GAMMA: Global Combat (MMA)

[Sharkweather]

A VSN-exclusive, oooh ;)

[Bigpapa42]

GAMMA 22: The World is Watching
Preview

Preliminary Fights

The prelims for this event are stacked in terms of the sheer number of fights. With the switch to monthly events, GAMMA needs to expand its roster of fighters, so many of these are tryout fights. Several are Featherweight fights, as the process of building a respectable division begins for the promotion.

GAMMA's tendency to put fights on the prelims that are worthy of being main card fights continues, with both the Hilton-Baldwin and John-Van Den Hauwe tilts fitting that bill. A win here by Luke Hilton could put “The Hillbilly Hammer” ins contention for a title shot. Its a bit disappointing to the first ever GAMMA Heavyweight champion, Mark “The Thing” Cohen, relegated to the opening fights.

Franky “The Baby Bull” Sheedy (20-9) vs Norbert “The Rock” Vinkus (2-0)

Norbert Vinkus is one of the most popular fighters GAMMA currently has under contract. This will be his third professional fight. Consider those two things for a moment.

The popularity of Vinkus stems from his pre-MMA professional football career. The huge heavyweight who is near the upper limit of the division joined GAMMA just over a year ago, before he had any pro fights. He has scored two wins against lesser opponents. To many, that's protective match-making. That perception won't change with this fight. Although Sheedy has a longer history in GAMMA than either of “The Rock's” first two victims, he simply lacks the skillset to really trouble Vinkus. This should be another win for the 34-year old “prospect”. GAMMA will have to give him some legitimate opponents eventually if they want him to move up the rankings at all.

Osmosis Benn (14-0) vs Sutton Ripley (13-2)

Speaking of protected match-making... The 25-year old Benn is considered one of the most promising young fighters at middleweight in MMA, and GAMMA have not rushed him. This fight, however, will be a test. Ripley is a limited fighter, with only two real tools. Those are a big right hand and great takedown defense. The veteran Canadian has been able to use those two tools to great effect throughout his career and he is a difficult test for a wrestler to face. If the fight stays standing, it could easily go either way. If Benn is able to take it to ground, he should be able to secure a victory. Whichever fighter is able to dictate where this this fight takes place is going to win this one.

Truck Gleeson (21-4-1) vs Beau Gorshin (36-8)

This is a clear battle between striker and wrestler. One of the best strikers at lightweight, Gleeson is a skilled kick boxer who can pick apart any opponent with precision. The 37-year old veteran Gorshin is nicknamed the “Madman from Michigan”, in part because of how relentlessly he pursues takedowns. Each man will be looking to take their fight into their comfort zone. Whichever fighter manages to do so will likely be the winner. There is more than just pride on the line here, as the winner of this fight will likely move into strong consideration to be the next challenger for the GAMMA Lightweight championship, after current number one contender Brandon Sugar.

Dan Halvorsen (35-11-2) vs Nathan Chambers (16-1)

The past meets the future.

Its a bit odd to call Chambers “the future”. Although only 25 years old, he's already held the GAMMA Welterweight championship that Julio Regueiro now holds. Known as the “Black Superman”, Chambers is a formidable combination of powerful wrestling and vicious striking. With his brash proclamations and arrogant attitude, he is also a fighter that fans have come to love cheering against. He is the definite favorite here.

Coming in off a lost, this could conceivably be “The Perfectionist” Dan Halvorsen's final GAMMA fight. He is now 42 years old. It is not an overstatement to call the man a legend in American MMA. A strong wrestler who developed some solid striking skills to compliment his base, Halvorsen helped revolutionize MMA in the United States in its early days. He was amongst the first to realize the importance of strong cardio and a game-plan. Now in the twilight of his career, he runs Halvorsen's, a renowned training camp that includes the likes of James Foster, Thomas Smith, Dexter Darling, and XCC Featherweight phenom Philip Ziskie.

Few expect Halvorsen to win this one, but he's tough enough that he can never be counted out completely. Should the veteran take the upset win here, it would be a mythic moment for MMA.

