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 Prepared by Cheorge Guvalo (133318)
Organization: Island Xtreme Fighting
Date: 14 Mar 2021
City: The Island (17:00 GMT)
Arena: Wild Bob's Bar - The Island (750)
IXF III - Main Event
Mixed Martial Arts Fighter - Louis Gingerbeard / Mixed Martial Arts Fighter - Barrett Barber
265 lbs Louis Gingerbeard (1-0) v Barrett Barber (4-0)
Undefeated and sitting near the top of the 265 pound division, Louis "Captain" Gingerbeard squares off against Barrett "Brutal" Barber. Gingerbeard outlasted Popul Vuh at IXFI, winning a close unanimous decision. He clinched like he was on the last date of his life, landing 50+ punches with a “high-volume wins fights” philosophy. This time it worked. Barrett "Brutal" Barber is off to a great 4-0 start, all four by TKO. The shortest fight was under a minute, the longest at the end of the second round. His accuracy has been exceptional, landing over three quarters of his punches through those four fights, but critics are raising eyebrows. His combined opponent record is 1-5.
Prediction: Gingerbeard survived Vuh, but being as aggressive against Barber will cost him. TKO via cuts
Mixed Martial Arts Fighter - Hells No / Mixed Martial Arts Fighter - Mihail Strutu
155 lbs Hells No (1-0) v Mihail Strutu (2-0)
Hells No is shaking his head and we can see why. A win at IXFI has him in the early hunt for a title shot, but it was closer than he would have liked. A close unanimous decision against Antonio Gomes where he had to comeback from a lousy first round to pull it off may have affected his confidence. He has a good ground game and will look to get off to a better start against undefeated Mihail Strutu. Strutu had a Jekyll and Hyde matchup at IXFI. At times he looked absolutely dominant against Snake Jones, winning rounds 1 and 3 10-8. He split those with a clunker of a round 2, but it was thankfully not poor enough to affect the outcome. Huge contrast in styles here. Will Strutu be able to keep it off the mat, or will No suffer from the heavy hands?
Prediction: Hells No continues to do most things right, but there’s something about Strutu that the 155 division should keep an eye on. Strutu via decision
Mixed Martial Arts Fighter - Patrick Watt / Mixed Martial Arts Fighter - Eddie Bravo
170 lbs Patrick Watt (1-0) v Eddie Bravo (3-0)
Patrick Watt made Knockout Bob happy with a QFC warm-up TKO over Enzo Williams. It was such a dominant performance that Williams announced his retirement from the sport right there in the ring after the fight. Watt is a stand-up fighter, but his surprisingly good ground defense was what made the difference in the fight. He’ll need to keep up that defense against submission expert, Eddie Bravo. Bravo’s three QFC fights have all ended in submission wins and all have lasted less than two minutes. Watt is a step-up in competition, but Bravo’s been so efficient, you wonder if anybody is going to stand in his way. Bravo’s warned Watt not to try and grapple with him at IXFIII, but I doubt he needed to be told.
Prediction: Taking the underdog. Bravo should wipe the floor with him, but we’re taking Watt and his magical ground defense to carry through fight two.
IXFIII Undercard
205 lbs Anigav Rennid (2-3) v Jin Dredd (0-1)
Anigav "Taco Eater" Rennid has been a busy fighter since joining the Island. Five fights in less than two weeks will exhaust anyone and it may have been a little too much, too soon. His morale has plummeted after losing his last two fights, but it’s not all bad news for the Hilo native. His two wins were impressive, including a 5 second knockout in his very first Island QFC fight and he has the stand-up game to bang with anyone. Jin Dredd is hoping not to stay standing as his skills line up more to the ground game. He was TKO’d in his first fight, 50 seconds into his IXFI match, after suffering an early cut. “Tends to Cut” is the last thing any manager wants to see and Dredd has to plan around taking Rennid to the mat.
Prediction: Dredd evens his record. But not before being bloodied by a flying taco.
265+ lbs Ser Gregor Clegane (0-0) v Jorlan Vieira (1-0)
Ser Gregor "The Mountain” Clegane is roughly the size of one. Tall and heavy, he’s gone against convention for super heavyweights and has been training hard on his BJJ skills. The native of Westoros needs a win to keep pace with the title contenders in the division. Jorlan "Pitbull" Vieira is not looking to just keep pace, but to climb to the top of the division. He won his QFC warm-up with an incredible performance, working exclusively out of the clinch and punishing his opponent at every opportunity.
Prediction: Clegane won’t be as easy to control. He pushes his way to a submission win.
265 lbs Lewis Palma (0-0) v Phuc Dat Bich (1-0)
The audacity of Palma’s name. We don’t know the backstory so we’re going to make one up. We believe he’s a bastard son of IXF’s own Louie DePalma and when he found out, vowed to make his father proud by winning the 265 pound title. Palma has a tough first assignment against Phuc Dat "Humongous" Bich, 1-0 after winning his QFC warm-up via submission. He has the clear advantage in BJJ and will look to carry that through this, his second fight.
Prediction: Palma makes his sponsors proud and pulls off an upset decision
205 lbs Johnny Clark (1-0) v Savage Opress (0-0)
Johnny Clark comes to IXF via Las Vegas, winning his QFC warm-up in style. He landed every one of the strikes he threw and mixed them up beautifully, earning the TKO halfway through the first round. His opponent, from the beautiful island of Comoros, is an MMA newcomer. Not much is known about Savage Opress, but he has a great team behind him and we expect him to come out strong.
Prediction: Clark can’t continue hitting 1.000 at the plate and his second fight opponent is far stronger. Opress wrestles his way to a win.
170 lbs Yeves The Soul Rapist (1-0) v Steve Cannson (1-0)
I guess if you’re going all-in as a bad guy, soul rapist headlines the resume. Yeves "Davids" The Soul Rapist knocked out a cell phone in his QFC warm-up to IXFII, going on the offensive with some solid ground and pound after being taken to the mat. Steve "Crawdad" Cannson won his 170 pound opener at IXFI against Polish Powaaah. Cannson’s ground game was nearly perfect and the BJJ purple belt expects the gameplan to work again. He’s been nursing an injury since IXFI and he may have to compensate.
Prediction: Cannson can’t hope to win this one if he can’t get to the ground. We think he will. Win via submission
185 lbs Ebubekir Siddik (0-0) v Joel Miller (0-0)
Neither fighter has a resume or background to look at, both being newcomers to the Island and to MMA Tycoon in general. The skills are polar opposites, Siddik preferring the stand-up against Miller’s wrestling and BJJ.
Prediction: This one will be quick one way or the other. We like Miller’s avatar so Joel Miller via 1st round submission.
170 lbs Sorrenco Cistiffufs (0-1) v Simon Trym (0-1)
Starting off the night is a 170 pound scrap between two losers. And by that, I mean two guys who haven’t won yet. Both lost their QFC warm-ups prior to joining IXF. Cistifuffs lost in ugly fashion, getting overaggressive in his takedown attempts before getting knocked down, rocked, cut and knocked down again. It was all over by 24 seconds. Trym managed to last longer, even opening the fight with a crisp combo, but the result was the same as he was TKO’d halfway through the first round.
Prediction: No one wants to start 0-2, but someone will. We think Cistifuffs overreaches again, getting popped and losing by KO.
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