2015-04-11
Price: Free
Edition: #
Previous Issues
Submit Article
Tycoon Times - MMA Magazine
Tycoon Times - The World's Premier Weekly Mixed Martial Arts Newspaper
Corner

Highland Games 67 Preview

Event Preview: Highland Games 67
Highland Games
2015-04-10, London, Hard Knocks - London
Author:Callum McGregor

On April 10th, in the new home of Highland Games; Hard Knocks London, we will witness 10 fights which demonstrate the best future and present in the 11th mixed martial arts promotion in the world today. Our preliminary fights feature some of the biggest up and comers, while the main card features a wealth of championship experience. Combined, the fighters on the card tonight have had 27 championship fights, 17 of which were successful, and in total 5 separate title reigns. The undercard will be looking up to the headliners tonight, aspiring to one day reach that level. Tonight, that journey begins.   Walter Mattos (3-1) Vs Rimario Gracie (3-2) – Light Heavyweight Rimario Gracie is welcoming Walter Mattos into Highland Games here on the first fight on the card. Walter is a strong kickboxer, and if any longtime fans of the organisation are tuning in, expect him to come with an offence similar to that of Higeki Higkiko or an early Thor Heyerdahl. Rimario Gracie is a BJJ Purple Belt with one fight in the organisation, a loss to Akau Umaga. Rimario has been around for a little bit longer, but inactivity and a lack of discipline could cost him here.    Danny Knuckles (3-0) Vs Marcelo Strazas (3-0) – Light Heavyweight Promotional newcomers Danny Knuckles and Marcelo Strazas are looking to make a splash in this division. Danny looks to mix it up, confusing his opponents with combinations of strikes and takedowns, while Marcelo likes to utilize his kickboxing game to keep his opponent at range. Watch out for Marcelo’s laser accuracy with his head kicks in this one.   Michal Grabowski (3-0) Vs Filip Wieclaw (2-0) – Lightweight Poland’s Michal Grabowski and Filip Wieclaw are both managed by Dominik Bylicki. Dominik informed me that both Michal and Filip wanted this fight to show everyone how good their training camp is, and to demonstrate the full capabilities of the Polish fighters.   Michael Kamara (5-4) Vs Mateusz Puszke (3-3) – Heavyweight Let’s welcome Michael Kamara back to Highland Games. Kamara fought at Highland Games 3 but was released after back to back losses to Quar Fang and Timi Timi. Kamara went 4-1 since leaving Highland Games so this will be a big opportunity for him to show us all how he’s improved. Another longtime member of the org, Mateusz is 3-1 in the promotion but hasn’t been the most active. He’s lost his biggest fights; against Pedro Lazaro and Dikembe Mutombo, but we have seen some glimmers of talent from the Polack and we’ll see if he can use this against a fellow veteran.   Louis Gordon (9-5) Vs Alfonso Bebeto (5-4) – Light Heavyweight Louis Gordon is an experienced striker who’s been in some very tough battles with a lot of tough guys. Although his Highland Games record is 0-3, he has only lost to top fighters in Theodorou, Skunk Asap and Rodrigo Rojas. Gordon brings a lot of the table with his clinch game and will want to follow in the footsteps of the two main eventers tonight who also utilize the clinch to dominate the Light Heavyweight division. Alfonso has had a lot of mixed results in his career, but you can’t deny the threat of a submission which he brings to the table. He has managed to defeat some lower names in Highland Games since the promotion’s 12th event, but hasn’t been the most active competitor and has picked up losses every time he decided to step up. This fight will be hard for him, but if he can get it to the mat, experts think he can finish the fight.   Jon Askren (7-1) Vs Jack Sock (9-5) – Middleweight Askren, no relation to Benny Askren at Heavyweight, is one of the hottest signings we’ve had since leaving The Island. A former WW title challenger in ROV, Jon’s wrestling and ground and pound are a dangerous sight to see. His management team is headed by Arcalimon the Coach, who fans may know as the brains behind former Middleweight Champion Massimo Benvenuti. Arcalimon was also the early manager of Matt Couture as well, so we know that he has an eye for talent and he assures us that Jon Askren is just that. Boasting an impressive 7-1 record, there are many onlookers very excited to see how Jon Askren is going to proceed in