2013-06-22
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Ascension: Down in the Waves

Event Preview: Ascension: Down in the Waves
Ascension
2013-06-21, Los Angeles, LA Memorial Colossuseum
Author:Chad Didion

MAIN CARD 

Main Event


Middleweight Fight

Antonio Hong (23-7, 6-2 ASC) v Matt Murdock (25-5, 0-1 ASC)

A massive main event, two of the highest hyped fighters in all of MMA between #13 Antonio Hong and #11 ranked Matt Murdock.  Hong is a monster middleweight, he has some of the best power in the division, elite kick boxing skills and sensational wrestling skills have made him a beast in the MMA world.  He lost his belt to Afro Ninja at Ascension: Hit the Lights, but after 2 straight wins, including one vs Afro Ninja, he’s looking to get back into title contention.  A pure stand up fighter who has excellent take down defense, he has been in a lot of quick fights, including when he was fighting at 265 lbs and 265+ lbs.  He’s stats don’t stand out, he averages 8.4 head punches and lands 56% of them he is averaging 4.8 leg kicks and lands 61% of them, he is averaging 14.5 punches in the clinch and he can do serious damage there, but nothing is glaring as far as greatness, except his power.  At the same point there are no clear cut holes in his game either, he is very good at defense and he’s got elite take down defense, on the mat would be where you would attack him.  Matt Murdock lost his debut fight in Ascension; this broke a 14 fight winning streak.  Murdock, a former The Syndicate champion, knows how to fight, not only can he finish someone in a number of ways, he can earn points with the judges, stay away from his opponents strengths and win decisions.  Murdock is another pure stand up fighter, he uses elite stand up and Muay Thai skills to dominate, hurt and punish his opponents.  He is overwhelming at times with his attack and he lands a pretty high percentage of strikes on most nights, he is averaging 16.3 head punches, landing 61% of them, 16.1 leg kicks, lands 59% of them and 22.8 head punches in the clinch, landing 51% of them.  If he does get taken down he’s very skilled at improving his position and getting back to his feet, he’s successful on 56% of his attempts.  I have no idea who has the advantage in this one, it’s a great matchup and this one is my pick for FOTN.   PREDICTION: Murdock decision win

Co-Main Event: 

Light Heavyweight Fight

Bill Hickok (31-10-2, 0-1 ASC) v Taj al Din (35-7, 30-7 ASC)

This is going to be an epic fight, Bill Hickok a former Geezers, Valhalla, VERSUS,and Malicious Intent champion will take on long time Ascension veteran and former light heavyweight champion Taj al Din.  Hickok has monster power; he has won his last 3 fights by KO, 2 with hands, 1 with knee.  He is very exciting; he has 6 FOTN awards and 9 KOTN awards.  He is a stand up fighter who doesn’t have the greatest wrestling skills, but if he’s down he has a brown belt in bjj so he can be a problem, at the very worst he has excellent submission defense.  He has a nice ability to land kicks then connect with a big punch that if lands can KO his opponent.  Even though his wrestling isn’t great, he’s will go for take downs, he usually does them late in a round just to score points with the judges.  Taj al Din is all over the board with his attack, he can land knees, punches, head kicks, spinning back fists, you name it he can land it.  Din likes to stand and bang with everyone, he prefers not to go to the mat, if he does he’ll spend his time trying to get back to his feet, not much ground offense.  He is averaging 18.5 head punches, 13.9 body punches and 25 kicks per fight while his opponents are averaging 17.1 head punches, 11.1 body punches and 18.4 kicks.  He has done fine in the clinch; he has elite Muay Thai skills, so if a fight goes to the clinch he knows what he’s doing.  A problem here is Hickok is allowing 53% of opponents head punches to land and Din is landing 60% of his head punches, I don’t think Hickok can survive the fight if he’s allowing 60% of Din’s punches to land.  Neither fighter does much offensive on the mat, so I don’t think this fight stays there much, but Hickok has been more aggressive in the clinch, he may try to attack that area.  I still think Din has the better skills and power at this point.  PREDICTION:  Din decision win

Welterweight Fight

 Mike Adamsky (26-10, 4-2 ASC) v Bill Batson (27-6-1, 6-2 ASC)

