Empire Grand Prix 145 LBS (Finally!)

[damndaniel]

Im keeping a close eye on this one. Daniel Koh may not have been able to participate in the tournament but Im sure he will meet some of your fighters later on down the road.

[robin10]

Yeah, we have some absolute monsters in the making taking part in this Grand Prix. I am buzzing for this to start.

And the fight offers will be sent today. So please accept it on time, guys.

[robin10]

Ok guys, as you all can see from the brackets, we still have 1 more spot to fill, so if anyone is willing to join in last minute, please do send me a PM.

And if possible, please spread the word to your alliance mates, and ask them if they want to join, cause i don't wan't to see anyone getting a bye past round 1

[vcmrulez]

http://mmatycoon.com/fighterprofilemanager.php?FID=352640

 

I'm interested...

[robin10]

Just got a couple of problems with this.

1. Max 358k fighter allowed.

2. We have filled all our spots.

Sorry my friend.

[jhm5]

After a long wait, the Empire Grand Prix is finally here. The bracket is full of entertaining fighters, so I will spend a short amount of time highlighting each matchup.

In the tournament opener, Flilipino muay thai specialist Rounin Hashima faces off against Brazillian wrestler Tyson Abreu. Both are incredibly one-dimensional fighters, so it will depend on if Abreu can take “Darui” down enough to get the win on the scorecards, while avoiding a knockout in the clinch. I think Abreu will get just enough done to win an awful unanimous decision.

After that, we see a matchup of nearly identical debuting fighters in Darius Rucker and Danny Peterson. Rucker, a strong boxer who shares a name with a singer, looks to avoid “Drowning” in his fight against a similarly strong boxer in Peterson. However, I think Peterson will end up saying “Goodbye Girl” when he leaves Rucker “Only Lonely” in the octagon with a face looking like a “Cracked Rear View” after a 3rd round TKO.

Enough with the Hootie & the Blowfish puns, and onto the international matchup between teenagers Bonner and Park. The 19 year old Bonner is the much stronger boxer, but struggles massively on the ground. Meanwhile, Jung Ho Park out of Busan is a similarly strong muay thai fighter, but is not nearly as good of a boxer. I think the Irishman will take this one by 1st round KO.

Next up is Manhattan native Ernesto “Lights Out” Powers facing off against the Belgian 19 year old Huckleberry Flint. Not much is known about Flint, as his hometown is listed as f, Belgium, but he is 1-0-0 with a submission victory. Powers is making his professional debut, and I think he will struggle on the ground, which is where this one will be fought. I think Flint will take this one by submission in the 2nd.

The fifth fight of the evening is between Croat Dario Balic and Puerto Rican BJJ specialist Damian “The Devil” Molina. Molina is an incredible force on the ground, but that may not mean much against a proficient wrestler in “Dragi” who should be able to stuff takedowns. I expect the man from Split to take the fight into the clinch and dominate from there in a one-sided fight ending by TKO in the 2nd.

In fight number six, we see the Turkish Ergun Cerrahoglu face off against Aussie Rony Stark. Stark will look to “Leave a Mark” on the ground as his nickname would suggest, but Cerrahoglu is the stronger fighter on their feet. While Cerrahoglu should be one of the tournament favorites on paper, he has struggled thus far in his grappling and MMA careers. I think Stark will score the upset in an ugly unanimous decision.

In the penultimate first round matchup, Icelandic fighter Jax Sigthorsson faces Las Vegas native Jim “The Grim” Reefer. Sigthorsson, a 1-0-0 BJJ specialist hailing from the capital of Reykjavik, will look to win this one by submission on the ground, while Reefer is a 0-1-0 boxing and wrestling specialist who will look to stay on his feet. Despite this, I think Sigthorsson will be able to get the submission he needs in the 1st.