Highland Games. Jack Sock’s tournament run was something special. Entering with a 6-4 record, we didn’t really expect Jack to be a major threat. He had losses to top contenders in Arnabut Sevket and Razor MuayThai, as well a loss to mid-ranked Snafu Mohajib. Jack proved that he could be a problem for anyone, but the top of the division didn’t seem too frightened by his presence. Man, has he changed this around. The first impressive step was decisioning former HG Light Heavyweight champion Rodrigo Rojas in the tournament’s second round. He followed this up with a first round submission of Billy Tinkl, a pre-tournament favourite. His run was halted by Sevket in the fourth round, but Jack Sock proved a lot of people wrong and it would appear that the greatest decision of his career was switching his management to Chad Boyer.   JJ Lycka (9-5) Vs Mustafa Shabazz (7-4) – Lightweight This is an extremely interesting contest which hasn’t been thought about by too many fans in the past. We have a former AFL Champion in JJ Lycka taking on the former Highland Games 155 champ in Mustafa Shabazz. Both are submission geniuses, but both have seen their career trajectory fall short of what it once was. When Lycka debuted in HG, he impressed the world by defeating World Combat Featherweight Champion Mamad Mouba over a 3 round fight. He would then be stopped by George Moshington, who would go on to reign as the champion soon after. Back to back losses to Calvin Brooks and Higeki Higkiko marks the first time Lycka has dropped 2 straight, and he is absolutely adamant that this won’t be a third. With 4 TKOs and 4 Submissions, Lycka is capable of finishing the fight with any strategy. It’s easy to overlook American jiu jitsu practitioners when they are faced with Brazilians, but we can’t pretend that Mustafa Shabazz isn’t a grappling ace as well. All 7 of his professional wins have come by way of submission and Shabazz has the ability to lock on a lock or choke from any position. When he took the belt from Don Killuminati at Highland Games 48, it was the greatest moment of Mustafa’s life. He was on top of the world, and personally I feel that he deserved the nod in his first defence when he was edged by Gottlieb Hiebknecht. The judges handed Gottlieb a split decision, but many, including myself, thought the takedowns and ground game of Mustafa should have been enough to get it done.   Renato Laranja (12-5) Vs Dominance Zelditeez (9-4) – Bantamweight Highland Games has been difficult for the 27+1 Times World BJJ Champion. With his record currently standing at 2-3 under the HG banner, we really expected to see a little bit more dominance from the Brazilian grappling ace. While he has failed to continue the momentum he had earlier in his career, we can’t be fooled into thinking that Laranja isn’t one of the best in the business. At Bantamweight, there are 5 top names; Laranja, Ibaka, Drake, Vader and Arnold. This has always been the case on The Island. Laranja has two losses to Vader and Ibaka and a long defeat to Neil Drake, showing that he has only failed to succeed when he’s faced the absolute best. This fight will tell us a lot about Laranja, and we’ll see if he still remains at the top after his first back to back defeats thus far in his career. Another former title contender, Dominance Zelditeez hasn’t been too active inside the cage. Having just 4 fights in Highland Games since December, Dominance will be looking for a bigger turnaround of fights. In the past, we’ve seen “Black BearCat” use his wrestling to take the fight down and control, but we’ve also seen him submitted by fighters with the calibre of jiu jitsu as Neil Drake and Jomlong Kiapoity. This will certainly be a difficult fight for Zelditeez to come out victorious, because the styles don’t match up fantastically for him to be able to keep the control from the top position. This is the perfect time to bring some strategy and thought into the cage with you, and if Dominance can maybe pull something out of his toolbox which we haven’t seen before, Laranja could be caught heavily off guard.   