A fantastic fight that I seriously can’t wait to see.  Mike Adamsky has won 2 in a row and is 4-1 in his last 5.  He has finished 18 fights, all by (T)KO, but he also can do enough to score points in most fights.  He uses a nice mix of aggression and counter punching while attacking legs and bodies with kicking; he averages 18.8 leg kicks per fight and 9.7 body kicks.  He can use his elite Muay Thai to work over his opponent if he feels necessary, but he stays at kick boxing range most of the time.  He isn’t great on the mat and he has been beaten up and submitted there, all the while he has done nothing as way of offense.  Bill Batson has won 3 straight fights and has finished 2 of them.  He has 20 (T)KO finishes in his career and he has the brutal 1 punch KO power.  He is aggressive and he will pressure from the opening bell, he is averaging 27.1 head punches per fight and 10.4 body punches.  He also will get a fight down whenever he wants; he has a takedown success rate of 51% from standing.  On the mat, Batson is averaging 3.7 strikes is all, but he is landing 56% of them and with his power, that’s plenty.  Batson does not want to fight in the clinch, that is where you can beat him up.  This is a tuff call, I think Adamsky can beat Batson to a pulp in the clinch; can he take the fight there?  PREDICTION:  Adamsky decision win

Heavyweight Fight

Jamie Anderton (18-4-1, 2-1 ASC) v David Abbott (23-9, 10-4 ASC)

Jamie Anderton is 5-1 in his last 6, but comes in after a loss.  Anderton has that nasty problem of cutting easily and they are becoming a problem more and more.  Anderton is an exciting fighter who can end fights in a number of ways, but his punching is his dominating skill.  This former champion is averaging 6.4 head punches and he’s landing 4.9 of them per fight.  He doesn’t need a lot of strikes, one could do, and he has brilliant power.  He will use a nice mix of leg kicks and punches, he also is landing 57% of his body kicks per fight and he has hurt many opponents with those.  He is solid in the clinch, but he has no ground game at all.  David Abbott is a angry and not so happy fighter after 2 losses.  The rumor is that Abbott is going through a nasty divorce, so his morale might be pretty low when this one starts.  Abbott has elite boxing and sensational Muay Thai skills, he can land massive body punches standing, and can really wear out and cut up his opponents with his Thai punches.  Abbott has shown very good striking defense, but he’s nothing on the mat and his take down defense hasn’t been all that good either.  Anderton is going to have to stay out of the clinch, he won’t have to fight off his back, but he is going to have to avoid getting dominated with Muay Thai.  PREDICTION:  Anderton 2nd round TKO

 Heavyweight Fight

Mark Kyle (14-5, 1-1 ASC) v Guntur Llaripukinen (23-11, 0-0 ASC)

Here is a fight that I’m going to say will be in the running for KOTN, these two fighters are two of the best finishers and KO artist around.  Mark Kyle has won all 14 of his fights by (T)KO including 6 straight KO’s.  Kyle is a fantastic fighter, but he will tend to run out of gas very quickly, all his losses have come after the 1st round.  He is a pretty inaccurate striker who can tend to stand flat footed right in front of his opponent and take punches.  Where he is deadly is his power, he can take strikes and then deliver that one big KO punch.  He is only averaging 5.8 head punches per fight while his opponents almost double him up at 10.7 per fight and he’s allowing 78% of them to land.  He has dominated in the clinch landing 79% of head punches, 88% of his elbows and 83% of his knees to the body.  Guntur Llaripukinen has been pretty inconsistent of late, but he, coming from Geezers Palace, will look to change things up in his ASC debut.  Llaripukinen has a big problem, he has terrible scars around his eyes and he cuts very, very easily, and those cut have been a major problem in his career, he’s had 7 fights stopped due to his cuts.  He’s gotten a 23-11 record because of his power and his knack for landing that one perfect punch.  He has shown average striking defense, he’s dominated in the clinch and the ground, outside of 2 submission victories.  I’m going to say that Kyle has more weapons and the ability to cut.  With his ability to cut and Llaripukinen’s ability to get cut, this one will be messy.  PREDICTION:  Kyle 2nd round TKO


PRELIM CARD

Welterweight Fight

Ricardo Gracie (16-4-1, 1-2 ASC) v Flavio Sandoval (27-12, 0-0 ASC)

Former Fight Day and Death By Cage champion Ricardo Gracie will bring his ground attack into this one to face former Dignity MMA and Aggressive Damage champ, Flavio Sandoval.  Gracie is a solid stand up fighter, but he makes his living on the mat.  He averages 5.1 take downs per fight and once there he uses a smothering ground attack.  He is in constant movement trying to improve his position; all the while he is attempting 12 ground strikes on average.  He will lock up a submission as soon as his opponent has been soften up or makes a mistake.   Flavio Sandoval is another fighter making his ASC debut coming from Geezers Palace.  Sandoval is on a 3 fight winning streak and will try to impress the brass as Ascension in this one.  Sandoval is a very smart fighter who is aggressive, but he uses accuracy over power.  He is averaging 24.6 head punches per fight and lands 61% of them he is also a powerful kicker who loves to tenderize legs with a barrage of leg kicks.  Sandoval at times has been beaten up in the clinch and on the mat, which is not a good thing when facing a guy like Gracie.  PREDICTION:  Gracie 2nd round TKO

