Punch last month in his debut against a very solid Jamal Jameson in a decision victory. The majority of his work was done kickboxing but he also showed he can be accurate in the clinch with a focus on head shots. He’ll likely try to keep things separated this evening but should it end up in a slow dance he may very well be able to hold his own! Donkey’s Pick: Brunswick via Unanimous Decision The morale thing has me a bit worried for Barnes and may very well allow Brunswick Jr to nip and tap his way to a points victory with the judges. It’s not a given as Barnes’ morale isn’t zero but it’s enough to see it as a potential tipping point. This one likely goes a solid three rounds and could be our first fight of the evening to do so! *********************** Main Card Bout #1: Middleweights Jim Beam (5-8-0) v Paulo Blikstein (7-4-1) We move into the Main Card here with this Middleweight showdown between Blikstein and former Champ, Beam. Both come into this one ready to rock which is great to see given the trend we’ve seen so far this evening! Woot, let’s get it on boys! Blikstein is a talented fighter who has struggled to find his way so far since joining Sucker Punch two fights ago. He suffered a loss to Matsuda in his SPPS debut via kimura submission and then fought Jin Yi to a Majority Draw last month. Yi wasn’t interested in a back to back to settle things but indicated he’d be open to it in a couple months once both had had a chance to evolved and make adjustments. I’m down with that and the thought behind it although I’d have been happy to see the immediate resolution of this one as well! Blikstein’s success in the past with GDL has mostly come via TKO’s and KO’s. Contrary to what you may immediately think though that success has come more on the ground with a brutal ground and pound approach! Beam is no stranger to that game either, which will make this an intriguing matchup. Beam has wonderful skills across the board in all major areas of focus which makes him tricky to size up and predict. He’s found success in all areas of the cage in the past, submission, ground and pound, standup striking, you name it. He became champ back in December after defeated Nyah Hirst to grab the belt but promptly lost it the following month in his first title defense to Landon McGuire. Since then he’s struggled to rebuild his confidence and get back to his winning ways with losses to Gōtarō, Yi and Fuhren. A win tonight over Blikstein, who fought Yi to a draw, would be just what the doctor ordered to get his confidence back on track and his record heading back in the right direction! Donkey’s Pick: Blikstein via TKO (Strikes) I definitely see where Hare’s coming from with his thought that this is the path for Beam to get back on track and put up a ‘W’ against a worthy fighter like Blikstein. Unfortunately, I have to see Beam break out of the slump and regain his confidence before I can be sure he’s got the eye of the tiger again. Some guys simply get shattered by a loss on the big stage and right now it’s looking like Beam may be having trouble overcoming that confidence issue. *********************** Main Card Bout #2: Welterweights Rick Segura (3-1-0) v Lors Loria (7-6-0) Lors Loria has remarkable boxing and superb Muay Thai, skills he will attempt to put into action this evening in an attempt to overcome Rick Segura who will hold a definitive advantage on the ground in this Welterweight confrontation! Loria has struggled mightily since joining Sucker Punch five months ago. In that time he’s managed just one win, two months back, against DJ Costune while falling in a variety of ways in the other four contests. Tricky Smith, his manager, has been on of late so Loria will undoubtedly be hoping that the strategy they have in place and Smith’s presence in his corner will pay off with a win to turn things around. If he’s going to get that win he’s likely going to have to be prepared to keep this fight on the feet! Segura is a vicious ground and pounder who has gone 3-0 since joining Sucker Punch. He has one loss but that came in an insignificant test fight almost six months before he started the run with us and his true professional appearances. With brutal, unrelenting ground punishment dished out in his wins over Ramirez, Zsofka and Ortiz it’s clear that his goal will be to reproduce the same result again tonight and set himself up for a step up in competition going forward as he climbs the ladder. But one thing at a time and his focus had better be on this fight if he wants to make it four in a row! Donkey’s Pick: Segura via TKO (Strikes) Kelly McGrady will likely have her fighter focused and ready for the task at hand this evening. And that task is to come out of this with yet another “TKO (Strikes)” under the “Method” column of Segura’s MMA Record. Segura’s bio asks, “Who wants this smoke??” and I think the appropriate answer is…”Nobody does!” Where there’s smoke there’s fire as they say and unless Loria brings a standup game and takedown defense to the table that sends this one sideways he may end up burnt this evening! *********************** Main Card Bout #3: Middleweights Brennan Brunswick (7-0-0) v Artemyev Valeryevich (4-1-0) Next up we have one of the most exciting fights of the evening, at least in my eyes, with two young, talented Middleweights who bring fantastic records to the cage ready to square off! And both of these kids are, as I said, young at only 22 and 20 years of age. So these kids are not only talented, but big time up and comers who will get a chance this evening to take another big step forward while proving that they are indeed the faster rising young star! Valeryevich, the 22 year old in this equation, is managed by Clubber Winger and comes into this contest with the edge on the feet. His boxing is a definitive advantage while he also has a slight edge in Muay Thai. He has only one loss on his record which was an early career test fight so for all intents and purposes this man brings a 4-0 record to the table! All four of those wins have been here at Sucker Punch with us and all four have come in crowd energizing and pleasing fashion with three KO’s and a TKO! His first two KO’s earned ‘Fight of the Night’ and ‘KO of the Night’ honors in that order and his last three fights have all been finished in the first round. There’s no secret to what he’s bringing to the cage this evening and that’s hard hitting, kickboxing action! After two wins in the Fighter House series Brunswick slid on over to our very own Sucker Punch promotion and never took his foot off the gas! He’s got seven straight wins that allow him to boast an undefeated record heading into the cage against Valeryevich this evening and the last four of those wins have come via KO and then three TKO’s! Where he and Valeryevich differ is with their approach to getting those finishes. Brunswick prefers to get up close and intimate, dancing in the clinch as he abuses the hell out of his opponents until he’s beaten the will to survive from their bodies…and minds. He’ll put an opponent through hell in the clinch until he can earn the finish and undoubtedly his goal will be to dictate where the fight takes place this evening and control the fight once in the clinch. Donkey’s Pick: Valeryevich via Unanimous Decision This is the first really, REALLY tough one to call this evening! Both of these fighters are very talented as you’ve explained Hare. Both have proven they know how to win in their respective ways. But this one likely comes down to who can impose their will and dictate where the fight takes place as you said. Now, that being said, there’s also a chance that each is just as capable in the other’s kitchen. So this is truly going to be a magnificent battle! Neither have been finished yet in their career, so does that happen tonight or do they go to war for a full three rounds?!? I, just like many of our fans, am dying to know the answer! For now, I’ll simply go with age as a differentiator! But let’s get this one going! Woooo! *********************** Co-Main Event: Featured Light Heavyweight Bout Wille Thai (9-3-0) v Tank Tribute (8-4-0) If you think the last fight that brought us right up to the Main Events looks like an exciting one then our Co-Main event of the evening will build on that excitement and energy and really have you hyped! Tribute and Thai are two equally skilled fighters, albeit in different areas of focus, with very close records. They will pit those records and skills against one another tonight in this monster of a Light Heavyweight showdown! Tribute has been a bit up and down over his past four fights under current management with a 2-2 record since John Wayne took over. When he’s on, he’s on though and he rains shots like a ton of bricks that have turned off the lights for his opponents in both wins! He’ll be looking to stand and bang tonight, but in doing so he’s going to have to find a way to counter Thai’s takedowns and avoid falling victim to Thai’s ground game. Thai will know that Tribute has remarkable wrestling and a purple belt in Jiu Jitsu. Despite those skills, Thai’s are superior and that’s where he’ll be looking to make his mark. He has exceptional wrestling and a brown belt which have produced all nine of his wins via submission! He can’t come walking into this contest too cocky though despite his past success and limited losses because two of the losses he has, both in title fights, were via TKO. So the vulnerability there, unless he’s firmed up his defenses in those areas, will be to the exact skills that Tribute brings to the cage! Whoever wins this fight will be on the fast-track to a possible Top Contender battle in a couple fights if they can keep winning. And we all know what that means…a potential shot at the title if you can stay focused! Expect both to come with their ‘A’ game this evening. Donkey’s Pick: Thai via Submission (Triangle) Tribute has never fallen via submission. But to the best of my knowledge he’s also never faced a truly talented ground specialist. This is all going to potentially come down to whether he can finish Thai early or whether Thai can work the fight to the ground. Classic striker versus grappler/submission artist matchup! Flip a coin or place your own bets, your guess is as good as mine! But you know I love a good ground game and we haven’t had many submissions lately, so I’ll go in that direction! *********************** Main Event: Lightweight Championship Bout Frankie Logan (10-1-0) v Kurt Cobain (10-3-0) Our final fight of the evening and the Main Event is a title fight for the Sucker Punch Pro Series Lightweight Championship of the World! Kurt Cobain returns to the championship cage after a prior loss in his bid to take the belt from Michael Aalto last year in November. He suffered a minor setback in the fight immediately following against Petsuwan Sitsongrit before rediscovering his confidence and big finish capabilities which have led to a four fight winning streak! That streak led him here after moving up a weight class and going on to win a Top Contender battle against Raleight St. Clair last month. He now he looks to see if his hard punching, take no prisoners style can overcome the strategic striking and discipline of Frankie Logan! Frankie Logan may very well twist this fight inside out being that he’s far from a one trick pony! It’s important to remember that this man is also a former TWGC champion. Granted, he’s never gone back to the well to use the ground game as a vehicle for the win, instead focusing on his defensive prowess on the ground. That doesn’t mean he won’t throw a monkey-wrench into the mix this evening against a striker like Cobain. If Logan does decide to stand and strike though, expect a disciplined, accurate striking experience where he attempts to earn points while wearing down his opponent to eventually take a decision or, should his opponent gas, snatch the TKO victory. Frankie has had the belt since the Lightweight Division Cockshot Sorter Series ended. That tournament established the division here at Sucker Punch and since then Logan is the only champions this division has ever seen! He’s a clear-cut future Hall of Famer for Sucker Punch and you can bet that should he lose the belt this evening he won’t be doing it without a hell of a fight after having defended that belt six times already! Donkey’s Pick: Kurt Cobain via KO (Strikes) This may be the very first time I’ve put my marker on the challenger since the early days of Logan’s run! Why am I doing it now? I don’t really know. A weird hunch? Just knowing that all things eventually have to come to an end, even runs like this? It may not happen tonight. But eventually it will. Maybe. Logan has faced elite strikers before. Even vicious hard-hitting ones. Cobain is in another class when it comes to that level of striking though. Can he catch Logan the right way at the right time? Maybe or maybe not, but damn, what would the Sucker Punch and MMA world do if it happened? Maybe we find out and maybe we don’t! Let’s get it on! *********************** So there we have it Sucker Punch fans! This is a great card for SPPS 61 coming your way this evening folks that is highlighted by three amazing fights to finish off the evening! I can’t wait for the action and to go over the aftermath with you all in the next day or so…but in the meantime, get on over to the Bondi this evening and have a blast folks! Till then, have fun and don’t forget… Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style! 4 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator001 Posted May 26, 2021 Report Share Posted May 26, 2021 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldbones Posted May 26, 2021 Report Share Posted May 26, 2021 Mr. Takahashi: And so another victory for Team Lundgren has come, the only difficulty we had was we don't pick fights, we only accept them. But like the great race of Saiyan warriors our fighters grow stronger with each loss which is exactly why Yellowbelt Casey should be afraid of his rematch against Akara, after 6 losses his power level is now over 9000! Hazuki has also come a long way having been taken under Mattias Lundgren's wing for personal training emphasizing his personal style which is nothing to balk at with a 12-2 record and looks forward to evening out his record to 3-3 in 30 days. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted May 28, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2021 POST EVENT CHEAP SHOTS Sucker Punch Pro Series 61 Hello all you Sucker Punch fans out there! Yes, I know…I’m running very behind on this review from two events back now that SPPS 62 went off last night, putting us way behind the eight ball on this review for SPPS 61. But, better late than never? There were only nine fights on this card and we were split down the middle almost with decisions and finishes via (T)KO…no submissions on this night! Donkey will be so disappointed! There was a title on the line but not a lot changes in that department as you’ll see later in the review. Anyways, I don’t honestly have a lot to say about things being that we’re already running late on reviewing all that went down at the Bondi earlier mid-week, so why don’t we get to our sponsor and merchandise partner and move into taking a look at how the results affected the fighters and the divisions here at Sucker Punch! When you think about training your fighters, one of the biggest concerns is keeping them in the gym and actively training, am I right? And you can’t do that if they have to be stopping to recover and rest for sessions here and sessions there! That is why you need to visit our sponsor, Shadow Warrior Nutrition, and specifically grab some of their Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q. It is literally the best energy loss reduction supplement money can buy and will keep your fighter in the gym training rather than sitting days out resting! Stop on over there today, you will NOT be disappointed! Now, let's get to it! *********************** Undercard Bout #1: Lightweights Ryo Hazuki Defeats Tua Graves via Split Decision It shouldn’t be surprising at all that with one fighter in this first contest having some ground skills that Donkey would make a pick by submission! He’s always hoping for those! But that was not to be as Hasuki and Graves battled it out to not only a decision, but a split one at that! The action, while up, down and all around in this one, wasn’t all that intense to be honest and the fight overall got a fairly low rating due to a lack of offensive activity and nobody really pushing the pace or the aggression. Most of the standup was spent with Graves playing defense and Hazuki looking for a way to put the fight on the ground. Once on the ground there were more than a few submission attempts, mostly from Hazuki but a few from Graves as well, but nothing was able to be locked in for a finish. Overall with so few strikes landed to score points I’m a bit surprised by the split decision, I’d have to assume the judges gave a point here or there for Hazuki getting the takedowns. Donkey, what do you have for us…? Donkey’s Takeaways: With this being Graves’ last fight before his contract was up and his manager was prepared to cut him from their stable you’d have expected him to come out fairly aggressive looking for a win. That didn’t happen and it almost seemed he was just going through the motions, almost resigned to his fate and no longer interested in the fight game. Ah well. Hazuki gets the split here and will take the win and run, no doubt there! Team Lundgren is happy to tack on another victory for their squad no matter which way it comes and this makes two in a row for Hazuki, which is a heck of a lot better than the 0-3 run he started out with here at Sucker Punch and on his career. Next month he’ll face young Trevor Barnes who suffered a loss to Bradley Brunswick later this evening (oops, spoiler alert!) and we’ll see which of these kids can take the next step forward! *********************** Undercard Bout #2: Middleweights Edward Mills Defeats Colby Ortiz via KO (Punch) With Ortiz coming in fully unprepared for this fight I honestly expected Mr. Pickle Punch to put this fight away early in the first round. That didn’t happen and I found that a bit concerning. Spoke with his manager, Kyle F, and he indicated that he had “tried a few new things” in that fight that kept it from being ended sooner. Hmm. Do you believe him folks, or is he just making excuses? We’ll let the fans be the judge of that! (And I’m not prepared to take heat from Kyle for this one, haha!) We knew that this fight was very likely to end via KO and Donkey even called the fight right on the button with the KO Punch finish. So it was just a matter of waiting for the inevitable. Post fight, an emotional Edward Mills said, “Ho ho ho Dragonball Z I Mr. Pickle Punch! I tricky! I winner.” That kid knows how to have some fun I the dopiest way doesn’t he?!? Also in the post-fight interviews, after he was brought back to the living world with a few smelling salts, Ortiz had this to say, “I've been with BFC for a long time. I appreciate the opportunities I have been given. This was my last fight here. Thanks to Benji and everyone who has contributed to the company. See ya around.” Clearly that shot from Mills took its toll as apparently he’s not only been knocked into last week, but hell, last February! Hope he recovers fully and soon! Donkey’s Takeaways: Ortiz really brought almost nothing to the cage with him the other night and despite getting one takedown from outside the clinch he failed, and subsequenty burned energy he didn’t have to waste, on nine other attempts from the clinch. Once on the ground his aggression and energy were lackluster and this fight was really never one he was in. If he doesn’t come prepared next month you’ll have to question his direction in MMA and whether he’s really up for it going forward. Mills will be more than happy with a fairly easy win to stop the bleeding after coming into this fight on a two loss run. His next chance to prove himself and start making some moves up the division ladder will likely be against Rodionovich or Hall after their fight is over on June 2nd! *********************** Undercard Bout #3: Light Heavyweights Andrei Averyanov Defeats Sacrificial Lamb via KO (Punch) In the preview I had noted about Lamb that, “…it’s been suspected that his chin could perhaps be a little suspect. He’s an intelligent fighter which means he could find some success on the ground but that hasn’t been a focus for him so far in his career.