Highland - Official Thread

[clydebankblitz]

So, it's been a long 7 years right?

For anyone who isn't aware of the Highland legacy, Highland Games was an organisation on Season 3 of The Island in 2014. It would break every record on The Island, before moving to London and becoming one of the top organisations around, hitting the #1 spot on multiple occasions. By continuing as a 25 year old and above promotion, Island fighters were able to continue their careers, competing for the organisation for another 2 years before it ended in 2016. Three further Highland promotions would return to The Island; Highland Challengers, Highland Island and Highland Kickboxing.

Even today, managers still have their Highland fighters listed on their profile Hall of Fame. Legendary Island fighters such as Barney Gumble, Light HeavyWeight, Massimo Benvenuti, Darth Vader, Serge Ibaka, BJ Arnold and many, many more competed in the promotion.

The reason for the organisation's success was the focus on the fighters. It doesn't matter if the fighter is 0-3 or 10-0, they can have a fun and entertaining journey and their managers can still enjoy their legacy, no matter the success or lack thereof. 

I feel MMA Tycoon is lacking consistent enjoyment. Creating fighters, training them for a full year, finding test fighters for them and breaking down the science of their hiddens, IQ, learning speed etc. to decide if they're going to become the greatest fighter in the game. That's great, but what about in between those moments? You can love the career of a fighter who's never going to be P4P #1 in the game. They can have rivals, they can have accomplishments, all without having to sit in training for 2 months between fights. We want fighters regularly competing, and more importantly we want managers to actually care about and invest in those fighters.

So, that's all in the past. This is the official thread for Highland. We want the most interactive, interesting and entertaining roster of fighters ever. Having the highest ranked promotion is one goal, another is to have the most fun. We strongly encourage managers to engage with their fighters. We'll have write ups for every event. We want everyone to get to know their own fighters, as well as the opponents.

So without further ado; welcome (back) to Highland!

 

Championship History

Event Write Ups

Highland 1 Preview (Click Here)
Highland 2 Preview (Click Here)

[clydebankblitz]

Want to fill this card up as I'm already half way through my write up already haha. And YES, I'll be looking into the history of the managers and seeing which Highland fighters they had previously. Let me have my nostalgia! haha

[clydebankblitz]

HIGHLAND 1 PREVIEW

It's genuinely been about 6 years since I've written one of these.
I also want to add that when I'm on 3 events a week, no way I can keep them at this level haha.

So, it's been 7 years since I got to have a first event preview. Highland Games 1 featured Barney Gumble, Light HeavyWeight and Jake Theodorou, 3 names that would become synonymous with the brand over the next two years. But that's in the past. This is all about looking to the future, and that begs the question; which of these names will become synonymous with the new Highland brand on this Island season?

 

Heavyweight - Mike Cozad (0-0) Vs Malcolm Scobie (0-0)

So who is Mike Cozad? That's the real question. In late 2020, the world came to know a man by the name of Mike Cozad. "The Plumber" as he was known, was a man of vast wealth and connections to the vicious world of online pseudo-gambling and gaming. Mike would compete once under his manager Aydan, before splitting ways. His flamboyant persona whimpered as he signed up with Darren Russell of Combate fame and left our screens with a 1-3 record. Now, manager Aydan claims he is back, however sporting a 0-0 professional record. Surely the MMA commissions wouldn't allow this? Right? Many are speculating whether Aydan is running the Fake Diesel scam. When your biggest and brightest prospect leaves, you stuck the same nickname on another and tell him to go out there and do all the same moves. But maybe, just maybe, this is the real Mike Cozad. Ready to come back and show everyone what he promised last time out.

Malcolm Scobie, he fights for manager Callum McGregor. Callum McGregor owns Highland. Oh no, it's a set up? You can relax. If there's one thing that you can get to know about me, is that my ability to set sliders and build fighters is on par with Aydan's ability to keep Mike Cozad for more than one fight. I dread to look at what my record is of fighters that I created, but I can assure you, it's not pretty. Well, what can I tell you about Malcolm Scobie? Absolutely nothing. Seriously, did you expect me to come up with an original backstory for the 50 guys I created? This will be the case throughout this thread, so you can get used to me having absolutely nothing to say about my own guys.

 

Welterweight - Kubia Conn (0-0) Vs Shug Skinner (0-0)

Before we discuss Conn, we have to discuss Al Van Dal, his manager. Al managed several Highland fighters in the past. Luna Ploy and Gunnar The Eastern Assassin would fight for Highland Island in Season 5, Paul Maul would fight for Solitude in Season 4 but switched to Highland Games after the season going 6-4 and perhaps best of all, Lou Hole fought as far back at Highland Games 3 on Season 3 of The Island and after a long hiatus from the org, returned to unsuccessfully challenge Jon Askren for the Welterweight belt. Al had fighters on all 3 season The Island featured, competing both for the main organisation and and it's rivals, he was always a presence worth noting. Kubia Conn is one of two fighters Al has on The Island this season, both signed with Highland.

Shug is another of my fighters, with the worst name I think I've ever seen. Me and Al have went head to head twice before. George Alvarez Jr would take out Lou Hole at Highland Games 16, while 2 years later Paul Maul would gain revenge as he defeated Ty Semerad at Highland Games 190. I didn't create George or Ty, so it stands to be seen whether or not creating a fighter or building one will give Al the edge in this contest.

 

Light Heavyweight - Eder Teixeira (0-0) Vs Rustam Tsubekov (0-0)

Hard to really say anything about this, other than the fact that myself and Matheus Da Costa might be the only two managers to have a losing record clashing with each other on the first card. Eder gets bonus points for having his second name spelled correctly (the first i is the killer), while Tsubekov gets points deducted for being literally the result of me banging my hands against the keyboard until something vaguely Russian appeared.

We have a classic striker Vs wrestler affair, so whether or not Rustam can get it down is going to be the entire story of how this one plays out.

