kfuhrer Posted July 24, 2021 Report Share Posted July 24, 2021 Great Stuff Hare. Hoping to send you some new fighters soon. Would love to get Don Cortez on the roster at some point. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted July 28, 2021 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2021 SUCKER PUNCH PREVIEW Sucker Punch Pro Series 75 Good evening Sucker Punch fans, Hare Rumpler here along with Donkey “Dan”, and it’s time to look at what’s coming tonight over at the Bondi Outdoor Arena with SPPS 75. I wish I had better news for everybody out there, but quite frankly our fans are not going to get their money’s worth this evening over at the Bondi. As such, we’ve lowered ticket prices, refunded half the prior sales prices and given vouchers for future events to most fans as well as having dished out a ton of free tickets as we treat this evening as more of a “preview” of future SPPS fights. Why do I say all of this? Well, because close to half our fights on this card, four of them to be exact, had to be cancelled due to managers going MIA and their fighters not signing their fights. And yes, as you might guess, I am not in a good mood about it! And that’s why I went on a headhunting spree over the past several days cutting about a dozen or so fighters from our organization and that process isn’t over yet as I’ll continue doing that as guys come off fights but have absent managers. Granted, our fans will be treated to a few fantastic fights this evening including the Main Event which features Michael Aalto in his first title defense since regaining the Featherweight belt. He’ll be tested by a fearsome little monster in the Magnificent Chulalongkorn! We also have Wilfred Ainsworth who always brings everything he’s got to the cage as he goes at it in a Middleweight contest with Derek Patterson. There’s more, but let’s get a quick word in about our sponsor and merchandise partner and then have a closer look at each of our six fights this evening! Do you find that you’re resting your fighters too often? Two, three, maybe even 4 times a week sometimes? If that’s the case, you’re probably not supplementing their training, and if you are I’m thinking you’re not doing it with Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q, which is Shadow Warrior Nutrition’s outstanding energy loss reduction supplement. It’s the best money can buy and will keep your fighter in the gym training rather than sitting days out resting! Stop on over there today, you will NOT be disappointed! Now, let's get to it! *********************** Fight #1: Welterweights Nils Norling (6-3-0) v Pete Dunham (2-3-0) And of course, in what seems to be somewhat poetic for the way this night and card is set to go, we have two Welterweights opening up the evening with both coming in at least somewhat, if not much more than somewhat in the case of Norling, unprepared. Norling’s manager, Valentina Luvana, has been missing for over three weeks now and as such Norling comes into this fight ready to give it away at only about 60% morale. I say “ready” to give it away because there’s no guarantee he’ll actually do that given Dunham is also coming in somewhat low at 10% off on his morale, with his manager having not logged in in the past two days and making it appear he hasn’t properly primed his fighter either for this one. Not exactly the way to make your Sucker Punch debut, to be sure. And certainly not in a division that is already hurting for quality fighters. So you probably expected me to discuss how this fight might go and strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, I won’t do that out of plain disgust for the way these two are coming to the cage. As I said, this is a division already light on fighters and yet here we are with two more I may very well be cutting after the fights tonight. That would leave us with only 16 in the division and dangerously close to my needing to just shut the division down. Donkey’s Pick: Dunham via whatever. Dunham is less unprepared than Norling so there’s the simple reason to pick him. *********************** Fight #2: Light Heavyweights Victor Veidt (5-1-0) v Morioka Shigemasa (4-5-0) Well folks, here we go again. In this Light Heavyweight matchup we have a relatively unprepared Shigemasa taking on Victor Veidt this evening. You’d think having gone 1-2 over his past three fights under current management that Cian Coggins would have Shigemasa primed and ready to get in there and try to turn things around. Instead, he comes in with his boy 20% off on morale. We know that Shigemasa plans to drop down a weight class to Middleweight after this fight but unless he starts coming prepared to his fights he may not see the end of that new contract. Veidt and Shigemasa are just about even in all primary areas of skill with the exception that Shigemasa has the edge in Jiu Jitsu. Veidt is 1-0 with us under current management and looks to make it a double dip this evening. He won’t care whether Shigemasa came prepared or not and will look to use his solid striking skills to end this one early, although he’s shown he can take it the distance as well as he did against ground specialist Wille Thai last month. Shigemasa, despite having the edge in Jiu Jitsu, typically tries to utilize a diverse kickboxing attack mixed with some Muay Thai. Given that history, I don’t expect the BJJ advantage to factor in this evening so this fight becomes much more even than it would appear on paper. Donkey’s Pick: Veidt via TKO (Strikes) Veidt gets the nod here due to his better preparation as well as his history of finding a way to capture the ‘W’. *********************** Main Card Bout #1: Middleweights Zhao versus Beam II Longsun Zhao (8-7-0) v Jim Beam (5-10-0) On paper Beam will have the advantage in most areas tonight except the one that counts most…wins. His victory over Nyah Hirst to close out the 2020 year in December was probably the best moment of his career…and possibly the worst as well. Yes, he won the championship. But it also set in motion the loss of the belt in his first defense, a loss that he has never seemed to be able to bounce back from. Was it the loss that did it, or the expectations that came with being the champ? Nobody knows for sure, but what we do know is that he’s now lost an unbelievable six fights in a row after having been on a 5-1 roll when he won the belt. Zhao is currently 4-2 in his last six fights and there’d likely be one less loss on the record there if not for his obsession with Psiris Fuhren! Earlier this month he was smacked around by Fuhren yet again for the third time in his career which put a big damper on his two fight roll he’d been on with beautiful KO performances against Sean Smith and Joseph DeAngelo. Expect manager Slick Gunderson to have Zhao primed and ready to get in here tonight and let em rip while trying to protect against the takedowns and potential submission game from Beam! Donkey’s Pick: Beam via Submission (Armbar) These two have met once before very early in their careers during the Cockshot Sorter Series (Round 2) that established the Middleweight division here at SPPS. In that meeting Zhao got the better of Beam with a KO punch to end the evening in the first round. That very well could happen again given Zhao’s striking has continued to be a strong point right up to his most recent fights. I have a sneaky feeling that Beam may be due for a win finally tonight though. He didn’t win the belt for no reason, that same Beam is lurking in there somewhere. *********************** Main Card Bout #2: Light Heavyweights Wille Thai (9-5-0) v Abraham Barnes (4-7-0) Unfortunately another fight this evening where one of our fighters, Barnes in this case, comes to the cage less than prepared. His morale is off by close to 20% which is not going to make trying to break free from a three fight losing streak any easier. I wish I could hype Barnes up a bit here, but truly he’s been struggling. He comes into this fight the favorite going strictly by skills as he has a 4.0* skill estimate and matches or exceeds Thai’s skills in all areas. Yet, he fell to Shigemasa two fights back and Shigemasa has flat out been struggling to find wins. Last month, he was submitted by Sacrificial Lamb, a fighter who was on his way out of the org and ready to quit fighting and had never pulled off a submission in his career. The lack of preparation can be a killer at times and combined with whatever intangible is holding Barnes back it’s been an absolutely showstopper for him. Thai typically comes focused these days when it’s time to step into the ring and that’s no exception this evening. He’s been struggling himself over the past four fights with only a single win three fights back over Titus Fury. He proved himself the more capable ground specialist in that bout but has struggled since against quality standup strikers. Barnes is typically a ground and pounder so the move for Thai tonight will be to catch him with a counter submission if Barnes gets top position, or better yet, never let Barnes have the top to begin with! Donkey’s Pick: Thai via Submission (Guillotine) Going with the more prepared fighter again here in this one. That lack of morale may prevent Barnes from being able to impose his will and dictate position in the fight. *********************** Co-Main Event: Featured Middleweight Bout Wilfred Ainsworth (8-3-1) v Derek Patterson (2-1-0) Alright, finally here in our Co-Main Event we’ll have the type of fight that fans showed up and tailgated all afternoon to see! Derek Patterson will step into the cage tonight in this Middleweight battle with P J Jones in his corner. Across the cage will be big time brawler, Wilfred Ainsworth, with Runt guiding him for the evening! These two are very evenly matched outside Patterson’s Jiu Jitsu abilities where he’ll claim the advantage with his black belt over Ainsworth’s brown. Patterson did start out his career as a grappler so the danger on the ground there against him is real. He hasn’t pulled off a submission for the win yet in MMA but it may just be a matter of time. He’s gone for them in both of his most recent wins when the fight did end up on the mat. He comes in with a 2-1 record in MMA but it should be noted that those wins were in the QFC which is a totally different animal than org competition. That said, Jones is not one to have his boys be caught off-guard or unprepared, so Ainsworth should be taking this fight very seriously. Ainsworth has had two trips to the title fight in his career and unfortunately has come up short both times against first Machado and then Landon McGuire three months back. Since then he’s bounced around with a win over Gotaro but a loss to Blikstein. That loss to Blikstein set him back some rather than catapulting him back into the title picture but a win over a solid competitor like Patterson this evening could give him a big shove upward again. Ainsworth loves to hit em hard and watch em fall, but has won via decision as well. Jones’ boys are known for being able to push a fight the distance for decision victories but tonight a big worry should also be the ground game from Jones’ side of things. Patterson brings a big test for Ainsworth. Donkey’s Pick: Patterson via Unanimous Decision I’ve been told that threats have been received at the office here at SPPS headquarters regarding my picks and a certain manager’s fighter. Now, I’m not saying that I’m picking Patterson instead for that reason…but it’s been made clear to me that should I pick for the other side my general health could be of concern. I’ve contacted the local authorities but here in Oz they seem to think that working at a joint named Sucker Punch brings its own risks and it’s on me. Bah! *********************** Main Event: Featherweight Championship Bout Michael Aalto (11-1-0) v Magnificent Chulalongkorn (11-4-0) Our Main Event of the evening is definitely one that makes the admission price worthwhile despite the disappointment of only six fights on the card tonight! We have two Featherweights here who are ridiculously closely matched, with Chulalongkorn actually having the slightest of edges in boxing and Muay Thai over the defending champ, Michael Aalto! Chulalongkorn is a former champ from Checkmate and after that, BBFC, and those credentials along with his convincing victory over Jaxon Bremner in his Sucker Punch debut last month are what put him in position to get this title shot. I’m very disappointed that Greg Connor’s manager, Andrew Wittig, has gone mostly MIA these days as Connor is now with us and is the owner of the last two wins over Chulalongkorn, something that could have been a HUGE potential future matchup to look for. In the meantime we have other things to attend to here! Chulalongkorn has a history of using brutal boxing and power to win his fights via TKO and KO. Despite Bremner’s concerns going into the fight last month Chulalongkorn does not have a big recent history with the clinch as a go to move. Aalto, who also defeated Bremner two months ago, something that he has in common with Chulalongkorn, is back in the driver’s seat in this Featherweight division again after defeating Baptiste earlier this month to reclaim the belt! That had to be especially satisfying for him given his loss of the belt originally came to Baptiste in his fifth title defense during his initial championship run. Aalto’s last four victories have all come via submission and given Chulalongkorn’s heavy hands there’s no reason to expect that Aalto won’t try to take this fight to the ground as well. Chulalongkorn has never fallen to a submission so far in his career though, so if Aalto is going to pull it off with a finish he’s going to have to do it with a first here! Donkey’s Pick: Aalto via Submission (Armbar) I’m giving the two time champ the respect he deserves here. And this could very well turn out to be a great pick! But, at the same time, I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if this ends in favor of Chulalongkorn via TKO or, more likely, Unanimous Decision. This will be one of the most dangerous fights of the Champ’s career tonight! *********************** So there we have it Sucker Punch fans! Well, not a full card but still a lot of fun on tap this evening folks! It all kicks off in just a few hours now and we hope to see you there! Till then, have fun and don’t forget… Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator001 Posted July 28, 2021 Report Share Posted July 28, 2021 "I’ve been told that threats have been received at the office here at SPPS headquarters regarding my picks and a certain manager’s fighter. Now, I’m not saying that I’m picking Patterson instead for that reason" Huh??? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runt Posted July 28, 2021 Report Share Posted July 28, 2021 22 minutes ago, Gator001 said: "I’ve been told that threats have been received at the office here at SPPS headquarters regarding my picks and a certain manager’s fighter. Now, I’m not saying that I’m picking Patterson instead for that reason" Huh??? Oh please do shut up Mr Muppet Boy. That wig, that smile, it isn't classy at all young chap. I would suggest you not worry about the preview, and worry more about your face being rearranged. Just a suggestion. Good luck. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator001 Posted July 28, 2021 Report Share Posted July 28, 2021 Such is life, time for me to find a new job 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runt Posted July 28, 2021 Report Share Posted July 28, 2021 That'l do Donkey, That'l do. