2015-06-22
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Highland Games 86 Preview - By Dick Dirkin

Event Preview: Highland Games 86
Highland Games
2015-06-21, London, Camden Conference Centre
Author:Callum McGregor

Greetings sports and combat fans! The 86th edition of the Highland Games draws near. If you’re not familiar with the fastest rising London-based promotion in the MMA universe, there’s no time like the present. With a mixed bag of rising young stars and battle-hardened veterans, it’s kind of like the Hunger Games, without forcing you to watch children being slaughtered.

Eight fights are on the menu tonight, spanning five different weight classes, bringing everything from beautiful Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to majestic face-punching! Let’s preview the action you’ll no doubt tune in to see.
 
Bantamweight
Yuki Masakazu (3-0; HG Debut) vs Carlos Lehder Rivas (3-3; 1-1 in HG)
Former Japanese basketball star and current Shinya Aoki pupil, Yuki Masakazu makes his Highland Games debut against Colombian born Carlos Lehder Rivas. Masakazu brings a surprisingly fluid BJJ game and decent wrestling that has carried him to 3 quick wins to start his career. His striking may resemble a small child’s windmill attacks, but luckily for him, it hasn’t been a factor in his career yet.


A product of Canadian Top Team, Rivas is 1-1 in his Highland Games career, and his game is centered around clinching, beating people up in the clinching, and staying in the clinch until the time runs out. This has brought mixed results, and his lack of BJJ game has been exploited previously.
 
Prediction: Remember when Bruce Lee fought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Game of Death? The size difference will be the only thing this fight will have in common with that. It will most likely be fought in close quarters, as Rivas has yet to show any kind of adaptability or evolution to his game. Once inside, he may beat on Masakazu for a little bit, but the leverage the Japanese fighter possesses with his tree branch limbs should be too great to resist for very long. Unless Rivas can adapt by hitting and running until he finds the button, I see Masakazu ending this sometime in the first via submission.
 
Bantamweight
Stuart Dew (4-3; 0-1 in HG) vs Neil Herstag (3-2; 1-1 in HG) 
With a combined record of 1-2 thus far in the Highland Games, Australian wrestling Stuart Dew and German muay thai specialist Neil Herstag, are looking to make some noise in the very crowded Bantamweight Division. Stuart Dew came into Highland Games 81 on the heels of a three fight winning streak. He possesses some of the best wrestling in the division, ever improving jiu-jitsu and his striking…well, I guess we can assume he knows how to throw a punch, right? 
Neil Herstag fights similar to Carlos Rivas, preferring to stay in the clinch. While Carlos relies on his grappling strength, Neil is a classic pressure fighter, utilizing the art of the eight limbs to make papier-mache masterpieces on his opponent’s faces. He doesn’t possess knockout power, but stays active, switches between head and body, and has a respectable wrestling game that helps him stay on the feet.
 
Prediction: It could have been an aberration, but Dew’s debut with the company is the blueprint for what Herstag wants to do with this fight. It’s going to be the first time that Herstag has experienced this level of wrestling though, and unlike Dew’s last opponent, he hasn’t shown the power to put his opponents away early. The longer this fight lasts, the more of a chance Dew gets this to the ground, which I see happening somewhere in the middle of the first round. From there, it’s only a matter of time, which should be somewhere in the middle of the second round, when Dew snatches a submission.
 
Bantamweight
Claudius Calaeabius (5-2; 2-1 in HG) vs Tyreese Thomson (4-0; 1-0 in HG)
With a sense of déjà vu for the preceeding match, Calaeabius and Thomson face off in another Bantamweight tilt where the laws of striker vs grappler will be put on display again. While I can’t pronounce Claudius’ last name, there is never a problem deciphering what his game plan is. A wrestler by trade, Claudius is exceptionally strong for the divison and prefers to fight in close quarters. On the ground he prefers to stay in his opponent’s full or half guard and let his fists do the talking. 
‘The Killer’ may be a bean pole, but is surprisingly strong for his stature. His home is in the clinch, and his weapon of choice is the uppercut, which he sets up beautifully by mixing up head and body. He doesn’t throw many knees or elbows, but stays active enough with punches to frustrate opponents while he waits for his opening.

He’s finished all of his fights thus far by TKO, which is good because his ground game resembles the actor Tyrese’s from the Fast and Furious franchise.
 
Prediction: Claudius may have the height of a tree stump, but he is strong and one of the best at cutting weight for this division. Tyreese’s best option actually would be to strike at range, which is something he can do, but prefers not to (like Bartleby the Scrivener…any Melville fans out there? …no…?) It wouldn’t be a shock to anyone if Tyreese adds another TKO to his ledger, but it just seems like getting close is right in Claudius wheelhouse. I see Calaeabius utilizing his strength and wrestling to ground Tyreese and alternating sitting and punching for fifteen minutes, en route to a unanimous decision.
 