 

Featherweight - Sahara Sam (0-0) Vs Anwar Rinda (0-0)

Egypt Vs India; the legendary rivalry that goes back many centuries, pitting religion, culture and history against one another.

Alright, I don't know. Either Egypt and India actually do hate each other or I'm going to spark a rivalry that will only end in bloodshed. Either way, I'm scrambling for something to say about these Featherweight fighters. It's looking like Anwar is a submission guy...wait...actually.....no....never mind...he's a big big striker. Sahara, I suggest you don't even try and defend the takedown, it's a waste, stand and gang homie. Could you guess Anwar is my guy?

Sahara wants to sprawl and brawl, damaging the beautiful face of my Indian stallion.

 

Light Heavyweight - Ludwig Lachmann (0-0) Vs Biscuit Oliva (0-0)

There we go, two guys with some history I can actually talk about.

Ludwig is managed by Rodrigo Rojas, who had an extremely clever and intelligent fighter name in Rodrigo Rojas. Rodrigo was the first Highland Games Light Heavyweight Champion, winning the belt in November 2014. He would drop to Middleweight and eventually challenge for the belt there as well, and when the org when down he had competed for the promotion an incredible 25 times. Manager-Rodrigo would go on to have several fighters in Highland Games, perhaps with James Krause having the most success amongst the others. A true legend of the promotion, it's amazing to see his name back on the team sheet.

Unfortunately for Rodrigo, he's drafted another long time member of the Highland brand. Scottie 2 Hottie managed John Pinaglabanan, a Bantamweight who competed for the belt on two occasions and perhaps a bit shocking for me when researching this, John actually competed for Highland Games on two more occasions than Rojas, fighting 27 times which makes him one of the longest serving fighters of the old promotion.

It's going to be great seeing which of these two legends comes out on top. From what I can tell, they've never met each other before, with Rodrigo focusing on the larger weight classes and Scottie only really having a Bantamweight. They finally come together under the Highland banner, and who's going to come out on top?

 

Welterweight - Mike Albatross (0-0) Vs Clive Hansen (0-0)

I wasn't even trying with the name "Clive Hansen" was I?

There isn't a lot of history to bang on about here so I guess a quick rundown of the match up. Both fighters seem to rely on a muay thai base, so you have to wonder if the gameplan will be for them to work in the clinch like many other Island legends. I'm wondering because I genuinely don't remember, I chucked out Clive Hansen in half the time it's taken me to write this sentence.

It looks like Clive has a small bit more about his boxing than Mike, who focused his additional training in his wrestling.

I'm imagining these guys are gonna tie up quickly and try and rip each other's eyebrows off in the clinch. Who needs eyebrows anyways?

 

Heavyweight - Captain Chaos (0-0) Vs Jake Dredd (0-0)

Two veterans of the game, and neither with a single old school Highland fighter to talk about? What kind of bullshit is this? I'm taking this as a personal insult!

Dredd is hailed from the Western Sahara, which I thought was a desert? I wonder if he knows Sahara Sam from earlier on the card. He's clashing with Captain Chaos, a nightmared fueled clown from...eh...Soa....Tomea?....Principle....ehh, yeah, that place. The Soa Tomea Principle mafia will be turning up to The Island in full force, and all 3 natives will be cheering hard to see their beloved clown dispose of Dredd.

Dredd is managed by Chuck, the promoter of Synchronicity. That's really impressive, and I can only imagine having the experience to witness how Callum McGregor runs a promotion will be of massive benefit to Chuck, who will surely use this experience to benefit his own promotion.

 

Lightweight - Rob Cervantes (0-0) Vs Chico Maki (0-0)

Rob is managed by Jason "JBOMB" Smith, a nickname I'd be willing to bet my house that he gave himself. He's up against Al Van Dal's Chico "Blackhawk" Maki. Al managed several Highland fighters in the past. Luna Ploy and Gu....wait I've already did this.

Rob is gonna want to bring this one to the ground and slap on those Purple belt level submissions, while Maki is gonna want to keep it standing and land those Superb (10) punches...it's really hard to sell a fight between two 0-0 fighters here guys. 

 

Heavyweight - James Dredd (0-0) Vs Boyd Fitzgerald (0-0)

James, a natural Light Heavyweight fighting at HW because he's such a beast and not at all because I sent the wrong contract in, clashes with Gabriel Lobo's Boyd Fitzgerald. I expected not to have too much to say, so I checked Gabriel's profile to see if he had any fighters with me before......he only managed Massimo F'ing Paterno. I'd like to take this moment to express my anger to Gabriel for releasing Massimo before the Season 3 Island tournament. Massimo was one of our original top guys, making a statement at Highland Games 4 by locking in a Brabo Choke. While guys he fought, such as Massimo Benvenuti, George Morrison and Rodrigo Rojas, went on to become legends when the promotion moved to London, Massimo never made it off The Island and failed to cement his legacy.

It's brilliant to see Gabriel back and hopefully we can see Boyd go on to make a similar statement that Massimo did, but up against Chuck's James Dredd, a fighter designed entirely to finish fights wherever it goes, he's got his work cut out for him.

 

Welterweight - Auric Gallahad (0-0) Vs Aslak Maitonaama (0-0)

Hey, it's the fight I didn't add because I jumped the gun and did a breakdown before I was ready. Auric Gallahad is a fighter from good stock, back to the warriors of old. However the downside of warriors of old is MMA developed into a professional sport at the end of the 1980s, so the bloodline's experience of shield play and arrow shooting is not quite as relevant. 

Auric is going to be giving up some weight to Aslak Maitonaama. Aslak's manager, Zeneral Manager, is no stranger to the Highland brand. On Season 3 of The Island, his fighter Dillen Aspen split between HG and AFL. He would later field Punchers Change in Highland KT and Highland Games during and following the Season 5 Island season.

