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Barbarian Fight Club and MANGO nutrition presents Barbarian Tournament 155lbs. This will kick off the first of four four man tournaments. We will be live at the Hayashi's Lounge in Rio de Janeiro Brazil for the lightweight title tournament. Not only do we have the two featured fights at lightweight but we made it a full on lightweight extravaganza with three more lightweight fights, making fifty percent of the fights at this event contested at lightweight. We won’t start at lightweight as Mr. Fernandez decided to kick things off in the middleweight division.
Preliminary Bout Number 1- Middleweight Fight (185lbs)
"Andinho" Anderson Silva (2-1) {1-0} versus Tage Holm (0-0) {0-0}
Silva is primarily a boxer, but he has worked a lot on his ground game. Since the last time we seen him he has improved his wrestling and he may want to take advantage of that in this fight. I think Silva should come out with a game plan to wrestle and ground and pound his way to victory. If Silva does go with the wrestling route Holm maybe in trouble as the scouting report says he has no ground game at all. If Holm can turn this fight into a strike fest I see him getting a big debuting win. If Silva takes the fight to the ground though Holm stands no chance but I don’t see that happening so I am picking Silva to win in the second round by knockout.
Preliminary Bout Number 2- Lightweight Fight (155lbs)
Shingo Yabuki (0-1) {0-0} versus Daniel "Danny" Willians (0-1) {0-0}
This will be a war between to big time strikers. Both of these guys lost their first fight, but they were going hard and looking to land knockout blows. Shingo is going to try and pry his way to the inside so he can throw punching combinations. The combos will weaken Willians and then he can look for that knockout blow. Danny will more than likely come out looking to land a knockout head kick as soon as the bell rings. His love for the high kicks could save him in this fight as Shingo might think twice about coming to the inside. Since Danny had a big accuracy problem I am going to pick Shingo to win by knockout in the first round.
Preliminary Bout Number 3- Lightweight Fight (155lbs)
Van "Beast" Damme (2-2) {1-1} versus Steven "El Terrible" Perkins (0-1) {0-0}
Damme will have a slight advantage on the ground in this fight, but I don’t think he will want to take it to the ground. Honestly even though he does have that advantage he is not really built for ground and pound or for submissions. Damme is at his best when he can get a good mix of clinch work and range striking. He should look for the in and out style but for this one he may want to spend a little more time in the clinch. Perkins is a boxer and a wrestler that will do some ground work but like his opponent he would rather stand in the pocket and throw punches. He will want to stay in close enough to dirty box but he will need to watch out for the clinch work of Damme. I think El Terrible can avoid the clinch and I have him winning a slugfest by decision.
Preliminary Bout Number 4- Middleweight Fight (185lbs)
Aviya Sherman (1-0) {1-0} versus Leonardro "The Anaconda " Souza (1-0) {1-0}
There is so many similarities with these two fighters it is uncanny. Both of these guys are under twenty, they have had one fight each, they both debuted in Barbarian Fight Club, It was the same event Barbarian FC 5 The Burst, They both won in their debut, and both of them walk around at 185lbs. Where the similarities stop is in their skill sets. Sherman is brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu while Souza is an evenly rounded fighter. I don’t see Souza being able to finish this fight, so he will have to go fifteen minutes without having the fight go to the ground. Personally I don’t see that happening so I will be picking Sherman to win by submission in the first round.
Preliminary Bout Number 5- Lightweight Fight (155lbs)
Diego "Nightmare" Rios (1-0) {1-0} versus Jose Pablo "Cactus" Joaquin (1-1) {0-1}
Diego is a nightmare for just about anyone who faces him. I think he is the best striker in lightweight division and honestly I don’t think anyone comes close. He may not be a double threat but his ground game is not horrible. He has been working a lot on his wrestling and he is currently a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He is a future champion at 155 and once he gets his hands on the gold I think he will have it for a while. Joaquin is also a striker but he is not a top ten at 155 in BFC, so this fight will present its problems. In both of his pervious fights he has gone very deep into them, which tells me he does not have finishing power. That is a real bad thing when facing Rios. I think Diego knocks out JPJ in the first round.