Raul Hughes (14-2) vs James Foster (35-4-1) for the GAMMA Heavyweight Championship

On paper, this should be a fairly straight-ahead title defense for “The King of Ground & Pound”, Foster.

Fights don't happen on paper.

Raul Hughes is as one-dimensional a fighter as you will find. He throws hands. That's it. That is all he does. He doesn't grapple, clinch, or throw kicks. He won't go for takedowns, try to submit an opponent, and he doesn't even have great takedown defense himself. At just 212 pounds, he is a small heavyweight – actually smaller than some middleweights (we're looking your direction, Benn). So how can “The Demolition Man” really be a legitimate challenger for Foster's title? Because of how well the former pro boxer throw hands. There is simply no else at heavyweight – or probably even lower weight classes – who throws strikes with the same combination of speed and power. When you combine that with great footwork and a quickness in the cage that makes him difficult to engage, Hughes is a monster challenge.

While the champion is less one-dimensional as a fighter than the challenger, it is no secret how Foster will want this fight to go. He wants to take it to ground, and will look use his patented double-leg takedown to do so. The 222 pound champion doesn't have a huge size advantage on Hughes, but he certainly has a major edge in wrestling and submissions. While one has to assume that Foster will try to secure the victory any way possible, he would love nothing more than to live up to his nickname and pound his opponent out.

The debate of “wrestler versus boxer” is part of what lead to the evolution of mixed martial arts in the first place. The short history of the sport has shown that when the two meet, the wrestler holds a distinct advantage. Which is not to say every such encounter has been won by the wrestler, but when the skills in their respective areas of expertise are relatively equal, it has often been the wrestler who has been able to dictate where the fight takes place and thereby force their will upon the boxer. Many feel that will be the case here.

The fact that this fight seems to have split the expert opinions is part of what makes it such an intriguing match-up and great match-making by GAMMA. While a majority seem to believe that the champion will be able to defend his title here, there are quite a few MMA observers who feel that the speed and power in Hughes' hands will simply be too much for the powerhouse champion and his vaunted chin to take.

Preliminary Fights:
Heavyweight Division: Theo Powers vs Khru Duangjan
Featherweight Division: Kei Maki vs Mino Reale
Featherweight Division: Pim Pim Gwon vs Brian Claremont
Featherweight Division: Joshua Goldberg vs Yagi Jokichi
Middleweight Division: Isiah Monroe vs Inacio Barroso
Featherweight Division: Heiko Pander vs Landon London
Heavyweight Division: John Fitzwallace vs Nate MacReary
Heavyweight Division: Chuck Dooley vs Terry Bull
Light Heavyweight Division: Samuel Russo vs Mark Cohen
Light Heavyweight Division: Bryan Van Den Hauwe vs Marlon John
Lightweight Division: Luke Hilton vs Henry Baldwin

Main Card
Heavyweight Division: Franky Sheedy vs Norbert Vinkus
Middleweight Division: Osmosis Benn vs Sutton Ripley
Lightweight Division: Truck Gleeson vs Beau Gorshin
Welterweight Division: Dan Halvorsen vs Nathan Chambers
Heavyweight Division: Raul Hughes vs James Foster for the GAMMA Heavyweight Championship

[Bigpapa42]

A VSN-exclusive, oooh ;)

It is. I may end up reposting it elsewhere, but its intended for this site primarily.

[calgaryballer]

I have WMMA2, this looks like it might be worthwhile though

[Bigpapa42]

I have WMMA2, this looks like it might be worthwhile though

I purchased both WMMA1 and WMMA2. Both were good games, and fairly unique, but neither really managed to hook me. This one has. It just feels deeper and more realistic than previous versions.

I've played a few different games with both GAMMA and ALPHA-1 so far, plus played around with some real world mods. I've seen bad decisions, early stoppages, super-quick KOs, upsets, fighters failing to make weight, fighters calling out other fighters after a fight, fighters talking trash through the media, fighters taking a leave of absence...

Was hoping to get the fights written up over Christmas but that didn't come close to happening. Working on another project for the next few days, so maybe this weekend...

[SHOGUN]

I just played the demo on the strength of your last post and it had me hooked. I'm really thinking of getting this.

