European Throwdown: Notes from Iberia to Siberia
Tim Leidecker Oct 24, 2007
The latest edition of European Throwdown is jam-packed with news
and notes from upcoming shows in Germany, Switzerland, Poland,
Lithuania and England. Plus: an update on a French duo set to fight
two prominent opponents in the coming months.
‘Warrior Monk' has back against the wall
Croatian striker Zelg
Galesic (Pictures) is facing a huge amount of
pressure before his fight against Japanese karateka Taiei Kin (Pictures) at HERO'S Korea in Seoul on
Sunday. The 28-year-old Muay Thai specialist, who is marketed in
Japan as "Beinkei," a famous warrior monk, has lost his last two
fights in the Land of the Rising Sun and is fighting to prove he
belongs in the upper echelon of mixed martial arts.
HERO'S matchmaker Akira Maeda (Pictures) has had some mercy with the man from Pula, Croatia, and matched him against a standup fighter instead of a ground specialist. Galesic's two recent losses came to top-class judo players in Olympic gold medalist Makoto Takimoto (Pictures) and South Korean standout Dong Sik Yoon (Pictures).
Kin raised more than a few eyebrows when in July he scored a unanimous decision over Japanese submission fighter Kiyoshi Tamura (Pictures) in only his third MMA fight.
‘The Model' headlines Fight Club Berlin
Andre "The Model" Reinders returns to Berlin on Sunday for the second time this year. In the main event of Fight Club Berlin X, he faces Iranian-German up-and-comer Andi Asangarani. Reinders has good memories of the German capital, where he dispatched Belgian fighter Kurt Verschueren in less than two minutes at the promotion's April show.
The man from Penta Gym is an interesting character. To finance his training, he works at the door of a nightclub in Prague and as a model for one of the Czech Republic's biggest modeling agencies. The side jobs have paid off for the 26-year-old Muay Thai specialist, who is coming off the biggest success of his career.
In August he won the talent-studded Best of Europe middleweight tournament in Magdeburg, Germany, with wins over Nordin Asrih (Pictures) and Jean Francois Lenogue (Pictures) in one night. Asangarani has also competed in tournaments in the past but has largely been under the radar because he has only fought in smaller shows. A win over Reinders would make the 23-year-old a household name in Germany overnight.
Also on the card are the likable local hero Jesse-Bjorn Buckler and Berlin-based Brazilian Marcos Tulio as well as vowel-lacking Armenian Hayk Mkrtchyan and excellent lightweight kickboxer Olli Koch, who square off in a muay Thai fight in which elbow strikes to the head are allowed.
Balschmieter rushes comeback to face Semedo
Andre Balschmieter, one of the busiest German fighters with more than 30 bouts under his belt, has hurried his comeback to face Switzerland-based Portuguese submission fighter Nelson Semedo in the main event of the Yogaka Fight Night IX on Nov. 3. The 25-year-old knockout artist suffered a broken jaw at the hands of Yasin Mengulluoglu in late May, but the prospect of facing an interesting opponent like Semedo has apparently sped up the healing process.
Semedo, a veteran of Cage Warriors and Shooto Switzerland, holds a 5-1 record. In July he took the Gods of War middleweight tournament, submitting Harry Baumeister before winning a decision over Roman Vanicky in the final. The former pupil of Brazilian Top Team Switzerland's Augusto Frota (Pictures) also holds a TKO win over former Cage Rage welterweight champion Ross "The Boss" Mason.
Dalgliesh to test the ‘Cannibal'
Although he did not deliver a convincing performance in his last fight against Martin Zawada, Mamed "The Cannibal" Khalidov, arguably the hottest commodity at 205 pounds in Europe, again pulled off the victory and extended his win streak to 10. While the quality of Khalidov's opposition can be argued, there is no debating the skills of his next adversary.
Scheduled to fight the Chechnyan whiz kid at KSW 8 on Nov. 10 is Dutchman Dave Dalgliesh, a veteran of more than 40 fights. The star student of former PRIDE veteran "Dirty Bob" Schrijber has faced top opponents like UFC veterans Cheick Kongo (Pictures) and Thiago Silva (Pictures). He has beaten Valentijn Overeem (Pictures) and Tengiz Tedoradze (Pictures).
