Alexander Shabanov vs. Amrali Saidoshurov
Vadim Davydov vs. Alexander Shkurat
Daniil Gavrilov vs. Eldar Abuev
Vladislav Panov vs. Ilya Topchin
Rashid Salikhov vs. Ivan Semiglyadov
Sergey Chadin vs. Tadeus Ruzecka
Vladislav Tuinov vs. Cedric Manhoef
W5 -81kg World Title Match: Alexander Stetsurenko vs. Errol Konning
Manuel Sembera vs. Alin Cipman R3
Adrian Valentin vs. Igor Emkic R1
Dardan Avdulaj vs. Luka Petrovic 3R UD
Darryl Sichtman vs. Marco Pleschberger R1
Karim Mabrouk vs. Petar Jaman 3R UD
Marcel Jager vs. Henry Bannert
Vladislav Tuinov vs. Angaar Nasr 3R. Tuinov, who recently turned 18, is Russia's most promising young kickboxer, having already captured the 71 kg European title & 72.5 kg Intercontinental title. He is quick & powerful, but what's more impressive is how well he works off his diverse left hand lead, mixing hooks, body shots, double jabs, and then following with the right when it's there. Tuinov overwhelmed Nasr late in the 1st. He had two nice two double jab right straight combos late in the 1st then almost had a knockdown finishing a combo with a left hook, but was able to follow it with a high kick to the shoulderblade & a couple punches for the standing 8 count that ended the round. Tuinov was still having his way with Nasr early in the 2nd, landing 2 spinning back kicks in a row, and appeared well on his way to dominating another quality fighter. Nasr had other ideas though, and started to come alive in the 2nd half of round 2, stunning Tuinov with a flying knee. He played more or less even for the rest of the round, so this round could have gone either way, but overall Tuinov had outlanded Nasr almost 2-1 through 2 rounds. Tuinov mostly avoided an overhand right early in the 3rd, but Nasr stunned him following up with a left hook to the chin. Tuinov is a warrior & he responded to the adversity by waking back up & engaging in a firefight. Nasr was still feeling it though, landing a good knee to the chin and some good 2 punch + low kick combos. Tuinov was clearly worn down, but rather than just trying to hang on & survive, he was still in there trying to finish the fight. Nasr was clearly getting the better of him though, landing a big right hook over Tuinov's telegraph left hook. Now that Tuinov had slowed down, Nasr was able to land some of his powerful right hand leads that Tuinov saw coming a mile away when he was fresh. Nasr clearly won the 3rd round, which was excellent, but wasn't able to get the knockdown he needed to have a real chance of walking away with anything better than a draw. Tuinov clearly won the 1st half & Nasr clearly won the 2nd half, but Tuinov was lucky this wasn't a title defense because although he edged the decision due to his brilliant start, I wouldn't have liked his chances of hanging on to that lead through another 2 rounds. Good match.
Agron Preteni vs. Labinot Zekaj
W5 72.5kg European Title Match: Massaro Glunder vs. Foad Sadeghi 5R. Massaro isn't a fighter I always root for, but I'm finding his fights to be entertaining & action packed one way or another. Foad lost a 3R unanimous decision in their 1st match at W5 31 12/5/15, and Glunder was looking sharp with his jab & combos early. Sadeghi began to have success by pushing the pace. Though he still wasn't beating Glunder up by any means, at his best, he was active enough with his attacks & feints that Glunder kept having to defend, and thus wasn't getting off as much as usual. Sadeghi really couldn't hesitate because Glunder would just keep landing the jab whenever he was allowed to relax at range. Even in rounds that Foad was arguably winning, Glunder's jab was so fast & accurate that he was outlanding Sadeghi. Sadeghi cracked Glunder with a big lead left hook early in the 3rd, but didn't manage (try?) to follow it up. Glunder was just so good when he was able to hold his ground that it was hard for Sadeghi to really advance given how many jabs he was getting hit with. He had to just concede to getting hit with the jab & throwing his own more powerful combo back. The judges had the fight even through 3 rounds, but Glunder had a big 4th round, stunning Foad with an overhand right early in the round & following it with a wide variety of punches & knees to the body & head. Glunder was really flowing now, and letting loose with powerful right hands. About 20 seconds into the onslaught, Glunder backed Sadeghi with a push kick then dropped him with a right high kick as soon as he stepped forward. Glunder never slowed down the whole round, cutting Sadeghi under the eye with one of his knees. I don't know how Sadeghi managed to only go down once in this round, but it was so one-sided you could probably justify a 10-7 round even without the 2nd knockdown. That said, Sadeghi did actually manage to stabilize & fight somewhat even for the last 30 seconds of the 4th. Glunder's confidence remained high & he had a lot more left in the tank in the 5th. He continued to mostly have his way in this round, working his jab at distance & his knees in close. Glunder won a unanimous decision. Good match.
