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 MAIN CARD
Main Event
Light Heavyweight Title Fight
#2 Brett Riverboat (10-2, 5-2 NGF) v #1 Jack Poldi (11-3, 6-0 NGF)
This card finishes with a huge main event. A fight I am, seriously, shaking thinking about. Two of the most exciting fighters in the NGF will square off for the light heavyweight championship. Brett Riverboat is on a 5 fight winning streak where he has finished all the fights, in fact, Riverboat has finished all 10 of his career wins by way of (T)KO. Riverboat last lost to…yep, Jack Poldi, and fantastic fight back at NGF 9. In that fight, Jack Poldi was just a better fighter, beating up Riverboat in all areas, especially on the mat. This is a different Riverboat, a more experience, better trained killing machine. Most of Riverboats fights last only 1 round, or like his last win, 8 seconds, so it’s hard to say where is strong points are, let’s just be safe and say, he has HUGE power and deadly, knifelike strikes and he can end a fight quickly. Jack Poldi is the most dominating champion the NGF has had. He will be defending his belt for the 5th time in this one, which is a NGF record. He is a better conditioned fighter then Riverboat, so if this fight gets out of the 1st round, I love Poldi being able to get the win. He has not lost in the NGF yet, and like Riverboat, he has a real skill for cutting his opponents, he has 2 stoppages due to cuts in his last 3 fights. He’s an exceptional boxer and he loves to throw punches, he is averaging over 22 a fight. He is also very elusive; his striking defense is some of the best in the organization. He has good takedown skills, when he uses them, and once on the ground he is landing 44% of his ground strikes. I love this fight, just love it. Poldi has the slight advantage on the mat, but I don’t think this fight gets there, if so, maybe not for long. These two love to stand and excite the crowd and I think that’s what you’ll get. I don’t know how to predict this one, this could go either way. PREDICTION: Poldi 4th round TKO
Co-Main Event:
Light Heavyweight Fight
#11 Gunner Malone (15-5, 0-1 NGF) v #15 Ivan Grozni (9-4, 2-2 NGF)
Gunner Malone came into the NGF and called out Brett Riverboat. He was KO’ed just 8 seconds in that fight against Riverboat. The loss broke a 9 fight winning streak and he will be looking to forget about that and get back to business against Ivan Grozni in this one. Malone has 15 wins in his career, he’s still right in his prime at 27 years old and he wants a NGF title run. Here are some amazing stats on Malone, out of his 20 fights he’s had just 3 get out of the 1st round, he’s had 12 not get past 2 minutes and he’s had 7 fights not even make it to 1 minute. So it’s hard to say what is his strongest point out of standing or ground. He has huge power, he has finished all 15 wins by (T)KO, and he has 1 punch KO skill. He does exceptionally well in the clinch, he has landed over 94% of his strikes there and he hasn’t had a strike land. His weakest area is on the ground, he hasn’t done much offensively there, and he has been submitted 29% of the attempted subs. Ivan Grozni started off his NGF career with two loses, but has now won 2 straight against Geoff Strangle and Andrzej Golotowski, but by (T)KO and both under 1 minute. Grozni is another huge puncher, monster power, but he also holds a brown belt in bjj, so he’s a triple threat. Surprising though, looking at his career fights, he just hasn’t been very dominate as far as how the fight goes, sure he can get a flash KO, but he doesn’t land a high percentage of strikes, he doesn’t do much on the mat and he rarely spends much time in the clinch. His best skills are his defensive skills, he has very good striking defense, and his footwork is very good. He is landing 52% of his punches and averaging over 12 a fight, so as long as 6 punches land, there is always that likelihood he’ll knock someone out. I see a stand up fight, but if Grozni wants to finally show his bjj skills, he could end this with a submission. PREDICTION: Grozni 1st round KO
Heavyweight Title Fight
#12 Vadim Kalashnikov (11-4, 0-0 NGF) v #3 Patricius Satanae (7-4, 2-0 NGF)
