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 SPFT 133: Pre Pay-Per-View Summary written by Furious Styles
Hello good people, it is I yet again, your man on the scene, Furious Styles! It has been a while since I have been in Los Angeles, but it sure feels good out here! The days have been very warm, the sun nice and bright, and the scantily clad young ladies who want to show their skin before the sun goes down and the night cools off is very much appreciated!
Steel Penn ICON is once again going to bring the raucous to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum where ninety-three plus thousand mixed martial arts fans will jam pack the arena for standing room only, as they behold another outstanding event that features ten great fighters! The event: SPFT 133! Without further ado…let’s get down to business!
THREE FEATHERWEIGHT, ONE LIGHTWEIGHT, ONE WELTERWEIGHT, ONE MIDDLEWEIGHT, ONE LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT AND THREE SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT FIGHTS are scheduled for this event and the fans will definitely enjoy each and every battle! The main event of the evening is Adam Gracie versus Mateus Allen, so let’s start there!
The Featherweight Title will be defended on this night as Adam Gracie (21-9-1) of The Legion of Pain and “The Farmboy” Mateus Allen (22-6) of THE STEEL PENN ALLIANCE – Steel is once again in the house! – lock horns! Gracie has been a fighting champion, successfully defending the title in his last two bouts, the most recent victory being a first round Submission Victory over Tad Ghostal. Gracie’s submission game has been very effective for him and that may very well be the approach he takes in this defense as well.
He has shown the world why he has earned the BJJ red belt he proudly wears during his training sessions, and I have no doubt Allen is very much aware of those world class BJJ skills! Allen brings an Olympic Class wrestling ability to this fight, so being on the ground won’t be uncomfortable for him. However, he’s not as well versed in BJJ as Gracie, so he may opt to try and keep this fight standing, where he can rely on his tremendous boxing ability. Gracie is very adept at the standup game as well so either way, this will be an intense fight for the title, as it should be!
Allen has demonstrated the ability to end fights with his fists and I’m certain Gracie’s camp will have him as ready for that as possible. Gracie may elect to use his height advantage in establishing his accurate jab and sharp cross, but Allen, having the weight advantage, may choose to try and take this fight to the ground and rely upon the wrestling I alluded to earlier. I expect both men to leave it all in the cage and the fans can expect nothing short of a tremendous championship battle!
Featherweight battle number two pits “The Undisputed” Yuri Boyka (29-11-2) of Resurrection Fighting Alliance and Genki Dama (27-13) of ACME – St. Petersburg in the cage against one another! Stepping into this battle with a recent Technical Knockout victory over Marcel Cerdan, Boyka has shown a propensity of knocking out his opponents! Genki, which has many different meanings in Japanese, but the most common being “Energetic”, will definitely have his work cut out for him! Perhaps he’ll rely upon his tremendous conditioning to try and extend this fight to try and win by way of Unanimous Decision, which he did recently against Will Banks.
Dama may seek to take this fight to the ground and allow his vast BJJ skills be his advantage over the hard-hitting Boyka. He does have the weight advantage in this fight so he may try to lean that extra weight on Boyka and make him expend some of his own energy trying to keep Dama physically off of him. Boyka’s slight height advantage probably won’t be much of a factor here, so don’t be surprised if this becomes a battle of attrition. I highly expect Boyka to be very aggressive in trying to drop Dama with a thunderous punch!
The last Featherweight fight of the evening is one that I’ll be watching very intently, and nervously as always, because a fighter I manage, “13” Zica Brava (22-9-1) of THE STEEL PENN ALLIANCE, and Kim Figueroa (26-6) will wage a battle in the cage! Zica is working very diligently to continue the momentum of his Unanimous Decision victory over Xavier Cid, a very good fighter who really pushed Zica in their fight. In general, these warriors are quite evenly matched, though Zica does have a slight height and weight advantage, which is something that doesn’t occur often for him. Recently, Kaiser Nutrition contacted Zica and offered him a sponsorship, of which he is very proud, and that seemed to provide just a bit more motivation for him to train diligently in preparation for this fight.
Figueroa recently lost to Marcel Cerdan by way of Technical Knockout, and honestly, overall, he has struggled during his last five fights. I’m not sure what’s going on with him and what type of training he’s doing at Convicted Top Team gym, but something is amiss in my opinion. Maybe he’s just encountering a bit of a cold spell in executing his fight plans? Maybe his “Posters” shirt and “I’m With Stupid” shorts with a depiction of George Bush, which would probably mess up a lot of people quite honestly, is a source of the trouble? When I was scouting him out, he just didn’t look like he was into the training, and that’s too bad because he’s a very skilled fighter. Still, Zica knows better than to take anyone lightly, even if they don’t appear to be into training for a fight, because anything can happen in that cage. I know he will fight Figueroa to the best of his abilities and of course, I hope that will be enough of a factor for him to earn a victory.
