January Tussles Worth Watching

Lucio Linhares | Heikki Hujala/Sherdog.com

Our New Year’s resolution: to continue identifying the best action from the independent circuit, giving props to small promotions putting on big fights and detecting the best unsigned talent before anybody else does.

This column continues to showcase the best fights that may not get much attention otherwise. As always, the list does not focus on the well-promoted main event bouts from major organizations you already know to watch, but rather on fights from all over the planet that are worth seeing. The UFC, Strikeforce, Dream and Sengoku Raiden Championship are excluded by design.

Oregon’s SportFight, the promotion co-founded by none other than MMA legends Randy Couture and Matt Lindland, returns with its 29th event. In the evening’s headliner, Team Quest fighter Tyson Nam faces Jesse Brock in a bantamweight striker versus grappler clash. Nam is coming off a very close majority decision loss against wrestling standout Keola Silva, while the well-traveled Brock has won his last two fights.

After returning from Kandahar, where Wreck held the first MMA event in Afghanistan on Thanksgiving, Nick Castiglia and his crew have put together their fourth show within the last 13 months on their home turf in Quebec. With previous main-eventers Sean Pierson and Ian Loveland having been drafted into the UFC, hopes are high for onetime UFC co-headliner Jason Day. The 29-year-old all-rounder is coming off a wretched 2010 which included back-to-back first-round defeats. “Farmer” Craig Brown has plans to make it three in a row.

Abe Wagner went from fighting former UFC prospect Todd Duffee to facing two-time UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia after Duffee instead opted for a New Year’s Eve date in Japan with Alistair Overeem. The 30-year-old Wagner, who was decisioned by Jon Madsen in the preliminary round of “The Ultimate Fighter 10,” is now taking on an opponent with three times his experience. While Sylvia may not be the same fighter he was in the UFC, he has bounced back from his embarrassing loss to Ray Mercer with four straight stoppage wins.

Poland’s primary fight organization, KSW, opens 2011 with its first show in Masuria, the north-eastern part of the country close to the Belarusian and Lithuanian borders. The main attraction of the event will be the “President Cup,” the promotion’s first eight-man welterweight tournament. In a super-fight, two-time KSW tournament champion Antoni Chmielewski will put his Polish judo up against the Brazilian jiu-jitsu of fellow grand prix winner Vitor Nobrega.

D. Mandel

Marcus Vanttinen

Finland’s Marcus Vanttinen continues his in-ring application for the UFC with another fight against an opponent with an excellent record, albeit one who has yet to prove his top-level quality. Croatia’s Maro Perak has been criticized for padding his record by beating up water polo players and fruit vendors at small shows around Eastern Europe. When facing serious tests, he has come up short so far. While Vanttinen is no world-beater himself, he has a lot of upside at only 23 years of age. Vanttinen is also enjoying an excellent run of nine straight wins. Will Perak be number 10?

Though MMA is entering its fourth year of legality in France, the sport has yet to truly catch on with the public. Despite this, Paris-based promotion 100% Fight will hold its fourth big event and has once again managed to get some big names to headline the card. Former UFC fighters Lucio Linhares and Xavier Foupa-Pokam will rock the Halle Carpentier this time. Linhares rebounded in his first post-UFC bout with a quick stoppage of Mitch Whitesel, while “Professor X” has lost two straight via submission.

Hong Kong joins Macau as another major potential market for MMA in China. Fledgling organization Legend FC has filled the void left by the discontinuation of Art of War with events largely focused on fighters from the Asia-Pacific region. In a rematch of the promotion’s very first main event, Legend’s Australian lightweight champion, Adrian Pang, will defend his title against Korean challenger Yui Chul Nam. The “Hanguk Slugger” raised more than a few eyebrows when he handed Nova UniÃ£o’s Hacran Dias his first career loss in 2009.

In the marquee semifinal of United Glory’s welterweight world series, Golden Glory’s Strikeforce-signed Siyar Bahadurzada will take on UFC and Pride veteran John Alessio. Bahadurzada has been on a roll since his loss to Jorge Santiago two years ago, knocking out three of his last four opponents inside the first round. Alessio, a criminally underrated boxer by MMA standards, has been knocked out only once in 44 fights.

In some world-class bantamweight action, former Shooto 132-pound champion Masakatsu Ueda will face former Russian wrestling national team member Farkhad Sharipov. Sharipov has been tearing up the Florida circuit for the past three years, scoring wins over foes such as “TUF 12” alum Alex Caceres and Sengoku veteran Chris Manuel. With Ueda also possessing a wrestling backbone, expect a dogged and grimly-determined grappling war. He who lands more takedowns and controls his opponent on the mat will most likely walk away the victor.

Contact Tim Leidecker at www.facebook.com/Rossonero1 or follow him on twitter @Rossonero1.