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 Before we take a look at the fights, there is some major news regarding this event. While Hard Knocks remains the current home to Highland Games, this event will take place in the Camden Conference Centre. With the potential of 5 thousand extra people, we’re really looking forward to seeing how this expansion plays out for us. For this event, we will see the return of the $1million tournament, when the remaining 8 competitors will be whittled down to 4. We also have some fantastic fights between Highland Games veterans on the main card, but out headline fight tonight sees Pedro Lazaro make his Highland Games return when he challenges Mase Force for his brand new heavyweight championship of the world. Let’s take a look at what we have in store.
Claudius Calaeabius (3-1) Vs Artur Galecki (2-1) – Bantamweight
We begin this evening of fights with a Bantamweight clash which sees Claudius Calaeabius take on Artur Galecki. Claudius made it to the final of a recent independent tournament, utilizing a strong wrestling base and active ground and pound.
Artur, another member of Diminik Bylicki’s Polish stable, uses a combination of striking and grappling to keep his opponent guessing.
Flavio De Carli (2-0) Vs Tecs Barno (2-0) – Middleweight
We’ve seen nothing but destruction from Italian fighter Flavio De Carli thus far. In his last fight, he won by TKO in just 10 seconds, truly demonstrating the power he possesses.
Tecs “Rex” Barno is a BJJ Purple Belt with two straight kimura submission victories under his belt. With a striker Vs grappler contest ahead of us here, Tecs will want to avoid the feet and tie this one up on the floor.
Rowan Albers (1-0) Vs Vitaly Karelin (1-0) – Heavyweight Tournament Round 2
Albers had a tough 2 minutes against Bob Slop in round 1, but he was able to use an intelligent striking game to land impactful shots both inside and outside the clinch. Rowan feels that not only can he avoid being taken down in this match up, but that he’s also the better wrestler.
Vitaly Karelin will have a lot to say about this. The Russian has spent time wrestling against bears, so he feels that there is no challenge in grappling with a privileged Chelsea boy. Karelin went 3 rounds with Sikes Robinson, showing us he has the stamina to last and can overcome early issues in the fight.
Darren Brooks (1-0) Vs Brian Collins (1-0) – Heavyweight Tournament Round 2
When brooks took on Calixtro Guerrero in the previous round, he was quickly able to secure the clinch, landing some heavy shots to finish the fight in under 2 minutes.
Brian Collins had some trouble avoiding the takedown against Jander Silva, but his striking game ultimately prevailed with him TKOing Silva early in the second round.
Collins feels that this fight will finish early, with him getting a quick stoppage. Only time can shed some light on his prediction.
Chrollo Lucilfer (1-0) Vs Teofilo Sotolongo (1-0) – Heavyweight Tournament Round 2
Chrollo’s 44 second knockout of Some Guy earned him Knockout of the Night honours, and we have to remember that he won this above Grant Morrison’s stoppage of Aleksandar Mihaylov. That really tells us how good Chrollo’s knockout power can be, and this highlight reel contender is one to watch in this contest.
However, Teofilo was just 20 seconds short of matching Lucilfer’s speed, stopping a popular enterant in Ralph Windsor. With many eyes on the bout, all of them bore witness to the Cuban’s boxing pedigree, and I think we can all safely say that this will be in the running for some post fight bonuses.
Luca Dominiguez (1-0) Vs LHWs Buddy (1-0) – Heavyweight Tournament Round 2
And this brings us to what I feel is the most interesting match up thus far in the tournament. These two I feel are the favourites to win, so seeing one of them drop out early would be disastrous.
It was a destructive boxing clinic from Luca was he dropped Angel Adriel three times inside 55 seconds, with the last of which being a clean knockout. Luca earned Fight of the Night single handedly for this effort, and it’s not just his in-ring abilities which bring a presence. Luca walked out of his interview with us earlier I the week, saying he couldn’t care less about the tournament and that he was only here to walk home with some big cheques.
LHWs Buddy started with the best training partner, LHW, but lately he’s added wrestling master Jake Theodorou to his impressive line-up of allies. Buddy poked fun at his opponent, claiming that he feels Luca has a glass jaw, and believes the tournament is easily his for the taking. If he doesn’t perform to the best of his abilities, he could be tagged and dropped early, but it’s expected that he will get the clinch and begin working his camp’s patented elbows.
Renato Gracie (7-4) Vs Razor MuayThai (8-5) – Middleweight
Gracie is a highly talented Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Brown Belt with a 2-2 record inside Highland Games. With his only professional losses being at the hands of Massimo Benvenuti and Massa Hurmaaja, it’s hardly a knock against the El Salvador native. We’ve seen Gracie’s slick transitions and stellar submissions multiple times, highlighted by the fact that all 7 of his professional victories were finished by that method. “Check Mate” will have a bright future if he is able to put all of the tools together, but he has a hard challenge stepping in against him on April 17th.
It’s been really sad to see Razor MuayThai fall like he has. With a record of 1-4 in his last 5, it strikes a strong contrast from his early career when he was 7-1, Highland Games Middleweight Campion, and held two wins over Aleksandar Mihaylov, and one over Massa Hurmaaja, Piotr Wyspianski and Jack Sock. While he has fallen on hard times, we still have to look at how he has lost to. Two losses to Massimo Benvenuti, one at super heavyweight to Matt Punisher and one at Light Heavyweight to Jimmie Craig. A heavyweight second round knockout over San Terra shows how good Razor can still be, but this fight will be crucial for us to gauge the former champion’s future success.
