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2012-10-11 Price: Free Edition: # Previous Issues Submit Article |
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Looking into the Warriors That Built GAMMA to Where it is ToGlobal Association of MMA, Fight Organization, LondonOver the course of its extensive history, GAMMA has produced a staggering grand total of 19 top 100 pound-for-pound best fighters in the world. However, only 5 of those men managed to break into the top 20 fighters alive at the time. These men have been staples in the organization and are a major part of putting GAMMA in the top organization discussions. Let’s look back at the historic runs these fighters made.
5. Raz Matazz
“The Atom Smasher” was one of GAMMA’s first major stars. Debuting in the organization way back at GAMMA 43, the scarcely known 2-0 prospect made a statement with a lopsided victory over his opponent, Bo Jackson, that ended in a third round TKO for Matazz. He continued his momentum with two more TKO wins before landing himself in the main event of GAMMA 69, a number one contender’s match against Richard Head. Matazz dominated the fight, taking a clean 30-26 sweep on all three judges’ scorecards. He was then put into a title fight with then 8-0 champion, Mikhail Yudovich. Matazz took the belt via first round knockout, gaining a world title and improving his GAMMA record to 5-0. Even still, nobody knew what this 20 year old kid was about to accomplish. He went on to defend his title 15 straight times, with 10 of those wins coming via knockout or TKO. Matazz’s desire to test himself lead to him vacating his middleweight title to make a move up to light heavyweight. He faced then champion Jeremy Tonal in a superfight for Tonal’s belt. Matazz edged out Tonal in the first two rounds of the five round title fight, but in the third round, things took a turn south. Just over a minute into the round, Tonal managed to land a beautiful takedown into full mount, and from there he unleashed with brutal ground and pound. A cut was opened up on Matazz’s forehead, and it progressively got worse until the referee decided to call an end to it. Since the loss, Matazz has gone 11-6-1, but has not been able to regain the momentum he had before the Tonal loss.
4. Trent Pope
Pope had a lot more momentum behind him when he debuted in GAMMA, already with an impressive 11-2 record under his belt. He was riding a six fight win streak and was the champion of another organization when he challenged Yuudai Ryuu for the heavyweight title at GAMMA 187. Critics believed he should have had to prove himself under the GAMMA lights before jumping right into a title fight, but Pope proved all of those naysayers wrong, knocking out Ryuu in the second round to take the belt. He defended the belt five straight times, scoring four knockout victories. He went to ONI in Tokyo for a superfight against Noah Payne, knocking him out in just over 7 minutes. By then, a new contender had arisen from GAMMA’s heavyweight division, 20-7 Anton Chigurh. Pope was not able to hold onto the belt this time, as he saw a 14 fight winning streak snapped with a second round TKO. After losing his belt, Pope left GAMMA with a 7-1 record, and has gone on to Gold Standard Fighting. His post-GAMMA record to date is 4-4.
3. William Mackenzie King
King made his debut at GAMMA 200 with an impressive 9-4 record. He fought against an experienced journeyman in Apollo Creed, and he wowed GAMMA executives with a 41 second K.O. victory. This victory leap frogged him into a main event against former long-time middleweight champion, Raz Matazz. King went on to lose that fight via flying knee K.O. in the second round, but he was not deterred. Following the loss, King rattled off four consecutive stoppage victories to earn himself the right to step into the cage with Matazz once again. King put up a much better effort than the first time around, even winning the first round. However, Matazz made proper adjustments and took the second round. Both fighters knew they had to win the final round, and they put out their best efforts, keeping the action extremely close for most of the round. The judges’ scorecards never came into play though, as Matazz landed a picture perfect right hand with just under a minute left that left King unconscious. After the loss, King managed to win three straight, bringing his GAMMA record to 8-2. This streak earned him a shot at the light heavyweight belt against pound-for-pound kingpin, Jeremy Tonal. Not many people gave King a chance at winning the fight, pointing at Tonal’s dominance in his 7 fight reign as the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. King paid no heed to those pundits, and came out as the aggressor against Tonal. A punch from Tonal caused a cut early, but it did not seem to affect King as the fight went on. He landed leg kicks often and early, and it set the tone for the entirety of the fight. As the fourth round came along, it was clear that King was up 3-0. Tonal attempted to mix things up by taking King down, but he ended up getting swept and finished the round on the bottom. Tonal did his best to take the fight to an exhausted King in the fifth, and almost managed to take the round, but it was King who impressed the judges, and took home a unanimous 50-45 decision win. King could not capitalize on the momentum of the biggest win of his career, losing superfights against Les Grossman and Boba Fett, and subsequently losing his belt in his first title defense against Jamie Gillis. His cut sustained in the Tonal fight re-opened, but this time it got a lot worse, causing the doctor to stop it in the second round. Due to this unfortunate stoppage, King is on the verge of retirement, and is only taking one fight contracts so he is not tied into any obligations should he choose to hang up the gloves.
