|
 Good evening and welcome to the Liberty Dome in downtown New York City for SPNY 135. Tonight’s 10 fight card will be headlined by the Heavyweight title fight between new champion Roger Freedman and the in form Felipezoom Insano. Tonight’s event is packed with quality fights including the clash between Welterweight contenders Adam Rabago and Phan Tran Le, Robert Van Winkle looking to put together a sequence of wins before stating his claim for another shot at the Middleweight title against Fredrik Meduza, and the up and coming Heavyweight Matt Mattews taking on the experienced Mitch Rapp. Odds are being offered on all 10 fights from Steel Penn NY Bookmaker.
Main Event: Heavyweight Title
Roger Freedman (c) 18-7 (3-0 SPNY) vs Felipezoom Insano 25-8 (4-0 SPNY)
Freedman pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the history of SPNY when he caught reigning champion in a Triangle choke midway through the 1st round of their title fight at SPNY 132. Having been forced into a clinch and knocked down he showed his massive heart and self belief pulling guard and working his way to the Heavyweight title with a submission of the night performance. While he is better known for his boxing the fact that Insano is also a boxer may mean we see him utilise the underrated ground skills he demonstrated against Waitzel again tonight, but I suspect his 10 inch height and reach advantage may make him happier to stand.
Insano has made a magnificent return to professional fighting after a long layoff with 3 knockout wins; in fact including the fights immediately prior to his temporary retirement, he has won 10 of his last 11 fights with all 10 wins by way of knockout. Tonight will be a difficult match up for Insano, he is not as well rounded as Freedman so will want to avoid being taken down, but he gives up a huge reach advantage on his feet; this has led to him being regarded as a long shot by the bookies. Insano however has a huge following with the fans and in my opinion will probably be the fan favourite on the night even if he is the underdog.
Insano’s best chance of a win is to take this fight into the clinch, but we saw how that worked out for Waitzel. Freedman is probably too good here, and I expect him to win by KO.
2: Welterweight
Adam Rabago 11-3 (4-1 SPNY) vs Phan Tran Le 14-6 (4-2 SPNY)
Two Welterweight contenders meet looking to prove that they can match their talent with consistent performances, tonight’s winner will have strung 3 wins in a row and will begin to push themselves into a position that a shot at the Welterweight title becomes a realistic goal. Rabago is a dirty boxing clinch fighter with a propensity to knockout his opponents. Le is a magnificent Muay Thai clinch expert with some of the most devastatingly accurate elbows in MMA. While Le’s record suggests he lacks the knockout power of Rabago it should be noted that his last 7 wins have all been by way of knockout. Whilst both fighters prefer the clinch I expect that they will attempt to strike at range tonight where Le will have a slight reach advantage.
I’m backing an upset with Rabago by KO.
3: Middleweight
Robert Van Winkle 20-9 (3-1 SPNY) vs Fredrik Meduza 7-2 (3-1 SPNY)
Van Winkle enters the cage tonight looking to build towards another shot at the SPNY title after a win over Kenny Monday in his last fight. One of the premier grapplers in the division he will tonight meet Meduza who apparently continued boxing during the extended break from MMA. While Van Winkle is well known for standing and striking for extended periods before timing his takedowns to perfection, against a boxer as good as Meduza I expect the takedown attempts to come much earlier in the round than we would usually see. Meduza has not fought in SPNY since SPNY 23, after leaving he moved on to UPG but has not fought since they closed. We are told he has continued his successful boxing career during his layoff and tonight we expect him to attempt to keep the fight on its feet at all costs.
Van Winkle will be too good on the ground; Van Winkle by KO.
4: Heavyweight
Matt Mattews 8-2 (2-1 SPNY) vs Mitch Rapp 19-16 (3-5 SPNY)
Mattews is an elite grappler with amazing submission skills who lacks any mentionable stand up skills. Given the nature of his 2 losses, I have serious doubts over Mattews chin which will be the opening a boxer with the skills of Rapp will be looking to exploit. Should Mattews get Rapp to ground expect his usual game plan of throwing a few strikes before sinking in his one of his almost irresistible submissions. While we know Rapp prefers to clinch tonight he will be unlikely to get the opportunity to clinch without exposing himself to the very strong takedowns we know Mattews is capable of. Rapp will know however that Mattews is notoriously bad with his striking defence and has been knockout by a single punch on two occasions, expect him to look to exploit that weakness.
