On June the 13th of 2015, The original Global Association of MMA™, managed by Mentor Corleone (3503), presented GAMMA#488 LaFontier v Wiggin (830870) for the 90,618 GAMMA fans in attendance at Wombley Arena in London, as well as thousands of fans watching from all over the world. GAMMA#487 was proudly sponsored by GREEN!160, providing nutritional products from Las Vegas.
The event featured the very first title defence for Charles LaFontier, who was to face Ender Wiggin, who was hoping it would be a case of third time lucky in terms of GAMMA title shots. The main event was accompanied by 9 other bouts, featuring the likes of Arthur Curry and Illias Illiadis and many more stars of MMA. I’m Nick James, and this is your review of GAMMA#488 LaFontier v Wiggin. Full details can be found at http://www.mmatycoon.com/orgeventpublic.php?EvID=830870
Undercard
Welterweight Bout – BeeJay Penn (46629) [LEGION OF DOOM] Def. Olliver Gullion (214437) [LEGION OF DOOM] via Round 3 TKO (0:49)
The evening was kicked off with two fighters making their GAMMA debuts. At 43 years old BeeJay Penn was really looking to show that after 52 fights, he still has what it takes to compete at the highest level of MMA and a win against 27 year old, Gullion, would make a strong case for that. It became obvious early in the fight that Gulion wanted to strike from the clinch and Penn wanted to keep striking from distance. Gullion found success in the first and Penn found success in the second, leaving the final round as the one which would decide the final outcome. Early in the round, Penn landed a big left hand and followed it up with some more strikes to claim a third round TKO victory.
Middleweight Bout - "The Hammer" Semmy Kasteel (124259) [LEGION OF DOOM] def. Sepp "Sub" Maier (86796) [Evolution Fight Clan] via Round 1 KO (4:05)
The next bout featured Semmy Kasteel making his fourth GAMMA appearance against 83 fight veteran Sepp Maier, who was making his astounding 20th GAMMA appearance. Having lost his last four fights, Maier was looking to pick up his 46th win, no doubt looking to use his crafty submission skills. Maier pulled guard early in the fight, and looked for submissions which were defended well by Kasteel until the referee returned the fighters to their feet. Maier tried desperately to return the fight to the mat, but Kasteel defended well until he managed to land a shot which rocked Maier and then Kasteel knocked him out with a massive counter left. After suffering his fifth defeat in a row, Sepp Maier decided it was time to hang up his gloves and retire, after a long and successful career.
Middleweight Bout - Genghis "The Mongoloid" Khan (198249) [LEGION OF DOOM] Def. Atte "Teufel" Peltola (177978) [FinnFighters] via Majority Decision
The third fight of the evening saw BJJ black belt Genghis Khan face GAMMA veteran Atte Peltola. The fight was very even, but in the end, Khan just managed to get the edge over his opponent. The win can be attributed to his superior grappling skills as he managed to land a couple takedowns in the opening two rounds.
Featherweight Bout – Yuri Boyka (34136) Def. Hugo Veron (125591) [LEGION OF DOOM] via Round 2 KO (0:13)
The next bout featured yet another 50 fight plus veteran in Yuri Boyka going up against Hugo Veron who was making his GAMMA debut after not fighting for over two years. Veron has been known to have a questionable chin, which is something Boyka, who came in with 24 KO/TKO victories, wanted to take advantage of. Both men wanted to stand and strike from distance, so we saw an all-out striking battle in round one, with Boyka perhaps getting the edge as a result of his higher output. When Round 2 started Boyka was straight onto Veron and managed to land some shots in a combination which rocked Veron. Boyka capitalised on this and landed a huge left hook, knocking Veron out cold and giving him his 25th KO/TKO win.
Middleweight Bout - Hektor Troy (160259) [LEGION OF DOOM] Def. Allen Robinson (199380) [LEGION OF DOOM] via Unanimous Decision
The fifth bout of the evening was a fight between two strikers in Hektor Troy and Allen Robinson. Robinson came out very aggressive, but Troy showed very good striking defense and accuracy and still managed to out-strike his opponent. Troy also did a superb job of defending the numerous cinch attempts by Robinson and on the occasions he found himself in the clinch, he defended well and found ways to escape. This was enough to hand Troy the victory in the eyes of a three judges, hopefully Troy decides to send some of his win bonus back home to Greece, we all know they could use it.
Lightweight Bout - Yngve Ingvar (140275) [Cold Blooded Killers] Def. Will Genia (215703) via Unanimous Decision
The last fight of the undercard featured GAMMA veteran Yngve Ingvar taking on Papua New Guinea native Will Genia, who had trouble making weight. Ingvar looked to light up Genia’s face with his hands, while Genia threw an incredible amount of kicks to the legs and body. Ingvar’s striking seemed to be a little crisper, earning him the first and third round of the fight. Genia had a decent second round, managing to clinch up with Ingvar, but it was not enough to save him from suffering a unanimous decision defeat.
