Nick “The Goat” Thompson Defeats Michael Costa at WVR – Sengoku 3

Former Wisconsin resident, Nick “The Goat” Thompson kept his streak alive and extended it to 12 straight victories with a win over Chute Boxe fighter, Michael Costa of Brazil early this morning. Prior to fight, Thompson and Costa had a small scuffle at the press conference which may have led to some bad blood come fight time. The fight took place in Saitama, Japan on the Sengoku 3 card, which was headlined with a Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Maurice Smith bout.

Thompson’s entrance was nothing short of spectacular. He sported a handlebar mustache, tiger-striped Zubaz pants, and his theme music was Kung Fu Fighting. Early on in round one, Nick Thompson was taken down by Costa but won the round with a number of submission attempts from the bottom. In round two, Thompson’s streak almost came to an end as a left hook from Costa sent Thompson crashing to the canvas. Thompson held on, recovered, and reversed Costa to get top position. After avoiding a triangle and oma plata sweep, Thompson was then able to get side control. From side control, Thompson secured the far side arm in a figure four and transitioned to north/south position for a textbook kimura that ended the bout at 4:13 in round two. With the win, Nick Thompson improves his record to (36-9-1) and Michael Costa falls to (9-4).

Thompson last defeated another Brazilian, Fabricio Monteiro at World Victory Road - Sengoku 1 in March. Following that bout, Thompson then was signed to fight for Hardcore Fighting Championships in Canada but the card was postponed and subsequently cancelled when the promotion went belly up.

Here are the full results:

World Victory Road – Sengoku 3
Saitama Super Arena
Saitama, Japan

Fabio Silva defeats Yoshiki Takahashi - KO (Knee) - Round 2 - 0:24

Rodrigo Damm defeats Jorge Masvidal - TKO (Punch) - Round 2 - 4:38

Marcio Cruz defeats Mu Bae Choi - Rear Naked Choke - Round 1 - 4:37

Sanae Kikuta defeats Chris Rice - Armbar - Round 2 - 3:54

Nick Thompson defeats Michael Costa - Kimura - Round 2 - 4:13

Kazuo Misaki defeats Logan Clark - Unanimous Decision - Round 3 - 5:00

Travis Wiuff defeats Kazuyuki Fujita - KO (Punches) - Round 1 - 1:24

Hidehiko Yoshida defeats Maurice Smith - Neck Crank - Round 1 - 2:23

Jameel Massouh Victorious in HCF Debut in Quebec over Myles Merola

Jameel Massouh of Dave Strasser’s Freestyle Academy was victorious in his Hardcore Championship Fighting debut Saturday night in Quebec, Canada. According to Sherdog, Massouh won a unanimous decision victory over Myles Merola of British Columbia, Canada. The card was headlined by former UFC veteran David “The Crow” Loiseau and was called the “Crow’s Nest. Loiseau pulled out a unanimous decision victory as well.

Here is a recap of the Massouh-Merola fight according to Sherdog:

For much of their three-round bout, Myles Merola and Jameel Massouh traded punches, kicks and takedowns almost equally. In the third round, though, Massouh achieved rear mount and tried feverishly to secure a rear-naked choke. Credit Merola for surviving the final two minutes of the fight with Massouh on his back with a tight body triangle locked up. Massouh took the unanimous decision, 29-27 on all three scorecards.

It was reported last week that HCF has been purchased by another organization. The other organization has not yet been named however it is believed they the new organization is believed to have a television connections in both North America as well as Europe. HCF’s next show in May will be headlined by former UFC veteran Renato Sobral.

