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HEAVYWEIGHT - ROUND 1 Havardr Vollan (9-0) Vs Paulus Nainggolan (4-3) When Vollan was dropped by Optimal, 5-0, you didn’t really think he’d get the same career trajectory as he had. He didn’t, it was better. Top manager Bradley Burns picked him up, received an instant title shot, and has since had two successful defences of his title. He’s stopped every single opponent in the first or second round, and under Burns he seems to take a few less chances which serves him to avoid getting caught slipping. The Dragon is the opponent, and he’s got a hell of a challenge. He has some strong submission skills, but having never won two fights in a row, I don’t expect it to start here. Ryder Young (6-2) Vs Joe Mendez (6-4) The Destroyer Ryder Young is on his third manager, but he doesn’t seem to have missed a step in the changes. His last time out he competed for the VFC title and his killer knockout power has never left him. Wayne Kerr hopes to bring him to glory in this tournament, but he has a stiff challenge in Artur Jawetz, a credentialled manager who’s brought Island fighters to glory before. This should be a very close fight and I expect whoever wins to offer a strong challenge in round 2. Mac Anudo (7-2-1) Vs Island Boy (7-4) Mac has been with VFC since the very beginning and has shared the cage with many different impressive fighters. He has a strong submission game, but can handle himself on the feet and has no problem fighting for 3 rounds. Island Boy is a former Scott Bandz fighter who managed to capture the Rogues title all the way back in February. A rocky patch caused Scott to drop IB, shocker, and he is now led by manager Davey Allen. Mac will be hoping this switch has caused IB to miss a step where he can capitalize. Kristoph Kringle (4-0-1) Vs Obi Ojo (8-2) An undefeated slugger, Kringle has the power to shut anyone’s lights out. At just 20 years old he’s one of the younger fighters in the division, but that hasn’t caused him to be any less lethal in a standing exchange. However he’s up against Obi Oju, a former Rogues HW champion with 3 successful title defences. Oju is also a lethal finisher, but he prefers to do most of his damage inside the clinch. This could be a real coming out party for KK if he can keep Ojo off of him, but that’s easier said than done. Isaac Newton (9-1) Vs Lee Longo (4-2) Isaac has never received a title shot and it is a mystery as to why. 7 straight wins in VFC, submissions, decisions and KOs. It really doesn’t get any more impressive than that. He’s taking on Lee Longo who himself has felt the joys of a win streak, however he did get stopped in his last fight. Isaac will be the big favourite here, but Longo packs a punch. Isaac definitely deserves a breakout moment to showcase his skills and this tournament might just be that. Kiase Quama (2-3) Vs Sergio Sergius (8-4) A strong kickboxer, Quama was the final TRIUMPH heavyweight champion before the company closed. His MMA run has not been quite as successful, going 2-3 since. Meanwhile Sergio Sergius has had a more impressive fun, including main eventing several VFC events. Sergius doesn’t want to take the fight to the floor which does suit Kiase, but he’ll try to take it to the clinch which Quama might not enjoy as much. Sai Monu (1-2) Vs Chris Abbott (7-4) The same story with a lot of the ex-TRIUMPH kickboxers. Undefeated in kickboxing, 1-2 in MMA. Sai Monu has struggled to get it going in MMA and it might be hard to get going here. However, he’s going up against one of the craziest stories of the season. Chris has had FIVE different managers in a single Island season, and some of the best at that. Arcalimon, Action Jackson, Al Van Dal and Tycoon Judas. He’s had some great managers and Dillo is the latest in the hot seat. He was successful in his first fight under his new manager and hopes to keep the good times going in the tournament. Dustin Mcfaul (5-2) Vs Old Leg Tartakov (11-1) A decision master, Mcfaul has won all 5 of his victories on the scorecards, although he has been submitted and stopped on cuts. Tartakov doesn’t mind going to the scorecards himself, having done so twice, but he’s also submitted and TKOed several other opponents so really there’s no right way to take this one. Perhaps the most dominant heavyweight this season, he defended his VFC title an incredible 5 times before dropping it to the reigning champ Richard Feynman in April. Old Leg will be a mammoth favourite here and it’ll be a shock if Mcfaul manages to come through the other side. Zahn Dingo (8-3) Vs Paul Dirac (6-4) Dingo is a big puncher and on an impressive 3 fight win streak. Never competing at the top of the division, Dingo has still managed to make an impression in both Rogues and VFC. Similarly, Paul Dirac likes