In the final fight of the first round, we see the 3-0-0 Ricardo “Monkey Style” Morra Jr. face Tokyo native Akihiro Imanari. Morra Jr., arguably the tournament favorite, is a skilled muay thai specialist, which is unsurprising given he is from Thailand. While Imanari is the stronger fighter on the ground, Morra Jr. is just too well-rounded for Imanari to deal with, so I expect Morra Jr. to win by unanimous decision.

In the two non-tournament fights of the night, I see Arnold Kallas defeating Simon Slade by submission in the 1st. Similarly, I expect Corsair Light to successfully defend his belt against Steve Barnes by submission in the 1st. It should be an exciting night, one that managers from all over are looking forward to.

[Ashbourne]

Good luck everyone!

[robin10]

There will be a change in the main event of the Grand prix, which does not concern the tournament whatsoever as we will now have Howardson (the most dominant fighter at 170lbs) defending his title against a determined challenger in Ricardo Miles, who is looking to shut his doubters off by winning the elusive title. Hence this will definitely be some finale to the event after we will have been finished with the 1st round in the Grand Prix, so don't miss it.

 

The event poster is now in. Check it out guys, it's brilliant! Shower the praises on John Wayne guys, as the poster is made by him.

[robin10]

Guys, all of you who have lost in the round of 16, please don't release or retire your fighters, because as mentioned, their is a separate bracket for the losers (I.e losers bracket) where in, you guys can still win some very good cash prizes as well as a better contract in this organization, or elsewhere if you want it.

 

Matty.

[jhm5]

The first round of the Empire Grand Prix is now in the books. I’ll briefly recap the fights here.

In the opener, two 18 year olds duked it out, but it was Tyson Abreu who came up victorious. It did not look that way initially, as it was Rounin Hashima who dominated the early going, scoring a cut on Abreu early on, but Abreu scored takedown late in the 1st to stem the tide and another one early in the 2nd leading to a submission later in the round.

The second scheduled fight was a no-contest since Darius Rucker missed weight. Danny Peterson will move on. I will spare you the Hootie and the Blowfish puns this time.

The second actual fight was another matchup of youngsters, as Jung Ho Park dominated Irishman Myke Bonner. The “Korean Wonderkid” lived up to his billing in this one as he dominated from the very start. Bonner was only able to escape the clinch for a brief moment before Park took him right back in and ended it by TKO in the 1st.

In the fourth fight scheduled, Huckleberry Flint destroyed Ernesto Powers. Powers scored the early takedown, but the Manhattan native was thoroughly outmatched by the Belgian who took Powers to the woodshed. Flint was unstoppable on the ground, and the referee rightfully stopped the match for a TKO in the 1st.

In the next one, Croatian Dario Balic scored another win for the European contingent through a likely fight of the night winning performance over Damian Molina. “Dragi” looked like a contender for the championship when he took the Puerto Rican into the clinch early and landed all 13 of his punches leading to a TKO less than a minute into the fight.

Following that electric performance, Ergun Cerrahoglu cruised past Aussie Rony Stark. The Turk won 30:26 on all three scorecards in a match which consisted of Stark hoping and praying for a submission while taking obscene amounts of punishment. Cerrahoglu looked like a top contender, unsurprising as he is one of the more experienced fighters in the field.

The seventh fight on the card was a quick one, as Icelandic fighter Jax Sigthorsson defeated Jim Reefer. The Pittsburgh native was the more aggressive out of the gate, but “The Grim” Reefer was unable to do much before Sigthorsson scored a takedown and wrestled away control of the match, leading to a quick submission.

The final match of the tournament’s first round featured pre-tournament favorite Ricardo Morra Jr., who did not disappoint making quick work of Akihiro Imanari. Imanari was unable to land a single attack on “Monkey Style” Morra, who landed an astounding 34/36 punches in the clinch in just 3:31 before the referee stopped the match for a TKO.