Lightweight
Tom Hebster (4-0; 1-0 in HG) vs Monster Old (4-0; HG Debut)
England’s own, lightweight Tom Hebster faces off against newcomer Monster Old, a Brazilian who’s name may have been lost in translation somewhere. Hebster won his debut, while Monster will be making his Highland Games debut, after winning his first four MMA fights on the regional circuit in Brazil.

Tom Hebster made his debut at Highland Games 77, and overcome early adversity to take a decision over Bernado Goncalves, who was previously undefeated. He used pressure fighting and ever improving takedown defense to outlast and outwork his previous opponent, and he’ll need to do the same thing against his next Brazilian foe.


Monster ‘Man’ Old is also undefeated, although three of his previous four opponents were the same opponent, whose record is 0-12. In fact, he has yet to face a fighter that has won any fight. His longest fight lasted two minutes, which also raises questions about cardio. He is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt, but has shown slick submissions in those fights. His wrestling is also well above national Brazilian average, which he’ll need if he wants to take the victory of Hebster.
 
Prediction: Here’s what we know: Hebster drew a tough opponent in his debut, came from behind and secured a grinding win. Here’s what we don’t know: Is Monster legit or has he just looked like a man amongst boys? Will he fall apart when faced with adversity? Can he fight longer than two minutes? This is the type of fight that makes MMA exciting, because who knows what the hell’s going to happen. If I had a guess, I’m going to go with experience against higher competition, and say that Hebster pulls this one out, with a stoppage late in the first or early in the second.
 
Middleweight
Peter Green (5-2; 1-2 in HG) vs Ney Schincariol (5-2; 1-2 in HG)
Both Peter Green and Ney Schincariol meet in what could be a loser leaves town match, as both men are 1-2 in the Highland Games. The American (fighting out of Japan, USA?) Green is an outstanding wrestler, who prefers to make his living by taking his opponents down, slipping into full mount and beating the snot out of them until the referee calls the match. There are no secrets to what he wants to do, and his only career losses come in fights when he couldn’t do so.
The native of Norway, Schincariol is almost the polar opposite grappler that Peter Green is. While his wrestling is respectable, he relies more on pulling guard or simply letting his opponent take him down. From here, he utilizes an extremely active guard, hunting for armbars, like the one he secured against Lapu Gatmaitan in his HG debut. His hands aren’t great, but neither are his opponent’s, so that doesn’t figure to be an issue here.
 
Prediction: Both guys want this fight on the ground, but for vastly different reasons. Green has never been submitted, and Schincariol has never been stopped due to strikes. Either something’s going to give here, or they’re going to stalemate for fifteen minutes. Or Green will submit Schincariol with a flying triangle choke…or maybe Schincariol will knock out Green with a capoeira kick? Just in case we’re not in bizarro world, the most likely scenario will be Green utilizing his superior wrestling and underrated jiu-jitsu defense towards a late stoppage.
 
Light Heavyweight
James Helm (12-5; 9-3 in HG) vs Renato Gracie (9-5; 4-3 in HG)
Two veterans of the Highland Games’ Light Heavyweight division collide in a clash of styles, and the winner of this match will also leave with a three fight winning streak in the crowded division. With nineteen fights between the two in the company, it’s a small miracle that they’ve never faced off before. 
A veteran since Highland Games 16, Helm enters his thirteenth fight on the heels of back to back performance of the night bonuses, after he disconnected Mairbek Krylov from his senses with a single punch and earned his revenge over Jake Theodorou in a fifteen minute chess match. “Big Dawg” lives and dies by the stoppage, has knock out power in both hands and is a pretty decent wrestler to boot. He did get taken down six times by Jake Theodorou, but also stuffed ten takedown attempts and wore down the wrestler later on in the fight. He doesn’t often see past the first round, but he proved in his last fight to have top notch cardio for such a big guy.


Renato Gracie’s last two fights have combined to last under a minute, due to a combination of skill and Daniel Maier forgetting who he was fighting, and giving Renato an early Christmas gift by taking him down. Gracie’s jiu-jitsu is on par with someone who shares the last name, and is equally dangerous on top position or in guard, where he wastes no time to end the fight as early as possible. His standup is practically non-existant, but has gotten by on toughness and intelligence which belies his “Check Mate” nickname. 
 
Prediction: Usually when you have a striker vs grappler match, it boils down to either how good of a striker the grappler is, or how good of a grappler the striker is. Unfortunately for Gracie, first year karate students are just as imposing on the feet as he is, and even more unfortunately, Helm’s wrestling is just as good as his.

