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 Camden Conference Centre is the place to be on Friday night as we have 10 interesting fights, all of which have the potential to end in a finish. In association with Spartan Nutrition and The Highland Book, we bring you some of the top contenders on the scene today.
Bantamweight
Artur Galecki (2-3) Vs Carlos Lehder Rivas (2-3)
With a combined record of 0-3, neither Artur Galecki nor Carlos Rivas are chasing down title shots any time soon. It’s a close fight to call, but the one thing that’s for definite is that the loser will be in the unemployment like come Tuesday.
Bantamweight
Claudius Calaeabius (4-2) Vs Juha Nimmaki (6-5)
Claudius had a very tough fight against Tatsuzo Fukuda in his last contest which he could well have won. A very capable wrestler, Claudius wants to get the top position and keep control for the entire fight. Juha Nimmaki is an experienced guy, but that wasn’t enough to get the job done when he took on Dominance Zelditeez. He received a post fight bonus for the bout however and lasted until a decision. Many pundits think that Juha will be able to walk out with submission victory here.
Middleweight
Ney Schincariol (5-1) Vs Janek Dzwignia (3-1)
Not one to sit out for long, Ney is right back into action after his loss to Ty Semerad at HG 78. A highly capable grappler, Ney will certainly be looking to pick up another Submission of the Night by taking out Janek tonight. The Polish prodigy will take exception to that comment as he too is a very capable submission fighter. Janek went to the final round of an independent tournament, picking up three submission victories along the way, and he’s looking for a fourth tonight.
Bantamweight
John Pinaglabanan (7-2) Vs Stuart Dew (4-2)
When John joined Highland Games, he was 6-0 and highly touted. He managed to go the distance with two of the best in the division, picking up bonuses in both fights, and then took out Michael Thigpen with ease last time out. John wants a slower build to the top, but one day he could certainly be a threat. Stuart Dew joins us the Vanquish Bantamweight Champion. He won the belt with a slick kneebar victory over Rudy Loens. Highland Games is a whole different challenge though, so Dew is going to have to bring a lot to the table to have the same success.
Middleweight
John Smithing (5-1) Vs Peter Green (5-1)
With two straight wins in Highland Games, one of which being a big upset over 8-1 Clark Kent, John Smithing will soon be trying to move up the ladder. John is extremely dangerous with his armlocks and people won’t want to tangle on the mat with him. If there’s anyone that’s going to try and grapple with John Smithing, Peter Green’s the man. Although he got caught by by a big superman punch in his first HG fight, Peter’s ground and pound has been extremely present in all of his fights as he has finished them by that method. Whoever gets the top position will be at a huge advantage here, but perhaps things favour the jiu jitsu player as he can fight from either position.
Light Heavyweight
Matt Couture (10-4-1) Vs Mairbek Krylov (7-3)
One of two men to have ever defeated LightHeavy Weight, for a time Matt Couture looked like the next big thing. An insane run in the end of season tournament saw him walk out with the gold, but the only gold he was interested in was that 205 belt. Not only did he not walk out as the champ, he lost his next three fights, sending him tumbling towards the bottom of the division. With victories under his belt like Rodrigo Gracie, Ludko Struja and LHW, Couture has the potential to reach the very top, but to do that he’ll need to get back on winning ways and this is definitely not an easy fight to do that in. Mairbek Krylov was 2-0 in HG before a bout of inactivity set in. He chose to part ways with the company after the season and instead joined Choke where he went 1-1. A KO loss to James Helm was harsh, and picking up his first HG loss in his last fight was difficult for him to take in. Mairbek Krylov has bags of potential but like Couture, he needs to start winning some fights. This is a real pickem. Both have great power and skills all around the board. Who knows who will walk out with their hand held?
Lightweight
JJ Lycka (10-6) [+184] Vs Rama Udo (8-1) [-260]
JJ was previously in a situation similar to Matt Couture’s, but a much needed victory in his last fight has brought him back into the mix. JJ is an extremely talented submission specialist and it’s unfortunate that he’s not been able to show his full range of skills in every fight. A former AFL Champion, Lycka can get the job done but if he’s ever going to attack the HG title, it’s now or never. Rama held the Lightweight and Welterweight titles in Choke simultaneously, which just shows how talented he is as a competitor. Although he dropped the WW belt to Taisto Anttila in the company’s last event, he bounced back with a dominant win over John Smith in his new company. Rama sees that Taisto was able to defeat a former champion in the last company’s main event and will be dying to join him at the top. JJ Lycka would be a fantastic launch pad, but not a push over by any means.
