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 It's that time of the week again. It's Friday night at the Camden Conference Centre in central London and we're gonna see another great night of action. Some of our big veterans like Chiyono Fuji, Jake Theodorou and Benny Askren are back in the cage, supporting our main event of the evening where Jomlong Kiapoity trades inside the cage with the former champion Serge Ibaka.
Light Heavyweight
Joe Castillo (5-2) (1-2 HG) Vs George Wates (4-2) (0-1 HG)
After finishing his first two fights, Castillo has looked to play it safe, winning 3 decisions since. Castillo’s best bet is to keep this in the clinch but George Wates will look to drag it to the floor in search of ground and pound and submission opportunities.
Heavyweight
Angel Adriel (4-2) (3-2 HG) Vs Renato Sobral (3-2) (1-2 HG)
It’s been a big turnaround for Angel who joins us now under new management. After going 1-2, he bounced back with three straight knockout victories included a 5 second stoppage of Liam Bourne in his last visit to the Highland Games cage. After Bourne pulled out of this fight with Sobral, Angel resigned with us and stepped up. Sobral will need to take this fight down instantly and land some hard ground and pound if he wants to keep his position within the company.
Heavyweight
Vitaly Karelin (5-1) (5-1 HG) Vs Brian Collins (3-2) (3-2 HG)
Still reeling from his defeat to Barol Kedorf at HG 79, the heavyweight tournament winner Vitaly Karelin bounced back with his biggest victory to date over HG vet Sailele Lealofi. Vitaly is one of the best natural wrestlers we’ve seen in the heavyweight division and not many fighters can keep it vertical against him. Collins also competed in the tournament but was defeated in the second round. With his last two fights lasting a combined 2 minutes and 32 seconds, Brain has been able to prove that his boxing is amongst the elite of the division.
Heavyweight
Craig Marduk (8-3) (0-2 HG) Vs Bob Simpson (6-1) (2-1 HG)
When Craig Marduk joined Highland Games from Tradition Fight League, he was touted as a potential revelation within the ranks. Unfortunately, two upset losses have saw his stock plummet towards the floor. If he ever wants to regain that hype coming into a fight, this fight is absolutely essential for the Las Vegas native. Marduk is a dangerous striker with knockout power, signalled by his record of having just one fight go the distance in his professional career. Simpson on the other hand has never saw a fight leave the first round and after knocking out Alcazar Tomas and Monstro Slammo, was looking like a future contender. After being taken down and submitted by Chris Wilt last time out, Simpson has his first taste of defeat and it will be interesting to see how he handles this change in pace.
Lightweight
Gottlieb Hiebknecht (15-7) (2-4 HG) Vs Domino Kennedy (7-4) (0-0 HG)
I can honestly say my proudest moment in the history of Highland Games was the day I realized I could type Gottlieb Hiebknecht without looking it up for reference. If you look at that 2-4 and judge Gottleib’s time in MMA Tycoon, you’d be surprised by the run. A former champion, Gottlieb has had a string of bad luck since he took the title from Mustafa Shabazz on in his HG debut. He joined us with as the 3 time defending Attack Fight League Lightweight Champion. His streak at that time included wins over Papa Shango, Calvin Brooks and current champion Zoran Jolevi. He lost the title in his first defence to Derrick Jon. He would go on to have a disappointing tournament run and has been unable to capture the glory since. Bouncing around managers and taking defeats to men he previously bested, these are dark times for Gottlieb Hiebknecht.
Domino, I’m sorry man but I don’t know how I can match a paragraph on you with Gottlieb’s haha. DK fights out of Union City in the United States. He’ll bring a slight reach advantage into the fight but he gives up a couple of pounds in weight. After an 11 fight career, Kennedy has never went to the decision so you know he walks out there and wants to leave every drop of himself in the ring. Domino is gonna want to keep this one standing and land at distance. While his bread and butter is throwing punches, don’t be too surprised to see him mix in a kick every now and again. Despite having a much higher degree in jiu jitsu, I think the edge on the matt will go to Gottlieb so the more distance Kennedy can maintain the better. Kennedy winning could be considered an upset on Hiebknecht’s history alone, but I feel he’s in with a massive chance of dominating this fight if he can execute the right gameplan.
