|
ROTR FINALS 2017 - Preview & Breakdown
Introduction:
Hey guys; welcome to the preview of the Rumble on The Rocks 2017 finale. Rumble on The Rocks took place in my own org SP ICON 2.0 (300K) and is a series of 8 man tournaments in all divisions (155-265). The winner of each tournament will get a title shot at the org’s biggest event of the year PINNACLE 2017, details of the event can be found here: http://www.mmatycoon.com/orgupcomingeventpublic.php?EvID=879130
The winners will also collect 50K in cash, and a customer trophy designed by Beck (John Hetfield). This tournament did not always go to plan; and there were several replacements for inactive managers as explained in the breakdowns, but I hope it was fun for everybody who participated, as I have tried to keep the write ups as frequent and interesting as possible. We will be looking to expand the tournament to 16 men this year if we can get the bodies on board. This is a preview of the matches that will be taking place on 11th of Feb on this card: http://www.mmatycoon.com/orgupcomingeventpublic.php?EvID=878726
155: Froyo Hoyo vs Johnny Walker
Preview:
This is one of the stranger finale’s in the tournament; due to the fact that both guys who are in this were large underdogs in their semi-finals. Johnny Walker was; many thought, considerably out-skilled by his opponent, Khali Wolvhammer. It seemed as though Wolvhammer on paper was the better boxer and the better wrestler, like a better all-round mixed martial artist. In the first round; everything was going exactly as expected, Wolvhammer was getting in and out of range, lighting Walker up on the feet, showing off his superior boxing skills. He cracked Walker with some huge shots that had him in trouble and it seemed like only a matter of time before Walker collapsed to the mat like a sack of potatoes. However; somehow Walker managed to make it to the end of the first round, and it was this heart that seemed to win him the fight. When he rose from his stool in the second round, he was able to clobber Wolvhammer with a huge shot that wobbled him. Wolvhammer was never really able to recover; seeming to suffer from some fatigue, and eventually, after being all over him for the second round, Walker put his opponent out of his misery before the second bell sounded.
Hoyo’s journey to the final, whilst less unlikely, was possibly more interesting. He went into the tournament with a 4-0 record; and won his first fight easily with a TKO in the first 48 seconds. He was then put up against possibly the favourite of the whole tournament, decorated amateur wrestler Ephram Urani. This was an incredibly close fight; where both men traded strikes on the outside and in the clinch; and although Hoyo was out-skilled in most people’s eyes; his scrappy nature and physicality in the clinch was enough to score well with the judges. He scored to the body and head; and defended relatively well in the clinch too; where the dominant wrestler Urani was left whiffing on a significant amount of strikes. Froyo Hoyo is now 6-0 and could be on the cusp of an unlikely title shot at PINNACLE on March 25th.
Breakdown:
Johnny Walker has done really well and his road to the final has been really interesting; that said, he should only have a punchers chance here, with Hoyo being a better mixed martial artist. With that said; we said that about both of his previous opponents and Walker went and cleaned their clocks. Froyo has had more experience and has shown he can take a shot, but this does not mean we should write Johnny Walker off completely. He is capable of landing bombs which means Hoyo will need to be savvy on the outside, as to not get caught with too many haymakers. On the other hand; there is one thing you can’t ignore about this fight, and that is that Hoyo has beaten much better opposition than Walker. He has a dominant clinch game; and considering he just out-clinched the best wrestler in the division, it is very hard to see him not just dominating this fight in the clinch here. Walker may land a shot or two; but I don’t see him having an answer for him. Hoyo will push Walker against the cage and dominate him en-route to an early finish.
Prediction: Froyo Hoyo via TKO (Round 1)
170: Settakian Fett vs A lonzo Trotter
Preview:
The Welterweight final features probably the closest fight on the card; two guys with very similar styles and skills. Both of these guys excel at wrestling; having amateur backgrounds, but so far have won their MMA fights due to the power in their hands. Settakian Fett came from Primal and after a loss, in his debut there, has looked nothing short of excellent since making his way to SP ICON. He has used his wrestling background to beat opponents up in the clinch; as we saw against Lucifer Samm, but he has also showed a willingness to punish them with his punching power on the outside. He dispatched of Quincy Zheng in just over a minute, showing excellent takedown defence and ever improving boxing, definitely one of the guys to beat in this embryonic division.
Alonzo Trotter; the fighter formerly known as Bo Sampson; is very similar to his opponent in this matchup. He is a power punching wrestler; however, he has showed a more keen interest in shooting for takedowns than pushing for the clinch against the fence. After winning n a squash match in QFC; he came into Rumble on The Rocks as a replacement opponent for Oleg Leonidov after his original opponent’s manager went AWOL. It would turn out to be an unfortunate and painful night for Leonidov; who would lose all three rounds to Trotter in this fight. It should be noted that Trotter was able to toss Leonidov; a good wrestler in his own right, onto his back with relative ease in the first round of the fight. He then also out-boxed him easily, landing big shots, whilst showing the chin to take some shots in return.
