Victory Fighting Championships returns to the Mid America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa on February 5th putting on one of the Midwest region's best attended Mixed Martial Arts events. All VFC action including round by round, blow by blow action is on YOUR SOURCE for everything MMA in the Midwest, www.MidwestFightersFocus.com. Pro/Am fight previews are complete, and the Bantamweight battle for the belt features two cage warriors that are no stranger to the VFC:
PRO CARD
At Bantamweight and the Main Event of the Evening for the Championship at 135 pounds -UPDATE-
Joe Doherty vs. Zach Wolff
Joe Doherty: With original opponent Josh Rave unable to compete due to illness and injury, a ready, willing and able Joe Doherty, from Mid America Martial Arts in Omaha, Nebraska, steps in as a formidable opponent against Wolff. No stranger to Victory, Doherty competed all the way back in VFC 8 and several times since. This well rounded fighter has also competed in the Ring of Fire event, and holds a 4-1 record at the VFC. For those who remember, his 5 round war with VFC and UFC vet Ryan Roberts showed that Doherty can flat out fight.
Zach Wolff: This Wisconsin based fighter is known for many things inside the cage, chiefly his no fear attitude no matter who he is facing and his slick submission skills as well. Most of his wins have come by submission, and his heart has never been in question in MMA competition. Wolff holds wins over perennial VFC competitors Josh Arocho and Sean Wilson, but a loss against VFC and UFC vet Ryan Roberts. Coming off his last win against Jeremy Stetz, Wolff seems to be focused and ready for this championship matchup.
Our View: With a short notice opponent, don't look for Wolff to change up his game plan. He always comes out full force and ready to bang. Doherty has years of training and fighting experience behind him. We anticipate Doherty to come in ready, despite the short notice, and Wolff to be exactly how he always is...EXCITING ! We wait along with the fans to find out the answer to that and many more questions, which certainly appear to be coming up at the Mid America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa on February 5th!
In the Heavyweight Division and for the Championship at 265 pounds
Travis Browne vs. Abe Wagner
Abe Wagner: Veteran member of the The Ultimate Fighter Heavyweights season, who lost his first contest on the reality series by one of the nastiest cuts ever provided a fighter on television, Wagner returns to his stomping grounds inside the VFC. Currently the VFC Heavyweight Champion, Wagner’s background of having a degree in Mechanical Engineering and being the Director of Finance at a major Omaha based corporation shouldn’t fool those who have been willing to enter the cage with him. Five years ago, a highlight reel of Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic convinced Wagner that he had to start training in mixed martial arts, and he hasn’t stopped training since. Word is that if Wagner can string 2 or 3 impressive victories together that the UFC may once again come calling.
Travis Browne: This 6 foot 7 inch 250 pound plus behemoth of a fighter enters the VFC for the first time coming out of North County Fight Club in California. Undefeated in his Mixed Martial Arts career, winning nearly all of his bouts by knockout, Browne comes into hostile territory to take on one of the Midwest’s best heavyweights on his home turf. Training with the likes of Jason Lambert and formerly Dan Henderson as well, look for Browne to be familiar with the ground game, even if his hands have done most of his talking in the cage.
Our View: Both fighters seem to love the standup game within the arena of Mixed Martial Arts. With both of them fancying the striking aspect of the sport, we look forward to watching a bout that should culminate in a knockout, with the one scoring the telling blows having his hand raised at the end. And, in the heavyweight division, knockouts usually only come in dramatic fashion. Whoever is the most technical standing and lands the heavier and cleaner blows will win this fight, as we do not foresee this bout ending on the ground or in a submission. This has knockout of the night potential written all over it!
At 155 Pounds the Lightweight Championship
Chase Hackett vs. Jimmy Siepel
Chase Hackett: Born and raised in Colorado, this former Professional Motocross Racer, who left that sport for MMA when he grew tired of the constant injuries in Motocross, defeated Adam Martinez for the Warriors Collide Amateur Lightweight Championship. Hackett helps teach many of the classes offered at Gumm Mixed Martial Arts as well as offering private one-on-one instruction. Hackett provided VFC and Omaha fighter Drew Dober his first taste of defeat in Mixed Martial Arts and was preliminarily scheduled to fight Seipel, who suffered his only defeat by the hands of Dober. Hackett returns for VFC 30 looking to make up for lost time and hand Seipel his first loss as a pro.
Jimmy Seipel: Wanting to avenge his only career loss to Drew Dober but with that fight not yet able to happen, Seipel decided it would be wise to defeat the man who defeated Dober. Seipel is undefeated as a professional and is quickly becoming one of VFC’s most recognizable fighters. Coming off of a very impressive win over Bryce Teager in VFC 29, Seipel has re-dedicated himself to training for his upcoming fight. Seipel trains at Elite Performance Omaha with the likes of Matt Anderson, the brother's Ellenberger, Ryan Jensen, and host of other top tier wrestling, kickboxing and jiu jitsu practitioners and Instructors.