Nikola Crvenkovic vs. Sergey Chapin
Luka Simic vs. Eron Azemi
Andrej Kedves vs. Michal Krolik
Ilsury Hendrikse vs. Ania Fucz
Denis Bartol vs. Gabor Gorbics
Jasmin Bajrovic vs. Jakub Gazdik
Vlad Tuinov vs. Luka Tomic
W5 85KG European Title Match: Agron Preteni vs. Bogdan Nastase
4/8/17: John Wayne Parr vs. Nando Calzetta R2 2:59. This was a real fire fight, and when a 40-year-old is involved in a wild brawl, you'd think it might benefit the 31-year-old, but Parr is still going strong at 40. Parr is one of those fighters that's deciptively good. He's not the fastest or most athletic or best conditioned, but he's very accurate & very powerful. Parr used his left leg well early, blocking Calzetta's attacks & burying left kicks into Calzetta's midsection. Calzetta was much quicker, but even when he cut off the ring, he had a hard time hitting Parr with his leads. He was much more successful landing with his fists than his legs, as Parr didn't block the hands nearly as well. Parr was winning when the fight was technical, but Parr fought more and more aggressively, especially after Calzetta had a big flurry of punches in the corner 2 minutes into the first after Parr chased him across the ring & missed on a risky flying knee. Parr not only weathered it, but came right back with some big punches of his own, and his heavier punches were backing Calzetta. Parr pushed hard to secure the round, finishing with his own big flurry of punches in the corner. Calzetta began throwing his low kicks to the back leg when Parr was in the southpaw stance to start the 2nd, and the combination of this mixing things up & Parr also being a bit fatigued resulted in a sharp increase in Calzetta's kicking accuracy. Parr was no longer winning the technical fight, but just kept pressing forward in the 2nd half of the round, chasing Calzetta rather than effectively cutting of the ring, but landing a number of good shots nonetheless. It was another close round , and Calzetta seemingly finished strongly with a nice uppercut & left hook, but bit on what he thought was a round ending left low kick only to have Parr switch it up & put his lights out with a right high kick. You can't be saved by the bell in Bellator kickboxing, but there was no need to count here, as the faceplanted Calzetta wasn't going anywhere. Good match.
4/14/17: Gabor Gorbics vs. Gabriel Varga 3R. Varga comes into every fight in such great shape, and used his cardio to pressure Gorbics consistently. He kept coming forward with 3 shot combos, generally using a jab/right or double jab/low kick base for his attack because he was landing consistently with all of them, though he had a lot of options & mixed things up as needed. Gorbics switches between boxing & kickboxing, and has big power in his hands, especially the right. When he lands, it's impressive, but Varga hits hard enough & had so much more volume & a lot more tactics. Gorbics didn't defend well, but he was a really good counter puncher, and he had enough power in his hands that he slowed Varga down in the 2nd. Varga was still winning the exchanges when he came in with a combo, but he was doing so far less often because Gorbics was rocking him at the end of Varga's combos. Varga changed things up in the 3rd, now often making Gorbics come to him so he could take the role of the counter puncher. Gorbics isn't a big combo guy, so even though Varga could land 2 or 3 shots when he came forward, the less technical Gorbics struggled more to land in the 3rd because Varga was in position & on balance when Gorbics tried to lead with that single power punch. It was a close fight, but there was just so much more that Varga could do, he chopped the legs then looked to work high, he beat up the head then looked to dig into the body. Gorbics was impressive when he landed, but he just needed more to go his way because Varga was more athletic, better conditioned, more technical, & Gorbics didn't have much disruption in his game & was pretty much a single power punch or low kick type of fighter. Gorbics had the home country advantage though, and got the split decision 29-28, 28-30, 29-28. Good match.