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjornmma1 Posted July 28, 2021 Report Share Posted July 28, 2021 On 7/28/2021 at 3:11 AM, HareRumpler said: Main Event: Featherweight Championship Bout Michael Aalto (11-1-0) v Magnificent Chulalongkorn (11-4-0) Our Main Event of the evening is definitely one that makes the admission price worthwhile despite the disappointment of only six fights on the card tonight! We have two Featherweights here who are ridiculously closely matched, with Chulalongkorn actually having the slightest of edges in boxing and Muay Thai over the defending champ, Michael Aalto! Chulalongkorn is a former champ from Checkmate and after that, BBFC, and those credentials along with his convincing victory over Jaxon Bremner in his Sucker Punch debut last month are what put him in position to get this title shot. I’m very disappointed that Greg Connor’s manager, Andrew Wittig, has gone mostly MIA these days as Connor is now with us and is the owner of the last two wins over Chulalongkorn, something that could have been a HUGE potential future matchup to look for. In the meantime we have other things to attend to here! Chulalongkorn has a history of using brutal boxing and power to win his fights via TKO and KO. Despite Bremner’s concerns going into the fight last month Chulalongkorn does not have a big recent history with the clinch as a go to move. Aalto, who also defeated Bremner two months ago, something that he has in common with Chulalongkorn, is back in the driver’s seat in this Featherweight division again after defeating Baptiste earlier this month to reclaim the belt! That had to be especially satisfying for him given his loss of the belt originally came to Baptiste in his fifth title defense during his initial championship run. Aalto’s last four victories have all come via submission and given Chulalongkorn’s heavy hands there’s no reason to expect that Aalto won’t try to take this fight to the ground as well. Chulalongkorn has never fallen to a submission so far in his career though, so if Aalto is going to pull it off with a finish he’s going to have to do it with a first here! Donkey’s Pick: Aalto via Submission (Armbar) I’m giving the two time champ the respect he deserves here. And this could very well turn out to be a great pick! But, at the same time, I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if this ends in favor of Chulalongkorn via TKO or, more likely, Unanimous Decision. This will be one of the most dangerous fights of the Champ’s career tonight! *********************** Magnificent Chulalongkorn Well, the preview was somewhat incorrect, lol. Sure, I'm known for my big hands, but I know damn well how to fight on the ground and wanted to prove a point. Subbed the submission specialist in the first round and got my newest belt in style. Do I see 'Sub of the night' coming up around the corner already...? http://www.mmatycoon.com/images/fight/sub2.gif Chulalongkorn in side control, working for a kimura. He's got hold of an arm and he's torquing it... Aalto is tapping! That's the end of the fight! Ladies and gentlemen, after 4:59 of round 1, we have a winner by way of Submission (Kimura). Magnificent Chulalongkorn! Magnificent Chulalongkorn is the new featherweight champion! Magnificent Chulalongkorn decided to go for the less than humble approach in his post fight interview, telling everyone how he is going to conquer the world. The crowd seemed to like it when really that sort of approach could have gone either way. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjornmma1 Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 Magnificent Chulalongkorn Apparently some contenders have opted to go on holiday and don't want anything to do with my peachy Asian ass. Fine by me, I am facing the toughest guy the division has to offer, the guy that others opted not to fight. Bring it, looks like a fun challenge. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted August 7, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2021 SUCKER PUNCH PREVIEW Sucker Punch Pro Series 76 Hello out there to all our Sucker Punch faithful! I’m Hare Rumpler and I’ll be joined tonight by my pal and colleague, Donkey “Dan”, as we jump into a look ahead at SPPS 76! It’s been almost a week and a half since our last event as we had a bit of downtime between things here at Sucker Punch and I have to say it was nice to get that break in. Does that mean that I’m any more ahead on this than I would normally be? Nope! Still been working, still playing disc golf when I can, still running kids around and still dragging my feet! Ha! Tonight we have a nice full card on hand with a slew of Middleweight fights on tap including our two openers on the evening. We’ll also have a pair of Light Heavyweight bouts to enjoy, one on the Undercard and the other, a nasty bash between Bloode and Akerfeldt, two fights into the Main Card. There’s also a bit of welterweight action, a couple high profile Lightweight contests that will prove to have some bigtime effects on the division with one even being the Main Event. And then, of course, our Heavyweight title fight between defending champ Hero Shima and challenger (once again!) ZaDarius Haden! That’s our Co-Main Event despite it being for a title tonight. So with that, hold onto your seats and get set as the action is only a few hours away and we’re about to get into each fight a bit more here before we set you all free to enjoy these fights. But first, let’s get a quick word in about our sponsor and merchandise partner! Shadow Warrior Nutrition will be on hand at the event tonight and I cannot say enough about how much we appreciate having them as our merchandise partner and sponsor here at Sucker Punch! Do yourself a favor…better yet, do your fighters who you spend so much time developing and preparing a favor…and stop by the stand tonight or visit their store to grab some of their Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q. It is literally the best energy loss reduction supplement money can buy and will keep your fighter in the gym training rather than sitting days out resting! Stop on over there today, you will NOT be disappointed! Now, let's get to it! *********************** Undercard Bout #1: Middleweights Alexei Rodionovich (7-9-0) v Edward Mills (5-8-0) Rodionovich and Mills will open things up for us this evening in Middleweight bout that has both of them more or less ready to get at it! Rodi is just a bit off on morale, but not a ton. Evenly matched, this should be a great fight with Mills having the edge in both aspects of the standup while Rodionovich will have a bit of an advantage wrestling. We know what Captain Pickle Punch there likes to do, and that’s try to hit em hard. So expect a lot of that from Mills. He’s lost three of his last four with his one win coming two fights back against an unprepared Ortiz. Rodionovich has been struggling as well with two losses in a row heading into this bout. He too is a striker who tends to use a more varied kickboxing attack. His fights lately haven’t been lasting long one way or another with both losses and wins. Donkey’s Pick: Mills via TKO (Strikes) Rodionovich has been falling to TKO’s lately and that’s what Mills is going to try to capitalize on. Given he’s likely to play the game that Mills wants in standup that also helps me lean in the direction of Mills. Last but not least, add on the slight shortage of morale and it’s enough for me to make the call in Mills’ favor overall. *********************** Undercard Bout #2: Middleweights Humphrey Wellington (9-12-0) v Zett Jukassa (5-3-0) Our next two Middleweights are very, very closely matched in primary skills with the only significant exception being Jukassa’s edge in wrestling. Jukassa does come in with his morale slightly off though. Jukassa will be showing up for his Sucker Punch debut tonight under new management. Previously, he’s tended to win under both former managers via TKO or KO. With exceptional boxing and sensational Muay Thai, not to mention exceptional wrestling, he may very well decide to continue that trend. Will he potentially use the advantage in wrestling to push his opponent around in the clinch? Wellington struggled in his SPPS debut in a loss to Joseph DeAngelo as he fell just fifty-five seconds into the first via TKO. That doesn’t bode well against a striker with Jukassa’s history so he’ll have to have a solid game plan put together tonight to capitalize on wonderful boxing and exceptional Muay Tha. His wins going back a ways used to come via KO or TKO, but more recently it’s been decisions. His most recent win over Glanton had Wellington dishing out a small crap-ton of kicks, both to the legs and body and I suspect we can expect a bit of that tonight as well. Donkey’s Pick: Jukassa via TKO (Strikes) I’m going to go with the tie-breaker here…er…wait, I’m not going to go with the morale thing actually. I just don’t like Wellington’s struggles on the feet lately and Jukassa is going to want to strike. I have a strange feeling that may not be a great combination so I’m taking a wild shot here and going with the other side in favor of Jukassa tonight. *********************** Undercard Bout #3: Light Heavyweights Tank Tribute (9-5-0) v Tarmo Rajantaka (7-8-0) Tribute has the slight edge on paper here this evening but Rajantaka can dish it out with the best of them. Despite not showing it as much of late. He’s fallen in his last three contests so he really does need a win here this evening. With sensational Muay Thai and wrestling I would fully expect Rajantaka to try to take advantage of the up close and personal in the clinch tonight. On the other hand, Tribute loves to smack somebody around from range, especially with shots to the head, so expect him to want to keep this fight separated. Likely this will come down to who can dictate where the fight takes place as both fighters are primed and ready for this battle! Donkey’s Pick: Rajantaka via TKO (Strikes) This is really a shot in the dark here with no real reason for the pick outside just a “feel”. Tribute actually has ground skills in Jiu Jitsu, so he could surprise us with a trip to the ground but from what we’ve seen historically that’s a defensive skillset and not designed for offense. I just expect that Rajantaka may get the work in in the clinch to wear down the body in this one. *********************** Undercard Bout #4: Welterweights Darry Curtis (8-4-0) v Igor Vovchanchyn (6-5-1) Johnny Lee takes over management of our boy Vovchanchyn here in his return to the cage following P J Jones’ release of Vov back in May. He’ll have the slight edge here tonight as the better ground fighter with his brown belt in Jiu Jitsu. Outside that, both fighters are about even across the board. Darry Curtis is an extremely skilled standup fighter with sensational skills in boxing, Muay Thai and wrestling. He’s won three of his last four fights here at Sucker Punch after ending a two fight losing streak that he suffered back at Checkmate. He usually brings a very balanced kickboxing attack to the cage. For Curtis, tonight is all about making a statement against a former champion and contender, a statement that could say, “I’m just about ready to talk seriously about contendership!” Vovchanchyn had been rolling along and even won the belt here at Sucker Punch under P J Jones. However, he failed to successfully defend it against Juan Christiano and then missed out on a chance to regain it against Ronnie Bass. A win tonight could start the trek back up the mountain again under his new manager and help him head towards contention again in the future. Donkey’s Pick: Curtis via TKO (Strikes) This is a tough pick to make. I’m only leaning towards Curtis here due to my belief, as many know, that sometimes I think it takes a fight or two for a fighter and new manager to get on the same page. That’s the only thing I can find to help me on this decision so I’m rolling with it! *********************** Undercard Bout #5: Middleweights Darwin Zambrano (6-2-0) v Obama Filth (6-4-1) It will be difficult for me to be completely objective here in our final fight of the Undercard as one of the two is my own fighter! Zambrano comes in as the much younger fighter here and likely lacks much of the development in secondaries or physicals that Filth has had the time to focus on. That’s a serious consideration for this evening’s fight and puts my guy as the underdog despite being in the red corner due to record. Filth and Zambrano are extremely closely matched in primaries though. So going by just that it wouldn’t appear that Filth has a serious edge despite his 358k registered MMAT ID. Rob Hell has led Filth two a pair of wins in a row since stepping in as his manager back in April. Both via decision. In those fights Filth has focused on his boxing with a heavy dose of head shots being dealt out. Zambrano started out his career with a heavy focus on winning via submission but has clearly veered in the direction of power and KO’s over his last five fights with four of them won and three of them being won via KO. It should be noted that he appears to be susceptible to cuts as his one loss three fights back came by doctor stoppage. Donkey’s Pick: Filth via TKO (Strikes) Expect Filth to stand and strike. And if his secondaries and physicals are more advanced he should be able to control the fight and dictate the pace and action. However, if by chance he’s a slow learner…well, he may learn a lesson or two this evening at the hands of Zambrano. We just don’t know whether that would be on the feet or on the ground given Zambrano’s history! *********************** Main Card Bout #1: Lightweights Kira Yoshikage (7-3-0) v Trevor Barnes (6-5-1) I might be able to make this one very easy for Donkey here and simply state that Barnes is coming into this Lightweight match, our first on the Main Card, short by about 35% morale. That’s enough to seriously sway Donkey’s opinion on a fight although it’s not always a guarantee of outcome. Barnes will have the advantage, at least slightly, in boxing, Muay Thai and wrestling. However, Yoshikage will be considerably more advanced in Jiu Jitsu this evening with a brown belt against Barnes’ blue. Yoshikage has submissions from early in his career but has not pulled one off in close to a year. Instead, on the ground against Jubbly in his last fight he worked a heavy dose of ground and pound, landing all thirty of his attempted strikes. For Barnes that should be a serious concern this evening. Donkey’s Pick: Yoshikage via TKO (Strikes) Hare is right in that the ground and pound and overall ground advantage for Yoshikage should be a concern, but more so than normal given Barnes’ poor morale coming in. That may prevent him from stopping the takedown and having the will to get back up and that’s bad news. *********************** Main Card Bout #2: Light Heavyweights Bloode vs. Akerfeldt III Choctaw Bloode (9-5-0) v Bjorn Akerfeldt (7-5-0) Our second contest on the Main Card should be a fun one with evenly matched Akerfeldt and Bloode going at it this evening! The only advantage either has over the other in this matchup is a bit of Muay Thai in favor of Bloode. Outside that, both are prepped and ready, with only Bloode being a tad bit off on morale. This is the end of a trilogy for these two. They both stand at one fight a piece so far with Bloode having scored a TKO win in their first meeting but then Akerfeldt finding the submission in their second. Bloode was newly managed by Ryan West last month after bouncing through three managers in three fights. West turned the page for Bloode and got him back on track with a decision victory over Tank Tribute. He used a consistent kickboxing attack in that battle with a heavy, heavy dose of kicks to the legs and body in about a 60/40 split. He also went heavy with strikes to the head at about the same clip as the leg kicks. That approach gained him all the points he needed with the judges as he was able to land well over 50% of those shots. Akerfeldt also comes off a win in his last fight after turning things around a bit. His approach was to get that right to the ground and then spam the hell out of submission attempts with only a few strikes thrown in for a distraction. A polar opposite approach to what Rajantaka wanted to see in that fight and most likely to what Bloode will want to see tonight. Will he do the same again this evening and try to repeat the last meeting these two had? Donkey’s Pick: Bloode via TKO (Strikes) I was very tempted to call Akerfeldt here via submission. And if Blood allows this fight to go on as long as he did his last fight, it’s likely to end up on the ground at some point and that may very well end up being the result. I’m going to trust him to come prepared to keep this fight on the feet this go-round though and looking to take it back to his first win over Akerfeldt! *********************** Main Card Bout #3: Middleweights Psiris Fuhren (9-5-0) v Paulo Blikstein (9-4-1) Only one draw separates the records of these