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2015-01-28 Price: Free Edition: # Previous Issues Submit Article |
 Tycoon Times - The World's Premier Weekly Mixed Martial Arts Newspaper |
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USFC 14: Super SaturdayEvent Preview: USFC 14Concluding the United States Fighting Championship’s glorious weekend of MMA is the biggest card in the organisation’s history.
No less than three titles will be decided with Jerome “Little Jerry” Seinfeld defending his middleweight belt against Kenneth Keats. Corey. “Punishment Walk” Parker expecting a tough battle on the ground for his Heavyweight Title against L Manning Vines and Javier Martinez and Divock “Belgian Beast” Origi closing the night with what is expected to be an epic Light Heavyweight showdown.
This night has the potential to dramatically change the whole shape of the company and will surely be remembered by USFC fans forever.
The card opens with the undefeated Marian Balkon (1-0-0) attempting to continue his streak against the man who failed to capture the middleweight title at USFC 6, “Carnage” Cletus Kasady (1-4-0). This fight has the potential to be fought in all three phases of the fight game but you have to think that Kasady might decide to drag the encounter to the ground after such a devastating knock out last time out. Balkon may have other ideas. No doubt he has heard the whispers that he lacks knockout power after failing to put his last opponent away, despite two knockdowns in the second and third round. Kasady’s record suggest this may be a great opportunity to remedy those accusations.
Cu Chulainn (1-2-0) opened his USFC account with one of the most efficient wins ever seen in the organisation and will hope to welcome a debutant Bas Koenig (2-0-0) in a similar fashion. Chulainn's game plan is fairly obvious. The powerful wrestler will look for the early takedown and then do his best Hulk impression on Koenig’s face. Far less in known about the Dutchman Koenig, with rumours that he may be a clinch specialist but we will only truly find out once he has entered the USFC cage.
Smaller weight fighters are renown for epic back and forth contests where plenty of leather lands but in this Featherweight duel between Sam Slapper (2-1-0) and “Action” Ozzie Price (1-1-0), it may well be the first man to connect that walks away with his hand raised high. These men come into this match with similar pasts having both fought back from difficult starts to their careers and both landed ferocious first round knockout victories in their previous outing. The winner will be an opponent many in the division will want to avoid in the future.
Two fighters seemingly on different paths enter the cage for the fourth fight of the night. Gaius Julius Caesar (3-1-0) is coming off three consecutive victories while Connor “Papi” Pappas (3-3-0) has suffered two demoralising defeats. Yet it may well be a much closer fight than most predict as Pappas has the uncanny ability to upset the heavy favourite and that is one thing that Caesar definitely is.
Sean “Black Majik” Spencer (2-1-0) will be looking to expel the mystique that surrounds The Legend Zatoichi (2-0-0). Unusually for the USFC, these two men share a previous opponent in fellow welterweight Sven “The Hen” Jorgensen with the Norwegian defeating Spencer at USFC 2 but losing to Zatoichi at USFC 6. However this does not make Zatoichi the clear favourite as both fights were razor close decisions that could have gone either way. In fact, it is incredibly like the judges to be involved in deciding this one as well.
The main card opens up with the first title fight of the night, as Jerome “Little Jerry” Seinfeld (2-2-0) defends his middleweight belt for the very first time against the surprisingly young Kenneth Keats (4-2-0).
There can be little doubt that Brooklyn born Seinfeld will have the fans backing against the Englishman Keats who will be flying in just a few days before the event starts. This home town backing may be critical for Seinfeld as a partizan New York crowd can intimidate the most fearless of fighters and Keats is a very young man to be taking on such a massive fight.
Skills wise it would immediately appear to be Seinfeld’s fight on the feet and Keats on the floor but that would be over-simplifying matters greatly due to both men being pretty well rounded. Patience will probably be the biggest key as exploiting the smallest gap could be the difference between winning or losing a round. Although some cynics have suggested that Keats may well have to finish the fight if he is to get the result as the judges could well be influenced by the crowd.
Someone will suffer their first loss in the USFC when Chang “Khan” Ryu (2-1-0) and Brain Buro (2-1-0) is over. It will be a huge shock if more than a few seconds of this one is spent in the grappling game as neither man has shown any other inclination than to hurt an opponent as quickly as possible. This does put huge pressure on both men though as there is no plan B to go to. So don’t be surprised if this one ends before the first five minutes are up.
Another fight that is sure to end early, the next challenger for the 170 pound belt will be decided between Tim “Tornado” Hawk (3-0-0) and Charles Bolton (3-0-0).
Hawk is a powerful striker who is used to putting away fighters early. So is Bolton. Bolton has never really been challenged by an opponent. Neither has Hawk. Hawk has two children to fight for at home. Hawk might have a hamster who he needs new bedding… Okay the similarities are more to do with their career than their home lives but there can be little doubt this will be a slug fest with one huge pay day on the line.
Many commentators believe that a fighter is not a true champion until he has defended the belt successfully. Corey “Punishment Walk” Parker (4-0-0) has that chance against the heavyweight divisions’ premium submission expert L Manning Vines (3-0-0).
This fight will be all about controlling distance. Parker is the stronger striker and better wrestler but also knows that he is in deep trouble if the fight ends up on the floor. Usually you would expect Parker to find the clinch before unleashing shots but that just seems like an opportunity for Manning to pull guard on him. So it will be vital for Parker not to allow any grappling to happen at all.
Of course Manning will be looking for any opportunity to drag the fight into his domain. He may even be as vulnerable standing with Parker as the champion is with Manning on the ground. How the challenger remedies these difficulties looks problematic. He clearly isn’t going to blast double legs from the outside so he is going to have to look at a more subtle approach. Maybe even a few surprise haymakers might be the answer. Whatever Manning does, Parker will be the favourite because all MMA fights start on the feet.
The main event of the evening pits the USFC’s first ever Light Heavyweight champion Javier Martinez (4-1-0) against the biggest free agent pick up in USFC history, Divock “Belgian Beast” Origi (8-0-0).
Lets be honest here, all the hype has been about the challenger. Unbeaten in eight fights and already a veteran of another New York organisation, Origi has the opportunity to dominate the USFC’s light heavyweight division for the foreseeable future. The champion comes into the fight as both the underdog and the forgotten.
The question is what Martinez can do to stop the “Belgian Beast” before he gets started. The most obvious option is to put him on his back. How good Origi is in that position is an unknown and the fans have already seen how quickly Martinez can blast out an opponent with ground and pound. What the champion mustn't do is get into the clinch where Origi has been unstoppable. The upper cut being an especially nasty weapon of his.
Who will walk out the champion? Probably Origi. Who will win? The fans of the USFC. (Review by EJ Gray)
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