Piyapong Taweemuang vs. Nikola Cimesa
Milan Kratochvila vs. Patrik Vidakovics
Veronika Cmarova vs. Teodora Manic
Marko Adamovic vs. Max Spodarenko
Radovan Kulla vs. Michal Janacek
Martin Pacas vs. Tarik Khbabez
Vlad Tuinov vs. Milan Pales 4R. This was Tuinov's 3rd fight in 2 weeks despite already having an injured right hand, which is just insane. Normally he's well conditioned, though he's an explosive fighter with a lot of speed & flexibility that is fast enough to regularly mix jumping & spinning strikes into his arsenal without getting punished for it, so he's always going to be strongest in the 1st round. Tuinov is normally a pressure fighter, but Pales was walking him down from the outset. Early on, Tuinov had enough power on his punches to hold Pales off, and did a good job of landing counter punches to the body. When Pales started to expect the body, Tuinov instead floored him with a high kick. Unfortunately for Tuinov, there was only 25 seconds left by the time the fight restarted, and although Tuinov pushed hard for the finish, he couldn't quite get it done. Tuinov started the 2nd energetic, but 30 seconds in he jumped into a front kick that caught him low, and he was never remotely the same fighter. Pales attacked much more aggressively & consistently with his punches after this because Tuinov no longer had the power or explosiveness to keep him off. Tuinov's biggest weakness is he doesn't really have a defensive style to fall back on, so he's either relying on volume or standing in front of the opponent, and the rest of this fight saw too much of the later. You could see he was wincing in his corner after the round, though it looked like that was the hand injury, and just wasn't having fun out there anymore. Pales confidence began to grow, and he just fought smarter, picking his shots & not exposing himself because the opponent wasn't really threatening him. Tuinov had the cushion of the knockdown, but Pales straights kept getting through in the 3rd, mousing Tuinov under the left eye, and Tuinov was unable to muster the health or energy to stop the rot. Once it went to the extra round, you felt Tuinov's chances were minimal because if he couldn't muster anything late in the 3rd to get himself out of the ring, chances are he just didn't have it in him tonight. Pales didn't help Tuinov out, maintaining his conditioning and pressure. Though Pales wasn't as active in the 4th, he was still stalking & threatening, and he picked his spots well, landing the bigger punches and a lot more of them. I can't credit Pales too much because he broke the opponent with an illegal blow, even if definitely accidental, but he did a great job of seizing his opportunity & consistently pressing & building upon his advantage. Good match.
Darryl Sichtman vs. Vladimir Idranyi
Michael Krcmar vs. Segey Chadin R1
75kg tournament semifinal: Matous Kohout vs. Berat Aliu 3R unanimous decision
Reserve Match: Jiri Zak vs. Petr Ondrus R1
Ibrahim El Bouni vs. Dzevad Poturak R1
Freddy Kemayo vs. Jan Soukup R3. Soukup got off to a fast start, partially because Kemayo was very flatfooted & just wasn't presenting much defense or evasion in this match. Soukup dropped him early with a nice left high kick/left jab combo. Kemayo had even less of an answer for Soukup's combos when he was stunned, and Soukup was just picking him apart as Kemayo stood there & took it. Soukup got cuter & cuter with his spinning strikes since Kemayo wasn't defending or firing back, cutting his head with a spinning heel kick. Kemayo began to dig in in R2, and now was at least pushing forward & attacking. Soukup still won the round on all 3 scorecards because he was more precise & accurate, but Kemayo was a lot more active, coming in with punches & then using knees on the inside, bloodying Soukup's nose. Kemayo forced his way inside in the 3rd, and was able to turn it into a brawl. Soukup really needed to just back out/circle away because Kemayo is a hard hitter & you don't want to trade with him, especially when you have the fight in the bag as long as you stay on your feet, but he stayed in there swinging, and eventually Kemayo caught him with a big overhand right. Kemayo saw Soukup was wobbly, and kept the pressure on him, staying right in his face & firing away with big hooks. Soukup fired back almost as frequently, but his legs were gone, so he had no hope of matching power with the already harder hitting Kemayo. Kemayo finally swiched to the knee, and Soukup was out on his feet after that. The ref just let him keep trying to fight even though he couldn't even keep his head steady, and Kemayo finally landed the kill shot with a big right hook to the chin. Just a great comeback by Kemayo, stealing a match where he looked surprisingly subpar & really outclassed in terms of skill, mobility, technique, and so on. Good match.