two talented Middleweights this evening! And barring another such crazy result one of these two will earn a title shot against Kiryu Kazuma next month with a win here tonight! Is that enough on the line to make this one fun and exciting? I think so! Not only are their records closely matched but their skills are also right in line with the records. Again, only the smallest of differences exist and that’s with Fuhren’s very, very slight edge in Muay Thai. Given he likes to strike and box, I don’t even know for sure that that matters. Both are fully prepared to get at it! Blikstein comes off two wins over very solid competition to head into this potential title shot earning opportunity. He’s defeated Jim Beam and Ainsworth over the past two months. He also fought Jin Yi to a draw prior to that! So the body of work is definitely there since showing up at Sucker Punch and stumbling in his first fight to Tanaka Matsuda. Blikstein can strike on the feet and do it effectively, but he’s a ground and pounder at heart. Fuhren likes to strike and strike hard while standing. He’s coming off a third fight against Longsun Zhao, another that he dominated as he did all three in the trilogy. He should expect this fight to be much more difficult. He too has recently defeated Jim Beam, so he and Blikstein have that in common. I expect this to be a battle to keep the fight on the feet for Fuhren or to try to end it before it can ever get to the ground. Donkey’s Pick: Fuhren via TKO (Strikes) Fuhren proved he could handle a strong ground game against Beam. Blikstein might be a whole new level of challenge though, so we’re definitely going to see him tested this evening. I won’t be surprised at all if Blikstein flips this to the ground and gets the win if he can gain dominant position! *********************** Co-Main Event: Heavyweight Championship Bout Hero Shima (6-3-0) v ZaDarius Haden (11-3-0) Here we go with our title fight for the evening here in the Co-Main Event as Heavyweight’s Shima and Haden prepare to throw down! Haden is back again to challenge for the title, something he’s done twice previously against Thoth Chontamenti. The first, almost a year ago, ended with a submission by Chontamenti. The second go round was back in March and found Haden taking Chontamenti the distance but losing via decision. Can he have better luck against Shima? He’s certainly figured out the trick to decision victories after that loss to Chontamenti as he felled first Cooper, then Miettinen and lastly Krol in that manner. Almost all of those were accomplished via solid boxing accompanied by a ground game that featured strikes from above. Shima is no stranger to the ground game so Haden will have his work cut out for him to reproduce his success this evening and steal the belt away. After a slow start at Sucker Punch that saw Shima lose a couple fights he’s been on a six of seven fight string with three wins in a row including the win that got him the belt last month against the beast known as Chontamenti! This is the first time somebody else besides Thoth has ever held the Heavyweight belt at Sucker Punch! That was a Majority decision though and without it being a decisive victory you can bet Thoth is on the back burner for a return shot. He’d already have had it if Haden wasn’t already in line! Shima won the belt from Thoth with solid boxing and impressive ground defense. I’d expect more of the same tonight. Donkey’s Pick: Shima via Decision (Unanimous) I agree with Hare here. I expect to see pretty much a similar game plan from Shima tonight as he brought against Chontamenti as it should be effective against Haden as well. Haden is going to have to mix it up and prove he can dominate and control the fight if he wants to come out on top in this one! *********************** Main Event: Featured Lightweight Bout Frankie Logan v Ziggy Ozbourne (12-2-0) Much like Thoth Chontamenti in the Heavyweight division, Frankie Logan was the only champion the Lightweight division here at Sucker Punch had ever known. Until last month. When he fell to Guy River. You can damned well bet that tonight in our Main Event Logan will be on a mission to put down new arrival and challenger Ziggy Ozbourne and regain a shot to take back his belt! Normally I’d have said that this was an “EPIC” showdown between two immensely talented fighters but Ozbourne’s manager has more or less left the game and I highly doubt he’s been coached properly leading up to this fight. That should put the advantage squarely in Logan’s court. Ozbourne is a serial clinch rapist and if he comes in with the same approach there’s a chance that even without guidance he could pull off the win here tonight. He’s that talented. Logan will be looking to avoid being used and abused in the clinch and instead will likely attempt to put the fight on the ground a bit, and then get back to the feet and separation so he can score points and win the fight with the judges as he’s done so many times before. Donkey’s Pick: Logan via Decision (Unanimous) Going to go with Logan here due to the manager absence for Ozbourne. But I could see Ozbourne pulling this off as well. Whoever wins, there’s a title shot on the line again against the winner of Guy River and Yip Man lii, so you know that Logan is focused. I can’t say the same for Ozbourne. *********************** So there we have it Sucker Punch fans! C’mon folks, gets your butts in gear, get over to the Bondi and let’s have ourselves a blast! The tailgating is already in full effect and Donkey and I are heading over for all the fun and excitement in just a bit! We’ll see you there! Till then, have fun and don’t forget… Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfuhrer Posted August 7, 2021 Report Share Posted August 7, 2021 Great stuff Hare. Mr Pickle is back in the win column. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted August 10, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2021 Sucker Punch Pro Series 75 Review I have to admit folks, I actually forgot that Nati sent this to me over a week ago! That's my bad. Donkey didn't add anything to this one, but hey, there is something from Nati. Better late than never?!? Maybe? Not sure given we're already well past the next event after that and there was a 10 day gap between these last two events! Nati’s Intro: Hi friends, I’m back. SPPS 75 is a bit of an odd one, with only 6 fights. However, it did include a championship match, so that’s always exciting. I didn’t do a preview for this one, so we'll just have to look at and judge Donkey’s picks. With that, we will get started right away. Fight 1- Norling vs Dunham The first fight of the evening was a welterweight fight between Nils Norling and Pete Dunham. Donkey chose Dunham via “whatever”, which seems a little indecisive but you do you, I guess. His reasoning doesn’t make much sense, as he said Dunham was less prepared than Norling so that justified it. Shouldn’t it go the other way around? Shouldn’t Dunham being less prepared make Norling the obvious winner? Maybe it was a mistake, but Donkey chose Dunham and Donkey is wrong. Norling defeated Dunham just a few seconds before the end of the first round via TKO from strikes. Norling had the better record of the two going into this, and this win will improve it, bringing it to 7-3. Fight 2- Veidt vs Shigemasa Fight number 2 was a light heavyweight fight between Victor Veidt and Morioka Shigemasa. Donkey chose Veidt to win via TKO from strikes, and he was right. Veidt won a minute and 29 seconds into the first round. Shigemasa took hit after hit until finally a big right overhand sent him down and he didn’t get back up. Veidt tried to keep fighting, but the referee said no and pulled him off of Shigemasa to end the fight. Veidt had a much better record, which has improved to 6-1, going in so it’s not really a surprise that he came out the winner. Better luck next time, Shigemasa. Fight 3- Zhao vs Beam The third fight of the night was a middleweight fight between Longsun Zhao and Jim Beam. Both of these guys have a lot of experience, having fought 15 fights each, but it’s not necessarily winning experience. Zhao was 8-7 going into the fight and Beam was 5-10. Despite this, Donkey chose Beam to win via armbar submission. He was half right, as Beam did win, but it wasn’t by submission. Beam defeated Zhao 4 minutes and 55 seconds into the first round via TKO from strikes (which is weirdly identical to the first fight, just different fighters). I’m sure Beam is very happy with this win, seeing as the last time these two met, Zhao won over Beam. Who doesn’t like a good redemption? Fight 4- Thai vs Barnes Fight number 4 was a light heavyweight fight between Wille Thai and Abraham Barnes. Donkey chose Thai to win via submission. Donkey has been going simply off of who is more prepared all night, but this time it didn’t work out. Barnes actually won, as the lack of preparation didn’t affect him much. They did fight through all 3 rounds, so good for them. But, when it came down to it, the judges unanimously named Barnes the winner. There were a lot of submission attempts throughout this fight, like way too many. Very repetitive, not very fun. Nobody likes a fight that is spanned with the same thing over and over, hence the low fight rating. Fight 5- Ainsworth vs Patterson The fifth fight of the night, and the co-main event, was a middleweight bout between Wilfred Ainsworth and Derek Patterson. Hare thought this would be an exciting fight, but I don’t think that any fight that ends in a decision is all that interesting. Donkey chose Patterson to win but, ala, the judges disagreed and chose Ainsworth to win after 3 long rounds. There were some meaningless jabs back and forth between the two fighters, but nothing overly interesting happened that would make the fight stand out. A little disappointing seeing as it’s the co-main event, but it is what it is. Not every fight can end with a good knockout or submission, I suppose. Fight 6- Aalto vs Chulalongkorn The sixth and final fight of the night was a fight between Michael Aalto (defending champion) and Magnificent Chulalongkorn (challenger) for the featherweight championship. Both of these guys have great records, with Aalto being 11-1 going in and Chulalongkorn being 11-4. Donkey had Aalto winning via submission despite Chulalongkorn having such great muay tai skills. However, Chulalongkorn won via submission just a second before the end of the first round. Like literally 1 second. And, with the win, Chulalongkorn is the new featherweight champion. I have to say, because of the amount of submission attempts, this wasn’t my favorite fight. But it’s ok, because that concludes the night. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted August 10, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2021 Another from Nati folks! I may go back and add some Donkey commentary to this one tonight/tomorrow depending upon when I can get the Preview out for SPPS 77 which happens this evening. Sucker Punch Pro Series 76 Review Nati’s Intro: Hello friends. I have returned to write another spectacular review. Once again, I didn’t write the preview for this lineup, so we will have to keep going off Donkey’s picks for the time being. Hopefully he didn’t do well. It’s more fun that way. There were all 10 fights, and even a title match towards the end so it should be a pretty good review. So, with that, we shall begin. Fight #1- Alexei Rodionovich (7-9-0) v Edward Mills (5-8-0) The first fight of the night was a middleweight fight between Rodionovich and Mills. Both of these guys have a good amount of experience, but both of their records aren’t all that hot, either. So I guess this seemed like a good match up. Donkey had Mills winning this fight via TKO and while he guessed the winner right, he didn’t get the way of winning. Mills won by knocking Rodionovich out 49 seconds into the second round. After easily winning the first round, Mills went into the second round with a very offensive approach, which worked out when he landed a one punch knockout less than a minute in. While I’m sure Rodionovich was upset with the fight, I’m quite happy with the outcome as I am a Mr. Pickles fan, but only because I like the name Mr. Pickles. Although, he did spell Nati wrong in his post-fight interview, so that’s a little questionable. Fight #2- Humphrey Wellington (9-12-0) v Zett Jukassa (5-3-0) Fight number 2 was another middleweight fight, this time between Wellington and Jukassa. Wellington has a lot more fighting experience, having fought 21 different fights leading into this, but he has more losing experience than winning. Jukassa, on the other hand, has fought only 8 fights, which is still a decent amount, and has won 62.5% of them opposed to Wellington’s 42.9% win rate going into this. In the end, Jukassa proved to be the better fighter, as he won 3 minutes and 57 seconds into the third round via a knockout from a punch, similar to the prior fight. Once again, Donkey has the right fighter and the wrong way of winning. So, if we are counting half points, I guess he’s at 1 point total so far. I’ve seen him start nights off far worse, so we will keep watching how his picks turn out for the rest of the night. Fight #3- Tank Tribute (9-5-0) v Tarmo Rajantaka (7-8-0) For the third fight of the night, we had Tribute and Rajantaka in a light heavyweight match. Weirdly enough, this was the third straight fight of the night to be won with a KO by a punch. Tribute knocked out Rajantaka about halfway through the first round with a good hook. Rajantaka went down and the fight was over. This was the first fight of the night that Donkey chose the wrong fighter for, as he chose Rajantaka to win via TKO from strikes. No points for Donkey. Tribute didn’t seem to mind Donkey’s pick, and said that he was happy Donkey chose against him because he always wins when Donkey doesn’t. I don’t know why Donkey chose Rajantaka in the first place, I wouldn’t have, but perhaps he was just humoring Tribute. Fight #4- Darry Curtis (8-4-0) v Igor Vovchanchyn (6-5-1) The fourth fight of the night was a welterweight fight between Curtis and Vovchanchyn. Donkey chose Curtis to win this fight via TKO, and he was (again) right about the fighter and wrong about the way of winning. Curtis knocked Vovchanchyn out about 3 and a half minutes into the first round with a right overhand to the jaw. 4 knockouts from punches in the first 4 fights? That’s a little weird and unusual. If I had to guess, I’d say that the fans are probably bored of it. They want something else. Knockouts are fun, but a little variety never hurts. Both fighters were cut during the relatively short fight, but Curtis fought better anyways and came out with the win. I’m sure he and his manager are very pleased. Curtis’s win isn’t really a surprise, though, as he had a much better record going in. Fight #5- Darwin Zambrano (6-2-0) v Obama Filth (6-4-1) The final fight of the undercard was a middleweight fight between Zambrano and Filth. I feel like there have been more middleweight fights than usual tonight, but maybe that’s just me. This was the first fight tonight not won by a KO from a punch, as these two fought all 3 rounds, and it came down to a decision. Both fighters fought pretty well, but in the end the judges unanimously named Filth the winner. There wasn’t a lot of action throughout the fight, just two fighters jabbing at each other for a total of 15 minutes. It was nice to have something other than a knockout, though. Donkey chose Filth to win this one via TKO from strikes, so I guess he was half right again. Another half point for Donkey. I don’t even know what he’s at anymore. I stopped counting after the first 2 fights. Fight #6- Kira Yoshikage (7-3-0) v Trevor Barnes (6-5-1) The first fight of the main card was a lightweight fight between Yoshikage and Barnes. I think this is only the second fight that Donkey has chosen the wrong fighter for so far, but I could be wrong. Donkey chose Yoshikage to win via TKO from strikes (he’s predicted a lot of TKO from strikes wins tonight, none have been correct yet), but Barnes won via unanimous decision instead. Personally, I thought this was a good fight. There was a little bit of action here and there, but not too much of the same thing or anything overwhelming. There