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 Welcome back to your latest dose of MMA goodness, personally delivered by me, AC Jimbo. As usual it’s a packed show, full of previews, reviews and I’ve no idea what else! On with the show!
Most recently at GAMMA we’ve enjoyed GAMMA 285 and 286, so let’s take a look at the main talking points from those events.
*tape rolls showing montage of Ray Zero’s rear-naked choke out of Mike Jones that earned him sub of the night at GAMMA 285 and Renan St Juste’s devastating uppercut to knockout Forest Gump at GAMMA 286, finishing with St Juste and Keith Green holding aloft their newly won title belts*
As you can see, there was plenty of action at those two events, but clearly the big talking point is that GAMMA now has two brand new champions in its midst.
First at GAMMA 285, Keith Green defeated the GAMMA poster-boy Raz Matazz by unanimous decision. As much as his army of fans may have hoped for the judges to return a decision in his favor, in truth it wasn’t something that many will have been holding their breath for as Green was good value for his win that catapulted him into the world top 10 list at middleweight. This extends his winning streak to seven, all of which have gone the distance. Matazz may have questioned Green’s ability to finish fights in his interview last time, arguably a fair criticism, but there was no doubting his power in this fight and Matazz was left bruised and bloodied by the end. A deal has been signed for Green to make his first defense against Fred Ettish at the upcoming GAMMA 291.
There was then a further changing of the guard at GAMMA 286 as St Juste showed off his punching power by putting Forest Gump to sleep early in the second round. This is the third different title belt he has won in a varied career, at the second time of asking in GAMMA after losing to Alan Bundy at GAMMA 260. There is no word yet on who his first challenger will be.
No sooner have we drawn breath from that merry little lot, though, then we can turn our gaze upon the next two events.
First up is GAMMA 287: Fedotov v Pennanen. Following a similar pattern to a few recent GAMMA events, this is scheduled to be an evening full of fighters from one division – in this case the heavyweights – then having to watch on as two guys from a different division headline. The undercard includes several recognizable names from the heavyweight division, such as Trent Pope, Mark Makers, and Fedor Jankovic.
Into the co-main event and we will be on the edge of our seats for “The Titan” Jorge Cruz (27-18, GAMMA 8-4) looking to lay a beating on Thomas “Black Eyed Bruiser” Hearns (12-8, GAMMA debut). Both of these guys sport identical .600 winning records, which let’s be frank – are not numbers that are likely to be lighting up the world anytime soon. However, Cruz is in reasonable form, having won six of his last seven fights, whilst Hearns is on a three fight winning streak. Cruz was particularly impressive in bouncing back from the defeat to Livingston Barclay at GAMMA 278 by dismissing Jt Colossus in next to no time, and no doubt that is why he’s in action again so soon after that fight because he barely had to break sweat. It will be GAMMA fans’ first opportunity to take a first-hand look at Hearns but he comes with a reputation for not wanting to stick around in the cage for too long – win or lose. In fact, he’s only heard the bell go for the end of the first round four times in his 20 fight career – the epitome of “go hard or go home”.
The match-up against “The Titan”, boasting 24 knockouts in his 27 wins, doesn’t look promising for Hearns, and so I think this will be another first round finish for him but not the result he will be looking for. Cruz to make short work of a second consecutive opponent, and to make a case for him to be the next title challenger.
The main event pits welterweight contenders Vladik Fedotov (21-7-2, GAMMA 9-2-1) and Juho Pennanen (13-7-1, GAMMA debut) against one another. Since signing from Synchronicity, Fedotov has put together an excellent set of results under the GAMMA banner, and must feel a touch hard done by not to have received a title shot yet. However, a win here and you have to fancy that he will move to the front of the line to be the first challenger for new champion, Renan St Juste. Meanwhile his opponent, Pennanen is a newcomer to GAMMA. I doubt many fans will have heard much of him before, but he appears to be a solid, durable fighter with a reasonable record. There’s no great trail of bruised and bloodied victims lying in his wake, but equally no opponent has embarrassed him when leaving him defeated. As a result, I think we can expect to see something more of a drawn out affair as Fedotov is not blessed with iron fists either, although probably the only question over his potential for elite status is his fragile looking chin.