[Bigpapa42]

I just played the demo on the strength of your last post and it had me hooked. I'm really thinking of getting this.

The demo is such a tease...

I personally find sims, particularly the GDS booking sims, be provide some of the best money-for-play value. Might not be the same for everyone, obviously. But I'm lucky if I get 20-30 hours of gameplay out of a $70 console game. I can get several hundred hours out of these games, especially with the different mods providing vastly different games.

With previous versions of WMMA, I've found that it got repetitive before too long. I'm not entirely sure if that's down to the games or myself. Either way, I would rarely every make it a year into a game. With this version, I've made it past a year a couple of times now just with the default data. I've even held off on some primary key fights for that entire time, too, so there's plenty left to do in those games, too. The regeneration works quite well, so it should allow for some long long games if someone is so inclined.

A couple of the other things I've seen happen... trash talking through the in-game website (including fighters promising to break limbs), near-brawls at the weight ins (just reported), and more.

[Bigpapa42]

In case anyone cares... Haven't given up on this yet. I had the show done and just needed to summarize the matches, which wouldn't take very long. Another writing project took priority and I somehow managed to deleted the fight summaries. Awesome move on my part. So I'm going to restart the game and do the show over again. Just need to find a few hours to do it.

[Bigpapa42]

GAMMA 22:
The World is Watching

Preliminary Fights

Featherweight Division: Kei Maki defeats Mino Reale at 1:15 of Round 1 by Knock Out (Kick) - Good

Featherweight Division: Brian Claremont defeats Pim Gwon at 0:27 of Round 2 by TKO (Strikes) - Good

Feather weight Division: Yagi Jokichi defeats Joshua Goldberg at 3:25 of Round 3 by TKO (Strikes) - Awful.

Middleweight Division: Isaiah Monroe defeats Inacio Barroso at 2:17 of Round 1 via Submission (Armbar) - Great

Heavyweight Division: Nate MacReary defeats John Fitzwallace at 5:00 of Round 3 by Unanimous Decision – Average.

Featherweight Division: Heiko Pander defeats Landon London at 5:00 of Round 3 by Unanimous Decision – Very Poor

Heavyweight Division: Chuck Dooley defeats Terry Bull at 1:44 of Round 1 by TKO (Strikes) - Good

Light Heavyweight Division: Mark Cohen defeats Samuel Russo at 3:32 of Round 3 by TKO (Strikes) – Decent

Light Heavyweight Division: Marlon John defeats Bryan Van Den Hauwe at 2:32 of Round 1 by TKO (Strikes) – Great

Lightweight Division: Luke Hilton defeats Henry Baldwin at 3:40 of Round 1 by TKO (Strikes) - Great

The announced fight between Khru Duangjan and Theo Powers was canceled at the last minute, reportedly due to Duangjan having visa issues. The match is expected to be rescheduled. It was replaced with the Nate MacCreary vs John Fitzwallace fight.

Main Card

Franky “The Baby Bull” Sheedy vs Norbert “The Rock” Vinkus

Things get started in a hurry, as Vinkus throws a series of strikes that back up Sheedy. The veteran tries to wrestle the huge “Rock” up against the cage, but Vinkus reverses the position. He creates a bit of space and starts throw hands. Sheedy drops and Vinkus has him pinned up against the cage, unloading a big series of ground strikes. The ref steps in and halfway through the first round, its over.

Norbert Vinkus defeats Frank Sheedy at 2:46 of Round 1 via TKO (Strikes) - Great

Osmosis Benn vs “The Talented” Sutton Ripley

This one starts out as expected, with Benn quite quickly going for a takedown. He cannot secure it and just about gets caught with a left jab. Finding some space, Benn throws a strikes that Ripley taking them off the gloves. Benn uses more punches to set up for another takedown attempt. He gets Ripley down to the floor this time. He almost immediately passes to side control and begins to take big shots. Unable to move, Ripley can't do much. The ref has to stop it.