We are finally going to see Vadim Kalashnikov fight. Kalashnikov was one of the most sought after unsigned fighters out there when he signed. He is a former Valhalla and UFL champion and he comes in with 6 KO wins, 4 punches, 1 flying knee and 1 head kick, so this guy is very skilled in different ways to KO you out. A super exciting fighter, Kalashnikov will simply just out strike his opponents. He has been the more aggressive fighter in all his fights, he will use a relentless attack of kicks and punches, averaging over 10 leg kicks a fight and over 12 punches compared to his opponents averaging less than a kick against him and right around 5 punches. Exception boxing skills and elite Muay Thai skills, he can dominate a fight standing up from start to finish. Patricius Satanae won the KOTY award with his superman punch in his last fight against Oleg Alekseev at FN 17. He will move into the bigger venue in this fight and he will look to use his monster power to win this fight. He has finished all 7 wins with a (T)KO, he has good kicks, he can knock someone out with both his hands and his feet. He has better 1 punch KO power than Kalaahnikov and he has shown slightly better wrestling skills. These guy are very similar, they will stand and bang, not a problem. Satanae has had a better landing percentage then Vadim, and he has shown to be slightly harder to hit then Kalashnikov. These are two of the badest heavyweights in the division. This is going to be SOOO good and probably will produce the KOTN. PREDICTION: Satanae 2nd round KO
Middleweight Fight
#6 Jima Jamm (10-3-1, 1-0 NGF) v #3 Darius Elerman (10-2, 3-0 NGF)
How good is this card? Seriously, after a not so great card at FN 19, this event is so needed. Jima Jamm and Darius Elerman, wow, you can’t get much better than this one. The winner of this fight will probably be the #1 contender and will get a chance to face Artur Ross, the Fighter of the Year. Jamm is 5-0-1 in his last 6 fights and he’s won by KO, decision and submission in those 6 wins, so he is very versatile. He will use the leg kick, head punch attacking style, mix in with some Muay Thai. He is good at both boxing and Muay Thai, he will land a higher percentage of strikes while in the clinch. He has had the tendency to get punched in the face; he is allowing 62% of head punches to land, which probably won’t hurt him in this one, since he’s facing a guy who doesn’t throw a lot of head strikes. Darius Elerman is riding a 5 fight winning streak where he has ended 4 of them by submission. Elerman’s exceptional wrestling and bjj black belt are the areas that make him so damn dominating and scary. He has some of the best takedown skills in the NGF and certainly in the division, he is successful on 46% of his takedown attempts and he’s averaging 4.5 a fight. He doesn’t have a high percentage of takedowns a fight because once he takes someone down, they usually don’t get back up. He just dominates on the mat, improving his position nearly 55% of the time, he lands 52% of his 8.5 ground strikes on average and he will attempt over 4 subs a fight. I think Jamm will certainly be looking to keep this fight standing at all costs, if he does, he can win this one, but staying off the mat vs Elerman has been next to impossible. PREDICTION: Elerman 2nd round submission
Bantamweight Fight
#9 Yoshiteru Goto (6-6-1, 0-0 NGF) v #11 Bill Nevin (9-4, 1-0 NGF)
It’s been a much documented wait for 24 year old Yoshiteru Goto. Goto was not happy with the length of time it took to get this fight, so this should be an angry man entering the octagon in this one. Goto is very skilled, he has all the tools to be a champion, but he has not been able to get consistent, a 2 fight winning streak is his longest in his career. He’ll look to get on the winning ways in his NGF debut against skillful Bill Nevin. Goto has very good kicks and will use many leg kicks in his fight. He’ll set up his striking by softening up his opponents with kicks to the legs and body first. He has not attempted a takedown yet in his 13 fights, so he likes to keep it standing. He has pretty good defensive skills. The one thing negative you can say is he doesn’t have great power and he has gotten into some point fights where he’s lost, in fact he’s lost 3 of his 6 fights by decision. Bill Nevin also will get plenty of fights that go to decision, he has 5 decision wins and 2 decision loses. The thing about Nevin is he is a fantastic boxer and stand up fighter. He is extremely quick, lightning quick. He’ll dart in, land a strike and then he’s out before any sort of counter strike from his opponent. There have been fights were Bill is so quick that the fight just looks like he’s landing at will and his opponent just looks dumbfounded on how he can even attempt a strike. He is averaging over 48 head and body strikes to his opponents 9! Out of his 28 averaged head strikes a fight, he is landing 60% of them. This will be a stand up fight, there probably won’t be a knock out, but man, this should be fun and maybe a front runner for FOTN. PREDICTION: Nevin decision win