Both of them stand a shade under six feet two inches tall, and walk around at about the 184 pounds mark making it easy for them to cut the weight to 170 pounds. When it comes to their respective fighting styles, though, they could hardly be more different. No one can recall ever seeing Fedotov even trying to throw a punch, and instead relies exclusively on his Muay Thai skills, employing vicious kicks when fighting at distance, and a variety of knees and elbows when in the clinch. Pennanen, on the other hand, is an elite level boxer, as well as doling out effective kicks, whilst in the clinch still relies mainly on his boxing ability but with some knees thrown in for good measure.
Not an easy one to give a prediction for, due to the lack of insight into Pennanen, but I’m backing a shock (to GAMMA fans, at least) win for Pennanen that again derails the Fedotov title tilt bandwagon just when it looked like it was approaching its destination. Whether Pennanen will leap into that spot if he wins remains to be seen.
Hot on its heels will be GAMMA 288: Galt v Tanner II, where we return to a typical card that is entirely filled with light-heavyweights. Despite this, some GAMMA fans might feel a little lost as it’s not exactly filled with household names – well they’re not household names at the moment, but who knows, in a couple of years time they could be the champions that we’re raving about.
The co-main event is Ender Wiggin (14-6, GAMMA 2-1) versus Danny Mangold (8-1, GAMMA debut). Do you know what, though? I’m actually pretty pumped about this one! Both of them come from camps that should be familiar to GAMMA fans – Wiggin from the Boondock camp, which is home to Jt Colossus, and Mangold from the Wolfwood camp, which is home to Buster Grimes. Those two heavyweights actually met at GAMMA 278, where Grimes came out an easy first round knockout victor. Will Wiggin be extra motivated for this fight to seek revenge for the defeat of Colossus? We’ll see, but even if he isn’t in need of any additional motivation, this should be a cracking fight.
From the short while we’ve been able to watch Wiggin in GAMMA, and based on the tapes I’ve seen of Mangold, they appear to be very well-matched opponents, so kudos to the GAMMA management for throwing these two together straight off the bat! If I had to pick a stronger all-round fighter, then I’d plump for Mangold, and it is he who appears to be standing on the verge of breaking through into title contention as well as being the holder of the more impressive track record so far. Neither of them are fazed at the prospect of the fight taking place in any setting within the cage – striking at distance, in the clinch or on the floor, so this could be a really exciting fight for us to get our teeth into. I’m going to make a bold prediction here, having only watched him on tape, that Mangold is going to sweep in here and immediately begin to clear house. You heard it here first!
Then in the main event we’ll be watching John “The Misanthrope” Galt (18-7, GAMMA 5-2) take on “The Hammer” Danny Tanner (15-6, GAMMA 8-5). They first locked horns at GAMMA 248 two years ago, where the judges unanimously declared “The Hammer” the winner. In fact, it was not just a win for Tanner, but total domination in every round. Galt is going to have to bring something significantly better this time if he is to change the result.
Tanner is the shorter but looks more physically imposing and strong than Galt. I fancy that Tanner has the more rounded and better skilled game to bring as well, so it is difficult to envisage where John Galt will be able to make a better fist of this time. He has definitely shown he has a big heart in the past, but unfortunately all that really meant in the first installment between these two was that Galt endured a beating for the full three rounds. He is definitely a proud man, though, so we can be sure he will give it his all in the cage and won’t return to the locker room wishing he’d tried any harder.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the winner of each of these final two fights get asked to square off against one another at some point in the future, en route to a possible title fight. Based on how they’ve gone in the past, I expect that’s likely to be Mangold against Tanner. Who the champion will be by the time one of these guys has earned the shot, though, is anyone’s guess!
Just before we say adieu, just a quick shout out to a couple of GAMMA fighters promoting the organization overseas. First Degen Gambler defeated Moacyr Domingos De Mato at IMMA, and so is sure to be confident ahead of his next title defense against Danza Kuduro. Meanwhile Alan Bundy has now taken the NFC welterweight belt, so a big congratulations to Alan. Long may the GAMMA domination continue around the globe!
Now it is time to go, so I bid you adieu!
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