2016-06-12
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Highland Games 182 - Main Event Preview

Event Preview: Highland Games 182
Highland Games
2016-06-12, London, Wombley Arena
Author:

high

[CO-MAIN EVENT]

(Light-heavyweight Division) Nuke Laloosh (21-6) versus Unz Unz (12-7)

Nuke Laloosh is a powerful wrestling stylist with a long history of dominance throughout his MMA career. Nuke is the former two time Solitude light-heavyweight champion, and recently, challenged LightHeavy Weight for the Highland Games light-heavyweight championship.

 

Nuke Laloosh started his career in the QFC, stopping all three opponents with his brutal ground and pound attack. Due to his rapid rise through the rankings in the free agency market, Nuke quickly attracted the attention of Solitude, who signed him to an exclusive fight contract.

 

Nuke defeated his opening two opponents to earn the right to fight for the vacant light-heavyweight championship. His opponent would be Janghong Pasty, who Nuke would quickly overwhelm and defeat; Pasty would retire shortly after. Nuke Laloosh would fall in his first bid to defend the title, suffering a forty seconds TKO loss; he would lose three of his next fought bouts.

 

Nuke Laloosh quickly established himself as a top contender once again, running through five contenders en route to another title shot; this time, he defeated Emil Cioran via unanimous decision to once again become the light-heavyweight champion. In his first title defense, Laloosh would once again fall, losing his belt.


Despite his setbacks on The Island, Nuke Laloosh dominated the finale tournament, taking the champion's gold with him to the mainland. In his post-season career, Nuke Laloosh signed with Highland Games, decimating the best contenders that the light-heavyweight division could muster.

 

At Highland Games 172, Laloosh challenged legendary champion LightHeavy Weight for the crown; late in the opening round, Laloosh received a cut over his left eye that was bleeding into his face, obscuring his vision. The ringside doctor examined the wound and declared him unfit to continue; for the first time in his career, Nuke Laloosh failed in his attempt to claim a champion's gold.

Career Achievements:

-Former Two-Time Solitude Light-heavyweight Champion (No Defenses)

-The Island S4 Final Tournament Champion

-Former Highland Games Light-heavyweight Title Challenger

-Fight of the Night (x3)

-Knockout of the Night (x2)

 

Unz Unz is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist, holding a brown belt in the art. Early in his career, he challenged for the light-heavyweight championship of Solitude.

Unz Unz completed all but one of his twelve fights on The Island within the Solitude promotion, and would quickly earn the reputation of a legendary submission artist. In his eighth professional fight, Unz was stopped by Emil Cioran in an unsuccessful bid for the title. Although he would never again challenge for the Solitude championship, Unz finished out his time with the promotion on a two fight winning streak. Unz competed in the finale tournament, but was submitted in the second round of the contest, and was sent to the mainland.

In his post-Island career, Unz Unz has fought exclusively for Highland Games, winning in two of his five outings. Most recently, Unz was knocked out by Rudolf Rammhammer at Highland Games 172.

Career Achievements:

-Former Solitude Light-heavyweight Title Challenger

-Submission of the Night (x2)

 

                                                                [MAIN EVENT]

 

(Bantamweight Division, Championship bout) Neil Drake (21-8) versus Darth Vader(c) (29-5)

Neil Drake is the former Attack Fight League bantamweight champion of the world, and one of two men to have stopped Darth Vader in professional mixed martial arts. Neil utilizes his background in pugilistic fisticuffs primarily to open up his grappling, although he is capable of landing one doozy of a left hook as well. Neil's primary fighting style revolves around his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu; an art in which he holds a black belt.

 

Much like his opponent here, Neil was a competitor on the third season of The Island, having fought all but one of his earliest fights in the AFL bantamweight division. In his early career, he received some major losses to eventual legends in Serge Ibaka, Renato Laranja, and Darth Vader. If you had to define the career of Neil Drake with a random slogan taken from a vacuum commercial, it would be: “Meets the best, beats the rest”. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what company coined that, but it perfectly suits Neil.

At AFL Every Day Is a Struggle, Neil caught Darth Vader in a deep rear naked choke, forcing the tap and claiming the bantamweight championship. Although he would ose the belt in his first defense against Serge Ibaka, Neil would routinely prove that he was among the top five fighters in his weight class, struggling only against certain key players.

In the finale tournament, Nail advanced into the third round before losing a unanimous decision against Darth Vader, who would advance only one more round himself. On the mainland, Neil stayed with Highland Games, challenging reigning champion Ibaka for the bantamweight title that he had lost some time before; Ibaka would once again force the stoppage to retain the belt, and Neil would win two of his five fights in this span.

After changing management twice, Neil Drake found a team that could guide his career in the right direction; under the tutelage of his new mentor, Neil won his next three consecutive bouts, setting up another shot at bantamweight gold. This time, it would come against BJ Arnold, who would retain the title with a big second round finish over Drake.

Despite this setback, Neil Drake is currently riding a three fight winning streak, with the most recent coming at Highland Games 174, against former two time Tradition FC bantamweight champion, Jandre Vorster.

 

Darth Vader, despite the pseudnym, is a serious competitor and truly elite champion in the world of mixed martial arts. Starting his career as a collegiate wrestler, Vader had an early advantage over opponents, due to his ability to bring the fight wherever he felt that he had the advantage. In addition to a top level wrestling pedigree, Vader is an accomplished BJJ competitor as well; he holds a brown belt in the art. Despite never having forced submission in the cage, Vader is considered one of the top grappling based fighters on the planet. Most recently, Darth Vader has made a name for himself as an accomplished kick boxer as well.

Darth Vader, like his long time rival Neil Drake, made his MMA in the smaller shows on The Island during its third season. Quickly establishing his dominance via ground and pound, Vader accumulated a four fight winning streak that caught the attention of the Attack Fight League; his decision to sign with the promotion would shape the complexion of his career indefinitely.

