2013-05-11
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NGF 50 Season 5 Finale

Event Preview: *NGF 50* Season 5 Finale
New Generation Fighters
2013-05-11, St Petersburg, The Docks
Author:Chad Didion

MAIN CARD 


Main Event


Heavyweight Fight
#10 Firco Nowack (15-6, 2-1 NGF) v #5 Vadim Kalashnikov (13-5, 2-1 NGF)


What we have here is the aging veteran in Firco Nowack taking on the punk kid who thinks he knows it all.  Okay, maybe not, that’s just the story line I’m running with.  Nowack is 6 years older than Vadim Kalashnikov, but he has just 3 more fights of experience.  Nowack is 2-1 in the NGF and 6-2 in his last 8 fights.  Nowack is a former champion, so he is a very smart fighter.  He doesn’t have the power of a lot of heavyweight anymore, but he can out point anyone with his clinching ability.  Don’t get me wrong, Nowack is no stranger to KO’s, he had a 4 fight stretch in his career where he got 4 KO’s and he has 6 in his career.  As he’s gotten older though, he has gone to more of a Muay Thai fighter and less of the kick boxer.  He is more of the counter style fighter, often getting out struck in a fight, but most of the time, he’ll land a good percentage of his strikes.  His strike of choice is the kick, he has very good kicking and it’s a weapon his opponents have to watch out for.  In this fight, he has to stay away from the power of Kalahnikov, Nowack will certainly use his exceptional Muay Thai skills and try and beat Vadim in the clinch.  Kalashnikov is also 2-1 in the division, but he’s 2-3 in his last 5.  He is coming off a TKO win of Eduardo Syroviy at NGF 48, a very talented fighter.  Kalashnikov has 7 KO wins in his career and he’s been KO’ed 3 times.  He’s a very aggressive fighter; he’ll push the pace from the start and doesn’t let his opponents have much breathing room.  He uses very good striking defense to just out strike his opponents, not landing a real high percentage, but he doesn’t get hit with a high percentage either.  He has elite Muay Thai skills, so if Nowack wants to take this fight there, Vadim would be more than happy to do it.  I’ll tell you one thing, this fight will not go to the mat, neither fighter has been very good there nor do they like to spend any time there.  I think we’ll see a clinch fight here, maybe not an overly exciting one, but I think we could see a violent finish in this one.  PREDICTION: Kalashnikov 2nd round TKO


Co-Main Event: 


Middleweight Title Fight
#3 Jima Jamm (12-3-1, 3-0 NGF) v #1 Milan Savic (7-2 NGF)


Oh my god this is going to be one great fight, Milan Savic, the champion that shocked most of the NGF world with his win over Artur Ross and Jima Jamm who’s destroyed everyone he’s faced so far in the division, and who is on a 7-0-1 streak.  Jamm is coming off back to back KOTN awards with a KO over Darius Elerman and a KO head kick over Mikhail Rakhmanov.  He is super exciting; he has 3 FOTN awards, 1 SOTN award and 4 KOTN awards in his career.  This will be his 2nd title shot in his career; he lost his first one to Tyler Richards.  He is a aggressive fighter, but very smart.  He can fire off many strikes, but he can and will often stop and look for the perfect opportunity to land a huge KO strike.  He’s is landing 61% of his head punches per fight and 60% of his leg kicks, those are his two main strikes per fight.  He has been very good in the clinch, where he is always very aggressive and he looks to land his very deadly knees, averaging 6.6 knees per fight and he lands 59% of them.  The times he’s lost have been because he can tend to let the other fighter push the pace, and at the end of he’s landed just as many strikes as his opponent, plus he has been beaten up a bit on the ground.  Milan Savic has won 5 straight fights, and although considered a underdog to Artur Ross, this guy is no joke man.  He doesn’t have the greatest stand up skills, but he will average 9.2 head punches per fight and he does have some decent power, he is only landing 39% of those punches, but he’s affective.  He is a remarkable wrestler and has a brown belt in bjj, so the ground is his office no doubt about it.  He will attempt around 4 take downs per fight and he’s getting 27% of them.  Once on the mat he uses a suffocating style of control and submissions.  He lays on top, throws a strike here and there, but he is attempting 5.7 submissions on average per fight.  He has 4 submission victories and 3 decision wins, if he doesn’t lock in a submission; he’s usually picking up round wins because he will be on top of someone the entire round.  I don’t think it’s a secret here, this will be a battle to see if Savic can get the fight to the mat, if he does he has the advantage, but Jamm certainly will win this fight if he can keep it standing.  PREDICTION:  Jamm 3rd round TKO


Middleweight Fight
#6 Heath Marcum (7-1, 4-0 NGF) v #5 Artur Ross (9-2, 8-2 NGF)