 

[Alfred]

Great stuff. Very cool to have a little history on managers still around from way back when. 

[IconManagement]

This is such a great idea. In fact I made a quite a few fighters just to support this org and to have some fun while watching paint dry (commonly known as project fighters training).

[clydebankblitz]

3 minutes ago, IconManagement said:

This is such a great idea. In fact I made a quite a few fighters just to support this org and to have some fun while watching paint dry (commonly known as project fighters training).

 

I didn't even realize how many of your guys I had signed haha. When you check some of the profiles of those "Island legends", so many of them are listed in people's Hall of Fames. I love that. You can train a guy for years as a project fighter, but you might have more fun having 15-20 fights inside a year with a 25 year old creation.

[clydebankblitz]

Damn I'm very lucky I caught a couple of things. I was using my model from 2014 and even though my fighter pay was about double, I was expecting to pull in about 20-30k for the event. I just noticed on tycoontools that my Decreasing Returns Point is 10,000 lower than it was for HG1, and that we have abpout 200 less people expected. That makes a HUGE difference. I almost went way overboard on the advertising costs. Crunching the numbers, I should make a very modest profit on it.

I've cut out all of the $200 bonus offers that were still sitting in my outbox, meaning I have about 30k left. I might take a BIG gamble and book the second event.

[Alfred]

Isn't the tycoon tools a little glitchy when it comes to first events?

Also, I don't know for sure but I think Mike might have tweaked something not so long ago making orgs less profitable? A lot of org owners I've asked have said the same thing. 

[clydebankblitz]

49 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Isn't the tycoon tools a little glitchy when it comes to first events?

Also, I don't know for sure but I think Mike might have tweaked something not so long ago making orgs less profitable? A lot of org owners I've asked have said the same thing. 

It is but for some reason, in the greatest thread of all time haha, I also posted my prediction from TycoonTools back then. I was predicted at 560, and with 17k decreasing returns. For this event I'm at 340 with 8k decreasing returns. My old formula for advertising (or should I say GBK's) was to multiply my decreasing returns by 1.5 and then round up to the nearest 5k. So instead of 20k like I planned, I'll be at 15k now. But I'm also gonna be leaving about 30k on the table in attendance which could be an issue.

It's pretty mad if the orgs have been made less profitable, considering the economy of game currency has inflated massively. But it's also been 5 years since I had booked an event so many things may have changed haha.

It should be fine. I expect to break evenish on the event or maybe slightly more. I'll try and get people to drop their initial contracts if they can, that way I'll be able to have a little bit more padding.

 

INB4 I close in 2 weeks haha

[Ikkitakeda]

Auric Gallahad twitter: I have a match coming up with Aslam Maitonaama on the island in The Underground on Feb 22nd. Come on out and watch us.

IslandJoe: I'll be there. Have you seen the latest betting odds they have Maitonaama as the slight favorite.

Auric Gallahad: Glad you will be in the crowd. Well we are both young guys and sure this won't be the last time we see each other no matter how it goes. But I will fight with honor and bravery.

DonOfBJJ: I come to you with a question you can't refuse. Do you think you can submit him?

Auric Gallahad: If I can get him to the ground then I have no doubt that I can.

ICreateBeef: Some say Maitonaama is already calling the KO. What do you think of that?

Auric Gallahad: I think it's a real possibility but I'm still going to go in there and make this a good clean fight.

[Ikkitakeda]

Shannon O'Brien: Here at The Underground on The Island doing post fight interviews with some of the fighters and I see one now, looks like Auric Gallahad. Hey Auric can I get a moment of your time!?

Auric Gallahad: Yeah sure thing. What do you need?

Shannon O'Brien: I just wanted to see if I could ask you a few questions?

Auric Gallahad: Yeah absolutely.

Shannon O'Brien: So I noticed the fans started screaming when you came out to Go To War. What made you choose that song?

Auric Gallahad: Well I have kept no secret that I come from a long line of prestigious knights and it just has a sound that it would have been a good rockish call to arms that would have been a hit even back then.

Shannon O'Brien: The fans loved your fight as you got a standing ovation after your very fast fight. It wasn't only the fastest submission of the night but the fastest win of the night. You think your opponent wasn't good enough or what?

Auric Gallahad: Man even though it wasn't that long ago it still feels kind surreal to be honest. I felt really good out there tonight. I think he is a very talented fellow young gun. I felt real good tonight and everything I tried seemed to work. As far as what happened tonight for him I really couldn't say but don't let tonight be a stamp on him as a fighter I know he's capable of a better performance than what he showed tonight.

Shannon O'Brien: You got your eye on anyone else in the division right now?

Auric Gallahad: They offer the fight and I sign it. Simple as that.

Shannon O'Brien: That is awesome man but anyone you would like?

Auric Gallahad: Well Shut Skinner had an impressive win tonight and looks to be a pretty talented 25 year old. And I've seen him workout as we both are in the same gym. I think that could be a good one for the fans. Also Illegitimate Stepchild is a fellow 18 year old and people like style matches. Classic grappler vs striker. So either of those I think would be good but I'll sign against anyone.

Shannon O'Brien: Those do sound like good matches but do you think Stepchild would be able to stop a takedown from you for a shot a grappler vs striker match? Skinner would also be a grappler vs striker match. No doubt. Can I take Stepchild down? Yes I think I could take either guy down. What people like to see is can the grappler get the takedown before being knocked out. And that is where the two fights gets intriguing between those two. I think even though he is younger as he is the same age as me that Stepchild has a better striking game than Skinner, but Skinner has some wrestling to go along with his striking so could potentially stay up longer and work me over time, but Stepchild I think could knock me out faster. But you never really know. Also I could get someone totally different than either of them, and that is completely fine. I'll go in there against anyone and either have my hand raised or go out on my shield. I think I truly embody the fighting spirit that Highland is all about.