“ Sure enough, that question about the chin raised its ugly head again here in this one as he was down via KO in the first round by Averyanov! Also of note, Lamb made zero attempt to get this fight to the ground so I guess we have our answer about the ground game and whether it’s still fully defensive based. Averyanov didn’t have to dish out a lot of punishment and certainly didn’t have to take much so he’ll be able to get back to training fairly quickly after this. That’ll happen when you do this just shy of four minutes into the fight… “Averyanov jabs Lamb right on the nose. Lamb blinks but takes it well. Lamb is rocked! Averyanov fires a straight punch through the middle that cracks Lamb square on the jaw! Damn, Lamb is out cold on his feet and topples face first to the canvas! Wow, I haven't seen a knockout that brutal in a long time!” Donkey’s Takeaways: Lamb’s management has not responded to our inquiry about a contract extension at this point so we’re unsure if he’ll simply be playing out the remaining fight on his contract or staying on longer and trying to work through this rough patch he’s been on. With five TKO or KO losses in a row now though you have to wonder how punch drunk the kid may be and whether his days in the cage are near an end? Averyanov picks up his fourth win in a row if you include his test fight from last year in April. I don’t really, so realistically the kid is 3-0 here at sucker punch with finishes via TKO or KO in all three fights! This KO tonight earned him ‘KO of the Night’ honors, something he and his camp celebrated on top of the win I’m sure. At this time we haven’t formally offered his next fight yet but I’m told by Hare it’s likely to be against Rajantaka after this next fight completes on June 2nd! *********************** Undercard Bout #4: Lightweights Bradley Brunswick Jr Defeats Trevor Barnes via Unanimous Decision Our second Decision of this evening, this one Unanimous, came between Lightweights Barnes and Brunswick. We kinda spoiled this one earlier in one of our other fight reviews but if you didn’t read them all then hey, no spoiler after all! I thought that Barnes might try to get some work in in the clinch in this one but the fight never got there. Not that he didn’t try, he did attempt to get there three times, but not a ton over the course of three rounds. Instead, these two stuck to some straight up kickboxing with Brunswick going uber aggressive on it. Just to give a feel for what I mean by that, he threw eighty-two head punches over the three rounds…with forty-two landing! For his part Barnes weathered that storm amazingly well, never appearing to be in much trouble so either Brunswick was throwing a lot of pure accuracy stuff without much pop or Barnes has one hell of a chin. On top of that, neither fighter ever gassed out which really speaks to their conditioning. Overall a solid fight but without any explosive action. The fans really did appreciate it though as the fight got an 80% rating but ultimately Brunswick’s aggression paid off earning him the points he needed with the judges. Donkey’s Takeaways: Barnes came into this one with his morale off and that certainly seemed to play into his inability to match Brunswick’s aggressive approach. Another concern is that after this fight his morale dropped to just about zero indicating a potentially serious confidence issue. He’ll get a bounce back chance against Ryo Hazuki next month but if he wants to win he better come fully prepared! Brunswick gets his second win since joining team Smith and appears to have established a strategy of taking things the distance with his aggression, going for the points win. We’ll see if that continues next month and if he can make it three in a row when he takes on Montesh Dominguez! *********************** Main Card Bout #1: Middleweights Paulo Blikstein Defeats Jim Beam via TKO (Strikes) As we move on to the Main Card, Donkey starts out spot on with his picks as he nailed the call for Blikstein via TKO (Strikes)! Despite Blikstein specifically liking the ground and pound game Beam was the one to initiate the first takedown in this fight. Blikstein was able to land twice as many shots down there though, dishing out four to Beam’s two. The fight didn’t stay down there long though as it returned to the feet with Beam taking a more rounded kickboxing approach while Blikstein stayed focused on his hands for the most part going for body shots, head shots and combinations. The combinations weren’t landing but the body shots were along with a little over half the head shots. Despite Beam landing more shots overall it was Blikstein landing them with something behind them and it got the job done… “Blikstein lands with an uppercut that bounces Beam off the cage and back into range. Beam is rocked! Blikstein misses with a wild combination. Oh Beam is still all over the place! His legs are completely gone! Will he be able to recover?! Today's fight clock is brought to you by... OOOH that's a huge shot by Blikstein! Beam is in big trouble here - the ref steps in to save him and this one is all over!” Donkey’s Takeaways: It wouldn’t be an understatement to say that Beam is very much struggling to regain his form and confidence ever since losing the belt to McGuire. Since then he’s lost via TKO’s and submissions and just cannot seem to catch a break. Is it a confidence issue? Has he just fallen behind? Is it just dumb bad luck? We really can’t say at this point but it’s now been five fights in a row bringing home the ‘L’. Not the place you want to be. Next month he’ll get to step foot into the cage across from a brand new face in newcomer Iliya Topuria. Perhaps that change of pace provides him the spark he needs! For Blikstein this win throws the monkey clear off his back as he’s been 0-1-1 since joining Sucker Punch. Now with a win over a former champ he can focus on getting back to the form that made him successful at GDL prior to joining us at SPPS. Next month he’ll get an opportunity to face off against multi-time top contender Ainsworth with the winner likely heading into a Top Contender battle of their own. Two more wins and there’s a potential title shot on the line so these guys can see the reward at the end of the tunnel! But they need to focus on one fight at a time before then, that’s for sure. *********************** Main Card Bout #2: Welterweights Rick Segura Defeats Lors Loria via TKO (Strikes) Donkey “strikes” again calling this one for Segura as a TKO by way of Strikes. Loria has struggled to find his way since joining Sucker Punch and this fight didn’t change much for his fortunes in that area, making him 1-5 since joining us. My comments about Segura and his approach to this fight were right on in the preview when I said that, “Segura is a vicious ground and pounder who has gone 3-0 since joining Sucker Punch. He has one loss but that came in an insignificant test fight almost six months before he started the run with us and his true professional appearances. With brutal, unrelenting ground punishment dished out in his wins over Ramirez, Zsofka and Ortiz it’s clear that his goal will be to reproduce the same result again tonight and set himself up for a step up in competition going forward as he climbs the ladder.” Sure enough Segura was focused on getting this fight to the ground each round and did so successfully, giving him the opportunity to dish out a ton of punishment once down there. That was more than enough for him to dominate the fight and find the finish he was looking for! “Segura has his opponent pinned against the cage, landing some nasty ground and pound that is really making a bit of a mess out of Loria's face. Loria is rocked! Segura postures up and throws a couple of big shots that have Loria in real trouble here! The ref calls for Loria to improve his position which he doesn't do, so the referee has no choice but to end the fight due to the strikes!” Donkey’s Takeaways: In the preview I wrote that, “Segura’s bio asks, “Who wants this smoke??” and I think the appropriate answer is…”Nobody does!” Where there’s smoke there’s fire as they say and unless Loria brings a standup game and takedown defense to the table that sends this one sideways he may end up burnt this evening!” Loria failed to arrive with any of that defense and drive in order and once this thing was on the ground it was all about taking care of business for Segura. I’m just shocked that it took until the second round to finish it. Segura will definitely be looking at stepping up a level in competition next month when he welcomes Erik Eriksson to the Sucker Punch fold. Time to focus on a great camp! For Loria, he finds himself without a manager following this last loss as Tricky Smith clearly decided he’d seen enough. It’s unlikely he’s going to be picked up by another manager after the struggles he’s been through so perhaps we’ll see him working concessions, selling tickets or doing customer service in the future. *********************** Main Card Bout #3: Middleweights Artemyev Valeryevich Defeats Brennan Brunswick via Unanimous Decision Donkey is definitely on a roll here on the Main Card as he once again nails down this pick with the winning call across the board! Valeryevich and Brunswick went to war in this one for a full three rounds and very nearly had themselves a ‘Fight of the Night’ reward for their trouble. Close, but not quite as we went with an earlier “hype up” fight that seemed to really get our crowd warmed up. That said, Brunswick had no interest in standing and striking at range with Valeryevich in this one and tried with a vengeance to get this fight into the clinch and keep it there. Like, to a ridiculous number of fifty-six clinch attempts! Well, that’ll wear you down, that’s for sure! He’s just lucky he wasn’t TKO’d towards the end of this fight! Instead this fight went to Valeryevich due to his ability to land more body shots in the clinch, clearly getting the better of the exchanges there while also being the only one to land any strikes when separated. That was enough to earn him all three rounds and the ‘W’ by the end of this one! Donkey’s Takeaways: Brunswick takes the first loss of his still young career despite the eight fights he’s been in to date. He’ll be hungry to bounce back and take it out on a new opponent next month, no doubt, and that opponent is likely to be Chris Harms (if he resigns in the meantime as his contract expiration date is too soon). If not, we’ll certainly look to give him another quality fight and get him right back in that cage! Valeryevich snags his fifth win in a row making him perfect since joining Sucker Punch in the fall last year. He’s run through everybody we’ve put in front of him so far and next month he’ll get a huge test in a showdown with the very talented Sean Smith! *********************** Co-Main Event: Featured Light Heavyweight Bout Tank Tribute Defeats Wille Thai via TKO (Strikes) Well, the Co-Main Event brings an end to Donkey’s run of correct picks as he had Thai in this one. And after the win, Tribute was sure to let Donkey know what he thought of his picks in his post fight interview… Tank Tribute gave a big smile as he said '(Stares at the Camera) Why Donkey? Why? Thai ain't got a thing against me.' You know me, I love it when somebody gives it to Donkey a little bit since it’s usually me they’re going after for one reason or another! Ha! Good on Tribute for making sure he got the last word! Ultimately Thai was able to get this fight to the ground…five times actually…but Tribute’s defense was MORE than up to the task as he passed the test with flying colors, avoiding the submissions and working his way back to the feet. In the second round, after once again escaping the ground game of Thai, Tribute first rocked Thai good with a left and right combination, knocking him down and then rocking him further with solid jab! Tribute was clearly putting a ton of bricks behind each of his shots as he didn’t land a huge number of them, but those he did land did some serious damage! After escaping yet another ground exercise with Thai, Tribute was able to put the finishing touches on things…literally, with this “touch”… “Tribute cracks Thai with a big right hand that sends him crashing to the floor. Tribute has the opportunity to follow him to the ground but instead he's beckoning Thai to stand back up! Tribute walks forward and throws a big overhand right! Thai drops to the floor like a sack of potatoes! Tribute swarms on him with more punches until the referee wrestles him away from Thai's unconscious body! Wow, that was brutal!” Donkey’s Takeaways: In the preview I wrote that, “Tribute has never fallen via submission. But to the best of my knowledge he’s also never faced a truly talented ground specialist. This is all going to potentially come down to whether he can finish Thai early or whether Thai can work the fight to the ground.” Well, it remains true that he has never fallen via submission and clearly this was not the fight he was going to allow that to change! He was more than prepared for Thai’s ground game and showed some impressive skills, defense and preparation! With two solid wins in a row and three of his last four being W’s he’s rocking and rolling and ready for a move further up the ladder! He’ll get a huge opportunity to do just that next month against Choctaw Bloode who is under new management! Thai has bounced back and forth between wins and losses of late and will want to right the ship and start building a winning streak again. Next month’s contest against Victor Veidt will be an opportunity to do that if he’s not too distracted by the masked man known as “Val”! *********************** Main Event: Lightweight Championship Bout Frankie Logan Defeats Kurt Cobain via Unanimous Decision PJ Jones’ magic comes through once again here as Frankie Logan weathers the storm of Cobain’s power striking and comes away from the challenge STILL the champ! Donkey picked Cobain for the upset in this one but once this fight got past the first round or two and looked to be going the distance the chances of it ending up in Cobain’s favor shrank fast given Logan and Jones’ history of being able to drag a fight out for a decision! Logan definitely came to the table with a bit of a twist in this one as he worked the ground game a bit more than usual. That’s not a surprise given his skills there and Cobain’s strength being on the feet, but it’s still not something we’ve seen often from Logan. Cobain looked to be working a bit of the points game himself a the start of this contest as he came out scoring points and looking to be attempting to pick at Logan in a bit of Logan’s own game. He won that round and had us all wondering if he could potentially play Logan’s game better than he could! Logan was able to bounce right back in the second round and each one after that to grab the rounds 4-1 in his favor leaving the final score from the judges after five championship rounds at 49:46 across the board. It should be noted that ultimately Cobain ended up the more aggressive fighter throwing almost twice the number of strikes that Logan did and both fighters were fully gassed out by the end of this big time contest. It very well could have ended via TKO for either guy with the right shot thrown at the right time, so this fight was a LOT closer than it seemed! Donkey’s Takeaways: Cobain won’t be happy with the end result here and certainly not with this having been his second shot at a title, the first in this division. But he did well for himself in that cage and may have even learned a few things about himself and Logan in the process. I fully expect to see him challenging again in the future and we may very well see an even better prepared and strategizing Cobain the next time around! He’ll get to attempt to take his frustrations out on Ramon Rabbit next month. Logan does it again! And again and again and again. And proved me wrong with my pick of an upset here in this one! The man is truly an amazing champion and just keeps rolling along looking unstoppable. I stand by what I said though…all things eventually end…but apparently Logan has made it clear that THIS FIGHT was not going to be the one where that came true! He’ll likely get some time to train until early July at which point he’ll either face Guy River if he wins his fight against Jubbly or Furioto should River come up short and Furioto is able to defeat Yoshikage. *********************** So there we have it Sucker Punch fans! And there we go folks…a little behind on the delivery for this one but still a great night of fights to look back on and now we have SPPS 62 as well to review in the next day! We have even more action coming up this week with SPPS 63 on tap and we can’t wait to be there with all our great fans at the Bondi Outdoor Arena in Sydney! Till then, have fun and don’t forget… Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted May 29, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2021 SUCKER PUNCH PREVIEW Sucker Punch Pro Series 62 Hey all! Welcome back as we get ready to turn this thing over to Nati Batti and Donkey as they look forward here at tonight’s action at SPPS 62! I’m Hare Rumpler and while I won’t be with you long this evening I will be skipping over and trying to work on completing the review for SPPS 61 which we are very behind on. I promise that that will be done, and if not this evening, early tomorrow. I’m shooting for later this evening though! In the meantime, let’s get back to the task at hand here which is what we’ve got coming at you folks this evening! No titles on the line tonight but tons of hard-hitting action is still heading your way over at the Bondi Outdoor Arena in Sydney. The action will span across just about every division this evening as we’ll start out with a Light Heavyweight battle followed right up with the even bigger boys at Heavyweight! Then we’ll slip into a pair of Welterweight contests and a Middleweight showdown to finish up the Undercard. In Main Card action we’ll get things