Breakdown:
This is a bizarre breakdown to have to do; because both these guys in large part will be trying to do the same things to each other. They’ll both be trying to knock each other’s heads off so that they don’t need to find out who the better wrestler is. Then; if that fails; Fett will be looking to clinch rape, and Trotter will be looking to get the takedown and work some top game. I have found it impossible to pick a winner; as I believe it will come down to minor differences between the two fighters. I think this fight will last a fairly long time; there will be no early finish here, they are too evenly matched. The first couple of rounds will be evenly matched, with both guys landing shots and testing their opponent’s chins. In the third round; Fett will take it to the clinch to attempt to impose his will in the clinch, stalemate. Both guys are too good at wrestling for one to get the better of the other in the clinch here. Trotter will go for his patented takedowns, he may land one, however he will be unable to impose his will from the top on a skilled opponent like Fett. However the X factor in this fight is Trotter’s chin, he has proven he can take shots, however the only time Settakian Fett has been hit clean he ended up tapping to strikes. This happened a long time ago but it is the only thing we have to go off here. Trotter popped a granite chin; which means that Fett will not be able to finish him here; however, I could see Trotter stopping Fett late on; getting to his chin and securing a title shot for himself at PINNACLE 2017.
Prediction: Alonzo Trotter via TKO (Round 4)
185: John Chester vs Archibald Knox
Preview:
In the middleweight final we have two legitimate competitors; both guys have conquered their competition with dominance to get to the final. Archibald Knox has been nothing short of dominant thus far; going 4-0 in his MMA career, with all his wins coming by TKO. He has used his clinch game to dominate his 2 Rumble on The Rocks fights; along with some decent knockout power. In his last fight he destroyed a very formidable opponent in Max Madwell.
His opponent is John Chester; who will be looking to earn a rematch with champion Oscar Stolt at the inaugural Pinnacle event, which will take place towards the end of March. He is a shameless one trick pony who likes to take his opponents down and use his jiu jitsu on the mat. He submitted his first Rumble in The Rocks opponent Aaron Ward in the second round. He showed a new wrinkle to his game after this by using ground and pound from mount to dismantle his semi-final replacement opponent, fellow ground guru Travis Funk. He will be looking to submit his way to a title shot here against Knox.
Breakdown:
John Chester does have a chance here; but it is a small one; he needs to pull off a submission here, and it will not be easy against an excellent wrestler such as Archibald Knox. A bad sign for Chester is that he has taken a long time to advance position and finish his opponents on the ground; he will not get that many chances in this fight. So if the fight does hit the ground; he will have to snatch up a submission quickly, like a crocodile snatching a Buffalo off of the shore. Knox has shown that he is partial to taking opponents down in the past with his excellent wrestling, but he is unlikely to here, given that he has a much easier path to victory in his boxing and his clinch game. Chester has a chance but it would be a huge upset; the smart money is on Knox keeping the train rolling by using his vicious inside game to batter Chester on route to an early finish, setting up a huge showdown at PINNACLE between Knox and Oscar Stolt.
Prediction: Archibald Knox via TKO (First round)
205: Quintus Octavian vs Joao Pedro De Silva
Preview:
The Light Heavyweight Division is the marquee division of SP ICON in more ways than one. It probably has the deepest talent pool; the best fighter in the company in Jonas Lofmark, a popular exciting fighter in Joey Karate, and an excellent developing heel in Quintus Octavian. However despite all of this; the division’s edition of Rumble on the Rocks was totally shambolic. There were two pullouts at the semi-final stage; with Diesel Owens and Patrick Loggins unable to be contacted due to their managers being AWOL. So when the two replacements faced off; we knew we would have a finalist who had not been in the tournament from the start. The downside is that all has not gone smoothly for the inaugural tournament; and we will have to try to obtain a more reliable set of managers next year, especially if this is to extend to 16 men as planned.
The upside of course; is that we now have a far more interesting fight as the final in this division than was initially possible from the bracket. Quintus Octavian we know all about; he started his career with a dominant performance over Anthony Johnson, which turned into an unfortunate loss as he was submitted in the last minute of that fight. Since that fight; he has taken it upon himself to improve on his submission ability, and seems to be trying to make a statement with it, as in his two fights in Rumble on The Rocks he pulled guard on his opponents and submitted them off of his back. This was an impressive development even when his biggest advantage has to be his boxing; which you have to believe he will go back to in this fight. Joao De Silva is still something of an unknown entity coming into the fight; he has submitted both of his opponents in MMA, but neither of those has been notable so he is looking to prove a big point here. Both men need this win over each other to add legitimacy to their names, and gain the title shot that is waiting for them if they do.
