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 Good evening and welcome to the Liberty Dome in New York City for SPNY 138, a 10 fight MMA card featuring the Heavyweight clash between Rocco Stupka and Krayzor Windfather. The pick of the undercard has to be the vacant Light Heavyweight title match up between Johnie Ballantine and Jonny Bones. Steel Penn NY Bookmakers have odds on all tonight’s fixtures.
Main Event: Heavyweight
Rocco Stupka 18-13 (1-1 SPNY) vs Krayzor Windfather 32-21-1 (5-3-1 SPNY)
Stupka will believe he has the edge in tonight’s fight as a boxer with good takedown defence. Whilst he does give away 2 inches reach, Windfather is known for his ground game and not for his defensive abilities on his feet. Should Stupka land a few early shots he could be in for a fast finish tonight. Importantly for Stupka, Windfather does not fight in the clinch which is perceived to be Stupka’s biggest weakness.
Windfather has had a long career during which time his offensive skills on the ground have been next to unstoppable, however, he has lacked the defensive abilities both on his feet and on the ground to become the pound for pound champion he once threatened to be. Despite this, he is a past SPNY champ with a record good enough to secure another title shot since losing his crown and is still hovering around the top of the rankings now. Tonight he will need to pull an early takedown out of the hat or he won’t have much chance of beating Stupka.
Stupka has won 4 of his last 5 and Windfather isn’t renowned for his chin, I see Stupka by KO in this main event.
2: Light Heavyweight Title
Johnie Ballantine 37-20 (3-0 SPNY) vs Jonny Bones 17-8-3 (8-5-2 SPNY)
The veteran Ballantine finds himself in position for this shot at the vacant title having beaten fellow challenger Bones at his last outing. Ballantine is an all or nothing brawler whose style has won him a lot of fans, but with a record that has him in the top 10 active fighters in New York for wins and losses by knockout (30 and 17 respectively) the question has to be asked how much more punishment can a fighter of his age take. Tonight though, so long as he keeps this standing he is on his way to the Light Heavyweight crown.
Bones hasn’t had the long and distinguished career of Ballantine but is younger and much stronger on the ground. The path to victory tonight is clear; take the fight to the ground, secure the top position, strike until the ref pulls him off. He has now won 5 of his last 6, his only loss to Ballantine, and feels that this is his time. At the top of his game he will hope that his youth and enthusiasm will be enough to get him past the seasoned veteran and claim his maiden title.
The decision for Ballantine at SPNY 126 was based on Bones being outworked and failing to get the fight to ground in either the 2nd or 3rd rounds. For me that fight represented the best Ballantine had to offer, while Bones has room for improvement. Bones to secure the title with a TKO victory tonight.
3: Heavyweight
Jonah Hex 19-9 (SPNY Debut) vs Czesio Niemen 21-18 (3-3 SPNY)
Hex is a world class Muay Thai expert who thrives in the clinch. Defensively he is very hard to hit, but isn’t the greatest at taking a punch if his opponents do manage to land one. Given Niemen’s preference to strike at range he will probably be able to finish this as long as he can lock Niemen into a clinch early. Niemen will hope that his 1 inch reach advantage and solid power punching will get him through tonight. Coming in off 2 straight losses, including a title fight, Niemen is desperate to finish this fight early and return to the winners circle.
I like Niemen by KO in this one.
4: Middleweight
Kenny Monday 24-14-2 (12-5-1 SPNY) vs Vartan Mamikonyan 11-6 (2-0 SPNY)
Former long term SPNY champion Monday has hit one of the worst patches of form in his career with only 1 win in his last 5 fights. Tonight realistically marks a must win fight for him if he is to remain in contention as a contender for the SPNY title. Whilst he remains one of the best grapplers in SPNY he may well look to use his improved boxing skills to avoid being on the ground with a pure submission grappler like Mamikonyan. For his part Mamikonyan has won his opening two fights at SPNY and knows a third win tonight will push his name into title contention. Whilst he is a danger on the ground he may be a little too predictable and struggle to get this fight to the ground should Monday attempt to stand and fight.