Shannon O'Brien: Well said Auric. Thank you for your time.

[clydebankblitz]

HIGHLAND 2 PREVIEW

We can just call this event “All or Nothing”. There is a chance we die on our sword when the financials come out, and there’s a chance we make a mammoth profit. It’s really a shot in the dark, so fingers crossed we come out the other side. But that doesn’t stop us from breaking down all the action, whether that be for the last time or not.

 

Heavyweight - King Turn (1-0) Vs Needle Dick (1-0)

Hey, some guys that actually have a win. I might actually have something to talk about. Nice!

King Turn is a BJJ Brown Belt who picked up a 46 second submission win over another fighter signed to Highland, Ricky Thompson. Ricky went for a takedown, only to be immediately outmatched on the ground. Bad move Ricky.

Turn will be hoping for much of the same when he fights Needle Dick. Needle is managed by a legend of the Highland Brand. Power Shark, who was better as Stormin Norman for the record, has brought several fighters to Highland success. Darth Vader was the 3 time HG Bantamweight champion and a Hall of Famer. Texas Pete was a HG Light Heavyweight champion and Hall of Famer. Rice Aroni was the second ever Light Heavyweight champion, being dethroned by the man Texas beat. Other shoutouts to Darth Mauler and Darth Sidious, as well as Island S3 legend Kick Boxer.

King Turn is certainly up against it with that level of proven success, but if he gets this fight down, you have to think it's over.

 

Welterweight - Rory Gracie (0-0) Vs Kofi Ousmane (0-0)

Rory’s manager Cory has been in the game for 12 years, so he knows a thing or two about what it takes to win. Rory is a born finisher, coming into the fight with respectable boxing credentials as well as a BJJ black belt. The idea for Rory is that if you want to stand, he’ll beat you up. If you want to grapple, he’ll tap you out. That simple.

Kofi Ousmane, a guy that I definitely didn’t make because I’m so invested in the rise of Senegalese wrestlers in MMA, comes in with great wrestling and a BJJ blue belt. Seemingly on paper it would look like it’s all up against Kofi. If he uses his wrestling to take the fight down, he’s in the world of a more experienced grappler. However if he keeps it standing, he might find himself getting beat up. It’ll be interesting to see how Kofi, or eh, I, approach this because on the scoresheet, it doesn’t look good. 

 

Middleweight - Jovan Markelic (1-0) Vs Steele Campbell (0-0)

You want power? Cause Jovan Markelic’s bringing it. The heavy swinger took out his granite chinned opponent in just 18 seconds in his debut, cementing himself as one of the major players at 185. The muay thai specialist will be looking for much of the same in his first walk to the Highland cage, but he’s up against a mirror image on paper.

Steele Campbell is a muay thai player himself, although we’ve yet to see him apply it to the cage. Steele is a very small middleweight, missing out on the welterweight limit by under a pound, so he might have a little bit more speed than his devastating opponent has to offer.

To add some extra fuel to the fire here, Jovan Markelic personally called out Steele Campbell, so he sees a weakness in this fight that we don’t.

 

Lightweight - Jim Jackson (0-0) Vs Damon Mendoza (0-0)

A set of 18 year olds here as both men scramble to pick up the skills needed to compete with their holder foes. Slim Jim Jackson can trade shots on the feet as well as mix it up on the ground, but it’ll be the latter he looks to do against the high muay thai pedigree of Damon Mendoza. 

Damon comes from a family of fighters. His older cousin, Daniel Mendoza, is 11-1 in MMA, having held multiple belts in the sport as well as a kickboxing strap. Daniel’s younger brother, Derek, also competes on The Island, so we know Damon will have someone to train with.

 

Lightweight - Ed Green (1-0) Vs George Russell (0-0)

With one of the coolest nicknames around, Ed “The Detective” Green blew through his professional debut, submitting a fellow BJJ Brown Belt in Bororo Arawakan. Such an incredible debut performance has to be weighing heavily on the mind of his opponent, as George Russell himself is a BJJ Brown Belt.

It’s so interesting to see this clash as Russell has the opportunity to follow exactly in Green’s footsteps by submitted a brown belt, but he poses essentially the exact same threat that Arawkan did for Green. I don’t think this one lasts a round.

 

Heavyweight - Marko Kerr (0-0) Vs Stoyan Sotanov (0-0)

This is the first 25 Vs 18 year old match up of the competition, as the older and more experienced Marko Kerr takes on striker Stoyan Sotanov.

Kerr is simple in his gameplan. A great wrestler with a BJJ blue belt, there’s no surprises about where he wants to take this fight. Sotanov is a little bit more of an enigma. With a little bit of muay thai and wrestling behind him, is he going to try and clinch up or keep it at distance? Time will tell.

 

Middleweight - Better Dead ii (0-0) Vs Kristoffer Wexell (0-0)

And just like that, we have our second 18 year old Vs 25 year old. Partial Differential Equation King, manager of both 25 year olds, definitely lucked out on this card.

Although Better Dead ii isn’t just anyone. The original Better Dead fought in Highland Games in season 3, even beating Gottlieb Hiebknecht in the end of season tournament. He would go on to be the World Combat champion after the season, but once he left the Season 3 Island promotions he would struggle to find any major success throughout his career. He’s not even the only Better Dead coming to The Island, as Better “Than” Dead fights at Highland 3.

Kristoffer Wexell is similar to Marko Kerr in many ways and will want to impose his strong grappling credentials as soon as the fight kicks off. Wexell will know that not many are rooting for him here, being the older fighter against a manager with Highland Games originals, but he will use that fuel to push hard for the win.

 

Lightweight - Radu Lungu (0-0) Vs Kranckx Diesel (0-0)

I have recently become a combat sports website editor and have spent countless hours inputting information about Romanian kickboxing. The same “Radu Lungu” is the spawn of such actions.