Main Card
Lightweight Bout - Oscar Boma (212771) [LEGION OF DOOM] Def. Napoleon Dynamite (191238) [FinnFighters] via Round 2 KO (2:27)
The main card was kicked off with a fight between two Europeans in Oscar Boma and Napoleon Dynamite. The Belgian native Boma made his much anticipated GAMMA debut in this bout, bringing with him an extraordinary record of 15-2, with twelve of his wins coming by way of KO/TKO. His opponent, Napoleon Dynamite, was five years his elder, coming out of Finland. He came into what was his fourth GAMMA appearance with a record of 23-14-2, looking to keep a winning streak going, after recovering from a loss to Krystian Wojnasiewicz for the Lightweight title at GAMMA#477. Both fighters have held championships of other organisations in the past, with Boma being a WFC champion and Dynamite being a Galaxy FC champion. On top of that, Dynamite came in still wearing the lightweight title from GAMMA Contenders. Both fighters have been under long-term management by their current managers with
Alika Webb (62511) managing Boma and Christian Fager (73646) managing Dynamite.
The fight entered the clinch early in Round 1 and both strikers looked to strike. Boma was getting the better of Dynamite in the clinch, landing shots to his head and body. Dynamite, aware of this, shot in for a takedown which was easily defended by Boma and the fight returned to striking distance. From the distance, Dynamite seemed to be getting just a slight edge over Boma and was defending the clinch attempts nicely. At the start of the fifth minute of the round, Dynamite shot in for a takedown which was defended by Boma, then countered with a hard right hand, which dropped Dynamite. Dazed, Dynamite returned to his feet and started throwing at Boma. It seemed that Boma decided to let Dynamite off the hook, perhaps to conserve energy, and did not follow up on an oportuity to finish the fight towards the end of Round 1.
Round 2 continued from where Round 1 left off with Dynamite being quite dominant in the stand-up battle. Against the flow of action, Boma landed a monster head kick towards the end of the second minute, knocking Dynamite down to the canvas for a second time. Boma waved Dynamite back to his feet and the action continued. Once again, Dynamite immediately got back on the striking, only to have his leg kick countered with yet another head kick by Boma, this one knocking him out cold, giving Boma a spectacular head kick knockout.
The win for Oscar Bomma gave him his 16th career victory and showed that he is more than capable of competing with the elite here at GAMMA. Boma remembered to thank the fans following the fight and is definitely one GAMMA fans will be looking out for as he hopes to rise to the top of the lightweight division.
Welterweight Bout - "Ill" Illias Illiadis (192937) [FinnFighters] Def. "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka (159898) [LEGION OF DOOM] via Round 1 Submission (3:24) Submission of the Night
The second match of the main card was a rematch between elite grapplers Illias Illiadis and Jimmy Snuka at 170 pounds. The second Greek fighter to appear on the GAMMA#488 card, Illiadis, came off second best to Snuka in their first fight and both he and his manager Mr Gutz (3074) were both itching to set the record straight and with a record of 17-7-1 and a BJJ black belt it was a definite possibility. The Fijian Jimmy Snuka and his manager Jebba. (61031) were looking to recreate the previous match which saw Snuka win via armbar. Snuka brought with him to the fight, a much more decorated career with a record of 28-15, 25 previous GAMMA appearances, including numerous tittle matches, one of which saw him win the Lightweight Championship and one which saw him defend it. A second win against Illiadis would have seen him increase his win streak to three and push him closer to the Welterweight title.
Almost immediately Jimmy Snuka landed a takedown into Illiadis’ guard. Illiadis, however, was not keen to stay there and swept using his butterfly guard. Snuka managed to get guard from the bottom and looked to catch Illiadis in a triangle choke, but Illiadis prevented it before he was in any real danger and then advanced to half guard, then straight to mount. Illiadis then went for a submission attempt of his own, which he could not get, before losing his dominant position as Snuka used a hip escape effectively to slide a leg through and regain half guard. Half way through the round, the fight already had BJJ fans on the edge of their seats watching what could only be described as a human chess match. Illiadis regained mount, only to be swept by Snuka who now found himself in the guard of Illiadis. Snuka immediately looked to advance position but Illiadis wanted none of it and looked to lock in a submission. After eating an elbow and defending his guard, Illiadis pounced on an opening and locked a loose triangle on Snuka. Snuka was very relaxed in the triangle, not expecting Illiadis to be able to finish, but at what must have been close to light speed, Illiadis grabbed his ankle and pushed off Snukas hip to tighten the triangle and squeezed Snuka into submission.
