KUMITE European MMA Rankings, April 2014

Sorry I’m a bit late with the rankings this month, been busy. Anyways it’s been an active month with movement in every division and a few big changes based on fighters being removed due to inactivity or bans. Check it out…

Heavyweight

1- Alistair Overeem (Holland) 37-13 UFC
2- Vitaly Minakov (Russia) 14-0, Bellator def. Cheick Kongo 4/4
3- Andrei Arlovski (Belarus) 21-10, UFC
4- Stefan Struve (Netherlands) 25-6 UFC
5- Cheick Kongo (France) 20-8-2 Bellator lost to Vitaly MInakiv 4/4
6- Alexander Volkov (Russia) 21-4 Bellator def. Siala-Mo Siliga 11/4 UP 1
7- Damian Grabowski (Poland) 19-1 M-1 DOWN 1
8- Sergei Kharitonov (Russia) 22-6 IND
9- Alexey Oleinik (Ukraine) 53-9-1 IND
10- Marcin Tybura (Poland) 10-0 M-1 def. Maro Perak 4/4 UNRANKED

Light Heavyweight

1- Alexander Gustafsson (Sweden) 15-2, UFC
2- Jimi Manuwa (England) 14-1, UFC
3- Attila Vegh (Slovakia) 29-5-2, Bellator
4- Mikhail Zayats (Russia) 22-8, Bellator
5- Ilir Latifi (Sweden) 7-3 UFC
6- Jan Blachowicz (Poland) 17-3, KSW
7- Linton Vassell (England) 12-3, Bellator
8- Stephan Puetz (Germany) 9-1 M-1
9- Maxim Grishin (Russia) 17-6 IND
10- Mikkel Parlo (Denmark) 12-2 def. Johnny Cisneros 4/4 UNRANKED

Middleweight

1- Alexander Shlemenko (Russia) 50-7 Bellator UP 1
2- Michael Bisping (England) 24-5, UFC lost to Tim Kennedy 16/4 DOWN 1
3- Mamed Khalidov (Poland) 28-4-2, KSW
4- Gegard Mousasi (Armenia) 34-4-2 UFC
5- Frances Carmont (France) 22-8, UFC
6– Luke Barnatt (England) 7-0 UFC
7- Michal Materla (Poland) 20-4 KSW
8– Vyacheslav Vasilevsky (Russia) 23-2 M-1
9- Tom Watson (England) 16-6 UFC
10- Sultan Aliev (Russia) 11-2 IND NR

Welterweight

1- Tarec Saffiedine (Belgium) 15-3, UFC
2- Gunnar Nelson (Iceland) 11-0-1, UFC
3- Cathal Pendred (Ireland) 13-2-1, Cage Warriors
4- Nicholas Musoke (Sweden) 12-2 UFC
5- Adlan Amagov (Russia) 13-2-1, UFC
6- Gael Grimaud (France) 19-6, Cage Warriors
7- Nicolas Dalby (Denmark) 12-0 Cage Warriors
8– Paul Daley (England) 34-12-2 BAMMA
9– Andrey Koreshokov (Russia) 15-1 Bellator
10- Karl Amoussou (France) 17-6-2 Bellator def. David Gomez 18/4 UNRANKED

Lightweight

1- Khabib Nurmagomedov (Russia) 22-0, UFC def. Rafael dos Anjos 19/4
2- Rustam Khabilov (Russia) 17-1, UFC
3- Alexander Sarnavskiy (Russia) 26-2 IND
4- Ross Pearson (England) 15-6, UFC
5 – Marcin Held (Poland) 18-3 Bellator def. Derek Anderson 18/4 UP 5 
6- Ivan Buchinger (Slovakia) 26-4 M-1 def. Sergey Golyaev 4/4 UP 2
7- Musa Khamanaev (Russia) 13-3, M-1 DOWN 2
8- Norman Parke (Northern Ireland) 19-2-1 UFC DOWN 2
9- Piotr Hallmann (Poland) 14-2 UFC DOWN 1
10- Mansour Barnaoui (France) 11-2 BAMMA DOWN 1

