Weekend MMA Breakdown: Notable Non-UFC, Bellator Matchups

Cody Saftic / February 15, 2013 - 12:44pm

You already know about the big UFC fights happening in the U.K this weekend, but what about some of the other fights that might be flying under the radar?

5. WHO: Vagner Rocha (8-3) vs. Kamrin Naville (6-6)
WHERE: Fight Time 13: MMA Kings, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
WHY IT MATTERS: Big show veteran Vagner Rocha tries to take another step back towards the upper echelon of the sport, when he clashes with upset specialist Kamrin Naville on Saturday night. A native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Rocha has fought for the UFC, Strikeforce and Bellator in his brief four-year career. Despite having been released from his Zuffa contract one year ago, Rocha remains a solid fighter, having lost only to Jonathan Brookins and Donald Cerrone in the past three years. His opponent, Naville, enters the cage for just the first time since 2010, but is coming off a huge win over NCAA wrestling standout J.P Reese in his last outing. In 12 pro fights, the 24-year-old has been the distance just once, and has finished three of his six wins inside of the first round.

4. WHO: Mukai Maromo (8-2) vs. Graham Spencer (9-1)
WHERE: MFC 36: Reality Check, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
WHY IT MATTERS: The "African Assassin" Mukai Maromo looks to run his current win streak to six straight when he meets British Columbia native Graham Spencer for the vacant MFC lightweight strap. Maromo has been tearing up the Canadian regional scene, going 5-0 with three finishes in the past two years. After a pair of exciting wins over Strikeforce and WEC veteran Adam Lynn under the MFC banner last year, Maromo was finally given the chance to fight for the company's lightweight strap, vacated by Antonio McKee. Also vying for the title that night will be the last man to defeat Maromo, Graham Spencer. Fighting out of Impact MMA in Nanaimo, B.C, Spencer will be moving up from featherweight in order to make this rematch with Maromo possible. Known as a cardio machine, Spencer is absolutely relentless in his attack, as seen in his recent win over UFC vet Shane Nelson in October. It's been over two years since both these men squared off, and unless Spencer can adapt to Maromo's new size advantage, he might not be able to defeat him as easily as the first outing.

3. WHO: Andreas Kraniotakes (15-6) vs. Bjorn Schmiedeberg (9-3)
WHERE: GMC 3: Cage Time, Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
WHY IT MATTERS: German-born heavyweights Andreas "Big Daddy" Kraniotakes and Bjorn Schmiedeberg will meet for a second time in the ring when they collide on Saturday night. A regular on the European scene, Kraniotakes is known as a potent finisher, having knocked out eight of his opponents, while submitting seven others. In fact, the one-time Cage Warriors title challenger has only seen the judges' scorecards three times in 21 pro fights. Schmiedeberg, meanwhile, rides an impressive eight-fight win streak dating back to 2007. In that time, the Sparta MMA representative has collected a slew of European titles, while also putting together an impressive 8-0 record, including six finishes.

2. WHO: Kazunori Yokota (16-5-3) vs. Shoji Maruyama (12-7-1)
WHERE: DEEP: 61 Impact, Tokyo, Japan
WHY IT MATTERS: Current DEEP featherweight king Kazunori Yokota will put his 145-pound title on the line this weekend when he meets Japanese knockout expert Shoji Maruyama. Yokota is no stranger to the DEEP ring, having competed for the organization 12 times in his career. In almost nine years as a pro, the former Grabaka fighter has had a very up-and-down career, having won big fights over notables Michihiro Omigawa, Mizuto Hirota and Ryan Shultz, while seemingly coming up short against lesser opponents. However, if Yokota does show up in shape this weekend, he can still be a world-class fighter capable of scaring a lot of upper echelon featherweights. On the opposite side of the ring is Maruyama, a 29-year-old striker fighting out of Kiba Martial Arts Club. Maruyama already had a crack at Yokota two years ago, but was unable to get anything going and dropped a unanimous decision. Since then, he's been perfect, going 3-0 under the DEEP banner. In 12 pro wins, Maruyama has never submitted an opponent, but does own eight knockouts, ranging from head kicks and stomps to flying knees and stomps.

1. WHO: Elvis Mutapcic (12-2) vs. Sam Alvey (19-4)
WHERE: MFC 36: Reality Check, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
WHY IT MATTERS: Newly crowned MFC middleweight champ "King" Elvis Mutapcic puts his crown on the line for the first time on Friday night, when he takes on recent "Ultimate Fighter 15" cast member Sam Alvey in Alberta, Canada. Mutapcic has looked ultra impressive since signing with the MFC last year, beating respected fighters Jacen Flynn and Joseph Henle by TKO. He's not exactly the most spectacular looking fighter, but he's able to get the job done and that's all that matters. In 14 pro outings, the Iowa native has never been finished, and has ended the nights of his opponents in 11 of his 12 wins. Alvey is probably best remembered as the man who upset Bellator standout Karl Amoussou in his promotional debut. Unfortunately, that was the high point so far in his career. A member of the famed "Team Quest," Alvey is, if anything, an extremely durable fighter and game opponent. Despite a mediocre showing in the "TUF" house, Alvey has plenty of upside and could easily wake up Saturday morning as the new MFC middleweight champ if he can put it all together come fight night.