Middleweight Fight

Afro Ninja (23-13, 3-2 ASC) v Wade Wilson (21-9, 0-0 ASC)

Afro Ninja is coming in off a loss in his last fight at Ascension-The Last One via TKO.  Ninja has been good in all areas, he has elite kick boxing skills and he can dominate a fight standing, but he has been pretty good on the mat too.  Ninja is landing 53% of his head punches and he is averaging 4.4 leg kick landing per fight.  Ninja isn’t an overly accurate striker, but he does have pretty good power and he can rock opponents with a single strike at any point.  Wade Wilson makes his ASC debut in this one coming in from the defunct Geezers Palace.  Wilson has elite Muay Thai skills and he looks to clinch up whenever he can.  He has been solid at kick boxing, but he is allowing 52% of his opponents head punches to land, and at times he has been beaten up.  In the clinch though he is a different fighter, he out strikes his opponents and he has powerful knees that he is landing 72% of his attempts to the body.  Wilson has also been very good on the mat, he has powerful ground and pound, but his ground defense hasn’t been good, he is allowing his opponents to land 77% of their ground strikes.  This one is going to be very good and I think Wilson will win this fight in the clinch.  PREDICTION:  Wilson decision win

Middleweight Fight

Pepeng Ondoy (32-18, 2-2 ASC) v Whonjon William (17-5, 0-0 ASC)

Pepeng Ondoy is a pure, one of the purest, stand up fighters in the game.  At 37 and after 50 career fights, Ondoy has yet to attempt to take anyone down.  He has sensational Muay Thai skills, but believe it or not, he’s yet to attempt a SINGLE kick.  He is aggressive, averaging 21.7 head punches and 20.4 body punches per fight standing, and 22.8 punches in the clinch.  He is awful on the mat and be beaten up there pretty easily.  Whonjon William is hot right now, he has won 3 straight and is 6-1 in his last 7.  William is a light hitting middleweight who uses a mix of stand up, clinch style and grinding wrestling to score points with the judges.  Where he can finish fights is on the mat.  He is very strong and can get a takedown, which he’s successful at getting 48% of his attempts, and he uses his elite wrestling and his black belt in bjj to constantly put pressure on his grounded opponent.  He averages 10.9 ground strikes per fight and he’s landing 52% of them.  We have a classic boxer vs wrestler in this one; I think the wrestler can do enough to win this one.  PREDICTION:  William decision win

Super Heavyweight Fight

Blaze Christianson (16-5, 6-5 ASC) v Shank Flabbott (16-9, 0-2 ASC)

Here is another matchup of two fighters in desperate need of a win.  Blaze Christianson is 0-2 in his last 2 fights, but he is 4-2 in his last 6.  Christianson is a powerful striker, he has monster 1 punch power and he has 9 KO wins in his career.  Christianson is a very quick heavyweight, he has outstand striking defense and he also has fantastic cage awareness.  Blaze can dominate a fight with overwhelming striking, he averages 15.9 punches standing per fight while holding opponents to 7.5 attempted punches.  Shank Flabbott has also lost his last 2 fights, but unlike Christianson, he doesn’t have a strong track record with Ascension, so he is in more need of a win.  Flabbott also has excellent finishing skills, not only standing, but unlike Christianson, on the ground 2, he has 2 submission wins.  Flabbott isn’t much of a stand up fighter, but he’ll use his sensational wrestling skills to get a fight to the mat and then use monster ground and pound, he averages 10.2 ground strikes and is landing 67% of them.  I think Flabbott’s wrestling skills will be the difference in this one.  PREDICTION:  Flabbott 2nd round TKO

Featherweight Fight

Trinity Hill (29-8-1, 0-0 ASC) v Hong Kong Phooey (15-9-1, 1-3 ASC)

This fight is a matchup of two struggling fighters; Trinity Hill will make his ASC debut and enters 1-3 in his 4 fights.  He’ll face Hong Kong Phooey who is 2-5 over his last 7, both these guys need a win badly.  At 38 years old, Hill is just hanging on at this point, but he still is very talented.  He is aggressive and he averages 16.3 leg kicks per fight.  He has very deadly kicks and can KO anyone with his quick and powerful head kicks.  Hill has never really developed a bjj game and he is weakest on the mat.  Phooey is 11 years younger than Hill and he will clearly have the youth advantage in this one.  Phooey is a counter style fighter who likes to use his elite Muay Thai skills to out work his opponents.  If his Muay Thai isn’t working, he will get out struck and lose decisions with his kick boxing.  Both of these guys have outstanding defense skills and both have the ability to finish fights with KO’s.  I’ll give Phooey the nod in this one because of the youth.  PREDICTION:  Phooey decision win  

 

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