to fight on the feet and has mostly been bouncing around the middle of the divisions. Dirac has also fought on both promotions. This fight should be an absolute tear up on the feet between two strikingly similar fighters. Felix Valero (6-2) Vs Iulian Simionescu (5-1) Mexico’s Felix Valero is managed by VFC owner Thomas Forrester. He’s had a solid career to this point, focusing on keeping the fight standing and utilizing some good punching power to change the course of the fight at any moment. From the name, to nationality, to appearance, you will not be surprised to find out that Iulian Simionescu is a striker. He did join a little later on The Island but came out of the gates on fire with 5 straight wins. His last outing was a loss at the hands of number 1 seed and reigning Rogues champ Havardr Vollan, so it’ll be interesting to see if that one gets run back throughout this competition. Fotu Veainu (8-3) Vs Igor Blancho (10-7) If you like finishes, make sure to get your camera out and be ready to take a Fotu. Sorry. That might not even be the right pronunciation so maybe some casual racism there. Regardless, moving on Fotu is not exactly what you expect when you see his second name. A wrestler, Fotu likes to take the fight to the mat and seek a finish via ground and pound or submission. He has had a bit of a problem with cuts in the past, and Kazakhstan’s Igor Blancho has already stopped two opponents via cuts. Similarly, Igor can finish the fight via punches on the deck or submission, and he’s had two cracks at the VFC HW title amongst a few stints at super heavyweight as well. Whoever gets the first takedown should win this one. Eli Vieira (5-4) Vs John Bell (6-2) One of the absolute stalwarts of The Island, Rodrigo Rojas brings us Eli Vieira, a ground fighter content to finish the fight any way as long as it hits the mat. Opposing him is a fighter with a very different gameplan. John Bell wants to keep the fight standing and work his boxing, peppering opponents with shots until the referee steps in. If Eli gets this one down it’ll be a long night for Bell, but every fight starts standing so the ball is in JB’s court. Thomas Isle (8-3) Vs Jackson Silva (8-4) Formerly managed by the talented manager Maurice Simmons, Isle made the switch to Tycoon Judas in May and quickly managed to earn himself a VFC title shot. A human highlight real, Isle wants to keep the fight standing and go toe to toe until one man can’t stand. In every instance so far, that’s happened in the opening 5 mins. Jackson Silva wants no part of that. Striking is perhaps too primitive for a fighter like Jackson who wants to avoid all striking exchanges, get the fight to the mat and have the opponent begging to be spared. Grappler Vs Striker, it’s hard to find new ways to say that exact stylistic matchup. Shaun Fistle (5-3) Vs Calvin Green (5-2) Some similar records here, Fistle comes in on the worst run of his career with back-to-back losses. This is very disappointing considering at one stage he was 5-1 with his only loss being to then-champion Tartakov, so this is a chance to get back on winning ways. He’s fighting boxer puncher Calvin Green, a solid looking striker who likes to do their best work early into the fight. Will Calvin pile on the pressure, or is Shaun destined to come back strong with a big opening round win? Brendan Baddcock (4-1) Vs Qing Qu (3-1) Throughout the breakdowns, I’ve usually seen former TRIUMPH kickboxers struggle when they swapped to MMA. However, Baddcock has put together a really solid 4-1 MMA record and his only loss was to current VFC HW Champion Richard Feynman, who he might see again in the second round. While Qing Qu might have a lack of experience in the overall tournament, fighting exclusively since April, he hasn’t avoided doing rounds in the gym and managed by Scottie 2 Hottie, you know he's got some potential. On paper this looks like a Baddcock fight to lose, but I think Qing might just surprise a few people here. Jota Be (6-4) Vs Richard Feynman (8-0) While this is going to be completely irrelevant to anyone who isn’t a fan of Scottish football, I’m immediately rooting for Jota based on the name along. Soon they’ll announce it, soon. Anyways, random bollocks aside, Jota came out very strong in the independent scene but has really struggled to build momentum in VFC. This doesn’t bode well because in round 1 he’s facing undefeated reigning VFC Heavyweight Champion Richard Feynman, who also put together an impressive 4-0 record in Rogues before jumping over. Feynman is an absolute killer and has beat many of the other fighters in this tournament. Many are salivating over a potential undefeated Vs undefeated final between Richard and Havardr Vollan, but he’ll have to get through this round to make it and Jota won’t go easy.