really rolling with a pair of battles in the Light Heavyweight division! First what should be a great one between Abraham Barnes and Morioka Shigemasa and then we’ll piggyback right off that into a contest of styles between Jedi Rebel and Joe Junior! The “hump” bout on the Main Card will be one I’m really looking forward tonight as we get to see Middleweights Nyah Hirst and Jin Yi throw down in the cage, a battle that will have huge implications as these two attempt to climb up that ladder into contention. We’ll finish off the evening with our two Main Events, both Featherweight affairs, as we get treated to the return of the once VERY formidable Count Dankula against Pull Plugger and then the final action of the night as former Champ Michael Aalto attempts to work his way right back into title contention with a chance to pull in a win over Jaxon Bremner! Bremner will certainly have something to say about that though so expect this to be a war between the smallest of the smalls in Sucker Punch, but certainly not the smallest in heart! So there we have it for this evenings lineups folks! Let’s get a quick word about our sponsor and merchandise partner and then turn it over to Nati and Donkey! Our fantastic and respected sponsor is Shadow Warrior Nutrition! Many of you already know them as the providers of Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q., THE energy loss reduction supplements! For those of you who aren’t in the know on that, you should be, because this is the way you keep your fighter training more often and not taking sessions off to try to keep his energy above 90%! If you aren’t using this supplement, hurry over and check them out today, you will not be disappointed! Now, let's get to it! *********************** Undercard Bout #1: Light Heavyweights Atilla Dorn (2-3-0) v Artyom Meyer (0-1-0) The first fight of the night is a light heavyweight fight between Atilla Dorn and Artyom Meyer. Based on the looks of it, Dorn has the advantage skillswise. Both of these guys are relatively inexperienced fighters, with Dorn having fought more with 5 and Meyer having only fought 1, and lost it. I think Dorn could win this one simply because he has more experience, even though it’s losing experience. He still has more experience with other fighters and the length of the fight. I think he could outlast Meyer. So I’m going to say that this fight will go to Dorn, possibly by decision but I’m not sure. Donkey’s Pick: Meyer via TKO (Strikes) Meyer makes his Sucker Punch debut this evening which is essentially the beginning of his professional career. Sure, he has one loss on the record but that was a test fight from way back and hardly matters. He’ll come in with the smallest of advantages in both areas of standup as well as wrestling while Dorn will have the big advantage in Jiu Jitsu with his brown belt. Dorn does not typically tend to utilize a ground game as a vehicle for offense so we’re guessing that his skills in Jiu Jitsu are mostly defensive. If it’s anything other than that though don’t be surprised to see him change things up and start going for some subs tonight! However, should this thing stay on the feet Meyer should have the advantage. *********************** Undercard Bout #2: Heavyweights Banana Republic (5-5-0) v Thor Nordquist (4-7-0) Fight number 2 is a heavyweight fight between Banana Republic and Thor Nordquist. I’m pretty sure Banana Republic is a store, not a fighter, and Nordquist looks like he is trying to be a rip off version of Thor from the movies. His name sounds like that’s what he is doing, too. Looking at their skills, it looks like Nordquist would have the advantage. However, Republic has a better winning percentage than Nordquist and the crowd seems to like him better. So, I’ll go with the fans on this one and give Republic the benefit of the doubt. He usually wins by TKO, but I think this might go all of the way to decision as well. Donkey’s Pick: Republic via TKO (Strikes) Nordquist will come into this contest with the Jiu Jitsu advantage and the smallest of edges in wrestling. Republic will have small advantages in both areas of standup. That said, Nordquist has never been known to work the ground game for the win…and has also fallen in four of his last five fights to KO’s or TKO’s. That doesn’t bode well against a slightly superior striker so I think you probably have to lean towards Republic in this one. Republic would be thrilled to finally break free of the three fight losing streak he’s on and chalk up his first SPPS victory if he can pull it out this evening! *********************** Undercard Bout #3: Welterweights RJ Cain (11-9-0) v Sergio Vargas (5-11-0) Up next will be a welterweight fight between RJ Cain and Sergio Vargas. I have a vague feeling I’ve written about Cain, or perhaps a different Cain, before, but I’m not entirely sure. Cain appears to be a more talented fighter skillswise, and also has more experience and a slightly better record than Vargas. Cain has fought 20 fights and won 11 of them, while Vargas has fought 16 fights and won 5 of them. I don’t really think experience will come into play here simply because they have both fought so many fights. Although, Cain knows how to win a fight and Vargas seems to have struggled with that in the past. I’ll go with Cain on this fight, and it looks like the fans would agree with me. Cain is much more popular so I assume there’s a good reason for that. I think no matter which way it goes, it will be won by TKO, as they both have habits of winning that way. Donkey’s Pick: Vargas via Unanimous Decision Vargas comes into the fight this evening with the smallest of advantages in Muay Thai, but the bigger thing in this fight will be what he gives up which is the morale advantage. He’s off by about 20% and while that’s not horrendous it’s probably enough in a tough fight like this one. Cain has had an awful go of it over his past six fights though and you certainly cannot guarantee any amount of edge for him going into this given that situation. With two losses here at Sucker Punch and four from (B)BFC before that, it’s hard to stick your hat on his side of the cage this evening despite his advantage in the ground game. Until he can prove he’s got his head on right again and can find that winning mentality I have to go with Vargas despite the indicators to the contrary! *********************** Undercard Bout #4: Welterweights Mister Lee (3-4-0) v Lou Valentine (2-3-0) The fourth fight of the night is another welterweight fight, this time between Mister Lee and Lou Valentine. I’m a little confused. Is his first name Mister? Or does he just not have a first name so we must be formal? Anyways, this fight looks like it will be pretty close, probably the closest so far tonight. Their skills are pretty balanced, as is their popularity among the fans. Both of these guys have a little bit of experience, but not a ton, and both have more losses than wins, but only by a little. See, last time Donkey judged me for judging based on just a tiny bit less morale or energy, but since I have nothing else to go on here, I’m going to do it again. Plus, I’m pretty sure I was right last time. Lee has slightly less morale than Valentine, so I will choose Valentine on this one. I think he will win by TKO, since that’s what he won by in his only 2 wins prior to this. Donkey’s Pick: Lee via Unanimous Decision Full disclosure here, this is the first of two fights in a row that involves one of Hare’s fighters. That fighter will be Valentine in this contest and while these two line up extremely well against one another in the primary skills, with Valentine even appearing to have a slight Muay Thai and wrestling edge, he gives up a ton in age and time spent formally training in MMA. That should give Lee a significant advantage in some of the underlying secondary skills and potentially physicals on top of his boxing edge. It’s hard not to see Valentine as the definitive underdog here so I have to tip my hat to Lee and say he’s likely to get this one. *********************** Undercard Bout #5: Middleweights Darwin Zambrano (4-2-0) v Lester Karnage (4-3-0) Fight number 5, the last fight on this undercard, will be a middleweight fight between Darwin Zambrano and Lester Karnage. I think Zambrano’s last name is a little more fun, so he gets bonus points there. This is another very close match up, possibly closer than the last one. Both of these guys have similar skill level and similar records. Karnage has slightly less energy while Zambrano has slightly less morale, so those pretty much cancel out. Or I’m guessing they do. Plus, Donkey says I’m not supposed to base my opinions on those being slightly off anyways because he’s a hater like that. Since I have absolutely no clue who is going to win this, I’m going to go with Zambrano because he has bonus points for his name being cooler. I don’t really know how this is going to end, but since it’s such a close fight I’m going to guess it’ll be by decision. Donkey’s Pick: Zambrano via TKO (Strikes) Another one that will feature a Hare fighter here as Zambrano comes to the cage tonight under the guidance of the team at Hare of the Dog gym. Karnage and Zambrano may be our closest matched fight of the evening when it comes to primaries though as they sport almost identical skillsets coming in outside a smidgen of an edge for Zambrano in Muay Thai and the same for Karnage in wrestling. Again, as with the last fight the edge in training time in MMA will go to Karnage and definitely does not lie with Hare’s boy here. That said, Karnage has lost three in a row and seems to be struggling to find his way so if Zambrano can avoid further cut issues perhaps things swing his way? Optimal, Karnage’s manager, is a skilled leader though and will certainly add a level of difficulty against Zambrano. *********************** Main Card Bout #1: Light Heavyweights Abraham Barnes (4-5-0) v Morioka Shigemasa (3-4-0) Fight number 6, the first fight of the main card, will be a light heavyweight fight between Abraham Barnes and Morioka Shigemasa. I would like to start off by saying, before I look at any stats, that I am already in favor of Shigemasa because his name is exciting and Barnes’ is just… boring. Very boring. Nothing exciting there. Very disappointing, actually. How are you supposed to compete with a cool name like Morioka Shigemasa when your name is Abraham. Abraham Barnes. Not cool at all, bro. Anyways, it actually looks like Barnes has the advantage skillswise in this fight, which is slightly disappointing for me. He is also more popular among fans, not really sure why though. Barnes has more experience, but both fighters have similar win to loss ratios. You know what, I don’t care that Barnes has an advantage. I’m going to go with Shigemasa anyways. And I think he’ll do it by TKO. Or at least, I hope he does. He probably won’t win if it comes down to a decision. So hopefully he’ll just get it over with early. Donkey’s Pick: Barnes via TKO (Strikes) We’ll have ourselves a bit of a battle to dictate where the fight takes place in this one tonight as these two have very different approaches to winning while at the same time preferring to dish out the abuse! The difference would be that Barnes prefers to deal out the pain on the ground while Shigemasa will undoubtedly want to keep this one standing! Both fighters have struggled over their past three or four fights with Barnes having the most recent success. This is a really tough one to call as Barnes has been stopped via TKO’s in the past, the likely way Shigemasa would win this one, while at the same time Shigemasa has shown he can struggle with the ground game as he has a loss via submission in his history. That said, that submission loss was quite a while back. All in all this should be an excellent contest this evening! I’ll go with the ground game having the slightest of advantages here and also factor in that more recent victory. *********************** Main Card Bout #2: Light Heavyweights Jedi Rebel (5-1-0) v Joe Junior (7-5-0) The next fight of the night is fight number 7, another light heavyweight fight, this time between Jedi Rebel and Joe Junior. Neither name in this fight is overly exciting, so I guess I won’t be forming any opinions based on that. Looking at their skills, I think Junior has the advantage here, specifically in boxing and muay tai. It’s not that he is particularly skilled in either of those, it’s just that Rebel really really sucks in them. Like honestly, worse skill ranking I’ve seen up until this point. His abilities are described as “feeble” and “abysmal”, respectively. Both of these guys are pretty good wrestlers and respectable in BJJ, so I expect we will see them on the ground for much of this fight. I think this will go to Junior, possibly by TKO but most likely by decision. Donkey’s Pick: Junior via TKO (Strikes) Rebel is all about the takedown and then the ground and pound. With wonderful wrestling and a purple belt in Jiu Jitsu, but not a lot of standup skills he’ll absolutely have to get this fight to the ground to have success. The problem may be that Junior just about matches him in Jiu Jitsu and isn’t far off with his wrestling. And he has a definitive advantage striking with his boxing. That said, Junior has not faired well against ground based fighters in the past and unless that has changed Rebel may be able to take advantage. Rebel was recently rocked by an opponent with good striking though and that’s what Junior brings to the table so I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Junior lands that “strikers chance” this evening. *********************** Main Card Bout #3: Middleweights Nyah Hirst (7-3-0) v Jin Yi (5-3-1) As we near the end of the night, fight number 8 will be a middleweight fight between Nyah Hirst and Jin Yi. It looks like as far as skills and records go, these two are pretty close. Except in BJJ, in which Yi excels. He has won all 5 of his wins via submission and I think if he can get Hirst on the ground, this fight will be over pretty quickly. So I guess yeah, I’ll choose Yi via submission. Either way, I think this will be a pretty exciting fight, and quite possibly a quick one. Donkey’s Pick: Yi via Submission (Armbar) This fight will see two extremely talented fighters come to the cage this evening with one of them being a former champ! However, while Hirst, the former champ, has the edge by a slight margin in both areas of standup it will be Yi who comes to the table with a big advantage in Jiu Jitsu as he has a black belt over Hirst’s purple! I’m going to guess that Yi spent the entire month trying to increase his advantage in that area even more, adding on to the skills that have given him his five submission victories to date. If that’s the case, I do believe Hirst as a former champ will be ready to defend the ground game but it may turn out not to be quite enough. *********************** Co-Main Event: Featured Featherweight Bout Count Dankula (5-0-0) v Pull Plugger (8-5-0) Fight number 9 will be a featherweight between Count Dankula and Pull Plugger. Again, a little confused here by the first name. I’m pretty sure “count” is a title, not a name. But you do you, I guess. Plugger really isn’t that skilled of a fighter, with both his boxing and muay tai abilities being labeled “abysmal”. Dankula, on the other hand, is a skilled boxer and wrestler. Dankula has fought 5 fights and has yet to lose one, going 5-0. I think he will have this one pretty easily, likely by TKO, as that is all he has ever won by. I think maybe Plugger should work on his fighting skills a little bit and try again. It’s surprising he actually has a half decent record, really. Donkey’s Pick: Plugger via Submission (Triangle) This Co-Main event features Dankula, a former champ of ours here at Sucker Punch who looked to be unstoppable at one point until his manager up and just disappeared on him. He’s been snatched up and given an opportunity to train and rebuild his form under new manager Brocc Ogan who will be in his corner tonight as Dakula brings his 5-0 undefeated record back to the SPPS cage! Plugger will be the underdog in most areas of the fight and normally this might be seen as an unbalanced contest. And to the layman looking at this contest (I’m looking at you NATI!) it would seem that he doesn’t stand a chance. That isn’t the case even a little bit, as he comes with a definitive focus on the ground game which makes fighters with that specific set of skills extremely dangerous and successful in many cases! Dankula has never really faced an opponent with Plugger’s skill on the ground so this will be a very, very fun test for both fighters this evening! *********************** Main Event: Featured Featherweight Bout Michael Aalto (9-1-0) v Jaxon Bremner (5-3-0) The final fight of the night will be another featherweight, this time between Michael Aalto and Jaxon Bremner. All these skinny boy slap fights, how exciting can they possibly get? I think the second “a” in Aalto’s last name is a little unnecessary. We definitely could’ve kept it to one, but we didn’t. Not really sure why. This fight looks to be a pretty close one, but not the closest we’ve had tonight, which is slightly disappointing. It looks like Aalto has both more experience and a better record than Bremner, and he also has pretty strong skills to work with. For those reasons, I’ll go with Aalto, even though I think his last name is stupid. I think he’ll win by KO, just because. I actually have no good reason for that guess. It’s completely random, so I’d be surprised if it ends up being right. Donkey’s Pick: Aalto via TKO (Strikes) Our final fight of the evening has huge opportunities on the line as former Featherweight champ Michael Aalto attempts to return to the title fight and an opportunity to regain his belt. However, Bremner will refuse to simply be a stepping stone in that quest and instead will want to swipe that opportunity away from the former champ and claim it as his own! Bremner will have a mild edge in both boxing and wrestling this evening while Aalto will have the Muay Thai advantage. That said, expect the unexpected in this battle as these two go into that cage with single focus on defeating the guy standing across from them and getting a title shot! Bremner has won all but one of his victories via submission and it’s very likely we’ll see him attempt that tonight. Aalto has only one loss in his entire career…the one that saw him lose the belt last month to Brady Jean Baptiste, and he also has great skills on the ground with six submissions of his own. And an ability to end it via TKO as he did to Destin Craven with a head kick! He’s never lost via submission and I don’t expect he intends to start this evening! Man, this is going to be epic and I can’t wait to see which one of these talented fighters comes out on top! For now, I’ll give my respect to the former champ and see where things fall after this evening. *********************** So there we have it Sucker Punch fans! All that is coming at you folks over at the Bondi this evening and I know that Donkey, Nati and I are looking forward to seeing how it all plays out! I’ll be heading over there shortly so that I can sit around, watch all the craziness as the fans tailgate, cause a ruckus and generally ramp up before go-time as I work on trying to get that review from SPPS 61 done. But for now, let’s get ready for some SPPS 62 action tonight and hope you’re there with us! Till then, have fun and don’t forget… Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted May 30, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2021 Finally got the review for SPPS 61 up a little further up here in this forum folks. Sorry for the delay! The review for SPPS 62 that happened last night will come out tomorrow morning! