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 Weston: HELLO everyone I am “Sunshine” Weston Markson here with my co-host Rudy “The Box” Knife, were in the HMMA studio ready to discuss HMMA 96. HMMA 96 is one of two events this weekend as HMMA once again invades London with fights live on PPV Saturday and Sunday. Its going to be a great weekend where nearly 40,000 fans will attend the events and hundreds of thousands more watching on PPV. The HMMA 96 card is going to be a great one headlined by two top ranked heavyweights eyeing a title shot.
Rudy: Weston im ready, I just want to see these fights already I think this card will be exciting. You know all these fights are great but a couple im really looking forward to seeing the outcomes of are the main event of course, but also the CO-MAIN because of what happened in Furious George’s last fight, but even still those can be givens I think the other fights I am the most excited about are Melvin Manhoef v Jose Rozemblit, and the Simon Bruce, Michael Noonan fight.
MAIN EVENT
#4 "All Heart, No Skill" Freeman Blackford (14-3-1) v #3 Fedor “Cannon” Vladimirov (15-5)
Weston: The main event of HMMA 96, a heavyweight clash between two of the division’s top stars. Fedor Vladimirov is a former two time HMMA heavyweight champion, despite having two separate title runs Vladimirov never defended his title successfully, this has been eating at him he is itching for an opportunity to have a 3rd separate title run and a chance to defend it this time around. Freeman Blackford we last saw in a close split decision title loss against the now former champion Shane Luger. Going into that fight Blackford considered himself an underdog but almost did the unthinkable. Does Blackford have the confidence for another run at the title?
Rudy: Weston im not sure if Blackford has the confidence but he has the heart we all know now just how hard Blackford is to finish I don’t think we will ever find a fighter with more passion to win, more heart then this one. He may need that heart in this fight as Fedor has 14 of his 15 wins by (T)KO and only three of those have been outside the first round his boxing has been his best weapon landing over 70% of punches to his opponents head and nearly 70% overall. If this fight last past the first round I think it favors Blackford he has been a slow starter at times and turns it up later, that could play into Fedor since he is a first round finisher but if he lasts past the first Fedor tends to lose fights that go out of the first round. Blackford is the more versatile striker as he tends to mix it up more, look for him to mix up his strikes try to drag Fedor to the deep waters and look for a finish late in the fight. Guys I may be wrong but I don’t think this fight is hitting the mat….at least for long.
Prediction: This one is really hard but I think Fedor gets the edge being a former two time champ TKO round 2.
CO-MAIN EVENT
# 10 "Lightning Kid" Atlas Kivi (17-9) v #4 Furious George (19-8)
Weston: The lightweights take center stage in the CO-MAIN EVENT when debuting 10th ranked Atlas Kivi and 4th ranked Furious George do battle for position at the top of the loaded division. Last time we saw George he was making the most hated man in HMMA and a fighter I hate TAPOUT! YES!
Rudy: NO! that didn’t happen it was a setup he never tapped Kimura is the best BJJ fighter on the planet it was all a conspiracy and George’s win didn’t count!
Weston: No no Rudy it counted and it happened as I was saying the last time we saw George he was making sweet sweet magical seksi inside the cage that win gave George a big push towards the top of the division and a win here could do so even more, we might be looking at the best BJJ man in HMMA possibly even the world, and who knows possibly a future 155lbs champion, but not if Atlas Kivi has anything to say about it, if he gets his way Saturday night Kivi will be the one walking away with title aspirations.
Rudy: I knew you were not man enough to let that go Weston, you are the worlds biggest weasel, now since George’s last fight doesn’t count because of the conspiracy brought on by yourself, HMMA owner Wilson (tcres) and the refs with the non-existent tapout this fight will do a ton in showing just how good his ground game is. Both of these guys have good standup but these two fighters are near mirror images of each other they both like to take the fight to the ground I cant imagine this fight not going to the ground in fact we might see them both walk toward the center of the cage and drop to the floor together. When this fight hits the ground its going to get really interesting. They both have good BJJ but George is the more decorated submission fighter with 13 submission victories (really 12 that Kimura fight doesn’t count)
Weston: Rudy you are delusional!
Rudy: As I was saying, George has the better BJJ, but the better wrestling goes to his opponent Kivi. Kivi likes getting the fight to the ground and working over his opponents with outstanding GNP that lands a a phenomenal 61% of the time this has led to him having 7 (T)KO’s. This fight is going to be outstanding I expect one of the best and most interesting ground wars but who wins?
Prediction: Im taking Furious George in this one by submission.