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT - ROUND 1 Karockas Thibodeaux (14-0) Vs Mark Jesservey (1-2) The MVP of The Island, Rockafella has been an absolute walking wrecking machine since the start. With an incredible 6 defences of his VFC LHW title, and 2 defences of his TR LHW strap, it’s safe to say Karockas is as good as it gets. Oh, did I mention EVERY fight ended in the first round? Yeah, machine. Unfortunately Mack Truck is going up against the best which he really isn’t ready for, so I wouldn’t expect this fight to be the outlier. Arniquez Montgomery (1-2) Vs Ba’al Lightning (4-2) Once an impressive kickboxer with a record of 5-1, Montgomery switched to VFC following the closure of the kickboxing org. He had an early fight against Karockas, which ended like every other one has, and recently jumped over to Rogues but again came up short. He’s going up against 20-year-old Two Time Lightning, who didn’t have the most active run on The Island but he’s been making sure to spend plenty of months in the gym. The younger brother of the legendary Cecil Lightning, this should be a great scrap for as long as it lasts. Jonny Bar (7-3) Vs Nicholas Brady (3-1) Not many fighters out there can literally pick their method of victory, but that was certainly the case in 6/8 of Jonny ‘Arm’ Bar’s fights. A submission specialist, Bar has been one of the top contenders in VFC’s LHW division for a while. He takes on Nicholas Bunch Brady, a decent striker who hasn’t really seen any fight spill to the floor in his career so far. Brady might catch Bar slipping on the feet, but I’d expect Bar to score an early takedown and get the submission finish, hopefully via armbar. Andre Mith (5-4) Vs Ty Fuller (6-0) Mith is coached by the ever-experienced Coach Steve, who’s had success with fighters like Andre before. Andre likes to stand and bang and he’s had decent success doing so to this point. However, it’s always noteworthy when you see a tournament fighter boast an undefeated record. Ty Fuller has been wrecking some of Rogues’ light heavyweights for a while, and it’s actually quite surprising he never managed to get a crack at the title. Well, his moment for glory is here and he’s up against a tough test in Mith. Sione Veainu (7-2) Vs Floris Sigetti (4-2) The latest in a line of legendary Veainu brothers, Sione is a former Rogues 205 champ making one successful defence of the belt. A knockout machine, Sione has a combined 6 post fight bonuses. He’s going up against underdog Floris Sigetti, who to his credit has had a decent start to his career. A good run under former manager Dries Flucht, he’s went 1-1 under Kaylynn Lee and looks to shock the world against one of the tournament’s favourites. Erza Scarlet (3-1) Vs Bob Crawley (6-4) Not leaving the first round in his first four fights, Ezra doesn’t like to hang around in the cage. On a 3 fight win streak too, he’s coming into this one with a big of momentum and will be hoping that pays off. However if there’s an Island dynasty you don’t want to write off, it’s the Crawley family. Starting with Charles Crawley back in Season 4 and Billy Crawley in season 12 (who is the current #1 contender for the Highland LHW title), Bob is the latest in a long line. With Charles going in the first round, and Billy falling out in the second, Bob hopes to go further than each of his forefathers. Maw Real (5-0) Vs Leon McClane (5-5) It’s rare to see anyone who joins The Island late have any real success, but Maw Real has rattled off 5 wins since debuting in April and looks like a real threat with his knockout power. His perfect record will be tested against Leon The Brain McClane, the first ever VFC Light Heavyweight Champion before Karockas had his first title fight. McClane has been fighting at a higher level than Maw, but also has never had the same level of momentum in his performances. It’s going to be a real toss up for who walks away and goes to the second round. Adam Darski (2-1) Vs Kil Bon Hwa (13-1) A bit of a mismatch here, but at least Darski has managed to put together a winning record coming into it. Darski likes to stand and bang and seems to have some real power with two sub 1 minute finishes, but he has a real task on his hands with Kil Bon Hwa. Hwa is the latest freak of nature discovered by Action Jackson, the manager of last year’s killer Torhte Finlayson, and he was one of the early standouts of Rogues by winning the title at TR 15 and making 3 successful defences. In an ironic twist of fate, it was Sione Veainu who took his