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AFC 37 - Karlsson vs Lodin The review
5000 fans came out to see the warriors in Tokyo for the 37th AFC card featuring Jimmy Karlsson and Frank Lodin. Also on the card where two title fights, both the 135 and 155 divisions put their belt on the line. With 7 stoppages, 6 of them in the very first round, the fans were treated with the sweet candy that is high action fights and were kept on their toes the entire night!
Roy Mitchel vs Rayn MaClough
Both men came in shape and as expected kept this fight standing but with a different mindset on how they wanted the fight to go. Roy Mitchel was counting on his speed and maybe over estimated Maclough’s reaction time as he focused to throw combination but inefficiently. Rayn Maclough on the other hand seemed to showed respect towards his opponents boxing and although tried to take this fight to the clinch several times managed to avoid the flurry of Roy Mitchel and out boxed him picking the shots well. Late in the first round Rayn finally found a home with one of his strikes that eventually led to the demise of Roy Mitchel.
Winner by TKO(strikes) Rayn Maclough
Peter Kent vs Tyson Diaz
The fastest finish of the night came from the matchup between Peter Kent and Tyson Diaz. After a quick exchange Tyson Diaz managed to cut Peter Kent after utilizing good head movement and foot work that enabled Tyson to close the distance with a hook to the side of the head. The cut really woke Peter Kent up as he knew he couldn’t take too many of those. Mixing his punches up going both to the body and head although Tyson Diaz was the man with the power it was Peter Kent that came up on top with a nasty hook that sent Tyson Diaz crumbling down on the floor. Smelling blood Peter Kent wasn’t about to let this opportunity go as he had Tyson Diaz hurt and dives in with a few more punches before the ref has enough and stops the fight.
Winner by TKO(strikes) Peter Kent
Travis high vs Hector Lombart
The night couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start for Travis high as he took on Hector Lombart. Almost right of the bat Hector Lombart starts out with a perfectly timed combination that both rocks and cuts Travis high before sending him crashing to the ground. Even though rocked and severely hurt Travis ground game was still a factor for Hector not wanting anything to do with it and instead waves Travis back to his feet. But just as Travis High looks to have recovered to his senses Hector again finds what many thought to be a home run knocking Travis yet again to the ground. Like out of a crazy Rocky movies Travis is not one to quit and stands up yet again! Oh my god what heart, what dedication this living statement of willpower shows. Like a demon possessed, Travis digs deep and finds what he is looking for. A HARD body shot that clearly hurts Hector Lombard that is about to change the character of this fight. From this point on Travis just dominates Hector cutting him, knocking him down to the ground and just works on that cut until the ref much like last time these to warriors fought steps in and is forced to stop due to a severe cut.
There is no question in my mind why this is the fight of the night!
Winner by TKO(cut) Travis high
Michael Jones vs Kamikaze Sazuki
By the looks of things, a 20 min war is not something that discourages these two fighters as last time they fought it was full out war and this fight was not going to be any different. But there was one major difference in this fight from the last and that was the wrestling of Michael Jones what seemed to be much improved since their last bout.
Even though the ref kept standing them up Michael would keep taking this fight, at will, to the ground. Not much to the likings of Kamikaze that would much rather have this fight standing up where he could utilize his standup skills instead. Unfortunately for Kamikaze Sazuki, his combination where not up to the level where they posed as any real threat to Michael whom in the second round managed to get fight to the ground and stay there clamming his revenge over Kamikaze.
Michael Jones wins by unanimous decision!
Michael Scott vs Junior Sanchez.
The bout between Michael Scott and Junior Sanchez proved to be a one sided event as the superiority of Michael Scott was just simply too good for Junior Sanchez. Although finding some success early on with a couple of punches and cutting Michael Scott there wasn’t much Junior could get done. It became quite obvious that Junior wanted to end this fight with a high kick and maybe he relied on it too much as Michael picked up on this and managed to avoid the head kick attempts for most of the times. Not wanting to lay on his back and knowing he needed a finish, Junior Sanchez in a desperation mode, tried to get back to his feet with the last few seconds of the fight in the 2nd round enabling Michael to grab a hold of Junior Sanchez leg for a heal hook. With only 5 seconds left of the round Junior is forced to tap. Earning Michael Scott this cards only submission and claiming the submission of the night award. Congratz!
winner by way of Submission (Heel Hook). Michael Scott!