Kranckx Diesel, with one of the most annoying names to type, comes into this fight smack bang on the Lightweight limit. There will be no late next extra sparring sessions for him as he’ll need to be fully focused on cutting the weight.

Lungu is no mystery in his approach. With a commendable background in boxing, Lungu will be looking to stand and bang, hoping for an early knockout. He also has a green afro. I felt that was appropriate to mention.

 

Light Heavyweight - Billy Crawley (0-0) Vs Bobby Cruz (0-0)

Once again, I get to talk about Highland Games. My specialty. Charles Crawley was on the first ever Highland Challenge card, winning the Light Heavyweight championship at Highland Challenge 5 and defending the belt an impressive 4 times. He could join Highland Games following the season, competing against well known fighters such as Jimmie Craig and Nuke Laloosh. We’re now being treated to a new Crawley on The Island, in the way of muay thai fighter Billy.

However The Island Freak Bobby Cruz doesn’t give a damn about history. He’s got one gameplan; separate you from your consciousness by any means, and he plans on doing just that. Charles Crawley might have quickly won the Light Heavyweight title of Highland Challenge, but Cruz says the only reason he was able to wake up in the morning is because he didn’t have an Island freak standing across the cage from him.

 

Bantamweight - Dax Crumper (0-0) Vs Genji Kamogawa (0-0)

What the fuck is Dax Crumper? Seriously what the fuck is that name? And why is he Argentinian? So many questions, but what we do know is Dax is a grappler going up against Genji Kamogawa, a wildman from Japan who’ll desperately want to keep this one standing and work with his hands.

While it seems like I’d be the more experienced Highland manager, Scottie 2 Hottie might well have be beat due to the long career of John Pinaglabanan that we mentioned last time out. 

This is only heightened when you look at our history. John managed to beat 2 of my fighters, Dan Small and Dave Kopp, and also went 1-1 against Neil Drake under my management. To add to this impressive record against me, Scottie also picked up a Highland Island win with Kintarou Ooe at Highland Island in 2016, so it’s safe to say I’m the underdog.

[clydebankblitz]

Today is the day.

[clydebankblitz]

For anyone catching this, I'm going to switch up the write up style to a review at the end of every week. Running 3 events per week, it'd be a mission to try and preview all of those. So on Mondays I'll drop a review of the 3 events in the week prior.

From now until Wednesday is our last big gap in events. From then on, we'll be rolling week in week out.

[dein93]

The owner of this org just kicked several fighters from myself and other managers, because he is pissed off that we would not sign a Renegotiated $1 / $1 / $1 contract.

I declined ONLY because only 3 days before, he mailed this to everyone in the org..

"We have had a couple of new Island gyms pop up, but the ones I want to give a shout out to are the guy who started Island Gym (I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say? Tell me if I can haha) and Magnus Bjornford who opened Walter J Abramowitz Center for Bigness. That gym currently has full capacity, but it also has $300 gym fees so I'd suggest any of the guys I've already booked to fight try to get involved. To the managers who accepted $1 contracts for Highland 1, if the event manages to turn any form of profit I'll try and chuck a couple of bucks of to keep you training."

He literally TELLS US that we should get involved.. "Start paying 300 a week for this gym, and I'll help you out with money!"
This mail was on Feb. 19th..

The org was mismanaged, and apparently in a financial situation when we were approached with a plea for this reduced contract on Feb 22nd.. It was as follows:

"So I don't know what changes they've made to the game. After I had already agreed all the contracts etc. someone told me they've made orgs less profitable in recent years, no idea if that's true. All I know is our first event, with the same algorithm I used for Highland Games, attracted 4 times less guests. I managed to profit 40k on my first Highland Games event, and lost 15k on this one. Tycoon Tools, while inaccurate for the first event, was inaccurate by almost 4 times too. Not really sure what went wrong, but it leaves us in trouble.
It's making me wonder what the other orgs are going to do considering we've been paying $1 signing bonuses too. 
According to Tycoon Tools we should get 527 people in for our next event. If this was true, we'd be absolutely golden. But unfortunately I have absolutely zero trust in the tool these days if the game really has undergone some changes. Our next event we're either entirely in the clear, ready to rip The Island apart....or we go bust. It's pretty crazy that I could either profit by 40k or lose the remaining money and go bust. Not sure how that can be the case, but it's where we are.
That leads me to this email. For everyone on Highland 2, I'm sending a reneg for 1/1/1. I know, it sucks. You can completely decide whether or not you want to sign of course, however if everyone decides not to, you might end up looking for another org come Saturday morning.
I'm also completely unsure what to do regarding the further events now. The original intention was to book an event for next Wednesday, but it'll cost £7000 to book the arena for that, leaving us with 8000 in the bank. Our loss on this event alone was 12k, so we'd be bust if that was the case. I'll think it over.
If anyone has any tips, let me know. I just assumed the game would be exactly the same as when I left it so I completely didn't expect to take a loss on this at all."

So lets be clear.. Everything was actually fine. He just doesn't know what he's doing..

"17 managers took reduced contracts when the company was in desperate need of cutting costs. I sent out an email pleading our case to everyone. Just 3 managers declined. I believe "Yeah...no thanks" was your words. For those 3 managers, ColMMA exists."

But he decided to be an asshole anyway, and release our fighters because of petty arrogance. Like it's some fucking honor to be in this org or something..? Give me a break..

It didn't even matter that we declined the contracts. It had zero effect.. He said it himself.. the reneg sucked. He knew it sucked. He gave us the option, and then punished those who didn't bend to his request.. I was even polite to him when I declined, and said why..

My reply to him when I declined his shit contract: "I joined a $300 per week gym on your advice, and now you don't want to pay for the next fight?.. Yeah, no. Sorry."

