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 Howdy partners! We’re back with GAMMA Gossip, your favorite MMA show. I’m AC Jimbo and I’ll be leading us through the latest goings on from GAMMA HQ, reviewing our most recent events and checking out what we can look forward to at the next two fight nights.
Let’s begin by taking a look at GAMMA 281 and 282.
Beginning with GAMMA 281, we previewed what was expected to be the two showpiece fights at the time of going to air. However, a late decision was made to switch the co-main event. In the end, the Sinatra versus Sinclair fight was bumped down to the under-card, and turned out to be a more interesting fight than I had predicted it would be, but still failed to separate the two inside the three rounds, whereupon Frank Sinatra had his hand raised.
I told you before how excited I was about the main event, though, featuring veteran Doc Thomas against young prospect, Keith Green. It didn’t turn out to be the barnstormer I had quite hoped for, but they still put on a solid show for three rounds. The key to this fight for Green was always going to be whether he could avoid the takedown attempts that “The Bone Breaker” would throw at him, as he was surely heading for defeat on the ground. In the end, though, Green made it look easy and stuffed every single takedown attempt that Thomas made, which in turn meant it turned into a long and arduous evening for Thomas, resulting in a comfortable decision victory for Green – now his sixth in a row!
We were then privileged to be able to watch on at GAMMA 282, where the much-anticipated rematch between Raz Matazz and Fred Ettish took place. Before that we saw Podogo win out in the battle of the Leandros against Rodrigues, exactly as I called it last time by besting him in all areas.
However, as I’ve already alluded to, the fight we were really holding our breath for was the middleweight title fight as “Coquettish” Ettish defended the title for the first time against “The Atom Smasher”, the man he had just beaten to gain the accolade. I thought that Ettish would be able to reassert his dominance over the older man and to win more comfortably than he did the first time. As it turned out, I was really quite wrong.
Matazz had clearly worked hard since the first bout to develop a plan to turn the tables on Ettish. Early in the first round, Matazz took the fight into the clinch and, despite getting cut from an Ettish elbow that was sneaked through, he began to take control of the fight from that moment. The second followed a similar pattern to the first, with Matazz looking to clinch up at every opportunity whilst Ettish did everything in his power to avoid and escape these clinches. Whilst in the third round Ettish clearly was more attuned to defending against the clinch attempts of “The Atom Smasher”, he was by now looking considerably more tired than the challenger and the focus on defending the clinch attempts left him open to more of Matazz’s punches and kicks. At this stage it was all one way traffic and Matazz clearly took his third round in a row. The fourth was no different, and the final round looked to be heading the same way until Ettish, being spurred on by his corner, went hell for leather to try and get the finish he needed if he was going to hang onto the title he’d worked so hard to win in the first fight. Even then, though, Ettish only narrowly edged the fifth and it was an easy decision for the judges.
Where will things develop from here? It’s a tough one to call. Ettish is now on the shelf for a little while to nurse the injuries he picked up from his beating, so GAMMA management have a bit of time to decide where things should go. Meanwhile, given the impressive nature of Keith Green’s win, he looks well-placed to be the next challenger for Raz Matazz once both men are fit and healthy. Incidentally, this win earned “The Atom Smasher” some new records to add to his already lengthy resume – his 20th title fight win, 30th “of the night” award win, and 35th GAMMA win. Incredible feats by an incredible fighter, and there seems to be no letting up anytime soon!
Phew! That’s a lot to have covered already, but wait, there’s more! Now we’ll move on to preview the next two shows.
First we have GAMMA 283: Kuduro v Gillis. Similar to some of our more recent events, this is filled with fighters of one weight class, but with the main event providing something different. In this case it is the big guys providing the filler, but the killer content at the top features the light-heavyweight contenders, Danza Kurduro and Jamie Gillis.
Before we get onto that, though, the co-main event will see Jt “The WarWagon” Colossus (29-19-1, GAMMA 3-3) heads with “The Titan” Jorge Cruz (26-18, GAMMA 7-4). Both of these guys have plenty of experience, but neither is in particularly spectacular form as both are coming off losses in their most recent fights.
Each of their most recent fights took place at GAMMA 278, so let’s take a quick look at the highlights of those fights.
