London's Brawling

Editorial by Bricktop McKenzie

London�s Brawling

Firstly let me apologise for the lack of London�s Brawling in last weeks Tycoon Times, some thing called really life intervened and I just didn�t get the time. The unhappy editors at Tycoon Times stepped in to make sure it didn�t happen again and as such, I am writing this week�s edition while a large man, who has identified himself only as Frank, watches. He tells me that he just wants to make sure I�m not distracted by anything that might stop me from hitting this week�s deadline. The deadline isn�t the only thing getting hit this week as the postman found out when he tried to deliver this mornings mail. Apparently post might be a distraction, according to Frank.

Apart from all you readers the other person who lost out last week was Tom Breedon, owner of Prestige Fighting Alliance. PFA topped the org charts last week but didn�t get the usual mention for the top org. Sadly this week they�ve slipped down to 6th.

The big news coming out of London this week was the confirmation that Troid were closing their doors. The former UK number 1 had been very quiet as of late leading to speculation that it may be closing. This week it did with owner Craig Brophy e-mailing all managers to apologise and confirm that real life commitments meant he was having to step away from the game. I�ll be taking a look back over some of Troid�s top moments in the near future.

With Troid closing the market was flooded with top quality fighters looking for a new home. Hopefully most will stay in London. With all this talent around it gives a real opportunity for some of the orgs looking to make a name for themselves to sign some name fighters that might otherwise have been out of their reach. Hopefully it should make for exciting times ahead.

A slight change in format this week, with all the changes in org rankings I�ve decided to do a top ten. Each week I�ll be listing the top ten orgs in London and letting you know what�s been going down. The top five will get more attention but I�ll each week I�ll pick one other org for a more detailed view.

The Top Ten 10 � Versus
Not an org I have any fighters in and as a result I don�t know a massive amount about them. Formed in November 2011 they have a satisfaction rating of 90% and as such must be doing something right. Their top fighter is Welterweight Champion Up Loaded, who with a record of 15-4 sits just outside the top 500 p4p.

9 - Bloody Fist Fight League
Established almost a year BFFL are an established face on the London Fight Scene. They ran Wembley Arena on New Year Eve which is a testament to their ambition. They�ve reverted to smaller arenas since that super event but with some top talent on their books, including undefeated Light Heavyweight Champion Ace Surprise, they continue to put on some good events.

8 - Underground Fight Club
Despite being relative new comers UFC have managed to sign some top fighters. Andy Botwin is ranked 121 in the world and they have another two lurking around the top 500. UFC also score 90% on the satisfaction ratings making it three out of three for the list so far. Good to see you org owners treating people right.

7 - Fish and Chips Fight Club
Fish and Chips break the run of 90% ratings, luckily it�s with a 93. Active for around a year they are established on the London scene and are holding FCFC 50 on 10th March. I�ll be sure to bring you more information on this historic event closer to the time.

6 - Prestige Fighting Alliance
Missing out on the top 5 by a whisker last weeks number one proved how competitive the London scene is by dropping down to sixth on the list. However with some top talent and a monster 97% satisfaction rating I�m sure they�ll be back soon. PFA recently held an event in Amsterdam and PFA 54 is due to be held in Vegas. With upcoming events planned for St Petersburg as well PFA look to be targeting international success. Their base will always be London though and they have plenty of events lined up for local fight fans to.

5 - London Fight Night Club
Now we enter the top 5 and we get to the first of the big boys. LFNC are one of London�s longest running Orgs and have LFNC 100 planned for 11th February. I�ll be giving that a special preview next week. Before that is LFNC 99 - Quinn v Lunderby for the Welterweight Title. Quinn is a two time Welterweight Champion in LFNC and must be favourite going in. His 3rd defence was unlucky for him last time he held the title though and Lunderby will be hoping this proves to be the case this time round.
The other big news for LFNC is the departure of their 145 lb stalwart Konrad Koltun. Koltun came in on a 3 fight deal and LFNC management hadn�t been able to reach terms with him. Koltun went out with a bang by beating Danny Tatum, Troid�s ex featherweight champion at LFNC 98. It will be interesting to see who rises to the top now Koltun is gone.