Monday to win by decision.
5: Rasheed Willis 13-9-1 (9-7-1 SPNY) vs Vic Thory 13-5 (11-5 SPNY)
Despite their respective long careers at SPNY (Willis debuted at SPNY 1, Thory at SPNY 17) this match up has never before taken place. Willis will have a distinct advantage on the ground as a jujitsu submission specialist, but an inside source suggests he isn’t at fighting fitness coming into tonight’s fight. How much his conditioning affects him may restrict his chances of winning. For his part Thory is a very good striker and will be looking to keep this fight on its feet in order to secure a win. Thory is still considered good enough to be an outside chance at a title shot, but needs to string together some consistent form to get there and tonight’s fight shapes as a stepping stone for his long term goals.
Thory by KO.
6: Welterweight
Dick Solomon 18-10 (1-1 SPNY) vs John Kyle Romo 25-11 (7-4 SPNY)
Solomon is a boxing specialist who showed a lot of promise early in his career as a Middleweight but has failed to capture the same form as a lightweight. Based on his current size I can only assume his long term plan is to drop to Lightweight, but his career record suggests he fought better as a bigger man. Solomon will be hoping that 4 inches reach advantage and a sound defensive technique can get him through tonight’s fight. Romo was a solid champion here at SPNY before going through a horrible 1-4 run of form. A change in training camp and a first up win since leaving his old camp has left him in the position that he is now confident moving forward and will look to use his boxing and kick boxing skills to get him past Solomon.
This one won’t last the distance; both these fighters will go all out for the knockout and one of them will succeed. I’ll back Romo by KO.
7: Middleweight
Jonathon Moxon 20-18-2 (2-1-1 SPNY) vs Dan Stann 19-19-3 (1-2-1 SPNY)
These two honest journeymen met in their SPNY debuts with the Stann left feeling he was on the wrong end of the decision when it was ruled a majority draw. Moxon has had the better form since that night and that sets this up to be an interesting fight early in the night. Moxon is a somewhat predictable submission grappler, while Stann is a boxer who fights for decisions more than finishes, neither are world class but both will give it everything tonight.
I like Stann by decision.
8: Heavyweight
Jacob Moonra 15-5 (4-4 SPNY) vs Rex Richards 19-25-1 (0-3 SPNY)
Moonra is well rounded with good power but has struggled with the level of competition in SPNY, tonight he goes up against one of SPNY’s lowest ranked opponents in Richards and Moonra is confident of a win. Richards is a submission grappler and in 45 fights has had just 1 go the distance which ended up a draw. Having been on the wrong end of 20 KO finishes is not the stat he wants to bring up when he is about to enter the cage with a heavy handed boxer.
Moonra by KO.
9: Featherweight
Dean Hall 3-4 (2-3 SPNY) vs Brian Williams 2-1 (SPNY Debut)
Hall was quite a successful high school wrestler but since turning to MMA appears to only have a clinch offence. His lack of versatility has left him exposed in a few fights to date and will need to expand his game to compete at the top level. Williams has competent skills in both boxing and jujitsu but is yet to develop either to a level that would make him dominant. He does however possess enough ground skills to make me think that if he takes Hall down he will get the finish tonight.
Williams by submission.
10: Featherweight
Jason Paw 2-6 (0-5 SPNY) vs Nicky Pesci 1-1 (1-1 SPNY)
Looking for positives to describe about Paw now he is on a 5 fight losing streak is beginning to get difficult. A competent boxer he has just not been allowed to show his skills because he cannot defend a takedown. Both his wins to date were desperation submission attempts once already taken down and I don’t see him having the ability to stay on his feet against a wrestler as good as Pesci. Pesci may be a little one dimensional as a wrestler who has not yet developed his other skills, but those wrestling abilities should be enough tonight.
Pesci by submission.
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