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It’s the dawning of a new era. The former Steel Penn Icon program in Las Vegas has broken away from the mother ship. Dan Monk decided to take his company out of the ICON program and it gave away to Honor Fighting Championship. All contracts where retained and Meet the Future extended its merchandising partnership with Mr. Monk. There will not be a lot of changes with the new organization, but the few ones do include a new logo of course, the introduction of championships at each weight class, and the biggest change of them all a new show starting Wednesday February 5th.
The new show will be called Wednesday Warfare and will not replace the weekly event currently running on Saturdays. So Honor Fighting Championship will now have two events a week, which means a whole lot more, fights here in Las Vegas. Eight events including three Wednesday Warfare shows have been scheduled for the month of February as Mr. Monk wanted to make a huge splash.
To go along with all of the wonderful news fans and fighters of this organization has already received we will crown our first champion on February 1st. Also three more title fights have already been announced and I am sure the next few will be announced within the next week or so. With the big title fight on the first we will also have nine other wonderful fights that we will break down for you now.
Preliminary Bout Number 1- Light Heavyweight Fight
Randy "Speedy" Gonzales (2-3) {1-0} versus Andrew "Animal" Todd (0-2) {0-1}
Gonzales may have lost his last two fights, but he might have gotten a little lucky in this next one. Gonzales is a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and his opponents two losses have been by submission. Clearly Speedy will want to get this fight to the ground and look for early submission. Andrew "Animal" Todd has lost both of his professional fights by way of submission. Todd is a wrestler and has run into a bunch of submission fighters. Todd would love to be able to takedown his opponents and ground and pound his way to victory. I don’t think he will be able to do that in this fight, and I see Gonzales winning this fight by submission in the first round.
Preliminary Bout Number 2- Bantamweight Fight
Justin "Glenn" Bostic (3-1) {0-0} versus Sun "Kakarot" Wukong (2-1) {0-0}
Both of these fighters are making their debut in the Bantamweight division. This is a great time to get into this division as later on this evening the Bantamweight title will be on the line. These two will have a ground war I am sure as both of them prefer the ground and pound. I think Bostic has the better stand up and should consider trying to box with his opponent. Wukong would welcome a takedown attempt as he has proven that he is a beast on the ground. Wukong is very aggressive once the fight hits the mat. He loves the ground and pound and has been very successful with it in the past. I see Wukong winning this fight by TKO do to strikes in the first round.
Preliminary Bout Number 3- Welterweight Fight
Nilz "Achtung" Artzing (1-1) {0-1} versus Vedran Milosevic (0-1) {0-1}
Artzing is supposed to have good kicks but we have yet to see them so far. The Muay Thai trained fighter has attempted a lot of takedown in his two fights, and it seems he prefers point grappling and striking versus having the killer instinct. If I was Artzing I would come out feet a blazing and see if I have the knockout power needed to be successful in this business. Milosevic is a wrestler who will look for the ground and pound opportunity. If he gets taken down himself we will have to see if he can sweep, or work off of his back at all. He does have some training in boxing as well, but if Artzing throws kicks it will be hard to get into punching range. I see Milosevic winning this fight by decision in a grappling war.
Preliminary Bout Number 4- Light Heavyweight Fight
Derec "The Smile" Negreanu (0-0-1) {0-0} versus Al "KO" Hallick (0-0) {0-0}
Negreanu is a striker that was happy to stand up in strike in his only fight. He was unable to knockout his opponent even though he landed several big shots. This could be due to a lack of natural knockout power, and if that’s the case he may want to change up his game plan. Hallick will be making his debut and should be happy to stand and strike. Well trained in boxing and Muay Thai so I assume he can strike with the best Light Heavyweights in HFC. He should consider testing out his clinch against Negreanu to see if it up to par. I like Hallick’s chances to win this fight, and I am going to pick him to win by knockout in the first round, clinch or no clinch.
Preliminary Bout Number 5- Light Heavyweight Fight
Gustov "Downtown" Brown (1-0) {0-0} versus Greg Roddy (0-2) {0-1}
Brown is a striker who will mix it up at range. He was pulled into a clinch a few times and it seemed he had no idea what to do. Brown went for an excessive amount of takedowns most of which were unsuccessful. He did look descent from range though and he should look to keep the fight at that level. Roddy should be happy to strike at range with Brown since his clinch is terrible. Roddy also does not do very well from the ground, so range striking will benefit him. These two should start throwing strikes from the opening bell. I see someone getting knocked out in the first round and I am going to pick Roddy to get the win in this one.