undefeated record, mimicking Sonatane Veainu taking Torhte’s title and undefeated record many moons ago, so you can be sure Hwa will be on a mission to avenge that loss. Vladimir Pulsnin (6-4) Vs Tibor Terej (3-7) Pulsin is a Russian fighter found in the streets of Peterhof by Mit Dm, the brains behind fighters such as Sergey Vinogradov and Nikolay Leonov. He was the man to take the belt from Sione Veainu in May, but unfortunately dropped the title to Karockas a few weeks later. A master with his submissions, Pulsin’s record does him no justice with 3 of the losses coming in his first 4. I expect Pulsin could upset a few people here, but first he has to overcome Tibor Terej. Tibor has recently bounced back after a disastrous 6 fight losing streak. He’s tough and works hard to avoid being finished, but unfortunately offers little threat of a finish himself. Abbas Mohammad (8-6) Vs David Hanen (6-3) The Smashing Machine lives up to his moniker, never going as much as the third round in his 14 professional fights. He’s been in there with some of the better fighters and has a brutal top game which vert few can stand up to. Hanen too has been fighting at a high level, sharing the cage with the likes of Karockas, Bob Crawley and Raphael Azevedo Souza. David leans on his striking to win fights, so this is that old striker Vs grappler trope. Red Greene (5-1) Vs Gera GOI (3-6) I’m not entirely sure why I love the name Red Greene so much, but none the less I do. Not only does Greene have some of the most lethal jiu jitsu the Island has seen this season, he also showed an endless amount of heart in his last fight. Against Alexander Grigoriev, he was being battered and beaten up, and still managed to secure a round 3 guillotine victory. No quit. Gera GOI is a long time VFC fighter, even competing on their first show, and for the first time in his career he’s put together back-to-back wins. He’s only been submitted once, but he’s going to have a tough time avoiding the ground game of Red Greene. Why do I like that so much? Alexander Grigoriev (2-2) Vs Ani Kwata (7-2) Another from the Mit Dm stable, Alexander Grider Grigoriev has all the wrestling pressure and ground and pound that we’ve come to expect from that camp. Don’t sleep on his striking though. He has more going on with his hands than you’d expect. He’s going head-to-head with Anti Kwata, who has put together an impressive 6 fight win streak through both VFC and Rogues. Anti too is a man who favours the ground game, so this should be a high level grappling affair for as long as it lasts. Dan Dinklage (8-3) Vs Arthur Fleck (3-5) With three title fights in his past, Dan Dinklage might be the highest calibre fighter who has not yet won a title during his Island run. Originally managed by the legendary Arcalimon The Coach, he has since made the swap to Tycoon Judas and went 1-1 since. Arthur Fleck is his opponent, a tough son of a bitch who has not been finished in all 5 of his losses. Ironically, Fleck debuted against Dan’s brother Mark in a losing effort, so he has some vengeance to seek in this one. Kegomoditswe Vermeulen (6-1) Vs Rickson Silva (5-3) Kego sounds good to me. A clinch killer like Island seasons past, Kego isn’t happy unless the referee deems his opponent inable to continue due to the amount of blood on their face. Despite debuting just in May, he’s built an impressive record for himself thus far. Unsurprisingly, Rickson Gracie is a grappler, with 6 submissions under his belt. He’ll desperate be looking to pull guard here, so Kego will have to be on his toes, literally, to avoid getting tapped. Djuro Zec (5-4) Vs Angus Graham (8-3) Zec loves a takedown and is happy to rough his opponent up when it gets there. He has a purple belt in BJJ, so if you think it’ll be an easy time defending off your back or attacking with subs, think again. Standing in his way is Angry Angus, a Canadian with the most Scottish name I’ve ever seen. Angus has a lethal striking and clinch game and will want no part of trying to hang with Djuro on the mat. Jesus Salazaro (3-6) Vs Stevo Caruga (9-1) Jesus is going to need his namesake in his corner here, as the clinch artist is going toe to toe with the reigning VFC LHW Champion. Stevo Caki Caruga is an absolute expert on the ground, with a string of submission of the night accolades along with the title on his shoulder. He did suffer an upset loss to Bob Crawley in March, so Stevo will be absolutely desperate to avenge that loss if it does happen during the course of this tournament.