Featherweight

1- Magomedrasul Khasbulaev (Russia) 21-5, Bellator def. Mike Richman 4/4 UP 2
2- Conor McGregor (Ireland) 14-2, 10-1 UFC
3- Tom Niinimaki (Finland) 21-5-1 UFC
4- Marat Gafurov (Ukraine) 9-0 M-1 NR def. Lee Morrison 4/4 UNRANKED
5- Shabulat Shamhalaev (Russia) 12-2-1, Bellator
6- Daniel Weichel (Germany) 33-8, Bellator
7- Joni Salovaara (Finland) 14-7 IND
8- Sergei Greicho (Lithuania) 15-5-1 OC
9- Niklas Backstrom (Sweden) 7-0 IND
10- Robert Whiteford (Scotland) 11-2 UFC

* Dennis Siver removed from rankings due to PED ban.

Bantamweight

1- Vaughan Lee (England) 14-9-1 UFC
2- Brett Johns (Wales) 10-0, Cage Warriors © def. James Brum 12/4
3- Ronnie Mann (England) 23-6-1 Cage Warriors UP 1
4- Cory Tait (England) 8-2 Cage Warriors UP 1
5- Timo-Juhan Hirvikangas (Finland) 8-2 Cage FC def. Tymoteusz Swiatek 5/4 UP 1
6- James Brum (England) 14-2, Cage Warriors lost to Brett Johns 12/4 DOWN 3
7- Sirwan Kakai (sweden) 9-2, IND UP 1
8- David Haggstrom (Sweden) 7-2-1 IND UP 1
9- Toni Tauru (Finland) 9-1-1 Cage Warriors UP 1
10- Magomed Biboulatov (France) 5-0 IND UNRANKED

* Martin McDonough now a Flyweight

Flyweight

1- Ali Bagautinov (Russia) 13-2 UFC
2- Brad Pickett (England) 24-8 UFC
3- Pietro Menga (England) 11-0 FCC ©
4- Marcin Lasota (Poland) 8-0 Cage Warriors
5- Neil Seery (Ireland) 13-10 UFC
6- Shaj Haque (England) 4-1 Cage Warriors def. Martin McDonough 12/4 UP 1
6- Mikael Silander (Finland) 10-3 The Cage def. Daniel Barez 5/4
7- Rany Saadeh (Germany) 6-1 BAMMA def. Mahmood Besharate 5/4 UNRANKED
8- Kairat Akhmetov (Kazakhstan) IND UNRANKED
9- Kevin Petshi (France) 5-0 IND def. Victor Balica 4/4
10- Phil Harris (England) 22-12 Cage Warriors DOWN 2

Women’s P4P

(Due to the less developed state of Women’s MMA we’re ranking our top ten female fighters from across the weight classes – we hope to expand this section in future.)

1- Joanne Calderwood (Scotland) 8-0 Invicta FC
2 – Marloes Coenen (Netherlands) 21-6 Invicta FC
3 – Katja Kankaanpaa (Finland) 8-1-1 Invicta FC
4- Rosi Sexton (England) 13-4 IND
5- Aisling Daly (Ireland) 12-5 Cage Warriors
6- Milana Dudieva (Russia) 8-3 ProFC
7- Maria Hoegaard Djursa (Denmark) 5-4 IND
8- Shiela Gaff (Germany) 10-6-1 UFC
9- Agnieszka Niedzwiedz (Poland) 6-0 Cage Warriors def. Gemma Hewitt 12/4 UNRANKED
10- Pannie Kianzad (Sweden) 4-0 IND DOWN 1

 

 

Cage Warriors 66: Dalby vs. Churilov Preview

Sat, 22 Mar 2014
Copenhagen, Denmark
Ballerup Super Arena

On Saturday, Cage Warriors mount their first foray into Scandinavia with a card stacked with Nordic talent and a sprinkling of familiar (and not so familiar) faces from elsewhere, topped by a bout to decide Cathal Pendred’s successor as the CWFC Welterweight champion.