I think Mattews will be good enough to get an early takedown and become a very good chance to become the first fighter to ever submit Rapp.
5: Light Heavyweight
Nate MacRally 21-22-1 (5-4-1 SPNY) vs Dominic Rude 15-5 (1-2 SPNY)
With just 1 win in his last 4 fights MacRally will be looking to regain some form with a win tonight. A competent boxer, MacRally looks his best when he is grappling. Tonight he meets a very good boxer and kick boxer Rude who is also experiencing a poor patch of form. With MacRally’s history of being knocked out and the boxing skills of Rude it would appear that should this fight stay standing Rude will have an easy win on the cards, however, the situation is completely in MacRally’s favour should he succeed in a takedown early.
MacRally is my pick for this one because of his advantage on the ground but I don’t see him finishing Rude, MacRally by decision.
6: Heavyweight
Viljo Laine 39-20-2 (0-1 SPNY) vs Hoy Nelson 25-20 (1-5 SPNY)
Veteran Laine will be looking for his first win in SPNY when he takes on the out of form Nelson. Laine has an imposing record of 32 career knockout victories, but at 35 with the losses beginning to pile up questions are being raised as to whether he is too far past his prime to compete at this level. Nelson was known for his deadly head kicks earlier in his career, but his lack of versatility was exposed and his primary weapon became too predictable. Recently Nelson has struggled with the quality of opponent he has faced and is appearing to lack the chin to compete in SPNY.
Despite Nelson’s poor form entering this one I rate him a good chance to knock Laine out tonight.
7: Welterweight
Abaka Khan 15-10-1 (2-1 SPNY) vs Calvin McCork 11-16-1 (0-3 SPNY)
After Khan knocked McCork out in just 46 seconds at SPNY 128 I was a little surprised at this rematch. Khan is a solid Muay Thai clinch fighter who is comfortable on the ground, McCork a submission grappler with rudimentary boxing skills on his feet. I don’t see anything about McCork’s record or training to suggest that requesting this rematch was a good career move for him; I expect the fight to follow the same pattern as the first.
Khan by KO again.
8: Middleweight
King Ahkenaton 10-14 (SPNY Debut) vs Dack Fayden 5-3 (0-2 SPNY)
Fayden is still looking for his first SPNY victory having arrived at the org with an impressive 5-1 record. Fayden has struggled with the quality of opponent he has met here compared to earlier in his career where his submission skills were enough to get him a win, now he understands he needs to develop a wider skill base to compete at this level. Ahkenaton is a wrestler who has very good ground & pound and solid boxing. Ahkenaton may well try to stay on his feet to keep Fayden out of his comfort zone, but should he get the takedown into the top position this could be a fascinating display of a wrestler on top of a BJJ black belt with Fayden attempting to counter every ground strike with a submission attempt. I look forward to seeing how this one works out.
Ahkenaton by knockout is my pick, but if he tries to win this on the ground he will be open to submission attempts by Fayden.
9: Super Heavyweight
Abdullah Goldenberg 9-13 (1-3 SPNY) vs Jukka Omena 8-4 (1-3 SPNY)
With the announced closure of the Super Heavyweight division this is another farewell fight pitting two fighters who never quite reached the heights they’d hoped for while with SPNY. Goldenberg telegraphs monstrous punch combinations constantly and when one lands flush more often than not it finishes the fight. Unfortunately Goldenberg does not combine that power with any defensive skills. Omena arrived at SPNY with a 7-1 record and a reputation as a well rounded prospect for the future; sadly for him he discovered that he does not have any specialty he could use to dominate an opponent at this level.
Goldernberg by KO in this farewell fight.
10: Featherweight
Apollinaris Serpico 0-1 (SPNY Debut) vs William Harrison 1-2 (0-2 SPNY)
Serpico is a jujitsu specialist who discovered that a brown belt is useless if you can’t get an opponent to ground; in his debut he had 26 failed takedown attempts and failed to land with any of his 11 strikes. He will need to learn a lot from that, especially that you can’t win a decision only throwing 11 strikes in 15 minutes of fighting. Harrison is a Muay Thai clinch fighter who amazingly given that he is a white belt in BJJ has recorded his only career win as a submission. That desperation attempt is unlikely to yield results against a brown belt like Serpico and if Harrison wants to win tonight he will need to put a little more power into his strikes and dominate Serpico in the clinch.
Harrison by decision is my likely outcome, however, if he is taken down I don’t expect him to last long against Serpico.
Article views:
197
» Donate to this author |