*tape runs showing Cruz’s decision loss whilst finishing the stronger fighter versus Livingston Barclay, and also of the stunning knockout of Colossus inflicted by Buster Grimes*
Quite different circumstances for each one’s loss, it is fair to say. Cruz’s strengths are well-documented – the seemingly never-ending reach, and the power of his punches. Whilst being altogether stockier, Colossus is similar in that he certainly prefers to let his fists do the talking, although he does also have something of a ground game that Cruz should be wary of.
On the downside, neither of them tends to be all too great at taking a punch. Both are likely to have been the stereotypical bully at school – happy to dish it out but much less happy whenever anyone dared to give anything back. We can be sure that this one won’t go the distance, so the judges can take the time to go for a comfort break in preparation for the evening’s main event. I suspect that Cruz will be able to utilise his reach advantage to get the knockout here. Sure, his long limbs make for an attractive target for Colossus to attempt the takedown and control on the ground so I’d anticipate him trying to go down that route but I think “The Titan” will be able to defend against this.
Therefore the crowd should be pumped for the main event of the evening after seeing a decent slug-fest immediately beforehand. We’ll be watching Danza Kuduro (15-5-1, GAMMA 2-0) try to develop more of a winning streak against former champion Jamie Gillis (21-9, GAMMA 6-2).
I told you in my GAMMA 280 preview that Kuduro was a dangerous customer, and he proved that with a highlight reel head kick knockout to defeat Hannibal Die Rucksichtslos. I also ridiculed Kuduro’s unusual nickname, and so it has turned out that he is trying a change of identity. Nicknames are funny things, it can be difficult to get them to stick sometimes when one tries to set their own. Whilst it was understandable that Kuduro would want to lose the “Lord of Middleport” moniker, the new alternative he has come up with is “Las Manos Arriba”. Has he gone from a Lord to a gangster? Do we really care, as long as he turns up looking for a fight each time he’s booked then I think most fans will be happy regardless of whether they chant this new nickname or not.
Gillis has been out of action for a while now, his last outing being at GAMMA 276, where his last opponent was the same Hannibal, and the result was quite similar with Hannibal ending up staring up at the lights, unsure of where he was or how he got there.
As I mentioned just a moment ago, Gillis is actually a former champion at 205 pounds, winning the title shortly after joining GAMMA from a smaller promotion where he was also their champion. In short, the guy has championship pedigree. His only losses while at GAMMA have come at the hands of Degen Gambler, the current incumbent of the light-heavyweight crown.
Both guys are well-rounded, with the ability to win the fight on the outside or inside when standing, or when the fight hits the mat. Kuduro is reckoned to have the better striking skills, whilst “Double Leg” Gillis is the stronger grappler. This will be a true test of Kuduro’s title ambitions. He has been vocal since his last fight about his intention to take the division by storm, and what better place to start than to make a statement by knocking out Gillis. Just short of 80% of their combined fights have ended before the final bell rings, and this one will be no different. I think we’re in for a real treat in this one, and I fully expect them to add to their trophy collection by picking up the ‘Fight of the Night’ award. All nine of Gillis’s losses have been stoppages, and so much will depend on whether he can avoid taking any flush shots because if he can’t then I am sure that Kuduro will notch up another KO victim. However, if Gillis can succeed with his famed takedowns and end up in top position then Kuduro will need to escape quickly in order to avoid a painful and humbling evening. I don’t see that happening, though, and instead I think Kuduro will stop this before it enters the third round.
Shortly afterwards we’ll be moving onto GAMMA 284: Duberry v Grimes II. The key fights here are the heavyweight contenders not in action at GAMMA 283.
The co-main event is Kuiskaaja Rajantakaa (19-8, GAMMA 7-3) versus Livingston Barclay (12-5, GAMMA 6-0). Both of them won their previous tune-up fights, and this is heavily trailed to be the number one contender fight to see who will take on the winner of the evening’s main event.
Rajantakaa has been around a while, and has a decent record since joining GAMMA but fallen short when it seems to matter most. Barclay, to the contrary, is the hot young prospect in many fans’ eyes, despite actually being the same age as the champion, Duberry. They certainly have one part right, though, and that is that right now he is the guy on the hot streak. Unbeaten since joining GAMMA, and now on seven fight winning streak, he carries massive momentum into this fight.