was some pretty good back and forth between the two, but it was clear that Barnes was the winner. I don’t agree with the 30% fight rating, but you do you, I guess. Fight #7- Choctaw Bloode (9-5-0) v Bjorn Akerfeldt (7-5-0) Fight number 7 was a light heavyweight fight between Bloode and Akerfeldt. This was the third fight between these two fighters, each having won 1 of the prior fights against the other. It was very evenly matched at the start but, alas, Bloode won a minute and 46 seconds into the first round via TKO from strikes. He can claim to be the victor of this trilogy, and Akerfeldt must go home in shame. Donkey had Bloode winning this via TKO from strikes so, for once tonight, he is completely right. Bloode knew he needed to end the fight early to avoid losing via submission, and he did just that. So far tonight, this was the fastest win. Fight #8- Psiris Fuhren (9-5-0) v Paulo Blikstein (9-4-1) For fight number 8, we had Fuhren and Blikstein in a middleweight match. These two had nearly identical records going into this fight and the same amount of experience, so this is as even as it gets. Even so, Donkey still managed to pick the correct winner. Fuhren won a minute and 15 seconds into the third round. He knocked Blikstein out with a hard left hook that won him the match. However, besides the knockout at the end, the fight wasn’t overly eventful and it earned itself a mediocre rating. I doubt Fuhren cares, though, as it is still a good win for his record. Fight #9- Hero Shima (6-3-0) v ZaDarius Haden (11-3-0) The co-main event of the night was a 5 round, heavyweight title fight between Shima (defending) and Haden (challenging). Haden has tried for this title before against other opponents, and has failed up until this point. However, it seems a new opponent means better luck, as Haden defeated Shima to become the new heavyweight champion. Usually in a championship fight, I like to see a good knockout or submission or something good, but these two fought through 5 very long rounds and, unfortunately for Shima (who I think just got the heavyweight title relatively recently), the judges unanimously chose Haden to be the winner. However, I’m sure Haden and his manager are ecstatic about the win. I look forward to seeing who challenges Haden for the title in the near future, and who will win. Fight #10- Frankie Logan v Ziggy Ozbourne (12-2-0) The final fight of the night, and the main event, was a lightweight fight between Logan and Ozbourne. Oddly, this isn’t a title fight. I don’t know why Hare elected to not make the title fight the main event of the night, but it is what it is. Perhaps this fight was more hyped up. I don’t know. I’m not good at keeping up with this stuff. Anyways, while we usually like to see a solid and definitive win to end the night, like a quick 15 second TKO or something, this night ended in a draw. After 3 long rounds of these two going at it, the judges had mixed opinions and the fight ended as a tie. Personally, I’m a little disappointed by that. I’ve seen a draw only once before, but it’s nothing exciting. I prefer a fun win. But whatever. Can’t change it now. Hopefully these fighters meet again for another bout in the future. Only time will tell. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted August 11, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2021 SUCKER PUNCH PREVIEW Sucker Punch Pro Series 77 Nati’s intro: Welcome back for SPPS 77. I’m back for a preview, which I haven’t done in awhile. But, since Hare’s not feeling it, we are here to write one. I will be choosing the winner to the best of my ability, which I also haven’t done in a while, so this should be interesting. Anyways, let’s get right into it. ********************** Fight #1- Anton Matilla v Fredrico Schmico Nati’s pick: Fredrico Schmico via Decision For the first fight of the night, we will have Matilla against Schmico in a heavyweight match. Naturally, since I named him, I’m biased towards Schmico here. I’m actually quite happy to see that he hasn’t been cut yet, since Hare likes to do that. However, here he is. Still fighting. That’s great. Anyways, even without looking at stats I’m going to go with Schmico. I have to. It would be a crime not to. Unfortunately, it looks like Matilla may have the upper hand. But I don’t care. I’m sticking with Schmico. Schmico is 2-0, while Matilla is 1-3, so that’s something. I think because these two are both relatively inexperienced, and because Schmico has won both of his prior fights this way, it’s going to be won by decision. I don’t care whether it’s a split of unanimous decision, a decision is a decision. ********************** Fight #2- Alex Martens v Andrew Nichols Nati’s Pick: Martens via TKO (Strikes) The second fight of the night will be a lightweight match between Martens and Nichols. Both of these guys have a decent amount of experience, and it looks to be a pretty even matchup. I don’t think I’ve written about either of these guys in the past, or at least not that I remember which means they were nothing notable, so I don’t have much background knowledge nor experience with either. Usually I can try to remember who disappointed me and who surprised me in the past, but that will not work here. Since it looks like he might have a slight edge in both experience and skills, I’m going to go with Martens. Plus, he’s more popular and the fans probably know more than I do. I think with his wrestling skills, he should be able to get Nichols on the ground where he will just be able to keep hitting him. Therefore, I’m going to say he will win by TKO, probably from strikes. ********************** Fight #3- Jin Yi v Oliver Allen Nati’s Pick: Yi via Submission (Any) Fight number 3 will be a middleweight fight between Yi and Allen. This will be another pretty well matched fight. They have about the same skills in everything except BJJ, where Yi excels with a black belt. Yi also has more hype and popularity, so put that with Allen’s slightly lower morale, it doesn’t look good for Allen. Not to mention, Yi outweighs Allen by like 8 pounds. All around, it’s not really going in Allen’s favor here. Yi should win this one, probably by submission since that’s all he has ever won by. I think they’ll make it through one whole round before Yi wins some time in the second. That’s just a guess, though. Since I don’t really know much about submissions or the different kinds of submissions, I’m not going to try to take a guess on that. Submission is as specific as it will get. ********************** Fight #4- Venali Paetmar v Bobolo Jubbly Nati’s Pick: Jubbly via Submission (Any) The fourth fight of the night will be a lightweight between Paetmar and Jubbly. Naturally, just because his name is so fun, I’m going to favor Jubbly here. This is kind of a weird fight, just because these two have drastically different skill sets. Well, not really guess. Paetmar is pretty good across the board, his talents evenly distributed across all 4 skills. Jubbly on the other hand, is absolutely awful at both boxing and muay tai, but he is quite talented in both wrestling and especially BJJ, in which he had a blackbelt. So, if he can get Paetmar on the ground fast enough, this should be a pretty easy win for Jubbly. However, if he takes too long, I could see Paetmar potentially knocking him out with a good punch or something like that. I’m going to stick with Jubbly though, because I’m not evil. I said I favored him from the start, so I can’t go back on that now. He will likely win via submission since that’s what most of his wins are by, and also since that's what I associate good BJJ skills with. Again, I have no clue about specific submissions, so I won’t go into that. You get what you get. ********************** Fight #5- Banana Republic v Ultima Kekkonen Nati’s Pick: Kekkonen vis TKO (Strikes) The final fight of the main card will be a heavyweight fight between Republic and Kekkonen. I don’t really like either of these fighters all that much, so it doesn’t really matter to me which one wins. With that, we will be going pretty much just off of their history and stats to determine the winner here. No bias. Republic has more experience, having fought 12 fights over Kekkonen’s 8, but they have the same win rate, at 50%. Kekkonen seems to have a slight edge on Republic skill wise but Republic definitely has more support from the fans, which could boost his performance. However, Republic’s morale is a little down, so I think I’m going to go with Kekkonen on this one for that reason alone. I would usually say it would be a decision with a fight like this, but I feel like low morale leads to a lot of knockouts, so I think I’ll go with a TKO win for Kekkonen, probably from strikes. ********************** Fight #6- Alex Steel Ii v Kahdi Mandinos Nati’s Pick: Steel li via KO (Punch) The first fight of the main card will be a welterweight fight between Steel li and Mandinos. I’ve never heard of Mandinos before, so not really sure where he came from but ok. That alone should tell you that I’ll be choosing Steel li for this one. At least I’ve seen him on cards before. This would be a good fight, if Mandinos’s boxing a muay tai didn’t suck so much. I really don’t know how this guy has 17 fights on his record and I have never seen him. Anyways, I think this will be a quick fight. No more than 3 minutes. Maybe a good knock out? Yeah, let’s go with that. Steel li will knock Mandinos out some time early in the first round, probably from a punch. I have nothing to back this guess but I’m going with it anyways. It’ll probably be wrong, but I don’t care. ********************** Fight #7- Marcus Megnus Maximus Jr Maximus Jr v John Fuller Nati’s Pick: Fuller via Decision Fight number 7 will be another welterweight, this time between Maximus Jr and Fuller. Simply because I have beef with whoever named him, I can tell you now that I’ll be choosing Fuller for this one. Fuller’s name is boring, but at least it’s not stupid like some people’s. This looks to be a pretty good matchup but, luckily, it appears the odds tilt in Fuller’s favor. Fuller just slightly out does in 3 or the 4 skills, and their dead even in the 4th, both being labeled “superb” at wrestling. They also have almost identical records, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this fight goes through all 3 rounds and comes down to a decision where, with any luck, they’ll choose Fuller. Like I said earlier, it doesn’t matter to me if it’s a unanimous decision or not. Decisions are decisions, and winning is winning. ********************** Fight #8- Derwent Bolt v Aleks Kuznetsov Nati’s Pick: Bolt via Submission For fight number 8, we will have Bolt and Kuznetsov in a light heavyweight fight. These two are two very different fighters, as Kuznetsov excels in muay tai and Bolt in BJJ. They’re pretty close in the other two, so I doubt either of them will focus on those very much. Kuznetsov has more experience, at 11 fights, but his record isn’t nearly as good ratio-wise, at only a 64% win rate opposed to Bolt’s 83% win rate. So, because of that, I’m going to go with Bolt on this one. He should win by submission since that’s what he’s done for all 5 of his past wins. I haven’t chosen a specific submission for anyone else tonight, and I don’t intend to start now. ********************** Fight #9- Jihadi Joseph v Jake Drake Nati’s Pick: Joseph via Decision The co-main event will be a featherweight fight between Joseph and Drake, both of whom are skinny boys I recognize. While Joseph has the slight edge in everything except BJJ, Drake has much more experience to back him, most of which is winning experience. Joseph isn’t exactly a new fighter though, as he has fought 7 and won 6 of them. For some reason, I’m getting strong vibes that this will go in Joseph’s favor. Either way, whichever one of them wins, it will likely be by decision because of how close it is and also because they’re featherweight boys. ********************** Fight #10- Juan Christiano v Keisuke Matsuzaka Nati’s Pick: Matsuzaka via KO (Punches) The final and main event of the night will be a 5-round welterweight title fight between Christiano (defending) and Matsuzaka (challenging). This a pretty even fight all around, with them being pretty much the same in 3 of the 4 skills. They are also both very experienced, which should help them if this fight makes it to the later round. However, I hope it doesn’t. I like fun endings to both title fights and main events, and this is 2-in-1 for that. So, hopefully, this will end with a nice knockout some time in the second or third round. From what I remember, Matsuzaka is pretty good, and I always like an underdog win, so I’m going to go with him for this one. Either way, it will end up being a very exciting fight, that I am sure of. 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfuhrer Posted August 11, 2021 Report Share Posted August 11, 2021 So I have to be honest Mr. Pickle got Nati's name wrong on purpose haha I'm glad you caught that....He needs to stay in character aka the lovable dumb sabra tooth pickle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjornmma1 Posted August 11, 2021 Report Share Posted August 11, 2021 Derwent Bolt 6-1-0 Quick day at the office again, good good. PS: surprise surprise preview writer ? The bell rings for round one and we are underway! Bolt cracks Kuznetsov with a right hand to the side of the head. Kuznetsov needs to keep his hands up - Bolt had a free shot at his head there. Nice straight punches there by Bolt. You know Roy Jones Jr respects the hands of Bolt. Bolt checks the leg kick. Bolt paws at his opponent with the jab and then lunges in with a straight, right on the button. Bolt tests Kuznetsov's chin there with a solid looking shot. Bolt drops Kuznetsov with a straight right hand, right on the button! Bolt follows him down to the mat and pounds him out with hammerfists until the referee jumps in to end the fight! Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:31 of round 1, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Derwent Bolt! After the fight, Derwent Bolt was humble in paying tribute to his opponent but made it clear he wants to go on to bigger and better things. It seemed to go down well with the crowd who cheered him loudly. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted August 11, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2021 7 hours ago, bjornmma1 said: Derwent Bolt PS: surprise surprise preview writer ? I can't wait to razz Nati and have her take a look in here! hahaha!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjornmma1 Posted August 11, 2021 Report Share Posted August 11, 2021 4 hours ago, HareRumpler said: I can't wait to razz Nati and have her take a look in here! hahaha!!! Derwent Bolt You and me both ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
