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 Hey there, welcome back for the latest GAMMA Gossip. I’m AC Jimbo, and we’re going to be bringing you all of the latest news and views on GAMMA. After the success of last week’s show we’re actually going to head more in that direction, so we’ll only guarantee to cover the main event of each show. The co-main event will get some airtime if, and only if, I deem it significant enough to warrant some discussion. We’re all about the stars on this show, so if you’re a manager and you’re unhappy that your fighter isn’t getting a look-in on the show – tell him to train harder and win more, and then he can headline a show and guarantee himself some exposure!
The corollary to this is that it should give us more time to provide the really interesting insights into our top names that you’ve been writing in to say that you enjoy. However, enough of telling you what we’re going to do – let’s get on and do it!
GAMMA 293 pitched Forest Gump against Vladik Fedotov. Here we saw the underdog, Fedotov, manage to hold off Gump to return to winning ways. I don’t know about you but I was quite disappointed in the performance level shown by Gump, who seemed lacklustre really. Perhaps that’s being a little unfair, though, because he was spilling a lot of blood as Fedotov got to work on spoiling his visage. Perhaps Fedotov really doesn’t like Gump’s purple hair so much that he was giving him a hint on what color he should dye it next? This wasn’t really a fight for MMA enthusiasts, but more casual fans just interested in seeing some blood and guts will have been impressed.
Then onto GAMMA 294, and the defending welterweight champ, Renan St Juste easily disposed of Juho Pennanen in the main event. This one did go exactly as I predicted, although I think I must have been high on the prospect of once again watching St Juste’s incredible power in action, as I kept calling Pennanen Fedotov in the second half of the preview. Either way, I knew what I was talking about even if half of you were too stupid to understand.
For his troubles, St Juste walked away with both the fight of the night and knockout of the night awards. I think some people were a little surprised that this one was deemed fight of the night, but in my view they made the right call. Unless you’ve been sat ringside (hell, or been in the cage with him and felt it firsthand!) for a St Juste fight then you probably don’t realize just how hard he hits. So the fact that Pennanen managed to make it through to the second round after being caught with that beauty of an uppercut in the first shows some incredible heart. He more than deserves the recognition for the part he played in this fantastic title fight.
As I mentioned just before we closed the last show, Mentor has lined up some fantastic super-fights with a few fighters from ONI, Tokyo. The biggest of the lot is a clash between each organization respective heavyweight champion – GAMMA’s Fidel Duberry versus ONI’s “The Argonaut” Vangelis Kokkalis. We’ve been lucky enough to sit down with Fidel a couple of days ago before he heads out to Tokyo to prepare for this huge fight. Roll VT!
AC Jimbo: Welcome, GAMMA Gossip fans. I’m here with the reigning GAMMA heavyweight champion, Fidel Duberry. Hi Fidel.
Duberry: Hi Jimbo, pleasure to be on GAMMA Gossip.
AC Jimbo: Thanks. This is a pretty full on day for you, I understand, as this is the main media day ahead of this super-fight. Media days are renowned for being a bit dull at times, and for having to come up with new ways of answering the same old questions – what’s been the strangest question you’ve been asked today?
Duberry: You’re right, they often do have that reputation. Sometimes I try to overcome this by playing my own little games when answering the questions and see if I can get away with it without the interviewer realizing I’m playing them, like shoehorning song lyrics into my answers and stuff like that. As for the oddest question today, it’s probably when one guy from a Japanese website asked me if I could tell him what 49 squared was without using a calculator or pen and paper.
AC Jimbo: Could you? And why would anyone ask something like that?
Duberry: Of course I could, it’s pretty straightforward. As for why he asked, apparently it was supposed to be a little test to see how I react under pressure. I resisted the temptation to then give him a little test of how he reacted under the pressure of seeing a head kick coming his way.
AC Jimbo: Ha, yes. Not very well, I suspect. You’ll be pleased to know there are no surprise tests planned for this interview, so I hope to not receive any head kicks in return, alright? Anyway, onto more serious matters, you’ll soon be flying over to Tokyo for the fight: how do you feel your preparation has been?
Duberry: Well actually I’ve got a little bit of time before we fly out. We’re leaving it fairly late before going out. I’d rather save the sightseeing until after the fight and not have it interfere with my training. I am looking forward to it, though, as I’ve not visited Tokyo before. I just hope the manager doesn’t book me into one of those crazy hotels where each room is a tiny little pod. I don’t think I could fit in them! As for the preparation, it’s going much like any other fight really – a lot of blood and sweat in the gym. No tears yet, except from some of the sparring partners brought in for me!
AC Jimbo: What have you done differently to prepare for this fight against Kokkalis?
Duberry: Nothing. I take every fight seriously, and he’s no different. When you reach this level, every opponent you step in the cage with is a nasty piece of work who will leave you in a world of pain if you get things wrong. I made that mistake against Jamison when I thought he’d be easy. He actually was easy, until he caught me with a lucky knee to the gut that turned the fight. Man, I’d love to get a chance to knock that guy out and make amends for that upset. I guess what you really meant was can I give you my thoughts on Kokkalis, though? Well he does bring something different to the fight that I’ve not faced in a while, and that is a valid offensive ground game. Of course, he’s strong guy and so he has been able to knock out plenty of guys without even needing to pound them out on the floor, but that’s definitely the most obvious difference he brings so we’ve obviously spent some time focusing on how we’ll deal with that.
AC Jimbo: When the fight was first announced, I have to admit I’d not heard of him much before. I did a bit of research, though, and found he’s ranked in the top 10 worldwide at heavyweight. Does that give you extra incentive to win?