WELTERWEIGHT - ROUND 1 Jack Black (15-1) Vs Vitor Lance (3-2) Gentleman Jack has been one of the biggest killers on this Island season, TKOing 14 of his 16 opponents. He is the reigning Thibodeaux’s Rogues Welterweight Champion and has defended that title on an incredible 8 occasions. This makes the fight an incredible uphill battle for Croatia’s Vitor Lance, who has amassed just 5 fights in over 3 months. On a two-fight losing streak, Vitor doesn’t come in with much momentum but with all 5 of his fights going to decision so far, we know he’s a tough nut to crack. Goran Acker (7-6) Vs Jemeljans Valter (4-3) With a fair amount of experience behind him, Goran comes into this one with an edge in cage time. At one point holding an impressive 7-2 record, Goran fell on hard times of late and dropped 4 in a row. This is a sentiment shared with his opponent Jemeljans Valter, who was 4-1 before dropping back to back fights by stoppage under new management. Both fighters could desperately use a win so there’s a lot to play for here. Liko Dares (7-3) Vs Mike Fallon (1-2) The master of the decision, Liko Dares has reached the scorecards in 7 of his 10 fights but quite shockingly broke his own strategy with a late stoppage of Jemeljans Valter last time out. Dares has competed for the VFC WW title on two occasions but came up short in each. Mike Fallon is perhaps one of the least favoured fighters in the contest, fighting 3 times in as many months. He got his first win at the end of May however, and with a big head kick on your record it’ll give you bags of confidence coming out next time. Test Fighter (5-4) Vs Stephen Hawking (5-4) I have to say, it’s not often you see a fighter called Test Fighter with a nickname but here we are. El demoledor is an independent fighter who has rattled off tonnes of fights throughout the month of May. After initially looking very impressive, it’s been 3 straight losses to come into the tournament. Stephen Hawking is one of the youngest fighters on The Island. At just 19 years old, Hawking had a slow start losing 3 in a row but has bounced back to carve out a solid last few fights. Hawking will be looking to put on a strong campaign in the tournament to balance out those early losses on his record. Buzz Killer (8-3) Vs Kevin Holland (1-0) One of the outside favourites here at Welterweight, Buzz Killer will be happy that his long time rival Jack Dye has decided not to participate because that sets him up with an 8-0 record coming into this. It’s not often you see a fighter return to his former management after leaving, but it shows the confidence Tycoon Judas has in Buzz’ abilities. He’s fighting the white Kevin Holland. Kev had just one fight back in March before being dropped by his former manager. It will be very difficult for him to do much in this tournament, so don’t expect a long run. Moses Schrute (4-0) Vs Jesse Thomas Babcock (4-1) 19 year old Moses Schrute comes into the contest with a perfect 4-0 record. Fighting all his time in Thibodeaux’s Rogues, Moses is able to win the fight quickly, or survive into deep waters. He gives up some age, but has similar experience to Jesse Babcock who has proven himself to be a solid mid carer in the VFC ranks. We’ve also seen Uncle Jesse finish fights or reign supreme on the scorecards, so this fight should be an evenly matched affair. Island Boy Jackson (2-1) Vs KO Jacckson (3-2) The Jackson Two. Island Boy is a submission fighter who unfortunately entered his career on a bit of a mismatch against title contender Alex Munhoz, but has managed to bounce back with two wins since leaving TR. Hare Rumpler saw something special in KO Jacckson, picking him up at 0-3 and winning 3 straight since. With strong ground and pound, KO will want to take this one to the floor and work his GnP. Patryk Donald (1-3) Vs John Archibald Wheeler (8-2) A losing record is not the way to enter a big tournament and off the back of 3 straight losses, this is going to be a difficult fight for Patryk. Perhaps most concerning is an Irishman having the name “Patryk”. Irish by way of Warsaw perhaps? John Archibald Wheeler, sounding like a 1950s English crime boss, has some devastating striking and competed against Jack Black for the TR WW strap back in May. Expect Wheeler to come out looking for an early KO in this one. Bradley Lemons (11-5) Vs Sung Hoon Choo (1-0) Used to competing in title matches, Bradley Lemons is one of the higher ranked fighters in the competition. A former LW champion in TR, Bradley has opted to move up to WW for this tournament, perhaps seeking revenge against Jack Black with whom he had a war with earlier this month. Sexyama Choo is going to have a hard time with just one fight on his record, but the boxer managed to shock the world with a submission win in his debut, so watch out for Choo to be a bit of a wildcard. Juan Savedra (2-3) Vs Yewis Mybitches (2-1) The interesting thing about this fight is both men have more story to tell than their small MMA records show. Originally competing in the short lived TRIUMPH, Juan and Yewis went toe to toe in for the first ever TRIUMPH MW championship. Yewis went a bit too heavy on his combos and as a result was beat 4 rounds to 1. Yewis is out for revenge for the title he never had, and with both men being kickboxers I wouldnt expect anyone to consider a takedown. Otto Scheckter (4-0) Vs Tommy Gavin (2-6) Undefeated 25-year-old German Otto Scheckter has been on a strong streak of finishes, TKOing 3 men back-to-back before the third round. He’s a bit of an all rounder which can be a difficult base to maintain, but it might be a difficult ask for Tommy Hothead to overcome as he had had a bit of a problem in standing up to shots in the past. Hothead is going to have to come out swinging and hope to land something early if he wants to come through this matchup. Jamari Lexington (4-7) Vs Adam Alkoun (6-4) A 4-7 record doesn’t look great, but when you consider that Jamari started out 0-4, it’s not actually that bad at all. Jamari might not like taking shots, but he has a very strong submission game and with all but 2 of his 11 fights finishing in the first round, it’s always an all-action affair. Adam has faired a little bit better in his career so far, only losing out to the top fighters. He even had a recent crack at the VFC WW strap. He has been submitted twice before by Master Bates, so Adam will definitely not want to see this one spill to the floor. Alex Munhoz (10-4) Vs Jerry Brooks (1-2) One of the strongest candidates in the competition is submission master Alex Munhoz. Alex has had two attempts at the TR MW belt and has always been in and around the title picture. While he has suffered his KO setbacks, his submission game is one of the strongest on the entire Island. Raw Jerry Brooks will be happy Bo Tsoy didn’t enter the competition, having suffered two first round KO losses to him in under 3 minutes combined. Brooks tries to do a bit of everything, but if he’s smart he’ll try to keep this one standing and look for a hail mary punch. Milos Psycho (4-2) Vs Nicholas McDonald (7-4) Milos has not yet signed for a promotion and has mostly been fighting independently. He has competed mostly at LW, but did have a successful stint at WW last time out. He’s still going to be quite an underdog when he goes up against Nicholas McDonald, one of the most recent TR title contenders who has some strong wins on his record, perhaps capitalized by a TKO win over Alex Munhoz. Knowing Alex is next up, Nicholas will be eagerly awaiting their potential rubbermatch but needs to see out this fight first. Neils Bohr (5-2) Vs Maximiliano Khan (4-1) Neils has been a little bit under the radar during his Island run, competing in the lower half of the VFC WW ranks. He has a commendable record, but as a jack of all trades it’s going to be interested to see which approach he uses. Be on the look out for his lethal kicking game. Max Khan fought a few times independently and signed for VFC in May. After a debut loss, he came out victorious in his last match up. He is maybe a slight underdog here but with some good power behind his punches, it wouldn’t be a shock if the Guyanese man walked away with the win. Johnny Nevercum (0-1) Vs Werner Heisenberg (8-1) The biggest mismatch of the first round, no one is going to be cheering for Johnny here. With “Ben Dover” (username Large Sack), the second name Nevercum and the nickname Domestic Abuse, it’s safe to say the absolute worst, most tryhard embarrassing sense of humour goes to the 14 year old who dreamed up this man’s existence. Werner is one of the strongest fighters from The Island, having competed for the TR title before switching to VFC and remaining undefeated in the latter. As the second seed he is very far away from Jack Black in the bracket, but you know he’s gunning to avenge that lone loss.