Bantamweight
Bobby Bob Bob (13-7) (0-0 HG) Vs John Pinaglabanan (9-2) (3-2 HG)
Finally he’s here. It’s been waiting for Bobby to make the Hulk Hogan move over to the rivals for quite some time and following some mixed post-island results, Bobby feels the time couldn’t be better. Bob began making a name for himself in Attack Fight Leeague with wins over names like Gianluca Balotelli and Ronald Raygun. An early loss to Neil Drake stifled an early run and saw Bob split with his manager, but with a fresh face in the office came a fresh organisation. Bob would quickly capture the Bantamweight title in World Combat. We all knew it would be mentioned, but in perhaps the biggest upset of the season, Bob would go the distance with our current champion Darth Vader in a heavily disputed war which saw Bob get his hand raised. He then lost to BJ Arnold and has put together a lack lustre record of 5-4 since. Despite this, entering a company where Bob has a win over the champion is going to give him bags of confidence and if he can get past this really tough test tonight, you know sooner or later the rematch has to happen.
John Pinaglabanan is looking to play spoiler to that, and he has an extremely good chance of being successful in that goal. John was thrown to the wolves in Highland Games, fighting Vader and Dan Sten in his first two fights. He went the distance with both, and even earned two fight of the night bonuses, but being a good loser means nothing. The real thing to note is the three destructive first round stoppages he’s put together since, making John a real contender in this 135 division. John’s talents lie in his ability to hurt fighters on the feet or destroy them with ground and pound. There is no comfortable area of the fight to take him on so Bobby is going to have to bring the best we’ve seen from him to the table. Neither fighter will get a title shot off of a win here but really I think both are only two wins away from getting a chance to compete for the gold.
Heavyweight
Christopher Wilt (7-3) (3-1 HG) Vs Keijo Virtanen (12-4) (8-3 HG)
Cards on the table, I didn’t think Wilt was going to be too impressive. Back when he lost to Barol Kedorf in his Highland Games debut, Barol was 5-6 on a two fight skid so why would you be impressed by the man who lost to him? Not only has Kedorf proved himself since then, but Wilt has too. He ground and pounded Wrestlin Randy into a bloody mess, he used his jiu jitsu from the bottom to reverse positions and his kickboxing to steal rounds with Renato Sobral, and most recently and most impressively he took undefeated Bob Simpson to the ground and tapped him out in the first round. Wilt, a former grappler in Combat Purist, has done good for himself but for everyone who moves up the ranks, eventually a daunting task awaits them. For Christopher Wilt, his first big step into the lime light is against Keijo Virtanen.
While Wilt’s jiu jitsu has held up against some lower ranked guys, Keijo’s has held up against the best. With 11 submission wins, over the likes of Benny Askren, Mitchel Thompson, Sailele Lealofi, Garcia Vega and Pedro Lazaro, Keijo has been able to perform at the absolute highest level with his jiu jitsu. 5 submission of the night awards follow Virtanen into this fight where he faces an extremely rare challenge for him in fighting a fellow grappler. In fact, Lealofi is the only brown belt Keijo has ever faced so Wilt certainly could be the better man when it spills to the floor. Seeing Keijo Virtanen submitted would be a shock to the Highland nation and Christopher Wilt will certainly look to capitalize on having the opportunity to face a top ranked submission artist within the division.
Light Heavyweight
Jake Theodorou (15-6-1) (9-5-1 HG) Vs Renato Gracie (9-6) (4-4 HG)
If Gottlieb fell, Jake collapsed. At the end of The Island, Jake had 13 wins and 3 losses. All 3 of those losses were to the champion, and all 3 of those losses were by cuts. Since The Island, Jake’s put together a 2-3-1 record, which is an insanely disappointing turn of events for the incredible wrestler. Ludko Struja was the first to score the takedown and won by KO, Rodrgio Gracie managed to use his jiu jitsu to score a draw, James Helm brought him right down to the wire in a majority decision and Louis Gordon beat him the exact same way LightHeavy Weight did three times before. I can only say one thing, this dude is gonna be pissed. Had it not been for a bout of inactivity, it’s almost definitive that Theodorou would have been our first champion. I struggle to think of anyone in the division he’s not faced, and even less that have been competitive against him. At the height of his career, James Helm, Rodrigo Gracie and Louis Gordon were dispatched before the end of the second round, but all 3 have proven to be troublesome for Jake now. Perhaps they have elevated, perhaps Jake is slipping, but for Theodorou this is a winnable fight that he has to take home to remain at the top of the division.