The lone Lightweight battle on the card takes place between El Guapo (17-15) of Legion of Doom and Rocco Kailea (7-4-1) of The Black Hand! Guapo has been struggling as of late, having LOST HIS LAST THREE FIGHTS, each by Unanimous Decision! His shirt says “Just Bleed” so maybe this will be his goal when he fight Kailea, to make him bleed in an effort to turn around his latest difficulties. For the majority of his career, Guapo has been involved in numerous decision fights, so don’t be surprised if he attempts a different approach and tries to end the fight early.
Kailea, who has a distinct disadvantage in this fight in terms of actual fighting experience, has demonstrated some knockout power and ability, so aggression and power strikes may be the approach he takes to this fight! He is currently on a TWO FIGHT LOSING STREAK, so that may inspire his aggression to be at a high level. Guapo has a slight height advantage, and Kailea a slight weight advantage, so I see those factors basically cancelling one another. Kailea is said to have very solid ground fighting skills also so should Guapo decide to go for a submission or ground-and-pound victory, he may be in for a bit of a struggle.
The Welterweight battle on the card will go down between “The Natural” Avon Barksdale (16-10-1) of Soul Supremacy Alliance, and Nathan “Cable” Summers (21-12-1) of GRABTHE.INFO! To this day and always, I will argue that there’s nothing all “natural” about Barksdale! Come on people, look at the crazed look in his eyes! His right eye is slightly focused on something lower than his left, and he just looks like a man whose elevator doesn’t reach the top floor, if you catch my meaning! Nothing against him because all fighters in my opinion have mental issues, but damn, this dude pushes those issues a bit further than most. His last fight resulted in a No Contest because someone didn’t know how to use their GPS, MapQuest, Yahoo Maps or whatever, so he’s had time to train without injury or fatigue interruption. This may be a key factor in this fight for him.
Summers has been in a bit of a rut lately, having LOST HIS LAST THREE FIGHTS, so I have no doubt he will want to turn things around as quickly as possible, and that may translate to him pushing for an early finish to this fight! The bad news for Summers is he has been losing fights by both being knocked out and having to tap out, so he may have to use more caution than he’d like to against Barksdale. Summers may test Barksdale’s ground fighting ability, if he can get him to the ground of course, because he may be more comfortable there than Barksdale.
The sole Middleweight battle of the night places Dennis “Ares” Oppelaar (16-12-1) of VC-13 and Abel “Amazin’” Speed (17-8-1) of The Exiled in the cage against one another! Oppelaar is definitely in a funk, having LOST THE LAST FIVE OF SIX FIGHTS, so he’s trying to figure out the formula necessary to stop the struggles and feel good about fighting again! His latest Technical Knockout loss to Matt Freeman definitely did some physical damage so his ability to recover from that fight, mentally, will be key in this fight. Speed has also been struggling mightily, having LOST THE LAST SIX OF SEVEN FIGHTS! Very much like Oppelaar, he very badly wants to get off the snide and back into the win column!
Oppelaar has the height advantage, Speed the weight advantage, so we’ll see if either of them tries to use said advantage. Both fighters are comfortable in the standup game, but it’s possible that Speed is the more comfortable and capable on the ground, and that’s where his weight advantage would be best used as I see it. Should he choose to take the fight to the ground if possible, using that weight to make Oppelaar work harder to prevent being damaged on the ground may sap his energy faster. A tired fighter is one that is easier to deal with, so that may very well be the hope in this fight.
The only Light Heavyweight fight features “Sweet” Puppy Love (25-14) of Fat Camp – wow, that’s a brutal name for an Alliance – and Jamie “Takedown” Gillis (23-14) of Legion of Doom! Leonard Washington recently SNAPPED LOVE’S SIX FIGHT WIN STREAK and he may use that loss for extra desire to prove he can overcome a situation like that quickly. Gillis has been in a fighting rut, having LOST THE LAST FOUR OF FIVE FIGHTS! As his nickname indicates, he favors the desire to outwrestle his opponent. In this case, that may be a mistake because Love has worked very diligently on his ground game and has Olympic Class wrestling, the same as Gillis, plus Love has earned a black belt in BJJ, just like Gillis.