actionjackson Posted August 12, 2021 Report Share Posted August 12, 2021 The chosen one has risen against those that persecute! And that's the end of the fight! Juan Christiano showed his dominance in that final round. Well Christiano has outscored his opponent in every aspect of the fight today. Only a scarily incompetent judge or two will keep him from a well deserved win... Over to the ring announcer for the scorecards. Ladies and gentlemen, after 5 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision. Judge Donatello Bradman scores the fight 50:45 Judge Ron Honeybunn scores the fight 50:45 Judge Skip Squint scores the fight 50:45 In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Juan Christiano! Juan Christiano retains his welterweight title! Juan Christiano thanked the fans post fight for their support. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjornmma1 Posted August 12, 2021 Report Share Posted August 12, 2021 On 8/11/2021 at 4:50 PM, HareRumpler said: I can't wait to razz Nati and have her take a look in here! hahaha!!! Derwent Bolt Keeping us intrigued... Just signed a new five fight deal and proved to be an absolute asshole in the process, as I am known for ? Ask Hare, he knows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted August 14, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2021 SUCKER PUNCH PREVIEW Sucker Punch Pro Series 78 Hello out there Sucker Punch fans! I’m Hare Rumpler and I’ll be joined tonight by my pal and colleague, Donkey “Dan”, while we take a sneak peek into SPPS 78! And we have a treat for everybody as this card is not only stacked with some high profile fights that bring a ton of hype to the event but also we’re moving back over to the 7,000 seat Schooners Bar this evening! It’s really a trial just to see how much cash we hemorrhage but what it might do for our event rating. I very much suspect we’ll put up our best rated event ever this evening folks! This card is stacked all the way through and features a large number of Featherweight fights this evening. We’ll start out with three of them in a row and then sidestep over to a couple fights with Welterweights and Light Heavyweights before we bounce back to another pair of Featherweight fights to open up the Main Card. Then you’ll have Middleweights Joseph DeAngelo and Sirus Hall mixing it up in the cage in the final bout before the Main Events. Those will feature high profile Welterweights Mister Lee and Leroy Jinx going at it to see who can be the next Top Contender to take on Juan Christiano. Christiano is sitting and waiting after recently defending and will no doubt be watching tonight’s fight very closely! Last but certainly not least we’ll have our Main Event of the evening as reigning, defending Sucker Punch Pro Series Light Heavyweight Champ, Jacob Parker, defends against challenger Eemeli Lampi! That’s going to be an awesome fight that I just cannot wait to see! So, with that, hold onto your seats and get set as the action is only a few hours away and we’re about to get into each fight a bit more here before we set you all free to enjoy these fights. But first, let’s get a quick word in about our sponsor and merchandise partner! Shadow Warrior Nutrition will be on hand at the event tonight and I cannot say enough about how much we appreciate having them as our merchandise partner and sponsor here at Sucker Punch! Do yourself a favor…better yet, do your fighters who you spend so much time developing and preparing a favor…and stop by the stand tonight or visit their store to grab some of their Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q. It is literally the best energy loss reduction supplement money can buy and will keep your fighter in the gym training rather than sitting days out resting! Stop on over there today, you will NOT be disappointed! Now, let's get to it! *********************** Undercard Bout #1: Featherweights Godefroy Courtial (11-3-1) v Conor Aldo (7-7-0) The fact that we’re opening up the evening here with a couple guys who both have a 500 or better record going should tell you all you need to know about the great fights on tap this evening! Both Aldo, who intends to move up a couple weight classes after this fight, and Courtial are fully amped up and set to get at this thing! They’re very closely matched in primary skills with the only edge being Aldo’s boxing so I expect an awesome one to get things going! Aldo has struggled of late dropping four of his last five contests with two losses in a row heading into this evening’s bout. His ground defenses, specifically against submissions, have been a bit exposed in the past two fights but I have it on good record from new manager Scott Bandz that plans are in place to definitely get this man back in the win column and to start moving him back up into contention. No matter which division that ends up happening in! For now, I think it’s fair to assume that Mr. Bandz will need to work with the skills on tap and has probably focused much of his training this past month on ground defense. For offense, expect what we’ve seen, a heavy handed approach on the feet from Aldo with the goal being to put his opponent to sleep! On the other side of the cage a very dangerous Godefroy Courtial will try to keep the losses at three even after this fight. He, much like Aldo, likes to keep the fight on the feet while using a varied kickboxing attack. In his last fight against Pull Plugger he showed off those feet with a stunning head kick knockout to end the evening at the beginning of the third round. A finish that was up for ‘KO of the Night’ consideration! The sparks will fly when these two step into the cage this evening, that’s for sure folks! Donkey’s Pick: Aldo via TKO (Strikes) All things being equal this is a tough fight to start the night out with when it comes to making picks! There’s not a lot here to help me separate the two, so I’m going to go in a direction I don’t take often and look at the pure physical features. In a striking battle, I like Aldo’s height and potential reach advantage, so I’m going to lean that way this evening. However, this could get really interesting if the shorter Courtial decides to step into the clinch and keep it there! *********************** Undercard Bout #2: Featherweights Geroge Turner (13-8-0) v Pull Plugger (8-7-0) Geroge Turner will have the skills advantage in this next Featherweight bout when it comes to both areas of standup, boxing and Muay Thai. However, he also comes into the cage this evening with only a little over half morale and a manager who’s been absent for over two weeks. That doesn’t bode well. Plugger will welcome the opportunity to grab the ‘W’ if he can take care of business tonight as he’s currently on a nasty three fight losing streak, including the two contests he’s had here at Sucker Punch so far. Looking back at his history he certainly seems to lean towards the submission game while not faring so well when the fight stays on the feet. Turner has a brown belt, just like Plugger, so Plugger will have his work cut out for him on the ground. Turner came into SPPS under new management in July under the guidance of Dan Inacan for the first time. With Inacan being mostly absent for the past month we don’t know if any adjustments have been made heading into this one. That said, Turner’s history involves a ton of submissions just like Pluggers so expect to see this fight on the ground in a flash tonight! Donkey’s Pick: Plugger via Submission (Armbar) As Hare pointed out Turner is very low on morale and that’s a no brainer for me when it comes to making a pick. It’s not absolutely 100% accurate, but much more often than not it’s a great indicator of who will come out on top! *********************** Undercard Bout #3: Featherweights Luke Skywalker (9-6-1) v Mike Ehrmantraut (3-5-1) Our third battle of the night will be between yet another pair of Featherweights. Both are ready to go, so that’s awesome, and Skywalker will have edges in Muay Thai and wrestling while Erhmantraut claims the smallest of advantages boxing. Ehmantraut, previously 2-1 under original manager Kelly McGrady, has hit a bit of a rough patch in the road since then. Under new manager Knockout Bob he’s 1-4-1 with run most recently of a loss, a draw and then two back to back losses. Given most of the fights he’s lost have been decisions you have to figure that it’s imperative for Ehmantraut to find a way to finish his fights rather than go the distance. Ehmantraut is a kickboxer by nature, so we’ll have to see how Skywalker decides to go about things this evening. Skywalker has a history that includes a couple submission victories, has one at least once via TKO, but really lately has been pushing the fights the distance and into the hands of the judges. Unlike Ehrmantraut, he’s been winning more of those decisions than he’s lost with a 4-1 run most recently with all five fights going to decision. Only a loss to current potential Top Contender, Jihadi Joseph, mars that run. With a win over Dankula recently there’s a good chance that one more this evening would put Skywalker into consideration for a title shot and probably see him fighting for that opportunity next month. But first things first…tonight’s contest! Donkey’s Pick: Skywalker via Unanimous Decision Sometimes the trends just scream at you and that’s what’s going on here. Ehrmantraut tends to lose decision fights. Skywalker tends to win them. Sure, I could go with my theory that all trends have to end and maybe that’s what’s going to happen tonight. But I’m not going to as these trends are pretty strong. I’ll go with the one who’s been winning decision this time around! *********************** Undercard Bout #4: Welterweights Prodigy vs. Sanchez II Young Prodigy (4-3-0) v Samuel Sanchez (8-5-0) With this Welterweight matchup we’ve got yet two more warriors all ready to rumble! Full energy, great morale and some skills that are deadlocked across the board. Prodigy may have the small edge in Muay Thai here, but Sanchez has him by the same margin in wrestling. This is a big fight for both fighters when it comes to climbing to the top of the Welterweight division. With a win here Prodigy would move one step closer to a potential title shot and would likely face Barbosa, if he wins his next fight, in a Top Contender battle for that very title shot. On the flip side of things, Sanchez is working to solidify himself as one of the top in the division as well and a win tonight would put him within discussion range of Top Contender considerations! So both very much want this ‘W’ even more than normal tonight! The last time these two met, just two months ago, Sanchez came out on top with solid striking on the feet and an aggressive, abusive ground game that garnered him the decision with the judges. Prodigy certainly had his shots on the ground with eight missed submission attempts. There hasn’t been a ton of time since the last fight. Skills will be somewhat changed and improved, but not significantly. This fight tonight is going to come down to the little adjustments and tweaks within each camp heading into this rematch! Donkey’s Pick: Prodigy via Submission (Guillotine) If you think I’m making this pick just to be a contrarian and in hopes that perhaps we get a rubber match at some point, well, I can neither confirm nor deny. But I will say that I love when two fighters go at it again and the little things creep into it. If it comes out that we split the series, well, even more fun! *********************** Undercard Bout #5: Light Heavyweights Mike Bard (8-6-0) v Roger Daly (3-1-0) Daly comes to us for his Sucker Punch debut this evening and will be escorted to the cage by manager Sam Fairtex! It’s great to have Sam on board with us. He’ll be met by a longtime vet of Sucker Punch, Mike Bard, with manager Yamashita Craven at the helm. Fairtex is primarily a boxer but as he showed in his win over Joakim Broden at C4 three months ago he can go at it in the clinch or throw strikes from the ground if need be also! With Mike Bard being a huge fan of the ground and pound approach to life you can expect Daly to try to keep this fight standing tonight. Bard was on a huge winning streak with four in a row until he ran into fellow up and comer and possible future Top Contender, Lukasz Wieczorek. That loss set him back just a tad and propelled Wieczorek into a TC battle in the near future. Bard won’t overlook Daly tonight but it would be impossible not to expect that he’s looking at where he wants this win to place him. Donkey’s Pick: Bard via TKO (Strikes) I’m picking Bard here due to just not knowing how Daly is going to handle the ground game tonight. If he’s got what he needs to fend off Bard’s attack, then I’ll be impressed and toss my hat in his corner next time potentially. But for now I’m thinking Bard gets this to the ground and at the very least scores the points he needs with the judges, if not gets the TKO. *********************** Main Card Bout #1: Featherweights Tyson Thompson (7-2-0) v Herve Cabrera (9-4-0) As we move into the Main Card this evening we get back to the Featherweights and also back to fights that have huge impacts upon the top of the division. For this one, Thompson has been flirting with getting into the top of the division action. This fight would propel him into the top six or so in the division and force his name into discussions about possible Top Contender battles. Cabrera had been flirting around with Top Contender status and finally pushed himself into position for the shot two months ago. He took Brady Jean Baptiste, champ at the time, to the limit for five rounds but fell by decision from those nasty judges. He fell a bit short in his bounce back bid last month to Jihadi Joseph who has now positioned himself for a title shot soon. In the meantime, Cabrera clearly is looking to refocus and get things back on track and the entrance that track is tonight! Cabrera can hit hard with his boxing but also pull off submissions with his brown belt in Jiu Jitsu and exceptional wrestling. Thompson has almost a duplicate copy of those skills that Cabrera has. This is going to come down to manager approach, physicals and other skills…and maybe some luck! Donkey’s Pick: Thompson via Unanimous Decision Who the heck knows about this one? These two are just as Hare said, dupes of one another, and that makes it tough, tough…tough…to make a pick. And even their records are fairly close in line with one another. I’m saying Thompson here, but I’ll be honest, I have a strange feeling about Cabrera and that heart of his! *********************** Main Card Bout #2: Featherweights Mickey Dismantle v Destin Craven (7-5-0) The last of our Featherweight matchups tonight will see two very talented but different styled fighters face off in the cage at Schooners Bar. Dismantle brings a nasty attitude and some even nastier strikes to the cage with his powerful boxing. Craven brings a ground game to be reckoned with and a bit too much of an interest in making joints go in the wrong directions! Classic striker versus Jiu Jitsu artist here! With three wins in his last four fights, Dismantle is very close to putting his name right back up there in lights when you talk about Top Contenders. Craven is just a step or two further back than that after a loss to Connor and previously to Cabrera. However, his win over Thompson two weeks ago combined with a potential win here tonight would certainly help strengthen his case going forward! Donkey’s Pick: Dismantle via TKO (Strikes) These two have never met before, surprisingly, yet I know I’ve seen Dismantle handle himself somewhat well on the ground before. He lost to Michael Aalto via submission late in the first but that’s an extreme case and also one he should have learned from. What I’m saying is that I expect his skills have improved and he puts up a fight this evening, giving himself the chance to get back to the feet and end things. Or…not. And then Craven takes advantage of him! *********************** Main Card Bout #3: Middleweights Joseph DeAngelo (11-4-0) v Sirus Hall (11-6-0) Midway through the Main Card and here we’ve got another battle with huge implications on the line! Middleweights Hall and DeAngelo are both seeking to get their name mentioned within the division. Granted, slightly different level of goals for these two, but still the need and motivation is there. This fight will show us if Hall is able to move up the division some and if DeAngelo can keep his game up even when he may be looking down some on an opponent. DeAngelo will hold the advantage in Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu this evening. Typically he’s known for a very straightforward approach though. Sledgehammers. Thrown at his opponent’s head. Maybe some combos as well. But whatever hits will hit with a thud! Hall has five wins in a row despite coming in repeatedly over time with less than ideal preparation. Granted, most of those wins have come against the lower end of the division so a test like this one tonight is necessary to see if he’s able to move up the division. Those wins he’s been dishing out via TKO and KO in the first round will be tested as he faces another heavy handed fighter this evening. Donkey’s Pick: DeAngelo via TKO (Strikes) This one is DeAngelo’s to lose. Yes, there is a bit of a skill gap here. But that’s because Hall has walked through everybody lower around his own skill in the division. Nobody’s left except for those above who he’ll need to step to. Like DeAngelo. But don’t expect DeAngelo to fall over as easily as some of the other guys did! *********************** Co-Main Event: Featured Welterweight Bout Leroy Jinx (10-1-1) v Mister Lee (5-4-0) Alright folks, we get closer to the Main Event tonight here