Gracie is 0-3 in Highland Games when he fails to get the fight to the ground, and James Helm will NOT have a momentary lapse of reason and shoot in. Smart money sees Helm keeping his distance, using his size advantage and wrestling in reverse and scoring a knockout sometime in the first round.
 
Lightweight
Tim Woods (9-4-1; 0-1-1 in HG) vs Chester Emerson (5-1-1; 0-0-1 in HG)
An immediate rematch was made between these two, as fifteen minutes could not decide the better man. They spent almost the entirety of the fight in a lukewarm embrace against the cage, where they traded punches, jockeyed for position and traded more punches. If not for a powerful right hand from Emerson in the closing minutes of the fight, Woods might have taken the decision from him due to exerting more control. There wasn’t much damage done during the first fight, let’s hope that the second one produces more fireworks.
New York City born and London based muay thai specialist Tim Woods exploded onto the scene with nine wins in his first ten fights.

He’s had four fights after, but still sits at nine wins. At six foot tall, Woods does use his frame well in the clinch, but has yet to evolve his game further, and his career has stalled because of it. Despite his natural reach over most of the division, he prefers in fighting, using elbows and punches while exerting great control. He is, however, extremely hittable, and tends to wane down the stretch.


Chester Emerson came into Highland Games after four straight fights that saw the fifth round, so conditioning has never been the question. He possesses outstanding wrestling for the division, and improving boxing. For how good his wrestling is, he prefers to work inside the clinch, utilizing smothering control and mixing up punches to the head and body of his opponent. Emerson’s one of those fighters who seems to have the skill set to make a big impact in Highland Games and the world of MMA, as well as an impressive beard/theme song combination. He almost lost his last fight, however, due to poor planning.
 
Prediction: Based off of their last fight, one would expect Woods to have an edge, as he controlled the action for the most part. Emerson, however, has the wrestling ability to put Woods on the mat. For all his talent, he has never shot for a takedown in any of his fights. That’s like having wings instead of arms and still walking everywhere. He was able to get away with it against lesser competition, but until he learns to utilize his gifts properly, he’s going to have a hard time making head way against better competition. Woods takes this via decision.
 
Heavyweight
Vitaly Karelin (4-1; 4-1 in HG) vs Sailele Lealofi (8-6; 4-5 in HG)
This fight features a pair of fighters who are coming off of setbacks. For one fighter, it’s dealing with his first loss and showing the world that despite his body frame, he isn’t exactly made of stone and can be hurt. For the other, winning the next fight could be the difference between keeping and losing his job. It’s a situation that should ensure both guys put their best foot forward and deliver performances that we know they’re capable of.
Vitaly Karelin came into the Highland Games as a viral sensation with zero professional MMA fights under his belt.

After reeling off four straight wins to start his career, and take the Highland Games heavyweight tournament, phrases like ‘next big thing’ and ‘unstoppable Russian machine’ were being thrown around. Karelin is Russia’s answer to medieval battering rams, short and impossibly stocky, with muscles that were surely developed by years of clearing out his Siberian backyard of bears and icebergs.

He is the embodiment of every Cold War themed nightmare. But, as shown in his last fight, he is not infallible. In fact, there is real concern for him when he can’t get the fight to the ground. He may punch hard on the feet, but his technique resembles a flailing hysterical woman. He lost via cut in his last fight, only because his face refused to quit, despite being punched so many times.
Sailele Lealofi, ‘The Super Samoan Part 2: Electric Boogalou’, is a long, rangy jiu-jitsu fighter that proves that not all Samoans’ heads were infused with coconuts at birth. Despite this, he has a great submission game that is surprisingly slick for a heavyweight, and his standup technique has improved over time. He’s not the greatest wrestler in the world (15% takedown accuracy for his career), but when he gets it there, he has a real talent for keeping it there. This will be his tenth fight in the Highland Games, but the last three have been telling. When unable to get the fight to the ground, nap time will be right around the corner.
 
Prediction: This one is tough to predict. We have a scary, but still green, Karelin who loves to take people down and hulk smash, then we have Lealofi, who wants to be on the ground and hunt for submissions. They both suffer when they can’t get opponents down, although Lealofi looks like he has at least taken boxing classes. The power edge definitely goes to Karelin, which isn’t Lealofi’s fault because that’s always going to be the case. Lealofi might have his best success pot-shotting his way to victory, but that seems unlikely to happen. And can Karelin’s limbs be contorted by human hands? If it’s a pick ‘em, I would have to go with Karelin avoiding danger enough and doing his Hulk impression en route to a first or second round stoppage.
 
