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 It is part of the circle of life, your kid’s age and mature and then move on and out. That is exactly what is about to happen in Steel Penn ICON- Las Vegas. ICON LV 5 Hostile Takeover will mark the end of a short lived era, in which this organization flew the Steel Penn banner. On February 1st the official changeover will be complete with a new name and a champion becoming crowned at Honor 1 Renaissance. The birth of Honor Fighting Championship is the dawning of a new era for owner Dan Monk and all of Las Vegas. This conversation all though is for another time as we have 10 big fights to breakdown for the last event under the Steel Penn name.
Preliminary Bout Number 1- Middleweight Fight
Gustavo Gracie (3-2) {0-0} versus Carlos “The Rattlesnake” Jimenez (2-2) {0-0}
Gracie got off to a terrible start to his young career with two straight losses. As it started to turn around he was dropped by his manager. Sean Doyle picked up the fighter and made sure he stayed on the winning side of things. Now Gracie has won three fights in a row and the brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is looking to keep things heading up. Across from “The Rattlesnake” has just turned his luck around, coming off two losses he is now on a two win fight streak. Jimenez has the advantage in the striking department, but clearly the winner of three straight fights by submission has the ground game control in this one. Jimenez better look to stay off the ground, but I do not think he will be able to. I am going to pick Gustavo Gracie to pick up the win by submission in the first round.
Preliminary Bout Number 2- Featherweight Fight
Bruce Shashia (2-2) {0-1} versus Janusz Bomba (0-2) {0-1}
Both of these fighters lost their debut fight in ICON- LV and now it’s time for one of them to get a win. Shashia is a wrestler and boxer who does not mind to stand and bang or look for the takedown. Once on the ground Bruce enjoys the ground and pound. Shashia has had three of his fights go the distance so we know there are no conditioning issues with him. Bomba has also gone the distance so this fights could easily go to the judges. With Bomba yet to taste victory he should come out and get aggressive. He will want to change up his style and try and get the ball rolling in the right direction. Honestly this is a very tough fight to predict, but I am going to give it to the twenty four year old and say Shashia wins by decision.
Preliminary Bout Number 3- Light Heavyweight Fight
Investitor Gradnje (3-0) {1-0} versus Kurt “Swift” Zukaryian (1-1) {1-0}
Gradnje is a Muay Thai striker as well as a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He clearly prefers the ground game winning all three of his fights by submission, including an impressive third round guillotine choke which won him his first fight in ICON-LV. In all of his fights we have not seen much of the Muay Thai so it is safe to assume he will be looking for the takedown nice and early. Zukaryian is a boxer and wrestler who looks for the takedown. He will try and win by any means necessary as he won with a bottom submission in his last fight. I am not sure if he will want to go to the ground with the purple belt in this one though. I would look for Kurt to be a bit more aggressive with his punches, as he looks to stuff the takedowns. I think either Kurt will not take my advice or Investitor will get this fight to the ground some other way and pick up a fourth submission victory and he will do it in the first round.
Preliminary Bout Number 4- Featherweight Fight
Jack “The Tank” Harris (3-1) {1-0} versus Brian “Cold Bloded” Fury (2-1) {1-0}
Harris is a superb wrestler that has a semi-aggressive lay and pray strategy about him. He stays pretty active on the ground, but has yet to finish a fight in his three wins. He will be looking to do a lot of lay and pray in this bout as he is over matched in the striking department. Fury is a respectable Muay Thai striker, but both of his wins have come by decision. It may be that he does not possess the knockout ability or it could be that he is just inaccurate in the clinch. His basic game plan has been to clinch and throw power shots to the head. He does do very well controlling in the clinch, and he might want to lay off the power and look to more accurately land to add damage that way. I think Harris will be able to get the takedown from the clinch, and I will be picking him to win by decision.
Preliminary Bout Number 5- Middleweight Fight
Anderson “Shogun” Christopher (1-1) {0-0} versus “The Wasp” Wade West (0-0) {0-0}
Christopher is a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and he showed us his skills in a tournament winning his first fight by submission in the first round. Christopher does not have a wrestling back round so that could cause a lot of problems getting the fight to the ground. He will want to try just about anything to get his opponent to the ground including pulling guard or even allowing a takedown. Standing across from him is Wade West who is a wonderful Muay Thai striker that will be making his debut. West will want to keep the fight standing so he might want to avoid the clinch game. Leg kicks to keep the distance and head kicks to knock out his opponent should be what he is looking for in this one. I have heard Anderson Christopher is on a ridiculous training regimen and if that is true he could gas out early, because of that I am picking West to win by knockout in the first round.