Rajantakaa is a giant of a man, and will have a height advantage of over 10 inches against Barclay. This may well have a great bearing on the strategies that each of them will look to employ. Whilst Barclay is the better boxer, Rajantakaa is a highly skilled kick-boxer and I think we will see him go head-hunting as Barclay tries to defend against a wide arsenal of punches and kicks. Meanwhile, Barclay will no doubt look to break his opponent in two, attacking the vulnerable mid-section hard.
However, the biggest – and possibly most significant on the night – difference comes from their jiu jitsu proficiency. Rajantakaa is a black belt master, whereas Barclay is something of a novice by comparison and will do all that he can to avoid being taken down. His historical takedown defense is pretty tidy, with 84% of shoot takedowns defended and he has never been taken down from the clinch. Having said that, I don’t really think that he has been locked in a cage with someone as skilled as Rajantakaa in the past, and I think this could really cause him a problem. Given the pretty wide difference in abilities when grappling, it could well only need a single takedown to succeed for it to spell disaster for Barclay’s hopes of gaining a title shot. For me, there is just too much for Barclay to worry about here and so I think he will see his run snapped and have to return to the gym and get plotting for a way to work his way back to contention.
We have an interesting match-up for the main event, as the blue riband division sees the champion, Fidel Duberry (16-3, GAMMA 7-2) defend his title against “The Axman” Buster Grimes (20-7, GAMMA 8-2). This is a rematch following their meeting as the main event back at GAMMA 243 a couple of years ago. That one saw Duberry walk out with a unanimous decision in which he comfortably out-worked Grimes in every round.
Since defeating Grimes, Duberry has gone onto a good amount of success, resulting in him being granted the chance to take on the champion at the time, Anton Chigurh, for the GAMMA title. Chigurh was the odds-on favorite to win and for all the world it looked like that was how things would end up. Chigurh dominated proceedings exactly as everyone expected him to. Whether it was a momentary lapse in concentration, who knows, but with less than 90 seconds remaining on the clock and Duberry following his corner’s instructions to start swinging, he landed a big right that clearly rocked Chigurh and his eyes at once lit up. He made sure to take his chance and only a second later the referee was jumping in to prevent anymore blows being landed. A blink and you’ll miss it moment if ever there was one. The arena fell into a stunned silence to begin with, before erupting in praise for what they had just witnessed. However, not everything has gone according to plan for Duberry since winning the title, as he has lost two super-fights, but he has successfully defended his title also, against the previously unbeaten prospect, Jura Neekis. That win seems to have been so devastating to Neekis that no one has seen or heard from him since that night.
“The Axman” had his progress halted by that Duberry defeat, and it led to a split with his previous management. The Wolfwood camp saw the potential in Grimes, though, and snapped him up immediately. He lost his next fight as well, against Fedor Jankovic, but since then has very much turned his fortunes around. He has since avenged that loss to Jankovic – to now lead their head-to-hard 2-1, and now comes into this fight with revenge on his mind as well as the aspiration of being recognized as the champion.
Long time GAMMA fans will attest to the fact that both of these men have developed since they joined the organization, and indeed since they last met in the cage. They’re pretty evenly matched in stand-up, and neither has much, nay any, interest in rolling around on the floor so we can expect to see these two slug it out. Both of them have also won exactly 75% of their bouts by knockout, so one would suspect that this one would not go the full five rounds. I know that might sound odd, given the last time they met it came down to a judges’ decision, but that fight was over only three rounds rather than the championship five. By the end of those three rounds both men were extremely tired, particularly Grimes, and I can visualize a similar situation materializing this time with a late knockout coming in the championship rounds. Whether it will be Grimes or Duberry lifting their hands in victory at the end, though, is harder to call. It’s always a risk betting on there being a different outcome in a rematch when the first fight has been so conclusive, but “The Axman” is in top form at the moment and reports from his training camp suggest that he has the bit between his teeth at the moment so I’ll stick my neck on the line (not the line of fire from “The Axman”, though, I hope!) and say that I think Grimes wins this with a fifth round stoppage to turn Duberry’s patchy recent form into a genuine downturn in fortunes.
So that’s a wrap for this time. Thanks for tuning in, and I look forward to next time.
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