Breakdown: There has been a lot of trash talk around this fight, with both men taking a dislike to each other; Jimmy Ryan has even gotten involved; after Octavian continuously mocked his chin. It has become something of a love triangle where everyone wants a piece of the loudmouthed Italian boxer. Octavian has claimed he will submit De Silva; which we have to hope is tongue in cheek, as his boxing seems the smartest route to victory here. If he does end up with De Silva on top of him, it could be a problem, as De Silva is the far superior grappler on paper. In fact; this is in many ways a good tune-up to fighting Jonas Lofmark for Quintus Octavian, as there are stylistic similarities between De Silva and the champion, at least from what we have seen so far. De Silva’s aim will definitely be to take Octavian to the ground and impose his will; he will not be able to compete in the striking realm. In my personal opinion; De Silva will need to get the submission victory to earn the win, the fight is five rounds long, all of those rounds will start standing, meaning that to win a decision, De Silva has to score at least five takedowns, all before being cracked on the way in by Octavian, who is a very good boxer. I think this fight will be close and competitive; Octavian will light De Silva up on the feet, but De Silva will be able to take him down a few times. I do not think De Silva gets a submission, as Octavian’s guard game has proven to be strong, if he uses it defensively, rather than trying to go for an unlikely submission, he should survive De Silva’s top game. I think down the stretch; in the last couple of rounds, Octavian should take over the fight, after peppering the body and head with his superior boxing ability. He will not score the knockout, but it will be enough in a close, drawn out war of a fight.
Prediction: Quintus Octavian via Decision
265: Heavy Rain vs Billy Hope Jr
Preview:
This fight is a typical favourite vs underdog story. When Heavy Rain entered SP ICON and was announced as a participant at Rumble on The Rocks; he was expected to produce fireworks and would have been many bookmakers starting favourite to win the competition. He has looked the part; with his excellent kicking game, clinch work and finishing ability truly shining in his fights so far. After a dominating first round fight against Clarence Morrow, which ended unfortunately after being stopped on a cut; Rain had a struggle with strong wrestler Ury Dikunov. However; the struggle was temporary as after losing a close first round; Rain head kicked his opponent into oblivion quickly after the bell rang in the second. He is a force to be reckoned with, and a serious contender to the title were he to win this fight.
Billy Hope Jr was thrown into this tournament as a last minute thing; already in the organisation with an average 2-2 record; the org needed someone to make up the numbers, and Hope Jr was there. In all honesty; he was supposed to be cannon fodder for guys such as Alton Maxin and Heavy Rain, the favourites for the competition. However; what Hope Jr has done is quite remarkable, he has turned all of those perceptions on their head. He is fighting with an unorthodox awkward style; where although his best attribute seems to be his boxing; he is constantly throwing kicks, clinching with his opponents, trying to pull guard, and doing weird shit that you wouldn’t expect. For example; in his last fight against Alton Maxin; Hope Jr clinched up with Maxin in what many deemed to be a terrible strategy. Sure enough; Maxin dumped him on the ground and started punching him pretty hard in the face. Everybody thought it would be over; when out of nowhere, Billy Hope Jr caught Maxin in a sneaky armbar from the bottom. Against all odds he submitted a guy who was supposed to be a better grappler than him. Hope’s biggest attributes are the intangibles, his chin and his heart, he has overachieved. Whether he can continue to do so or not will be determined in this fight.
Breakdown:
This fight is exciting purely because of the underdog factor that I mentioned with Billy Hope Jr. Realistically; he would need a perfect performance to win this fight. It can be done; but he needs to dial down on the exciting shit that makes him such a wildcard. He tries to clinch with Rain, he’ll get annihilated, he tries to trade kicks; he’ll get head kicked into oblivion. He needs to have a very boxing orientated game plan; he is the better boxer, if he does this he has a chance of winning. It may be viable that he could beat Rain on the ground with his newly found submission skills, however the chances of him getting the fight there are slim and none. Heavy Rain on the other hand; whilst he cannot afford to underestimate his opponent, just needs to fight his fight and he should win here. There is a huge skill differential at play here; I see rain softening Hope Jr up with body kicks, then taking the fight into the clinch and teeing off on him with strikes from there. He should get the finish in the first round, there are certain things that being a warrior cannot compensate for.
Prediction: Heavy Rain via TKO (Round 1)
Article views:
106
» Donate to this author |