PRELIM CARD
Super Heavyweight Fight
#11 Ted Bundy (6-2, 1-0 NGF) v #12 Leopold Stotch (6-1, 1-0 NGF)
Here are two of the rising stars in the NGF’s super heavyweight division. These two have such bright futures at just 20 and 22 years old. Ted Bundy is coming of a win in his NGF debut where is got a unanimous win over Pablo Cesar Silva at FN 17. In that fight Bundy went to the clinch all fight, he was able to attempt 107 punches in the clinch and totally dominated the fight, making Silva look like a clown. This was an unusual game plan for Bundy, because up until that fight, he has been pretty much all stand up and nothing in the clinch or the ground. He averages over 15 head punches a fight, but that seems to be all at this stage of his career. He doesn’t have much in the way of kicks or any other sort of knees or elbows. He has good power and can end a fight with a big punch. He has a weakness in his defense, which is normal for young fighters, he looks all offensive, but his defensive skills aren’t all the way defined yet. Leopold Stotch also won his NGF debut, but did it in a much more convincing way with a 41 second, KOTN of Ben Benson at NGF 38. This KO punch showed off this 22 year olds big power. Like Bundy, he’s all punches and little else. He will come right out and take the center of the octagon and be aggressive all fight. He is attempting 27 head and body punches per fight, landing 50% of them. He has not been good in the clinch, so if Bundy uses the same game plan as the last fight, this could be an area he can do damage. These guys are really good, improving guys, who match up perfectly. Good fight. PREDICTION: Stotch 2nd round KO
Bantamweight Fight
#15 Ron Sieler (6-5 NGF) v #8 Jon Erik Andersen (10-8, 4-4 NGF)
Young and old, JEA will be giving up 8 years in this one to the 22 year old Ron Sieler. Sieler is riding a 2 fight winning streak and seems to be really rounding into a quality fighter. Sieler who has been with the NGF for his entire 11 fight career, has come a long way since his first fight back at NGF 1, but he still hasn’t really won against anybody you would consider good. He had his best fight FN 13 when he lost a close split decision to Agusto Cruz, someone you COULD consider good. Since that fight he’s won his last two fights. Sieler is mostly a stand up fighter, he’ll take a fight in the clinch were he has shown signs of dominance, but to this point, he relies on his punches. He has started to use is improved kicking ability more and razor sharp elbows. This will be a huge test for him. Jon Erik Andersen, the veteran of the sport at 30 years old, comes into this one the more seasoned and skilled fighter. At times in his career he has looked like the next title contender, and then at times, he looks simply a pretender. He KO’ed Stanislav Popovich with a 5 second KO at NGF 32 then comes out and gets TKO’ed in the 1st round to Yngiew Malmsteen in his next fight. Andersen will fight anywhere, but the problem is he just hasn’t been great. He only lands around 37% of his strikes standing up and he will get hit a lot. He has been dominated in the clinch to this point, and opponents are landing 75% of their ground strikes, to me, its amazing JEA has a winning record. This will be a big test for Sieler, we will see how much he has come and how much he still has to go and we will also see if JEA is starting to slow. PREDICTION: Sieler 2nd round TKO
Feaherweight Fight
#23 Jack Brown (3-2-1, 0-0 NGF) v #2 Andreas Almdudler (6-1 NGF)
#23 vs # 2, seems like a weird match up, but one that Jack Brown wanted and got. Brown is 2-0-1 in his last 3 fights after going 1-2 in his first 3 fights. Brown has strong boxing, sensational wrestling and he’s a brown belt in bjj. There is no secret on what he will do a few strikes, takedown, punch, punch, and punch to the face. Brown will do enough stand up striking to set up his takedowns, where he’s very good, successfully getting a takedown 52% of the time. Once the fight is there, Brown has averaged 36.7 ground strikes a fight and he’s landing 88% of them, wow! I think the weak area for him would be his stand up game, if anyone can keep a fight standing with him, even get a fight in the clinch, I think they could beat him up. Andreas Almdudler is still trying to recover from that debacle of a title fight he had at NGF 33 where he was knocked out by Vito Ferrari just 33 seconds into the fight. Almdudler is pretty much one dimensional, he is all wrestling and bjj, not stand up strikes, he will just attempt takedowns and then beat the hell out of you once the fight is on the mat, he has some of the best ground and pound in the NGF. What he does best is improve his position, get his opponent in uncomfortable positions, and then he lands 83% of his averaged 27 ground strikes. What he does bad, pretty much anything on his feet. The longer a fight stays standing, the worse Almdudler looks. These are two very even fighters who do the same things good and bad. I give the edge to Brown if this stays standing, I’ll give the slight edge to Almdudler on the mat. PREDICTION: Almdudler 2nd round TKO
