2020-03-23
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HFC Tournament Finale

HARDCORE, Fight Organization, New York
Company profile by Outlaw Bleak

 HFC Tournament Finals - Review

 
This was the final round for the HFC Championship and Contender series tournaments (predating HFC/SMASH merger) with the exception of the Middleweight division which had the semi-final round.  
A huge shout out to all of these warriors for hanging through this tournament, despite all of the hurdles thrown our way with the merger.  Some of these fighters have developed very well and flipped the script from underdog to favorite over the course of this tournament.  
Main Event:  Jack Waller vs Mystic Marley  
To headline this round of the tournament was a bantamweight fight between Jack Waller (6-0) and Mystic Marley (7-1).   I fully expected this to be a good fight between two great fighters, but these men went at it with everything they had, and what a fight they put on to cap the night!
 
Waller, former HFC (pre merger) champion, with two successful title defenses under his belt, only to part ways with the belt as the two rosters merged together.  With some seller fights and his ability to come out on top time and again, he has remained a champion in his mind, in his heart, and in my eyes.  Waller is a future HFC hall of famer, which is a bold statement for a fighter who's only appeared in now 7 fights.  
His opponent, Mystic Marley, is another 7 win fighter who is fighting for the contenders spot in the rankings.  An impressive 6-0 start, Marley has now lost 2 of his last 3 fights after tonight's loss to Waller.   
This fight took the entire 3 rounds and went to the judges for a decision.  These two strikers put on a show as Marley was the more aggressive fighter but often looked to take the fight to the clinch where he became a different fighter.  Both of these fighters displayed some excellent striking defense, but the big difference in the fight was Marley's inability to get the fight to the ground.
 
Waller was just under 50% accuracy in his strikes, both in the clinch and in space.  Marley was significantly less accurate, but when he got the fight in the clinch, he kept it there.  In only 4 clinch encounters, Marley threw 68 strikes and attempted 29 takedowns where Waller threw 20 strikes and stuffed every last takedown attempt.
 
The judges often will give the win to the more aggressive fighter, even if they don't land as many strikes.  In this fight, however, the see 29 failed takedown attempts and stopped looking at everything else.  I have seen time and again where Waller has thwarted highly skilled opponents at every turn, taking them the distance and getting a win if he is over matched, or strait knocking them on their ass if not.
 
The day draws near where Waller will be looking for a title shot, and he has well earned that chance to recapture his title of Champion of the HFC.  Marley may even be ring side, smoking a blunt, cheering him on.  After a fight like this, there's always a level of respect in each fighter for the other.
 
And now for the tournament fights and results!
 
135 Tournament Final: Lorenzo Bataglia vs Hale Stenburg
 
In the Bantamweight division final, Bataglia 4-1 faced off against Stenburg (5-1) to see who could wear the honors of tournament champion.  Two great young fighters with promising futures, but only one could reign supreme this night!
Stenburg was the favorite going into this fight, but was completely dominated by Bataglia.  Though the fight took all three rounds and ended by a decision, at no point in time was Stenburg ever winning the fight.  Bataglia came out far more aggressive, landing 49 of 73 strikes standing while Stenburg only managed to land 3 shots to the body and a couple of quick combos.  Stenburg seemed hell bent on taking the fight into the clinch, but Bataglia avoided the clinch well thwarting all but 6 of the 62 clinch attempts by Stenburg.  See, I told you he was hell bent on taking the fight to the clinch..
 
When the fight did go to the clinch it didn't seem to matter much to Bataglia as he landed 80% of his strikes from the clinch as well and only got hit once.  Bataglia's striking defense has improved greatly, and his accuracy was impressive too.  
 
Not to much else to say about this fight, congratulations to Bataglia for winning the tournament!
 
145 Tournament Final: Preston Patterson vs Sonny Gilchrist
 
In our featherweight finale, front runner Sonny Gilchrist (6-1)took on Preston Patterson (3-2)in a rematch of their round two bout where Gilchrist took the win.  But Patterson didn't take the loss lightly and came back to win the rest of his matches in this double elimination tournament and found himself in the finale against Gilchrist with a chance to get revenge for that loss.
I don't think anyone in the arena expected Patterson to have a chance in this one, Sonny has been on a tear in the HFC and hasn't looked back for anyone.  Having already defeated Patterson, perhaps Gilchrist looked past him, but Patterson was not to be taken lightly tonight.
 
Gilchrist had no problem taking the fight to the ground, nor to the clinch, nor to the ground from clinch.  The man is a ground specialist, and nothing has changed.  But what did change was the fight once it got to the ground.  Normally, Gilchrist will finish a fight within seconds of taking it to the ground, but Patterson was ready for it this time.
 
