Hardcore Championship Fighting "Destiny" Preview
by Robert Sargent
Picking up right where they left off in 2007, Hardcore Championship Fighting returns to Calgary, Alberta, Canada for a stellar card, in "Destiny." MMARising.com will be on-site to provide in-depth coverage of the event.
Hardcore Championship Fighting is quickly establishing itself as the premier mixed martial arts promotion in Canada and one of the top promotions in all of North America.
A Canadian market which was once dominated by TKO and King of the Cage Canada now sees HCF as a new, and very strong, challenger. Among the HCF ranks are "The Russian Nightmare" Aleksander Emelianenko, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Joe "Diesel" Riggs and John "The Natural" Alessio.
"Destiny" features numerous top fighters in a variety of weight classes, including Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira, Todd Gouwenberg, Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos, Gegard Mousasi, David "The Crow" Loiseau, Jason "Dooms" Day, Mike "Quicksand" Pyle and Solomon Hutcherson, among numerous others.
The main event of "Destiny" features the return to MMA of Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira, the twin brother of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who, himself, will be competing for the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship this Saturday. Rogerio, like his brother, made a name for himself in the former PRIDE organisation in Japan. He racked up numerous wins, including victories over Dan Henderson, Kazushi Sakuraba, Kazuhiro Nakamura (twice) and Alistair Overeem (twice), with lone defeats to Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. Following the loss to Sokoudjou, at PRIDE 33 last February, Rogerio took time off to train boxing for the Pan American Games, where he placed third.
Now, in Nogueira's return to mixed martial arts, he will battle Todd Gouwenberg, a veteran of TKO and BodogFight, who is known for his ground and pound prowess. Nogueira will be the obvious favourite coming into the fight, but he, perhaps better than anyone, knows that anything can happen once the bell rings. It was his shocking upset loss to Sokoudjou which began the "Year of the Upsets" in 2007, and Nogueira will most definitely be looking to re-establish himself as a premier fighter at 205.
Gouwenberg is no gimme fight for Nogueira. He has solid striking, especially when he gets top position on the ground, and will likely come into the fight as the bigger and stronger fighter. He may look to take the fight to the ground, to impose his ground and pound, but Nogueira, like his brother, is a master on the ground. Gouwenberg must be wary of submissions, but he will also need to be wary of Nogueira's much-improved striking. Many people now feel that Rogerio's striking is now superior even to his brother, Rodrigo's.
To offer a prediction for the fight, I will have to choose Nogueira, who will no doubt look to avoid a repeat of PRIDE 33 at all costs. Nogueira has a decided advantage in striking, and a huge advantage in submissions, so Gouwenberg will need to impose his strength if he wishes to defeat Nogueira. Nogueira has a world of experience, against the best of the best at 205, and this will be Gouwenberg's biggest test to date, by far. Either way, it should be an excellent main event.
In one of the co-main events, Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos will battle Gegard Mousasi. Cyborg is an extremely proficient striker, with numerous victories by (T)KO. However, he has also been susceptible to being knocked out himself, and has come up short in his high-profile battles with Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Yuki Kondo and Melvin Manhoef. However, his experience level is far above Mousasi's, even though Mousasi has fought more times.
Mousasi is no slouch, however, and competed in PRIDE against fighters such as Makoto Takimoto and Akihiro Gono. He defeated Takimoto, but fell short against Gono, which was one of the mere two defeats in Mousasi's career. He, like Cyborg, is a veteran of numerous MMA promotions, and has fought in some of the biggest events. Mousasi is a dangerous striker, but also has well-rounded submissions. However, in this battle, I see Cyborg landing the first solid shot. If this is the case, it will be a short night for Mousasi.
Regardless of which fighter emerges as the victor, this has all of the makings of a striking war. That is, until one fighter falls down.
The other co-main event is a showcase of two Canadian stand-outs, as TKO and UFC veteran David "The Crow" Loiseau will take on another TKO veteran, Jason "Dooms" Day. Loiseau, the former TKO Middleweight Champion, has defeated nearly every top Canadian fighter at 185, as well as contenders from other countries. In TKO, he defeated Steve Vigneault, Shawn Thompkins, Joe Doerksen, Tony Fryklund and Curtis Stout. He was defeated by ironman UFC veteran Jeremy Horn for the title in 2004. Since that time, he has had mixed success in the UFC and elsewhere. He lost three fights in a row in 2006/2007, but all were to reputable fighters, in Rich Franklin, Mike Swick and Joey Villasenor.
Jason Day may not be well-known outside of Canada, but he has emerged as an excellent fighter in the past few years, following a shaky start to his career. Day has only been defeated twice in his last 15 fights, with one of them coming against top Canadian fighter Patrick "The Predator" Côté, and he holds a victory over "The Road Warrior" Johnathan Goulet. On paper, Loiseau may be the favourite, but Loiseau has lost three of his last four fights and Day is an extremely well-rounded fighter.
Day has yet to have a single fight go the distance, and I see this being no exception. Loiseau has a solid chin, but Day does have enough power to potentially win by knockout. Day could also pull off a submission, as he is well-versed in the ground game. Loiseau must return to the form of old, where he was ultra-aggressive and took his opponents completely off of their game. If he shows up as the timid fighter who has lost three of his past four fights, Day could very well pull off an upset in this fight. I think that Loiseau will win, but it depends on which "Crow" we get to see.
"Destiny" also features a very solid undercard, with UFC veteran Solomon Hutcherson and other veteran fighters, Mike "Quicksand" Pyle and Dan "Torture" Chambers, part of the event.
The undercard is as follows:
Garett Davis vs Thomas Schulte - Lightweight bout
Derrick Noble vs Brendan Seguin - Welterweight bout
Mike Pyle vs Damir Mirenic - Welterweight bout
Dan Chambers vs Andrew Buckland - Middleweight bout
Amir Rahnavardi vs Solomon Hutcherson - Middleweight bout
Ariel Sexton vs Myles Merola - Lightweight bout
Miodrag Petkovic vs Tim Hague - Heavyweight bout
Lucas Rota vs Nabil Khatib - Middleweight bout
Fabian Cortez vs Juan Barrantes - Featherweight bout
I will be at the event in order to provide on-site media and in-depth event coverage of "Destiny." This will be the first live event coverage for MMARising.com, but definitely not the last.