It's not on the managers to make sure that your org has the money to function.. That's on the org owner. The managers should not be expected to hamper their fighter's progress (especially on the island) because an org owner doesn't want to pay out.. 
What would have happened if the org flopped on Highland 2? - All of the managers/fighters who agreed to the $1 reneg would be completely screwed out of their fight pay.. The org wouldn't have had the money to pay them.. So the fighters would have gotten $1 for that fight.

Yeah.. No.. Thanks..

Just a warning to people dealing with this org.. Take it as you will..

[Showdown]

9 minutes ago, dein93 said:

The owner of this org just kicked several fighters from myself and other managers, because he is pissed off that we would not sign a Renegotiated $1 / $1 / $1 contract.

I declined ONLY because only 3 days before, he mailed this to everyone in the org..

"We have had a couple of new Island gyms pop up, but the ones I want to give a shout out to are the guy who started Island Gym (I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say? Tell me if I can haha) and Magnus Bjornford who opened Walter J Abramowitz Center for Bigness. That gym currently has full capacity, but it also has $300 gym fees so I'd suggest any of the guys I've already booked to fight try to get involved. To the managers who accepted $1 contracts for Highland 1, if the event manages to turn any form of profit I'll try and chuck a couple of bucks of to keep you training."

He literally TELLS US that we should get involved.. "Start paying 300 a week for this gym, and I'll help you out with money!"
This mail was on Feb. 19th..

The org was mismanaged, and apparently in a financial situation when we were approached with a plea for this reduced contract on Feb 22nd.. It was as follows:

"So I don't know what changes they've made to the game. After I had already agreed all the contracts etc. someone told me they've made orgs less profitable in recent years, no idea if that's true. All I know is our first event, with the same algorithm I used for Highland Games, attracted 4 times less guests. I managed to profit 40k on my first Highland Games event, and lost 15k on this one. Tycoon Tools, while inaccurate for the first event, was inaccurate by almost 4 times too. Not really sure what went wrong, but it leaves us in trouble.
It's making me wonder what the other orgs are going to do considering we've been paying $1 signing bonuses too. 
According to Tycoon Tools we should get 527 people in for our next event. If this was true, we'd be absolutely golden. But unfortunately I have absolutely zero trust in the tool these days if the game really has undergone some changes. Our next event we're either entirely in the clear, ready to rip The Island apart....or we go bust. It's pretty crazy that I could either profit by 40k or lose the remaining money and go bust. Not sure how that can be the case, but it's where we are.
That leads me to this email. For everyone on Highland 2, I'm sending a reneg for 1/1/1. I know, it sucks. You can completely decide whether or not you want to sign of course, however if everyone decides not to, you might end up looking for another org come Saturday morning.
I'm also completely unsure what to do regarding the further events now. The original intention was to book an event for next Wednesday, but it'll cost £7000 to book the arena for that, leaving us with 8000 in the bank. Our loss on this event alone was 12k, so we'd be bust if that was the case. I'll think it over.
If anyone has any tips, let me know. I just assumed the game would be exactly the same as when I left it so I completely didn't expect to take a loss on this at all."

So lets be clear.. Everything was actually fine. He just doesn't know what he's doing..

"17 managers took reduced contracts when the company was in desperate need of cutting costs. I sent out an email pleading our case to everyone. Just 3 managers declined. I believe "Yeah...no thanks" was your words. For those 3 managers, ColMMA exists."

But he decided to be an asshole anyway, and release our fighters because of petty arrogance. Like it's some fucking honor to be in this org or something..? Give me a break..

It didn't even matter that we declined the contracts. It had zero effect.. He said it himself.. the reneg sucked. He knew it sucked. He gave us the option, and then punished those who didn't bend to his request.. I was even polite to him when I declined, and said why..

My reply to him when I declined his shit contract: "I joined a $300 per week gym on your advice, and now you don't want to pay for the next fight?.. Yeah, no. Sorry."

It's not on the managers to make sure that your org has the money to function.. That's on the org owner. The managers should not be expected to hamper their fighter's progress (especially on the island) because an org owner doesn't want to pay out.. 
What would have happened if the org flopped on Highland 2? - All of the managers/fighters who agreed to the $1 reneg would be completely screwed out of their fight pay.. The org wouldn't have had the money to pay them.. So the fighters would have gotten $1 for that fight.

Yeah.. No.. Thanks..

Just a warning to people dealing with this org.. Take it as you will..

I said this exact thing in private to one of my friends in the game. It is ridiculous to hold it against a fighter or manager for not taking a $1 renegotiated contract, just because he mismanaged the first event. 

[clydebankblitz]

At the end of the day, I'd messaged over 50 managers, tried to drum up Island interest, sent out hundreds of invites, done two write ups, created poster templates, set up the events. I made a mistake on the first card and relied on the managers to help me out. All but 3 were happy to as they saw the work that went in. The 3 that didn't are welcomed at Colosseum MMA and hopefully they have a good season. If you were happy enough for the org to crash in return for your pay cheque, you got the pay cheque. You probably didn't care the time I'd already put in to setting everything up so it probably wouldn't make a difference which org you were at. Everyone got what they wanted.

[dein93]

13 minutes ago, clydebankblitz said:

At the end of the day, I'd messaged over 50 managers, tried to drum up Island interested, sent out hundreds of invites, done two write ups, created poster templates, set up the events. I made a mistake on the first card and relied on the managers to help me out. All but 3 were happy to as they saw the work that went in. The 3 that didn't are welcomed at Colosseum MMA and hopefully they have a good season.

At the end of the day, that's what every single org owner does. You're not doing anything special.. We don't owe you anything. YOU owe US for signing and putting our training time into your org.. Your org is nothing without the fighters. We make you money. So stuff that entitled attitude.

You can't deny one point in my post.. I love how you deflect, and don't even address any of it.

And you're right.. I don't care about the time you spent setting up your org.. You know why? Because everyone else with an org, or any company in this game for that matter has spent long hours working and setting things up.. Once again - You are not special! Neither is your org.

