|
 UNDER CARD
Middleweight Fight
#18 Henkka Seppala (1-0 NGF) v #8 Jambo Alvez (9-6, 3-3 NGF)
This one turned out to be a good start to the card. Henkka Seppala made his career debut in this one, and as we were told, he has big power; it showed as he was able to get the early 2nd round TKO, set up by a huge uppercut that pretty much put Jambo in la la land. Jambo Alvez didn’t look bad in this one, he had a decent game plan and he was looking pretty good until the big uppercut. He was also cut in the 1st round, but it was taken care of between rounds. Alvez was 2 for 7 on takedowns, and you could see he was very tired after a few of those failed one, particularly the failed one early in the 2nd. When he did get Seppala down, he did control that action, but the ref stood them up which didn’t help Jambo. Henkka Seppala looked good, but he will need to fight a little better competition next.
Middleweight Fight
#24 Bennie Wilson (5-5 NGF) v #22 Pavel Zarubin (4-5, 2-5 NGF)
See this performance is why it is so hard to figure out Bennie Wilson, he can look so bad and then all of a sudden pull a dominating performance out of his…um…bag of tricks. Wilson dominated from the opening bell, he was the more aggressive fighter, landing 20 head punches, and 27 strikes total. He was able to defend both takedowns Pavel Zarubin attempted, and he had great clinch defense. Wilson also showed good power and quickness, cutting Zarubin and knocking Pavel to the mat with a powerful right hand breaking the clinch. Zarubin has now lost 2 in a row after winning 2 in a row. He didn’t look like he was into this fight; he was tentative at times and gave poor effort on 2 take down attempts. This fight ended at 52 seconds of the 3rd round. This was also the 2nd career fight that has gotten out of the 1st round for Wilson, the other was his 1st career fight at NGF 2 on 6/9/12. I think Pavel has to go back, do some soul searching a figure out how badly he wants to stay in this career.
Bantamweight Fight
#12 Tony Chu (2-1, 0-1 NGF) v #4 Boris Yurinov (6-3, 4-3 NGF)
It was back to a regular fight for Boris Yurinov, but the opponent still had championship skill. Tony Chu lost his NGF debut in this one by a unanimous decision; all judges scored it 30-27. The fight wasn’t all that close, but Chu showed he can take on a former champion and hold his own, not to mention show a fantastic chin. Yurinov was able to land 85 strikes in this one, but none of them knocked Chu down or out. It looked like the 30 leg kicks that Yurinov landed really took the spring out of Chu. Boris was in control of the fight, but in the 3rd round, Chu showed why he’s a high praised prospect when he caught Yurinov with a couple of quick punches that wobbled him. Chu might have been able to pull the upset off if his next strike, a head kick, would have landed. It missed, and moment later Yurinov was able to shake the cobwebs and finished the last 3 minutes by getting the better of the stiking. All in all, a very good fight and Tony Chu will be one to watch.
Super Heavyweight Fight
#10 Slawomi Niedzwiedz (3-0, 2-0 NGF) v #8 Stanley Hughes (4-2, 1-2 NGF)
I did not think this was going to be this easy of a fight for Slawomi Niedzwiedz, in fact I didn’t think he was going to win. I said that Stanley Hughes was not good in the clinch, and that’s right were Niedzwiedz attacked and did the most damage. It was a knee to the ribs that first hurt Hughes, and moments later a Muay Thai clinch from Niedzwiedz allowed another big knee to land straight to the nose of Hughes essentially ending this fight at 2:45 of the 1st. Slawomi was able to fight off an early cut to win this one too. Hughes looked good, he was finding his range, he was landing strikes, some being pretty significant, but he was drilled with a beautiful knee which rocked him and then was put out with a big right hand. Slawomi moves to the #7 ranked fighter and will now take on Sergei Svetlakov, the #5 ranked fighter at NGF 43 on March 23rd. If Slawomi wins that fight he would have to be considered for a title shot.