Dalgliesh's biggest recent success was winning the 2H2H Road to Japan heavyweight tournament in June 2006, which promised him a shot in PRIDE later in the year. He was unlucky, though, as the promotion folded before he could cash in on his first appearance. Now he can at least play roadblock in Khalidov's quest to make it to the UFC.
Also scheduled to fight at the Warsaw show are Polish submission fighter Krzysztof Kulak and Frenchman Francis Carmont, winner of the KSW 5 eight-man light heavyweight tournament.
HERO'S Lithuania shaping up
After presenting the first announced fight between Erikas Petraitis (Pictures) and Niko Puhakka (Pictures) in my last column, the fight card for the Nov. 10 HERO'S Lithuania show has since been partially completed. Among the more intriguing matchups is a heavyweight fight between Lithuanian "Titan" Tadas Rinkevicius and American John Brown (Pictures).
Just like two years ago, HERO'S matchmaker Akira Maeda (Pictures) is also sending a duo of Japanese fighters to try them out abroad. This time he has chosen Nova Uniao Japan welterweight Tatsuhiko Nishizaka, who will face undefeated kickboxer Rolandas Agrba, and Gold Gym South Tokyo lightweight Masayuki Okude, who faces a very tough challenge in 21-year-old knockout artist Marius Liaukevicius (Pictures).
Returning to the ring for the first time this year will be PRIDE veteran Egidijus Valavicius. The 28-year-old sambo fighter had his moment in the limelight in August 2003, when he survived a full round with newly crowned PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures). Valavicius will take on Dutchman Jason Jones, a training partner of world-class strikers Melvin Manhoef (Pictures) and Badr Hari.
HERO'S Lithuania 2007 card:
Rolandas Agrba vs. Tatsuhiko Nishizaka
Erikas Petraitis (Pictures) vs. Niko Puhakka (Pictures)
Sergej Juskevic vs. Anton Kuivanen
Tadas Rinkevicius vs. John Brown (Pictures)
Marius Liaukevicius (Pictures) vs. Masayuki Okude
Egidijus Valavicius vs. Jason Jones
Lenogue on his way to Sydney
Frenchman Jean Francois Lenogue (Pictures) will make the trip across the pond a month before Christmas to face fellow PRIDE veteran Hector Lombard (Pictures) for the Cage Fighting Championships middleweight title in Australia. Lombard was originally scheduled to take on Armenian welterweight Karo Parisyan (Pictures) at UFC 78, but visa problems cancelled what would have been a showdown between two of the best judo players in MMA.
Now the 29-year-old Cuban will have to make do with the 34-year-old Paris native, who is a practitioner of the rare Vietnamese "Vo Thuat" fighting style. The interesting thing about Lenogue is that he is not only a fighter but also an actor. He started out as a stunt double and then worked his way up to small roles in movies like "Sahara" and "Danny the Dog."
It will be interesting to see what kind of role he will play against Lombard, who has not lost outside of his two appearances in PRIDE.
The ‘Professor' takes on ‘Ninja'
In the main event of Cage Rage 24, "Professor X" Xavier Foupa-Pokam (Pictures) takes on former EliteXC middleweight champion Murilo "Ninja" Rua.
The teammate of world-class kickboxer Cyrille Diabate (Pictures) is somewhat of a loose cannon. Foupa-Pokam has been disqualified three times for various offenses, including spitting out his mouthpiece multiple times and soccer kicking the head of a downed opponent.
Ninja, the older brother of former PRIDE Grand Prix winner Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, is returning to England after losing the EliteXC middleweight title to Robbie Lawler (Pictures) in September. The 27-year-old Brazilian has done very well in Britain: In two previous appearances he submitted Mark Weir (Pictures) via arm-triangle choke and opened a nasty cut on the shin of Alex Reid (Pictures).
Also coming back to London is the muscular Italian knockout artist Ivan Serati (Pictures). Even though the man from Monza, 10 miles north of Milan, has only gone 1-1 since being knocked out by Vitor Belfort (Pictures) in April, Cage Rage opted to have him back for the Dec. 1 show. The Sure Grip Vale Tudo fighter will step inside the cage with the old dog of British MMA, Lee Hasdell (Pictures).