You know what time it is. That time when I write up many previews for The Island tournament which about 3 managers actually care about. The Island matters to me dammit! I believe Tycoon Judas will be helping me with some of the weight classes here, so direct all of your applause towards him! Good luck to everyone in the tournament and look out below for links to each of the weight classes & rounds. ROUND 1 Bantamweight Featherweight Lightweight Welterweight Middleweight Light Heavyweight Heavyweight Super Heavyweight ROUND 2 Bantamweight Featherweight Lightweight Welterweight Middleweight Light Heavyweight Heavyweight Super Heavyweight ROUND 3 Bantamweight Featherweight Lightweight Welterweight Middleweight Light Heavyweight Heavyweight Super Heavyweight ROUND 4 Bantamweight Featherweight Lightweight Welterweight Middleweight Light Heavyweight Heavyweight ROUND 5 Lightweight Welterweight Light Heavyweight Heavyweight

I was like "How come everyone has 500 fighters?" forgetting the entire concept haha.

Safe to say I forgot about this game hahaha.

The current one should have finished tonight (with a week long tournament incoming). It's usually a few months before the next one. There's no set times.

Nice one I'll drop you a message in game just before it kicks off.

Just an FYI that I'm going to be doing the write up for every single Island fight in the tournament again, so if anyone wants to pitch in and give me a hand, Id be more than happy haha.

Haha yeah if MMA fighters got cut for not having great learning speed, IQ, confidence or liking pizza, we'd have none left.

But every single manager in the game cuts their fighter if they like pizza. Sure you CAN keep your fighter, but when no one who's a good manager in the entire game does it, then what's the point in offering it as an idea? It's like saying you can enter the Call of Duty world championships using a crossbow instead of a gun if you want. Sure you can. You'll lose every time, but you can. I was talking about as a game mechanic, not as a financial incentive. Spending 9 months training a fighter is why MMATycoon doesn't bring in any new players. There's no game in the world that I want to turn on, set up, and then play in 9 months. Guess it's why I can only run orgs rather than train though. The idea of spending 9 months watching a guy train, doing test fights to get someone with good morale, counting his learning speed, making sure he has good hiddens. Completely kills the immersion for me. It's obviously not the initial intention either, the game just got "figured out". That's not realistic though because there's not a pro MMA fighter in the world getting head kicked thinking "Salami or pepperoni?".

Most of these are more accurately quantified by the actual tangible stats. You have strength, flexibility and speed. Also if you're in a combat sports gym and you've yet to have a fight, if your coach knows you can KO people or knows how easily you cut...change gym. Your trainer doesn't know "Hey this fighter likes pizza......that means I 100% have to kick him out of the gym. Of you're interested in ballet? GET THE FUCK OUT RIGHT NOW!!!!!". When these things show up, your fighter is an auto cut. He never has a career. He never goes and has anymore fights. He's immediately released because in a test fight (also a dumb concept) he had some text that told you he was a bum so you insta released him. That's such a pointless game mechanic.