Duberry: I’ve absolutely zero interest in losing any fight, so in that respect no it doesn’t give me extra incentive. It will make the celebration of winning the fight even better, though, as I should then move into the top 10 in his place. Once you’re up there then a whole new load of possibilities open up in terms of opponents to test yourself against, new cities to travel to and showcase your skills. Although I’m very serious when I step into the cage, I’m also keen to enjoy the full experience of what this career affords, and I’ve been lucky enough to spend time in a few different major cities already – London, Rio, Montreal, Vegas, and now a trip to Tokyo. It’s important not to forget the little guys who don’t get to do that.
AC Jimbo: Interesting. Now I thought that seeing as I’m here for GAMMA’s own show I might be cut a little slack and not the usual three minutes most lackeys get on these media days, but it seems not as your PR exec has started the windmill arm manoeuvre to get me to wind this thing up. Just one last question before we go: if you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?
Duberry: Uh, let’s see. Difficult one for any fighter to answer because we never set out to fail! However, if this did happen, I’m sure most fighters would claim they had succeeded because it’s never cool to admit you’ve failed!
AC Jimbo: Okay, thanks for your time, Fidel. I’d better hop it before I’m thrown out, judging by the look on your PR’s face. All the best for the fight in Tokyo!
Duberry: Cheers Jimbo.
*cuts back to the studio* That was our heavyweight champion. For those of you who are interested, that fight takes place March 23. I think tickets are still available, so if you have the wonga to travel out there then that would be awesome to show your support for our champ. If not, it is also on pay-per-view, so you can still catch the action without leaving your couch.
He wouldn’t really be drawn on it in the interview, but this does look like a tough one for Duberry. Kokkalis has a 16-2 record, and although his level of competition has probably not been as high a level as Duberry’s, that’s still mighty impressive and so is the manner in which he’s dominated those opponents – 15 wins by knockout, and currently on a nine fight winning streak. Both guys are representing elite level gyms so will be in absolutely tip-top shape for the fight. They’re pretty evenly match in stand-up, I’d say, but Duberry was right to point out that he’s had to work on his ground game for this one. If he ends up underneath Kokkalis then things will become far, far tougher for him. Even if it doesn’t go there, this is still a very difficult one to call. Especially with the ‘homefield’ advantage, I think Duberry will need to get the knockout to come away with the win here. Kokkalis has been stopped once in his career, but that was four years ago when he’d certainly not matured into the fighter he is now. Let’s just hope this turns into a war – it definitely has that potential here!
Now back to strictly GAMMA matters, and a look forward to GAMMA 295 and 296.
First GAMMA 295: Grimes v Cruz. Both the headliners have bounced back following recent defeats, so “The Axman” Buster Grimes (21-8, GAMMA 9-3) and “The Titan” Jorge Cruz (28-18, GAMMA9-4 ) are carrying the makings of a nice run of form into this one.
They will make for a stereotypical odd couple when it comes to the weigh-in. Grimes is considerably the shorter but much more muscular and squat, whilst Cruz is a beanpole of a man. Of course, that’s all in the context of heavyweight fighters – after all, Grimes is still just shy of 6 feet 5, and Cruz weighs over 230 pounds.
Not only is “The Titan” starting to get a nice little streak started, he’s also been rewarded with ‘of the night’ awards in each of his last three outings. Grimes, meanwhile, is trying to work his way back to the top after having come up short against Duberry at GAMMA 284.
They’re quite evenly matched, but possibly the deciding factor could be the Muay Thai of Grimes which is markedly better than Cruz. However, I’m quite a fan of Cruz’s exciting style and 25 of his 28 career wins have been knockout victories. However, “The Axman” has a pretty solid chin and so I expect he’ll be able to withstand whatever Cruz throws at him.
We’ll then be heading on to GAMMA 296: Kuduro v Tanner. A quick mention to the co-main event, where my previous hot tip, Danny Mangold is in action again. He did win his debut GAMMA bout, just as I predicted, and I expect him to continue in that vein.
However, then we’ll be onto a fantastic looking title fight at 205 pounds. This pits recent guest on this show, Danza Kuduro (17-5-1, GAMMA 4-0), against “The Hammer” Danny Tanner (16-6, GAMMA 9-5). Kuduro has been a revelation since joining GAMMA, sparking out anyone and everyone who has been put in front of him. He’s been so impressive that it’s tempting to just end the preview right now and say this one’s going the same way. I won’t though, because I love the sound of my own voice.
Both of these guys are great technicians, as well as being insanely good athletes. “The Hammer” is the bigger guy, with both a reasonable height advantage and being bulkier. Therefore I think Tanner’s route to victory will need to be using that reach advantage when standing, picking Kuduro off from distance, and then making the most of any opportunities to control from top position on the ground, wearing him down.
Of course, Kuduro will have very different plans for this one. He admitted as much in my interview with him last time. He’d previously been focusing on using his wrestling to gain the advantage, but his recent good form has come from eschewing that approach and instead being primed to bang. Man alive, has that been a good change of direction for him or what? None of his recent opponents have been able to live with the power.
Ultimately, I don’t think Tanner has the power to seriously worry Kuduro, and this should play into Kuduro’s hands. It means he will be able to keep coming forward, throwing bombs without much fear of taking significant damage from “The Hammer”. Tanner on the other hand is likely to have significant issues trying to avoid those strikes coming his way. Notch another KO up for Kuduro.
And that’s the bottom line, ‘cause AC Jimbo says so!
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