Illiadis, elated at getting one back over Snuka still remembered to thank the fans in attendance as he was awarded his fifth submission victory. Snuka was perhaps a little light headed after the triangle choke and said 'What the hell just happened? Anyone get the license plate number off that truck?' into the microphone, much to the amusement of Wombley Arena. Illiadis’ triangle choke victory was enough to earn him submission of the night honours and a little extra money to send back to Greece.
Middleweight Bout - "King of the Seven Seas" Arthur Curry (92326) [LEGION OF DOOM] Def. "Lightnin" Lazaro Molina (183872) via Round 2 TKO (0:05) Fight of the Night
The co-main event of the evening was a middleweight bout between veteran striker Arthur Curry and “Lightnin” Lazaro Molina. The word veteran does not do Arthur Curry justice, with the 39 year old Brazilian making his 28th GAMMA appearance in his 69th fight. With a record of 50-19 and 12 wins in his last 13 fights, it was difficult not to view him as the favourite coming in. Molina is no pushover though, at 31 years old and a record of 25-12, the Cuban native was a definite threat of pulling off an upset in his second GAMMA fight. Throughout Molina’s career, he has held various belts in minor organisations and under current manager Jay Stoner (55630) is looking to work his way up through GAMMA and win the most prestigious belt in MMA. Curry on the other hand has been there and done that, he is a 2 time GAMMA champion under manager Gale Hawthorne (22636) and is keen on taking back what is his, with a win in this match putting him closer to that goal.
Lazaro Molina came out very aggressive to begin round 1, but was having trouble landing anything on Curry who was displaying his ridiculous striking defence. Curry was also finding a home for his strikes landing several punches and kicks until cutting Molina in the second minute, before landing a jab which left Molina seeing a few stars. Desperate to stay in the fight, Molina went on the offensive, only to eat a huge right hand from Curry which sent him down to the canvas. Molina acrobatically got up, but was still wobbly. He again went on the offensive, but Curry landed a right hook which sent him straight back down. Showing off tremendous heart, Molina rose to his feet once more and did not let Curry finish him. They continued to trade strikes with Curry getting the better of Molina and as the round closed off, Curry dropped Molina for a third time, but there was no time to pursue a finish.
Molina, obviously still dazed from the events of Round 1, was hit with a hard right hand. Curry followed that up with some more strikes, earning the victory by TKO.
A victorious Arthur Curry remembered to thank his fans after winning his 51st fight and sending Molina back to the drawing board. The win was enough to earn Curry a title shot, against Charles LaFontier at Light Heavyweight. The fight was awarded Fight of the Night honours and judging by the fans’ reaction, Corleone got that spot-on.
Light Heavyweight Title Fight - Charles LaFontier (173319) [Lords of War] Def. Ender Wiggin (80914) [THE ILLUMINATI] via Round 1 TKO (2:59)
The main event of the evening was a light heavyweight championship fight between Charles LaFontier and Ender Wiggin. Frenchman LaFontier was looking to defend his belt for the first time in this fight after beating Ted Stefans for it at GAMMA#483. Coming in with a record of 24-14, with 20 of those wins coming by KO/TKO, there was seemingly no question about how his manager Kjell Svärd (62670) would want him fighting. Wiggin was not going to make that easy though, the Andorran coming in with a record of 32-20 with his most recent victory being a win over former pound for pound number one and former GAMMA champion Scotty Bennet. This fight would mark Wiggin’s third shot at GAMMA gold, coming off second best in his past 2. Interestingly enough, Wiggin had fought in 5 career championship fights, coming into this bout and lost four of them, showing that perhaps the pressure can get to him, something he may need to work on with manager Boondock The Destroyer (503).
Wiggin dived into the clinch the moment the fight started and looked to work LaFontier over with some strikes. LaFontier did not mind the clinch battle at all and landed some strikes of his own, cutting Wiggin with an uppercut. While both fighters were landing, LaFontier seemed to be getting the better of the clinch, but Wiggin was determined to stay in it and turn things around. They continued to trade strikes throughout the first three minutes until LaFontier landed a big right hand rocking Wiggin. LaFontier looked to capitalise on that and landed a huge uppercut sending Wiggin falling back to the cage, where he was met with a barrage of strikes from the Frenchman LaFontier. Wiggin was out on his feet, but the referee was having a bit of a Steve Mazzagatti moment and let Wiggin take quite a few unnecessary punches before stopping the fight and copped some serious abuse from LaFontier. I hope no children in France were watching this.
The victory saw LaFontier defend his belt and earn Knockout of the Night honours. He was, however, very cocky in his post-fight interview, perhaps he was just having trouble with words, either way the fans did not like it.
That bout capped of a spectacular evening of fights, stay tuned for GAMMA#489.
Review by Nick James (104699)