For more mixed martial arts news coverage in German, log on to Ground & Pound at www.groundandpound.de.
‘Warrior Monk' has back against the wall
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HERO'S matchmaker Akira Maeda (Pictures) has had some mercy with the man from Pula, Croatia, and matched him against a standup fighter instead of a ground specialist. Galesic's two recent losses came to top-class judo players in Olympic gold medalist Makoto Takimoto (Pictures) and South Korean standout Dong Sik Yoon (Pictures).
Kin is not to be underestimated, though. Despite being 36, the
fighter from Hyôgo in southern Japan came out of retirement to take
up mixed martial arts last year. From 1993 to 1998, he had been one
of the best kickboxers in Japan, boasting a 19-6 record in K-1. He
also won the full-contact karate world cup in 1995.
Kin raised more than a few eyebrows when in July he scored a unanimous decision over Japanese submission fighter Kiyoshi Tamura (Pictures) in only his third MMA fight.
‘The Model' headlines Fight Club Berlin
Andre "The Model" Reinders returns to Berlin on Sunday for the second time this year. In the main event of Fight Club Berlin X, he faces Iranian-German up-and-comer Andi Asangarani. Reinders has good memories of the German capital, where he dispatched Belgian fighter Kurt Verschueren in less than two minutes at the promotion's April show.
The man from Penta Gym is an interesting character. To finance his training, he works at the door of a nightclub in Prague and as a model for one of the Czech Republic's biggest modeling agencies. The side jobs have paid off for the 26-year-old Muay Thai specialist, who is coming off the biggest success of his career.
In August he won the talent-studded Best of Europe middleweight tournament in Magdeburg, Germany, with wins over Nordin Asrih (Pictures) and Jean Francois Lenogue (Pictures) in one night. Asangarani has also competed in tournaments in the past but has largely been under the radar because he has only fought in smaller shows. A win over Reinders would make the 23-year-old a household name in Germany overnight.
Also on the card are the likable local hero Jesse-Bjorn Buckler and Berlin-based Brazilian Marcos Tulio as well as vowel-lacking Armenian Hayk Mkrtchyan and excellent lightweight kickboxer Olli Koch, who square off in a muay Thai fight in which elbow strikes to the head are allowed.
Balschmieter rushes comeback to face Semedo
Andre Balschmieter, one of the busiest German fighters with more than 30 bouts under his belt, has hurried his comeback to face Switzerland-based Portuguese submission fighter Nelson Semedo in the main event of the Yogaka Fight Night IX on Nov. 3. The 25-year-old knockout artist suffered a broken jaw at the hands of Yasin Mengulluoglu in late May, but the prospect of facing an interesting opponent like Semedo has apparently sped up the healing process.
Semedo, a veteran of Cage Warriors and Shooto Switzerland, holds a 5-1 record. In July he took the Gods of War middleweight tournament, submitting Harry Baumeister before winning a decision over Roman Vanicky in the final. The former pupil of Brazilian Top Team Switzerland's Augusto Frota (Pictures) also holds a TKO win over former Cage Rage welterweight champion Ross "The Boss" Mason.
Dalgliesh to test the ‘Cannibal'
Although he did not deliver a convincing performance in his last fight against Martin Zawada, Mamed "The Cannibal" Khalidov, arguably the hottest commodity at 205 pounds in Europe, again pulled off the victory and extended his win streak to 10. While the quality of Khalidov's opposition can be argued, there is no debating the skills of his next adversary.
Scheduled to fight the Chechnyan whiz kid at KSW 8 on Nov. 10 is Dutchman Dave Dalgliesh, a veteran of more than 40 fights. The star student of former PRIDE veteran "Dirty Bob" Schrijber has faced top opponents like UFC veterans Cheick Kongo (Pictures) and Thiago Silva (Pictures). He has beaten Valentijn Overeem (Pictures) and Tengiz Tedoradze (Pictures).
