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NFC: 171 Jokinen versus Taalasmaa Review
Bob Jones here again MMA fans and one of the biggest MMA events in history just went down and I myself was 4-1 in my predictions! Not bad and I made a bit ah money at the casino too. Here is the lowdown on the fights in case you missed what happened or you just want an expert’s opinion.
Main Card Fight: Welterweight Division(170) Dirk Zeldenthuis(25-7) versus Tauno Palo(35-20-1)
Zeldenthuis is who I took to win and he delivered. I also took him to win in a unanimous decision in which he did! He landed 4 of 6 takedowns and controlled the action and dominated on the ground. His key to victory was staying on top of the tough Palo and grinding out a victory. Going for a KO would be nice but Palo has a tough chin so Zeldenthuis played is safe and got an important victory and is now 26-7. Also in the clinch he out struck Palo 17 to 6 including some vicious uppercut’s that just padded the judges scorecard’s and Zeldenthuis proved definitely he was the better fighter. Even standing at striking range he was very even with the veteran Palo who attempted 27 kicks but only landed 6. Dirk avoided most of Palo’s strikes and Palo could not land power shot’s flush which would have been his biggest chance to take a victory. In the first round it was very close with the fighters going back and forth. Dirk landed a takedown and could not do much with it and the fight went in and out of the clinch several times. The first round was slow paced but the fighters struggled and it was very even. The second round came and Dirk shot quickly for a takedown but did nothing with it. Standing up though he knocked around Palo for 3+ minutes and brought it in the clinch and threw some haymakers and took the round. In the 3rd round it got ugly as Zeldenthuis took Palo down and threw repeated blow’s to his head and rocked him and almost got a KO victory but stayed wary. Zeldenthuis fully sealed his victory with a dominating 2nd and 3rd round, not quite 10:8 round but he did fully win a good decision victory.
Main Card: Lightweight (155) Takanori Gomi(24-5-1) versus Sven S Svensson(15-8)
I took Gomi in a decision victory here due to Svensson’s tough chin and he won a extremely close majority decision. Gomi attempted 15 takedown’s but only landed two but when he was on top he was winning easily. Svensson showed huge heart and toughness facing a much better fighter who was a former number 1 lightweight in the world. Gomi I believe did win this fight in my eyes 29:28 and took the first two rounds but got lazy and got beaten by Svensson in the 3rd. Gomi easily took the first two rounds with a good arsenal of punches and kicks and some clinch work as well, he was frustrated though he could not land any takedowns. When Gomi got a takedown in the first round though he got a couple of shots in on the ground and took that round easily. Gomi goes on to face Vladimir Solovyev who has 24 wins and has lost to Gomi before. Gomi is hoping to ride in coming off of this win over Svensson.
Main Card: Light Heavyweight: Billy Batts(21-6) versus Marko Torturo(25-8-1)
I took Torturo by decision here for this fight and that is just what he did in winning a 29:28 unanimous decision. Marko Torturo had lost the 1st round but came back to easily win the next 2 rounds in a great come from behind victory. Torturo just won his fourth in a row and will be defending his belt soon. He put his elite Muy Thai to use and dominated Batts with a battering clinch game and devastating kicks. The kicks and knee’s slowed Batts down and Torturo took advantage of him throughout the fight. Batts fought valiantly and stole the first round after beating up Torturo a bit with some hard punches and even cut up Marko lightly towards the end of the round, he controlled the clinch for this round only as Torturo turned it up in the later rounds. Torturo use a variety of kicks both high and low in the latter rounds to slow Batts down and he was also able to clinch up and throw some mean elbows and knee’s to prove to the judges he deserved a victory. This win really showed Torturo’s gas tank off after losing a round and coming back to dominate the next too. Don’t count Batts out of anything at Light Heavyweight in the world though as he has moved on to Empire and will look to show off his granite chin there. Right now after that victory though Torturo is the 3rd ranked light heavyweight in the world! He will now look to defend his belt for the first time against former CEC champ- Tomi Juntunen who is 1-0 in NFC. This fight though between Batts and Torturo definitely kept the fans entertained though with their clash of hard kicks and knee’s and put towards the record setting ratings.