For Renato Gracie, he has one thing in mind here; submissions, submission, submissions, submissions. With 9 subs to his credit, Grace knows what he’s doing on the mat. Brother to Rodrigo and Rimario, Renato’s specialty submissions are armbars. If you go through his record, he’s really only lost to strikers. Ben Pulse, Massimo Benvenuti, Arnavut Sevket, Razor MuayThai and James Helm all put him away, while Massa Hurmaaja managed to submit him. Following two wins at Middleweight, Renato took a step up to Light Heavyweight which hasn’t worked out for him so far. This is the perfect fight for him to make a massive impact because it will go to the floor quickly and impactfully with Renato on his back. While they are dry, Gracie will be hunting for that arm quickly but if he’s not careful, he’s going to eat some punches coming straight from the depths of hell.
Heavyweight
Chiyono Fuji (12-5) (8-4 HG) Vs Benny Askren (12-5) (10-4 HG)
Wolf Vs Funky, two straight up vets of the Highland Games big men. Fuji has been knocking people out since they were riding on mammoths. Askren has been cutting them opened since the day the good lord above allowed them to bleed, and now finally, after a combined 26 fights inside Highland Games, these two meet for the first time. I decided to pull up a few numbers for this fight as well. Fuji, being the knockout specialist he is, has taken just 2.5 minutes to dispose of all 12 of his unsuccessful opponents on average, while the more strategy based Askren takes roughly 4.25 minutes. Still, this is an incredible impressive feat for both men. Askren appears to have a weakness to the style Fuji brings to the table. He was knocked out cold by power puncher Alexey Juralev, Mase Force dropped him instantly after the two separated from the clinch and Barney Gumble took him out with his first punch of the second round after a clinch affair. Askren has excelled when he’s been able to clinch up with someone who isn’t as good on the inside as him, such as Magnus Cross and Thresh Whiteman. Fuji won’t be as strong on the inside, but man can he win this fight by KO. In 17 fights, Fuji has never went to a decision, and has only been out of the first round twice. 4 of his 5 losses were from cuts, both at range and on the inside, so that’s a glaring weakness which Askren will be keen to exploit being that elbows are his speciality. Really, this fight comes down to who can do what they want to do first. I feel it’s going to finish in the first round no matter what. If Askren clinches, Fuji gets ripped opened and sits on the shelf for 16 days. If Fuji keeps the distance, he’ll land clean and accurately and end it in devastating fashion. There is the added bonus that one of these guys might slip into the number one contender’s position with a win here tonight which would be a huge moment for either man’s career.
Bantamweight
Jomlong Kiapoity (13-7) (8-6 HG) Vs Serge Ibaka (21-2) (10-1 HG)
This was a fight that was close to being made several times throughout the Highland Games history, but at the last moment it always seemed to dissolve. Perhaps the closest it was to happening was during the two 3 win streaks Jomlong put together. In fact, Kiapoity was the number one contender for Ibaka’s Bantamweight belt before The Island tournament came about. Now with Serge Ibaka losing the championship and Jomlong bouncing back from a 3 fight losing streak to defeat Tom Noisy with the first TKO victory of his career, we’re finally going to see this fight go down.
Jomlong is well known for having incredible submission offence. At times we’ve doubted his submission defence as Zakari Moss, Neil Drake and Dan Small have all tapped him out, but when he’s putting it all together there are little fighters who won’t be scared to engage in a grappling showdown with the Thai fighter. As previously mentioned, Tom Noisy was the first TKO win of Jomlong’s career so perhaps it’s time we finally see him let his hands go inside the cage.
Serge Ibaka on the other hand is on a war path since taking duel losses to BJ Arnold. With a stunning combination of punching and clinching, Serge is an absolute terror for competitors to step in against. Ibaka has been taken down a few times in his career but it doesn’t matter who it is, Laranja, Small, Drake, there are plenty of amazing submission specialists who have went toe to toe with the former champ and not one have been able to get a proper hold on a lock or choke. Ibaka’s last outing was an easy win over Dominic Domain who stepped in on short notice, but this is a tougher challenge for him against a Highland Games veteran. With Darth Vader dispossessing BJ of the title, and Vader being defeated by Serge not once, but twice, Serge Ibaka will be foaming at the mouth to get another shot at the belt which he feels is rightfully his.
While the former champ is expected to take this one, Jomlong Kiapoity has an outside chance of pulling off the upset. He’s been in there with some beats and taken the win home so don’t count him out in this one.
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