Budokai Light-Heavyweight Tag Team Tournament

[GBK16]

http://mmatycoon.com/gallery/0/14852152798529.png

Jansen Eriksen

[LeonStolz]

Paul Tyler

[Timqwe]

Every fighter now is locked in, now just the contracts and all the fights will be booked

[Timqwe]

The first round of the BFF Light Heavyweight tag team tournament is just days away, and for this we got me, the host of the tournament doing an analysis of the participants and their first matchups.

 

BigLarry/Leonstolz vs Philofthefuture/Stef Power

 

Eddie Nordon vs Joyce Manaloto
Eddie Nordon first burst upon the scene taking on Floppy Dick in the regionals. Unfortunately, he ended up losing to the more experienced fighter in just 43 seconds, but his vaunted power made his opponent wince on every landed shot, a valuable attribute at the higher weights. On the other hand, the quick loss does raise some questions about how well his chin will hold up. Nordon is a lifelong Muay Thai practitioner, who seems to prefer boxing with his opponent.

Staying at range will probably be the last thing Joyce Manaloto wants. The Philippian brawler will make his pro-debut in this tournament, but from what we’ve heard from his coaches, he is both well versed in Muay Thai and wrestling. Even though Joyce is the taller and lighter fighter, he’s probably going to try and chase down Nordon, who is going to try to pick his shot on the incoming bruiser. The longer it stays at range, the better chance Nordon has, but if it hits the ropes, Manaloto will probably take over and grind out the win.

Paul Tyler vs Stef Power Jr.
Paul Tyler comes in the tournament with a serious background. The former Division-I wrestler already made his debut in the regionals, where he managed to take down the Japanese striker Sanada an impressive 7 out of 7 times. While he didn’t get much done on the ground, he picked up an easy 30-27 decision this way. Apart from his collegial wrestling background, it seems like Tyler has dabbled in submission grappling, attacking Sanada with a variety of chokes and limb attacks. His inability to finish those though, suggests that there might be some work in the gym for him left.

Unfortunately for Tyler, it seems like Power Jr. is a bit more well-versed in the art of submission grappling. Manager Stef Power has sent his own son in to the tournament, after an impressive debut on the regionals, where Stef managed to let the 7 years older Ortiz tap to strikes, after dismantling him on the feet. There he showed an impressively accurate boxing game and his coaches have told me that he has a blue belt in BJJ to back it up. This seems like a pick your poison type matchup for Tyler. If he has worked on his submission defence, he has a good chance of grinding out the win, but if he hasn’t, it’s only time until he gets caught in something.

 

Fuel4Hatered/Ikki Takeda vs Grant Brophy/KD

 

Billy Basher vs Jansen Eriksen
New Zealand’s Billy Basher is an absolute giant in the Light Heavyweight division. The redbearded giants stands at an impressive 6’8” and cuts down from 220lbs to make the division. Are is not much known about the giant other than that, other than that he comes from a Muay Thai background. His size and strength is going to make it a tough first round for any opponent, but we’ll have to see how well his cardio holds up after that.

On the complete opposite of the spectrum is Danish bruiser Jansen Eriksen. At 6’1”, without the need to cut any weight, Eriksen is one of the smaller fighters in the tournament. He already has made his debut in the regionals, where he managed to counter every takedown attempt Jamaican wrestler threw at him, and knocked him out in just 45 seconds. Power, speed, defences against grapplers, the Scandinavian striker seems to have it all, and has established himself as one of the early favourites. It’s going to be interesting to see though, if his investments in beating grapplers will come vback to bite him when he has to take on a pure striker in Basher.

Rick Waters vs Jesse Killpatrick
The other side of this matchup sees two debuting grapplers face of against each other. Rick Waters is one of the most decorate grapplers in the tournament, sporting a brown belt. The question is, does he have the tools to get the fight to the ground to make use of that brown belt? Since Waters seems to have invested most of his training time in his boxing, I wouldn’t be too sure about that.

