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 Kofi Amankwah (5-7) Vs Ardian Kurniawan (2-4) – Bantamweight
Being 1-5 in the early moments of his career, the future looked bleak for Kofi. Incredibly, a 4 fight win streak brought him to equal standing. Unfortunately, a recent 2 fight skid has him on the cut list and this is a must win.
Joining him on the cut list is Ardian Kurniawan. A BJJ pruple belt, Kurnaiwan has slick grappling skills but a heavy weakness on the feet. Dropping 2-5 in his career would be disastrous for Ardian, so he needs to bring this one to the floor quickly and cleanly.
KR AD (5-2) Vs Micky Oniel (5-2) – Lightweight
KR has announced that this would be his last professional fight, and that afterwards he would head into the sunlight of retirement. But that couldn’t be further away because before that, the former 155 title challenger has a scheduled 15 minutes of fighting to get through, which could see his career end on a painful note if he isn’t fully focused.
The last time these men competed, the judges were split after the first two rounds. Oniel managed to use his boxing and leg kicks to land strikes, but was open to body shots throughout. The bout earned both men a Fight of the Night bonus, but mixed results since makes this a fight Micky is determined to walk away with.
Mairbek Krylov (4-1) Vs Alexis Sanchez (3-0) – Light Heavyweight
Two Highland Games debutants competing in the light heavyweight division in this encounter.
Mairbek earned his way into Highland Games with a 1st round TKO over former HG 205er Lock Down. A lone decision loss to experienced veteran and former AFL Champion Carl Jessup marks his record. Mairbek likes the clinch and will look to execute his vicious dirty boxing as soon as possible.
Standing across from him is undefeated fighter Alexis Sanchez. With a high paced boxing style, Sanchez wants to work his opponents over with combinations. His accuracy with his punches leaves something to be desired, but if he can adjust his style for this one he might give Krylov a run for his money.
Jeffery Lebowski (8-6) Vs Hideki Higkiko (7-2) – Lightweight
Jeffery has tonnes of experience and was a long time competitor in Attack Fight League. After going 7-3, winning the Lightweight title in AFL, Lebowski decided to vacate the belt and cut weight to Bantamweight. He was a huge 135er and the weight cut really showed a weakness for him, losing his next 2. In his Highland Games debut, returning to Lightweight, he was stopped by Carl Sheppards. As a former top contender at Lightweight, Lebowski has a lot to prove here tonight.
Hideki is an absolute cardio machine, winning 6 of his 7 contests by decision. His stellar kickboxing brought him to a title fight with Don Killuminati, and despite putting up an incredible challenge, Higkiko fell short. If he wants to become the champion before the end of the season, Higkiko needs to utilize his accurate and sharp kickboxing skills to walk away with this one.
Ronald Raygun (6-4) Vs Jacob Naankuse (4-2) – Bantamweight
Ronald Raygun has fought for 4 different organisations on The Island, so he’s been around the block in his professional career. When he debuted for Highland Games, he was submitted by one of the top competitors at Bantamweight; Renato Laranja. To avoid dropping back to back fights for the first time in his career, Raygun needs to avoid getting submitted once again.
A man looking to do just that is Jacob Naankuse. Jacob was a top contender just a short time ago, but losses to Jomlong Kiapoity and losing to Dan Sten in their rematch has him in a difficult position. It’s hard to think a guy with his level could be released from the company, but dropping a third straight fight would be very difficult to overcome for the submission specialist.
Short Fuse (7-2) Vs Better Dead (6-4) – Lightweight
For a short while, Short Fuse was considered to be the best fighter in the Lightweight division. He was 6-0 and was the final ever UltimateXC 155 Champion. Adding to this, an impressive finish over Jack Stick put him in a title fight. He was fighting 3-0 heavy underdog Don Killuminati, but in a Fight of the Night contest, Don defeated Fuse by a razor close split decision. A second loss to Hideki Higkiko knocked him down the rankings, but Short Fuse’s KO victory over Roscoe Jones proved to everyone that he still has complete knockout power.
Better Dead was recruited to Highland Games to lose some fights and help build some potential stars. He was 1-3 and really didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Next thing you knock, he has four straight first round stoppages, spending an incredible 2 minutes in the cage before disposing all four men. He also tied Chiyono Fuji’s 5 second knockout record when he disposed of Lord Seraphim at Highland Games 20. A win over a competitor at the level of Short Fuse would be gigantic for Dead and would skyrocket him towards the top of the division.