Judas theurophoroi vs Nammer Da Hammer
Judas high came into the arena with high confidence as his walking song was to Linkin’ parks – One step closer, or as he likes to call it one step closer to a title shot. Judas had the reach advantage but it was Nammer da Hammer that was going to prove that he was the taller man as he managed to use every inch of him to perfection as he simply was too much for Judas to handle. Judas tried to dictate the fight dragging Nammer into the clinch early on. Never finding any success in controlling Nammer in the clinch it was Vietnamese that managed to get the best out of things as he manages to cut Judas on a nicely made break attempt. Just like a shark in deep waters, Nammer could smell the blood and turned up the volume dominating the striking game and breaking the clinch at will. It was just a matter of time before Nammer really hurt Judas as he was landing shot after shot what seemed to be at will. With a just beautiful performance Nammer da Hammer steps away with the victory by TKO!
winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Nammer Da Hammer!
Rumble Lord vs Riley Free
In the heavyweight division Rumble Lord was going to go toe to toe against Riley Free that came in with sizeable reach advantage. As we talked about previous to the fight we expected Rumble Lord game plan to be to take this to the ground. We were not wrong, although stopping three early takedown attempts Riley Free perhaps didn’t count on the resilient willpower of Rumble Lord resulting in a takedown as Riley Free was taking a mental breather. Riley’s impressive takedown defense was not enough this night as the best wrestler in the heavy weight division did what he was supposed to do, staying active and just raining down punches from top position. Riley free did the best he could attempting a submissions, one that came very close! But the experience and calmness from Rumble Lord would surpass any submission attempts thrown his way.
Rumble Lord wins by unanimous decision!
Peter Gunnarsson vs James Reign
The first title fight of the evening was in the 155 division between the champion Peter Gunnarsson and challenger James Reign. A very technical battle was fought between these two warriors as they seemed to trade punches, taking turns in who wants to fire off their shots first. Both men fighting a very similar game plan, neither of them would assert any real dominance. The fight would stay a boxing contest for about one third of the first round before going into clinch positions and seemed to be a very evenly matched fight. It did seem that this fight could go the distance but then surprisingly turned into the favour of the challenger James Reign as he manages to land a shoulder strike that had the champion hurt bad. James recognizes this and manages to create some spaces between them and unleashes a haymaker of an uppercut sending Peter Gunnarsson to his knees. Peter was not able to recover from that point on and James continues to throw a few more punches but Peter was already too hurt and the ref steps in to stop the fight. I bet winning fight of the night was just gravy on top of the belt!
winner by way of TKO (Strikes). And the new champion in the 155 division James Reign!
Kendall Alves vs Jik Chuyhn Jyu
In the second title fight of the evening we had the veteran “Coach” Kendall Alves defending his belt versus the challenger Jik Chuyhn Jyu. Kendall is known for his dangerous ground game but we didn’t expect the champion to come in with so little respect for his opponent as he simply just went at him with everything but the kitchen sink! Jik chuyhn Jyu stayed calm under pressure and was like a ghost for most of the fight as he was dodging and staying out of harms way most of the time except for when he was jumping in landing the strikes of his own and then dashing straight out before Kendall could mount any offence. With an impressive number of 40 leg kicks landed for Jik and 18 takedowns stuffed, Kendall Alves did manage to take this to the ground. While there Kendall couldn’t get any offence going as he only had one sub attempt that was easily defended. Jik Chuyhn Jyu was simply the better man, staying calm under pressure and executing his game plan to near perfection earning him the win over Kendall Alves and the belt proving he is the man to beat in the 135 division!
The winner by unanimous decision! Jik Chuyhn Jyu
In the main event we had Jimmy Karlsson and Frank Lodin fighting over what can possibly be a win for the contender spot in the 205 division. Both men coming with massive experience as they both are still fighting at the age of 30. I spoke prior to the fight with the AFC commentator asking him what was his take on the fight and he gave the edge to Frank Lodin. He said that if Frank Lodin would connect clean on Jimmy Karlssons chin then he would probably knock him out. He wasn’t wrong, Frank Lodin did just that. Jimmy knew he was in for a hard fight but he had confidence that he could manage to get this fight to the ground. Then Frank Lodin would be in his world and as a former Abu dhabi champion that would probably be a scary place for Frank Lodin to be in. But that did not happen tonight. Frank Lodin manages to stop 3 takedowns for Jimmy Karlsson that seemed to discourage Jimmy’s offence quite a bit and turning this in to a once sided contest for Frank Lodin. Just landing punches after punches just proving to be too much for Jimmmy Karlsson to handle, which whom just manage to retaliate with 1 shot.
Jimmy Karlsson was clearly outmatched and Frank Lodin sent a powerfull message to anyone doubting why he should be the number one contender for the belt.
winner by way of KO (Punch). Frank Lodin!
This Hunter Jones hoping everyone enjoyed the fights and what turned out to be an amazing event as promised. Don’t forget that on august 4th AFC will be back with AFC 38 General Bonkers will defend his tile against challenger Calvin Johnsson!
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