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBuster Posted May 30, 2021 Report Share Posted May 30, 2021 Michael Aalto Post-Fight Interview Hello Sucker Punch fans, I’m Alexei Smirnov here today to give you my first interview. I have recently been hired by Hare to give you fans some interviews and more knowledge about the fighters. Before we start off the interview I’ll give you all a little bio about Michael Aalto. Michael Aalto is a fighter under the management of Taina Valkoinen and started fighting in MMA at the beginning of 2020. Here Aalto got his first sub win and established his grappling style. Soon after that he signed with Sucker Punch and began his reign of terror. Aalto would then win his first nine fights to begin his career and the Sucker Punch featherweight championship. Here he would face his toughest challenge yet Brady Jean Baptiste and he would lose his championship. Now back on his path to getting another shot at it he recently defeated Jaxon Bremner in the main event of SPPS 62. Let’s go to the interview! AS: Hey Michael glad you could be here with me today, I have some questions to ask. First things first, what’s your thoughts on your recent victory over Jaxon Bremner? MA: His top game gave me some trouble in the first round. But I almost caught him in a triangle twice already, so I knew it was going to be open for me. Good win. AS: I agree, it was another great sub win for you. Tell me what’s your plan for the next couple of days after winning? Plan on partying or right back to the grind? MA: A few days off to unwind, then back to work, back to training. AS: After this big win, do you think you deserve another shot at the featherweight belt yet or do you need to prove yourself more? MA: There are a bunch of guys on win streaks in this division, so it's understandable that I need to prove that I've earned a shot to fight for the belt again. But I do believe one more win against a high ranked opponent should be enough to get a title fight. AS: There is a lot of talent currently in the Sucker Punch featherweight division. Tell me about your own personal style of MMA in your own words. MA: I'm more known as a submission grappler, but I'm always looking to improve in all areas of MMA. AS: I’ve always been a fan of seeing a good submission hold, although it is called Mixed Martial Arts for a reason. Next question, you’ve been at Sucker Punch your whole career for any reason? MA: Sucker Punch has always been good to me and my team. I don't feel that I'm in my prime yet, so it's the perfect place to keep improving, while fighting against other young guns. AS: Lots of great young fighters here at Sucker Punch with a great future ahead of them. I’ve also heard they hire the best interviewers. Tell me how you got into MMA? MA: When I turned 18, I went to pro grappling and coached BJJ classes. After my year of mandatory military service, I signed a pro MMA contract with Sucker Punch. AS: A whole year in the military must have made you a lot tougher. Your home nation of Finland and the people here in Sydney support you a lot, why do you think that is? MA: You'd have to ask the fans about that. But maybe it's my fighting style, and that I'm always going for the finish. Winning helps too. AS: Don’t tell anyone I said this but, you’re one of my personal favorite fighters at Sucker Punch. Enough about yourself what do you think of current Featherweight champ Brady Jean Baptiste? MA: He's a consummate professional and a worthy champion. He has my respect, both as a person and as a martial artist. AS: Glad to see you think so highly of him. Finally any last words you want to end this on? MA: Thank you, and thank you to all the fans. I'll see you guys on the next one! AS: Thanks to Hare for hiring me to do this, thanks to Michael for this interview and I hope to do more in the future! 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted May 30, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2021 1 hour ago, TheBuster said: Michael Aalto Post-Fight Interview AS: After this big win, do you think you deserve another shot at the featherweight belt yet or do you need to prove yourself more? MA: There are a bunch of guys on win streaks in this division, so it's understandable that I need to prove that I've earned a shot to fight for the belt again. But I do believe one more win against a high ranked opponent should be enough to get a title fight. Great stuff! WTG both of you. If I had been less of a slacker and finished up the SPPS 62 Review this morning like I said I would rather than putting it out in an hour or so this evening I'd have been able to give some additional insight on this portion...the Aalto/Bremner fight did actually establish Aalto as the TC again and he'll get a chance to reclaim his title in July against the winner of Baptiste/Cabrera! So great things ahead potentially for the former and possibly future champ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted May 31, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2021 POST EVENT CHEAP SHOTS Sucker Punch Pro Series 62 Hello out there to all of our Sucker Punch fans worldwide! Hare Rumpler here and I know that for many of our fans over in the States this is a holiday weekend so I won’t drag out this intro very much. Instead, we’ll jump right into all the action as I hand things over to Nati Batti and Donkey and they go over SPPS 62 fight by fight to discuss what they saw and what we can take away from the winners and losers! Plenty of action was to be had over at the Bondi Outdoor Arena in Sydney to kick off this weekend and with a full card of ten fights on tap, including the big Featherweight showdown that had title fight implications, there’s plenty of good stuff to get into! So, without further ado… …let’s get a quick word about our sponsor and merchandise partner and then turn it over to Nati and Donkey! Do you find that you’re resting your fighters too often? Two, three, maybe even 4 times a week sometimes? If that’s the case, you’re probably not supplementing their training, and if you are I’m thinking you’re not doing it with Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q, which is Shadow Warrior Nutrition’s outstanding energy loss reduction supplement. It’s the best money can buy and will keep your fighter in the gym training rather than sitting days out resting! Stop on over there today, you will NOT be disappointed! Now, let's get to it! *********************** Undercard Bout #1: Light Heavyweights Atilla Dorn Defeats Artyom Meyer via Unanimous Decision The first fight of the night was a light heavyweight fight between Atilla Dorn and Artyom Meyer. I chose Dorn for this one, Donkey chose Meyer. Donkey actually chose against me on a lot of fights last night, but for this one I was right. Dorn and Meyer fought 3 long rounds, and it came down to a decision. Unfortunately for Meyer, the judges thought Dorn fought better, and unanimously chose him. I believe I said this would be by decision, too, so I’m off to a pretty strong start for my picks. There were a few cuts and several submission attempts throughout the fight, which made it pretty exciting. In the end though, I was right and Donkey was wrong. And that’s all that matters. Donkey’s Takeaways: Well, as Nati seems intent upon pointing out this evening, I could have been more right with my pick to start out the evening. Is this really how it’s going to be this go-round there Nati? This is going to be a long night for me it seems folks. Anyway, this one was a drawn out affair for the full three rounds that had some very strange things going on! Meyer was intent upon getting into the clinch, keeping it there, and using elbows almost exclusively. This man is clearly one sadistic individual and frankly I’m a bit afraid of him given his proclivity to use the pointiest and most deadly of tactics in the cage! Did he literally train solely on the use of elbows in his MMA training career so far? One has to wonder. But, it might seem that’s the case given he threw ONE HUNDRED AND THREE elbows over the first two rounds of this fight! He landed nineteen of those and Dorn will be spending the better part of a week recovering from the cuts he received. For his part, Dorn was more balanced with his attack, using a varied kickboxing approach when standing outside the clinch and then working to get this fight to the ground in the third round where he was clearly planning to work his way towards a submission victory. He was never able to nail that down, but regardless his total strikes landed over the course of rounds two and three were enough to get him the nod from all three judges. Hare has told me that Meyer will get a shot to earn his first win in a bout with Shigemasa next month while Dorn will be our welcome wagon to new Sucker Punch member Werner Wernerblom. *********************** Undercard Bout #2: Heavyweights Banana Republic Defeats Thor Nordquist via TKO (Strikes) Fight number 2 was a heavyweight fight between Banana Republic and Thor Nordquist. I was told that Republic wasn’t the only one named after a store, and that Nordquist could be a play on Nordstrom. In conclusion, this fight was really just a battle between two clothing stores. How eventful. For this fight, Donkey and I actually agreed, but only on the fighter. We both said Republic would win, but I said it would be by decision while Donkey said it would be by TKO. Unfortunately, Donkey was right. Although I did still guess the fighter right, so I guess that’s something. I’m not surprised that it was by TKO rather than decision, as Republic has made a habit of winning that way. It only took a minute and a half for Republic to essentially knock Nordquist out, so Nordquist should probably do better next time. Donkey’s Takeaways: Yes, clearly it’s just going to be like that with Nati this week. Has anybody noticed that she seems to get more and more feisty each and every time out? There doesn’t seem to be a consistency as to whom that feistiness is directed at, but it’s definitely there! Hare needs to get a handle on this child! Anywho… Nordquist did surprise us slightly in that I made mention that he’s never been known to work the ground game for a win. He didn’t in this one either, but that’s simply because he just couldn’t get it onto the ground. He tried. Seven times. But Republic was having none of that and Nordquist was victimized by his strikes, especially to the noggin’. Republic put this away in just over a minute and a half and Team Lundgren is stuck tacking on an ‘L’ to their overall team run and wondering what it’s going to take to break Nordquist free from his now three fight losing streak. According to Hare it’s likely that Sean Hill will be tapped to take on Nordquist next after Hill’s fight with Sefina is over on June 5th. Nordquist had better start preparing now if he wants to turn things around. Republic made short work of this one and, along with his manager Sairanix Lokren, is probably ecstatic to break free from the three fight losing streak he himself was on. Now if he can extend and build on this win things could start to head for much greener pastures! He’ll likely get a chance to double down against Sefina next month. *********************** Undercard Bout #3: Welterweights RJ Cain Defeats Sergio Vargas via Unanimous Decision For fight number 3, we had a welterweight fight between RJ Cain and Sergio Vargas. This is another one that Donkey and I disagreed on, but once again I was right. Donkey is really sucking tonight. I thought this fight would be won quickly by TKO, but somehow these two took it all the way to a decision. Unfortunately for Vargas, his best wasn’t enough and the judges unanimously chose Cain over him. All of that, and for what? A loss, that’s what. How unfortunate. Well, better luck next time, Vargas. Donkey’s Takeaways: Ok, Nati’s just getting to the point where she’s a bit cruel. Seriously. Hare, what did you do, feed this kid rabies in a bottle as a newborn?!? Now, one thing I want to note is that I’ve insinuated before when I’ve picked against Zeke Gunner’s fighters that it’s to stir him up sometimes, but that it likely doesn’t matter because he doesn’t appear to notice. Well, we got a note last time around from his office indicating that Mr. Gunner does indeed see these reviews and he was more than happy to prove me wrong on his picks! Now, that was about Haden at the time, but likely applies here for Cain as well. So there you go folks, even those who don’t come right out and criticize my picks apparently still have an axe to grind. Nati must have turned the entire org against me or something! Ha. That said, Gunner’s boy Cain here came out and did the same one more time tonight as I had picked Vargas to win via decision and instead that was flipped around in favor of Cain. There’s not really a lot to say about this fight as it was all fairly pedestrian with the two boxing for three full rounds, neither really making a significant impact or putting the other in trouble until the final half minute of the fight. It was then that Vargas cracked Cain with a big right, knocking him down and rocking him but Cain showed some good heart and bounced back to stay in it. Cain won by virtue of being the more aggressive boxer and that’s pretty much all it came down to despite that knockdown giving Vargas a few points with the judges in the third round. Cain will have an opportunity to take on Hare’s own Lou Valentine next month in a match that sees him as a significantly more experienced, longer trained fighter while Valentine’s pure base skills appear to be slightly better. Expect this to be an extremely tough fight for Valentine though as Cain likely has significantly better developed secondaries and physicals given his huge edge in MMAT registered ID. Vargas will welcome Ryo Hamada to the organization next month. Hamada has significant Jiu Jitsu skills which will be an interesting challenge for Vargas despite Vargas overall holding the skill advantage. *********************** Undercard Bout #4: Welterweights Mister Lee Defeats Lou Valentine via Submission (Armbar) The fourth fight of the night was another welterweight fight, this time between Mister Lee and Lou Valentine. Unfortunately, I chose Valentine on this one, and he disappointed me. Lee won this fight via submission just short of 2 minutes into the first round. I was going on very little for this fight, and Donkey had a lot more background knowledge that I didn’t, so it is no surprise that he was right about this one. It looks like Valentine is Hare’s fighter, and yet Donkey chose against him. A little rude if you ask me. At least I had faith in Hare’s fighter. But he disappointed me, so maybe it was a mistake. Anyways, hopefully Valentine will do better next time. Donkey’s Takeaways: Donkey (me) chose against Hare’s own fighter in this one not because I’m rude but because I knew that Lee would likely have a significant training advantage on Valentine and it would take some slick slider work on Hare’s part to overcome that deficit. That said, I didn’t expect Lee to move this fight to the ground and win via submission and certainly not as quickly and decisively as he did! Good on him! Clearly Hare didn’t either although from what I’m told Valentine did feel he could hold his own on the ground and was a bit surprised to be one-upped to easily there. Lee nabs ‘Submission of the Night’ honors with this one and also turns things around with a win. He’ll have an opportunity to extend and turn it into a pair if he can overcome Cashel Ortiz next month. After that, there’s a good chance we will re-offer the Curtis fight for him as we do feel that that’s an extremely even strength fight that needs to happen down the line! For Valentine this certainly doesn’t help him and Hare move the record into positive territory but it was also a learning experience to see where he stood relative to those in this division and this ID restriction. Zeke Gunner’s boy RJ Cain will get a chance to put the clamps on Valentine next month and if he does, I expect we’ll hear about it! *********************** Undercard Bout #5: Middleweights Darwin Zambrano Defeats Lester Karnage via KO (Punch) Fight number 5, the last fight of the undercard, was a middleweight fight between Darwin Zambrano and Lester Karnage. I had very little to go on for this fight, too, but I ended up choosing Zambrano simply because his name was cooler. I thought with this fight being so close, they would finish all 3 rounds and it would come down to a decision. But, surprisingly, Zambrano knocked out Karnage quickly, only 36 seconds into the first round with a punch. Zambrano went on the offensive very quickly, and it worked out in his favor. Donkey’s Takeaways: Well, as Nati said, Hare’s second kid in action tonight did indeed finish this one in record time, at least as far as the fights on this card go! Thirty-six seconds is all it took with Zambrano countering Karnage’s aggression and making him pay with each missed shot by Karnage. Karnage had struggled coming into this fight with a loss under prior manager Blake Phoenix and then two losses before this under Optimal’s direction. The losses were varied in method, TKO, Submission, Decision…and now KO. Karnage had shown he had heavy hands early in his career but I think after suffering a couple TKO and KO losses there was likely some concern about his chin. Ultimately with this quick loss Optimal decided to cut Karnage from his stable leaving the poor man looking for a ride home. Zambrano has shown true promise at a young age for such a short time training in MMA. It remains to be seen if he can continue the run and eventually work up the ladder here at Sucker Punch. He did show a granite chin early on in his career so there is quite a bit of potential there if he also has the ability to deliver a nasty punch, which looks to be quite possible at this point. That theory will be truly tested next month in a contest against former champ Nyah Hirst! *********************** Main Card Bout #1: Light Heavyweights Morioka Shigemasa Defeats Abraham Barnes via KO (Head Kick) Fight number 6, the first fight of the main card, was a light heavyweight fight between Abraham Barnes and Morioka Shigemasa. This fight was another KO, with Shigemase knocking out Barnes with a head kick just over half way through the second round. I thought Barnes had the advantage in this one, but I gave Shigemasa the benefit of the doubt, and he did not disappoint me. He didn’t win it as early as I thought he would have needed to in order to have a chance, but he made it work anyways. Jokes on Donkey, he didn’t have enough faith in Shigemasa. So, once again, I was right and he was wrong. Haha, sucker. Donkey’s Takeaways: This kid needs a time-out. Seriously. I’m not