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Full Event Calendar

Fight Time 13: MMA Kings
February 15, 2013
War Memorial Auditorium
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA

-Vagner Rocha (8-3) vs. Kamrin Naville (6-6)
-Marcos Da Matta (8-2) vs. Eric Kovarik (0-5)
-John De Jesus (5-2) vs. Billy Quarantillo (0-0)
-Randy Barosso (4-5) vs. Tony Way (1-0)
-Dieulhomme Chera (3-7) vs. John Rivera (1-4)
-John Davis (1-0) vs. Michael Johnson (0-1)
-Nicolas Ryske (1-1) vs. Mike Graves (0-0)
-Carlos Zevallos (1-2) vs. Joe Johnson (1-4)
-Bentley Syler (0-0) vs. Patrick Thomas (0-0)
-JD Domengeaux (0-0) vs. Jorge Elizondo (0-0)

MFC 36: Reality Check
February 15, 2013
Shaw Conference Centre
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Airing: AXS TV

-Mukai Maromo (8-2) vs. Graham Spencer (9-1)
-Elvis Mutapcic (12-2) vs. Sam Alvey (19-4)
-Kurt Southern (10-3) vs. Jonatas Novaes (10-4)
-Jay Silva (8-6) vs. Wes Swofford (7-3)
-Mike Hackert (6-1) vs. Smealinho Rama (5-0)
-Jason Zentgraf (6-1) vs. Clay Davidson (7-3)
-Marcus Hicks (13-21) vs. Paul Grandbois (5-4)
-Chris Mattock (2-0) vs. Elvis Vukaj (0-0)
-Keenan Feeney (2-2-1) vs. Garret Nybakken (4-5)

Brace For War 19
February 16, 2013
Big Top Luna Park
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

-Oriol Gaset (14-7) vs. Sonny Brown (5-2)
-Nick Honstein (12-6) vs. Luke Standing (4-0)
-Corey Nelson (10-4-1) vs. Tony Rossini (7-3-1)
-Damien Brown (8-3) vs. Rob Hill (11-7-1)
-Ali Kocak Mohammed (3-0) vs. Jon Leven (5-21-1)
-Sebastian Taylor (3-1) vs. Giancarlo Embradora (2-2)
-Rick Alchin (4-4) vs. Marc Gehret (2-4-1)
-Gerhard Voigt (2-3) vs. John Mitchell (0-0)
-Yousef Moghabri (1-0) vs. Luke Birch (0-0)
-Amy Adam (0-1) vs. Belinda Sedgwick (0-1)

DEEP: 61 Impact
February 16, 2013
Korakuen Hall
Tokyo, Japan
Airing: Fight Network (Tape Delay)

-Kazunori Yokota (16-5-3) vs. Shoji Maruyama (12-7-1)
-Kazuhiro Nakamura (16-11) vs. Young Choi (16-8-2)
-Masakazu Imanari (26-11-2) vs. Kenichi Ito (10-9-8)
-Yuya Shirai (22-12-1) vs. Yuki Okano (5-4)
-Doo Ho Choi (9-1) vs. Tatsunao Nagakura (7-3)
-Daiki Hata (14-9-7) vs. Toshiaki Kitada (14-5-4)
-Yuta Watanabe (15-5-4) vs. Naoki Samukawa (3-2)
-Daisuke Endo (8-4-2) vs. Naohiro Mizuno (10-6-2)
-Hidetora Hidetora (6-3-1) vs. Hidenobu Koike (13-14-8)
-Ken Hasegawa (5-0) vs. Seigo Mizuguchi (11-13)
-Keiji Sakuta (7-8) vs. Kazuyoshi Kiyama (6-7)
-Yu Kijima (3-3) vs. Tatsuya Tomomi (0-0)

Shooto: Gig Tokyo 13
February 16, 2013
Shinjuku Face
Tokyo, Japan

-Fumihiro Kitahara (11-3-1) vs. Kiyotaka Shimizu (12-7-3)
-Yuta Nezu (12-7-1) vs. Takeshi Numajiri (7-3)
-Shinichi Hanawa (9-9-2) vs. Kirihito Kodama (3-1)
-Yusei Shimokawa (6-8-1) vs. Takahito Tomozawa (1-5-2)
-Nobumitsu Taison (3-2) vs. Kazuya Tanaka (3-3-1)
-Takeshi Saito (3-3) vs. Kotaro Hagiwara (2-1-2)
-Hiroharu Matsufuji (3-5) vs. Nariyasu Fujita (2-5)
-Toshiro Chihama (1-1) vs. Fumiya Sasaki (3-6)
-Taku Kajikawa (1-1-1) vs. Keita Ishibashi (1-4)