Here are the results according to MMA Junkie:

Hardcore Championship Fighting: Crows Nest
Robert Guertin Arena
Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
03/29/2008

David Loiseau def. Todd Gouwenberg via unanimous decision
Sarah Kaufman def. Molly Helsel via TKO -- Round 2, 2:44
Hector Ramirez def. Rob MacDonald via unanimous decision
Nabil Khatib def. Gideon Ray via unanimous decision
Brent Beauparlant def. Amir Rahnavardi via unanimous decision
Dan Hornbuckle def. Andrew Buckland via submission (armbar) -- Round 1, 3:34
Bill Boland def. Michal Hamrsmid via TKO -- Round 2, 2:59
Jameel Massouh def. Myles Merola via unanimous decision
Rodrigo Ruas def. Marcus Vinicios via submission (arm-triangle choke) -- Round 3, 0:52
Antonio Schembri def. Daniel Grandmaison via submission (armbar) -- Round 1, 2:37

Jameel Massouh to fight on HCF show in Quebec, Canada

Fresh of his WCS submission of the night victory at Freestyle Combat Challenge 33 last month, Jameel “The Real Deal” Massouh of Dave Strasser’s Freestyle Academy is set to fight again on March 29 in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. According to MMA News, Massouh is slated to fight Myles “Cowboy” Merola of British Columbia, Canada on the Hardcore Championship Fighting card entitled, Crows Nest.

As you may recall from my previous article, Massouh recently fought Craig Howard of the Freaks of the Industry based out of Lafayette, Indiana. Massouh gave up nearly 40 pounds to his inexperienced opponent. It didn’t matter as Massouh made short work of his opponent dominating every aspect of the fight.

Jameel Massouh sports a (15-3) record according to Sherdog and holds wins over area fighters such as Rob Mrotek, Eugene Crisler, and Mike Lambrecht. His only losses have come to the very tough and notable Tristan Yunker, Daiki Hata, and Miki Shida. The Hata and Shida fights took place in Japan’s Pancrase organization.

Myles “The Cowboy” Merola sports a (9-4) record according to Sherdog and fights out of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada for the Suitela Fight Team. He is a two-time veteran of HCF and sports a (1-1) record in the organization and is the former National Fighting Challenge or NFC Welterweight Champion. He most recently lost via rear naked choke to Ariel Sexton last month at the HCF – Destiny show in Calgary. He has fought at both 170lbs and 155lbs and is listed at 155 on the HCF website. He appears to be primarily a grappler with some decent triangles as can be seen in his highlight reel. His striking shows he has some heavy, yet sloppy hands.

Jameel Massouh was announced as 140lbs in his bout last month against Craig Howard and is able to make the bantamweight class. I believe this bout will probably take place at 155lbs but I have not been able to verify it. Regardless, Massouh will again be the smaller opponent is this bout and while I feel that Massouh is probably the more technical striker and grappler, I think he may have some trouble against a veteran fighter in Merola due to the size disadvantage, which can be evidenced in the Merola vs. Davis video below where Merola is the noticeably smaller fighter against Davis. This remains to be seen, but many good fighters have suffered setbacks when they fight outside of their respective weight classes against equal or lesser talent. I hope this is not the case for Jameel Massouh and wish him best of luck in the bout.

Hardcore Championship Fighting is quickly become one of the premier fight organizations in Canada. In less than one year, HCF has had notable fighters such as Joe Riggs, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Aleksander Emelianenko, Sean Salmon, and Solomon Hutcherson fight on their shows. This card will feature talent that has fought in the UFC, Pride, Pancrase, IFL, and BodogFight. This is a big opportunity for Massouh to test himself on the big stage that will draw attention from many harcore MMA fans worldwide. Mysteriously absent from this card is HCF signed fighter with Wisconsin roots, Solomon Hutcherson.

Below is the fight card according to MMA News:

Hardcore Championship Fighting: Crows Nest
Robert Guertin Arena
Gatineau, Quebec
03/29/2008

Main Event:
David Loiseau (Canada) vs. Todd Gouwenberg (Canada)

Semi Main Event: Rob MacDonald (Canada) vs. Hector Ramirez (USA)

HCF World Lightweight Title Defense
Sarah Kaufman (Canada) vs. Molly Helsel (USA) World Champion

Nabil Khatib (Canada) vs. Gideon Ray (USA)

Brent Beauparlant (Canada) vs. Amir Rahnavardi (USA)

Andrew Buckland (Canada) vs. Dan Hornbuckle (USA)

Bill Boland (Canada) vs. Michal Hamrsmid (Czech Rep.)

