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http://mmatycoon.com/images/company/logo/1440094913Troid_Epicity.gif *T118* - Celtic Christmas http://mmatycoon.com/gallery/0/13762188447833.jpg VS http://mmatycoon.com/gallery/0/14046526106802.jpg "Lucky" Liam O'Connor James "Sully" McGuiness The MMA Tycoon world have been given a Christmas present by the Troid EP management team. Two ex-Island Irish legends are due to step into that steel cage for the very last time. Only one will emerge victorious in this epic last fight for both of these warriors. Both fighters captured the hearts of MMA fans across the globe by putting on a show every time they stepped into the cage. One the one hand you have the submission specialist in "Lucky" Liam O'Connor (15-7) and on the other hand you have the KO artist in James "Sully" McGuiness (16-13-1). The classic battle between grappler and boxer is set to go down in this mouth watering fight. Liam O'Connor comes into this fight off the back of a TKO loss to former Troid EP Middleweight title holder Ilya Mstislav Volkov (13-3). Though the fight didn't go the way he wanted, he surprised a lot of MMA fans by managing to get the fight where he wanted, on to the ground. Unfortunately for Liam O'Connor and his fans, Ilya was more than comfortable to be on the ground and was well aware of Liam's dangerous ground game. Ilya managed to avoid the submissions and counter them with some dangerous ground and pound, opening up a nasty cut on Liam's face. With the blood pouring down Liam's face, the doctor was asked to inspect the cut and deemed it too bad for Liam O'Connor to continue. Liam O'Connor's last chance of winning a title in his career had gone. Post-fight, Liam spoke of the pains he has recently been facing as a result of his 10 year fight career and hinted that his time in MMA was drawing to a close. James "Sully" McGuiness, perhaps famously known for being owner of Sully's Bar & Grill or the face of the KT revolution, is the fighter who will be standing across the cage from Liam O'Connor. James is coming off the back of a KT fight where he suffered a TKO loss against Welterweight KT sensation Bryant Baez (11-3-1). He was the main event in a card hosted by the #1 KT organisation EFFA. At 28 years of age, James is 7 years younger than Liam O'Connor but despite this has competed in 8 more fights and has the experience of competing not just in MMA but also in KT. He is said to be retiring to focus his attention full time on helping organise events in the KT scene and to run his bar full time. Both fighters have a strong following and are loved by the Irish MMA fans. Liam O'Connor has a unique style of fighting which he has perfected, his game plan is to get the fight to the clinch, pull guard and then secure the submission, a game plan which has seen him rack up an impressive 12 submissions and he has never been submitted in his 22 fight career. James McGuiness on the other hand has a KO or be KO'd attitude which has seen him win all of his fights bar one by (T)KO. While we're saddened to see the end of the career of two legendary ex-Island fighters, this is one fight to mark down on your calender and I know a lot of people will be looking forward to this Christmas present come Christmas day! http://i.imgur.com/eEVnMIA.png

Troid 109 Preview: O'Connor vs Volkov http://i.imgur.com/fEUPiXR.png When the popular "Lucky" Liam O'Connor (15-6) stepped off The Island to join up with Mark O'Sullivan's Team Finland to attempt to have a successful career, post The Island many were predicted his stay in professional MMA to be a short one, yet he has continually proved the critics wrong every step of the way in his illustrious MMA career. Liam O'Connor went off the radar for over 6 months but eventually joined up with BEEF for their SlaughterSeason tournament which was made especially for Island fighters, with one round of fights the tournament was cancelled and O'Connor was left once more as a free agent. It didn't take long for him to be signed up again as he was signed up by world renowned organisation Umbrella Corporation, Igor Byhenikov's then business and he had another fight one month later. Unfortunately, again Liam managed only one fight, this time a loss albeit against his first opponent who never appeared on The Island. It wasn't until Grant Brophy decided to take a gamble and sign the ex-Islander for Troid (now Troid EP) that he really shined and what a gamble it was, with Liam's current record in Troid being a very respectable 5-1 and him being on the back of a 4 fight winning streak which has lead him to where he is now... a fight for the Troid Middleweight title. Ironically former Umbrella owner Igor Byhenikov, the man who first saw Liam's potential off The Island would eventually have one of his own elite fighters take on the famous Irishman. Standing across the cage from him on Saturday night