Getting the fight to the ground is not usually a problem for High School All American Jesse Killpatrick. The stocky wrestler from Seattle is a major talent in wrestling, who decided to fully skip college to compete in this tournament. His lack of BJJ training might see him try to keep this one standing though, there is no way his white belt grappling is enough to fend off Waters vast collection of submissions. That means we might get to see a boxing match between two fighters that have not that much boxing expertise. Waters seems slightly further along boxing wise, and his 7cm reach advantage will come in handy, but striking battles at this level often come down to athleticism, chin and power, and that we will only find out when these two fighters make their debut.

 

Humble Greco/Scotty JoeC vs Rei Rei/Patrick Trevis

 

Damian Joyner vs Mamed Ramzanov
This matchup will finally answer the question, which is better, catch wrestling or sambo. Damian Joyner is a catchwrestler from LA, who is going to make his debut in this tournament. Not much more is known about him, other than that will be the first time he is going to leave LA, to fight on the other side of the world in this tournament. According to his coaches though, he’s a natural who managed to pick up the sport incredibly fast.

On the other side of the ring stands Mamed Ramzanov. The Dagestan sambofighter that trains in London will have his second match, after submitting 25-year old striker ItalianoSausigie in just 18 seconds. The Russian might be slightly behind Joyner as far as progress goes, but his gymvideos show that he’s able to get out of the tightest submissions. Expect these two to trade submissions back and forth.

Garry Willes vs Ibubesi Mbube
If the last matchup was a fight between light, fast grapplers, this fight is a match between muscles. Two guys that cut down all the way from 220lbs to make the limit will square of against eachother. Their styles couldn’t be more different though. Garry Willes actually used to wrestle at heavyweight in college, where he once tipped the scales at 240lbs. Here he’s going to have to do the huge cut to 205. What the size gives him is a downright nasty top game and a lot of power behind his strikes.

Mbube on the other hand wants nothing to do with the ground. The striker from Zimbabwe is the only African fighter in the tournament and hopes to do the entire continent proud. Even in Japan we’ve heard the stories about his freak strength, where he drags broken down vans down the street as a strength training. It’s going to be interesting to see him going up against someone who can come close to matching his raw power.

 

Skenoj/Gonzasco vs Los Mags/Neon Richards

 

Migo Tello vs Yuri Luzhka
The first of the last two fights is very interesting, not just because of the fighters, but because of the managers. Los Mags is the one that mentored Skenoj and taught him the game. Will the student become the master, or is the day not just there yet? Their background comes back in their clients. Tello and Luzhka are both BJJ brown belts with some wrestling expertise. They are also the same weight, both walking around at 205lbs, but the 6’2” American towers over the 5’10” Russian.

The experience here lies in favour of the Russian. He already made his debut on the regionals, armbarring the 7 year older catchwrestler Rounds. For Tello it will be his debut. Will this experience help out the Russian Luzhka, or has Tello managed to take advantage of the extra training time, expecially since rumor is he’s a natural at the sport, picking up new techniques as he sees them?

Genji Kamogawa vs James Romero
The last fight of this round sees the only hometown fighter make his MMA-debut. Genji Kamogawa seems to be an all-round mixed martial artist that prefers to fight against the ropes. Other than that the Tokyo resident training in London is with 6’2 215lbs slightly above average for the tournament. The only weak spot in his game seems to be his jiu jitsu, since he’s only a white belt in that.

That weak spot means that he’s going to have to do everything in his power to keep this fight on the feet. Just like his Russian teammate, US born James Romero is a BJJ-specialist with a brown belt, although he seems to be slightly lagging behind in the wrestling department. His first fight on the regionals he ended up losing to journeyman ZB Penduko, but at the same time he managed to survive 3 rounds against the 8 year older more experienced fighter. He’s going to need that durability once again, because Kamogawa is a very good defensive wrestler, but if he manages to get it down, he should finish the fight in mere seconds. That’s a big if though.

[Stef]

Good write up man

[Alfred]

Awesome stuff. I'm going to put some of that stuff in his bio lol

[Gonzasco]

Great write up mate

[BigLarry]

Awesome read man

[BigLarry]

Eddie: "Solid chin, granite chin, cement chin, don't give a flyin rat's ass, I turn 'em all into my punch bag..."