In his AFL debut, Darth faced Jet Hemi for the bantamweight championship; with thirty seconds left in the opening round, Darth rained down ground and pound that stunned Hemi, and put him away for good. Despite the early dominance of former bantamweight champion Jet Hemi, his career would never truly recover after the nightmarish beating that he received as Darth Vader stole his crown.

Darth Vader faced a similar outcome, as he attempted to defend his title against the only man to stop him with strikes: the legendary Serge Ibaka, who would go on to defend the belt one time before leaving for Highland Games. The contenders scrambled to decide who would fight for the vacant title, and two names would rise to the surface in this time: Renato Laranja and ZyD XyD. Laranja would claim the title and attempt to defend it against Vader, who had quietly garnered the support of the fanbase, as well as a two fight winning streak (including against fellow top contender Neil Drake).

The fight between Vader and Laranja took place at AFL …... Tie Her Down. I honestly didn't read that name before starting to type it, and, well, whoa. Well then. Anyways, after five rounds of action, Vader would prove to be the one true dominant force when he bested Laranja with a unanimous decision. After defeating fellow wrestling sensation and multi-time world champion BJ Arnold, Vader would lose his new championship in what seemed to be a routine title defense against Neil Drake.

Vader had already defeated Neil Drake not long prior, with a unanimous decision victory over the man, and felt that the outcome would be the same in this rematch. It seemed that somebody forgot to inform Drake of this, as he strangled the Reigning Champion unconscious with a rear naked choke to claim the title. Shortly after, Vader failed to claim the Executioner FC bantamweight title in a one-off fight, but would end his Island career with a unanimous decision over Tom Franks.

Darth Vader made an appearance in the finale tournament, besting Miguel Ortega, Jacob Naankuse, and Neil Drake before being defeated by Serge Ibaka in the semi-finals.

Having seemingly earned the final laugh in the trilogy with Neil Drake, Vader quickly signed with Highland Games, and began petitioning for a third crack at the only man to truly best him in Serge Ibaka; however, the two would not meet for some time, with over a dozen fights taking place before their third clash.

One thing was certain: Darth Vader proved that he was a giant among men as he climbed his way through the Highland Games contender rankings, smashing his way through Laranja, Pinaglabanan, and Kiapoity en route to a shot at the Highland Games bantamweight championship of the world. That should would come at Highland Games 82; as fate would have it, Vader would rematch one of the men that he had defeated on The Island, in BJ Arnold. While Vader wouldn't find the lightning quick finish that he had secured in their first meeting, he still cleanly defeated the man with a unanimous decision victory.

Finally, at long last, Darth Vader would prove his status as a legend of the sport, as he defended the Highland Games bantamweight title seven times, winning multiple “of the night” awards along the way, and securing big wins over Dan Small, Vinnie Longworth, Dan Sten, and Renato Laranja. In his eighth defense attempt, Vader succumbed to BJ Arnold in the long awaited championship rematch; Arnold defeated Vader via unanimous decision.

While BJ Arnold was occupied defending the world title two times, Darth Vader knocked out Dave Kopp, and out pointed Sam Crow and Serge Ibaka to earn a rematch with Arnold. With each fighter claiming two of the early rounds, the deciding factor would once again fall upon whoever pushed the hardest in the fifth and final round of the fight. Arnold seemed to hold the upper hand in the early goings of the round, and was arguably well on his way towards a decision victory to retain the title, but Vader scored a big takedown midway through the round. An exhausted BJ Arnold covered up as Darth Vader postured, throwing out every attack that he was capable of to batter the reigning champion. Finally, after several minutes of unrelenting abuse, the referee had seen enough: he stopped the fight, declaring Darth Vader to once again be the bantamweight champion of the world.

Darth Vader has since defended the title when he finished Vinnie Longworth early in the third round.

 

[A closer look]

(Neil Drake)

Age: 32

Started Fighting At: 25

Record: 21-8

Knockouts: 1

Submissions: 18

Highland Record: 10-4

Total Opponent Record: 448-216

Rank (Division): 4

Rank (Organization): 32

Style: Boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (Black Belt)

Accolades or Accomplishments:

-Former Attack Fight League Bantamweight Champion (No Defenses)

-Former Two-Time Highland Games Title Challenger

-The Island S3 Top Five Bantamweight

-Submission of the Night (x8)

-Fight of the Night (x2)

-Three Fight Winning Streak

 

(Darth Bader)

Age: 32

Started Fighting At: 25

Record: 29-5

Knockouts: 14

Submissions: 0

Highland Record: 16-1

Total Opponent Record: 537-250-1

Rank (Division): 1

Rank (Organization): 4

Style: Kick Boxing, Wrestling

Accolades or Accomplishments:

-Highland Games Hall of Fame Inductee

-Reigning Two-Time Highland Games Bantamweight Champion (Eight Defenses)

-Former Two-Time Attack Fight League Bantamweight Champion (One Defense)

-Former #2 Bantamweight Fighter in the World

-The Island S3 Semi-Finalist

-Fight of the Night (x10)

-Knockout of the Night (x1)

-Five Fight Winning Streak

 

To view this preview, and others like it, visit the Highland Games smack talk thread: http://www.mmatycoon.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=46027&page=29

 

To view this event, visit: http://mmatycoon.com/orgupcomingeventpublic.php?EvID=858461

 

To visit Highland Games, go to: http://mmatycoon.com/orgpublic.php?oid=4423

 

I can't stress this enough, but these previews wouldn't be possible without the continued support of Highland Clothing. Pay homage to this excellent event sponsor, visit: http://mmatycoon.com/clothingpublic.php?cid=4677

 

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