Our View: We view this as being a very technical battle between two cagey veterans. Our belief is the one who makes the bigger mistakes in the fight, leaving himself open for either strikes or submission, will utlimately taste defeat. More technical than a brawl, this fight is anyone's to win.
Championship Qualifier Match at 170 pounds
Anthony Smith vs. Jake Hecht
Anthony Smith: After a very impressive amateur career, Smith has struggled to find victory on the professional side. Although Smith is coming off of three straight losses and having not fought in several months, he has taken a new lease on life and is now training like a professional mixed martial artist for the first time in his career at Elite Performance Omaha. It will be interesting to see Smith morph into a complete fighter on February 5th as he puts his striking and well rounded MMA skills to the test. Known as "Lionheart", as many know, it will take a freight train to stop this refocused version of Anthony Smith.
Jake “The Hitman” Hecht: Sherdog lists his record as 4-1, three of which are by submission. He trains with American Top Team Missouri is currently riding a four fight winning streak after dropping his professional debut in a split decision. Providing a Fight of the Night at the Absolute Fighting Championships in Florida, Hecht also has a background in wrestling and was a Missouri State Golden Gloves Champion and Runner up so his skills would certainly be described as "well rounded".
Our View: With Smith coming off a short break in his career, and Hecht on a win streak involving mostly submissions, we expect this bout to end by submission with either fighter being able to pull them off at any given time. Both have solid standup skills to boot, so we envision striking leading to a clinch following by some dirty boxing and a takedown (or two). Whoever gains position and retains it will probably come out the winner via submission in this bout. That being said, with one (Smith) being known as a very technical brawler and the other (Hecht) being a technical striker, it wouldn't be surprising to see them try to provide the VFC with the "Fight of the Night" honors in this one as well.
Feature Matchup at 155 pounds
Dakota Cochrane vs Jeremy Malaterre
Dakota Cochrane: Trains with Elite Performance in Omaha, Nebraska. Cochrane is a powerful fighter known for his explosive ground and pound and amazingly quick takedowns. Looking to follow up an extremely dominating performance over Alex Harper at the last VFC event. Cochrane has yet to taste defeat in a cage and is current owner of the “title” of the number one knockout of the year on PureFight.org. Cochrane, quite simply is a smashing machine never having tasted defeat.
Jeremy Malaterre: Comes from the same team as Chase Hackett, Gumm MMA in Colorado. Sporting a winning amateur and professional Mixed Martial Arts career, Malaterre has taken many of his fights the distance and has won most by decision. Cardio seems to be his watchword as in his fights he seems to have that “never say quit” attitude and has a huge desire to compete and win. According to the people at Gumm MMA “Jeremy is one of the most dedicated fighters at Gumm Mixed Martial Arts, proving this daily through his attitude in training as well as his willingness to help his teammates train”.
Our View: We view this as Cochrane perhaps being too much for Malaterre to handle, however in many of Malaterre's bouts, he has outlasted several opponents to come away with decisions in his favor on the judges scorecards. Surely a fight that should hit the ground sooner or later, the only question that remains for this bout is how soon it goes there, and how soon will it end?
Championsip Qualifier at 170 pounds
Ted Worthington vs Leonardo Pecanha
Ted Worthington: Worthington is not a stranger to most cages in the Midwest Region of the United States and has fought and won in many mid-major events, to include past outings in the VFC. Recently had a war at MaxFightsDM against Rob Roy where Worthington attempted over 20 submissions per round showing his submission skill and versatility. Worthington's experience level in the cage is nearly unmatched for not only most fighters in the Midwest, but probably around the country. Worthington currently trains at Des Moines Mixed Martial Arts Academy with the likes of Anthony Porcelli, Josh Neer, Timmy Gorman, Brian Green and Chuck Grigsby to name but a few. Still young at 25, and having a world of experience behind him, Worthington will certainly rely on his cage knowledge to try and pull out the win over a comparative newcomer to a man with his number of fights.
Leonardo Pecanha: Leonardo is a 10-5 Pro with significant wins over Rudy Bears and Bobby Volker finishing both fights in under 2 mins by submission. He is training out of BJJ Lifestyle Academy with “Brazilian” Mike Rethmeyer in Belleville IL, but will be spending some time in Omaha at Mid-America Martial Arts to prepare for this fight. He is a 2nd degree Black Belt under Andre Pederneiras and Gustavo Dantas out of Nova Uniao. He is a very accomplished Jiu-Jitsu competitor with multiple Brazilian National Championships and World European Championships. Born and rasied in Rio De Janerio he has made the move to the US to pursue a Fighting career full time with hopes to fight in the UFC.