and with that we take a step up when it comes to what’s on the line! This Co-Main Event will feature Welterweights on the cusp of glory! Mister Lee and Leroy Jinx are the top two contenders in the division right now and they’ll battle it out to see who gets a shot at the current Champ, Juan Christiano. Christiano recently finished a successful defense, to you can bet your ass he’ll be watching this fight tonight very closely knowing that one of them will be the man he faces next. Lee has three wins in his last four fights with two in a row against my own Valentine and then Perkele. He pulled off a surprise submission against my own guy two fights back but then returned to his roots with a nasty dose of kickboxing action last fight against Perkele. He’ll have the disadvantage tonight in both Muay Thai and wrestling against Jinx, so he’ll need to watch out for the clinch. Jinx has never lost a fight. That mattered. And wasn’t a test fight early on. And wasn’t under current management. He has but one draw marring his record since being under P J Jones. Outside that he has ten wins, all via TKO or decision. He makes his Sucker Punch debut this evening after being with BBFC and BFC for so long and having a stop at Blaze in between. He was the former champ at both and looks to position himself for another, third, belt here at Sucker Punch. But before he can get the shot at it, he needs to get past Mister Lee first! Donkey’s Pick: Jinx via TKO (Strikes) Lee is going to want to end this one decisively and fast. Otherwise, he may need to worry that Jinx will run the ole “wear em down and then either get it by the judges or TKO them” business on him! *********************** Main Event: Light Heavyweight Championship Bout Parker vs. Lampi II Jacob Parker (8-2-0) v Eemeli Lampi (8-3-0) Our Main Event will be a Light Heavyweight rematch between challenger Eemeli Lampi and current, undisputed, defending Champ, Jacob Parker! These two have met before back in May in a battle that snagged a shot back to the Championship for the second time for Parker as he went on to defeat John Doe after his win over Lampi. The last time Parker was Champ he went on to defend it successfully three times before giving way to John Doe. He avenged that loss by taking the belt back from Doe two months ago and then successfully defended it again against Rogerio Duarte. That’s a hell of a legacy already but he’s not done building it yet! A second win over Lampi tonight would put an end to questions, for now, about these two. A loss…well, that would put Lampi on the throne and have everybody wondering if Parker would have the drive and desire to make it back for another bid in a rubber match! Lampi has worked hard to get back to this spot as well. He previously lost to Parker, yes, and had lost to Doe before that in a title shot. Prior to that though, he’d been virtually untouchable his entire career with KO after TKO after TKO. Line em up, he knocked em down! Wins over hard punching Fury and then former champ Aleks Kuznetsov have put him back into this position. And he got those wins via KO and TKO. Don’t expect that to change tonight against another striker! So yes, both of these men have similar styles…they want to hit the other, hit them hard and turn out the lights! Lots of intrigue, lots of drama, lots of fireworks here tonight folks! Oh yeah, I can’t wait for this one! Donkey’s Pick: Parker via TKO (Strikes) Lampi has been previously downed by strikes. Parker has not. Given this fight is likely to come out with power and passion, I expect somebody to fall. I’ll bet in favor of the guy who hasn’t fallen being the one to make it happen! *********************** So there we have it Sucker Punch fans! There we go folks! Our biggest event by far in quite a while now as we return to Schooners Bar! I’ve already been told the tailgating is in full effect with the fights taking place in just about 5 hours from now so get your butts down there and get with the action! It’s coming live tonight, tune in to the livestream if you can’t be with us folks! Till then, have fun and don’t forget… Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted August 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2021 SUCKER PUNCH CHEAP SHOTS 'with NatiBatti' Sucker Punch Pro Series 77 Hello Sucker Punch fans! This one is definitely running late as I had to ride Nati like a flea-bitten mule to get her to finish this one up. As such, I may or may not go back and add some tidbits from the “other” mule after the fact later today, but I’m also working on the review from the weekend’s fights and the preview for tomorrow night! Busy schedule, but that keeps it fun! Now, in advance, I want to say that I don’t know what got into Nati, but I’m guessing my riding her all weekend long to get this resulted in her bad attitude right from the start! Damn, calling OUR peeps, our managers and our fighters, “losers”? Girl’s got some ‘spaining to do I think! Feel free to give it to her twice as bad after this one folks, she deserves it! This kid is going on 16 years old soon in December, she’s more than capable of taking her medicine for what she dishes out! So here we go…again, my apologies for my offspring’s attitude! Nati’s Intro: Hello losers. I’m back for a review. Yes, it’s late. You’ll get over it. Lots of haters in the forum following this preview and night, and I’ve been told I got almost all of these wrong, so we will see how this goes. Hopefully I’m pleasantly surprised with lots of fun stuff, like knockouts. Not submissions though. Those are boring. Anyways, let’s get into it, shall we? *************** Fight #1- Anton Matilla v Fredrico Schmico Nati’s Preview Pick: Fredrico Schmico via Decision For fight number 1, we had Matilla against Schmico in a heavyweight match. I went with Schmico for this one out of loyalty to the fighter I named, but even I knew he was outmatched here, something that someone was sure to point out again when Schmico lost pretty miserably. Matilla knocked Schmico out just over a minute into the first round with a head kick. Kicking someone in the head seems kind of rude, if you ask me. But you do you, I guess. I found out that Hare paired these two together just to see what would happen when Schmico lost, which seems kind of unfair to Schmico. What kind of motivation is there to fight if even your manager knows you will lose? But anyways, that was my first of many wrong picks tonight, so we must continue on. *************** Fight #2- Alex Martens v Andrew Nichols Nati’s Preview Pick: Martens via TKO (Strikes) The second fight of the night was a lightweight match between Martens and Nichols. Another fight, another wrong pick. I chose Martens to win this fight via TKO, but Nichols won via TKO from knee and punches a little over halfway through the first round. A little disappointed here, but I didn’t really know much about either fighter, so I was mostly going off who was most popular. So, if anything, it’s the fans that disappointed me. They went back and forth pretty well at first, but once Martens was cut it was pretty much over. Better luck next time, Martens. *************** Fight #3- Jin Yi v Oliver Allen Nati’s Preview Pick: Yi via Submission (Any) Fight number 3 was a middleweight fight between Yi and Allen. Finally, a fight I picked right. Well, kind of. I wasn’t expecting Yi to knock Allen out, but I’m never disappointed to see a knockout in any fight. I had Yi winning this one, and that’s all that matters. After a big left and then right strike 4 minutes and 23 seconds into the first round, Allen was out cold and the ref stopped the fight, as any glorified zebra would. I’m quite happy with the amount of knockouts so far tonight but, alas, it appears there are many decisions up ahead. How disappointing. *************** Fight #4- Venali Paetmar v Bobolo Jubbly Nati’s Preview Pick: Jubbly via Submission (Any) The fourth fight of the night was a lightweight between Paetmar and Jubbly. I chose Jubbly to win this one because I liked his name better but, alas, he failed me. Paetmar won via unanimous decision after 3 long rounds of fighting between the two. There were several submission attempts throughout the fight, not so many that it was overwhelming but just enough for it to be annoying. Jubbly tried to make a comeback in the last round, and even won it, but, unfortunately, Paetmar had already won the first two rounds so it was too late for him. Maybe next time. *************** Fight #5- Banana Republic v Ultima Kekkonen Nati’s Preview Pick: Kekkonen vis TKO (Strikes) The final fight of the undercard was a heavyweight fight between Republic and Kekkonen. I had Kekkonen winning this one just based off of both fighters’ stats and skills and, for once, I was right. Kekkonen did win the fight, although not by TKO like I had thought. Instead, these two fought all the way to a decision, where the judges unanimously chose Kekkonen. Kekkonen cut Republic, so that probably helped secure his win, but other than that there wasn’t a whole lot of action throughout this fight. A lot of jabs back and forth between the two, but also a lot of misses. All in all, it wasn’t my favorite fight. And apparently it wasn’t other peoples’ either, as it was given a 37% fight rating. That’s just sad. Republic’s morale was a little down going into this fight, so I’m actually quite surprised he made it through all 3 rounds. Good for him. *************** Fight #6- Alex Steel Ii v Kahdi Mandinos Nati’s Preview Pick: Steel li via KO (Punch) The first fight of the main card was a welterweight fight between Steel li and Mandinos. I chose Steel li to win this one and, once again, I was right. Three right picks tonight was better than I thought I had done. That’s good. I had Steel li winning via KO but, unfortunately, that didn’t happen. This fight was won by unanimous decision (again). It’s getting a little boring, not going to lie. Nobody likes decisions. If we could spice it up a little, that would be great. This was another fight that had just a few too many submission attempts to be enjoyable. If you’re going to keep trying, at least succeed and don’t let it come down to a decision. That’s just disappointing. Especially since I had thought this would be a quick fight. Maybe next time. *************** Fight #7- Marcus Megnus Maximus Jr Maximus Jr v John Fuller Nati’s Preview Pick: Fuller via Decision Fight number 7 was another welterweight, this time between Maximus Jr and Fuller. I’m quite happy to see that Maximus Jr lost, not because I chose Fuller, just because I really don’t like Maximus Jr (or whoever named him). Although, I guess part of the reason I chose Fuller was because I don’t like Maximus Jr, so I guess it is because I chose Fuller. I think this is my fourth correct pick of the night which, out of 7, is not the worse I’ve done. I actually got this one exactly right, since I chose Fuller to win via decision and he did just that. It was the fourth unanimous decision win in a row. I don’t know how fans don’t get sick of it, because I certainly am. But, thankfully, it looks like this is the last decision win for a couple fights, so we can be happy now. *************** Fight #8- Derwent Bolt v Aleks Kuznetsov Nati’s Preview Pick: Bolt via Submission For fight number 8, we had Bolt and Kuznetsov in a light heavyweight fight. This was probably my biggest surprise of the night, and Bolt’s manager made sure to point that out in the forum. While I guessed the winner right (Bolt), I was very wrong about the way of winning. I was pretty confident that Bolt would win via submission, but instead he won via TKO from strikes only 31 seconds into the fight. I don’t know what Bolt had against the other guy that made him so aggressive, but it worked. I’m not even disappointed. I love knockouts. They’re so much fun. And after 4 unanimous decisions in a row, this was just what we all needed. Thanks, Bolt. *************** Fight #9- Jihadi Joseph v Jake Drake Nati’s Preview Pick: Joseph via Decision The co-main event was a featherweight fight between Joseph and Drake, two fighters I am pretty familiar with. I’ve seen them both a couple of times. Honestly, I don’t know what Hare means when he said I did awful with my picks, this is like my sixth one right? I think? Either way, he said I only got like 2 right, so fight me. I had Joseph winning this win via decision, and while he did win, he didn’t let it come to a decision. Something that I’m never disappointed about. Joseph won via TKO from strikes about 3 minutes into the third round. A strong right hand to the jaw sent Drake down, and it was pretty much over after that. Sucks to suck, Drake. *************** Fight #10- Juan Christiano v Keisuke Matsuzaka Nati’s Preview Pick: Matsuzaka via KO (Punches) The final and main event of the night was a 5-round welterweight title fight between Christiano (defending) and Matsuzaka (challenging). I’m very disappointed to see this ended in a decision. Who wants to see a decision for a title fight? Nobody. That's the answer. Nobody does. Especially since I had Matsuzaka winning this via KO, neither of which happened. I went with Matsuzkaa because he was the underdog but, unfortunately, that didn’t work out very well. Christiano did a pretty good job of defending his title, and will live to see another day with it after the judges unanimously chose him after 25 minutes total of fighting, which seems a bit excessive but it is what it is. I’m sure he will have a new challenger soon enough, so we can all look forward to that. I was really hoping for something exciting to close off the night, but I guess we will have to be satisfied with a boring decision. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted August 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2021 SUCKER PUNCH CHEAP SHOTS Sucker Punch Pro Series 78 Welcome back Sucker Punch faithful! As always, I’m Hare Rumpler and I’ll be kicking off the review of SPPS 78 here before turning the majority of things over to Donkey today. We’re in full prep mode for SPPS 79 which comes at you tomorrow night and I’ll be focusing the majority of my efforts on that after a brief intro here! Of course, I tend to say that and then…I get sucked into the review anyway and next thing you know I’m all in. “Just when I thought I was out…” Hahaha! We slid on over to the 7,000 seat Schooners Bar for this event and it did not disappoint! We broke about even on the event overall on the financials page but the cool part was that it just edged out what I believe was our prior high score for event rating! That’s pretty awesome and it was with only one title fight on the card rather than two. Just goes to show that we really did have a bunch of great fights supplementing things on the card and overall it was a power-packed night of fights! Here's something I found crazy and just a bit more than a little “uncanny” about our night over at Schooners…we have not one, not two…but THREE draws on the card! That’s a bit nuts as even a single draw is usually a fairly rare occurrence but to have three on the card is just insane. I’ll be honest, I almost just went ahead and rescheduled all three to fight again to settle things but instead am looking to break it up a bit before going back to those matchups in a month or two. Figure I’ll give all involved some time to evolve and adjust first! So now, let’s get a quick word in about our sponsor and merchandise partner and I’ll turn you over to Donkey as he takes a look at what we can take from each of these fights that went down! Do you find that you’re resting your fighters too often? Two, three, maybe even 4 times a week sometimes? If that’s the case, you’re probably not supplementing their training, and if you are I’m thinking you’re not doing it with Shadow Warrior Tea 160Q, which is Shadow Warrior Nutrition’s outstanding energy loss reduction supplement. It’s the best money can buy and will keep your fighter in the gym training rather than sitting days out resting! Stop on over there today, you will NOT be disappointed! Now, let's get to it! *********************** Undercard Bout #1: Featherweights Godefroy Courtial Defeats Conor Aldo via TKO (Strikes) We got what we expected here to open up the festivities on the evening as these two stood and went to battle. What was a bit unexpected, at least for