European Throwdown: Notes from Iberia to Siberia
Tim Leidecker Sep 25, 2007
The latest edition of European Throwdown, the premier column on the
European fight scene, has news on Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen, James
"The Colossus" Thompson and Siyar "Killa" Bahadurzada. Plus, a
short preview of FFC "All or Nothing," a show that takes place
Sunday in Leipzig, Germany.
‘Colossus' joins Xtreme Couture
Former Cage Rage world champion James "The Colossus" Thompson has
said goodbye to the Trojan Free Fighters in Cheltenham, England,
and joined UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture (Pictures) and his stable of strong
wrestlers at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.
The 28-year-old Brit cited a lack of quality training partners as the main reason for his move across the pond. Thompson had made up for a dismal 2006, in which he went 0-3 before stopping Olympic judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida (Pictures). He followed up with another hard-fought win over MMA legend Don Frye (Pictures), but the 6-feet-5, 265-pound brawler has also suffered two devastating first-round knockouts this year, one by Butterbean and the other by newcomer Neil Grove (Pictures) at home in England.
‘Killa' goes out on a limb
Shooto light heavyweight champion Siyar Bahadurzada (Pictures) has unnecessarily upped the ante for his next fight in his adoptive country, Holland.
It all happened at the Ultimate Glory show two weeks ago. Between fights Bahadurzada jumped into the ring, grabbed the microphone and challenged submission specialist Nathan Schouteren to a fight at a future UG event.
Here is the stipulation that adds even more fuel to an already highly competitive fight: Should he lose to the former Ultimate Combat middleweight champion, Bahadurzada has promised to hang up his gloves for good.
Since Schouteren is known as a very well rounded fighter with excellent finishing ability, Bahadurzada might have bitten off more than he can chew.
Rough times for Germany's ‘Spider-Man'
German MMA pioneer Mario Stapel is definitely not enjoying the best phase of his career. Coming off two straight first-round knockouts, the last coming at the hands of Duane Ludwig (Pictures) in the main event of Ring of Fire 30, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt also suffered some bad luck recently as a promoter.
Forced by too many cancellations and injuries, Stapel called off the second StapelMMA Fight Night scheduled for Oct. 6. There's a silver lining on the horizon for the 30-year-old Hessian, though: He has two upcoming fights to turn things around.
On Oct. 20 he will fight the dangerous Dane Sonny Nielsen at the inaugural XFC show in Herning, Denmark. Five weeks later he will fight for a championship against FX3 lightweight titleholder Andre Winner (Pictures) in the main event of FX3 Fight Night 6 in Bracknell, England.
Stapel had better win at least one of those two fights or the "Spider" can pack in its web and concentrate on being a full-time promoter.
‘Unemployed' Hansen tries to stay in shape
It's been quiet around former Shooto welterweight champion Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen, who, until two years ago, was considered perhaps the best 155-pound fighter in the world.
The 28-year-old Norwegian is sitting out the remainder of a five-fight contract he signed with former PRIDE promoter Dream Stage Entertainment before his bout against Jason Ireland (Pictures) in February. To stay in shape, the bald Muay Thai and grappling expert is competing in boxing and kickboxing tournaments in his hometown of Oslo.
In a recent interview with Ironlife.com, Hansen seemed puzzled with an offer from Zuffa, the new PRIDE owners, which he said would have slashed his salary by half -- an offer he could not accept.
Hansen said his contract runs until Dec. 31, and then he will be free to sign with another promoter, Cage Rage and HERO'S being in the pole position for his signature.
‘Bulldog' comeback highlights FFC ‘All or Nothing'
When a card loses three marquee fights but is still filled with solid talent from top to bottom, you know that the promoter has done his homework. That's has happened to promoter/heavyweight fighter Marko Zschörner with the latest installment of his highly popular Free Fight Championship series.
After the excellent "Big Bad Boyz" show in April, the expectations are huge for the next event at the historic Kohlrabizirkus in Leipzig, Germany, this Sunday.
However, Mario Stapel vs. Luke Picklum was cancelled when Stapel was not cleared to fight after being knocked out by Duane Ludwig (Pictures). Marcelo Costa vs. Michal Hamrsmid was scratched when "Hasa" broke his left arm in his WUFC title fight on Aug. 25 against Usman Khanipaev. Plus, Vaclav Pribyl and Ric Schreiter's rematch for the welterweight title has been postponed until the next FFC show in January.
Can this event still live up to expectations?
It can, but in order to do so, good fights that might otherwise have been overlooked will have to become great fights. The pressure is on Zschörner himself to begin with.
Originally the 36-year-old heavyweight kickboxer was scheduled to face former WWE wrestler Daniel Puder (Pictures) during the series six tapings of BodogFIGHT's weekly TV show. A complicated shoulder injury, however, threw a monkey wrench in the Bulldog's plans to conquer the United States. Now he has Czech boxer Radovan Kuca in front of him instead.
Lars Weber and Ilja Skondric, two of the winners from the FFC "Big Bad Boyz" tournament, will duke it out for the unofficial title in another clash of heavyweights. Also, 240-pound Slovakian wrestler Martin Boizik will for once be the lighter man as he takes on the 275-pound "Berlin Behemoth," Franco Schulze.
On the undercard Sebastian Kliesch, at 10-1 one of the brightest German welterweight talents, will grant Slovakian slugger Peter Sluka a rematch of their first-round encounter from last year's East German Championships. Also competing in one of the dark matches is local fan-favorite Hendrik Nitzsche, who steps into the cage against German Top Team member Mischa Mihnjak in an inner-German contest.
The 14-fight card is rounded out by appearances from Brazilian duo Ivan Rodriguez and Igor Araujo, plus Ric Schreiter's last tune-up fight before his title clash against Pribyl. His opponent: Pribyl's teammate Jaroslav Poborsky.