The other two fights were also quite entertaining. First up, Arnold Kallas continued the trend of 1st round stoppages by beating the pulp out of Simon Slade en route to a TKO 1:57 into the match. In the main event, 170 lbs champion Michael Howardson was upset by 21 year old upstart Ricardo Miles. “The Butcher” tried to clinch repeatedly, but “The Soca Warrior” took Howardson down from the clinch and got a submission for the belt 2:41 into the match.

It was an exciting night, as the first round of the tournament lived up to its billing, a new challenger emerged at the super-heavyweight division, and a new champion won the welterweight belt.

[barney]

Forgot to set my slid for this fight. Brilliant fucking move.

[CharlesLeeRay]

Forgot to set my slid for this fight. Brilliant fucking move.

 

In the fourth fight scheduled, Huckleberry Flint destroyed Ernesto Powers. Powers scored the early takedown, but the Manhattan native was thoroughly outmatched by the Belgian who took Powers to the woodshed. Flint was unstoppable on the ground, and the referee rightfully stopped the match for a TKO in the 1st.

 

I never intended to put the fight on the ground. :facepalm:

[jhm5]

Empire Grand Prix’s Super 8 round is on Saturday, and it should be an exciting card. The four matchups will not only decide who will move onto the Four Horseman stage, but they will also greatly impact the 145 lbs rankings, which are in flux following Corsair Light’s title being stripped due to inactivity and declining fights. Here are the four matchups.

Danny Peterson vs. Tyson Abreu: This is the least exciting matchup on the card, and for good reason. Tyson Abreu is an incredibly one-dimensional fighter, as his only skill is wrestling. That being said, he was able to use his one skill to submit Rounin Hashima in the first round. He will face a tougher test in Danny Peterson, who is a much stronger wrestler than Hashima. Peterson had a NC in his first round fight because Darius Rucker missed weight. Peterson is the stronger fighter, but he is making his debut in this one. I think talent wins out and Peterson gets the first round TKO.

Huckleberry Flint vs. Jung Ho Park: The Belgian Flint is a strong fighter on the ground, as he won his previous two fights by submission and ground and pound TKO. He is a big threat to win his side of the bracket, but Park is nicknamed “The Korean Wonderkid” for a reason, and he showed why in his domination of Myke Bonner in his first fight. He may not be as good on the ground, but if he takes the fight into the clinch, he will not take long to end it. If Flint cannot take down Park, who is no slouch of a wrestler, Flint might be in trouble. I think Park will win by second round TKO.

Ergun Cerrahoglu vs. Dario Balic: Cerrahoglu is one of the most talented fighters in the field, but these fights are not fought on paper for a reason. The Turk is an exceptional wrestler, meaning that he will decide where the match is fought. He has enough boxing skill to bring the pain while standing and a BJJ blue belt to outmatch his opponent Dario “Dragi” Balic. Balic is a respectable muay thai fighter, but Cerrahoglu’s advantages in both wrestling and BJJ pretty much negate the Croatian's best attribute. Cerrahoglu should be able to cruise through this one to a second round submission.

Ricardo Morra Jr. vs. Jax Sigthorsson: Ricardo “Monkey Style” Morra Jr., the pre-tournament favorite, improved to 4-0-0 with his first round TKO victory over Akihiro Imanari. The Finland native is not nearly as proficient of a boxer or muay thai fighter, but he presents a unique matchup for the Thai Morra Jr. Sigthorsson is almost solely a BJJ specialist, while Morra Jr.’s one weakness is on the ground. For that reason, I think Sigthorsson will be able to score a takedown and pull off the shocking upset in the same fashion as his first round matchup, by first round submission.

Here are my predictions for the other matchups:

Reuben Ruckus over Luke Maddox by first round TKO

Trevor Barnes over Hadr Bari by majority decision

Rounin Hashima over Sterling Draper by first round TKO

Myke Bonner over Ernesto Powers by unanimous decision

Rony Stark over Damian Molina by unanimous decision

Jim Reefer over Akihiro Imanari by majority decision

It should be a fun one here in New York!