4 - Elite Fighting Championship
Previously known as LACF, Elite re-branded and moved from LA in December 2011. They�ve already held 7 events in London with the most recent, EFC 7: Mind Over Matter, seeing Heavyweight Champion Forest Gump defends his title against Doris Dube. This was a bit of a mismatch, as was evidenced by the 1st round TKO victory for Gump. However it is still early and I�m sure they are looking to strengthen the roster with a view to making an assault on that top spot. They�ll have held EFC 8: Fight to the Finish by the time you read this and with three title fights on the card they are certainly giving the fans value for money. I�d be surprised if any of the titles change hands however.

3 - Invidious Combat
Another Org who are closing in on a century of events Invidious have some of the best fighters in the world on their roster and seek to bring in top talent whenever possible. The result of this policy will be seen on 10th February when current Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Ruanti (23-5) takes on the unbeaten Snake the Pendulum (22-0). The title isn�t on the line so I�m assuming Snake has come in on a one fight deal only. With the number 37 in the world taking on the number 66 this could well be the biggest fight London has ever seen. Good luck to Ruanti as it will be a massive boost to the Org if their champion can be the one who ends Snakes winning streak.

2 - Mixed Martial Arts London
Take the number 2 spot off the back of MMAL 67: Bottom of the Sea. This event scored an impressive 226.29 rating and was headlined by a trio of open weight fights, including Maxi Moon defending his title against Rolan Tiongson by first round KO. Tiongson must be feeling a little hard done by as he had previously KO�d Moon in a non-title fight and with the power both fighters bring to the fight one lucky punch is all that is needed. This time out Moon was the lucky one but I wouldn�t want to predict a winner if they meet for a 3rd time at some point in the future.
MMAL hold two events per week although the two upcoming events MMAL 71 and 72 don�t have any fights arranged at the time of writing so I don�t know what to expect from them. They�ll need to be good ones though if they are seeking to claim the top spot from this week�s number 1 org.

1 - Bloodsport Fighting Championships
Bloodsport take the number one spot this week coming off the back of an action packed three events in the last week. Two of which (Bloodsport 115 and Bloodlust 6) broke the 200 barrier as far as event ratings go. Bloodlust 6 in particular stood out with 3 titles on the line, including a title change in the main event as Andy Silva KO�d Owen Schmitt for the Middleweight Title. In the Co-main event Hassan Al Aziz continued his domination of the Super Heavyweight Division with a first round KO of Mikkel Ruhmann. Ruhmann went into the fight 7-5 and was never going to give the champ too much trouble. Hopefully Bloodsport will be able to bring in a worthy challenger next time around.
Coming up Bloodsport seem to have slowed their usual frenetic pace somewhat and only have one event booked per week for the foreseeable future. What this of course means is that each event will have even more quality on it. Bloodsport 116 is the next event (and despite the name it will be the 200th event the company have held) and again it sees 3 titles on the line. Unto CB Torture defend his Light Heavyweight Title against Nick Quick in a match that the authorities shouldn�t allow. Quick has lost his last four fights and shouldn�t be allowed against Torture for his own health.
The other title fights are more evenly balance and Mr Funktastic vs. Hazan Ali could well see the Welterweight Title change hands.

Special Feature - Heroic Warrior Championship - Kick Boxing

Newcomers Heroic Warrior Championship hold their first Kick Boxing event this week. It probably isn�t the first one held in London but it is the first one I�ve noticed (not counting one held by some guy called Mike Tycoon before the rest of us were even allowed to run them, the audacity of the man) and as such I�m going to treat it as the first.

Kick, Punch, Shin, Chin��.KO takes place on 8th February and had 4 confirmed fights at the time of writing. All Kick Boxing events in HWC take place in the open weight division and as such it will be interesting to see if this has any impact. Craig Burke gives up 90lbs against Jeremy Jones and ChinChin LaRue gives up 73lbs to Bruce Bell, despite having a 10 cm height advantage. I�ll let you all know how the event goes down next time out.

So that�s the end if this week's column, I�m able to give my pristine manuscript into the sweaty hands of Frank and get my lounge to myself again. Well almost to myself, I really do need to do something with that unconscious postman in the corner. Please let me know if you liked the new, countdown, style format or whether you prefer the old way of doing things. It was certainly easier for me to write as I could just count down the various orgs but it might be a bit limiting and I�ve not made my mind up whether to stick with it yet.

- Brick

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