For more mixed martial arts news coverage in German, log on to Ground & Pound at www.groundandpound.de.
‘Colossus' joins Xtreme Couture
Advertisement
The 28-year-old Brit cited a lack of quality training partners as the main reason for his move across the pond. Thompson had made up for a dismal 2006, in which he went 0-3 before stopping Olympic judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida (Pictures). He followed up with another hard-fought win over MMA legend Don Frye (Pictures), but the 6-feet-5, 265-pound brawler has also suffered two devastating first-round knockouts this year, one by Butterbean and the other by newcomer Neil Grove (Pictures) at home in England.
Training in the UFC's backyard and fighting with the
"balls-to-the-wall" attitude preferred by Zuffa, Thompson might
even give the UFC heavyweight division an exciting fight or two,
even though he has lost five out of his last seven.
‘Killa' goes out on a limb
Shooto light heavyweight champion Siyar Bahadurzada (Pictures) has unnecessarily upped the ante for his next fight in his adoptive country, Holland.
It all happened at the Ultimate Glory show two weeks ago. Between fights Bahadurzada jumped into the ring, grabbed the microphone and challenged submission specialist Nathan Schouteren to a fight at a future UG event.
Here is the stipulation that adds even more fuel to an already highly competitive fight: Should he lose to the former Ultimate Combat middleweight champion, Bahadurzada has promised to hang up his gloves for good.
Since Schouteren is known as a very well rounded fighter with excellent finishing ability, Bahadurzada might have bitten off more than he can chew.
Rough times for Germany's ‘Spider-Man'
German MMA pioneer Mario Stapel is definitely not enjoying the best phase of his career. Coming off two straight first-round knockouts, the last coming at the hands of Duane Ludwig (Pictures) in the main event of Ring of Fire 30, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt also suffered some bad luck recently as a promoter.
Forced by too many cancellations and injuries, Stapel called off the second StapelMMA Fight Night scheduled for Oct. 6. There's a silver lining on the horizon for the 30-year-old Hessian, though: He has two upcoming fights to turn things around.
On Oct. 20 he will fight the dangerous Dane Sonny Nielsen at the inaugural XFC show in Herning, Denmark. Five weeks later he will fight for a championship against FX3 lightweight titleholder Andre Winner (Pictures) in the main event of FX3 Fight Night 6 in Bracknell, England.
Stapel had better win at least one of those two fights or the "Spider" can pack in its web and concentrate on being a full-time promoter.
‘Unemployed' Hansen tries to stay in shape
It's been quiet around former Shooto welterweight champion Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen, who, until two years ago, was considered perhaps the best 155-pound fighter in the world.
The 28-year-old Norwegian is sitting out the remainder of a five-fight contract he signed with former PRIDE promoter Dream Stage Entertainment before his bout against Jason Ireland (Pictures) in February. To stay in shape, the bald Muay Thai and grappling expert is competing in boxing and kickboxing tournaments in his hometown of Oslo.
In a recent interview with Ironlife.com, Hansen seemed puzzled with an offer from Zuffa, the new PRIDE owners, which he said would have slashed his salary by half -- an offer he could not accept.
Hansen said his contract runs until Dec. 31, and then he will be free to sign with another promoter, Cage Rage and HERO'S being in the pole position for his signature.
‘Bulldog' comeback highlights FFC ‘All or Nothing'
When a card loses three marquee fights but is still filled with solid talent from top to bottom, you know that the promoter has done his homework. That's has happened to promoter/heavyweight fighter Marko Zschörner with the latest installment of his highly popular Free Fight Championship series.
After the excellent "Big Bad Boyz" show in April, the expectations are huge for the next event at the historic Kohlrabizirkus in Leipzig, Germany, this Sunday.
However, Mario Stapel vs. Luke Picklum was cancelled when Stapel was not cleared to fight after being knocked out by Duane Ludwig (Pictures). Marcelo Costa vs. Michal Hamrsmid was scratched when "Hasa" broke his left arm in his WUFC title fight on Aug. 25 against Usman Khanipaev. Plus, Vaclav Pribyl and Ric Schreiter's rematch for the welterweight title has been postponed until the next FFC show in January.
Can this event still live up to expectations?
It can, but in order to do so, good fights that might otherwise have been overlooked will have to become great fights. The pressure is on Zschörner himself to begin with.
Originally the 36-year-old heavyweight kickboxer was scheduled to face former WWE wrestler Daniel Puder (Pictures) during the series six tapings of BodogFIGHT's weekly TV show. A complicated shoulder injury, however, threw a monkey wrench in the Bulldog's plans to conquer the United States. Now he has Czech boxer Radovan Kuca in front of him instead.
Lars Weber and Ilja Skondric, two of the winners from the FFC "Big Bad Boyz" tournament, will duke it out for the unofficial title in another clash of heavyweights. Also, 240-pound Slovakian wrestler Martin Boizik will for once be the lighter man as he takes on the 275-pound "Berlin Behemoth," Franco Schulze.
On the undercard Sebastian Kliesch, at 10-1 one of the brightest German welterweight talents, will grant Slovakian slugger Peter Sluka a rematch of their first-round encounter from last year's East German Championships. Also competing in one of the dark matches is local fan-favorite Hendrik Nitzsche, who steps into the cage against German Top Team member Mischa Mihnjak in an inner-German contest.
The 14-fight card is rounded out by appearances from Brazilian duo Ivan Rodriguez and Igor Araujo, plus Ric Schreiter's last tune-up fight before his title clash against Pribyl. His opponent: Pribyl's teammate Jaroslav Poborsky.
For more mixed martial arts news coverage in German, log on to Ground & Pound at www.groundandpound.de.
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