Middleweight, Felix Klinkhammer (6-0)
Klinkhammer fought out of his sideways karate stance. He was very light on his feet throwing some snapping kicks. The takedown was the sole focus of Klinkhammer in this fight. Each round Klinkhammer used explosive flying knees to close the distance and get the takedown. He stayed active with ground and pound and had the back every round. Good performance but disappointed he couldn’t finish his opponent.
Grade: B
Featherweight, Artem Semyonov (8-3)
Semyonov started off landing a lot of kicks before his opponent forced a takedown. Semyonov defended and got top position right into the mount. He fell to his back after landed some big ground and pound. Off his back, he quickly locked in a triangle and his opponent tapped. Easy fight for the young man.
Grade: B
Featherweight, Boris Manaenkov (4-0)
This was a tough, gritty, and bloody fight between Manaenkov and Petr Pisanyuk who was 3-0. Both guys had their moments on the mat landing nasty ground and pound. Even though Manaenkov was on top Pisanyuk landed some elbows from the bottom bloodying up Manaenkov. Manaenkov still landed a lot of ground and pound and ended the round locking in a triangle off his back. Manaenkov was taken down in round two but he was able to reverse and get on top. He never stopped throwing ground and pound and while in the guard he was landing at will. Pisanyuk wasn’t moving and the ref eventually stepped in.
Grade: C+
Welterweight, Logan Urban (5-1)
First time watching Urban and he impressed me along with providing a devastating finish. Round one he dropped his opponent with a counter right. He also scored two takedowns and ended the round on the back of his foe. Urban in round two just threw a knee up the middle as his opponent stepped in. The knee landed right on the jaw putting the guy out cold face first.
Grade: A
Heavyweight, Slim Trabelsi (2-0)
Olympic wrestler and African champion Slim Trabelsi fought IMMAF champ Ryan Spillane. Trabelsi mauled and dominated Spillane easily. Trabelsi took the fight down right away and dominated top control the whole round while landing big punches. In full guard and mainly in side control Trabelsi was landing big ground and pound. In round two the fight went right back down and Trabelsi tied up an arm of Ryan and landed massive hammer fist until the ref saved him. Dominate showing against a good fighter.
Grade: A-
Middleweight, Jason Wilnis (1-0)
Kickboxing standout and former Glory middleweight champion Jason Wilnis made his MMA debut in July. Wilnis for the first 3.5 minutes was tested with his takedown defense. He defended perfectly never going down once. When they separated it was the beginning of the end. Wilnis threw some jabs, front kicks, and was fainting. He landed a one-two with the right hand landed and a left dropping his opponent for the finish.
Grade: B-
Bantamweight, Levi Mowles (15-4)
Mowles fought former UFC fighter Teruto Ishihara who is dangerous on the feet. Ishihara was doing good on the feet landing the more significant strikes. They tied up and as Mowles worked him to a knee he snuck on the back and took the fight down. Mowles locked in the RNC with an arm of Ishihara trapped and the former UFC fighter went tapping.
Grade: B
Lightweight, Kolton Englund (9-3)
Englund put on a hell of a performance beating a decent fighter in Alec Williams. This fight was all Englund as he defended takedowns and walked his opponent down all fight. He hurt Williams multiple times in round one, dropped him and round two, and finished him in round three. Englund showed excellent boxing putting combinations together. He went to the body, head, and was mixing it some good kicks. He kept cutting of the cage and letting everything go and his shot placement was a big factor. All the damage added up in round three as the ref stepped in when Williams fell to his back.
Grade: B+
Featherweight, Magomed-Salakh Ilyasov (7-0)
Ilyasov fought a low-level opponent but dispatched of him the way he should’ve. On the feer he was landed kicks from the outside and flipping the question-mark kick. Ilyasov caught his opponent throwing a spinning back fist and dropped him. Some ground and pound landed but it was on the feet he landed a straight jab knocking the guy down and out.
Grade: C
Lightweight, Karomatullo Sufiev (5-0)
Sufiev dominated his opponent with a strong wrestling display. The story of the fight was Sufiev getting big takedowns. He was lifting his opponent and slamming him to his back in an emphatic fashion. On top he was aggressive with smashing elbows and passing guard. Round three he ended the fight in mount landed ground and pound.