kidding. Hare, are you listening? Deal with your spawn! This fight was fairly simple. A lot of in and out of the clinch in the first round, followed by some more in and out of the clinch in the second that eventually led to Barnes being rocked with a right hand in the clinch. Then a few takedown attempts by Barnes that didn’t stick, with Shigemasa escaping back to his feet almost immediately. And then… The Head Kick Heard Round the World. Yep, it was that brutal! Especially with Barnes dipping his head into it! It went down like this and earned ‘KO of the Night’ honors… “Shigemasa feints a jab and as Barnes dips his head, Shigemasa unleashes a brutal head kick that catches Barnes right on the jaw! Timbeeer! Barnes falls backwards in slow motion, only propped up by the cage! Shigemasa smiles a psychotic smile as he stares down his unconscious opponent. That is a scary man.” Shigemasa will get a chance to see if he can dish out the same fireworks next month against Artyom Meyer, but he darned well better watch out for Meyer’s pointy elbows in the process! Barnes on the other hand will see Hare’s old student, Sacrificial Lamb. Lamb has struggled mightily of late and there’s a solid chance this may be his last fight unless he turns things around and reignites his manager’s interest. *********************** Main Card Bout #2: Light Heavyweights Joe Junior Defeats Jedi Rebel via KO (Punch) The next fight of the night was fight number 7. Again, a light heavyweight fight, this time between Jedi Rebel and Joe Junior. Donkey and I both picked Junior for this one, and we both thought it would end up being by TKO. While Junior did win, he thought it would be better to get it over quicker, and knocked Rebel out with a punch before the first round even ended. Rebel fought a good fight up until that point, with a takedown or two, but unfortunately for him it didn’t end up working out so well. I’m sure he will have more chances in the future, and I look forward to seeing how he does. Donkey’s Takeaways: Another contender for ‘KO of the Night’, this was a solid win for Junior where he finished it just the way he likes to get it done! In the preview I stated that, “Rebel was recently rocked by an opponent with good striking though and that’s what Junior brings to the table so I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Junior lands that “strikers chance” this evening.” That seemed to be right on the money as Junior came into this fight well prepared to fend off the ground game, definitely passing that portion of his test, and then making good on that “striker’s chance” I mentioned, especially with his counter approach! “Rebel tries to clinch but fails miserably and Junior counters with a crisp right hand that drops Rebel! Junior lets Rebel back up to his feet, looking for a finish! Rebel is rocked! Rebel throws a head kick that misses and Junior counters with a huge right that knocks Rebel out cold! Junior is running around with a crazed look on his face - you can see how much that meant to him!” Rebel takes his second loss in a row, both under the management of Santiago Frederico. He will come back looking to figure things out and get back to his winning ways next month. We’re thinking that he’ll likely be matched up with Mike Bard after his fight with Dolph Lindgren is finished on June 9th. Junior on the other hand will take a step forward and get have an opportunity to be the first to stop Andrei Averyanov next month. Averyanov will have a slight skill advantage while Junior has the very slight training time and MMAT registered ID advantage. It’s definitely a fight that will tell us where each stands and how close they are to making a push further up the ladder in the Light Heavyweight division. *********************** Main Card Bout #3: Middleweights Jin Yi Defeats Nyah Hirst via Submission (Triangle) Fight number 8 of the night was a middleweight fight between Nyah Hirst and Jin Yi. My preview on this one was rather short, as there wasn’t really much to say. I thought it was pretty obvious that Yi would win, most likely by submission and most likely very quickly. I was right about it, too. He did win and he did it by submission, too. It wasn’t as quick as I thought it would be, but it was quick enough I suppose. I’m not going to be overly picky about it. Yi won by triangle submission 2 minutes and 55 seconds into the first round. I don’t really think anybody was expecting much from Hirst here, but perhaps he will do better in the future. Donkey’s Takeaways: I don’t know that this fight was as clear cut as Nati’s making it out to be, or at least the outcome in advance, given Hirst’s status as a former champ. That said, Yi did grab the advantage early in this contest, putting it on the ground quickly to avoid Hirst’s striking and that paid off in a big way for him. Hirst was able to improve position a couple times on the ground but it wasn’t enough to put him clear of danger and Yi locked in the submission in short order despite Hirst having gained top position… “Hirst has a momentary lapse of concentration, allowing Yi to throw up a leg and lock on what appears to be a pretty tight triangle! Hirst is fighting it off but it's all too little too late - Yi pulls down on the head and he's put Hirst to sleep! This one is all over!” Hirst may have been one step away from getting back to his feet in this one and had he done that who knows how it might have gone down from there out if he could establish his striking game. That wasn’t what happened though and instead he takes the ‘L’, making it two in a row and four of his last five. He’s struggling to find his way since his early success in his career. He was a bit of a young prodigy himself, but next month he’ll be challenged by another young gun who has the eye of the tiger in Hare’s own Darwin Zambrano. Is evolution about to overtake Hirst or can he find a way back to the things that made him a success at a young age? For Yi, another big win moves him up the ranks and has him only a few quality wins away from being able to be considered a top contender in the division. We’re looking at a potential Filth matchup for next month although we know that that may not be to Yi’s liking. At some point down the road there’s probably also a Matsuda matchup waiting in his future that will help define exactly where he is in the division. Unless of course, Matsuda takes the title in a week for himself in which case anybody stepping to him will have had to have paid their dues! *********************** Co-Main Event: Featured Featherweight Bout Count Dankula Defeats Pull Plugger via Unanimous Decision Fight number 9 was a featherweight bout between Count Dankula and Pull Plugger. I would first like to start by calling out Donkey, who felt the need to at me in his preview of this one. He was judging me for doubting Plugger and choosing Dankula. But, he chose Plugger, and he was wrong and I was right. So fight me. I’m better at guessing than you. Anyways, Dankula won this one. It was close, though, and they fought through all 3 rounds. But, when it came down to a decision, the judges unanimously chose Dankula. Good job, bud. Donkey’s Takeaways: This kid is becoming insufferable. In a big way. I’m about to start paying Hare to NOT pay Nati to do these anymore! Ha. The Co-Main Event featured our former champ getting back into the action after an extended hiatus and finding new management in the interim. Plugger was rocked early in this fight but showed a ton of fight and heart to not only get back up but finish up an entire three rounds with Dankula! Plugger definitely had his chances on the ground but just wasn’t able to put things away down there despite that being his area of strength. Dankula’s defense in keeping Plugger from transitioning into his desired positions seemed to really stifle Plugger’s chances for submissions and Dankula’s definitive striking advantage allowed him to earn points with the judges at will while standing. Ultimately that led to an easy decision for the judges in Dankula’s favor. Plugger will get a chnce to bounce back against Godefroy Courtial next month in a fight that sees him with the overall skill disadvantage again but a definite advantage in time spent training to date. Dankula on the other hand will take a few moments to step back and evaluate his performance in this fight with his team as they decide if this warm-up fight showed he’s ready to get back into regular action or if he still needs some time to recover from his days without training. *********************** Main Event: Featured Featherweight Bout Michael Aalto Defeats Jaxon Bremner via Submission (Triangle) The final fight of the night was yet another featherweight, this time between Michael Aalto and Jaxon Bremner. Donkey and I both chose Aalto. Donkey has more knowledge here than I did, as I didn’t know that Aalto was the former champion nor did I know that this fight would lead Aalto to a chance at winning his title back. But, even without all that, I still chose right, so I’m proud of that. Aalto won by triangle submission a minute and 26 seconds into the second round Donkey’s Takeaways: It should be no surprise that our Main Event saw most of the action happen on the ground for one round plus that it lasted. With boy men accomplished on the ground there wasn’t much of a question that it would end up there and even if one guy didn’t actively take it there it was unlikely to be something they’d hate. It turns out that Bremner was the one to take it to the ground both times, once in the first and once in the second and from there it became a battle of wills, position and who could land the finishing move. A bit surprising was that Bremner had a big focus on the ground and pound with only one sub attempt the entire time. Aalto looked to be at the disadvantage the majority of the fight but in the end only needed one of his four sub attempts to stick, and that’s just what happened. “Bremner has a momentary lapse of concentration, allowing Aalto to throw up a leg and lock on what appears to be a pretty tight triangle! Bremner is fighting it off but it's all too little too late - Aalto pulls down on the head and he's put Bremner to sleep! This one is all over!” With the win Aalto earns himself a trip back to the title fight and a chance to reclaim his belt. It may or may not be against the man who took it from him as a title fight between Baptiste and Cabrera takes place in just a few days from now! Whoever wins will know who they have waiting for them in early July though! Bremner misses out on a big opportunity to ‘jump the line’ so to speak and instead will find himself working back up into position again. We’re not sure who will be the next challenge as we need an appropriate level of skill, age and ID…and availability…so we may be going outside for the next opponent here. *********************** So there we have it Sucker Punch fans! There we go and we hope you all enjoyed the action over at the Bondi that started out the weekend folks! We’ve got a ton more action coming at you mid-week this week with SPPS 63 which features not one, but two, title fights making it one of the biggest events we’ve had lately! Don’t miss it folks, we’ll see you there! Till then, have fun and don’t forget… Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfuhrer Posted June 1, 2021 Report Share Posted June 1, 2021 Haven’t lost since coming back full time. SP 64 I’m winning all three fights ?. Last fight with the Pickle was bad though I went 90% accuracy th.inking I could finish in the clinch… should have went high dmg and agro. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleakardor Posted June 2, 2021 Report Share Posted June 2, 2021 Ladies and gentlemen, after 3 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision. Judge Francis DeMontford scores the fight 30:27 Judge Ron Honeybunn scores the fight 28:29 Judge John Mangel scores the fight 30:27 In favor of your winner, by split decision... Yip Man Iii! I would like to request that the SPPS powers investigate Ron Honeybunn. I have reason to believe he's accepting bribes in exchange for points in some fights. I'm pretty sure that his name is an alias also, unless I'm wrong and his mother was a red light district worker and just kept her call name. At the very least, Ron should have to go see an eye doctor and have his vision tested. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleakardor Posted June 2, 2021 Report Share Posted June 2, 2021 Marka I didnt get no preview saying I was gonna take him down and pound him to a pulp. So I didnt get the chance to prove Donkey wrong but I think I gave something to talk about in the review. What you say Donkey? Hare? Had to change it up on you so you maybe would consider talking about the fight. Man III Good opponent much respect. But judge complete incompetent. Split decision is ass decision. No doubt who won this fight. But opponent hit hard. Cut make my lady friend think she can doctor me with sex and kisses. I let her though to make her feel happy. After fight when heard decision anger made me punch cage post. Stupid move as injured hand for 2 weeks. But back to gym. Embrace the suck. Do work. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator001 Posted June 2, 2021 Report Share Posted June 2, 2021 Looks like Man III is next up? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted June 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2021 Folks...I can't believe I'm going to have to say this, but I must be getting old! With the holiday weekend here in the States on Monday and working from home all the time I completely and totally lost track of which day it was yesterday, thinking I had an extra day to do the preview still and losing track of the fact that the event went off last night! Thank god I had the event sorted already and the details for the advertising and such set! I apologize to everybody who was on the card for not putting out a preview, or poster for that matter. Totally flop on my part. That said, it was a really great event, good rating, one of our top 5, despite what looks to be a ton of decisions! I'll get a review to you guys within the next day or so and work on processing the results of this to figure out next steps for all our guys! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleakardor Posted June 2, 2021 Report Share Posted June 2, 2021 12 hours ago, Gator001 said: Looks like Man III is next up? This fight was mentioned by Hare in the past. Just not sure I'm ready to put 360k vs 355k yet with the skill difference. They may be even standing, but huge difference on the ground. It will for sure come soon enough though. Perhaps Guy River should get a rematch from the split decision first? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator001 Posted June 3, 2021 Report Share Posted June 3, 2021 Fair enough Jimmy but as good as Guy is, his last 2 fights were against a 6-7 and 4-3 fighter and he is fighting a 7-6 fighter next. (and lets be honest that was noooo split against me )Looks like Furioto is still the man no one else wants to fight so I guess he is it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleakardor Posted June 3, 2021 Report Share Posted June 3, 2021 I'm thinking on it. Just seems a no win situation for Man at this point in his career with Logan's significant advantage on the ground. Just as Logan wiped the floor with his last opponent once he got on the ground. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted June 4, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2021 POST EVENT CHEAP SHOTS Sucker Punch Pro Series 63 Hey Sucker Punch fans! I know we’re going on at least five days late here with this but I wanted to be sure we got some sort or review and acknowledgement out for this event. SPPS 63 had two title fights as well as what was likely a top four or five rating for Sucker Punch Pro Series events! That’s really awesome, and totally worth more than the attention that I clearly failed to give it this week. For that, I apologize! I won’t drag things out there as nobody wants to hear the gibberish that comes with the intro when we’re already running so behind on things, I know that! So, we’ll just get our word in edge-wise here about our merchandise and sponsor so we can move into the meat of this thing! Do you find that you’re resting your fighters too often? Two, three, maybe even 4 times a week sometimes? If that’s the case, you’re probably not supplementing their training, and if you are I’m thinking you’re not doing it with Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q, which is Shadow Warrior Nutrition’s outstanding energy loss reduction supplement. It’s the best money can buy and will keep your fighter in the gym training rather than sitting days out resting! Stop on over there today, you will NOT be disappointed! Now, let's get to it! *********************** Undercard Bout #1: Featherweights Ebedi vs. Ehrmantraut II Dino Ebedi Defeats Mike Ehrmantraut via Decision (Majority) We started the evening off right with a very closely matched contest between Ehrmantraut and Ebedi. This fight was under consideration for ‘Fight of the Night’ honors once again (it was a tie-breaker between these two after a Majority Draw last time out!) except there ended up being some bigger fights later on with a bit more diverse activity to them and more on the line. That said, I was proud of the way these two came out and went at it, really showing some heart and desire and giving the crowd that made it into the Bondi early something to get fired up about! Unbelievable that after a Majority Draw last time these two would almost pull the same result a second time! Damn, what a couple of well matched dudes! This one remained on the feet with the two fighters battling it out in your standard MMA kickboxing approach. Pop-Pop did try to move this thing into the clinch more than a couple times over the three rounds but never really did much with it once there the few times they did get close and personal. Actually, if anything, Ebedi go the better of the exchanges with what few shots were thrown and landed. And that may have actually turned into the difference maker here in a Majority Decision call by the judges as the boxing and kicks were overall just about equal over three rounds. I picked Ehrmantraut in this one, but Ebedi gave him everything he had and it worked out for Ebedi in the end instead! Donkey’s Takeaways: Ehrmantraut would have really liked to grab this one as it would have moved him into solid territory record-wise at 4-3-1 rather than 3-4-1. He’ll get a chance to square things up at .500 next month against Jake Drake, a fighter that should prove another excellent, closely matched fight for Ehrmantraut given skill, ID and such. Drake has the better record, so this is a big opportunity for Ehrmantraut to not only get back to even but jump forward. At the same time, it’s not a fight to be overlooked and Ehrmantraut had better have his ground game in order one way or another! Ebedi snags the victory here and is one more fight away from stepping back again and taking another three month sabbatical away from fighting. With that in mind he’ll have a huge opportunity, and challenge, coming his way next month against Mickey Dismantle! Mickey is a