[robin10]

The poster for round 2 of the GP is in, don't forget to check it out.

And John Wayne as always, has made the poster,and without pay, so thanks again mate.

[robin10]

Just a few more hours before Round 2 of the Grand prix will be upon us.

Good luck to all! And may the baddest mother F****r win.

[barney]

A fast win for Myke Bonner, laying them stiff. Thats what he comes for.

"So the crowd didn't like my interview? Fuck you all and turn off the idiot box!"

[prodigalson]

POST-FIGHT SHOW -- EMPIRE MMA: THE SUPER 8 - GRAND PRIX 145 ROUND TWO

(spoilers, obviously)

 

(A studio scene opens with two middle-aged men sitting at a broadcast desk.)

 

Frank: Wow, folks, what a night! Eight grand prix fights, seven finishes, a flying triangle, and a hell of a lot of surprises thrown in for good measure. Just a wonderful night of fights, live from--

 

…

 

Patrick: New York. It was in New York, Frank, at The Underground.

 

Frank: The Underground! In my defense, I was here, in L.A., with you. I am excited to announce that we will be covering many of the future events live, as part of Empire MMA’s new PR contract. And if those events are anything like tonight’s was, I just can’t wait to jump in the limo, crack open a bottle of champagne, and slide right up next to a tall, slender … commentator like you, Patrick, and cruise to that Underground whatchcallit for a great night of fights.

 

Patrick: Speaking of your limousine exploits, Frank, we started off with a real banger of a one-round fight between Reben Ruckus and Luke Maddox. It appeared coming in that Maddox would want to take this fight to the ground against Ruckus, a Muay Thai practitioner, but our own preview analyst Roger Jones, and everyone else for that matter, was wrong. Maddox attempted no takedowns and put on a boxing clinic to get the decision win.

 

Frank: Hell of a way to start the card. But let’s jump to the top of the card, Patty-boy, before we lose viewers.

 

Patrick: That’s not my name.

 

Frank: My apologies go out to Pattycakes here on both his thin skin, and his mother’s choice of first name. And speaking of names, how about our big-name fight between Ricardo Morra Jr and Jax Sigthorsson? Two undefeated fighters in a classic grappler versus striker showdown. Coming in, Jax had two submission wins in less than five combined minutes. And he was two for two in takedowns! You had to think he had a good shot of coming in here and taking Morra down, taking his arm, taking his soul, taking his virginity, taking whatever he wanted. Are you surprised?

 

Patrick: At you saying ridiculous inappropriate things that could get us fired? No Frank, I am not. But I am surprised at the outcome of the fight. Sigthorsson, who is brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, mind you, tried to pull guard right out of the gate. Morra stayed calm, stayed on his feet, and I think some of those big body shots early really hurt Sigthorsson. It was all down hill from there, as Morra absolutely battered him up out of the Muay Thai clinch. That uppercut to end the fight was brutal. Morra is a real problem for anyone at 145 here in Empire MMA.

 

Frank: He is currently ranked first in the division, Patrickle, and he just might be the man to beat in this grand prix. The winner of our co-main event between Ergun Cerrahoglu and Dario Balic would be looking to do exactly that.

 

Patrick: This was an interesting matchup. Cerrahoglu is pretty well-rounded, but he certainly wants to wrestle. He’s a standalone grappling competitor, and he came in off a fight where he scored a stunning reversal and showed his ground dominance. Balic, on the other hand, put on a clinic in the clinch in his last fight. This one had a lot of hype.

 

Frank: And Balic got into the clinch right away. It didn’t look good for Cerrahoglu.

 

Patrick: Absolutely, this fight started out perfectly for Balic. But Cerrahoglu got out and went straight for a power double. That was the beginning of the end, as he worked methodically into side control and just kept landing shots. A few big elbows and that was it.