Dalgliesh's biggest recent success was winning the 2H2H Road to Japan heavyweight tournament in June 2006, which promised him a shot in PRIDE later in the year. He was unlucky, though, as the promotion folded before he could cash in on his first appearance. Now he can at least play roadblock in Khalidov's quest to make it to the UFC.
Also scheduled to fight at the Warsaw show are Polish submission fighter Krzysztof Kulak and Frenchman Francis Carmont, winner of the KSW 5 eight-man light heavyweight tournament.
HERO'S Lithuania shaping up
After presenting the first announced fight between Erikas Petraitis (Pictures) and Niko Puhakka (Pictures) in my last column, the fight card for the Nov. 10 HERO'S Lithuania show has since been partially completed. Among the more intriguing matchups is a heavyweight fight between Lithuanian "Titan" Tadas Rinkevicius and American John Brown (Pictures).
Just like two years ago, HERO'S matchmaker Akira Maeda (Pictures) is also sending a duo of Japanese fighters to try them out abroad. This time he has chosen Nova Uniao Japan welterweight Tatsuhiko Nishizaka, who will face undefeated kickboxer Rolandas Agrba, and Gold Gym South Tokyo lightweight Masayuki Okude, who faces a very tough challenge in 21-year-old knockout artist Marius Liaukevicius (Pictures).
Returning to the ring for the first time this year will be PRIDE veteran Egidijus Valavicius. The 28-year-old sambo fighter had his moment in the limelight in August 2003, when he survived a full round with newly crowned PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures). Valavicius will take on Dutchman Jason Jones, a training partner of world-class strikers Melvin Manhoef (Pictures) and Badr Hari.
HERO'S Lithuania 2007 card:
Rolandas Agrba vs. Tatsuhiko Nishizaka
Erikas Petraitis (Pictures) vs. Niko Puhakka (Pictures)
Sergej Juskevic vs. Anton Kuivanen
Tadas Rinkevicius vs. John Brown (Pictures)
Marius Liaukevicius (Pictures) vs. Masayuki Okude
Egidijus Valavicius vs. Jason Jones
Lenogue on his way to Sydney
Frenchman Jean Francois Lenogue (Pictures) will make the trip across the pond a month before Christmas to face fellow PRIDE veteran Hector Lombard (Pictures) for the Cage Fighting Championships middleweight title in Australia. Lombard was originally scheduled to take on Armenian welterweight Karo Parisyan (Pictures) at UFC 78, but visa problems cancelled what would have been a showdown between two of the best judo players in MMA.
Now the 29-year-old Cuban will have to make do with the 34-year-old Paris native, who is a practitioner of the rare Vietnamese "Vo Thuat" fighting style. The interesting thing about Lenogue is that he is not only a fighter but also an actor. He started out as a stunt double and then worked his way up to small roles in movies like "Sahara" and "Danny the Dog."
It will be interesting to see what kind of role he will play against Lombard, who has not lost outside of his two appearances in PRIDE.
The ‘Professor' takes on ‘Ninja'
In the main event of Cage Rage 24, "Professor X" Xavier Foupa-Pokam (Pictures) takes on former EliteXC middleweight champion Murilo "Ninja" Rua.
The teammate of world-class kickboxer Cyrille Diabate (Pictures) is somewhat of a loose cannon. Foupa-Pokam has been disqualified three times for various offenses, including spitting out his mouthpiece multiple times and soccer kicking the head of a downed opponent.
Ninja, the older brother of former PRIDE Grand Prix winner Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, is returning to England after losing the EliteXC middleweight title to Robbie Lawler (Pictures) in September. The 27-year-old Brazilian has done very well in Britain: In two previous appearances he submitted Mark Weir (Pictures) via arm-triangle choke and opened a nasty cut on the shin of Alex Reid (Pictures).
Also coming back to London is the muscular Italian knockout artist Ivan Serati (Pictures). Even though the man from Monza, 10 miles north of Milan, has only gone 1-1 since being knocked out by Vitor Belfort (Pictures) in April, Cage Rage opted to have him back for the Dec. 1 show. The Sure Grip Vale Tudo fighter will step inside the cage with the old dog of British MMA, Lee Hasdell (Pictures).
For more mixed martial arts news coverage in German, log on to Ground & Pound at www.groundandpound.de.
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