hard hitter, so Ebedi will want to have his striking, and certainly defense, in order for that fight as well as a plan for how to win it! *********************** Undercard Bout #2: Welterweights Samuel Sanchez Defeats Young Prodigy via Decision (Unanimous) Another one that went to the judges here in our second bout of the evening. You better get used to that in this review, as this night and event were all about things going the distance! Prodigy and Sanchez seemed to be on the same page and were in step with one another for this fight. At first it looked as if Prodigy was going to be the one who wanted this fight on the ground as he initiated the takedown in the first round. Unable to snag a submission the round was played out entirely on the ground with Prodigy initially having the top but losing it and then taking abuse from Sanchez with the ground and pound. That didn’t stop him from attempting submissions or trying to regain the top though and clearly that was not appreciated by Sanchez who let him know exactly what he thought of it… “Prodigy is looking to reverse the position. Sanchez is pausing for a moment. What's he doing? It looks like he's clearing his nose. Oh dude! He's shot a load of snot all down Prodigy 's shoulder. That is not cool.” Donkey, that’s just nasty man! Nasty…and, well, this being Sucker Punch…I loved it! The second saw these two stand and strike although Prodigy made an effort to get it to the ground again. The third was more like the first only with Sanchez doing the honors of initiating the move to the ground. Ultimately his control on the ground and ability to land his shots there gave him the nod from the judges! Donkey’s Takeaways: This one got mixed reviews with the fans due to some of the delaying tactics on the ground. It also resulted in Prodigy’s first loss in his last four fights, something I’m certain he’s none too happy about and looking forward to taking out on his next opponent! According to Hare, that opponent will likely be DJ Costune who has been on a mixed ride over his past four. So long as Prodigy comes prepared for an aggressive standup attack from Costune, including a ton of combinations (unless he changes things), he should be well prepared to give Costune a great run for his money! Sanchez had a quick pit stop on his run of wins with his loss to Fuller last month. With this victory he gets right back to it and has now won three of his last four. He’s been in a ton of decision fights of late and we hope things pick up a bit in that area as his early career was filled with finishes. It’s time to see just where he stands against his peers with this streak so next month he’ll get a chance to step up to Curtis Darry. Darry and Sanchez are closely matched in skill but Darry does have a bit more time training in MMA, so we’ll see if Sanchez has what it takes to keep rolling right past that challenge! *********************** Undercard Bout #3: Middleweights Sirus Hall Defeats Alexei Rodionovich via TKO (Punches) Twenty-three seconds. That’s all it took for Hall to move past Rodionovich, claim victory, score the KO and snag the ‘KO of the Night’ award! Honestly, I’d love to say more about this fight, but it was over too fast! The fans loved it though, blowing the non-existent roof off the Bondi with energy and excitement as this one got a 100% rating. But um, what else…? Not much, here, take a look at the finish… “Hall connects with a jab and follows up with a big overhand right! Oh that's hurt Rodionovich! He's out on his feet! Hall rushes in and drops Rodionovich with another big right hand, forcing the referee to stop the fight!” Donkey’s Takeaways: Rodionovich had appeared to turn a corner with two wins in a row but had this fight spin on its ear before he knew what was happening. I’m not certain he really ever saw it coming nor had a chance to adjust as Hall was all over him in this one. At 7-8 he’s desperately looking for some consistency and a chance to start progressing forward. Can he bounce back and pull in big win against the young Brennan Brunswick next month? Hall gets a huge win and is suddenly on a tear, having improved from a par for the course 6-6 with a four fight winning streak to now set him at 10-6! Amazing what a string of wins can do! He’s running on high with morale and confidence these days which should be obvious from the way he came in with a purpose in this one! He’ll fight one of the few remaining in the division down at the entry level with Van Der Veer Jr. due up next month. If he can string yet another win together there he’s definitely ready for a move up in competition! But one step at a time. *********************** Undercard Bout #4: Welterweights Fuller vs. Mandinos II John Fuller Defeats Kahdi Mandinos via Decision (Unanimous) Another decision makes this fight three out of our first four on the card that have given the nasty judges a chance to weigh in! This fight was all about the ground war for both Fuller and Mandinos as many would expect given their histories. The only short exceptions to that rule were a period at the beginning of the second and then an even shorter run to start the third. Once on the ground this became a battle for submission opportunities and who could gain dominant position to work some ground and pound! The latter was more often Fuller than not and that’s what led to the final call by the judges as when Fuller got the opportunity he was sure to land plenty of shots with a high rate of accuracy. Credit to Mandinos, he hung in there and made it the distance! Donkey’s Takeaways: Mandinos cannot be happy with the state of affairs lately and his results in the cage. He’s lost four in a row which is a far cry from the pace he was on earlier in his career. And two of those losses, Marchionni three fights back and now Fuller, were against fighters he’s previously defeated. So you know his camp is doing some serious introspection to figure out if it’s simply a lack of focus on the little things, a different approach they’ve taken that just isn’t working…or, the worst possibility…just being left behind. That’s something they’ll definitely want to figure out before next month because nobody wants to see a rough patch like this extend further and that’s what’ll happen if he doesn’t come ready to win against Maximus Jr. Fuller and Camp Craven will be thrilled with back to back wins and having pulled off five of his last six! Something’s working for the Fuller squad these days and outside Barbosa, who has been a thorn in his side, things are definitely on the right track. He’s now avenged a loss to Mandinos and I suspect at some point may want a chance to also get one back from Costune from early in his career. For now he needs to focus on Alex Steel li next in July! *********************** Undercard Bout #5: Middleweights Luka Marka Defeats Psiris Fuhren via Submission (RNC) Our final fight on the Undercard looked to be heading to our fourth decision of the night until midway through the final round when Marka found the answer! Fuhren seemed to be a bit “off” in this one from the very start. Whether that was due to Marka’s strike defense or perhaps a change in approach for Fuhren out of respect for Marka’s takedown and ground abilities remains a question, but there is a chance it was simply a more counter approach on Fuhren’s part. Landing only five strikes in the clinch and the same amount out of the clinch over three rounds is not in character though, that’s for certain. Granted, the fight being taken to the ground by Marka certainly contributed to that. Once on the ground Marka proceeded to work a combination of ground and pound and submissions, softening Fuhren up with the strikes and trying to set him up for those subs. Fuhren’s a tough guy and used to taking strikes on the feet, so those didn’t finish the job but certainly they contributing to creating a few key opportunities for Marka. With one good one being all that was needed to put this thing away… “Marka thows a huge left but connects with the canvas and not his opponent. Marka working from the back looking to end the fight with a rear naked choke. Fuhren is doing well to defend. Marka seems to have got his hand under the chin though and he's sunk the choke in! Fuhren is forced to tap and this one is over!” Donkey’s Takeaways: Fuhren won’t be happy with this loss and the win one, lose one pattern that has now continued over into his return to the Middleweight division but began over in the Welterweight side of things. That said, he’ll be able to put it out of his mind and move on quickly as he has other matters to attend to. He’s been recently made aware that an old feud of his has come knocking on his door again with Longsun Zhao clamoring for another go at Fuhren with his return to Middleweight! Now, I’m not sure what’s up with that from Zhao’s perspective as he lost the first two times he came at Fuhren, even paying for the services of being worked over the second go round! Perhaps he’s a bit masochistic or something, has a bit of a crush on Fuhren, or just really, really wants to show he can beat him! You be the judge! For Marka, the win gives him some relief from the monkey that had taken up residence on his back over the prior two fights. With a loss to Machado three fights back (who went on to grab the title) and then one to Obama Filth he’d been looking to find a way back into the win column. Pulling out the first submission victory of your career is one way to do that in style! He’ll get another opportunity to see if he can back the ‘W’ up with another ‘W’ when he sees Tanaka Matsuda in the cage next month! *********************** Main Card Bout #1: Light Heavyweights Rogerio Duarte Defeats Bjorn Akerfeldt via Decision (Unanimous) Yes folks, we’re starting out the Main Card with yet another Decision! I told you to brace yourselves because we had a lot of fights go the distance on this night! In a fight that I think most fans would have thought would be taken easily once on the ground by Akerfeldt we got a surprise as Duarte demonstrated fantastic defensive skills down there! Now Akerfeldt is almost solely a ground specialist. So without the ability to finish, despite thirteen submission attempts and having gotten it to the ground three times, this fight was and did go to Duarte due to strikes on the feet. Donkey, I have to tell you though, the one thing that confused me quite a bit was Duarte’s takedown late in the third round. I’m not sure why he would even dream of putting the fight on the ground, especially at that point in the contest, other than to simply taunt Akerfeldt at that point! Donkey’s Takeaways: Akerfeldt falls for the third time in his last four fights and clearly needs to figure a way to get his mind right and back on track with winning! He’ll see a new face next month in Rajantaka and perhaps that’s the change he needs to move in the right direction. Rajantaka is struggling in a similar way with three losses in his last four, so both will be looking for this to be a chance to pivot back to the winning side of things. It won’t be an easy fight for either and they’d better come prepared! Duarte comes into Sucker Punch strong and quickly makes a name for himself with two straight wins that were preceded by two other QFC quick hitters in April. He’s an extremely skilled fighter who is very well-rounded in all areas. With two wins to set himself apart we’ve already potentially moved him into the Top Contender spot for a title shot, if his manager wants it. If so, that fight would happen in mid-July after the victor of Doe/Parker is determined! *********************** Main Card Bout #2: Light Heavyweights Lukasz Wieczorek Defeats Tarmo Rajantaka via TKO (Strikes) One of the few non-Decisions on the evening, this fight went deep into the first round before it was put away by Lukasz Wieczorek. Rajantaka made a few attempts to put this into the clinch where he prefers to do his best dirty work. He succeeded twice, but each time Wieczorek was able to break free after a short period without suffering much damage. When back to striking Wieczorek was clearly bringing the heat with each shot thrown. He didn’t have to throw a ton, but each one was landing like a ton…of bricks! With four head shots landing and a combination he was able to find the answer to Rajantaka’s chin and grab the ‘W’ for the road… “Rajantaka gets clipped by a big right hand and goes down spinning to the canvas! Wieczorek gets the back mount and begins to drop bombs on his rocked foe! Rajantaka is too out of it to defend against the strikes and the referee jumps in to save him from the beatdown!” Donkey’s Takeaways: Rajantaka wasn’t able to control the action and keep things in the clinch. The loss, his third in three fights, puts him back at .500. He’ll be looking to move back into the world of W’s next month when he takes on Bjorn Akerfeldt. That fight will demand he comes prepared with an ability to avoid the takedowns or prevent damage when down there and get back to the feet if he wants to score a win! Wieczorek is clearly not the brightest light on the block as his bio indicates, not too subtly, “ah… Duh?” But under Alexei Smirnov’s guidance he’s off to a perfect 2-0 under his current management and training teams. At 10-4 he’s shown lots of promise and if he can keep this success train moving on down the tracks he’ll be making big moves in this division before long! We’re thinking he’ll likely face Dolph Lindgren next after his fight with Mike Bard is complete mid-week and we can schedule that contest for July. *********************** Main Card Bout #3: Lightweights Yip Man Iii Defeats Raleigh St. Clair via Decision (Split) Hold onto your shorts people! The remainder of this ride will be full of fights going the distance! But before we get to those two Main Event fights, both for titles, we have to go over this final one here between Lightweights Raleigh St. Clair and Yip Man lii. And I’ll be honest, given these two and their distinct skillsets I never would have guessed this fight would go the distance! And it almost didn’t as Yip had St. Clair rocked in the first two minutes of the third round. Showing some serious heart, St. Clair managed to recover his senses a few moments later…and without the need to tangle himself up or take it to the ground. Yip Man controlled the action for the most part in the first two rounds by taking things into the clinch and dishing out plenty more than he took once there. Outside the clinch he was also able to get the better of the exchanges with fifteen head shots landing and more than a few body kicks to help soften up St. Clair. And yet, St. Clair never fell, which is a bit amazing to be honest. There was some protest after the fight that this thing got called a Split Decision by the judges. We looked into things and I have to be honest, Ron Honeybunn’s scoring does look to be a little bit questionable. He gave the third round to Man lii as the other two did, but he was the only one of the three to award the first and second round to St. Clair. With all due respect to St. Clair, I think we can honestly say that wasn’t the case. We’ll probably have to take a close look at Mr. Honeybunn’s financial records and off-shore accounts to see if there was any funny business! Donkey’s Takeaways: St. Clair was on a mission at one point after coming to Sucker Punch, slicing and dicing through opponents and appearing to have a date with destiny! Then he finally got his big chance with a Title Fight against Frankie Logan. He came up short in a decision loss and since then has only won one fight, the following match with Montesh Dominguez. One has to ask the question, “Did Logan ruin his confidence?” It could simply be coincidence. Both of the two losses since Dominguez have been split decisions, so one COULD argue that they were close and he was right there at almost having gone 3-0 since the title fight. I do know this…the fans tend to see W’s and L’s and we know St. Clair wants to start piling those W’s on again. We brought in Ziggy Ozbourne recently to SPPS and he has a fight set for the 11th already over at the other promotion. Once that’s done, we think that a huge “step up and go get it” challenge for St. Clair will be waiting for him in a fight with Ozbourne! Man lii has been rolling right through his competition since joining Sucker Punch and even before that back at WPFA. He’s on an eight fight winning streak and has more than proven himself worthy of the Top Contender status. We’ve offered it previously but he wasn’t quite ready to take that leap yet. Now, he’s being flat out called-out by “THE man” in the Lightweight division, Frankie Logan himself. Man lii has solid reasons for feeling that stepping to Logan isn’t feasible just yet but eventually he’s going to have to be tested on the ground, whether it be by Logan himself or another. River or Furioto may be next in line for the title shot if Yip isn’t up for it, assuming both or either win their currently scheduled fights. If it’s not Furioto taking stepping to Logan, it may have to be Furioto stepping to Yip instead. Yip is too accomplished in the division and too skilled at a 4.0* skill estimate for Hare to avoid putting him against the 3.0* ground specialist Furioto any longer! *********************** Co-Main Event: Welterweight Championship Bout Juan Christiano Defeats Red Crow via Decision (Unanimous) Let me get straight to the spoiler here folks! FIVE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUNDS of intense kickboxing action. No pretense about this thing potentially going to the ground or the two of them tangling up and clinching and hugging. No. This would be a standup war to see which of these two had what it took to either outlast the other or score enough without leaving themselves open or gassed to get the win with the judges! Despite the fight stats being about as friggin’ close as you can get, especially over FIVE rounds, Christiano used his experience and expertise, and the fantastic guidance of his manager, Action Jackson, to do “just a little more” in every single round to get the nod from the judges across the board! All while battling another Yabai disciple in Red Crow, led by alliance mate Esiah Xavier! This was a Yabai throwdown from the start and the senior Yabai member showed just what he’s about. These fight stats here just about tell the story of the war folks! But know that in the end… Annnnnnddd NEWWW!...Christiano reclaimed his belt and became the TWO TIME, Undisputed Sucker Punch Pro Series Welterweight Champion…once again! Donkey’s Takeaways: Let’s start with the positive for Crow here. He put up a HELL of a fight and never backed down. He defended his title gracefully and with a ton of skill and heart. And he held the title. That in itself is something to be proud of! But he was outdone by his own alliance mate in this one who showed just how you get that edge, that little bit more, to sneak it out with the judges. And this wasn’t just one round. It was every single round. So there was no fluke or luck involved. It just went down LIKE THAT. He won’t be happy to have lost the title, but he’s had a taste of it now. He’ll likely be coming back seeking his own chance to avenge at some point and make the push to regain the belt that he undoubtedly feels is HIS! And get a