[clydebankblitz]

23 minutes ago, dein93 said:

At the end of the day, that's what every single org owner does. You're not doing anything special.. We don't owe you anything. YOU owe US for signing and putting our training time into your org.. Your org is nothing without the fighters. We make you money. So stuff that entitled attitude.

You can't deny one point in my post.. I love how you deflect, and don't even address any of it.

And you're right.. I don't care about the time you spent setting up your org.. You know why? Because everyone else with an org, or any company in this game for that matter has spent long hours working and setting things up.. Once again - You are not special! Neither is your org.

To be honest mate, I can't be arsed debating. I never I said I was something special, I said I put in a lot of time. I love that other org owners do too. That's what makes the game great. I've been away for a while so these guys that have put years into orgs I have nothing on. Hell, I probably have nothing on my 2014 self at this point either. But at the end of the day man, 3 of you went one way, the rest of us went the other. Good luck going forward man and hopefully your fighters tear it up.

[Ikkitakeda]

Island MMA Gazette:

Sanka Coffee: I'm hear doing a double feature interview with Auric Gallahad and Buddy Barnett. Gallahad you got matched up with a much more experienced guy and Barnett a fellow 18 year old with a fight already. How do you think fair against your opponents experience.

Auric Gallahad: I think his experience will be a huge challenge for me especially coming on short notice, but I am up to the challenge. I feel like I am a step behind him everywhere but I will look to do my ancestors proud.

Buddy Barnett: Well I think my bjj is as good as his muay thai is. So I think I can tap him if it goes to the ground. But I think he has the edge on the feet.

Sanka Coffee: Gallahad you had a decisive victory in your last fight. If you manage to win this quick turnaround fight what do you think your next plan will be?

Auric Gallahad: I think if i win this one I can afford to take time off and focus on training for a month or so.

Sanka Coffee: Barnett what are your plans on if you win or lose your fight?

Buddy Barnett: If I win I'll take a fight like two weeks out and train, and if I lose I'm going to try and fight the week after.

Sanka Coffee: It sounds like both of you revolve your plans around training. Care to weigh in?

Auric Gallahad: That's simply island life. You fight, you train, you die. You fight for the money to train. You train to beat the next opponent. And the circle continues.

Buddy Barnett: I think what Auric is trying to say is that on the island both things are necessary, but when you are a young guy on the island winning is even more important. If you lose you can't train. A lot of times you come in with a big disadvantage. So you need to close the gap. How do you close the gap? By training. You close the gap and keep winning you make more. You make more you can train more until you eventually overtake the gap.

Sanka Coffee: What do you think makes the island such a spectacle?

Auric Gallahad: I think it's that Mortal Kombat feel to it. You have guys from all over come to the island for trial by combat. But instead for ruling the realm it's for honor and respect. And once you get here you can't leave until the tournament of the strongest of the strong is over.

Buddy Barnett: I completely agree. There is just something primal about it. Every fighter here has the same goal TO WIN.

[clydebankblitz]

Ikki killing it with these interviews.

[Ikkitakeda]

2 hours ago, clydebankblitz said:

Ikki killing it with these interviews.

It's what I do. *Brushes the imaginary flakes off his shoulder and walks away.*

[Ikkitakeda]

Auric Gallahad post fight interview: Thank you all for coming out to watch. Any questions?

Ken Winslow: Some are saying St. Georges won the first round. What do you think?

Auric Gallahad: I think it's tough to say who won the first round. It depends on what you are scoring more heavily on. He almost didn't touch me the entire fight. The couple times he did. He hurt and hurt me good no denying it. He dropped me two of the 3 times he connected in the 1st round and missed with the rest. I was aggressive with going after the takedown and dodging. Then I got a takedown and ended the second half of the round on top and ended the round in full mount. Regardless of how the first round is scored I ended it in the second.

Jon Polstok: What are your plans now that you are 2-0 on the island, in highland, and in the weight division?

Auric Gallahad: I plan on doing what I said I would do if I won and that is take some time off fights and put that time to good use training and catching up to these older guys on a skill and physical front.

Greg Goodwin: Would you say it's fair being 2-0 that you are already there?

Auric Gallahad: Look I have two fights and two wins by submission, but if my last fight showed anything is my one dimension style isn't going to be good enough or my one dimension isn't good enough. If he had been more aggressive he barely touched me and still dropped me 3 times in that fight and let me back up. Given that I did submit him and probed the two times I took him down that once there he wasn't getting back to his feet but he still dropped me barely connecting 3 times. If he had taken the chance diving in while he had me hurt and not let me recover and get back to my feet that he may have ended the fight. Then again he would have let the fight go to the one place I had a chance in the fight at.

[clydebankblitz]

Our first weekly recap will be out either tonight or early tomorrow. Keep an eye out.

[clydebankblitz]

HIGHLAND REVIEW - WEEK 1

I already hated my poster templates. Was rusty and they don't look half as good as Highland Games. Once the current run of posters run out, I'll make some better ones.

Introduction

So hello and welcome to the first Highland Review. I have absolutely no idea what the format I'm going to be using for these is, so let's just freestyle it and see what happens.

This week has saw Highland rise to a position of strength. The money issues of Highland 2 now in the rear view, every manager who took a 1/1/1 contract has been paid their contract, given a bonus and thanked more times than they are probably happy with. Of course there were some, eh, controverisal moments in releasing the fighters that refused the 1/1/1 contract, but IXF was born through the wreckage so there's a legitimate promotion to compete against throughout the season.

Unfortunately IXF rises in the ashes of both ROV Kickboxing and Tortuga, so it'd be nice to see another option arise on The Island. If any manager is considering starting a new org, I'd be happy to share all of my finance information to help you get started as that first event is a bastard.