Myles Merola (Canada) vs. Jameel Massouh (USA)

Marcus Vinicios (Canada) vs. Rodrigo Ruas (Brazil)

Dan Grandmaison (Canada) vs. Nino Schembri (Brazil)

Ben Greer (Canada) vs. TBA

Len Tam (Canada) vs. Russell Yip (Japan)


My other articles with Jameel Massouh:

Freestyle Combat Challenge 33 - Agallar, Massouh, and Geraghty Victorious

Freestyle Combat Challenge 33: Geraghty, Agallar, and Massouh return to Wisconsin


Other links:

Jameel Massouh vs. Craig Howard

Myles Merola vs. Garett Davis

Myles Merola Highlight Reel

Interview with FCC fighter Jameel "The Sergeant" Massouh in Osaka Japan!

Solomon Hutcherson Fight Tonight in Canada Cancelled

Solomon Hutcherson of Racine, Wisconsin was slated to fight Amir Rahnavardi on tonight’s Hardcore Championship Fighting card in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. According to Sherdog, Hutcherson was without a passport and was therefore, unable to compete against Rahnavardi.

No other details were stated in the article and it is currently unknown if Hutcherson’s passport expired, if he was not granted entrance in the country, or if a passport is a requirement to fight in that Canadian province.

Hutcherson’s last fight was in Canada in July of 2007 and he is currently riding a two-fight winning streak. For more information on Solomon Hutcherson feel free to read my pre-fight article here.

Also on the card is the return of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and a fight between Gergard Mousasi and Evangalista Santos.

Racine’s Solomon Hutcherson to fight Amir Rahnavardi

Racine’s Solomon Hutcherson (8-4) is slated to face Amir Rahnavardi (9-8) in Canada’s Hardcore Championship Fighting on February 1, 2008.

Hutcherson as you may remember was a contestant on the Ultimate Fighter Season 3 reality show early in 2006. While on the show he fought Rory Singer in episode 5 and suffered a KO loss in the second round. In the Ultimate Fighter Finale 3, in June of 2006 he squared off against Luigi Fioravanti but suffered a first round KO late in the round. Since his time in the UFC, Hutcherson has rallied back and rattled off two straight wins. In addition, he has signed a multi-fight contract with the fairly new upstart Hardcore Championship Fighting out of Canada. He has also been training in Las Vegas at Xtreme Couture with his Team Dagger cohort Kendall Grove.

Amir Rahnavardi is riding a two-fight losing streak. His most recent loss came at the hands of Antonio Schembri via Triangle Choke in May. Prior to that he lost a unanimous decision to Ryan McGivern two weeks earlier in the IFL. Rahnavardi has also fought in Pride, King of the Cage, and Extreme Challenge organizations. He has fought many notable opponents including Keith Jardine, Gary Goodrich, and Lee Murray. His biggest win was over Daijiro Matsui in 2000.

Hardcore Championship Fighting has put on two shows since July and has featured notable fighters such as Sean Salmon, Gergard Mousasi, Aleksander Emelianenko, and Joe Riggs. Their third event will feature the return of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Nogueira (12-3) has not seen action since his upset loss to Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou at Pride 33 last February.

Below is the complete card according to MMA Weekly:

Hardcore Championship Fighting 3: Destiny
Calgary, Alberta
02-01-2008

HCF Lightweight Championship
Thomas Schulte vs. Garett Davis

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Todd Gouwenberg

Gegard Mousasi vs. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos

John Alessio vs. Derrick Noble

Damir Mirenic vs. Mike Pyle

Andrew Buckland vs. Dan Chambers

Solomon Hutcherson vs. Amir Rahnavardi

Myles Merola vs. Ariel Sexton

Tim Hague vs. Miodrag Petkovic

Nabil Khatib vs. Lucas Rota

Babian Cortez vs. Juan Barrantes