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Welcome to the Credit Card Center in New York where tonight your 10 fight MMA card will be headlined by the return of SPNY Bantamweight champion Buzz Cloltran to put his title on the line against Lolo Delaroca. The pick of the undercard sees two SPNY debutants meet in the Heavyweight division in boxer Jacob Ford coming up against one of the hottest prospects in world MMA at the moment wrestler Matt Mattews.
Main Event: Bantamweight Title
Buzz Cloltran (c) 22-3-1 (6-0 SPNY) vs Lolo Delaroca 22-7 (6-1 SPNY)
Bantamweight champion Buzz Cloltran returns to defend his SPNY title after a super fight tour as the highest ranked Bantamweight in the world. Best known for his wrestling, he comes up against another amazing ground fighter in Delaroca, who represented France as a wrestler at the Olympics, and holds a black belt in BJJ. Cloltran may well look to keep this fight standing for as long as he can, perhaps looking to do damage in the clinch, as this is his greatest advantage over Delaroca.
Delaroca is one of the best grapplers with SPNY, but relies entirely on his ground game to win, with almost no ability in the stand up. Delaroca has recorded more stoppages in his career than Cloltran, and that may sway to crowd a little given his more popular style of fighting, but whether that will be enough against a man who has never been stopped is yet to be seen.
This one realistically could go the full 5 rounds, I’d rate Cloltran good enough to outscore Delaroca on the feet or in the clinch, with the grappling to be fairly even. As such I predict Cloltran by a unanimous decision.
2: Light Heavyweight
Jason Krutcher 27-14 (1-2 SPNY) vs Tanner Speed 14-9 (1-2 SPNY)
Krutcher is somewhat of a journeyman who started life as a kick boxer but found his way into a very successful MMA career who has made a mediocre start to his SPNY career. Of interest is that his last 13 losses have all been KOs. Tanner Speed is one of the better rounded fighters in SPNY’s Light Heavyweight division, but an up and down start has cost him the chance to climb the rankings as expected. This one should stay on its feet for the duration.
Whilst I think that Speed would have the edge against most other opponents, Krutcher will have the stand up skills to win this one. Krutcher to outscore Speed through the first round before recording the KO during the second.
3: Bantamweight
Dmonray Malapitan 17-14 (7-4 SPNY) vs PitPat Spokesthing 6-2 (2-2 SPNY)
Malapitan has long been regarded as more of a solid fighter than true superstar, whilst he was an unsuccessful Bantamweight title challenger way back at SPNY 7, it wasn’t until his win over Spokesthing a few months ago started what is now a 4 fight winning streak than anyone started to give him the respect he deserves. Spokesthing represents one of the most talented 22 year olds I’ve seen yet, with a very polished set of skills. If Spokesthing keeps the fight standing, he will have no trouble finishing Malapitan, however, if the fight goes to ground the experience and jujitsu skills of Malapitan should be enough to bring Spokesthing undone.
If their previous fight is anything to judge by, Malapitan will get the takedown at some stage, the challenge for Spokesthing will be to inflict enough damage early to record the KO or delaying being taken down for long enough each round to take the decision. I see Malapitan winning this one though and extending his streak to 5 wins.
4: Middleweight
Evangelista Nunes 13-10-1 (6-7-1 SPNY) vs Jonathan Moxon 18-17-2 (0-0-1 SPNY)
Two veteran Middleweights clash in this one, with Nunes, who fought at the first SPNY event, looking to use his superior kick boxing skills against journeyman Moxon who is best known for his jujitsu. Despite his current 3 fight losing streak, as an SPNY original Nunes will have the crowd strongly behind him and while ever he can keep the fight on its feet will be strongly likely to record a KO. Moxon will know he needs to take this to the ground, and that may see him take big risks to get that early takedown. I rate Nunes as able to negate Moxon on the ground and outscore him on the feet and take the win tonight.
