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 NGF 36 Preview
MAIN CARD
Main Event
Welterweight Title Fight
#2 Allan Starsky (9-1, 1-0 NGF) v #1 Zeddicus Starburst (7-1, 3-1 NGF)
Zeddicus Starburst will defend his title for the first time since the impressive 1st round TKO win over Zbigniew Mlotek at NGF 30. Allan Starsky gets the opportunity to take away the belt after his 2nd round TKO win over Chad Hardy at NGF 31. Starsky is now on a 7 fight winning streak and all 7 of those wins have come by way of a stoppage, in fact, all 9 wins for Starsky have been a stoppage. He has exceptional boxing skills, but he is also a very talented wrestler, so he is deadly standing and on the ground. Zeddicus Starburst has 5 stoppage wins, but 4 of them have been by KO, so he has more power than Starsky. A talented wrestler also and has a purple belt in BJJ, so he holds a slight edge in jiu jitsu. I feel Starburst, who is very good in the clinch, may look to get inside and get this into a Muay Thai fight. Starsky loves to stand and bang, he can get frustrated if in the clinch. I love the matchup, this is going to be a great fight, I feel FOTY possibility.
PREDICTION: Starburst 3rd round KO
Co-Main Event:
Super Heavyweight Title Fight
#1 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllllllllllll lllllllllllllIIIIllIIIIl (6-0 NGF) v #3 David Miller (6-3, 3-1 NGF)
We will finally have our first NGF super heavyweight crowned in this one. I love the matchup, both fighters are very skilled in different areas, and the areas they differ in are still very close. “Dumb Name” is 6-0 in the NGF and has just destroyed his last two opponents with under 1 minute KO’s. He has huge power with 4 KO wins out of his 6 wins and the other 2 have been TKO’s. Here’s the scary thing, Dumb Name will look to get to the mat with a fighter, and the last two wins have come by ground and pound. He’ll mount and then he’ll drop huge hammer fists to faces, pretty much rearranging noses and cheek bones. David Miller likes to wrestle and use a ground attack too; he holds the advantage in BJJ though, so in this one, I think he’ll try for a submission win. Miller has good power, he might be a better boxer, so it will be interesting if he’ll try and keep this standing, but his bread and butter is the ground game. This is a great match, two great fighters that are both well deserving of the title.
PREDICTION: Dumb Name 2nd round TKO
Heavyweight Fight
#7 Petr Jakovlev (5-1 NGF) v #13 Firco Nowack (13-5, 0-0 NGF)
Firco Nowack will finally make his NGF debut at NGF 36. The former Overcoming and A.O.R.G champion, Nowack loves to stand and bang. He is an exceptional Muay Thai fighter, but he hasn’t got into that situation as much as you might think. He has deadly kicks, sometimes not landing a high rate, but he’ll keep his opponents looking for them. Petr Jakovlev is strictly a wrestler and a ground fighter. He’ll rarely throw a standup strike, instead just look for takedowns, once there he’ll spend all effort to ground out a fight. Jakovlev in the clinch will also only look for take downs. Nowack does not want to go to the mat, he needs to keep this standing at all costs and if he does this; and his lack of real KO power, he’ll out point Jakovlev. Not sure how exciting this one will be, maybe a lot of clinch work from Nowack.
PREDICTION: Nowack decision
Middleweight Fight
#4 Darius Elerman (9-2, 2-0 NGF) v #3 Mikhail Rakhmanov (5-0, 2-0 NGF)
Just an amazing matchup, a fight that may decide the #1 contender. Darius Elerman enters on a 4 fight winning streak, all by way of submission. Elerman, a bjj black belt, will do little other than go for take downs and then try and submit. He isn’t that exciting of a fighter, even though he has remarkable boxing. Darius may have to change his game plan since he is facing a similar skilled fighter. Mikhail Rakhmanov is just a great fighter. He will spend more time on his feet, he loves to chop away at the legs of his opponent, which is a great tactic if you are facing a fighter that looks for takedowns as often as Elerman. He hasn’t spent a lot of time on the ground, but he’ll finish quickly if he gets there, 2 has 2 SOTN wins in his career. If these two make it a stand up fight this will be one of the top fights on the card and I think it could go either way, but I would expect that Elerman will not change his style that has made him 9-2, so look for a fight that ends on the mat.