This is a very interesting fight one of the best on the card and I can’t wait.  Heath Marcum comes in on a major roll, winner of 4 straight, 1 TKO, 1 submission, 1 decision and 1 KO, so he can adapt his game to win in any way.  Marcum, who once hired Michael Jackson’s plastic surgeon, fights in a rather off putting style, he doesn’t do much other than go for take downs until he gets it, he averages 3.2 weak strikes per fight, but almost 7 take down at 6.9 per fight.  He has alright take down skills, he is only getting 25% of those take downs, but he will get this fight to the mat.  Once on the mat, he has sensational wrestling skills where he’ll just out work and over power his opponents.  He is averaging over 20 ground strikes per fight and he is landing over half at 55%.  He also can lock in a sub on a weakened opponent, so he is double dangerous on the mat.  Artur Ross the former champion, he doesn’t talk much, but he was visibly upset after he lost his title to a fighter who most thought was a lesser fighter than Ross.  The weakness in Ross’s game were exposed in that one, and I’m not sure if he’s had enough time to work on those in this camp.  Ross is a dynamite stand up fighter, but he can be beaten up on the mat.  He has excellent conditioning and he can take a fight deep, wearing out his opponents and using a smart counter fighting early, and then turn it on late.  He has fantastic kicks, he averages over 20 kicks per fight and he is landing on average 66% of them.  He will take a fight into the clinch where he has been very dominating, landing 85% of his punches and 59% of his deadly knees.  He has sensational Muay Thai skills and once he clinches up, usually he will control and punish his opponent.  He has excellent take down defense also, it’s obvious the word has been out on Ross, stay away from his stand up, opponents are averaging 11.9 take down attempts on Ross per fight, but they only are getting 5% of them.  As much as I say Ross has a weakness on the ground, he certainly hasn’t been damaged there, he has the best submission defense in the division, he hasn’t been submitted yet and he’s fighting off 2.2 sub attempts on average per fight.  He doesn’t or hasn’t been hit on the mat either; it’s just that when he’s taken down, it has been very hard for him to get back up.  I really like this fight; it’s going to be a serious battle.  With a angry and hungry Ross, you might see him go a little away from the point style and you could see the TKO Ross return.  PREDICTION:  Ross 2nd round TKO


Lightweight Fight
#3 Koji Murosaki (7-2, 5-2 NGF) v #2 Makoto Shibasaki (9-4, 7-3 NGF)


Two saki’s going at it and the clear cut #1 contender fight here between Koji Murosaki and Makoto Shibasaki.  Murosaki the bjj black belt is skilled in a number of areas, but it’s hard to say what he prefers since up until his last 2 fights, nothing had gotten out of the 1st round.  He has shown decent stand up skills, he is landing 45% of his head punches while holding his opponents to 37%.  He hasn’t shown any sort of kicking in his career which is a concern for a fighter who’s ranked #3 in the division.  He also hasn’t gotten a take down from the standing position although he’s attempting on average 1 per fight.  He’s looked average at times, but he has shown huge KO power with punches and spinning back fists.  He will turn a mistake into a flash KO.  Makoto Shibasaki is 3-1 in his last 4 and looks ready for a title shot.  One concern is his TKO finishes have seemed to dry up, he hasn’t finished a fight by TKO since NGF 15 on 9/8/2012.  He is also coming off a split decision win over Kyun-Chul Kim at NGF 46.  He mixes it up well, spending time in all areas, but he has shown dominance on the ground landing 60% of his ground strikes.  He is a constant worker on the mat; he improves his position on average 7 times per fight.  At times he’ll let his opponents land to high of a percentage of their strikes which could come back and haunt him, especially in this one with Murosaki’s power.  PREDICTION:  Murosaki 2nd round KO


Light Heavyweight Fight
#7 Kert Nigobson (8-6, 5-3 NGF) v #6 Rogerio Mustacho (8-3, 7-3 NGF)


Kert Nigobson enters on a bit of a roll, he’s won his last two fights including former champion Jack Poldi.  Nigobson is one of the best wrestlers in the division and he has some of the best take down skills too, he is getting 50% of his take downs from standing.  He has very good kick boxing skills, but he doesn’t stay standing that much, he does his work on the mat.  He is averaging 8.9 ground strikes per fight and he’s landing 60% of them.  There have been only 3 of his fights that have gotten past the 1st round, so he can be dominate, control and end a fight quickly, or at times he can be sloppy trying to end a fight and has been submitted 4 times.  Rogerio Mustacho has shown he can win fights any way necessary, 3 TKO, 3 submissions and 2 decision wins.  This is going to be a very big test for Mustacho and one that could lead to a top contender spot if he wins.  He likes to stay standing more than Nigobson where he uses good leg kicks, averaging over 9 leg kicks per fight.  He averages 3 take down attempts while standing per fight and he is successful on 45% of them.  He is, like Nigobson, very good on the mat, he’s landing 83% of his ground strikes and his opponents are only landing 14% of theirs.  These guys both have excellent striking and ground defense and while Mustacho has been very good at take down defense, Nigobson hasn’t been taken down yet in his career.  This will be one awesome fight.    PREDICTION:  Mustacho 2nd round submission 