On The Island, another clothing company arrived claiming itself to be a "non-profit". What they really meant was "Company that makes no money". Here's what a real non-profit company looks like. Expenses (total) : Staff Wages: $0 Stock Orders: $50,724 Fighter Sponsorships: $245,000 Loan Repayments: $94,711 Manager Withdrawals: $0 Misc Expenses: $0 Income (total) : Stock Sales: $267,812 Merchandise Sales: $31,642 Manager Deposits: $0 Net Profit (total) : -$91,032 245k put straight back into the pocket of all of the Island fighters. Sure, a $5 t shirt is fine, but the savings they make on their merch isn't going to help them stay training in a 1k gym for 6 months.

So then if everyone wants to automatically cut any dud, why are duds part of the game? If you or every single other manager who puts a lot of work in and will release fighters if their learning speed isn't spot on, they have low confidence or cuts, then the ONLY people in the entire game using these fighters are new managers who are already at a mammoth disadvantage let alone being the only people in the game with dud fighters. Either hiddens are hidden, adding a lot more intrigue to trying to figure out what your guys stats are and not being sure if he's good or not, or hiddens shouldn't be part of the game because everyone auto cuts anyone who likes pizza so why even include them?

I dont see what the point is in it existing if people just automatically cut fighters if they get it. Hiddens should be hidden.

HIGHLAND 165 PRIMER It’s that time again. The legendary Torhte Finlayson (30-2) returns in the aims of making the 7th defence of his Highland Light Heavyweight Championship, and including his previous title reign, the 18th defence overall. The first ballot future Hall of Famer, who recently claimed the SYN Super Heavyweight Championship, is one of the scariest strikers in the world but with a BJJ Brown Belt under his belt too, who is supposed to stop him? Stepping up, perhaps nervously, is Hayato Sakuraba (10-9). Despite not having the strongest record in the world, Sakuraba is actually a former champion. In July 2021, Hayato Sakuraba picked up the Highland Middleweight Championship with a guillotine victory over Cathair McKay. However, the fact that the name Cathair McKay has been seldom mentioned over the past 12 months since says a lot about how times have changed. Now let’s address the elephant in the room. These men fought each other almost 6 months ago at Highland 117. This was during the brief period where Torhte was looking to build back towards a title shot after dropping the belt to Sonatane Veainu. And the fight? WAS THE BEST FUCKING THING WE HAVE EVER SEEN. Sakuraba walked into that fight like the fucking terminator. Just after the first minute, Torhte drops him and rocks him. Par for the course from a Finlayson fight and it should be over a minute later. Sakuraba recovers. The fourth minute of the round lands and Torhte drops him again not once but twice. Saved by the bell you might think. Well round 2 comes. Torhte immediately drops Sakuraba. Then he drops him again. And again. And again. And again and again and again until Sakuraba has been put down 12 times in under 10 minutes. Each times, he stands back up, dusts himself off, walks forward and gets put down again. Like a zombie, he keeps going. However, Torhte didn’t for a second start to tire out or get discouraged. Like the legendary scrapper he is, he kept composed, and at 4.41 of round 2, Sakuraba couldn’t get up. Now will this happen again? Probably not. This was a once in a lifetime crazy fight. However, we’ve just seen Odd Job submit Noel Diaz for the Highland WW title, so crazy things are happening in the org right now. But if this fight is even half as good as the last one was, the rest of the fighters can kiss Fight of the Night goodbye. Also featuring on the card are fan favourites such as Maro Pjetlic, New Car and Kwame Nti, so make sure you tune in on June 3rd. Highland 165 is brought to you by Paddy’s Enhancing Drugs, SynCity Fightwear, Voodoo Nutrition and PWNAGE Elite.

Unfortunately with a lot of travelling recently, I don't talk about my world champions let along my top brand ambassador haha. But safe to say I'm watching like a hawk. I'm already setting myself aside some time so I can write the entire write up for The Island season tournament so Karockas is going to get his due priase!

Not gonna lie, I'm Team Frank just because of your method of sharing those screenshots. A postimage gallery? Did you have to go back and fourth between that or a torrent download?

Man I really hate when they try THIS hard. You have to be subtle about trolling people. Going so hard at it is just the most rookie mistake of all time. It's not a sprint. You can annoy people up across multiple channels. Don't need to blow your entire trolling load in thread 1.