PXC 35
February 16, 2013
Ynares Sports Center
Pasig City, Philippines

-Harris Sarmiento (35-24) vs. Isaiah Ordiz (2-0)
-Ronald Jhun (24-25-2) vs. Zebaztian Kadestam (3-0)
-Alvin Cacdac (11-9) vs. Louis Smolka (2-0)
-Troy Bantiag (4-1) vs. Tony Reyes (5-5)
-Chuji Kato (3-1-1) vs. Egon Racz (2-3-1)
-Dario Banario Jr. (2-0) vs. Joseph Mercado (1-1)
-Ruel Catalan (1-2) vs. Ernesto Montilla Jr. (0-1)
-Glen Ranillo (1-2) vs. Mark Billena (0-0)
-Steve Grandeza (0-1) vs. Miguel Mosquero (0-0)

GMC 3: Cage Time
February 16, 2013
Ruhrstadt Arena
Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

-Andreas Kraniotakes (15-6) vs. Bjorn Schmiedeberg (9-3)
-Ruben Crawford (12-2) vs. Nayeb Hezam (14-13)
-Angelos Zampakikas (9-1) vs. Djamil Chan (5-2)
-Jessin Ayari (9-2) vs. Abusupiyan Magomedov (7-0)
-Marcin Bandel (8-2) vs. Andreas Birgels (6-3)
-Thomas Berset (7-1) vs. Felipe Thiago (2-2)
-Martin Buschkamp (6-0) vs. Patrik Berisha (6-3)
-Niko Lohmann (5-8) vs. Lorenzo Navarro (0-0)
-Dimitri Goette (3-1) vs. Salah Elkas (1-1)
-Jarjis Danho (2-0) vs. Igor Swonkin (1-1)
-Derwisch Cidar (2-1) vs. Ndonda Kumbu (1-1)
-Lom-Ali Eskiev (3-2) vs. Tobias Huber (0-0)
-Wesley Howard (1-0) vs. Timon Becker (0-0)
-Jakob Meyer (1-0) vs. Leo Zulic (0-0)
-Chris Mahle (1-3) vs. Grzegorz Macziewski (0-0)

UFC on FUEL TV 7: Barao vs. McDonald
February 16, 2013
Wembley Arena
London, England, United Kingdom
Airing: Fuel TV

-Renan Barao (29-1) vs. Michael McDonald (15-1)
-Cub Swanson (18-5) vs. Dustin Poirier (13-2)
-Jimi Manuwa (12-0) vs. Cyrille Diabate (19-8-1)
-Gunnar Nelson (10-0-1) vs. Jorge Santiago (25-10)
-Ryan Jimmo (17-1) vs. James Te Huna (15-5)
-Che Mills (15-5) vs. Matt Riddle (7-3)
-Paul Sass (13-1) vs. Danny Castillo (14-5)
-Stanislav Nedkov (12-0) vs. Tom Watson (15-5)
-Terry Etim (15-4) vs. Renee Forte (7-2)
-Josh Grispi (14-4) vs. Andy Ogle (8-2)
-Vaughan Lee (12-8-1) vs. Motonobu Tezuka (19-5-4)
-Ulysses Gomez (9-3) vs. Phil Harris (21-10)

ECC 15: Carnage
February 16, 2013
Olympic Hall
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

-Mike Kent (8-1) vs. Cody Krahn (11-6)
-Stéphane Pelletier (7-1) vs. Syd Barnier (4-3)
-Gavin Tucker (6-0) vs. Lyndon Whitlock (7-3)
-Ricky Goodall (9-7) vs. Iraj Hadin (6-5)
-Chester Post (6-23-1) vs. Aaron Myers (1-1)
-Ryan Gallant (3-0) vs. Jeff Black (2-11)
-Stephen Clement (4-2) vs. Pat Carroll (0-1)
-Ryan Connors (2-1) vs. Dylan Mercer (0-0)
-Coel Peach (1-1) vs. Todd Westcott (1-4)
-Matt Heim (1-1) vs. Jerome Wilson (0-0)

CFFC 21: Lashomb vs. Hickey
February 16, 2013
Richmond Raceway Complex
Richmond, Virginia, USA

-Bryan Lashomb (5-1) vs. Justin Hickey (6-3)
-Elder Ramos (3-3) vs. Bryan Lane (2-1)
-Caleb McAllister (1-1) vs. Christian Leonard (1-2)
-Stephen Govan (2-6) vs. Willie Hosch (0-0)
-Ruben Warr (0-1) vs. Brett Glass (0-0)
-Kenny Gaudreau (0-0) vs. Troy Whittman (0-0)

CageSport 23
February 16, 2013
Emerald Queen Casino
Tacoma, Washington, USA

-Enoch Wilson (16-8-2) vs. Drew Brokenshire (8-3)
-Brent Knopp (5-0) vs. Darrio Mobley (2-1)
-Harrison Bevens (5-1) vs. Charon Spain (11-15)
-Chaz Jordan (0-0) vs. Freddy Bauman IV (0-1)
-Montrez Tinson (0-0) vs. Chris Roman (0-1)
-Jorge Alba (0-1) vs. Dex Montenegro (2-1)
-Aaron Martin (0-0) vs. Daniel Atnip (0-2)

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