2. Anton Chigurh
The former heavyweight champion has also been one of the more successful superfighters in GAMMA history, compiling a 7-3 record against top competition from other organizations. Chigurh made his debut at GAMMA 212 with a wealth of experience, having already gone 17-7 in his previous 24 professional fights. He quickly put away Dmitri Mikhailovich, stopping his opponent in 48 seconds. This put him into a co-main event bout against long-time GAMMA heavyweight and recent Hall of Fame inductee, Tony Mendez. Chigurh dominated the fight and scored a third round knockout. His next fight headlined GAMMA 217, and he earned his first GAMMA post fight bonus, landing a first round knockout of the night victory over Luke Daigle. This marked his first of ten superfights for GAMMA. Chigurh then went on to take the belt from Trent Pope via second round TKO, and was subsequently scheduled to make his first title defense against Sam Alito. After 5 rounds, it marked the first time Chigurh had seen the judges’ scorecards in his GAMMA career. It did not, however, put a damper on the dominant aura he had surrounded himself with. The scores were extremely lopsided in his favour, and he proved that he has the ability to go a hard five rounds in the process. After this title defense, Chigurh went on a 9 fight superfight streak in which he went 6-3. In the midst of this streak, he peaked as the number one pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, but unfortunately lost that title even before he was able to fight again. During this time period, a suitable challenger to his heavyweight title had been found in the form of 14-1 Fidel Duberry. Over the course of the first two rounds, Chigurh seemed to be every bit of the dominant champ he was against Alito, clearly taking the rounds with ease. In rounds three and four, Duberry made some adjustments and narrowed the gap, but still could not claim either round. Going into the final round, Chigurh had a very commanding lead. The action was very back and forth throughout the first half of the round, and it was difficult to really give an edge to either man. However, Duberry was in a very desperate position, and desperate times call for desperate measures. After a grueling four and a half rounds, both men were absolutely exhausted. Duberry dug deep, and he started pushing Chigurh backwards with his jab. This helped him set up his range to land a picture-perfect right hand that knocked Chigurh into the cage. Duberry swarmed and scored a stunning comeback victory to take the belt. As of now, Chigurh’s GAMMA record stands at 5-3, but he remains a major threat in the heavyweight division.
1. Jeremy Tonal
October 10, 2012. GAMMA 43. History was made that night, and it came in the form of a 1-0 fighter debuting in GAMMA. Demetryos Rua was the unfortunate first victim of Jeremy Tonal. At the time, he was simply just a young, aggressive wrestler. Tonal shot in for an early takedown and landed in side control. A quick scramble saw Rua take Tonal’s back, but Tonal reversed position and ended up in guard. He began attempting to work his way to a more dominant position, all while landing some decent strikes that kept Rua honest. An elbow from half guard seemed to get to Rua, and Tonal smelt blood. He quickly passed into mount and rained down punishment until the ref pulled him off. An impressive debut, but it was only the start of something much greater. Tonal’s road to his first title was a bit rocky, as a couple of submission losses set him back, and by the time he made it to the title, he had built his record to 8-2. Tonal’s overall game had come very far, and he turned out to be a natural boxer. He faced then champion, 11-3 Erkki Junttila. Aside from an early jab that opened a cut on Tonal, Junttila mounted very little offense whatsoever. A 1-2 combo from Tonal leveled Junttila, and Tonal waved him back up. One more big punch put him back down, and the ref had seen enough, declaring Tonal the winner via knockout. This fantastic performance was followed up by one of his worst performances, as he spent the majority of five rounds getting beat up by Mikhail Yudovich in his first title defense. Tonal then lost a majority decision in a top contender match-up with J Breaker. He managed to right his ship with a first round knockout of Rudy Fernandez, and after that victory he began the most successful superfighting careers in GAMMA history. He entered Synchronicity’s millionaire tournament, and five fights later, was declared the victor. He returned to GAMMA for two more superfights, reclaiming his light heavyweight title in the process. He put his career best 8 fight winning streak on the line against then 25-2 legend Jigoro Kane. He came up short, and returned to GAMMA to defend his title. After defeating Bill Hickok, he faced the middleweight champion moving up, Raz Matazz in a superfight within GAMMA’s own rankings. After losing the first two rounds, Tonal landed a takedown into mount, and made Matazz bleed until the ref would see no more. After another defense against Bubba Clem, he easily dealt with Doug Marshall in a superfight. In this period of time, Matazz had won two straight and was looking to avenge his only career loss against Tonal. However, Tonal proved himself to be the far superior fighter in the re-match, dominating en-route to a first round knockout. Three superfights later (including one against a legitimate heavyweight), and Tonal had a nice 8 fight winning streak going. When he met Lucas LaVey at GAMMA 209, Tonal had a lot of momentum. After making his opponent tap due to strikes in the opening stanza, people started calling him the best in the world. He went on a legendary seven fight run, finishing every one of his opponents with strikes. He also avenged his last loss to Jigoro Kane along the way. At the end of this superfighting run, he returned to GAMMA with 16 consecutive victories, 12 via stoppage, to defend his title for the fifth time against William Mackenzie King. With all of the momentum he had, fans and pundits alike expected him to roll through the challenger. This fight will forever go down as one of the biggest upsets in the history of sports, as King outstruck Tonal for five rounds to take home a unanimous decision win, as well as the light heavyweight title. After the loss, Tonal scored knockout victories in superfights against Taylor Norton and Hiro Protagonist, and it appeared he was back on track. However, decision losses to Lee Perry and Sunny Disposition killed that momentum, and caused Tonal to hang up the gloves, at least temporarily. Here is what GAMMA president Mentor Guruland had to say about Tonal in his Hall of Fame induction speech: “Fought in GAMMA from 2009-10-10 till 2012-07-21. Record inside GAMMA 19-5-0 (34-8-0 with super fights) Titles: 2 times 205lbs champ, 4 Title defenses, 18 GAMMA Fight of the Night awards, 1 Fighter of the year awards. Top #1 p4p ranking MMATycoon. Hall of Famer. Quite simply the best fighter the game has ever seen. Winner of the first ever Millionaire tourney, went on to hold the 205lbs title and was the longest ever world p4p champion for 7 months beating top competition to stay there.” All in all, Tonal is the greatest fighter there ever has been, and maybe ever will be. GAMMA has produced many legends, but Tonal is the greatest of them all.
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