Heavyweight
Benny Askren (10-5) [+103] Vs Sailele Lealofi (8-5) [-131]
These two have a combined 20 fights in Highland Games, proving that they are loyal soldiers within the company. They both have very similar rises, but they also share one major downfall. Neither Benny nor Sailele have been able to break into the top of the division. Both have had their shots to prove themselves, but every time they take on one of the best, they end up on the losing end. Benny’s most recent losses are to current number 1 contender Alexey Juralev and former champions Mase Force and Barney Gumble.
Sailele has losses to Force and Juralev as well, but also a recent loss to up and comer Garcia Vega. This fight is really simple. Askren wants the clinch, Lealofi wants the submission. There won’t be any surprises or anything we don’t expect. One aspect of the fight which edges Askren is that he has a recent destructive win over Keijo Virtanen who would be considered a slightly more tested submission player than Lealofi. But really, if the fight spills to the floor then Lealofi will walk out with the win. Whoever can impose their gameplan takes this fight, and you have to think that both feel this is a highly important fight to prove that they are above the mid card of the division.
Heavyweight
Thresh Whiteman (8-1) [+161] Vs Chiyono Fuji (11-4) [-225]
Thresh might just be the most exciting of all of HG’s new generation of fighters. Both he and Taisto Anttila have main evented a card and both have walked out with the victory. Thresh has defeated two powerful strikers in Bratt Nardello and Mitchel Thompson since joining us, and really is in a position to start chasing down title shots. He is a former super heavyweight champion in Choke, a company which only looks stronger since its fighters migrated to Highland Games due to the mass success of its former champions here. Thresh likes to take fights into the clinch, like almost all of Highland Games’ top fighters. The Thompson win is huge for Thresh, but once again he finds himself facing a tried and tested knockout specialist. Chiyono Fuji has only known Highland Games, with the exception of the Island tournament, and for some time he’s been proving to be a knockout specialist.
He made an immediate impact in Highland Games when he knocked out Rashid Kurmally on our first card in just 5 seconds, and since then he’s still been proving to have extremely good power. It was also good to see Fuji pick up a bonus in his last fight because in the earlier cards he was the go to guy for post fight awards. This fight will go one of two ways. Chiyono Fuji will be able to use his powerful striking very quickly, putting Thresh in all kinds of trouble and scoring a first round knockout, or Thresh will be able to get the clinch and dominate at close range, probably winning on cuts as we know Chiyono is susceptible to lacerations. We have a HG 1 vet Vs a forefront member of the new generation, so opinions will conflict from fans tonight.
Light Heavyweight
Jake Theodorou (15-4-1) [-121] Vs James Helm (11-5) [-112]
Another HG 1 veteran here, Jake Theodorou makes his return to the cage since finally closing out a feud with Rodrigo Gracie. Since Jake signed up with Ivan Drago’s management team, he’s made it clear that he isn’t interested in going after the title. This might be a wise choice as besides the fact that he now trains with LHW, he also has three losses to the champ so this might be a way for him to prevent another nasty defeat by cuts. That being said, Jake is still right at the top of the division. He has no intentions in removing himself from the top, and you have to think that if the day comes where the champ is dethroned, Jake will be right there to take on whoever the new champ would be. Jake Theodorou has some incredible ground and pound and his ability to take the fight down is fantastic. Outside of the LHW fights, his only loss is to Ludko Struja and he went to a draw with Gracie. Ludko was able to get the top position and beat Jake at his own gameplan while Gracie was a difficult jiu jitsu player with sweeps off his back.
These aren’t aspects which James Helm will be bringing to the table. James Helm is a smash mouth fighter who wants to punch people in the face, no more, no less. This might be a difficult fight for Helm who’s taken losses to Rice Aroni, Ludko Struja and his opponent tonight, Jake Theoorou, all by ground and pound. It doesn’t matter who you are though, if Helm catches you clean on the chin then the fight could be over then and there. In his last fight, James scored arguably the biggest win of his career with a KO over Mairbek Krylov. James will want to land quickly and want to time the takedowns. This is going to be a very has task as Jake is extremely skilled at taking the fight to the mat. Both of these are elite competitors and worthy names at the very top of the ladder.
We have a good card here with some experienced fighters towards the top of the event. In almost every fight, we have fighters with predictable gameplans. While this might be seen as a downside, I don’t feel it is at all. We have guys who know what they want to do, and know what their opponent is going to do, and this means it will be style against style which is always intriguing.
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