Unlike last time, Patterson was able to show the better ground game and was able to improve his positioning when Gilchrist attempted a kimura from the bottom, allowing Patterson a chance to lock in a kimura of his own.  And lock it in he did as he forced Gilchrist to tap out.  Patterson displayed his displeasure with the rankings after the fight, and has earned himself a shot at the title with this victory.
 
Excellent job Preston, show the world what being HARDCORE is all about!!
 
185 Tournament Runner up Final: Rod Stickmann vs Kelly William
 
This fight was a little different as this bracket was the only one who played out a loser bracket to completion.  With Baruto Tonissaar winning the tournament, Stickmann proved he was the next best thing as he won every other fight in the tournament. 
   
Coming into this fight at 4-1, and his only loss to Stickmann earlier in the tournament, William still had to be confident he could get the job done against Stickmann.  But once again, Stickmann dominated the fight.   Though dominating the fight while standing in space, Stickmann took a little damage when William landed a couple of nasty elbows in the clinch and ultimately took the fight to the ground where neither fighter could seem to gain any traction.
 
Once on the ground, neither fighter displayed much until Stickmann landed a big right that dropped William to a knee and then like a pit bull Stickmann laid it on and William tapped out to get the ref to stop the fight giving Stickmann the win by submission via strikes!
 
205 Tournament Final: Dillon Van Barle vs Tashiro Sugawara
 
For our light heavyweight division finale, former HFC champion Sugawara squared off against Van Barle for their shot at HFC glory.  Both fighters are hard to KO, both versed in BJJ, and both know how to win.  This was not the expected finale, but not at all a surprise either.
 
Sugawara was a heavy favorite entering the tournament while Van Barle was a relative unknown.  But after this tournament, Van Barle won't be an unknown anymore.  In the first round, Van Barle opened up a cut on Sugawara and started targeting it.  
 
Sugawara was completely outmatched in this fight as he was never able to get the fight to the ground.  Not for lack of trying, but Van Barle kept the fight in the clinch where he was by far the superior fighter and stuffed all 8 of Sugawara's attempts to take the fight to the ground.
 
Once in the clinch, I don't think I've ever seen such a dominating performance.  Landing 22/22 head punches, 12/12 body punches, 9/9 elbows, 9/9 knees to the head and 6/6 knees to the body, it's amazing Sugawara lasted as long as he did.  
Shortly into the second round, after the doctors took a minute to check out Sugawara's cut, Van Barle again took the fight to the clinch and this time, only 27 seconds into the 2nd round, Van Barle landed a vicious upper cut that put Sugawara out.  A few follow up strikes before the ref could jump in and stop the fight, and we have a new contender in the light heavyweight division.  
Congratulations Van Barle!
 
170 Tournament Semi-Finals: 
 
Samart Payakaroon vs Ryo Hamada
 
Two undefeated fighters squaring off for the chance to advance to the finals of the largest tournament bracket of all, the middleweight class. Hamada (3-0) brown belt BJJ artist and Samart Payakaroon (5-0) MT striker.  
Once again, a couple of very talented fighters who did everything the could to not lose the fight.  Payakaroon was the more aggressive fighter, mixing up his strikes very well, while Hamada just couldn't seem to get it going.  Hamada did try to take the fight to the ground several times, but only managed to get it there 4 of his 17 attempts.  Once he did get to the ground, he wasn't able to do much as Payakaroon did well to control the fight and fend off the submission attempts by Hamada with relative ease.  
When it was all said and done, this one had to go to the judges score cards, but everyone in the arena knew who the winner was.  Despite going the distance, Hamada may not be able to walk out of the arena on his own after this fight as Payakaroon punished his legs with an incredible 25/25 leg kicks.  That's some Mirko Cro Cop stuff right there!  
Winner by Unanimous decision... Samart Payakaroon!
 
Death Minister vs Toni Montana
 
And the other middleweight semi final fight, undefeated ground specialist Toni Montana taking on the the man from below, Death Minister. At 6-1, and a heavy favorite to win the tournament, Toni Montana was in for a rude awakening.  So much so, in fact, that I won't even waste my time recapping this fight.  Death Minister whooped his ass for two and a half minutes, made him bleed, and put him into a new universe with a spinning back fist.  
When Montana's eyes stopped rolling and his world came back into focus, he came back to being a free agent fighter who's manager walked out on him.    
Great win by Death Minister, guess you really did send Montana's soul to hell.  
So the Middleweight finale will be held next month as Death Minister will be facing Samart Payakaroon for the crown and chance to call out the champ!    
Congratulations to all fighters, except Toni Montana, who I can only wish luck and hope that he finds a new manager with a little more patience to shape his young and still very bright future.  Win or loss, you guys put on a hell of a show and are all HARDCORE, even if you did tap out from being punched... 

 

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