Grade: B-
Bantamweight, Erick Viscondi (9-2)
Brazil’s Viscondi almost pulled off a twister in round one but instead got the RNC in round 2. He used a lot of kicks on the feet but his intention was to get the fight grounded. In round two he timed a perfectly executed takedown and took the back to finish with the choke.
Grade: C
Heavyweight, Nyle Bartling (4-0)
One-way traffic for a big-time heavyweight prospect Nyle Bartling. He right away got the fight down from a high single-leg takedown. Right into side-control, Bartling landed a barrage of elbows causing his opponent to leak blood from his opponent. Bartling got into the crucifix and didn’t let off of those elbows until the ref stepped in. Pure dominance.
Grade: B
Featherweight, Isaac Dulgarian (3-0)
Jab to an explosive double leg takedown. From the top position, he got right into the mount and took the back. Some punches throw and is opponent just covering up and the ref stepped in. In was that simple from Dulgarian who finished this fight in under a minute. His opponent was pretty questionable but Dulgarian still looked great.
Grade: B-
Lightweight, Marshal Kemp (3-0)
Kemp looked outstanding here putting on an overall MMA clinic. In the opening seconds of the fight he dropped his opponent with a teep kick to a left hand. He jumped to a triangle who then switched to an armbar and back to a triangle. He didn’t finish there but it was a beautiful sequence. Kemp just had his way with the guy on the feet fighting long using his kicks and straight punches. The teep kicks were a big factor as he was maintaining distance and setting up combinations. He was using step in knees and step in elbows just mixing it all together. Kemp shot and completed a takedown in round two. It didn’t take him long to get to the back and win with the RNC.
Grade: A
Flyweight, Alden Coria (5-0)
Easy fight for Coria who did take out a more experienced fighter. He caught his opponent early in an exchange. And what it seemed as Coria could’ve had success on the feet he took the fight down. Coria on top stayed heavy and even tried to lock in a guillotine. As his opponent attempted to get up Coria took the guillotine and it was tight and resulted in the tap.
Grade: B+
Bantamweight, Ricky Camp (12-4)
Camp fought Greg Fischer who is a credible fighter on the regional scene. Fischer is wrestler but Camp out-positioned him, out-grappled, and out-wrestled him the whole fight. Fischer did have moments but Camp had way more success on the feet and defended the takedowns. Camp did good landing leg kicks and using spinning kicks to the body. He has far more moments in this fight so it was surprising it was a split decision.
Grade: B
Heavyweight, Thomas Petersen (5-0)
Vernon Lewis is a guy that who lacks a high-level skillset but someone who is a tough outing for any young fighter that he fights. It wasn’t a problem for the young 26-year-old. Peterson is more so a wrestler and it didn’t take long for him to shoot. Lewis easily stuffed that takedown and it didn’t look good. Peterson responded with a straight right jab to a left cross over the shoulder dropping Lewis. Lewis got to his feet to eat a slew of right hands that sent him down and the ref stepped in. That left caught Lewis completely out of left field and taking him out like that is impressive.
Grade: B+
Heavyweight, Khusein Adamov (10-1)
Not much happened prior to the finish but he looked good nonetheless. On the feet, it was a feeling-out process and Adamov was just lunging with some punches. Adamov blitzed is to close the distance when he got in on the knees to lift his opponents. He slammed his opponent down and right into side control he landed thumping hammer fist and the ref stepped in. Mauling finish.
Grade: C+
Middleweight, Imran Taysultanov (6-0)
It only took Taysultanov 53-seconds to make a statement. Taysultanov landed a blistering right cross that put his opponent on skates. He fell to his knees to grab a leg but Taysultanov grabbed the neck and dropped for a d’arce choke. The d’arce was sunk in tight and it put his opponent out cold.
Grade: B
Flyweight, Gani Adilserik (4-0)
Adilserik didn’t throw a whole lot of volume nor did he ever come close to finishing the fight but he looked good. I was very impressed with his athletic ability and his kickboxing. Adilserik fought behind his kicks going to the head and body and his kicks had some thumping power behind them. He threw a spinning kick to the body and a tornado kick proving his diversity. Adilserik even had a takedown in each round. His explosiveness, diversity, speed, kickboxing all look very good.
Grade: B