PREDICTION: Elerman, 2nd round TKO
Lightweight Fight
#4 Neeyo Collin (6-2, 3-1 NGF) v #2 Koji Murosaki (6-1, 4-1 NGF)
This fight will determine who will face Tolek Banan, the current lightweight champion. Neeyo Collin has just 1 loss in his last 6, but he’s coming off an unimpressive split decision win at NGF 30 vs Pasi Nurminen. In that fight he was out worked in the standup game, but he won the fight with his ground attack. There were a lot of people around that fight that thought he shouldn’t have won. He’s a sensational wrestler who will spend most of the fight on the mat. He doesn’t have much of a stand up attack, but he is a deadly grappler and can end a fight at a moment’s notice. Koji Murosaki had his 6 fight winning streak come to an end at NGF 30 when he walked right into a right hand of Clean Jaude Damn Vame. Murosaki is an exceptional boxer and also a bjj black belt. He has good power and he can end a fight real quick, he has never had a fight get out of the 1st round in all 7 of his career fights. As a wrestler he’s nothing special, but he can out grapple anyone. I think this fight will have a KO in it, it could be Collin walking into a big punch, or Murosaki getting pounded out on the mat. This is a very interesting fight with a lot ridding, let’s get this one going!
PREDICTION: Collin 2nd round TKO
PRELIM CARD
Bantamweight Fight
#6 Jon Erik Andersen (10-7, 4-3 NGF) v #5 Yngwie Malmsteen (5-1, 4-1 NGF)
This card is so loaded that a fight between two of the top bantamweights, a fight that should produce the next title contender is on the prelim card! Jon Erik Andersen is coming off two wins, one KO and one submission, so how do you game plan for him? He is so well rounded, he’s a threat everywhere, he can do damage in the clinch just as much as anywhere else. He’s well-conditioned so he can even get into a points battle. Yngwie Malmsteen , just 22 is one of the most talented fighters not only in the bantamweight division, but in the NGF. I’m not sure where he has a weakness, he’s spent most of his fight time having opponents try to take him down, opponents are averaging just 22% takedown success, so he has very good defensive takedown defense. I guess his one area that could improve is striking defense, he does tend to let a high percent of strikes land, especially kicks. He loves to stand and throw punches, and he’ll clinch up where he lands a high percentage. I love the fight, I got goose bumps!
PREDICTION: Malmsteen 2nd round TKO
Middleweight Fight
#11 Nigel McHughes (8-6-1, 0-0 NGF) v #2 Artur Ross (7-1, 6-1 NGF)
This is one of the biggest fights for Artur Ross; a title shoot rides on it. Nigel McHughes makes his NGF debut and he has drawn a guy with 6 wins inside the NGF, riding a 5 fight winnings steak, and a title fight matchup…ah, yeah, that’s not good. McHughes was a long time Fatality MMA fighter, now looking to make a new home in the NGF. McHughes has exceptional boxing and remarkable wrestling skills, he has a very good head strike landed percentage too at 71%. His power has come into question a few times, he has 6 fights that have been decided by decision, so sometimes he gets into a point fight and doesn’t have the “finisher” mentality. Artur Ross has got to win this; he will get the title shot if he does. Now Ross has the finisher mentality, or at least he did. He and his camp are not happy about the fact that his last two fights have been decided by decision. Ross can destroy people, he can win any decision fight because he has some of the highest strike landed percentage in the NGF. Ross lands head strikes at an amazing 90%, and better yet, leg and body kicks land at over 95%. You also do not want to get in the clinch with him; he just beats people up there. McHughes is going to be a great talent in this division, but I don’t think his time is now. I feel that this could be a FOTN candidate.