Bhola Djin Djin (4-1) Vs George Moshington (5-0) – Lightweight
This fight has serious title implications.
“The Lion” has four straight victories in Highland Games and is one of the scariest wrestlers someone can stand across the cage from the Mali native takes opponenets down and batters them with some lethal ground and pound, with the option of looking for a submission also sitting in his back pocket. A win in this fight would put Bhola right up there, and at the very most he’d be one fight off of securing a title shot.
Undefeated George Moshington has incredible boxing with massive knockout power in both hands. If that isn’t scary enough, the Circle Pit President also has a BJJ Purple Belt and great submission skills off of his back, as his last opponent Dick Castle knows all too well. With two wins in a row in HG, making it 3 against a guy like Bhola puts him in the position to callout one of the top guys in the division, but a loss would see him struggling to climb back up.
Eirikur Adalsteinn (7-3) Vs Ludko Struja (6-3) – Light Heavyweight
These veterans have been top contenders in the Light Heavyweight division for a long time. Both debuts at Highland Games 2 and both have competed for the title.
Adalsteinn has challenged for the belt twice, falling short to Rodrigo Rojas and LightHeavy Weight, while Struja also fell to the latter.
Adalsteinn has incredible knockout power, using it to stop LHW, Jaymz Hetfield, Scott McGinty and Momo La Brute amongst others.
Ludko likes to take the fight to the floor and has wins over Rice Aroni, James Helm and also has a W over La Brute.
Both men are coming off losses so this will be a huge tell-tale to where they end up within the division. Will Adalsteinn’s knockout power prevail, or will Struja be able to utilize his hard hitting ground and pound? Tune in to find out.
Massa Hurmaaja (9-2) Vs Arnavut Sevket (6-1) – Middleweight
Massa is a former Middleweight Champion, winning it by stopping the current champion by TKO in the very first round. Massa might well be the most talented guy not wearing a belt on the entire Island. The Finn fighter is an all-round grappling genius, capable of executing his gameplan to perfection. When on the ground, he enjoys to beat up opponents with unmatched ground and pound, but at any moment the Brown Belt is able to use his jiu jitsu to tap someone out or render them unconscious.
With a decision loss to champion Benvenuti being the only smudge on the professional record of Arnabut Sevket, it’s easy to see why he’s hailed as one of the best fighters in the division. Sevket has abilities in every single area. He can handle opponents on the ground, but his boxing gifts him the opportunity to decide how he wants to win the fight. I think it goes without saying that his boxing and muay thai will play a very big part in this fight and will essentially be the decider if he is capable of keeping it on the feet. While it’s likely that he can negate Hurmaaja’s attacks if the fight does spill to the floor, Sevket’s wheelhouse will be working his striking and executing well timed sprawls.
(6-1) Vs (11-2) – Lightweight
And now we arrive at the main event of the evening. Two of greatest Lightweights around, competing for the highest honour the 155 division has to offer; The Highland Games Lightweight Championship.
We’ll start with the challenger, Gottlieb Hiebknecht. A long time top ranked competitor, the German has displayed that he is hugely capable in every single aspect of the game. 7 knockouts and 3 submissions mean Gottlieb might be the best all round competitor The Island has to offer. This is his Highland Games debut, but that doesn’t take anything away from his skillset. The final AFL Lightweight Champion, with 3 defences and wins over Calvin Brooks, Zoran Jolevi, Papa Shango, Peter Parker and Carl Sheppards, Gottlieb will not let the limelight get the best of him here and he intends on becoming a champion once again here tonight.
And now onto the champion. Mustafa Shabazz upset the bookies when he defeated Don Killuminati for the Highland Games championship in his last contest, writing the only wrong in his career in the process. The submission skills of Mustafa are absolutely incredible and all 6 of his victims have fallen by that method. Armbars, rear naked chokes, guillotines, triangles, Mustafa knocks every single position and every single way to make an opponent slap the mat. If the fight hits the floor, you really have to think that Mustafa will secure his 5th straight victory and make the first defence of his title. While he’s certainly a capable competitor, I don’t think Shabazz wants to keep this one standing and it will almost certainly be used to set up his takedowns.
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