HIGHLAND 158 PRIMER A huge rematch at Lightweight goes down on May 8th in the Wombley Arena as Anthony Epolito (13-5) makes the first defence of his 155lbs strap against Necmettin Hoca (14-11). This fight goes down EXACTLY one year on from their IXF XXII undercard match up which saw Hoca defeat Epolito in the Fight of the Night. Fun fact, that card also featured both Arturo Vargas and Jorlan Vieira, the next two Highland Heavyweight title challengers. They would later fight once more in the end of season tournament, with Hoca again winning convincingly. It's not often you see the champion chasing down revenge, but that’s exactly what we’re going to see here. Following The Island, Anthony Epolito dropped to Featherweight and had a commendable 6-2 run, including a trilogy with Bye Bye and a very commendable win over Miguel Azevedo Souza. He moved up to Lightweight whilst on a win streak and took on the champion Ed Green. Epolito came in as a slight underdog, but against all odds managed to win every round on the judges scorecards and finally get his hand raised as Highland Champion. Things haven’t went quite as well for Hoca. Necmettin would go on to finish The Island as the final Lightweight Champion of IXF, and entered Highland with a huge KOTN win against Liam Murphy. He would be hand picked as the next opponent for Noel Diaz, the champion, due to his history with the IXF belt. However a loss to Diaz, followed by two more losses to Murphy set him on a bad path. He recently broke a five fight losing streak with a decision win over Shug Skinner, so Hoca is really just in the right place art the right time with a man he’s 2-0 finally sitting on the belt. This card will also feature two aforementioned fighters; Ed Green and Shug Skinner, as well as a big showdown between the mega hyped Kwame Nti and long time Highland contender Biscuit Oliva. Special thanks to our sponsors: - Paddy’s Enhancing Drugs, The Dirty Needle Project and KOMBAT CLOTHING.

HIGHLAND 157 PRIMER How are we already at another Noel Diaz fight night? At Highland 157, Noel Diaz (22-2) is looking for the second defence of his Welterweight Championship, since he defeated Adam Shalashaska in emphatic fashion following their majority decision earlier in the year. Challenging for the title will be Jake Damien (14-7), former long time IXF Welterweight Champion who had 4 defences to his name before dropping the belt to Dick Winters in July 2021. Jake has had an up and down career since joining Highland post season. He ran into 4 different former Highland welterweight champions, but none the less he managed to cause a massive upset in his rematch with Ottaa Koppia, on April Fool’s day no less, setting himself up for this huge title match. Noel Diaz really feels like he’s just going through the motions in the Welterweight division now, and although we all know there’s a future rubber match with Adam on the cards, Noel wants to add as many names to his resume as possible to mimic the legendary success he had at the 3 previous weight classes. Some fans and some in the back offices have been clamouring for Diaz to add yet another weight to his insane catalogue of titles, but the Highland BMF Champ has had just 4 fights at Welterweight thus far and has plenty of fresh challenges ahead of him if he wishes to stay in the division. Also on the card, four former Heavyweight champions fill out the main card with Ricky Thompson welcoming Sonatane Veainu to the upper heavyweight card in the co-main event slot. Special thanks to our sponsors: - Paddy’s Enhancing Drugs, Darvin Nutrition, SynCity Fightwear, Ma Balls Is Hot Clothing and KOMBAT CLOTHING.

PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT We here at #Highland are pleased to announce a partnership with Paddy's Enhancing Drugs (160Q) as our official events partner. Head over to PED for all your supplement needs, and watch the man himself Paddy Mcgillicutty in action on May 8th at Synchronicity 897 FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS Highland 159 Kofi Ousmane (12-9) Vs Remi Chavaski (17-5) Highland 160 Highland Middleweight Championship Guilherme Godoi (19-6) (c) Vs Siale Veainu (20-6) Highland Bantamweight Championship Kaiden Thibodeaux (8-1) Vs Vudu Sims (7-2) Highland 161 Highland Light Heavyweight Championship Torhte Finlayson (29-2) (c) Vs Tama Ruiha (14-8) CONTRACT SIGNINGS Bizzo Colez (1-7) - Bantamweight Smashy Cartwright (9-4) - Featherweight Kazuo Takashi (27-3) - Featherweight Li Bai (6-5) - Welterweight James Gracie (9-5) - Middleweight Lyke Tuytuhlz (5-2) - Middleweight Billy Crawley (11-7-2) - Light Heavyweight

Congratz man.

Happy to have two guys from Highland helping to carve out a piece of history with such a big card. Looking forward to it.

I think the main issues are 1) There isn't a lot of benefit in mid tier arenas. 2) The game's highest rating is already been hit many times so maybe expanding upon that, and then adding some even bigger stadiums or something.