Co Main Event: The Welterweight(170) Champ: Doc Chillum(23-6) versus Alan Bundy(30-11)
I took Alan Bundy to finally topple the Welterweight champ here at NFC and boy was I ever wrong and it put a blemish on my record. Doc Chillum took a unanimous victory in 5 rounds over Bundy. He won a close one though 49-47, 48-47, 48-47. Chillum showed his superiority though on the ground as he was taken down 4 times yet a single punch did not land on him and only one submission was attempted by Bundy, it was more of a lay and pray tactic that did not pay off. The fight started off in the 1st round with the fighters trading blows and Chillum landing some significant leg and body kicks while Bundy landed a couple big right hand’s. Late in the round Bundy landed a takedown but could not land a strike and the round ended with him on top not able to do much but control. The second round came and Bundy landed more significant strikes then Chillum did and landed two takedowns, although he did not do much with them he had more cage control. Also Bundy landed harder strikes and kept Chillum moving backwards for a lot of the round. After watching the second round all of the judges had Bundy winning so far and I believed that he could pull it off against the champ. Doc Chillum is the champ for a reason though and came back and won rounds 3,4,and 5. In round three he immediately brought the fight in the clinch and did some damage with some dirty boxing and he out struck Bundy from the clinch over the course of the fight, Doc took the 3rd round handily. In the fourth round Chillum finally got the better of Bundy on the feet and started throwing some excellent blow’s to his chin. Bundy became frustrated and landed a takedown but got to eager and Chillum sweeped him and ended up in mount but neither fighter did any damage on the ground. The fifth round came and Bundy was exhausted and Chillum looked a bit fatigued too. Chillum landed several hard kicks though and defended takedowns and won that round as well. The champ had come through winning three straight rounds to retain his title, Alan Bundy put up quite the fight though. Chillum will now face Fight Day FC champ Ricardo Gracie in a super fight in NFC, both fighters are ranked in the top ten in the world for their weight class. Bundy has now resigned to GAMMA where he is a title holder.
The Main Event: The Top Two Light Weights in the world: Otso Jokinen(31-5) versus Seppo "Suppo" Taalasmaa(37-16)
I decided to take Jokinen in an early TKO victory as he did to Taalasmaa before in their original fight in the fourth round. This fight went to a decision though and all of the judges ruled in favor of the now number one fighter pound for pound in the world.. Otso Jokinen. And boy was it close as all three judges ruled in favor of Jokinen 48-47, this was a barnburner that capped off the NUMBER ONE EVENT IN NFC HISTORY! The first round started off with a bang as Jokinen took the fight in the clinch and used a variety of punches in a dirty boxing technique to get the upper hand on Taalasmaa. Taalasmaa landed a takedown and landed a couple strikes to the head of Jokinen. Taalasmaa almost swayed the judges to give him the round but late in the round Jokinen jumped back up. Jokinen had vastly out stuck Taalasmaa on the feet though and the judges gave him that round. The second round came and Taalasmaa grabbed a takedown and held it for the whole round. Jokinen defended well but Taalasmaa got in some good shots and controlled the whole round although he could not make it past guard and Jokinen even landed a sweep and got on top but Taalasmaa soon regained control. On the ground Taalasmaa out struck Jokinen 15:1 all fight long! Jokinen would lose this round due to his inactivity on the ground although he did dodge a lot of strikes, but Taalasmaa showed control. In the third round Jokinen took it to go up 29:28 on all judges score cards. Jokinen landed a couple of leg kicks to slow his opponent down and mixed up his punches going high and low. Taalasmaa surprisingly got the fight in the clinch himself where both fighters landed a couple of shots. Jokinen though landed more power strikes including a couple of huge uppercut’s in the clinch and secured this round. In the fourth round Taalasmaa held a takedown for a little over four minutes and grazed Jokinen with strikes over and over even though over half didn’t land. Taalasmaa even got to advance position getting to full mount and dropping some elbows but could not finish it. To his credit though Jokinen has quite the chin but Taalasmaa took this round clearly in the judges eyes and now after four rounds it was all tied up 38:38... The fifth round came and it was a battle, both fighters were now sweating profusely and fatigued. The fight moved in and out of the clinch twice but the majority of the round was spent in it. Taalasmaa landed a nice elbow at one point but Jokinen’s dirty boxing just kept beating up Taalasmaa. Jokinen took this round and the fight and became the number one fighter in the world. What a fight and what an event though, credit to all fighters on the night for a job well done. Taalasmaa proved he can stand and bang with the best of the world, but Jokinen again reigns supreme and moves to 32-5 and will now face Roddy Piper(32-9-1) who is the champ at CFC and Taalasmaa moves back to IMMA to defend his bel
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