 

Frank: There were four seconds left in the round, Patterson. Did you have a problem with the stoppage?

 

Patrick: No, I didn’t. Balic was eating elbows. You know, I don’t think he was defending himself well. It’s a tough call for the referee, but the referee isn’t supposed to look at the clock. Balic took a lot of punishment in just a few minutes. Perfectly fine stoppage in my mind.

 

Frank: What else stood out from the card?

 

Patrick: First of all, we also have to congratulate Hukkelberry Flint and Danny Peterson on advancing to the semifinals. And we’ll get back to Flint here in a minute. But real quick, looking at the Empire preview, Morra Jr, Flint, Imanari, Molina, and Maddox were all surprise winners. That just goes to show you the level of competition here, and to have that many fights where the outcome is so hard to judge is what makes this sport so exciting.

 

Frank: You’re not kidding! We saw the whole range of emotions tonight. It’s like the old saying: the joy of victory, the agony of defeat, the voluptuousness of the ring girls.

 

Patrick: I’m pretty sure that’s not how that goes. But as for pure excitement, how about Hukkelberry Flint’s with a real slick guard pull, basically turned into a flying triangle against Jung Ho Park, which he then chained into a that guillotine? I mean, that was just amazing. Very high-level stuff.

 

Frank: And we had two first round knockouts!

 

Patrick: Myke Bonner and Rounin Hashima needed a combined, what, minute and a quarter to to each get knockout wins? Those were really something. Do you think Sterling Draper will go back to advertising, Frankie?

 

Frank: I think it’s way too early to tell. You can’t really take much away from a guy just getting caught. It happens, like that time I got caught laundering money, allegedly, through that upstanding car wash business in Jersey. Doesn’t mean I’m a bad businessman. I just got caught.

 

Patrick: I like my kneecaps, so moving on here. Those knockouts just go to show you that you can bounce back from a tournament loss and get right back out there to put on a show for the fans.

 

Frank: Unless you’re Ernesto Powers. Then you go right back out there and get knocked around in the first round again.

 

Patrick: C’mon Frank, these guys are putting it all on the line for us to drink beer and watch them do something that very few people will ever do. Powers did manage to take down Hukkelberry Flint in his first fight, and we saw how great Flint looked tonight. It’s a tough sport. Sometimes even great fighters drop two in a row.

 

Frank: At the very least, he’s gotta be wondering if this sport is for him, right?

 

Patrick: I wouldn’t overanalyze it, Frank. If I had a guess, he’ll sit down with his manager, they’ll take a look at his training, and they’ll move on. We know he can wrestle, so it’s just a matter of filling a few other holes.

 

Frank: Speaking of filling holes—

 

Patrick: Nope. We’re not going there, Frank.

 

Frank: I mean, filling slots—

 

Patrick: Fraaaank…

 

Frank: SEMI-FINAL SLOTS, you prude! Peterson, Morra Jr., Flint, and Cerrahoglu! What do you think?

Patrick: I think it’s going to be one hell of a card. We’ve got Muay Thai! We’ve got ground-and-pound! We’ve got jiu-jitsu! Plus we’ve got Danny Peterson, who put on a boxing clinic for three rounds tonight, and we didn’t even barely get a chance to talk about him.

 

Frank: You couldn’t have picked a more diverse set of semi-finalists if you tried. It’s really something. Beautiful. Like, you know, poetry. Mayan Angerloos type stuff here, Pat.

 

Patrick: (visibly flustered): Who? Listen Frank, you had me until poetry. We are going to have some very interesting stylistic matchups on the semi-final card. And with some of these bounce-back performances we saw in the losers’ bracket tonight, I think that whole card is going to round out very, very nicely.

 

Frank: And that brings us to a close today here on the post-fight show. We’re looking forward to live coverage of some of our future events, which will allow us to give a little more time to the undercard and consolation bouts, and really be able to feel out the crowd’s reaction to the fights. Thank you all for joining us, and congratulations again to our four semifinal fighters!