Jomlong Kiapoity (11-4) Vs Zakari Moss (9-6) – Bantamweight
Another two jiu jitsu masters competing in the highly stacked Bantamweight division in this one.
It’s crazy to think that Jomlong has never had a Highland Games title shot. With a promotional record of 6-3, Jomlong has been using his incredible submission skills to keep himself amongst the top of the division. When Kiapoity last fought against Zakari Moss, it was believed that a win would guarantee him a shot at the belt. Unfortunately, a first round armbar upset these plans, and Jomlong was sent back towards the bottom of the division. Submission defence has always been a great fear Jomlong as 3 of his 4 defeats came by way of tapout. Under new management for the first time, it will be very interesting to see if the team have done anything to fill the gaps in his game.
Zakari Moss was at one point the UltimateXC Bantamweight Champion with a 6-0 record. On a three fight losing streak, it’s been quite a dark time for the San Franciscan. While Moss may not be on the best form, he brings a wealth of good experience with him into the cage, having fought tough guys like Frank Pravola, Greedy Assfister, Griegorij Dudkov, Nikolai Medvedev and Dan Sten. Like he was in the first fight, Moss will be entering this one as an underdog, but if he’s shown us anything in the past it’s that he thrives in these sort of situations.
Rodrigo Rojas (10-5) Vs Aleksandar Mihaylov (9-5) – Middleweight
This will be Rodrigo Rojas’ 10th fight in Highland Games, and he’s done it all during his time in the organisation. A former Light Heavyweight Champion, for a while we doubted that he would ever reach that level again. Submission victories over Massimo Paterno, Snafu Mohajib and Jonah Sorentino changed our minds, informing us that in a grappling exchange, Rojas is one of the most dangerous guys you can compete against. A disappointing second round exit in the tournament, followed by a top level loss to Hurmaaja has send Rodrigo on his first two fight skid. I know this guy, and I know that every single loss hits him so hard so I know he’ll have been training like a mad man to ensure that he avoids making it three in a row when he takes on Aleksandar Mihaylov.
Aleksandar appears to be one of the best guys who can’t get the job done when it counts. He reached the semi final of the tournament and has challenged for the 185 belt in HG twice, failing to finish the job both times. What’s even more crushing is that he defeated the current champion during the course of the tournament, but with the belt on the line he fell at the hands of Grant Morrison. None the less, we don’t need any more proof that Aleksandar is an all-round elite mixed martial artist. He has gotten to the top of the division time and time again, but there are question marks over his ability to ever be able to claim the throne as his own. Aleksandar will be desperate to be victorious in this fight so he can once again step onto the road to the title, but you’d have to expect it’ll be a hard journey.
Pedro Lazaro (17-3) Vs Mase Force (15-4) – Heavyweight Championship
The main event of the evening, an epic rematch between two of The Island’s greatest heavyweight competitors.
Pedro recently left Highland Games to join World Combat, but after avenging his Highland Games 3 loss to Mib Louie, he’s back to challenge for the title. Lazaro surprised everyone when he won the Island tournament, something we all thought would be tailor made for Barney Gumble. Lazaro won, establishing himself as a true great, but he’s yet to hold championship gold in his career. His victorious include Keijo Virtanen, Thor Heyerdahl, Richard Riddick, Jason Barrett, Mitchel Thompson, San Terra, Magnus Cross, Mib Louie, and most importantly; Mase Force.
Mase and Louie competed against each other in the final of the tournament. Force was fresh off of the biggest fight of his career, upsetting Barney Gumble, and becoming the first man to ever defeat the champion, followed by a win over the credible Chiyono Fuji. Many feel that this opened up Lazaro’s chances of winning the tourny as Pedro had previously been dominated by Barney at Highland Games 45. Really, the fight was one sided beyond the first round. Mase was effective at landing punches on the inside, taking the opener on all judge’s scorecards. Lazaro came back with a vengeance, not only breaking Force down badly in the second round, but finish the fight right before the final bell in the last.
This fight means absolutely everything to Mase. Pedro is essentially the last man standing between Mase Force and being the best heavyweight to come from The Island. He’s already dethroned the best, but this one loss is right there which he needs to overcome. Pedro Lazaro has been an amazing heavyweight fighter for some time, and with him currently riding a 7 fight win streak, there has never been a better opportunity for him to win the title he’s been lusting after since he debuted for the company at Highland Games 3. If Mase Force opened up the door for Lazaro to bypass Gumble and win the tournament, this is the exact same situation with the Highland Games Heavyweight Title. Will Pedro Lazaro win the title? Will he stay in Highland Games or bring the belt with him to World Combat? Will Mase Force assert himself as the most dominant force at 265? Will Mase be able to rival the 9 title defences which Barney Gumble had? So many questions, but every single one will be answered at Highland Games 68.
This is the most excited for a card I’ve been in a while. We have the highly exciting second round of the heavyweight tournament, headlined by the two best heavyweights in Highland Games right now going toe to toe. With the potential for 7000 people to witness this live, everyone should get a ticket immediately and watch this go down live. April 17th, London, Highland Games. Tune in!
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