chance to successfully defend it after if he can reclaim it! His task for right now is clear though…focus on his next fight, and get the opportunity to fight for that title. He’ll likely face the winner of Perkele/Matsuzaka next, so that should be his sole focus for now. Christiano held the belt and successfully defended it twice. For a few months he looked unstoppable and then along came Ronnie Bass who walked in and, as will happen with belts, took it and changed ownership! Bass successfully defended once and then ceded the belt to Crow, and we know the history from there. Bass is back in the Top Contender fight at this point and is facing Ceedee Queen on the 16th. If he wins, he gets a shot at the title again…which means déjà vu is about to potentially kick in for both him and Christiano. Can he pull it off again? Can Christiano unlock the puzzle this time and fend him off? We don’t know, but for now, Bass will have to focus on his fight with Queen before he starts looking ahead to Christiano…and that can be tough to do sometimes. Christiano in the meantime will be watching…and waiting…and preparing…for Bass or Queen! *********************** Main Event: Featherweight Championship Bout Baptiste vs. Cabrera II Brady Jean Baptiste Defeats Herve Cabrera via Decision (Unanimous) Another championship fight here in our Main Event of the evening and another battle that turned into an all-out war for FIVE full rounds! This one was a bit more contested though than our last fight, at least on the judges scorecards. The first round seemed to be fairly even and turned out to be the only round that Cabrera would manage to get this fight to the ground. That’s something that was likely key to his approach to this fight and without succeeding on the ground the fight was going to lean in Baptiste’s favor. That said, Cabrera was unable to get the fight to the ground again on the night, but yet the second round was won by Cabrera without the ground involved. Big time statement there that could have swung this entire thing in his favor! It turned out that it was simply a wake-up call for Baptiste though who turned on the action and really picked up his full on kickboxing assault the rest of the way out to win the final three rounds and get the nod from the judges. This fight was a full-on blitz from both parties involved, let me tell you folks that though! Cabrera threw one hundred and forty-five head shots. That’s JUST head shots alone! He landed fifty-three of them as well! Baptiste was a bit more diversified in his attack, which may have actually been what made the difference in this fight, using his full range of strikes with both hands and feet. It was an insanely active battle that saw both fighters gassed at the end and primed to be finished…yet neither ever gave in! What a fight! And that’s why it earned ‘Fight of the Night’ honors! Donkey’s Takeaways: Cabrera, led by one of the game’s best in Marky Mark, put up one hell of a fight in this one against Baptiste for only the third loss of his career. These two had fought once before, back in April, but with the win over former champ Craven, Cabrera had earned the shot at the title after Baptiste took it from Michael Aalto. Losing in title fight, the second such loss of his career after his prior shot at a title with WPFA against Wesley Pipes, has to sting. But knowing Cabrera it will simply add fuel and fire to his stomach and drive him to come back stronger than ever! At this point, I’m told by Hare that we’re waiting for Jihadi Joseph to finish his fight on June 9th this week. If he wins, a fight between Joseph and Cabrera could tell us which of these two is destined to make it up to the top in the future and be back, in Cabrera’s case, or make it, in Joseph’s case, into the Contender picture before long! Baptiste has never lost under the current management of Laz Staz and that trend continues with this successful title defense, his first! Some say that you’re not truly the champ until you defend and if that’s the case, then crown this man the champ because that’s just what he did and against top notch competition! Now…the stakes get even higher. Because Michael Aalto, longtime owner of the belt in question here, has been lying in wait ever since defeating Jaxon Bremner and earning his way back to the championship! He’s been watching both Baptiste and Cabrera and planning, preparing. And now he knows who it’ll be in one month’s time! I guarantee you he’s been at the starting gate ready to get moving in preparation to attempt to avenge his loss. Baptiste has until July 3rd to either make adjustments and bring some surprises to the table for Aalto as he attempts to defeat him a second time…or perhaps he comes in and simply tries to reproduce using the same formula! I can’t wait to find out! *********************** So there we have it Sucker Punch fans! There we go and we hope you all enjoyed the action over at the Bondi mid-week last week folks! I’m sorry this has been so long coming, but here it is and hopefully it was worth it! We’ve got a ton more action coming at you mid-week this week with SPPS 65 on tap, we hope to see our great fans lighting the place up and if not, catch it on the live stream world over! Till then, have fun and don’t forget… Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted June 5, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2021 SUCKER PUNCH PREVIEW Sucker Punch Pro Series 64 Hello everybody out there in Sucker Punch land! Hare Rumpler here and with a crazy shortened holiday week of work behind me we’re about to get a quick look into all the fun coming at you tonight from the Bondi Outdoor Arena in Sydney! Yes, SPPS 64 is upon us and we’ll have Nati Batti and Donkey going through the action fight by fight as they look at each matchup in more detail. For now though, I’ll be looking to catch up on rankings, matchups and the Review for SPPS 63 being that I failed to realize we needed the Preview out on the proper day earlier this week! But enough about that, Sucker Punch Pro Series 64 will be chock full of fun and excitement this evening with everything capped off by the Middleweight Championship bout between Wanderson Machado, returned to his glory atop the division, and challenger Tanaka Matsuda! Also a big time matchup that will have title fight implications in the Light Heavyweight division as John Fury attempts to take down Eemeli Lampi with a chance at a title shot on the line if he can find success against Lampi in that hard fought contest! But that’s not all the fun, as there are three “big boy” matchups that finish up the Undercard earlier it the evening as the Heavyweight division makes its presence felt here at SPPS 64. On the other side of the spectrum the Featherweights will refuse to go without awesome representation as former champ Destin Craven faces off against Tyson Thompson to start out the Main Card. All that and MUCH, MUCH more as this evening rolls along tonight folks! Don’t miss it, get your asses into the seats over there at the Bondi and join us for a hell of a fun time…if you’re not stuck inside on curfew in the Land Down Undah! Let’s get a quick word about our sponsor and merchandise partner and then turn it over to Nati and Donkey! Our fantastic and respected sponsor is Shadow Warrior Nutrition! Many of you already know them as the providers of Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q., THE energy loss reduction supplements! For those of you who aren’t in the know on that, you should be, because this is the way you keep your fighter training more often and not taking sessions off to try to keep his energy above 90%! If you aren’t using this supplement, hurry over and check them out today, you will not be disappointed! Now, let's get to it! *********************** Undercard Bout #1: Middleweights Van Der Veer Jr (4-11-0) v Bruno Souppe (0-5-0) To start off the night, we have Van der Veer Jr against Bruno Souppe in a middleweight match. Skillswise I would say Souppe actually has the advantage of the two. However looking at their records, Souppe hasn’t won a single one of his 5 fights. However, Veer Jr has only won 4 of his 15 fights, less than a third. Neither of these guys are overly accomplished or skilled fighters, and I don’t think this will be an overly exciting fight. I think Veer Jr will win simply because of experience, but since his boxing and muay tai abilities are so poor, I think he will need to get Souppe on the ground somehow and he will most likely try to put him into submission. Donkey’s Pick: Souppe via TKO (Strikes) As Nati says, Souppe has more than struggled over the course of his career. Hare recently extended his contract as he had this fight remaining but did it on more of a “prove it at last” kind of three fight deal. Larry Barbosa, Souppe’s manager, is one of those “good guys” out there who gets a little bit of rope for being just that. That said, Souppe has got to start winning and winning soon. If ever there was a night to do it, tonight is it! Van Der Veer Jr has struggled almost as badly as Souppe, relatively speaking. Sure he has a few wins under his belt, but not nearly enough to offset his shortcomings. He comes into this fight, again, with low morale and has still never changed his clothes in his career. That’s a recipe for a disaster. The kind of disaster that results in a three fight losing streak. The kind that leads to losing eleven of his last thirteen fights. That’s absolutely god awful. He has two fights left on his contract but rumor has it that he’s extremely unlikely to see that last fight here at Sucker Punch after this evening’s event. Unlike Souppe, his manager has made very little effort to improve his situation and therefore doesn’t get much more, if any more, rope. For that reason, and the lack of preparation, I have to go against Nati’s pick on this one and predict that Souppe gets his first career win! *********************** Undercard Bout #2: Welterweights Maximus Jr vs. Costune II Marcus Megnus Maximus Jr Maximus Jr (7-7-0) v DJ Costune (6-7-0) Fight number 2 will be a welterweight fight between Marcus Megnus Maximus Jr Maximus Jr (not really sure what’s going on there… did someone typo on the name and now they’re just stuck with it?) and DJ Costune. These two guys are pretty evenly matched in both their skills and their experience so, naturally, I will judge this fight on other very obscure factors. Maximus Jr has just slightly less energy and morale then Costune. He also has less hype. And a very confusing name. So, I think I’ll go with Costune on this one and, because it’s so well matched, I think it will go to a decision. Donkey’s Pick: Maximus Jr via Submission (Kimura) Nati already did the base analysis here in pointing out that these two are extremely well matched with the only difference being Maximus Jr’s edge in wrestling against Costune’s similarly small edge in Muay Thai. What she failed to notice was that these two recently met back in January and really this is a chance to revisit where they stand in development and see if a rematch shows an evolution of skills and approach for either combatant! The last time they met, Costune was able to come away with the decision victory. I’m really looking for one of these two to separate themselves in this one and find a way to finish here. Clearly with two wins out of his last three fights Costune will want to repeat his prior success against M^4 and come away with a third win over four fights! That would definitely turn his fortunes around for the better and have him heading in the fight direction again, something that hasn’t been said since the early days of his career here at Sucker Punch. To do that he’ll come out striking, likely looking for the TKO, but willing to score the points and take another decision if need be! Costune will definitely have his work cut out for him though as Kyle F, manager for M^4, has returned his attentions to the management of his stable and has guaranteed victories for his boys in these upcoming fights! That’s a bold statement, but one I believe he truly intends in the most honest way. Will Maximus come through for him though? He’ll need to turn around the trio of losses he’s had over the past four months if that’s the plan. Maximus likes to win on the ground, so if he plans to take this one either with an outright finish or via points, he’s going to have to get it on the ground early and keep it there. He’s proven he can win in the past and when Kyle F is focused his guys can be tough to beat. I have to say the edge there will go to Maximus if that’s the case tonight and he evens up the series between these two! *********************** Undercard Bout #3: Heavyweights Lanuola Sefina (6-5-0) v Devin Hill (5-4-0) The third fight of the night is a heavyweight fight between Lanuola Sefina and Devin Hill. I believe I did both a preview and review for one of Hill’s fights back in early march, against Kekkonen. I chose Hill last time and he disappointed me, so I’m not going to do that again. Sefina looks to be slightly more skilled than Hill and also has a little more experience. And, since I have no faith in Hill’s ability to win when I choose him now, I’m going to choose Sefina for this fight. I don’t know nor care how he wins, as long as he does, but let’s just say it will be by TKO. Just because. Donkey’s Pick: Hill via TKO (Strikes) I’m not entirely certain what that rambling mess of a paragraph was that we just got from Nati there. Hare needs to step in and enforce some sort of standards I’d think? If you guys agree, be sure to bombard Hare’s inbox with your thoughts on that! Ha! That’ll show the little whippersnapper up there who’s the real boss around here when it comes to previews and picking winners…after her arrogance last week! This is a tight contest with the only really significant advantage being Hill’s Muay Thai over Sefina’s skills in said area. They come fairly well prepared with only Hill showing as being slightly off in morale and energy, maybe 10% or less off in each. Not significant, but it could play in in such a tightly contested fight. Hill is on a two fight losing streak but it’s important to note that those losses are against top of the division talent. One was a title fight against Chontamenti, something nobody can fault him for coming up short. The other against Kekkonen who will be battling for Top Contender status this upcoming midweek in SPPS 65! Sefina has lost to similarly skilled competition in possible Top Contender Shima, who will be fighting Kekkonen in said battle mentioned above, as well as an outstandingly skilled Bubba Wallace (Pfffft, I spit on thee, begone!) However it should be noted that during his stay here at Sucker Punch his only two wins so far have been over Mask and Meshkov who combine for a total of 6-9 record. That certainly begs the question, “Can Sefina defeat upper tier talent to climb to the top?” His manager, Kyle F, has guaranteed victories for all three of his fighters in these upcoming fights. This is definitely a ‘put your money where your mouth is’ sort of fight! For now, I have to go against Nati again and pick Hill who I just feel has faced tougher competition to date. *********************** Undercard Bout #4: Heavyweights Herleifr Conchobhar (9-5-0) v Victor Ballsawash (5-7-0) Fight number 4 is a heavyweight fight between Herleifr Conchobhar and Victor Ballsawash. I did a preview and review for Conchobhar before, too, I believe on the same night as Hill. I chose against Conchobhar last time, and he did end up losing, but this time I think I will go with them. He’s better at everything except BJJ, but if he knocks Ballsawash out early, he won’t have anything to worry about. Plus, Conchobhar’s record is better. So, I think Conchobhar will win by TKO. Conchobhar’s smile still scares me, though. Donkey’s Pick: Conchobhar via TKO (Strikes) Conchobhar has the advantage in this battle in almost every major area other than Jiu Jitsu. I’m not going to lie, I talked to Hare about this fight and why he made it and it simply came down to Ballsawash having faced most of the rest of the competition in his range and needing to see another new face. This is an uphill battle for him after he finally got the monkey off his back with a win last month. A win that ended a four fight losing streak. He’ll need to bring his ‘A’ game and then some tonight to overcome Conchobhar’s sensational boxing and, although the Muay Thai may not be superb, Conchobhar’s significant advantage there as well. Either area of standup is likely to spell disaster for Ballsawash, so as Nati mentioned the ground and a submission is likely his only path to victory. With a 2-1 record since joining Sucker Punch, but a loss in his last fight that was ended via a vicious head kick KO, Conchobhar has multiple reasons to want to come in and finish this fight with a statement. That, combined with his other advantages, means he should be focused on keeping this standing and ending it emphatically. *********************** Undercard Bout #5: Heavyweights Patrick Murphy (8-3-0) v Sam Cooper (5-4-0) For fight number 5, we have Patrick Murphy against Sam Cooper in another heavyweight fight. Murphy is yet another fighter I’ve written about before, but last time he was fighting a battle he couldn’t win. He did, however, do pretty well given the circumstance so I’m excited to see how he does this time. Looking at the stats, it is pretty well matched between the two. While Cooper may have a height and weight advantage, Murphy has a better record and the crowd on his side. I also have hope Murphy will be ready to go again, so I am going to choose him here. I think with how close it is, it will go to a decision, most likely unanimous. Donkey’s Pick: Murphy via Unanimous Decision Another close one and perhaps the tightest contest we’ll see this evening and, as such, possibly one of the most exciting! I can’t wait for this one honestly and it’s a great way to close out the Undercard! Cooper comes into this fight under his third manager in as many fights. That’s a lot of change for this poor kid but hopefully he’ll find some stability and success now that he’s part of Cian Coggins’ stable. Cooper’s teammate, Andy Veidt, previously with Sucker Punch but now with BBFC, also entered the cage recently over at said promotion and won his first fight while most recently Morioka Shigemasa, yet another teammate of theirs, won his fight over Barnes here at Sucker Punch…all under the new management of Coggins. So the potential for a bright future is there for this team! We haven’t seen Cooper fight yet under Coggins so we have no idea how he may approach things this time around. That said, we do know a thing or two about Murphy who is led by Kelly McGrady and has had a fantastic run over the past five fights despite a loss most recently to the champ, Chontamenti. That was a fight he was doing well in and took deep, definitely show well. His other wins have been over extremely talented fighters in Shima, Krol and Kekkonen! His title fight opportunity was well earned! Given all that I’m going to go with what we know and say that this one goes the distance with Murphy pulling it out in the end via decision. I hate to agree with Nati here, but I think she’s got this one called potentially. *********************** Main