 

[jhm5]

Really great wrap up! Congrats and good luck to the other managers who made the semi-finals.

[robin10]

Brilliant writeup!

[robin10]

A message for the managers whose fighters are competing the losers bracket:-

 

Since you all can see that the losers bracket has substantially more matches left than the normal brackets, and therefore from now on, all the matchups in the losers bracket will take place one week apart from each other.

Any questions over this sudden change can be asked below.

[jhm5]

The semi-finals are here! Alas the tournament resumes, and we get to see two intriguing matchups. The first of which sees Danny Peterson and Hukkelberry Flint face off for the right to get pummeled by the winner of the second semi-final. The 19 year old Belgian got here by defeating Ernesto Powers by ground and pound TKO less than three minutes into the match. As if that was not impressive enough, he needed just 49 seconds to land a guillotine on Jung Ho Park. While dominating is the right word to describe Flint’s journey, ugly might be the best way to describe Peterson’s time. Danny Peterson only had to win once, as he advanced in the first round when his opponent missed weight, but his one win was a comfortable unanimous decision over Tyson Abreu. Stylistically, this will be a battle of contrasts. Flint will want to bring the fight to the ground where his BJJ brown belt will serve him well, while Peterson is your standard sprawl and brawl fighter. Peterson may get the better of the early boxing exchanges, but I think Flint breaks through his takedown defense and gets a submission in the first round.

The other semi-final is the de-facto final of the tournament. Ricardo Morra Jr. is 5-0-0 with first round TKO wins in both rounds, taking 3:31 to beat Akihiro Imanari and just 55 seconds against Jax Sigthorsson. Meanwhile, Ergun Cerrahoglu has dominated his two matches as well, winning by a lopsided unanimous decision over Rony Stark and scoring a first round TKO over Dario Balic. Both have looked fantastic in their first two fights, but only one can make the final. While “Monkey Style” Morra has the edge in the clinch and on the ground, the Turk will be the one deciding where this match is fought. If Cerrahoglu can keep this one as a boxing match, he has a shot, but I think Morra takes him to the woodshed in the clinch and walks out victorious through a second round TKO.

The Grand Prix may be exciting, but the main event is the icing on the cake. Hatebreed Rebel is making his return to the octagon after his failed move up to the 265 lbs division against top challenger Joe “Levels” Dinapoli. Rebel may be short on confidence after his last match against Buster Gruff lasted just 30 seconds until he hit with a KO punch. Dinapoli, on the other hand, has breezed through his two fights in Empire thus far, scoring a stunning spinning backfist on Jaco Camden and a submission on strikes over Ravana Lanka, both in the first round. While Rebel is a submission specialist, Dinapoli has to be brimming with confidence, as all he needs to do is land one good punch and it may be all over. This fight may only last a few seconds before he does just that, and I will pick Dinapoli to win the belt by first round KO.

Picks for the other matchups:

Kulvics over Abbot

Imanari over Abreu

Park over Molina

Bonner over Balic

Sigthorsson over Hashima

Izanagi over Tested

Rodriquez over Frederick

[barney]

Myke Bonner

"EMPIRE man in suit asked me if I had a problem with fighting every week. Feeding me these bums I can fight everynight."

[robin10]

What a night! That was a superp event overall... from the quality of fights to the event rating and also the profits, GREAT JOB EVERYONE!

The brackets will be updated shortly...so stay tuned!

[robin10]

With record breaking numbers, the Empire Grand prix in the main bracket (not the losers bracket) had a grand ending...Congratulations to Mr Ricardo Morra Jr, for winning his side of the bracket, but now, we wait for the winner of the losers bracket who will then fight Mr Morra Jr, to determine the overall champion, so until then enjoy our review show which will be out in a bit made by Mr Roger Jones (Director of Operation)

[ScottyJoeC]

So Morra won the prize money yeah?