Main Card Bout Number 1- Lightweight Fight
Julius Caesar (2-0) {0-0} versus Marek Contofalsky (2-4) {0-0}
Caesar is putting his undefeated record on the line in this bout, and will look to defend it with his strong boxing. He likes to strike from a distance with accuracy shots, and he mixes his strikes and combos up well. He will need to keep mixing up his strikes to keep the better striker off his game in this one. Marek is a 22 year old 6 fight veteran who should be looking to take an advantage in the clinch. He has thrown knees and elbows from the clinch in his past and he should look to do that instead of striking from range with the boxer. This is a hard matchup to break down as Marek has more losses than Caesar has fights. I am going to pick Caesar to win a very close one, and I think he will do it with a second round TKO.
Main Card Bout Number 2- Middleweight Fight
Donovan “Ronin” Robertson (3-0) {0-0} versus Deco “Glass Knee” Early (1-0) {1-0}
In three fights Robertson has spent less than seven minutes in the cage winning all of his bouts in the first round by submission. The purple belt will be looking for much of the same in this one, as he will want to get Deco down early and look to take control on the ground. Early got put on his back in his only fight, but looked amazing defending a submission and then sprawling to come out on top. From there Deco looked to improve his position while throwing strikes instead of just getting up. In the second round Early laid his opponent out with punches to get himself a Knockout of the Night Award. Early will not want to let Robertson get him to the ground though, and his wrestling just might be good enough. He will need to stuff every takedown attempt and make Robertson pay for even thinking about it. I am going to pick Robertson to win in this bout of the undefeated via 2nd round submission.
Main Card Bout Number 3- Light Heavyweight Fight
“The Viking” Agnar Gorm (5-1) {0-1} versus Lotas Mauras (1-0) {1-0}
Gorm lost his debuting bout in the ICON- LV to Bud Weiser by TKO via strikes. Gorm will want to avoid the strikes and use wonderful wrestling to get Mauras off his feet. Once on the ground Gorm can strike or look for the submission and even though he only holds a blue belt in BJJ he does have two wins by submission. Mauras is a striker through and through. A wonderful boxer and respectable Muay Thai striker with little to no ground game. In his only fight he got a knockout victory with a head kick just 26 seconds into the fight. Mauras will clearly want to stay away from the ground, but he should be more than comfortable anywhere on his feet. Speaking of feet Mauras should look to use a lot of kicks as we have already seen there destructive nature. I am going to pick the striker in this bout and say Lotas Mauras to win by knockout in the first round.
Main Card Bout Number 4- Bantamweight Fight
Austin “Hollywood” Worner (16-16) {0-0} versus Gabriel “DaBeast” Douglas (2-1) {1-0}
Worner has 32 fights under his belt and will be looking to stay on his current win streak. He is on a 4 fight winning streak and has won 8 of his last 11. Worner likes to use his BJJ skills as 12 of his 16 wins have come by submission. He will want to try and get this fight to the ground and put those skills to work. Worner all though is no slouch in the striking department as he is strong in boxing. The underdog Gabriel Douglas will want to strike with Worner since he has the better striking. Also DaBeast is a better wrestler so he should be able to keep this fight standing. Douglas will need to show the world that he does possess knockout power since both of his wins have come by decision. The longer this fight goes on the more chance Worner has to getting the fight to the ground. I am going to go way out on a limb and pick Douglas to win the fight, and get lucky enough to survive throughout three rounds. Gabriel will take this home with a decision victory.
Main Event, Main Card Bout Number 5- Lightweight Fight
Arshnoor “THE BURTALIZER” Singh (4-1) {0-0} versus Viet “Maokhamphiou” Lights Out (2-0) {1-0}
Singh will be making his ICON-LV/ Honor FC debut, but he is certainly not a new to all of this. Singh lost his first bout, but is currently on a 4 fight win streak. In his last three fight he took home Knockout of the Night Awards with vicious head kicks. He should be looking to keep at this pattern of success and look to strike from range. Lights Out has taken different approaches to both of his fights with the same results. Two knockouts one from range and one from the clinch so he is up for a striking challenge. It will certainly be difficult to pick a winner in this one, but it is clear that somebody is going to get knocked out. Lights Out is the shorter and heavier fighter so he will be at a pretty big disadvantage in this one. Because of the size difference I am going to pick Singh to win by knockout in the first round.
Ten big fights set up to conclude the Steel Penn banner. The next time you will hear from me with a preview it will be Honor Fighting Championship. This event will be a special one since it is the changing of the guard and these fights should not disappoint. Please make sure to pick up all of your clothing needs at Meet the Future as they will have booths located in and around the arena. Honor Fighting Championship has a great partner in Meet the Future and everyone is excited to start the new era. If you agree, disagree, or just want to comment about anything in this article please drop a line on the Smack Talk Forums and let us know what you think.
This article has been written by Tony Rossi and the views and opinions are his, and may not reflect those of ICON- LV/ Honor Fight Club. All writings are owned by ICON-LV/ Honor FC and may not be reused or re-transmitted without written expressed consent from ICON-LV/ Honor FC.
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