We started strong with a 70 rating, before dropping to 66 for the following two events. This is absolutely fine though. Most of the fighters competing on the cards are still brand new and fighting at 0-0. All throughout the season we'll be giving guys at this level a chance, because every fighter is a source of hype and whether they're winning or losing, they are a big assest for our promotion.

 

The Events

So, without further ado, let's talk about what happened.

At Highland 3, Darren Russell brought with him a pair of his Holmes boys. While Hunter (1-1) was unsuccessful in the main event, Hans (2-0) struck fear in the heavyweight division with a 15 second knockout, picking up KOTN.

5 submissions kicked off Highland 3, although we've already seen the opening fight winner Bororo Arawakan (1-1) headed to free agency so not all will be able to capitalize.

Vani Yani (2-0) picked up a large hype boost from his kimura win over Amangkurat Mauliwarmedewa (would you believe I typed that without looking? Me

either), however at Highland 4 Jobber Joe (3-0) managed to position himself at the top of the Bantamweight rankings with a great tear up against Genji Kamogawa (1-1).

Genji was the second fighter to have two Highland fights, following Auric Gallahad (2-0) winning his fight earlier on the card. At 18 years old, Auric is looking like a fighter to look out for this season, and he's going about it the right way by taking some time off to train. Hopefully he can still capitalize on his early momentum when he returns.

After a submission heavy 3 and 4, Highland 5 came back with 7 TKOs on one card, with just one of the fights going to a decision. KJ Wassermann (3-0) is the name to look out for there, and it's expected that KJ will be competing for the Highland Lightweight Championship in the near future.

 

Managerial History

What would a write up be if I didn't shout out our managers of old?

Gabriel Lobo
This Week's Fighters - Borislaw Stankov (0-1, Highland 3)

Historic Fighters - Massimo Paterno (10-7, 9x Highland Fighter, HG MW title challenger)

 

Rabid Wolf
This Week's Fighters - Better "Than" Dead  (0-1, Highland 3), Illegitimate Stepchild (0-1, Highland 5)

Historic Fighters - Better "Off" Dead (33-52, 8x Highland Fighter), Glen Danzig (0-2, 2x Highland Fighter), Royal Pain (30-35-1, 6x Highland Fighter)

 

Crocodile Dundee

This Week's Fighters - Rudy Loens (1-0, Highland 3), Thierry Bailly (0-1, Highland 3)

Historic Fighters - Portia Perez (0-3, 2x Highland Fighter)

 

Pawel Ostrovsky

This Week's Fighters - Larry Shark (1-0, Highland 3)

Historic Fighters - Josh Miller (18-19-1, 1x Highland Fighter), John Eugemia (23-17-1, 2x Highland Fighter, HC FW title challenger)

 

Master Leader

This Week's Fighters - Bororo Arawakan (1-0, Highland 3), Andrey Mihaylov (1-1, Highland 4)

Historic Fighters - Aleksandar Mihaylov (9-6, 8x Highland Fighter, 2x HG MW title challenger), Lucio Gracie (13-5, 5x Highland Fighter), Keto Belle (23-9, 6x Highland Fighter, HG WW title challenger, The Island S4 Champion)

 

Scottie 2 Hottie

This Week's Fighters - Genji Kamogawa (1-1, Highland 4)

Historic Fighters - John Pinaglabanan (27-17-1, 27x Highland Fighter, 2x HG BW title challenger), Kintarou Ooe (9-5, 12x Highland Fighter)

 

Zenaral M�n�tzer (Fucked if I know what those characters are meant to be)

This Week's Fighters - Gary Koistinen (0-1, Highland 4)

Historic Fighters - Dillen Aspen (7-4, 2x Highland Fighter), Punchers Chance (8-4, 2-1 KT, 8x Highland Fighter)

 

Coach Steve

This Week's Fighters - Ricky Thompson (3-2, Highland 5)

Historic Fighters - Rafael Abreu (7-6, 2x Highland Fighter), Iago Martins (3-3, 3x Highland Fighter), Calum Von Moger (1-2, 2x Highland Fighter), Jonathan Jovi (7-6, 6x Highland Fighter), Josephz Jotko (2-2, 3x Highland Fighter), Rodney Jackson (20-12, 20x Highland Fighter, former HC MW champion)

 

Colton Reyes

This Week's Fighters - Dylan Sydal (3-0, Highland 5)

Historic Fighters - Lance Boyer (1-11, 2x Highland Fighter), Pat Sinlet (2-11, 3x Highland Fighter)

 

Ken Takahashi

This Week's Fighters - Koto Show (1-0, Highland 5)

Historic Fighters - Chiyono Fuji (12-7, 14x Highland Fighter), Gaku Nakanishi (6-2, 2x Highland Fighter)

 

God War

This Week's Fighters - Dick Hickock (2-0, Highland 5)

Historic Fighters - Vincente Nunes (11-8, 17x Highland Fighter), Saul Singer (6-6, 5x Highland Fighter), Felipe Boaz (3-4-1, 5x Highland Fighter), Buvaisar Hamidovich Saitiev (22-29-1, 13x Highland Fighter), Ferris Bueller (18-9, 12x Highland Fighter, 2x HG FW champon)

 

Shape Shifter

This Week's Fighters - Daniel San (0-1, Highland 5)

Historic Fighters - Huf Puff (2-2, 2x Highland Fighter), Unz Unz (20-16-1, 14x Highland Fighter, HG LHW title challenger), Art Vanderlay (4-3, 7x Highland Fighter)

 

Outro

And that's us at the end of this week's weekly review. I'm sure the "historical managers" section will cut down as a lot of them will be finished now after the first event, but I could spend a week on Arcalimon's alone when his fighters are booked. 

Over the next week it's much of the same. Newer fighters getting their feet wet. It's the following week that we'll start seeing contenders come out as guys from previous weeks start to fight again, and then 2 weeks from now I expect we start seeing some guys representing that all important championship gold.

Keep tuned and thanks for reading!