MAIN CARD
# 10 Zoran Miloshevich (19-10) v Bob "Big Ana Bob" Large (18-8)
Weston: The last fight on the main card is a light-heavyweight fight between 10th ranked Zoran Miloshevich, and Bob Large who just sits outside the top 10. For Zoran this fight is his third trip to the HMMA cage after going 1-1 in the first two. It was his first win against former title challenger John Conteh that set the expectations as a possible contender in the division. A win here and Zoran could move closer to the upper half of the rankings and make a possible run towards the title, For Bob Large it represents an opportunity to be ranked, defeating a fighter like Zoran will be sure to raise some eyebrows and shoot the expectation levels back to where they were years ago. At one time Large was the ranked in the top 25 of the p4p rankings worldwide and in the top ten for his weight class a win over Zoran could start another run back towards the big top for a former great.
Rudy: Lets be honest here this fight will take place standing, although both fighters have a good ground game they rarely use it, Large only seems to attempt takedowns from clinch and Zoran is the same. . Neither of these fighters throw very many kicks so I think we can expect one of the greatest boxing displays HMMA has seen yet, they do however both like to work in the clinch and both of them have a really good clinch game. With 25 knockout wins between them and 12 knockout losses I think we can expect a knockout in this one!
Prediction: I am only going to predict a knockout here.
# 10 Simon Bruce (19-4) v "Bag Of Bones" Michael Noonan (18-6-1)
Weston: The second fight on the main card is a heavyweight fight between two fighters with long and historic careers. 17 times these two men have stepped into the cage and went home with a title, but now both are on a slight downslide having lost 2 out of their last 3 fights, one of these heavyweights continues the regression and one gets the opportunity to put a stop to the slide and a chance to start another run towards glory.
Rudy: “You know something brother” all the HMMAniacs dig this fight brother. Something that Hulk Hogan said to me just the other day when I was texting him about this fight.
Weston: *rolls eyes*
Rudy: This fight I already said it earlier but im really looking forward to this one, one of these two will come out of it looking like a possible contender. These two fighters are very similar they both have solid standup skills that they use to set up takedowns. Once they have someone on their back they begin chipping away with GNP. Noonan completes almost 60% of his takedowns, Bruce not quite as successful at getting the fight to the ground based on percentages lands just around 32%. Wherever this fight happens standing, on the ground, or in the clinch expect both to swing with reckless abandon as 25 out of their combined 37 wins have come by (T)KO. This is going to be an interesting one.
Prediction: I think Noonan wins a decision
"The Dominator" Trent Pope (29-12) v Sergei "The Paratrooper" Kharitonov (13-4)
Weston: At last the wait is over the first fight of the HMMA main card brings to us the long awaited debut of “The Dominator” Trent Pope, when he takes on welcoming agent Sergei “The Paratrooper” Kharitonov. Kharitonov has on two occasions been one win away from a title shot, coming up short in number one contenders bouts have been the only setbacks of his career. Now he looks to make another run to see if he can finally get over the hump and earn a title shot, but first in his way is the debuting Trent Pope. Pope comes to HMMA with a good deal of expectations riding a five fight win streak and being formally in the top 15 p4p fighters in the world and in the top 10 of his division worldwide. One day hopping to return to his former glory a start would be defeating one of the divisions stars in HMMA. Can Pope return to stardom in HMMA or will Sergei add another fighter to his list of victims in non number one contenders bouts?
Rudy: Actually I think I know the answer to that, but first let me just say this is one of those fights that could steal the show, what a fantastic way to open the card. Pope has a considerable amount more experience then Sergei it will be interesting to see if that plays a roll. Either of these fighters can win the fight standing, and both have a good ground game but Kharitonov is the one who has submission victories. If the fight hits the ground I expect him to be aggressive and attempt to submit Pope. Standing this fight gets even more interesting both fighters land a high percentage of strikes but what may decide this fight is the skill and power of Kharitonov vs the same for Pope. Pope has insane power but he isn’t quite as skilled as Sergei although its very close skill wise, for Sergei it’s the opposite he has slightly more skill and good power but not as good as Pope. I think we are going to see a bloody standup battle that will end when one man stops the other.
Prediction: I think Sergei will continue rising back to the top with a TKO win.
Weston: Well everyone that’s all we have for you here tonight have a great night and see you fight time.
Rudy: Actually they will see you but whatever.
PRELIMS
Jurij Vitalenko v Wade Stoker
Melvin Manhoef v Jose Rozemblit
Mark Worsely v Mitsuyo Maeda
Frank Wolfen v John Saunders
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