will be Ilya Mstislav Volkov (12-3) one of the most feared Russian MMA fighters in the world at this time. Oddly enough Ilya is another former Umbrella Corporation fighter and is no stranger to big fights having fought in numerous title fights during his time with Epicity Productions. He was the reigning Middleweight champion when the Epicity Production and Troid merger took place and got an immediate title shot at the then Troid title holder Joe Smith (13-3), it was a tough battle between the two champions but it was Ilya that emerged victorious as the new Troid EP Middleweight champion. In addition to fighting for both Umbrella and Epicity, Ilya also had a spell with Insanity which is another one of the current big orgs at this time. He's currently on a 6 fight win streak, with 5 of those coming via KO/TKO. Ilya will be confident coming into this fight having won 6 fights in a row but Liam O'Connor is no stranger to over coming the odds having already fought in one fight during 2015 where he was a heavy underdog against Moses Diggs son "Unchained" Django Diggs (9-1). Despite many throughout the world feeling he had no chance at all, he proved everyone wrong and left Django Diggs screaming for him to let go of his armbar, the technique Liam has used to help him win 5 of his 12 professional MMA submission wins. The Liam O'Connor tactic as it's now been called has worked time and time again through Liam's career. If he gets a hold of you in the clinch, you better hope to God he doesn't pull guard and take you with him because if he does, he's going to apply a lock to one of your limbs and force you to tap quicker than you can say "OH SHIT". Ilya knows exactly what not to do, he wants to keep the fight on the outside, avoid Liam's clinch game and utilise his own gameplan. Ilya has the power to get a KO and we know Liam has been KO'd before in the past. Interestingly, Ilya's biggest weakness (at least at looking at his record) is against submission guys with 2 of his 3 losses coming via submission. This mouth watering match up has the potential to be an all-time classic. This is the biggest test of Liam O'Connor's career and a win here could potentially cement himself as one of the all time greatest Irish MMA fighters if he hasn't done so already, winning the Troid title would surely be the biggest achievement of his MMA career to date. Ilya has all the pressure on him, will he be able to cope with it? Or will he buckle under the pressure? Find out on Saturday night!

Preview: Diggs vs O'Connor http://i.imgur.com/hM4m5kk.png Many are saying that this is one of the most highly anticipated Middleweight bouts of 2015 and we're just two days away from seeing these bitter rivals go head to head inside the Troid cage. There's been a lot of smack talk between these two fighters and it's clear for everyone to see that they're not the best of friends. This fight is the classic setting in combat sports, the hot prospect in the division "Unchained" Django Diggs (6-0), going against a more experienced fighter, The Island veteran "Lucky" Liam O'Connor (13-6). Django Diggs, son of the MMA legend Moses Diggs, has been on fire since his first professional MMA bout. He's undefeated and has won by KO/TKO in 5 of his 6 wins. Many believe that he was born to fight and follow in his father's footsteps, if you watch him it's pretty clear to see he's a natural fighter. Liam O'Connor on the other hand only had his first professional MMA bout at the age of 25 while competing on Season One of The Island. He quickly established himself as one of the most dangerous Middleweights on that season and was dominating the Middleweight division with 8 wins in a row until he lost his title against The Castaway. Since losing that fight, Liam has lacked consistency and hasn't been able to maintain a winning streak. Django has the power to score a KO victory and could well come out with the intention to end the fight early by getting a quick KO. Most of his opponents hardly had a chance to get comfortable in the cage before Django bombarded them with strikes. One thing Django will have to look out for is the dangerous submission game of Liam O'Connor. Liam O'Connor has been a lot more conservative in his last two fights, picking up the win but not in the impressive style that we were used to seeing during his stay on The Island. His striking has looked very crisp although he wasn't able to KO his opponent or lock up one of his dangerous submissions. Without a doubt, he'll be looking to use his experience to his advantage and fight smart in this fight otherwise it could be over very quickly for the "Lucky" Irishman. http://i.imgur.com/ZkefKxL.png Both of these fighters have a career thread where you can read about how their career has progressed so far along with the smack talk which has went on between these two. Liam O'Connor career thread Django Diggs career thread