Welterweight Fight
#13 Dominick Napolitano (4-2, 4-1 NGF) v #19 Pavel Petrov (5-5, 1-3 NGF)
What a fight, what a battle, this one has got to be in the running for FOTY. Dominick Napolitano came with a game plan to stop the powerful Pavel Petrov, the game plan was to kick him until he fell, or at least turn beat red in the legs and ribs. Napolitano entered with one of the highest leg kick attempt average in the NGF and it went up with is amazing 102 leg kicks with 92 of them landing. I felt bad for Petrov, really, he’s a hard fighter, he has good talent, but his legs absorbed so much punishment in this one that he could barely move in the 3rd round. To his credit, he kept fighting, most of the speed was gone midway through the 2nd, and he had no legs to close the distance, but he fought his heart out. The story though was Dominick; he was able to land 135 strikes while holding Petrov to just 14. Napolitano was quick, elusive and fought a very smart fight. Petrov was visibly frustrated, but he took so much leg damage in the 1st that he just could move to avoid or to move in to land punches. This fight was so good that it earned the FOTN.
MAIN CARD
Welterweight Fight
#10 Zbigniew Mlotek (9-4-1, 2-2-1 NGF) v #22 Dmitry Timonyn (8-7-1, 3-4-1 NGF)
I predicted this fight would go to a decision, and I thought Zbigniew Mlotek would win it, and after watching this fight, I think I got it right, because I feel Mlotek did enough to win this fight. In the first Zbigniew landed more punches, cut Timonyn and he seemed to be the one controlling the center more. What I saw not only in the 1st, but the entire fight was Dmitry Timonyn throwing wild combinations, none of them really landing, and the ones that did connect really didn’t seem that significant. According to the score sheet, Timonyn was able to land just 7 of 71 combinations. All three rounds were very good, entertaining and exciting, both fighters stayed standing the entire fight, no minutes were on the ground, and very little in the clinch. Outside of the cut to Timonyn, neither fighter looked badly hurt and at no time were either of them in real trouble. They were exhausted not doubt, and they got a standing ovation from the 2800+ fans in attendance. This was scored a draw, 28-29, 29-28, 29-29…let’s do it again!
Super Heavyweight Fight
#7 Sergei Svetlakov (7-2, 3-1 NGF) v #5 Buddy Threadgood (5-3, 4-3 NGF)
I think it may be safe to say that Buddy Threadgood would like to be done fighting Sergei Svetlakov for a long, long time. In the 2nd meeting between these two, Sergei Svetlakov showed his devastating punching power again, KO’ing Threadgood 2:52 of the 1st and earning $5,000 bonus money for the KOTN. Threadgood looked a bit frazzled to start, he was aggressive, but he was throwing a lot of heavy strikes, he was obviously looking for that one big KO punch, he was missing badly and he eventually left himself open for a 3 punch combination that had him completely out on his feet. Svetlakov is a serious contender now, he’ll get his next fight with Slawomi Niedzwiedz, and if he wins that one you would think he’d get a title shot. Threadgood will drop to #9 on the rankings with his 2nd loss in his past 3. It will be back to the drawing board for him.
Heavyweight Fight
#16 Kullervo Pelli (7-5, 4-3 NGF) v Polish Engineer (8-4, 3-1 NGF)
I really like this fight; personally these are two of my favorite fighters to cover in the NGF. Kullervo Pelli was coming in on a 2 fight winning streak; he was pushing to move into the top 10, so this was a big opportunity for him. He came out swinging, he looked good, but so did Polish Engineer, who was in need of a win also. Engineer landed the first strike of the fight and very nice hook to start it off. He was then later to get his takedown and he controlled the fight, he landed some ground strikes, but was mostly just making Pelli work. Then a terrible stand up by the ref, now I’m for a good stand up fight, but I’ll take a fight on the mat when there is action, there was, but the ref stood them up. Engineer wasn’t affected, as he was quickly able to cut open Pelli. At this point Kullervo was breathing very heavy and you could see him slowing down by the end of the round. In the 2nd, both fighters started off by trading punches, but 45 second mark, Engineer was able to clinch then get a trip takedown into side control. From there, the exhausted Pelli put up little resistance and Engineer was able to land heavy strikes ending it at 2:58 of the 2nd. Polish Engineer is making his case for a title shot, but he’s probably another fight or two away.