Main Card Bout Number 1- Lightweight Fight
Bolius Kalabokas (2-2) {0-0} versus Zack "The Prodigal Son" Young (1-0) {0-0}
These two warriors are both strikers with a back round in boxing. Kalabokas came out and lost his first two fights, but he looks like he could be on top of the world right now winning his last two fights by knockout. In his last two fights he has shown some amazing punching power winning both of those fights in the first round. Young likes to punch in combos versus single strikes. He also comes into this with a scouted good chin. So Young should be looking to counter Bolius shots with combos since taking one or two on the button should be ok. This is a hard fight to predict but I am going to guess Young wins this fight by knockout in the first round.
Main Card Bout Number 2- Middleweight Fight
Dmitry Belov (11-3) {1-0} versus Duke Ellington (13-9) {0-0}
Dmitry Belov is a ground fighter who holds a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and he has an amazing wrestling pedigree. You would think that most of his wins have come by submission, but that is not the case. Ten of his eleven wins are by TKO or KO as he is more of a ground and pounder than a submission artist. He will want to get Ellington down to the ground and pound his way to victory. It has been a rough ride for Ellington lately as he has lost four of his last six fights. The thirty eight year old veteran is trying to rejuvenate his career and will be looking to do so with his great boxing. If he can keep this fight standing up I think Duke will win it easy. I foresee Belov getting the fight to the ground and getting a knock out win though. I think Ellington will be able to last until the second round all though.
Main Card Bout Number 3- Light Heavyweight Fight
Timothy "The Assassin" Christopher Iii (2-1) {0-0} versus Bud "King Of Beers" Weiser (2-1) {1-1}
Christopher is a ground fighter and he will be looking to get it down early since he has little to no striking skills. His wrestling is also questionable but he does have a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. If he can get this fight to the ground I would expect him to look for submission after submission until he finds one. Weiser can strike and grapple but he should have a better shot on his feet in this bout. I would suggest he adjusts his game plan to stay away from the clinch and to stop any and all takedowns. Weiser should dominate the fight from the standing position and if Timothy exchanges with him it will be over quickly. I am going to pick Bud Weiser to be the king of this fight and win by knockout in the third round.
Co Main Event, Main Card Bout Number 4- Middleweight Fight
Dante "Inferno" Mishima (2-1) {1-1} versus Corner "Alley Cat" Bum (2-1) {1-1}
This should end up being a great fight. Mishima is standup striker that will want to keep some distance from Bum. He likes to throw single shots and he mixes them well with combos. Dante is going to want to try and knock Bum even though both of his wins have come from decision. Corner Bum seems to have the ability to adapt his game plan very well. One win by submission, one win by decision, and good striking ability. If I was Bum in this one I would try to get the early takedown and pound away for a while. As soon as there is an opening he should wrap up Mishima and go for the submission. I am going to pick Bum to win this fight, but it will be close. I think we will see a third round submission for Bum.
Main Event, Main Card Bout 5- Bantamweight Championship Fight
Ethan "Captain Insaneo" Harris (6-2-1) {1-0} versus Joe "The Pitch" Castro (2-0-1) {1-0-1}
I am really looking forward to this great matchup. Harris is skilled in Muay Thai and loves to clinch. Once in the clinch he looks to go to town with elbows, and his are sharp. He won his last fight by doctor stoppage do to how strong those elbows are. Castor also loves to clinch but he works the body so well. Working over the body will just break a fighter down, as it affects the ability to do just about anything. This fight should be spent up close and personal for the most part. Castro will take down his opponent to score points if he is not effective in the clinch and that could earn him a decision win. This will be a war in the clinch and whoever gets that dominate position will come out the winner. I think the power elbows could earn Harris a TKO win by doctor stoppage or even just a knockout win. I am going to pick Harris to get the victory by TKO in the second round.
This should shape up to be a great event for the rebranded organization. I see a lot of these fights getting finished and a very happy owner when this one is done. Meet the Future should also be very happy with the turn out in this event. There is only a very few number of tickets left so get down to The Underground and pick up your tickets now.
As always the views and opinions in this article are those of the writers Tony Rossi and may not be those of HFC. Honor Fighting Championship does own the writes to this article and it may not be reused or reproduced without written expressed consent from HFC.
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