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 Welterweight
Gunnar Lasson (4-3) Vs Nicklas Lidstrom (2-1)
For some reason my brain is absolutely adamant that I should type Larsson every time instead of Lasson. I suppose being a Celtic fan, my mind is so wrapped up in Henrick Larsson that it goes off on its on tangents.
Unfortunately for the Swede, is Swede the term of just a vegetable?, his current sporting run has not resembled that of the legendary soccer player. Gunnar joined HC with a 4-1 record and was looking like quite the snazzy submission snatcher. Since signing up with the promotion however, two defeats by way of knockout have dimmed the shine that once surrounded this competitor.
While his defence would say that the only two men he’s faced have went on to either challenge for the title, or outright win it, his prosecution would point to his grand total of 37 seconds inside the Highland Challengers cage. None the less, a win here will be absolutely pivotal for the BJJ Brown Belt.
The Perfect Human, a humble fighter, is coming to us with a 2-1 record which has been entirely accumulated inside the HC confines. Nicklas wants to enter the cage, walk over towards you, and punch you a lot, ‘tis the Detroit way.
And while Lidstrom might not exactly be the most technical and elusive fighter we’ve ever seen, he is capable to battling through tough positions and still taking the fight home, as he did when he faced Tony Tiger during his last outing. He’s been taken down a few times, a recipe for disaster against Lasson, but with big power comes great knockout finishes, and if Lidstrom can keep this one standing long enough to get the perfect punch off, The Perfect Human will be cruising off to a perfect highlight reel finish. Perfect.
Featherweight
Nucky McPharson (2-1) Vs Dang Sai (2-1)
Nucky sounds like he was named by a drunken Irish parent, so it’s good to see that his folks fully embraced their stereotypes. Be it inside the Highland Challengers cage, outside his local pub Finnegan’s, O’Lafferty’s, McGlynn’s, Smyth’s, O’Shaughnessy’s, McGuire’s, Hand’s or John Boy Brady’s, Nucky McPharson is a straight up slugger. Cale Downes took him down, so Nucky knocked him out. Juan Gomez took him down, and met Downes in the infirmary.
The only man to date to give our beloved Irish instigator problems is Vincent King, who was able to rock McPharson but still couldn’t take him out of there. If you’re not a Nucky McPharson fan, get the hell out of this organisation page, smack talk thread or Tycoon Times newspaper, because you don’t deserve to be around him.
Well I best be off, because I sure as hell don’t want Nucky to win, I’m Dang Sai’s manager! Sai grew up under the Thai sun, which really is the same as the Scotland sun only it seems to hang out over there a bit more. Dang brings his thai kickboxing style to mixed martial arts in the exact way you’d imagine. He wants to cut the distance quickly, stick some elbows in your face, and hopefully walk out after a short amount of work.
While this style initially worked perfectly in his debut, Dang Sai had more problems than he’d have liked when he faced Johnny Boy. To add to the problems, he was completely outboxed by Fred Aslop in what was scheduled to be a 5 round championship fight.
Dang will need to win this fight convincingly if he ever wants another crack at the title, but he has to find a way to get inside quickly, otherwise I expect Nucky to be treating us all for a round after the action is over, well, I suppose he’d be doing that either way.
Heavyweight
Phil Hellmuth Jr (2-1) Vs Tito Kerr (3-0)
The Smashing Machine Vs The Slashing Machine, this fight is your Jake Theodorou Vs LightHeavy Weight type of fight.
You’ve got Phil, the clincher who likes to shove his elbows so far into your face he can tell what you’re thinking, and Tito, if he doesn’t knock you out with the takedown he’ll do it with his ground and pound.
Phil was surprisingly armbared by Woody Forrest, a fellow clincher, but outside of the blemish he’s stopped Sampo Metso and Archie MacDuff so far in his HC run.
Tito has known nothing but success as a mixed martial artist, winning two fights by TKO on the mat before going the distance with Kalle Kettu at Highland Challenge 8. At this stage in their careers, I don’t expect anything out of the ordinary. Neither man has developed the boxing to put fear in the heart of the other, so they will stick to what they do best.
Phil wants to tie up quickly and rely on his takedown defence. He was caught off guard by Forrest but he knows what Tito wants to do. Kerr’s gonna be shooting in almost from the word go.
We don’t know too much about what Kerr can do with his submissions yet but whether or not he’ll look for them is irrelevant. These two guys are managed by probably the two strongest managers the Highland brand has known to date. Highland Games Light Heavyweight Champion’s representative Vs Highland Games Middleweight Champion’s representative. Whoever wins this makes a statement in the division.
Lightweight Championship
Quintonio Vasquez (3-0) Vs Jack Nussi (2-0)
Striker Vs Striker, Cuba Vs Italy, Champion Vs Challenger, this will be the first official defence of the Lightweight title. Vasquez, The Vulture, captured the crown by picking apart Adisa Afolabi in the clinch, weakening him before setting up a mammoth right hand at the start of the third round.
Vasquez likes to fight in the clinch but at a much slower pace than a fighter like Hellmuth Jr. He likes to land cleanly and accurately, not wasting too many strikes and being highly effective with everything he does.
Although two of his fights have went to decision, he’s hurt everyone and it could be argued that the only reason they stayed on their feet was because the champ was keeping them propped up to inflict more damage.
Undaunted, the Naples 19 year old Jack Nussi can fight in the clinch if he has to, but he’d prefer to utilize his reach advantage to land hard strikes from the outside. While Nussi might be 6 years younger than his opponent, it can be argued that his boxing pedigree is higher. Quintonio trains a sprawl and brawl strategy while Nussi is fully confident that he can submit opponents off of his back.
I don’t expect Vasquez to be looking to take it to the floor but Jack would welcome it with open arms…and legs. It’s really hard to predict this fight. We haven’t really seen enough of Jack’s clinch to know how we’ll cope with Quintonio leaning on him.
Even though Vasquez looks to be a stellar clincher, when you’ve got power like Nussi, any opportunity to land clean on the chin can be dangerous and Vasquez will have to keep his limbs in tight if he’s going to avoid getting caught.
Middleweight Championship
Joseph Wright (4-0) Vs Richard Winters (3-1)
I’m gonna be straight. It’s Saturday. McGregor and Mendes is on tonight. I’ve had a few beers. But goddamit I’m committed to finishing this write up so I’m gonna hit this main event an hour before the event is due.
When Wright joined Highland Challengers, he looked like he played it safe.
He landed his shots and kept the distance well. Since joining thought, he’s upped his game. He likes to take the fight late before putting on the pressure, landing harder shots late in the fight and hoping to take the opponent out of there. Machine Gun won the title with a fourth round knockout in his last fight, earning fight of the night.
Richard Winters is managed by the brains behind Chocolate Mousse. Although he suffered a loss in his debut, three straight stoppage victories has brought him to this title opportunity. Having three fights in Solitude before coming to HC, Winters has been around the Island scene which might help him with different settings coming into this fight
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Apologies for this main event being shite. I really wanted to at least get the last 5 fights out but Im half-cut now and wanted to make sure it go out there. Have a good fight lads.
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