Donkey according to his preview info, was that Aldo took things into the clinch. Now, that’s a move that Donkey thought that Courtial might potentially go with being the shorter of the two in this contest but with his history of success striking and kickboxing that was no guarantee. Having Aldo, as the taller of the two, decide that that was the direction he wanted to go was a bit more of a headscratcher. It may have simply been a matter of “I’m not doing so well standing and striking from range, so I’ll change it up into the clinch” for Aldo in this case. When outside the clinch, Aldo was focused on a varied kickboxing approach but that approach may have been just a little too heavy on head kicks with five attempted but not landing. Maybe he was going for the “punchers chance”, but with a head kick KO instead? That’s certainly possible. The move to the clinch didn’t pay off either as he wasn’t able to land many shots and Courtial certainly got some big hitters in there that really hurt Aldo and led to the eventual TKO stoppage. Donkey’s Takeaways: I hitched my wagon to the wrong horse to start out this night’s campaign of picks with my pick for Aldo. Ah well, that’s life! Nati is probably loving it though as Hare’s kid seems to have some sort of beef with me and my picks. We’ve been told in the front office that following this fight Aldo was considering a move up in weight classes to more closely match his height and would be adding on several pounds in the process. Imagine our surprise when his management team confirmed that he would move up, but TWO weight classes from Featherweight to Welterweight! We wish him well and good fortunes there. Courtial, who now holds a 12-3-1 record, has shaken off the rust after joining Sucker Punch and putting up two straight losses. Those fights were, admittedly, against a higher level of competition than what he’s faced in his last two fights where he’s snagged wins. We’ll be slowly ramping him back up the difficulty meter to see where he really belongs on the ladder here. Assuming he signs a contract extension, he’ll likely get a chance to prove himself against former Top Contender Destin Craven next month in September. Craven was on a roll until falling short in a title bid and since has been a bit Jekyll and Hyde on us, flopping between wins and losses. Three of his five most recent losses have been via TKO or KO, so it’s certainly an opportunity for Courtial to work his best skills while also planning a solid defense against a quality opponent! *********************** Undercard Bout #2: Featherweights Pull Plugger Defeats Geroge Turner via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) In the preview I mentioned that, “…Turner’s history involves a ton of submissions just like Pluggers so expect to see this fight on the ground in a flash tonight!” Sure enough, that’s exactly what we got as Turner had this fight on the ground before the bell even stopped echoing around Schooners Bar! Despite having the morale disadvantage Turner had control of this fight through four minutes. He gained top position on the initial takedown and improved his position throughout even gaining full mount at one point! While Plugger had done a fantastic job fending off submissions to that point I think everybody present figured he was in deep doo-doo once he was mounted! Plugger, staying calm, not only managed to get back to guard from the bottom but then a few moments later hooked a leg and managed to switch things entirely around as he made a magnificent move to Turner’s back! At this point the prospects were completely flip-flopped and Plugger immediately went on the offensive for the rear naked…and got it on his second attempt! A hell of a turnabout in this one folks and the fight was under serious consideration for ‘Sub of the Night’! Donkey’s Takeaways: This may have been Turner’s last fight with us. Unless Dan Inacan returns soon we’ll likely have to cut Turner loose. Regardless, even if he is still with us next month he has a ton of work to do to get his morale back up to a good level as it dropped even lower following this defeat. We’ve offered him a fight with Danny Rand, newcomer to SPPS, for now but we’ll have to see if Mr. Inacan returns to accept. After a three fight losing streak Plugger and his camp have to be thrilled with the change of direction after this win. It’s his first in three fights here at Sucker Punch and surely his team are hoping it’s the beginning of many more! He’ll be up against another ground specialist in Jake Drake next month so he’ll want to make sure all of his skills on the ground are sharpened and ready for battle heading into that one! *********************** Undercard Bout #3: Featherweights Luke Skywalker and Mike Ehrmantraut called a Draw Our third battle of the night started a disturbing trend for the evening as it became the first of three fights to be declared a Draw by the judges! A bit nuts! But perhaps just shows how closely matched our fights were tonight? I’d like to believe that that’s the case as it means I’ve done my job well but more likely it just means those nasty judges were a bunch of no-good slackers! To be fair to those judges that I love to hate on, this fight really was well fought and THAT close. It was a tough one to call, with only the second round being the one that was left up for discussion. Skywalker snagged the first, Ehrmantraut turned things around a bit in the second but claimed the third for sure. That second round though saw judges Ben Hemmingworth and Topper Green looking at the results completely opposite with Hugh Johnson sitting on the fence and giving both 10’s. This fight stayed on the feet throughout with a ton of action both in and out of the clinch, but mostly out. Striking while (kick)boxing, Ehrmantraut gained the edge with a bit better use of his kicks. But Skywalker was able to offset that by fully taking advantage in the clinch the few times they got there. Ultimately nobody was able to finish despite a fairly high level of activity and offense and with both fighters getting by on fumes by the end of this fight! Donkey’s Takeaways: Ehrmantraut and his camp clearly wanted this win. They needed it to turn things around after three losses with a draw mixed in over the four prior fights. Instead, despite bringing a high level of intensity to the fight, a second draw in five fights goes onto the list. That’s a bit nuts and honestly you’d think things have to turn around here soon for Erhmantraut! Hare hasn’t officially scheduled his next fight yet but I’ve been told it’s likely to be against Kaoru Nagashima after his next scheduled fight is complete on the 18th. With four wins over his prior four fights we were looking at this fight as one that could propel Skywalker into Top Contender territory if he could win it. Especially if he could win it via a finish rather than the decision trend he’s been on. A Draw here just confuses things to be frank! So instead we’ll see what happens as we toss another fighter who was looking to potentially be a TC candidate in Tyson Thompson into the cage with him next month! Tyson also fought to a Draw on this night. Perhaps then we’ll know which should be looking towards a rematch with their respective Draw partners? *********************** Undercard Bout #4: Welterweights Prodigy vs. Sanchez II Samuel Sanchez Defeats Young Prodigy via TKO (Strikes) In the preview leading up to this fight I said that, “The last time these two met, just two months ago, Sanchez came out on top with solid striking on the feet and an aggressive, abusive ground game that garnered him the decision with the judges. Prodigy certainly had his shots on the ground with eight missed submission attempts. There hasn’t been a ton of time since the last fight. Skills will be somewhat changed and improved, but not significantly. This fight tonight is going to come down to the little adjustments and tweaks within each camp heading into this rematch!” I quoted all of that because really it was the key to this fight which was very similar to the prior meeting between these two with just some minor, yet important, adjustments. Well, adjustments for Sanchez at least. Once again in this fight Prodigy had his opportunities to work for submissions on the ground with eight attempts made. Granted, he had to work on them in between trying to avoid being pounded on by Sanchez from above. Something he wasn’t able to do very well as Sanchez landed all twenty-four of his strikes on the ground! Ouch. So the opportunities, albeit not ideal ones, were there but not able to be capitalized on. For Sanchez it’s clear that he and his camp saw what was working in the last fight and decided to make slight adjustments to focus on those areas more heavily. This fight didn’t stay on the feet for long in each round which was definitely a change and focus for Sanchez as he tried to get the fight to the ground, successfully, much sooner. Once there, he clearly knew that the ground and pound from the prior fight was what had helped him win the decision and that a stronger focus on it might give him the win this time. It worked, as he was about to mash out the finish! Solid game planning by Rocco Mediate and the Sanchez camp! Donkey’s Takeaways: Prodigy and team Craven won’t be elated with this result and the second loss to Sanchez over the past few months. Clearly, as the series went from a decision last time to a finish against them this time around, Sanchez and his team currently have Prodigy’s number. We’re looking at possible showdown with Ceedee Queen for Prodigy next month once Queen’s fight on the 21st is complete. Depending upon the result for Queen, this will be a chance for one of them to break back into the win column or for Queen to extend his wins and escape the two fight losing streak he’s carrying into his upcoming fight with Hare’s own Lou Valentine. With wins under both of their belts it feels like a great time for Sanchez and Steel li to meet up for the first time here at Sucker Punch. They’re ranked right next to each other (not that I really care about ranking too much in terms of the MMAT rankings, not here in a restricted ID org at least), have similar records and comparable skillsets. I expect a heck of a fun match between this ground and pound specialist and the hard striking kickboxer Steel! *********************** Undercard Bout #5: Light Heavyweights Mike Bard and Roger Daly called a Draw Our Undercard is closed out with our second of three Draws on the evening! So, so weird, I still can’t quite get over having three of these on the card! This was a great fight that didn’t get the fight rating I thought it deserved! Both fighters came in with a high level of intensity and even surprised us a bit with not only Bard, but Daly as well, looking to put the fight on the ground at times. Bard was still the definitive aggressor in that aspect of the fight, but Daly clearly wasn’t shying away from the ground game either and seemed to very much lack any respect for Bard’s game in that department! The fight was well matched on the feet with only Bard showing a slight edge due to mixing in some kickboxing. On the ground, he showed he was more focused on strikes than he was submissions for a change. I can’t say for certain if that was the plan going in or if he simply adjusted to what presented in the fight. Ultimately, despite the judges calling this a Draw I’d personally say that Bard won if the fight had been scored as a total fight. But with the way things broke out by round the judges clearly felt that it was an even split. This is a fight I’d love to see again and Donkey was pushing me to reschedule it immediately. I’ve decided to give them each a chance to focus elsewhere first but this one is definitely coming back in a month or two! Donkey’s Takeaways: Bard will step to newcomer Radu Dracul next month and show him the ropes here at Sucker Punch. Whether that means a win or a loss is up for debate! A win would certainly help his case to getting back into Contender territory after he had a run of four victories in a row up till the last two fights which ended in a loss and then this draw. For Daly, we envision him going against Artyom Meyer next month. That fight can’t be scheduled yet as Meyer has a fight lined up for a week from now but once that’s taken place we’ll see how things look and book that fight if it still seems appropriate! *********************** Main Card Bout #1: Featherweights Tyson Thompson and Herve Cabrera called a Majority Draw We open the Main Card with our final Draw of the night, this one a Majority Draw as only Ron Honeybun called it fully in favor of Cabrera, two rounds to one. If you like standup wars then this was the fight for you folks! And apparently, given the high 83% fight rating for a fight without a finish, you do! These two let the hands (and, in the case of Cabrera, the feet with low kicks) fly for a full three rounds that despite a relatively fast pace of action saw neither fighter wear down and get gassed nor either giving way to a finish! Their striking defense was on point throughout and they needed it with the pace at which they were pushing out shots! That’s some heart we saw out there in that cage folks and tells you why Cabrera has been considered an elite fighter in the division and Thompson was on tap to move into that status if he could muster a win here. There was a bit of clinching a couple times in this fight but nothing significant. I know, I say that but how would *I* like to be the one who took 3-4 head shots and a few to the body in the clinch eh? Well, I wouldn’t, and since I’m paying the bills, I don’t have to! This is a fight I’d like to see again but given we have other things to work out in this division it’ll have to wait for now. Donkey’s Takeaways: For the preview I had tossed out, “Who the heck knows about this one? These two are just as Hare said, dupes of one another, and that makes it tough, tough…tough…to make a pick. And even their records are fairly close in line with one another. I’m saying Thompson here, but I’ll be honest, I have a strange feeling about Cabrera and that heart of his!” And boy did these two not disappoint me! Cabrera will get a chance to really show what he’s made of next month when he takes on Mickey Dismantle. A win there would skyrocket him up the ladder. He’ll need to come with his striking game, both offense and defense, on point for that one as Mickey is no joke in the standup department! Thompson will get a chance to visit with Skywalker a bit, a fight we thought might happen if both walked away from wins on this night and see them competing for a title shot. Now, it’s just a fight to set one of them apart from the other and potentially stage one of them for a future Top Contender battle. I say “just”, but that’s huge and they should both be looking forward to that fight in a big way, with focus! *********************** Main Card Bout #2: Featherweights Mickey Dismantle Defeats Destin Craven via TKO (Strikes) Our last Featherweight matchup of the evening did not disappoint as these two with disparate styles went out there and got to work! There’s not a lot for me to cover here as things proceeded almost exactly as you might expect aside from knowing how well Dismantle might or might not handle being on the ground with Craven. On the feet the striking would appear to be fairly equal…on paper. The reality is that Dismantle lands each shot with a hell of a thud so taking the same number from him certainly does not usually equate to “equal”. After squaring off for a couple minutes Craven was able to drag this fight to the ground and once there mixed it up with a few strikes for distraction and a couple submission attempts. Dismantle showed he’s been working on his defensive skills on the ground though and was able to fend off Craven. Impressive, honestly! What did surprise us was when Craven decided to stand back up during the fourth minute of action shortly after failing to secure that second submission. Not sure why he’d abandon his big advantage in the fight, but sure enough that’s exactly what he did. Dismantle made him regret that at the end of the round after he left Craven rocked following a brutal combo! Luckily for Craven, the bell wasn’t far behind and we were moving to a second round