This card really feels like the start of something special for one of my favourite promotions and I’m looking forward to some great action.

Note: I’m changing up the preview format as of now to a ‘plus one’ model where I cover the main event (and any additional title matches) plus one other match in depth. This is to save time as I’m about to have my first child and I simply won’t have the spare time to research a dozen bouts, and also it should make these previews a bit snappier.

The main event pits Denmark’s own Nicolas ‘the Sharpshooter’ Dalby (11-0) against Ukraine’s Sergei Churilov (15-1) for the vacant 170lb title, which has seemed a gatekeeper to a UFC contract for a significant proportion of the title holders.

Dalby is the favourite as the more familiar name, undefeated in MMA and fighting with a home advantage and as such definitely seems to hold the high ground going into the fight, even if he himself refuses to allow himself to think in such terms.

A powerful, durable and well rounded fighter, Dalby’s biggest win to date came against fellow Dane, Morten Djursaa last September and it’s past time for his career to proceed past Denmark.

Across the cage, Churilov seems a bit of a left field choice for a challenger but an impressive display in his Cage warriors debut back in 2012 and a 6-0 run on the very competitive Ukrainian regional scene (his lone loss coming to Croatia’s Ivica Truscek in Slovenia, to go 1-1 on foreign soil) as well as his tendency to being in exciting fights (ten of his last eleven bouts have produced a finish) makes him an interesting foil for the solid and familiar Dalby.

It’s worth mentioning that the current political events in Ukraine make a headline appearance by a Ukrainian fighter a poignant and even more compelling event.

In fact, the more I look at this match, the less certain I am of the result. Dalby should have too much, but Churilov only needs a second to grab a limb…

I’m spoiled for choice with my ‘plus one’ pick with Mohsen Bahari vs. Bruno Carvalho, Martin Khtar vs. Toni Tauru and Robbie Olivier vs. Martin Svensson all standing out as interesting fights for a variety of reasons but the one that really leaps out is Damir Hazdovic (7-2) taking on John Maguire (19-7) who is a late replacement for his brother, Tommy.

Hazdovic hails from Bosnia and fights out of Denmark and has amassed an impressive resume so far, with his losses coming via decision to current UFC fighters Andreas Stahl and Krzysztof Jotko, while he’s earned an even split of submissions and knockouts in six of his seven victories, most recently submitting Thibault Colleuil last November.

Maguire is a significant step up in competition however, as the UFC (as well as UCMMA, BAMMA, Cage Rage etc.) veteran holds the edge in experience as well as surely being very motivated heading into this fight on the back of a very close decision loss to Saul Rogers only three weeks ago.

The elder Maguire also poses a very different challenge to his brother, with his more grappling based, decision earning style compared to Tommy’s more immediate assault. The shift in opponent will likely affect Hazdovic more than the late replacement will affect Maguire as John was surely helping his brother prepare, so will possibly be more familiar with Hazdovic than the home fighter is with him.

It’s a very interesting card, full of interesting match ups and it’s worth mentioning that while I don’t recognise many names on the preliminary card, I tend to find that CWFC undercards produce good matches and I discover fighters I’m keen to watch again.

MAIN (MMAjunkie, Cage Warriors.TV 8 p.m. GMT)
• Sergei Churilov vs. Nicolas Dalby – for vacant welterweight title
• Mohsen Bahari vs. Bruno “B.C.” Carvalho
• Damir Hadzovic vs. John Maguire
• Martin Akhtar vs. Toni Tauru
• Jack Hermansson vs. Enoc Solves Torres
• Robbie Olivier vs. Martin Svensson

PRELIMINARY (Facebook, 6:45 p.m. GMT)
• Jussi Halonen vs. Frodi Hansen
• Hakon Foss vs. Per Franklin
• Emma Delaney vs. Lina Akhtar Lansberg
• Rioo Ibrahim vs. Alexander Jacobsen
• Binh Son Le vs. Shamal Tashkilot
• Haci Firat Dogan vs. Matthias Lodahl