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 Ernie White here, previewing another great card from Feral Combat, as we are in the Hard Knocks arena in London for Feral Combat 17. Without further ado, let’s get right into the action for this stellar event.
Starting the action on the main card is a light heavyweight bout between Frederick Barbarossa (16-9 MMA, 9-6 FC) and Taizu Temujin (9-5-1 MMA/KT, 1-0 FC). Barbarossa has been with Feral Combat since the beginning, and has amassed a respectable record in the organization, despite coming up short in two title shots. Temujin made a name for himself elsewhere, fighting in both MMA and kickboxing bouts. He is an extremely technical striker with a very good ground game to support it, and that should lead him to the victory in this fight. However, Barbarossa has scored 13 KO’s in 16 wins, so his power is not to be taken lightly. He can definitely knock out Temujin.
Prediction: Temujin by (T)KO, round 3.
Up next we have a heavyweight bout between Gunnar Sigbjornsson (5-1 MMA, 5-1 FC) and Frank Castle (10-6 MMA, 6-4 FC). These two actually met at the inaugural Feral Combat event. The fight didn’t last long, as Sigbjornsson quickly took castle down and opened up a nasty cut that stopped the fight. Both men are wonderful wrestlers with BJJ brown belts, but it’s Sigbjornsson who has the vastly superior striking game. Look for him to either keep this fight on the feet where he outclasses Castle, or take his opponent down and use his ground and pound to set up the finish. For Castle, it is imperative that he gets his opponent on his back and stays on top for the whole match. Otherwise, he could be in trouble.
Prediction: Sigbjornsson by (T)KO, round 1.
Two talented journeymen meet in the co-main event as former lightheavyweight champion Montgomery Nagendra (12-10 MMA, 4-1 FC) meets Fiodor Jemelianko (11-12-1 MMA, 2-2 FC). Both men are much better than their records suggest, but simply have had runs of bad luck and tough competition that have marred their records. At 31 years old, Jemelianko doesn’t have much time left to get things going, but a win in this fight would give him the first three fight winning streak of his career. The BJJ brown belt also has very good striking, but he prefers to ply his trade on the mat, as 9 of his 11 wins are by submission. He may have trouble doing that against a man in Nagendra who is just as capable on the ground, but has shown that he is very capable of knocking his opponents out, having 7 (T)KO’s to go along with 3 submission wins. Under normal circumstances, I would likely choose Nagendra to win this fight, but he has looked very drawn out this week attempting to make weight, and that could be a factor if he even makes it to the fight.
Prediction: Jemelianko via decision.
The main event features a light heavyweight title fight, as newly crowned champ Edgar Hoover (13-4 MMA, 3-2 FC) defends the belt for the first time against former foe, Dima Huxley (12-8 MMA, 2-1 FC). These two met not long ago, and Hoover earned himself a title shot by submitting Huxley in the second round, which was the first submission win of his career. Hoover then took the belt from Montgomery Nagendra, dominating for the better part of five rounds before finishing him off with ground and pound. On that same card, Huxley took home “Fight of the Night” honours, handing Koops Aquino his first loss by second round TKO. Huxley has never gone the distance in his 20 bouts; meanwhile Hoover has been into the championship rounds before, which could give him an edge. Huxley has a slight edge in striking, but Hoover has a large advantage when it comes to the ground game, so expect him to look to use it again.
Prediction: Hoover via (T)KO in round 2.
Also on the card:
(205 lbs.) Eildon Heap vs.Cyril Kalenth
(205 lbs.) Henderson Cormier vs. Krzesimir Ciupaga
(205 lbs.) Travis Wiuff vs. Koops Aquino
(265 lbs.) Experiment Guy vs. Cain Dos Santos
(205 lbs.) Shape Shifter vs. Wilsoooooon James Da Silva
(265lbs.) Jackson Kenny vs. en Tini
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