Featherweight Fight
#13 Riviere Hinds (4-4, 0-0 NGF) v #11 John Johnson (4-5, 3-5 NGF)
Riviere Hinds will be making his NGF debut in this one vs John Johnson who will be looking to get his career turned around. Hinds is just 2-2 in his last 4, but he did win his last fight with an impressive TKO. Hinds has been god awful when talking about strike landing percentages; he has to have one of the lowest in the organizations with his 33% land percentages. That percentage is ballooned up when yo add the 67% ground strikes landed, he has just landed 23% stand up strikes and a horrendous 10% in the clinch. Hinds does like to use his wonderful wrestling skills, not doubt, he is very good on the mat, but he does like to stand and throw, averaging over 15 standing punches per fight, but he just misses most of the time. John Johnson is really in a tail spin after starting his career 3-1, he’s now gone 1-4 in his last 5 and during that time he’s even moved up a weight class. Johnson is coming off a fight where he was really dominated by Vaughn Shaunessey. The question about Johnson has to be his chin. He looks good most fights, he’s a very good stand up fighter, he lands 64% of his head punches and 67% of his body punches. He also has very nice kicks that when he uses them, they usually land. A problem has been he’s been dominated on the ground. He can get taken down, has been at 42% clip, and once down, he has only improved himself 32% and opponents land 71% of their punches. A strong point of Johnsons game is Muay Thai, he can get a fight in the clinch and when there, he can control a fight very well, not to mention he has landed 90% of his head strikes there. I like Johnson to be able to control this fight, his questionable chin shouldn’t be a factor with a guy who misses as much as Hinds. PREDICTION: Johnson decision win
Welterweight Fight
#28 Urac Hunt (4-3, 0-2 NGF) v #23 Michael Lescott (6-5, 2-2 NGF)
Urac Hunt looks to finally get his first NGF win in a fight against Michael Lescott who at 28, is at a career crossroad. Hunt has had two, boring decision loss fights in the NGF, he had a split decision loss in his debut at FN 14 against Andry Andrianampoinimerina. In the last fight, he lost in one of the worst fights I think I have ever seen. Hunt tried, but Urie Sergeyev attempted 19 takedowns, he got Hunt down, and when he was down, he did nothing but lay on Hunt. It was ridiculous, no stand up from the ref and Sergeyev was 0-26 with ground strikes, and 0-7 with subs…that’s right. Hinds likes his kicks and elbows. I don’t know what kind of punching power he has because if you can believe this, he hasn’t attempted a single punch in 7 fights…wow. He has good takedown skills, but he doesn’t do much damage on the mat. He is solid in the clinch where he loves to use nasty elbows. His weakness is he’s just very predictable and just very plain. He uses kicks and elbows, that’s it. There is no imagination to his game and he since it’s usually leg kicks, so his game is built of decisions and not stoppages. Michael Lescott is 2-3 in his last 5 and right now, at 28 years old, I don’t know where his career is going. He is also a very plain fighter, although he does have 2 FOTN and 3 SOTN awards. He is a brown belt in bjj and he goes for takedowns early and often, averaging over 6 per fight. If it was up to him, the entire fight would be on the mat. Surprising though, thus far in his career, he hasn’t been very good on the mat. He doesn’t land or throw a lot of ground strikes, but he has pulled off 12% of his sub attempts and improves his position pretty well at 46%. His biggest weakness is he just has no defense. He let way too many strikes land and that has been trouble when he has faced a good striker or a powerful striker. Opponents are averaging over 12 head strikes a fight and that is simply terrible when the current 61% land. Ouch. I don’t know what to think about this fight, I just hope these two change game plans up a little and give this crowd some excitement to start this card off. PREDICTION: Hunt decision win
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