Co-Main Event:
Lightweight Fight
#8 Clean Jaude Damn Vame (4-2 NGF) v #4 James Jameson (8-3, 3-3 NGF)
This card was so good that this fight was actually the worst as it turned out. I was surprised how this fight was fought by Damn Vame, he completely changed his style in this one, he clearly wanted to stay away from the powerful stand up game of James jameson. Damn Vame had the advantage on the ground, but it just not like him to attempt 24 take downs; he’s averaged just over 3 per fight up until this fight. James Jameson did his part of my predicted stand up fight, he looked like he wanted to stand and bang, but he was reduced to spend a good amount of energy fighting off takedowns and clinches. Jameson landed 19 strikes standing and he was able to improve his position on the mat a few times, but he never was in control of this fight, Damn Vame controlled it, landed strikes, got his take downs and when he was down he was able to control the fight there too. It wasn’t a pretty fight, one that I was surprised to see, but it moves Damn Vame to 4-2 and to #5 in the rankings. Jameson takes the tough loss, but he’ll go back to training and improve his game, he’ll be back near the top of the division before long.
Main Event
Bantamweight Title Fight
#1 Arthur Pirozhkov (11-2, 9-2 NGF) v #2 Harald Andersson (5-1, 4-1 NGF)
Didn’t we see this fight already, maybe a few times? Let me know if you’ve heard this one, Arthur Pirozhkov is dominated for 4 rounds then is able to capitalize on a mistake and get a submission win. Yeah you’ve hear it before? Well here it is again. In the 1st, the fight was only 40 seconds old and Pirozhkov was already 0-4 in takedowns and Harald Andersson has already landed a few counter strikes. By the 3 minute mark, Pirozhkov was 0-7 in takedowns and he was being picked apart by Andersson, but soon after, Arthur did get his takedown finally, and then he went to work, 1 sub attempt, then another, another, another, but Andersson defended very well and he won the 1st round. In the 2nd, Pirozhkov attempted his first strikes of the fight, a couple of powder puff punches that never were close to landing. And in the 2nd Harald Andersson simply dominated, he defended 5 take downs, avoided all the attempted strikes from Pirozhkov and picked apart Arthur with head strikes and leg kicks. A bit of a turning point happened in the 3rd round, and it started with a mistake. Andersson threw a crazy combination and was a little off balance, Pirozhkov being the master he is, timed his shoot perfectly and took Harald down. The rest of the round was all Pirozhkov on top and side, just looking for the submission and making Andersson work very hard to defend, Pirozhkov attempted 9 submissions in the round. Andersson looked extremely gassed at the end of the 3rd. The 4th round was the worst of the fight, the pace came to a screeching halt, both fighters were tired and they both seemed to use the 4th round to try and get ready for a 5th round. Pirozhkov was out struck while going 0-4 in takedowns and not landing a single strike. At this point I had the fight scored, 3-1 in favor of Andersson. All Harald had to do was avoid getting taken down and he’d be the new champion…that lasted all of 10 seconds. Pirozhkov got drilled in the head, but then shot in with a perfectly timed takedown and that essentially was the end of the fight. You could see in Anderssons face that he just wasn’t going to have enough to defend everything Pirozhkov was about to throw at him. Kimura first, then an Americana, then a smooth transition over to a side armbar, then as Andersson had to adjust to try and get out, Pirozhkov took advantage and ended this one at 2:22 with an SOTN Americana and still CHAMPION, ARTHUR PIROZHKOV!
Article views:
208
» Donate to this author |