5: Middleweight
Dan Stann 18-17-3 (0-0-1 SPNY) vs Rasheed Willis 11-8-1 (7-6-1 SPNY)
Dan Stann arrived at SPNY looking to turn a journeyman career into something more successful, but drew his debut bout against a fellow journeyman. He comes up against SPNY old boy Willis who fought on SPNY’s first ever cardand who has won by submission in 10 of his 11 career wins which is a trend that could continue tonight with jujitsu regarded as Stann’s key weakness. Neither fighter enters this able to boast a strong recent run of form but I see Willis being able to take Stann down and submit him sometime during the second round.
6: Middleweight
Drago Kozlov 29-8 (SPNY Debut) vs David Ludher 11-13 (0-1 SPNY)
Kozlov represents the anomaly amongst fighters of Russian origin given that he never really had grounding in wrestling, despite what would usually be regarded as a major flaw; he still has managed to amass an impressive career record before arriving with us here at SPNY that included an amazing 19 fight winning streak. Ludher on the other hand represents a fighter whose reputation is based more on the quality of opponents he has lost to rather than the number of fights he has won. This fight will be determined by how well Ludher is able to take Kozlov down, should the fight stay standing Kozlov will either outscore or knock Ludher out, should it hit the ground Ludher will use his superior wrestling skills to record the win. Despite only winning 1 of his last 5 I fancy Ludher for this one.
7: Heavyweight
Jacob Ford 17-13 (SPNY Debut) vs Matt Mattews 6-1 (SPNY Debut)
Ford was a professional boxer before turning to MMA, and despite coming into his SPNY debut off a 3 fight losing streak, all his opponents should know that while ever the fight is standing he is a danger of a quick finish. Mattews is a 22 year old Olympic alternate wrestler with brilliant jujitsu, and if he manages a takedown can produce a very fast finish, in fact not one of his fights has made it to the 3rd minute let alone a second round. Mattews is in my mind one of the hottest prospects in world MMA not just in SPNY, and I am very excited to see him here on this big stage. I will be cheering for Mattews, but I see this as a huge test for him and an opportunity to show he can negate the abilities of a world class striker to set up his submission chances on the ground.
I’d recommend getting to the Credit Card Centre early to see this one, it will either have a very early finish and contender for KO/Submission of the night, or could pan out to be fight of the night should it go deeper. I predict Mattews by submission.
8: Featherweight
Rey Calindo 1-1 (1-0 SPNY) vs Dean Hall 2-1 (1-0 SPNY)
Rey Calindo impressed in his SPNY debut with some successful sprawl and brawl tactics, which may be perfectly adapted to tonight’s opponent Dean Hall. Hall is a very good wrestler but is yet to develop any other martial art skills which leaves him looking a little one dimensional against Calindo. If Calindo can stuff the early takedown attempts he should easily out strike Hall to a TKO victory, which is exactly what I predict tonight.
9: Featherweight
Jason Paw 2-2 (0-1 SPNY) vs Malakai Semerkhet 0-1 (0-1 SPNY)
Paw is yet to really show his true potential, with grounding mainly in boxing, his two wins so far have both been unsuspecting submissions, something which I doubt he will be able to continue to produce now that people know more about him. Semerkhet is a kick boxer who will learn over the coming months how to turn those skills into a successful MMA career, but at this point looks very vulnerable on the ground. If Paw can get this to ground than he stands a good chance of recording his third submission win, but Semerkhet should dominate on the feet, and I back him to get the KO.
10: Welterweight
Hernando Cortez 10-8-1 (1-5-1 SPNY) vs Shane Richards 15-8 (0-1 SPNY)
Cortez is a solid grappler who has struggled with the quality of striking since joining SPNY, having not won in his last 6 fights. Richards is a quality striker with some flaws in his ground game. Neither fighter enters tonight with a great deal of confidence based on recent form, and that could make this a good chance for one of them to record a much needed win. Personally I back Cortez to get this to ground and submit Richards.
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