 PRELIM CARD


Middleweight Fight
#15 Jeff Glover (1-0 NGF) v #11 Facaloto Gals (12-6, 4-3 NGF)


Jeff Glover is coming off an boring, but impressive, workman like win in his NGF and MMA debut.  Glover was able to cut his opponent and then use a beautiful double leg take down to get the fight to the mat, where he was able to use his wrestling and bjj advantage to get a Kimura victory.  Facaloto Gals was once thought of as the pride of the middle weight, but after 2 straight loses and 1-3 in his last 4, he’s just trying to hang on to the top run of the division.  Gals is similar to Glover in the fact he has very good wrestling and bjj skills.  He will do very little standing, instead he’ll look to take a fight in the clinch, where is has been extremely good and then go to the ground from there, he has 7 submission wins.  In the clinch he’s landed nearly all his strikes, he averages 10.2 strikes attempted in the clinch and he’s landed an amazing 93% of them.  I think Gals has the advantage in this one by experience alone.  PREDICTION:  Gals 2nd round submission


Bantamweight Fight
#15 Matti Teitsi (3-3, 0-0 NGF) v #3 Boris Yurinov (7-3, 5-3 NGF)


Matti Teitsi will make his NGF debut in this one vs a former champion Boris Yurinov.  Teitsi is 1-2 in his last 3, but is coming in off a win by KO.  He is a solid stand up fighter who will take a fight to the clinch often, he is averaging 3.8 punches standing and 19.2 punches in the clinch.  He has been dominating in the clinch, but equally impressive at kick boxing.  He has fantastic striking defense skills, but hasn’t shown any kicking skills yet.  Boris Yurinov enters on a 2 fight winning streak where he continues to show smarts and skill, but no power with 2 more decision wins which brings his career total to 6 decision wins.  A super aggressive stand up fighter who averages 27.1 head punches, 17.6 body punches and 33.8 leg kicks per fight.  He’ll kick the hell out of an opponent’s legs and simply out point you to death.    PREDICTION:  Yurinov decision win


Featherweight Fight
#8 Mark Reynolds (3-0 NGF) v #7 Andreas Almdudler (6-3 NGF)


This fight is the #1 contender fight, between these two fighters.  Mark Reynolds is 3-0 in his NGF career and he will become the #1 contender with a win.  Just 20 years old, Reynolds has had 3 fights that he’s dominated, all 3 have been finished in the 1st round, 2 TKO’s and 1 KO.  A big puncher who has mainly been on his feet, although he has done well in the clinch and on the ground during the limited time he has spent there.  Reynolds has yet to show us any sort of kicking skills, but the word is he’s working on that part of his game.  Andreas Almdudler at one time looked like the monster in this division, but new fighters have passed him by.  He’s still very skilled and he’s a beast on the mat.  His wrestling skills are some of the best in the division, he averages 22.6 ground strikes per fight and he’s landing an amazing 82% of them.  He can be beat up in the clinch and standing, but his wrestling skills and his excellent submission defense makes this guy one of the hardest to beat on the mat.   PREDICTION:  Almdudler 2nd round TKO


Featherweight Fight
#15 Stefan Burczymucha (3-1, 2-1 NGF) v #2 Diego Brandao (2-1 NGF)


Stefan Burczymucha is a pure stand up fighter at this stage of his career; he lands a very high percentage of strikes and thus far has preferred the clinch over anything else.  He has good finishing skills, all 3 wins have come by TKO and he has devastating elbows.  Diego Brandao could very well be closing in on a title shot with a win.  He is a good stand up fighter who doesn’t show great Muay Thai skills, but he can dirty box like no other.  He looks terrible on the ground having 85% of ground strikes land against him, but he will lay and pray and then lock up a tight submission on an over aggressive opponent.   Brandao will look to get this to the ground at all costs, possible even letting Burczymucha take him down.  I like the submission skills of Brandao in this one.  PREDICTION:  Brandao 2nd round submission


Bantamweight Fight
#12 Marrok Crotale (2-0, 1-0 NGF) v #24 Third Dag (5-3, 2-3 NGF)


Marrok Crotale will try and move to 2-0 in his early NGF career after looking very impressive in his debut.  A sensational wrestler with fantastic take down skills, he will use some decent strikes to set up take downs.  Once on the mat he has landed 86% of his 17.5 averaged per fight ground strikes.  Third Dag has lost, won, lost, won, lost and now…he hopes the pattern will continue with a win.  Also a sensational wrestler with very similar style as Crotale, he does less standing, but will shoot for take downs and then look to dominate with his ground and pound.  Dag averages over 11 ground strikes per fight, but he’ll also look to use his brown belt bjj skills and get submissions.  This will be a ground fight from the start, very close, too close to say who has the advantage.  PREDICTION:  Crotale 2nd round TKO
 

 

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