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Holmgang Challengers 13 Preview
Holmgang Challengers 13 will come to you live from the Hard Knocks Arena in Helsinki, Finland on March 9th, 2013. Our Light-heavyweight title will be on the line in our Co-Main Event of the evening, but first here are a few quick predictions for our undercard.
Jerry Ringer def. Vesa Sykk via 1st round TKO
Andraej Drakorov def. Masa Munakas via 2nd round KO
Pehr Erik Liljestrand def. Akio Fox via 1st round KO
Trent Allen def. Maniek Krol via 3rd Round TKO
Danyiel Nebi def. Brian Pagan via 2nd round TKO
Hanibal Hanyszewsky (3-0) vs. Kid Comeback (3-2)
In our opening bout on the main-card, we will see a 3 round fight at 185 pounds as Hanibal Hanyszewsky will take on Kid Comeback. Hanyszewsky comes into this fight riding a 3 fight winning streak, the last two by knockout. He has pretty solid boxing ability and enough wrestling to help him keep the fight on the feet the majority of the time. If he is able to do that tonight he will likely secure another knockout victory. Kid Comeback lost in the semi-finals of the middleweight tournament to the runner-up Yunis Abshir, but quickly bounced back with a submission victory by knee-bar. In his last time out, he was submitted by rear-naked choke so he will be looking to get back in the win column here. All 3 of his victories are by submission, so look for Comeback to try to get this fight to the ground as quickly as possible and try to make it 4 for 4.
Prediction: Hanyszewsky def. Comeback via 2nd round TKO
Mattia Nicoletti (3-1) vs. AK Fo Seven (4-0)
Up next we will see another middleweight contest, as these two fighters look to inch closer to a title shot at middleweight champion Sheng Chun Lin. Nicoletti comes into this fight on a 3 fight win streak, after dropping the first fight of his career by kimura. All 3 of his victories come by submission, so he will look to get this fight to the ground quickly and work his BJJ game, especially against the in-experienced white belt in AK Fo Seven. AK is a remarkable MT fighter who comes into this fight off to an exceptional 4-0 start to his career. He possesses pretty good knockout power having finished 2 of his 4 opponents inside the distance. Seven will be looking to keep this fight on the feet at all costs in hopes to end it brutally by knockout.
Prediction: Nicoletti def. Seven via Submission in round 1
Mauri Saarinen (18-9-2) vs. Renzo Gracie (30-19-1)
In our next bout Mauri Saarinen will take on submission expert
Renzo Gracie in an open-weight contest. Both of these fighters will be looking to get their careers turned around as neither is coming in having fared well in their last several fights. Saarinen comes into this fight on a 0-2-1 skid. He will be looking to use the power in his hands to touch the very suspect chin of Gracie. Renzo Gracie has lost 5 of his last 7 fights, and has suffered 14 career knockout losses, so his chin is very suspect. If he gets you on the ground however, you better do everything in your power to get to your feet as quickly as possible. He has an astounding 29 career submission victories, which means all but 1 of his career victories has been finished by that method. If Renzo can get this fight to the ground, I give him every chance in this one.
Prediction: Saarinen def. Gracie via 1st round TKO
Macadam Baird (4-0) vs. Ishyrun Thalis (6-2)
Our Co-Main event of the evening is a 5 round contest for the light-heavyweight title, as Macadam Baird looks to make his first title defense after winning the LHW tournament and becoming the first LHW champion since Holmgang’s return. Thalis comes into this fight on a 2 fight win streak that has him off to a nice 6-2 start to his career. He has 3 knockout and 2 submission victories, so he has proven to be capable of handling himself no matter where the fight takes place. The biggest problem I see for Thalis in this fight is his serious lack of wrestling against a guy who is such a good wrestler in Baird. I also think Baird being the better jiu-jitsu practitioner in this fight will help him nullify the submission attempts from Thalis. Don’t really see this being much challenge for the champion and he will defend his title in dominating fashion.
Prediction: Baird def. Thalis via 2nd round TKO
Ilhem Aliyev (27-12-2) vs. Voitto Vekkaiotsama (26-18)
Up next is the Main event of the evening in a 5 round fight in our open-weight division as Ilhem Aliyev will take on the former Vendetta LHW champion Voitto Vekkaiotsama. Aliyev comes into this fight at a serious disadvantage on the feet, and will be looking to get this fight to the ground where he can work his ground game. He is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and has over half of his career victories by submission. He is specifically good at his arm or choke submissions having 8 of his career submissions come by some form of choke, and 6 via some form of arm submission. Voitto is an elite level striker, with a particularly nasty MT game. He also has some serious power in his fists having finished 19 of his 26 career victories by knockout. He has also been finished 17 times by strikes so he certainly has some durability issues, but with the advantage he has standing, I don’t think that’s something he has to worry about too much unless Aliyev is raining down shots from the mount position.
Prediction: Vekkaiotsama def. Aliyev via 2nd round TKO
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