If both men choose to fight standing up, that may prove to be just as much of a struggle as the ground game would presume to be, because neither fighter has a particular height or weight advantage that would be a major swinging point in their favor during this fight. Ultimately this may prove to be a battle of wills with game plans integrated between the desire to win. This could be a dangerous fight for both men because they may try too hard to achieve victory, leave themselves open for a particular attack, and pay the price for it.
Rounding out the night, no pun intended, are the Super Heavyweights! The Mack trucks with legs always bring a certain excitement into each fight, and I expect nothing less out of the three battles in this weight division! Our first fight takes place between Cael Sanderson Bot (19-8-1) of The Black Hand and Christiano “The Divine Huevo Destruct” Smokeleaf 17-5)! Bot brings a recent Technical Knockout victory over Joe Biggs into this fight, and over the past five fights, he has won the majority of them. For a man renowned for his black belt BJJ and Olympic level wrestling, he has shown surprising punching power and has earned victories by way of knockout.
Smokeleaf is on a THREE FIGHT WIN STREAK and has won the past five of six fights, so he’s on a roll and has confidence and momentum going into this contest! Smokeleaf may very well have the better standup fighting skills, but that doesn’t mean he can relax and not be wary of Bot’s power. Like Bot, Smokeleaf has proven he’s rather comfortable fighting on the ground as well, but I’m not sure he wants to potentially have Bot’s massive forty-five pound weight advantage be used against him on the ground! Smokeleaf has a nine inch height advantage and may very well choose to throw numerous punches at a distance, making it difficult for Bot to get in close!
Jefferson Davis “Boss” Hogg (21-11) of The Legion of Pain and “The Tyrant” Tony Mendez (43-23) of THE STEEL PENN ALLIANCE – that’s right, show some love! – are the second heavy hitters to be on a collision course! Willy Stoppers STOPPED HOGG’S THREE FIGHT WIN STREAK and Hogg will want to get right back on track as soon as possible! Mendez has been experiencing troubles recently, having LOST HIS LAST FOUR OF FIVE FIGHTS. Prior to that, he was on a major winning streak so that has to be a concern for him and his training team! Also, I’m not so sure wearing a shirt that has a picture of money being held in a toilet seat is exactly reassuring, but whatever.
In terms of fight experience, I don’t think anyone in MMATycoon has more than Mendez! Good lord man, do you wake up and go to sleep fighting!? I’m surprised his body hasn’t just quit on him by this point in time, and that alone is very impressive. Hogg is a very large man and he definitely has a weight advantage in this fight! Mendez may try to take this fight to the ground to neutralize the weight disadvantage he faces because standing and banging, as the industry calls it, may prove to be a painful path to choose. As I see it, whoever is able to enforce their will first and maintain it will be the one to walk out of this potentially punishing event as the victor.
And finally, wrapping up the exciting night of fights, Teijo Tarzan (24-15) of VC-13 and “Panthera Once” Joaozinho Gurgel (9-4) of THE STEEL PENN ALLIANCE – can I get a whoop whoooop!? – are the final bulls to butt heads! Tarzan has LOST THE LAST THREE OF FOUR FIGHTS, and that may psychologically play on him for this fight! What’s going on Tarzan, are the animals in the jungle unhappy? Is Jane stressing you out with various demands? Whatever it is, he had better get on the right track and quickly, because if he doesn’t then he’ll be in trouble against Gurgel. Joaozinho...wow, now that’s definitely a name pulled from the SAT test! His name sounds like a futuristic mouth wash or a newly found asteroid!
I know he’s an Alliance member, and that’s all good, but holy crap man, what a name! Gurgel recently SNAPPED A THREE FIGHT LOSING STREAK so he’ll want to build on that victory in this fight. Tarzan has a tremendous fighting experience advantage, along with a massive sixty-four pound weight advantage, so I would expect him to utilize both in this fight. Gurgel will definitely have to rely upon his speed advantage because should Tarzan get a good hold of him, that could be the beginning of the end! Gurgel does have the height advantage and may rely upon very good boxing and Muay Thai skills to try and keep Tarzan at bay, and this fight standing up, at all costs.
Well good people, that’s my time and the end of this summary. As always I thank you for joining me in a review of another exciting Steel Penn ICON event, and I hope all of you enjoy it as much as I will! Remember: Steel Penn stands for devotion to excellence, superior quality, and the desire to provide the utmost in fight events. Take care, be well, and I’ll see you at the fights.
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