Jake Theodorou (13-4) Vs Matt Couture (10-2-1) – Light Heavyweight What an incredible light heavyweight encounter we have here. Jake Theodorou for a long time was the definitive second best 205 fighter. He had defeated every opponent he ever faced, also reaching the semi-finals of The Island end of season tournament. One thing was for sure though; he didn’t have what it takes to beat LightHeavy Weight. He faced the longtime Highland Games kingpin three times, with 5 minutes 47 seconds being the total time on all three fights combined. It was definite, Jake Theodorou didn’t have what it takes to get the job done. Forever to be left in title purgatory, Jake split with his manager, Jake Koch, and his career was up in the air. Now is the most interesting aspect of his entire career to date; Jake has signed with Ivan Drago, the longtime manager of LightHeavy Weight. This is truly a case of ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’, and if anyone has what it takes to bring Jake Theodorou to the next level, it will be the manager of the fighter that has bested him time and time again. Coming off of the first non-champion defeat of his career to Ludko Struja, Jake will be looking to find a new way to utilize his immense wrestling skills as opposed to his most predictable classic style. Someone who equally resents our champion is Matt Couture. An incredible career turnaround for Matt led to him winning the end of season tournament, being the first person to defeat LHW in 15 fights. Couture lost the rematch for the title, but it told us all that this is no longer the same man who got decisioned against Talon Axel at Highland Games 27. Matt Couture is a new beast, and his knockout power is something that will strike fear in the hearts of every 205 fighter on the roster. Recent stoppage wins over Rodrigo Gracie, Saintly Fish and Ludko Struja back up his claims that he is at the very top of the division, but he must secure a victory here tonight if he intends to make a quick turnaround and challenge for the title once again. Based on the styles, I reckon this will be the hardest match up possible for Couture, so we’ll see if he can deal with the pressure of the situation.   Teuvo Loman (9-0) Vs LightHeavy Weight (19-2) – Light Heavyweight This fight is a dream come true for fans of the Island. Upon the beginning of the season, Teuvo Loman quickly established himself as the dominant force at 205 pounds. He secured the Attack Fight League title in his 6th fight and defended it three times. Really, no one looked to be on the horizon to stop him and with all 9 of his professional fights being finished as the result of a stoppage, Loman was the king of the mountain. While Loman was the king, LightHeavy Weight was 5-1 and gearing up for his first title shot against Rice Aroni. The dominant victory over Jason Trades for Teuvo could have been seen as inspiration for the rising LHW, and he channelled this into a first round stoppage over Rice Aroni, just 3 days removed from Teuvo’s fight. Fast forward now, 4 months later almost to the day. LHW went on a 15 fight winning streak, avenging both professional losses that he endured along the way. We never saw Teuvo in the cage again, and the word is he was out of the gym and dealing with some personal issues between both him and his manager. This fight was never going to happen. Loman was done, off the scene with nothing to say that he’d ever return. LHW went on to become the most dominant fighter Highland Games has seen to date, and is also the most popular fighter in the world today. As for what is going to happen in the cage, that’s when it gets really interesting. Both of these men are clinch fighters, both of these men have never even been challenged in the clinch, so who is going to prevail here? Which one has the more gaps in their clinch game? We’ve seen both fall back on their striking at times and have some success. LHW’s only two blemishes came from lapses in his striking game, but he’s assured everyone that it’s a mistake he’ll never make again. This fight will take place in the clinch, and no one knows what will happen.  

Tonight personified evolution. We have Highland Games veterans and promotional newcomers filling out a packed card, and 3000 strong in Hard Knocks London will be lucky enough to see it live. The day will come when I’m writing a preview for an event, talking about how the new guard is rising, and how legends of the organisation are beginning to fade out. A card like this might have one of these future greats amongst the line-up, and you could bear witness to the beginning of their legacy. 

 

Article views: 221
» Donate to this author

Editorial Staff
Tycoon Times Discussion
Tycoon Times - MMA Magazine MMA Tycoon
MMA Chat Room
MMA Forum