with a small breather for Craven to gather his senses. Apparently that breather between bells wasn’t quite enough though as within the first minute Dismantle was stalking Craven and looking to finish…leading to this sequence… “Dismantle fakes a jab and then connects with a hook. Dismantle drops Craven with a big left hand! Craven is injured, injured bad! Dismantle jumps in and finished him with strikes! The fight is over!” Donkey’s Takeaways: In the preview I said that, “These two have never met before, surprisingly, yet I know I’ve seen Dismantle handle himself somewhat well on the ground before. He lost to Michael Aalto via submission late in the first but that’s an extreme case and also one he should have learned from. What I’m saying is that I expect his skills have improved and he puts up a fight this evening, giving himself the chance to get back to the feet and end things.” It appears I was spot on with those statements as it’s almost exactly how this one went down! Sometimes it’s better to be lucky with your guesses than good I guess folks! Camp Craven likely walked away disappointed on this night as their fighters overall just weren’t able to capitalize on big opportunities. Losses to Connor last month and Dismantle this month certainly put a little separation between Destin and his counterparts in the division, at least when you talk about contendership. He’ll need a huge bounce back win next month to get himself back on track. It’s likely that Hare will pit him against rising talent Godefroy Courtial and, despite Courtial’s relative young age, that will be one tough challenge given Courtial’s recent run of wins and focus when he’s in the cage. Dismantle will get a chance to go after a tough Herve Cabrera next month. Cabrera has been struggling some of late with two losses and then a draw but had himself in position as Top Contender not long ago. He’s a top level talent in the division with extremely good management and should prove a fantastic test for Dismantle. A great way for Dismantle to try to prove he’s ready for another Title Shot! This is a stacked division with a bunch of guys in line already though, so it may take a win or two between before he can snag that opportunity. Stay focused young man! *********************** Main Card Bout #3: Middleweights Joseph DeAngelo Defeats Sirus Hall via KO (Punch) Our last fight of the evening before the Main Events and these two came in ready to mix it up! And by mix it up, I mean they had a few tricks up the sleeves. At least, Hall did. And it just about worked, or at least appeared to have the potential to work! Most, Donkey and I included, expected this to be a fight where these two hammer throwers would come in looking to bludgeon the other into submission. Well, not a submission really, more a TKO or KO! But Hall, knowing he was facing a step up in competition here, strategized and worked out a plan with his team and despite knowing that DeAngelo had a brown belt in Jiu Jitsu decided to test those skills on the ground! And it just about worked. After getting the fight to the ground these two traded submission attempts back and forth for the entire round, with Hall just about finishing just before the bell! Woooo, excitement and a little switcheroo there on what we thought we were going to get in this fight! Clearly DeAngelo’s corner had a talk with him between rounds, refocusing him and letting him know that he needed to do what he does and not let this fight slip away. He came out focused in the second with his eye on takedown defense and counters. Working to get back to what he had going in the first round, Hall was unable to get the fight to the ground on a couple attempts and that left him vulnerable to DeAngelo’s superior striking. DeAngelo dished out enough abuse to do the damage needed over the first minute and then finished it up going into the second with this… “DeAngelo lands a big uppercut and Hall crumbles to the floor! The ref thinks about stopping the fight but Hall looks OK. DeAngelo waves Hall back to his feet! Hall is rocked! Hall walks into a picture perfect straight right hand from DeAngelo! He's gone down face first to the canvas, unconscious before he even hit the floor! Ohhhh. My. Goodness! That boys and girls was a beautiful knockout! Give that man a biscuit!” A beauty of a finish there that had him in heavy contention for ‘KO of the Night’ honors! Donkey’s Takeaways: Jarna Kuiva has a fight lined up on the 18th with Bruno Souppe. If he can continue his winning ways in his second fight here with us at Sucker Punch then we see him as the next opponent for DeAngelo. That will tell us where Kuiva stands in the mix. It’ll also tell us whether DeAngelo is ready to take the next steps back towards being a Top Contender in this division again. A division that already has a line of guys who believe they are the elite! In the meantime, Hall will step back some again and see a rematch with Souppe. If he can walk away victorious, proving that he’s somewhere above that level of competition and perhaps just needing to transition up into the middle tier then we’ll potentially see him face Kuiva in the future as well. Perhaps October even! *********************** Co-Main Event: Featured Welterweight Bout Mister Lee Defeats Leroy Jinx via Submission (Triangle) This next fight in our Co-Main Event was one of the most exciting on a night full of excitement! That’s saying something! And this one really got the fans in attendance going! Two hyped fighters, one heavy favored at least according to the “paper”, but both with a ton of drive and some great management behind them. Jinx controlled the first round well scoring points in the standup and preventing too much trouble from the clinch while also limiting any opportunities for takedown attempts. He won the round, although you could say it was somewhat close as the overall fight stats showed that Lee was hanging right in there even with the striking. In the second round, Lee was finally able to start working in some clinch action and with it attempts to get the fight on the ground. He gained one opportunity but Lee and his team were well prepared and had the fight back on the feet after escaping a single submission attempt by Lee. The third round saw Jinx leading two rounds to none so far, even though both were close, and that’s when things went sideways. Lee worked for and got the clinch within the first minute and then secured a takedown moments later. This time he was able to maintain control on the ground, preventing a return to the feet, and the submission attempts started. Jinx was doing well in avoiding Lee’s traps but it only takes one in those situations…and that one came… “The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work. Lee has managed to work for a loose triangle. I think Jinx should be able to defend this one pretty easily though. Oh, Lee has tightened it up now! Jinx should have reacted faster there - he's in big trouble and yes, he's tapped out! This one is all over!” Donkey’s Takeaways: I said in the preview, “Lee is going to want to end this one decisively and fast. Otherwise, he may need to worry that Jinx will run the ole “wear em down and then either get it by the judges or TKO them” business on him!“ Well, he didn’t do it fast, but when he finally did do it, it was certainly decisively! I had it on good word heading into this one that Lee’s team wasn’t exactly the most “confident” about their chances. They were up against a dangerous opponent with a stellar manager who knows how to get things done. But, sometimes you just need to have a plan, stay focused on it and hopefully, maybe have a little luck fall on your side also. That’s what Lee’s team did and it worked out. And now they’ve earned the opportunity for a Title Shot against Juan Christiano! Hey, congrats, victim of your own success! Haha, I kid folks. Lee’s team needs to stay focused, have a plan and perhaps work a little luck. Looking forward to that title fight folks! Jinx came into the organization highly touted and already practically ready-made for a title shot. Unfortunately for his team, this is why fights aren’t done on paper and that “any given Sunday” thing is, well, a thing. Except this was a Saturday. Whatever, you get what I mean! This doesn’t toss him down the ladder, but it does become a speedbump and a departure from the “fast lane”. If Red Crow gets picked up after the departure of Esiah Xavier, and I expect he will, that would be a great next test for both fighters to see if they can step right back up and go after it! *********************** Main Event: Light Heavyweight Championship Bout Parker vs. Lampi II Eemeli Lampi Defeats Jacob Parker via TKO (Strikes) Our Main Event of the night was a dandy (showing my age there folks!) and these two menacing specimens of MMA savagery went at it for over four rounds before somebody was ready to cave! These two came out firing, both stalking and looking for those opportunities to land a nasty shot that would “THUD” through the entire arena. They weren’t throwing shots at a dizzying pace, but you knew each and every one that was thrown could easily end things in the blink of an eye as both of these gentlemen throw haymakers from hell! They traded in that manner for the first couple rounds, Lampi taking the first and Parker coming back for the second. The third seemed to be heading in a similar direction, neither able to land that one big, devastating shot yet both continuing to wear the other down. Late in the round, with only seconds remaining, the crowd was brought to their feet… “Lampi scores with a shot to the side of Parker's head. Parker is rocked! An uppercut on the inside fails to land for Lampi.” Lampi clearly did his best to try to end it right there and then, but some determination by Parker and the bell both stepped in to keep this thing going! The fourth round came and things took a completely different turn with Lampi deciding to try his luck on the ground. There was a lot of time spent jousting for position and the crowd seemed to really get a bit weary of it after a while with only a couple sub attempts coming from it all. With a referee standup late the bell came and the fans were happy to see this move on and back to the feet! The fifth and final Championship Round came with Lampi leading three rounds to one according to our unofficial stats and these two dangerous men got back at it ala rounds one through three. Both were clearly gassed going into the final round and this was going to come down to who had the heart to push through and who could either sneak the finishing shot in or failed to have the energy to prevent it! Lampi seemed to be the one to grab that advantage here with this just before the minute mark… “Parker wants to clinch but Lampi slips to the side and Lampi counters with a shot to the ribs. That looked like it hurt.” …and then, a few moments later…found the answer to the ultimate goal… “Lampi cracks Parker with a nasty uppercut that draws ooohs from the crowd and sends Parker tumbling backwards onto the mat. He tries to recover but Lampi pounces and lands a hail of unanswered strikes that forces the referee to step in to end the fight! Parker is not happy but he gave the referee no choice!” Donkey’s Takeaways: There are no sweeter words on the planet for a Title Fight Challenger than hearing the announcer come in to say…”ANNNNNNND NEWWWW”! Those words are exactly what Lampi got to savor as he overcame the underdog status in this one and shocked the Sucker Punch Pro Series world! Congrats to the kid on taking down one hell of a Champ to claim the throne as his own. Now, the real work begins…defending! And that will be against Lukasz Wieczorek or John Fury, something we’ll have the answer to soon on the 18th! For Parker, he and his management team likely walk away extremely disappointed. Parker looked like he was a bit down in the dumps following the loss and will need to find a way to pick himself back up and start that trek back up to the top yet again. He’s done it before, no smart betting man would put money down against him doing it yet again! That trek will start most likely against Derwent Bolt next month! That’s a huge test as Parker has fended off the ground game of Akerfeldt previously but Bolt may just be another notch above in that department. Another option includes Bloode, but he has a fight scheduled on September 4th though and is a bit further away than we’d like. One final option might be Andrei Averyanov if he should win his fight over Victor Veidt on the 25th. That would require a discussion with his manager due to his relatively young age and potential skill gap. So some things to figure out here folks before we see who will be the test before Parker is potentially back looking for revenge…or we have a new Big Man on Sucker Punch Campus looking for the meal ticket! The likely fight there is Bolt, but it should be noted that those other fighters are RIGHT THERE in the pecking order for potentially stepping into the big lights! *********************** So there we have it Sucker Punch fans! There we go folks! Our biggest event by far in quite a while now and it was a blast over at Schooners Bar! These guys went out there and made a ton of fans with the energy and excitement they brought to the event, both for those in attendance and those watching on the live stream! I can’t wait to see these guys get at it again, but to hold us over we have SPPS 79 coming at you in just over a day mid-week this week as we head back to the Bondi Outdoor Arena! Till then, have fun and don’t forget… Keep it cheap and dirty…Sucker Punch Pro Series 355k+ style! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy808 Posted August 16, 2021 Report Share Posted August 16, 2021 And now begins the clock of how long baby bjorn will sit on the fight. 1 day? 1 week? 1 week and then decline? Tune in next time to see the mental gymnastics bjorn will pull out this time 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjornmma1 Posted August 17, 2021 Report Share Posted August 17, 2021 9 hours ago, andy808 said: And now begins the clock of how long baby bjorn will sit on the fight. 1 day? 1 week? 1 week and then decline? Tune in next time to see the mental gymnastics bjorn will pull out this time Derwent Bolt Before I even noticed the fight offer, my manager already had received a ... mental.... message from you, 'DONT WASTE MY TIME... bloeblablabla!!!' , written by a five-year-old or perhaps you, but then I hope that you were drunk. Even funnier, that five-year-old stated that his fighter would be easy to beat, so already building up his defensive wall, while if anyone would have been in his right to make up excuses, it would be me. But I'm not. Just because your a special kind of idiot, with the confidence of a midget ginger with one leg, I'll let you sit tight before I accept. And oh, I will accept the fight offer for the scheduled date, don't worry, but I want to do you a favor first and teach you how to be more zen and patient. Sit tight, be a good boy. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HareRumpler Posted August 17, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2021 14 hours ago, andy808 said: And now begins the clock of how long baby bjorn will sit on the fight. 1 day? 1 week? 1 week and then decline? Tune in next time to see the mental gymnastics bjorn will pull out this time 4 hours ago, bjornmma1 said: Derwent Bolt Before I even noticed the fight offer, my manager already had received a ... mental.... message from you, 'DONT WASTE MY TIME... bloeblablabla!!!' , written by a five-year-old or perhaps you, but then I hope that you were drunk. Even funnier, that five-year-old stated that his fighter would be easy to beat, so already building up his defensive wall, while if anyone would have been in his right to make up excuses, it would be me. But I'm not. Just because your a special kind of idiot, with the confidence of a midget ginger with one leg, I'll let you sit tight before I accept. And oh, I will accept the fight offer for the scheduled date, don't worry, but I want to do you a favor first and teach you how to be more zen and patient. Sit tight, be a good boy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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