Main Card Bout Number 1- Welterweight Fight (170lbs)
Renato Fernandez (3-0) {3-0} versus Janusz "Rzepa" Wiesiek (1-1) {0-1}
This is a rematch from Barbarian FC 3 in which Fernandez was able to edge out a win by decision. It was the first time Fernandez was taken the distance as Wiesiek was clearly his toughest opponent to date. Wiesiek got the fight to the ground several times which negates the boxing of Fernandez. Fernandez did prove to be a good grappler though as he avoided most of the ground and pound while defending a lot of submissions. The only way Wiesiek is going to win this fight is by submission and he will need to figure out a way to appliy more pressure on his holds. Fernandez will win the stand up, the cage control, and damage if it goes to decision. I feel that Fernandez will be able to keep the fight standing a little more this time and get the knockout in the second round.
Main Card Bout Number 2- Light Heavyweight Fight (205lbs)
Roberto "Crasy" Maia (2-0) {1-0} versus Scott "Crusher" Bigelow (1-1) {0-1}
Maia is a pure grappler who has nothing to offer in the stand up. He has a little wrestling back round and he also packs a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. If he can take Bigelow down this should be a short fight. Bigelow is a striker with some back round in wrestling. He loves the high kicks which does leave him open for a takedown. He does mix the kicks well with punches to try and eliminate the takedown attempts but we all seen what happened the last time he was facing a submission specialist. This is hard pick but I think Maia will score the takedown and win this fight by submission in the first round.
Main Card Bout Number 3- Light Heavyweight Fight (205lbs)
Abraham "Radioactive" Kurse (2-1) {2-0} versus Nasty Murdock (2-0) {0-0}
Kurse is a brown belt and he clearly knows his submissions. In his two wins, both of which came in the BFC, Kurse has won by submission. Both of those fights lasted less than three minutes combined and if he can take down Murdock I expect more of the same. Murdock is a striker who is well trained in the art of Muay Thai. He is undefeated and both wins came by TKO, but they took a long time to get there as one was late in the second round while the other was in the third round. I don’t think he has that much time with Kurse so I will be picking Radioactive to win this fight by submission in the first round.
Co Main Event- First Lightweight Title Tournament Fight (155lbs)
Genki Sudo (2-1) {1-1} versus Kores "Mibon" Sierra (7-2) {2-1}
Interesting match up in this first round fight of the lightweight tournament. We have two brown belts in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu meeting each other. Sudo though has a back round in boxing but we have yet to see it. I think he will need to display how good his hands are if he wants to win this. Sierra has been training in wrestling, which will help him get the fight to the ground. Once on the ground he should have a better chance of improving his position do to that wrestling. If both fighters cannot submit each other and the fight stays on the ground for a while Sierra should point out the victory. Just because of Sierra’s experience I am going to pick him to win by decision.
Main Event- Second Lightweight Title Tournament Fight (155lbs)
Zachary "Zap Zap" White (4-0) {2-0} versus Pepe "Warner" Lepew (3-0) {2-0}
Somebody is getting knocked out no way can this fight end without a knockout. Both of these guys are boxing wrestler sprawl and brawl type of fighters. The big difference is Lepew prefers the clinch work and dirty boxing while White loves to be in the pocket. White is extremely aggressive and loves to bull charge his opponents which could hurt him in this fight. Lepew is a little more patient as he will wait and counter until he can get you in the clinch. Once in the clinch he will become extremely aggressive and throw a massive amount of punches. Lepew is taller and White drops a lot of weight to get down to 155 and think that will have a big effect on this fight. I am going with the underdog in this one, as I love Zap Zap but I just cannot pick him this time. No offence to Lepew but I hope I am wrong as I have Lepew winning in the first round by TKO.
March first is when we will crown our first champion and of course that will be at lightweight so make sure you see both of these events. The rest of this month we will be holding tournaments and the first few weeks of March we will hand out all of our title belts. Please be sure to join me in the next few days when we breakdown Barbarian Tournament 205lbs. This has been Tony Rossi with another event preview.
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