Card Bout #1: Featherweights Destin Craven (8-4-0) v Tyson Thompson (6-1-0) The first fight on the main card will be a featherweight fight between Destin Craven and Tyson Thompson. Thompson is more normal looking then Craven, Craven’s forehead is a bit weird. Just felt like I should point that out. However, looking at their skills, Craven is just as good or better in every skill except in boxing, which he is only slightly behind in. Craven is also taller and heavier with more experience than Tyson. So, for this fight I will go with Craven, most likely by submission since he is quite skilled, with a brown belt, in BJJ. Donkey’s Pick: Craven via Submission (Armbar) Here’s what we know: Craven is a former champion. Here’s what we don’t know: Much about Thompson! Previously managed by Aylib 2.0 until his sudden disappearance, Thompson had a fantastic run at BFC and BBFC up until his title fight against the champ Bataglia. That was his last fight under Aylib and one he lost via a TKO, the first loss of his career. He’d started his career out winning in varied ways with a KO win early on in a test fight and then two submission victories in a row. However, since then it appears as if his skills have developed more solidly in the area of standup as a purple belt in Jiu Jitsu is hardly dominant at this point in development for this restricted range. I expect him to stand and strike much like he did under his prior name, Willing Ness, against Jack Waller at BFC in October. Craven will have the advantage on the ground with the combination of wonderful wrestling and a brown belt in BJJ. The vast majority of his wins have come via submission and although it’s been three fights since a submission victory, and he’s lost two in the same manner since that time, I don’t expect him to get caught in that manner this evening. However, the unexpected can happen and I don’t necessarily like that Craven is the taller fighter here with lankier limbs when it comes to the submission battle. He’d better be ready with the appropriate defense against a fighter who does have some submissions in his history! *********************** Main Card Bout #2: Light Heavyweights Aleks Kuznetsov (6-3-0) v Devin Ecker (4-5-0) The seventh fight of the night will be a light heavyweight fight between Aleks Kuznetsov and Devin Ecker. While Kuznetsov does have slightly less energy and morale, he is more experienced with a better record and better skills in everything except wrestling. I was told that I shouldn’t go off small differences in energy and morale, so I guess I’m choosing Kuznetsov for this one. He has a fun snowy background too, so bonus points there. I think whichever way it goes, they won’t finish all 3 rounds. I don’t think it will come down to a decision but rather end in TKO, no matter who it is that wins. Donkey’s Pick: Kuznetsov via TKO (Strikes) Kuznetsov has bounced back from a three fight losing streak that started with the loss of his belt back in his battle with Jacob Parker. He’s 2-0 in his most recent fights over Wieczorek and Lindgren and looks to make Ecker his third victory in a row. He’s changed things up a bit over the past couple fights as he’s suddenly started going the distance for decisions by the judges rather than finishing as he did earlier in his career, always via TKO or KO. Ecker has defeated Lindgren as well, so they have that in common, but lost to Wieczorek last month via KO. Prior to the Lindgren win he’s been struggling with two losses in a row, a decision to Julian Rourke and yet another KO to Tribute. It’s fairly clear that he either tends to win via the KO or lose in the same manner. Live and die by the sword as they say! The difference here tonight against another historically (T)KO driven fighter is that while Kuznetsov undoubtedly will want to strike standing, Ecker tends to do his best work in the ground and pound arena. So this will be a battle to dictate where the fight takes place. If it goes to the ground, Kuznetsov will be in trouble. If not…the reverse! *********************** Main Card Bout #3: Welterweights Baldomir Barbosa (8-5-0) v Alex Steel Ii (7-6-0) The eighth fight of the night will be a welterweight fight between Baldomir Barbosa and Alex Steel li. Barbosa has a funny looking beard and I’m not sure what is going on with Steel li’s hair. Steel li doesn’t even look like a fighter, so just for that I’m not choosing him. They have similar skills, so I think it will be a close one. However, I’m choosing Barbosa so naturally I’m going to assume it will be won via TKO, since that’s all Barbosa has ever won by, in all 8 of his wins. Donkey’s Pick: Barbosa via TKO (Strikes) Wow, another battle here with these two Welterweights where the skill matchup is EXTREMELY close! That’s awesome and makes for very unpredictable fights, which is something we all love! Steel li has been hit or miss, literally and figuratively, since coming to Sucker Punch three months ago. He lost a decision to Cashel Ortiz prior to Ortiz deciding to start showing up fully unprepared for his fights. He then won most recently in April via TKO against Pietro Marchionni, a really nice, solid victory to get against a solid competitor. This is the third of Kyle F’s fighters that he has guaranteed victory for tonight so if you take his words to heart this should be a ‘W’ for Steel li! That’s ‘if’… Slick Gunderson and his boy Barbosa here will very much have a thing or two to say about “guarantees”, no doubt. With a three fight win streak heading into his last bout against Juan Christiano, Barbosa was hoping to derail Christiano’s attempt to get back to a title fight and claim that opportunity for himself. He fell just short in a decision loss though and now comes in tonight looking to move past that loss and get right back to winning. That’s something he’s done successfully after each of the very few losses he’s suffered in his career and something that does NOT bode well for Steel li this evening trend wise! There’s no reason to think that this fight won’t turn into an all-out brawl…and while I can’t speak for Hare, you know that’s exactly what he’s hoping for! Fight, fight, fight! *********************** Co-Main Event: Featured Light Heavyweight Bout John Fury (7-1-0) v Eemeli Lampi (6-3-0) Ah yes, fight number 9. Almost there. For this fight, we have John Fury and Eemeli Lampi in a light heavyweight match. Lampi is, once again, a fighter I am sure I’ve written about now. But, I’m tired so I’m just going to assume it was the same night of fights as all of the other ones and move on without looking much into it. Both of these guys are pretty skilled fighters, and I think if he can get a good hit in, Fury could end this pretty quickly. He does have a habit of winning by TKO. However, seeing as Lampi is quite skilled at wrestling and BJJ, if Lampi gets Fury on the ground, he could win by TKO pretty quickly, too. Both of these guys have won 100% of the wins by TKO, so no matter what I’m pretty sure it’ll be won by TKO. I’m going to choose Fury for this fight just because he has a better record, though. Donkey’s Pick: Fury via TKO (Strikes) Nati gave you a pretty decent rundown of the matchup here in our Co-Main Event of the evening. Indeed, Fury is a striker through and through and will have the advantage, albeit it a small one, in both areas of boxing and Muay Thai this evening. And sure enough, Lampi will hold the same slight advantage in wrestling while having a bit more of an edge with his Jiu Jitsu. Lampi has not, however, used his Jiu Jitsu to win via submission at all in the past. So what really matters here is his striking advantage and potentially his ground and pound skills. Can he use them in any way effectively? So far in his career we’ve never seen that. His wins via TKO and KO have been on the feet, so I’m really not sure where Nati’s going saying that she thinks he’d have a shot of finishing the fight via TKO on the ground. To me this looks like a battle that’s about to go down on the feet with Fury being the more accomplished striker. Lampi would have been well advised to have a plan when he went into camp last month and to have worked to put that plan solidly in place. I can’t wait to see if that’s the case and what monkey wrench he might throw into the works. If that’s NOT the case though, and he stands and throws hands…well, he’ll have a striker’s chance but the advantage certainly swings to Fury who is trying to secure a Top Contender status and title fight opportunity with a potential win here. *********************** Main Event: Middleweight Championship Bout Wanderson Machado (11-2-0) v Tanaka Matsuda (11-2-0) The final fight of the night is a fight for the middleweight title between Wanderson Machado (who I wrote about before, and won a title match before) and Tanaka Matsuda (the challenger). This is a hard one to choose, since they are both good at different things and yet have the exact same record of 11-2. Naturally, I like to choose the underdog of a fight, and sometimes it works out other times it doesn’t. So, I’m choosing Matsuda for this one, which is good because Machado is a very funny looking guy. I think he will win by submission, since that’s what he usually wins by. Donkey’s Pick: Machado via TKO (Strikes) Machado has now been Middleweight Champion here at Sucker Punch under three separate management teams! His first run began under the guidance of Mark Roland but then was capped off and furthered beautifully under the masterful management of Mac Little. After losing the title to Nyah Hirst in what some would consider a bit of a fluke split decision loss, he took only his second loss of his career to Landon McGuire. Outside those two losses all this man has ever done is win, starting again with the avenging of that first loss in a win over Nyah Hirst, the last under the management of Mac Little. With some time spent out of the cage and in the training room, he returned to Sucker Punch under the guidance of yet another great among the MMAT managers, Bwang Jong Sr! With his return he proved his form in a win over Luka Marka which showed he was ready and willing to get his gold back! And that he did last month against Landon McGuire, avenging the only other loss in his career and taking the championship all in the same masterful stroke! This man has obviously had great management, but he’s also a great fighter to manage, that much is clear! The battle to try to take the belt back from this man is an uphill battle. But not one that Tanaka Matsuda will shy away from this evening. With an equally impressive record, at least from a W/L perspective as he also holds an 11-2 total, Matsuda and manager Zeke Gunner undoubtedly know that the money is on Machado to retain tonight. That doesn’t mean that they’re going to walk in there and bow down though, future Hall of Famer or not! No, expect Matsuda to do what he does best and work to get this fight to the ground before Machado can hurt him! If he can get this one onto the mat, he has more than a fair shot at pulling off the upset and shocking the world…all while gaining the most coveted prize in the Middleweight division! *********************** So there we have it Sucker Punch fans! All that is coming at you folks over at the Bondi this evening and I know that Donkey, Nati and I are looking forward to seeing how it all plays out! I’ll be heading over there shortly so that I can sit around, watch all the craziness as the fans tailgate, cause a ruckus and generally ramp up before go-time as I work on trying to get that review from SPPS 63 done. But for now, let’s get ready for some SPPS 64 action tonight and hope you’re there with us! Till then, have fun and don’t forget… Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfuhrer Posted June 5, 2021 Report Share Posted June 5, 2021 Great write up as always. Did my homework for these fights. Hoping it pays off. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfuhrer Posted June 5, 2021 Report Share Posted June 5, 2021 Well you called all my fights correctly Hare. Needed to sack Sefina after this as is clear he has zero chin. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted June 5, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2021 40 minutes ago, kfuhrer said: Well you called all my fights correctly Hare. Needed to sack Sefina after this as is clear he has zero chin. I had nothing to do with it, talk to Donkey! ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted June 7, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2021 Hey folks, I'm super late with this but hopefully better late than never. I posted the review for SPPS 63 above, in this spot here: https://www.mmatycoon.com/forums/index.php?/topic/65096-sucker-punch-pro-series-355k-opens-in-sydney/&do=findComment&comment=947412 Also, I've been told by Nati that after 8 hours lifeguarding at the pool today in 90+ degree heat that she just isn't going to finish her review of SPPS 64 tonight. She's promised me she'll have it for us before the day is over tomorrow. Enjoy and take care all! Hare 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBuster Posted June 8, 2021 Report Share Posted June 8, 2021 Hero Shima Pre-Fight Interview Hello Sucker Punch, it’s me Alexei Smirnov and today I have another interview for you all! Before I show you the interview I’ll have a little fighter profile on Hero Shima. Also keep in mind this interview is translated from Japanese(yes it actually was translated, thanks google translate). Hero Shima is a Japanese fighter and upcomer in the heavyweight division. He has fought for Sucker Punch his entire career going 4-2 at SP so far. He has had an overall positive record and even scored a rare submission win for himself. He recently scored a big victory over Zymunt Krol. He is still young, only 22 at the moment and has a lot of future potential. Anyway, here’s the interview! AS: Hey Hero glad you could be here today and glad I could get my hands on a translator. First of all,you have an upcoming fight against Ultima Kekkonen what’s your opinion on him? HS: The fight against Urho Kekkonen should be exciting. Kekkonen struggled, but if mixed martial arts can be applied, he can expect to win KO with Superman Punch based on Kroll in the second round. I'm working on a fake Superman punch followed by a punch to the liver. Abbreviation for Suckerpunch Special Supreme, which is called Triple S (Fleck-Peck). AS: Sounds interesting to me, I’m hype to see that fight. Next, tell me about your most recent victory over Zygmunt Krol,what do you think of him? HS: Zygmunt Krol was one of the reasons I actually came to Australia because his second cousin (removed twice) was also training with Carlos Casteneda. I was in contact with the camp on Twitter long ago. Rumor has it that a Polish gypsy came to Wales to avoid a genocide and Jimnto's mother was slightly hurt .. I think "frisky" is the closest example. Yes, blood must have started to make noise by escaping from the war … AS: Wow, that’s certainly a story. Let’s start talking inside the cage, how would you describe your style of MMA? HS: I'm really just a striker, but I don't mind fighting. I'm lucky to win the submission. I like pulling guards, but coaches keep telling me not to do it well. I can't help myself. The temptation is tremendous and I can't resist it. If the other person bends down to protect his or her body, there are several options here. AS: You are entertaining in the cage, you never know what’s next when I’m watching your fights! What brought you to Sucker Punch specifically? HS: Yeah, as I said, I came through Krol's contacts, but when SuckerPunch opened, I heard great things about SuckerPunch. Hare Rumpler is a well known mixed martial artist. A legend in the fighter community. His writing is actually translated into Japanese and is popular nationwide. My fans will be sent off knowing that they have been interviewed by the great Alexei Smirnov. I hope I can meet the spotlight master Yamashita Craven someday. My son is a fan. AS: Well I appreciate the compliment and I’m glad your son is a fan. Hare told me that if you win this next fight you may get a shot at heavyweight champ, do you think you deserve a shot at the champ? HS: I want to fight for the title today, but even though there is such a ranking system … AS: You are quite ambitious, I like it. Next, what are your thoughts on the current champ Thoth Chontamenti? HS: Thoth Chontamenti isn’t real. In fact, I don't think he actually faced a real enemy to try him out. I'm going to do so. His ground battles were very good, but his opponents were mainly weak in ground battles. His only real grappling competition was against Patrick Murphy. It was legal anyway ..... Hey, I knew I lost to Murphy and he Wrestling was better back then, but now it's MMA. 1D fighters tend to work early in these setups, but not well for decent all-round guys. .. With the exception of Murphy, the margins are too far for him to make now. I think he should consider an exhibition match with Jake Paul, but it doesn't matter to Thoth. With all this in mind. , I have a fight with Ultima and that's all I'm focusing on right now. AS: I hope to see a fight between you and Thoth, I think that’d be pretty awesome! I’ve already learned a lot about you but, tell me HS: . I lived a very quiet life on several remote islands on the Japanese coast called Okinawa. Sometimes there are wars, but nothing else happens. My pedigree is different. I have no freedom to argue. Our family served the land and the family before the country. Our state had to unite under one flag and fight corrupt daimyo and ruthless dictatorships. AS: That’s some intense stuff, I can see why you’re such a great fighter now. Any heavyweights in Sucker Punch you want to face in the future? HS: I just want to fight the best opponent at the time. When knocking out Ultima in the "Ultimate" way, you want to be able to have a decent fight with some winning high-ranked opponents. AS: As they say you gotta beat the best to be the best. On that topic of other fighters, anyone inspire you to start doing MMA? HS: I really want to fight Ulysses' "Golden Bear" Brashkov, which is why I came to World Stadium. I hope he won't be discouraged if he gets the chance. When I bury my nose behind his skull, I predict that he will be like Adisanya vs Anderson Silva, as he will hand him his belt in honor. Yeah ... I love that guy !!!! AS: I agree he’s a great fighter, love to see that one day. Finally any last words you want to say before I end this interview? HS: Take good care of your family. Then everything should be fine. AS: That should end our interview, thanks for tagging along and goodluck in your fight! 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted June 8, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2021 11 minutes ago, TheBuster said: Hero Shima Pre-Fight Interview This interview was awesome and I loved the feel of two guys from different language backgrounds trying to keep up with one another in an interview! The shout out to Yamashita Craven's Spotlight series and the call-out of Thoth Chontamenti not being a real champ was friggin' hilarious and fantastic! Great stuff Alexie and Carlos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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