Our View: We envision this fight with Worthington, even with his edge in cage experience, to try to keep the fight standing or use his own ground skills to reverse and or escape any attempts by Leonardo to keep him on the ground. This could end in just about any fashion as just because both are skilled on the ground and in jiu jitsu doesn't mean this couldn't end up being a stand up war for the ages. We greatly anticipate seeing exactly how this fight plays out as it is nearly a perfect match of experience and skill versus highly technical jiu jitsu.
Amateur Card Amateur Card Amateur Card
Justin Rheaume vs. Jeff Souder (205 pounds)
Justin Rheaume: Comes to the VFC out of Mankato, Minnesota. His last fight, he took Chris Miller to a 3 round decision win in November of 2009, but in September provided fellow Heavyweight fighter Emmit Culver a loss with Rheaume rendering him totally unconcscious in the first 42 seconds of the very first round.
Jeff Souder: Undefeated amateur heavyweight is considered by many to be the #1 amateur heavyweight in the Omaha Metro area. Took a hiatus from the fight scene to play with the New Orleans Saints. Former Nebraska Cornhusker and UNO Maverick is a steady draw whenever his name appears on an event’s fight card. Hometown is Bellevue, Nebraska.
Our View: We love seeing the big boys get after it, and this fight should not be lacking in the huge strikes and the huge slams. Whoever falls down first is the loser in this one.
Israel Ortiz vs. Mirsad Bektic (140 pounds) *Updated 1-28...Other fighters injured, so Ortiz vs Bektic match is on!*
Israel Ortiz: Israel makes his debut inside the Victory Fighting Championships but is not stranger to the cage. In his last performance at the Northwest Fight Club, he and fellow Mixed Martial artists gave the crowd all they could take in a back and forth war that covered every aspect of MMA to include grappling, wrestling, jui jitsu and standup. Ortiz might be one of more well rounded amateur fighters in the Midwest and comes from Kansas City, Kansas and brings 8 fights worth of experience to the cage.
Mirsad Bektic: Trains with Mid-America Martial Arts in Omaha, NE. Born in Bosnia, he, his mother and two brothers left when the war broke out. Eventully settled in Nebraska and not long after, he began taking karate lessons and started boxing in Middle School. Shocked the local fanatics when he defeated highly touted and now undefeated professional, Charlie Dubray for the Tri-State Cage Fighting Featherweight Championship in just his 2nd fight. Holds an amateur record of 3-0. His last fight, in September at Fight To Win MMA, he avenged teammate Joel Mickell’s loss, by defeating Zac Chavez by TKO in round 2.
Our View: After several opponent changes due to injuries, Bektic needs to stay focused on his training as an 8 fight veteran awaits the 3-0 fighter. Can Bektic's speed and power overcome the experience and BJJ skills of the ever ready Ortiz? We will all find out at the MAC on February 5th!
Dallas Barrett vs. Steve Lucchino (185 pounds)
Dallas Barrett: Having roamed from promotion to promotion and state to state in search of the best competitors around, Dallas has made a name for himself in the Midwest amateur MMA circuits. Having fought and won against many top tier amateurs from the Dakota's to the plains of Kansas, we look for the heavy handed Barrett to attempt to make his statement in the VFC.
Steve Lucchino: Fighting out of Team Capitol Punishment, Lucchino sports an aura of confidence to go with the dynamite in his hands and had the Fight of the Year at a recent event competing with Enrique Torres in a 3 round war. Never one to back down from a challenge, Lucchino is ready and willing to fight for his share of VFC glory and work his way up the rankings before turning pro.
Our View: Someone is getting knocked out. Enough said.
Mark Mickells vs. Cody Land (135 pounds)
Mark Mickells: This Mid America Martial Arts product, after having taken some time off, returns to MMA with a vengeance. Always known for his ability to submit just about anyone from just about any position, but additionally competing in Muai Thai, Mickells has become one of the best well rounded fighters in the amateur ranks at his weight in the Midwest.
Cody Land: Training and Fighting out of Hard Knocks gym in Hastings, Nebraska, this young man has been on a roll as of late and has shown dramatic improvements in each and every aspect of his game. Although nicknamed "Locked and Loaded", we often call him "Non Stop Action" for his relentless quest to finish the fight.
Our View: Both having well rounded skills makes this fight a toss up as to how the end will come. Both can strike, both can grapple, and both can submit. Our only regret is that both can't win.
Remember to stay tuned to www.MidwestFightersFocus.com for all VFC news and everything else MMA in the Midwest!