PREDICTION: Ross decision
Featherweight Fight
#7 John Johnson (4-4, 3-4 NGF) v #4 Vaughn Shaunessey (12-5, 0-0 NGF)
This fight will probably determine the #1 contender for Vito Ferrari. John Johnson and Vaughn Shaunessey will have a 1st in this fight, Johnson’s first fight at featherweight and Shaunessey’s first fight in the NGF. Johnson made the switch to featherweight after a win over Andrew Summer at FN 13, but he was just 3-4 in the division. Johnson’s best part of his game is his defense; he is very elusive and can make fighters miss a lot of strikes. He uses that and Muay Thai skills to clinch up and wear out his opponents. His defense is so good; opponents are only averaging a little over 5 strikes landed on him standing up. Vaughn Shaunessey is coming over from TROID, a defunct org, his last fight, he fought in front of 750 people in a 2 fight event…uh yeah, this is going to be a little better. Shaunessey will try to turn things around; he rides a 3 fight losing streak. He is a well-rounded fighter, he has good stand up skills and has a purple belt in bjj. The go to move for Shaunessey is the leg kick, he averages over 6 per fight and he is deadly with them. He will chop away until that lead leg is red, taking away the quickness of his opponents. He does work pretty well from the bottom; he looks to counter aggression with sub attempts. He sometimes moves so methodical, that he just doesn’t throw enough strikes.
PREDICTION: Johnson 2nd round TKO
Welterweight Fight
#17 Hedrig Pokousha (3-2, 0-0 NGF) v #7 Adam Yauch (5-2 NGF)
This is another one of those classic cases of pure wrestler vs pure boxer and in my experience, the wrestler always comes out on top. Hedrig Pokousha is an exceptional wrestler, I think he was some sort of wrestling champion, but there is no real record to prove it. What we can prove is Pokousha is a real snore fest when it comes to watching, but he is a beast when it comes to wrestling. He drop down and get takedowns at will, he’s averaging 11 attempts per fight, getting 20% of them, and he rarely gets taken down himself. He has done all his damage while on the mat with a terrific 84% strike landed percentage on the mat. Adam Yauch is the pure boxer in this equation. He loves to throw bombs; he’ll look for the big KO punch. He’s decent on the ground, he can improve his position, but when he does, he’ll look to stand up. He’s good at takedown defense, but he’s still getting taken down at a 45% clip. I feel Pokousha is just too good of a wrestler, the area that is the weakest for Yauch. Adam can KO Pokousha if he can catch him with that one big shot, but odds are against that.
PREDICTION: Pokousha 2nd round TKO
Welterweight Fight
#28 Thomas Dos Santos (2-6 NGF) v #23 Michael Lescott (5-5, 1-2 NGF)
Thomas Dos Santos will make his first fight at welterweight after having 8 fights at bantamweight. It’s a big jump to go from bantamweight to welterweight, and Dos Santos isn’t all the way there yet, he’s still going to be giving 20 lbs in this fight. Dos Santos has pretty good skills in boxing, but so far nothing has come together for him. His defensive skills are horrendous; his opponents have been able to land anything and everything. His ground skills have not been good either to this point, opponents are improving their position over 83%, land ground strikes at a 63% success rate and have pulled off 13% of the submission attempts. Michael Lescott was obliterated by Adam Yauch in his last fight at NGF 32. Lescott has just 1 win in his last 4 fights. Lescott is a brown belt in bjj and he’ll look to get a fight to the ground from the bell. He owns 2 FOTN awards and 2 SOTN awards. He is very deadly on the ground, he’ll soften someone up and then lock in a submission. He’ll land his head punches, but he doesn’t throw them often. This one’s interesting, Dos Santos can land some heavy strikes, but he’ll be no match for Lescott on the ground.
PREDICTION: Lescott 1st round submission
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