Heavyweight
Keijo Virtanen (11-4; 7-3 in HG) vs Mitchel Thompson (12-6; 8-4 in HG)
The co-main event for the evening features two heavyweights that are trying to position themselves for a future title shot. With both competitors having reached double digit appearances in Highland Games, Finnish born Keijo Virtanen and gigantic Mitchel Thompson, have faced and beaten the best of the division, and want to show that they still belong in that conversation. This will be their second meeting against one another, with the first coming about forty events ago with Keijo taking home the win by kimura.
Sporting an impressive resume, and even more impressive mullet, Keijo “King Kong” Virtanen is a four time Submission of the Night recipient, tries to collect the arms of his opponents wherever he goes.

All seven of his Highland Games victories came via submission due to some variation of armbar, including the kimura he slapped on Pedro Lazaro to stop the current Highland Games Heavyweight Champion.

Despite not being the biggest fighter in the division, he gets surprising power behind his takedowns, and his just at home with opponents in his guard. He was able to stop a two fight skid in his last outing, and at just twenty-eight years old, he should be entering the prime of his career. His striking game has been a work in progress since, forever, but he’s relatively effective utilizing his punches as decoys to get the fight to the ground, which is where he really shines.


“Stonefist” is an apt name for Mitchel Thompson, as he sports three legit knockouts amongst the eight stoppage victories he holds inside the Highland Games. If he wasn’t scary enough to look at, standing about 6’8 and walking around at 280 pounds, his hand speed is supernatural for his size. He’s your classic sprawl and brawler, using good wrestling in reverse to keep the fight on the feet, where he holds a reach advantage over just about anyone walking the Earth. If he were to have one downfall, it would have to be when the grappling defense fails. His fight with Thresh Whiteman consisted of being stuck in the clinch until Thresh’s razor sharp elbows forced the doctor to stop it. In his previous meeting with Keijo, he got caught flat footed and floored, and was unable to get up until the fight was over. 
 
Prediction: Good news for fight fans, these two have both gone to a decision once in their Highland Games careers, and this fight shouldn’t be any different. This is a make or break fight for these competitors, with the winner probably stepping back up to contender status, while the loser should be relegated back to the middle of the pack for the time being. Mitchel Thompson is either going to stop the takedowns, which he is pretty adept at for the most part, or Keijo won’t be denied and gets this to the ground.

Despite weaknesses in the grappling game, Thompson’s only been submitted once, by Keijo coincidentally. He did fend off about six or seven attempts his last time out before succumbing, and one can assume his jiu-jitsu defense has improved. That being said, Keijo has been cracked before, and I think Thompson gets his revenge via a first round knockout.
 
Bantamweight
Serge Ibaka (20-2; 9-1 in HG) vs Dominic Domain (10-3; HG Debut)
May God have mercy on the soul of Dominic Domain. Is that too much of an auspicious intro for the main event of Highland Games 86? The former 8 time defending Highland Games Bantamweight Champion takes on the debuting Domain in his first fight after dropping the title to BJ Arnold. This should be cause for concern for anyone that is in the vicinity of Ibaka right now, let alone his opponent Dominic Domain.
What can be said about Ibaka that hasn’t already been written about in Greek mythology? He is a world class boxer in MMA, with lightning fast hands and the ability to generate serious power without overextending himself. He won the Bantamweight title in his debut back at Highland Games 25, and kept it until his last fight against BJ Arnold. In fact, no other person in the sport has been able to beat Ibaka other than Arnold, and if there was a blueprint to do it, it would be that Arnold just stayed busier. Arnold also happens to have a chin carved out of Stonehenge, so it’s not really feasible for a lot of other fighters to adopt this gameplan. Jiu-Jitsu may be a weakness, but he boasts a takedown defense of 88%, which is about as ridiculous as his scrambling ability when he does get taken down. No, he doesn’t throw a lot of kicks or mix in other strikes very often, but he throws punches in bunches, and throws them everywhere and anywhere to keep his opponents on their toes from beginning to end.


Dominic Domain is a grappler that was born and raised in Alabama. There’s probably a joke in their of some kind, but I’m not going to touch on it. He cut his teeth in the Blitzkrieg organization based out of Las Vegas, winning ten of eleven fights, mostly by submission and all of them on the ground. Make no mistake about it, he will look to take this fight to the ground as soon as he hears that bell. He also has surprisingly effective ground and pound, and amazingly, has never landed a punch while on the feet. Wait…seriously? In thirteen fights he’s never landed a punch while standing?
 
Prediction: The combined record of Domain’s Blitzkrieg opponents was 29-46. He has fought twice after leaving Blitzkrieg, losing both fights to opponents that are a combined 19-5. Serge Ibaka has a better record than that by himself…and he’s angry…and rumor has it, Domain accidentally stepped on Ibaka’s prize pair of Adidas. In conclusion, this may be a very short night for Domain, as Ibaka drills him on the feet and makes short work of his overmatched opponent.

 

 

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