[Timqwe]

BigLarry/Leonstolz vs Philofthefuture/Stef Power: 2-2 (2:25/1:55)
Fuel4Hatered/Ikki Takeda vs Grant Brophy/KD: 2-1 (3:47/20:00)
Humble Greco/Scotty Joe vs Rei Rei/Patrick Trevis: 2-2 (1:44/8:27)
Skenoj/Gonzasco vs Los Mags/Neon Richards: 0-4 (Nvt/10:56)

[Alfred]

Did Billy Basher order a carpet? Because that's what Jesse Kilpatrick is going to be laying down on him. Another solid 1 point coming for team Brofred

[Ikkitakeda]

Ah go Fuel. Figured i would have to rely on my partner to get the points for me in the early going of this competition with the build I'm trying. Get another KO Fuel and cement us in the next round. I should be able to carry my weight by that time.

[Timqwe]

Did Billy Basher order a carpet? Because that's what Jesse Kilpatrick is going to be laying down on him. Another solid 1 point coming for team Brofred

I'm not sure if you noticed, but you're 1 point behind. That's a risky tactic you're taking

[GBK16]

I'm not sure if you noticed, but you're 1 point behind. That's a risky tactic you're taking

Won't be an issue. This was the only round we figured they could pick up points on, and even then they only got half what we expected they would. Next fights are in our favour.

[Timqwe]

Won't be an issue. This was the only round we figured they could pick up points on, and even then they only got half what we expected they would. Next fights are in our favour.

Wait, you guys expected to go 0-4 in this round? I didn't see it that way at all

[GBK16]

Wait, you guys expected to go 0-4 in this round? I didn't see it that way at all

We went in expecting 2 losses, whether they got finishes or not was up for debate.

[Ikkitakeda]

We went in expecting 2 losses, whether they got finishes or not was up for debate.

I was expecting a loss and hoping fuel would pick up the slack. Going to hope for another vic for fuel this round. Taking a complete week to regain energy to training levels again so i know that is going to hurt us. As well as i don't think my fighter's morale will recover in time for the next fight. Took a 75% loss in morale after the loss. That hurts.

[Skenoj]

saw my "teammate" drop his fighter ,whats gonna happen now?

[Timqwe]

saw my "teammate" drop his fighter ,whats gonna happen now?

He said he's gonna pick him back up, misunderstood the rules apparently. If he doesn't I'll try to find an alternate, if I can't find an alternate, his matchup defaults to a decision loss

[Monsieur.Camara]

He said he's gonna pick him back up, misunderstood the rules apparently. If he doesn't I'll try to find an alternate, if I can't find an alternate, his matchup defaults to a decision loss

 

I have this guy Donald Trump (330872) training. He fits your weight criteria if you need an alternate. Let me know, I was about to sign him to #Kornflikt

[Timqwe]

 

I have this guy Donald Trump (330872) training. He fits your weight criteria if you need an alternate. Let me know, I was about to sign him to #Kornflikt

He unfortunately does not fit the creation date criteria

[Guest]

Seems my team mate has gone couple days inactive and isn't training his guy as he's ran out of money. What happens if he stays inactive? I fight alone or alt?

[Ikkitakeda]

Seems my team mate has gone couple days inactive and isn't training his guy as he's ran out of money. What happens if he stays inactive? I fight alone or alt?

I believe this was answered with a guy who's teammate had released his fighter. His matches will be counted as a 1 point decision loss for the other team. So if you hit decision win against 1 and beat the other you still advance or if you decision win against them both it would be a tie and no clue how that plans out since it goes by time but that would essentially be same time of fights.

[Timqwe]

I believe this was answered with a guy who's teammate had released his fighter. His matches will be counted as a 1 point decision loss for the other team. So if you hit decision win against 1 and beat the other you still advance or if you decision win against them both it would be a tie and no clue how that plans out since it goes by time but that would essentially be same time of fights.

In the unlikely event that all fights go to decision the team that picked up the most rounds according to the fight commentator advances. If that's also equal, the team that landed the most strikes (in any phace of the fight, a combo counts for 1 strike) will advance

[Timqwe]

Seems my team mate has gone couple days inactive and isn't training his guy as he's ran out of money. What happens if he stays inactive? I fight alone or alt?

If he hasn't gotten online again when the fights happen, all fighters that didn't make it to the second round will enter a lottery to replace him