W5 European 71KG Title Match: Vlad Tuinov vs. Erkan Varol R3
W5 European welterweight title: Alim Nabiev vs. Vladimir Moravicik
Ondrej Hutnik vs. Catalin Morosanu
75 KG Tournament Final: Cosmo Alexandre vs. Matous Kohout
Tomas Hron vs. Andrei Stoica
Daniyal Mukhtarov vs. Sergey Frolov by TKO
Daniil Gavrilov vs. Abdul Aliyev SD
Pavel Titov vs. Ilya Topchin UD
Vadim Davydov vs. Egor Vyalkov UD
Ivan Semiglyadov vs. Rustam Kasimov 4R. This wasn't the most consistent fight you'll ever see, but it had two of the most spectacular knockdowns, and was all around wild, crazy, unpredictable, and inexplicable. Rustam was solid in the 1st round, scoring with both inside & outside leg kicks. Late in the round he had one of the most spectacular left hook knockdowns I've ever seen. Ivan started throwing a right kick, and with only the left leg to balance on, he was simply blown off his feet by Rustam's crushing left hand. Semiglyadov was coming up short on his punches, just hitting Kasimov's gloves if he connected at all in the 1st, but he began to find his range in the 2nd, landing some nice overhand rights. If you thought Rustam's punch knockdown while Ivan was kicking was spectacular, you have to see Ivan's high kick knockdown in the 2nd at the same time Rustam landed a middle kick. Ivan fell on his butt as well just from being off balance, making it look all the more spectacular as you rarely see both fighters hitting the canvas at the same time outside of Rocky. Again, the knockdown occured when the round was almost over, so there wasn't enough time to really capitalize on the momentum & get the finish. Despite the break, Semiglyadov did come out fired up to put Rustam away, and had a strong start to the 3rd landing powerful overhand rights. Kasimov seemed woozy & gassed, and wasn't defending at even a fraction of the level we saw until the end of the 2nd round. Just when you thought Semiglyadov had the decision in the bag, Kasimov countered a left low kick with an overhand right for the knockdown. Ivan was disgusted with himself because he just gave the fight away getting caught off-guard with a single punch. Kasimov was rejuvenated, and kept using front kicks to keep Ivan off him to ensure the decision win. I could see round 3 being 10-9 Rustam because Ivan wins the round if not for the knockdown, but the judges were apparently loving the fight so much they decided to inexplicably call it an even round so they'd get to see an extra round. Kasimov seemed riled up by the fact he was screwed out of the decision, and was getting into it with the ref & Ivan. His anger helped him fight an energetic 4th round, attacking but also keeping his guard up the way he did in the 1st round when he was able to outland Ivan 23-4 because he just deflected/blocked punch after punch. The 4th round didn't have a great moment, but it was the best of the fight in terms of being back & forth & competitive. Both fighters willed themseleves to a high output. Kasimov was the more consistent of the two, but Semiglyadov got a big shot in here & there. I'd have given the 4th round to Rustam if I had to pick, but I wasn't horrified with this being an even round the way I was with round 3 being an even round. The stats certainly show Rustam winning as even if we disregard the extra knockdown, he outlanded Ivan 69-45 and connected at 51% compared to 25%. You have to feel bad for Rustam only getting a draw, but it was a really good fight. Very good match.
Begeri Shahroh vs. Sergey Trifonov R1
Natalia Dyachkova vs. Monica Kucinic UD
Nadir Iskhakov vs. Marco Gurdelevich UD
Stanislav Kazantsev vs. Warren Stevelmans UD