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http://www.sherdog.com/events/Euro-FC-1-The-New-Era-53607
http://mmajunkie.com/2016/07/eurofc-preps-for-oct-1-launch-aims-to-be-europes-top-mma-promotion
I was just looking around and I saw this card, so I thought I'd bring it to people's attention. It's on October 1st, by the way. The card as a whole's probably cooler if you follow the European circuit, but those four fighters alone make it worth bringing attention to.
Here's a little thing I wrote about these guys if anyone wants to see it.
http://mmajunkie.com/2016/07/eurofc-preps-for-oct-1-launch-aims-to-be-europes-top-mma-promotion
I was just looking around and I saw this card, so I thought I'd bring it to people's attention. It's on October 1st, by the way. The card as a whole's probably cooler if you follow the European circuit, but those four fighters alone make it worth bringing attention to.
Here's a little thing I wrote about these guys if anyone wants to see it.
A lot of people forget this, but Niinimaki was a real big veteran who a lot of people thought was about to make waves and shoot up the rankings in the UFC after he won his debut against Rani Yahya (who was on a three-fight winning streak himself, which included victories over Josh Grispi and Mizuto Hirota, and a victory shortly before that over Mike Brown) after going on an impressive 11-fight winning streak that included a CAGE belt and wins over solid fighters like former WEC champion Chase Beebe, Walel Watson and French veteran Johnny Frachey. At the height of Hioki's streak of underperforming in the UFC, a lot of people also thought Niinimaki would beat Hioki in a rematch (Hioki submitted him in a Shooto bout in, like, 2005 or 2006 or something) at this time.
He ended up losing his next three fights via rear-choke, I think all of 'em were pretty big upsets (the Chas Skelly one was at least), and got cut, and he hasn't fought since.
Bedford was another prospect in the UFC for a short while. He was a contestant on the Ultimate Fighter, getting knocked out in the semi-finals by John Dodson, but won his first two professional fights in the UFC by knockout against former top-10 flyweight Louis Gaudinot and then-20-3 Marcos Vinicius. He ended up getting cut after losing three fights in a row to current-top-5-bantamweight Bryan Caraway, current-Tachi Palace champion Cody Bibson and the aforementioned Yahya, but he rebounded with a knockout victory in his most recent fight just over a year ago.
Toni Tauru was the Cage Warriors bantamweight champion before the promotion folded... or before it came back... or whatever happened with Cage Warriors. He was 10-1-1 when the promotion folded and was on a streak of 7 submission victories, six by rear-choke and including a gogoplata, and signed with ONE Championship™ to fight top-ranked bantamweight and current ONE bantamweight champion Bibiano Fernandess. He lost the fight by knockout in the third round.
He lost by third-round KO again in his sophomore appearance with ONE against Tajikstani fighter Muin Gafurov. He's fighting Spaniard veteran Marc Gomez, who holds a solid 17-7 record with 15 finishes, and who's on a four-fight winning streak.
Hiroyuki Takaya was a top-5 featherweight on and off between 2004 and 2010. He started out his career with a 4-0-1 record, including a victory over Hatsu Hioki, and got catapulted in the rankings with a knockout victory over Stephen Palling. He lost against Gilbert Melendez afterwards back when Melendez was a featherweight, and then moved up to lightweight to fight with HERO's.
He moved back down to featherweight after HERO's went under and got back into the top-5 with a knockout victory over Antonio Carvalho, then signed with- and lost in the WEC and lost that ranking. He then got to the finals of the DREAM featherweight Grand Prix, losing to Bibiano Fernandes, and followed that up by becoming the first person to knock out both Chase Beebe and the great Joachim Hansen, and got back into the top-5 by avenging his defeat to Bibiano Fernandes.
After DREAM decided to split its featherweight division [the division's weight-limit was originally at 139 pounds] into bantamweight and featherweight, he decided to stay at featherweight after a test cut to the bantamweight limit left him feeling too drained, and his career's been hot-and-cold since then. He was on an impressive four-fight winning streak up until this year, losing in his most recent fight against UFC veteran Nazareno Malagerie.
He's also got solid victories over great fighters like Hideo Tokoro, former top-5 bantamweight Yoshiro Maeda, Kazuyuki Miyata, former featherweight king Lion Takeshi[, ZST Grand Prix winner Remigijus Morkevicius, and DJ.taiki.
He's fighting UFC veteran Alan Omer, who holds an 18-5 record with 16 finishes and hasn't fought since he got cut from the UFC last year.
He ended up losing his next three fights via rear-choke, I think all of 'em were pretty big upsets (the Chas Skelly one was at least), and got cut, and he hasn't fought since.
Bedford was another prospect in the UFC for a short while. He was a contestant on the Ultimate Fighter, getting knocked out in the semi-finals by John Dodson, but won his first two professional fights in the UFC by knockout against former top-10 flyweight Louis Gaudinot and then-20-3 Marcos Vinicius. He ended up getting cut after losing three fights in a row to current-top-5-bantamweight Bryan Caraway, current-Tachi Palace champion Cody Bibson and the aforementioned Yahya, but he rebounded with a knockout victory in his most recent fight just over a year ago.
Toni Tauru was the Cage Warriors bantamweight champion before the promotion folded... or before it came back... or whatever happened with Cage Warriors. He was 10-1-1 when the promotion folded and was on a streak of 7 submission victories, six by rear-choke and including a gogoplata, and signed with ONE Championship™ to fight top-ranked bantamweight and current ONE bantamweight champion Bibiano Fernandess. He lost the fight by knockout in the third round.
He lost by third-round KO again in his sophomore appearance with ONE against Tajikstani fighter Muin Gafurov. He's fighting Spaniard veteran Marc Gomez, who holds a solid 17-7 record with 15 finishes, and who's on a four-fight winning streak.
Hiroyuki Takaya was a top-5 featherweight on and off between 2004 and 2010. He started out his career with a 4-0-1 record, including a victory over Hatsu Hioki, and got catapulted in the rankings with a knockout victory over Stephen Palling. He lost against Gilbert Melendez afterwards back when Melendez was a featherweight, and then moved up to lightweight to fight with HERO's.
He moved back down to featherweight after HERO's went under and got back into the top-5 with a knockout victory over Antonio Carvalho, then signed with- and lost in the WEC and lost that ranking. He then got to the finals of the DREAM featherweight Grand Prix, losing to Bibiano Fernandes, and followed that up by becoming the first person to knock out both Chase Beebe and the great Joachim Hansen, and got back into the top-5 by avenging his defeat to Bibiano Fernandes.
After DREAM decided to split its featherweight division [the division's weight-limit was originally at 139 pounds] into bantamweight and featherweight, he decided to stay at featherweight after a test cut to the bantamweight limit left him feeling too drained, and his career's been hot-and-cold since then. He was on an impressive four-fight winning streak up until this year, losing in his most recent fight against UFC veteran Nazareno Malagerie.
He's also got solid victories over great fighters like Hideo Tokoro, former top-5 bantamweight Yoshiro Maeda, Kazuyuki Miyata, former featherweight king Lion Takeshi[, ZST Grand Prix winner Remigijus Morkevicius, and DJ.taiki.
He's fighting UFC veteran Alan Omer, who holds an 18-5 record with 16 finishes and hasn't fought since he got cut from the UFC last year.