Osmosis Benn defeats Sutton Ripley at 3:46 of Round 1 by TKO (Strikes) – Great

“The Truck Man” Truck Gleeson vs “The Madman From Michigan” Beau Gorshin

A key at lightweight that could establish the winner as a title contender kicks off, with Gorshin going for an early take down but failing to secure it. Landing a few strikes. Gorshin tries again but again fails. When Gleeson over-commits on a leg kick that misses, allowing the veteran to score with a flurry that leaves Gleeson covering up. Another failed take down attempts and a few strikes that hit nothing close out the round.

Gorshin counterattacks successfully through the first part of the round as Gleeson tries to press. The round is half over when Gorshin tries for another take down and manges to secure it, ending up in Gleeson's guard. A few strikes allow him to move to side control and eventually grab “The Truck Man's” back, but time runs out in the round before Gorshin can do anything from the promising position.

The third round kicks off with Gleenson, behind on points, attacking with a fury. It results in him getting taken to the mat again after several failed flurries of strikes. The wrestler shows great ground control, throwing strikes and avoiding being swept as he ends up in side control. Gleeson rolls and ends up giving up his back. Gorshin ends up transitioning from that into an armbar attempt that he sinks tight, forcing the tap in the final minute.

Beau Gorshin defeats Truck Gleeson at 4:38 of Round 3 by Submission (Armbar) - Decent

“The Perfectionist” Dan Halvorsen vs “Black Superman” Nathan Chambers

The fight starts off with an exhange but nothing of note lands. After Halovorsen tries a takedown that he can't quite secure, he manages to push Chambers up against the cage. “Black Superman” simply overpowers the veteran, pressing down on the back on the neck and forcing him down to the mat, then rolled into side control. Chambers lands a big knees strike to the ribs of his opponent and begins to work his way to a mount position. When Halvorsen desperately attempts to roll his way out, he gives up his back. Chambers tries for the choke, but “The Perfectionist” defends that well. Instead, Chambers works to throw strikes, landing some powerful shots despite the bad angle from his opponents back. Halvorsen takes several and stops defending himself as effectively, stunned by the power of Chambers. The ref steps in and stops it, pulling Chambers away before he can inflict further damage on the legend.

Nathan Chambers defeats Dan Halvorsen at 3:35 of Round 1 by TKO (Strikes) – Good

“The King Of Ground And Pound” James Foster © vs “The Demolition Expert” Raul Hughes
GAMMA Heavyweight Championship Match

There is plenty of hype for this one, but the start is tentative. The first round is mostly avoidance, with the champion managing to get out of the way of several flurries and the challenger avoiding the attempts to take fight to the floor of the cage. Hughes sprawls his way out of two takedown attempts and avoids an attempted slam by Foster out of the clinch. The breathtaking handspeed of Hughes is on display as he throws a flurry that doesn't land, but Foster seems surprised by how quick the strikes lash out. Foster once again tries to take the fight down to the mat, but with quick footwork, Hughes once again avoids it.

With the fans hoping for more action, the second round kicks off. Hughes throws some strikes that don't land, beginning to stalk his opponent. Halfway through the round, a left hand catches the champion and drops him to the mat. The challenger jumps in, throwing strikes and hoping to finish Foster off, but the champion manages to pull guard. A sweep gets Foster on top, in side control. He begins to throw right hands, landing several, and he takes the back of his opponent as Hughes tries to escape. With hooks in, Foster flattens out Hughes and gets in position for rear naked choke... but times runs out.

The round kicks off with the champion look more confident. He covers up to take a quick combo from Hughes and tries to counter, only to find himself eating a barrage of left hands. The champion drops to the floor of the cage, dazed and taking huge shots from the lighting hands of Raul Hughes. The ref has seen enough and he stops it. A new champion!

Raul Hughes defeats James Foster at 0:54 of Round 3 by TKO (Strikes) - Great
Raul Hughes Wins the GAMMA Heavyweight Championship

Blurcat Post Show

A great night of fights. A new GAMMA Heavyweight champion. G22 could be a turning point for GAMMA. It also appears that the hype for the main event paid off, as early indications are that it was a strong commercial success as well.

[calgaryballer]

Pretty similar results to what I had in my first show. Hughes was just named Fighter of the Year for 2010, defending his title 3 times, including a rematch against Foster.

You may see me over at GreyDog from time to time, post under Indy31 there. I saw a Big Papa with 4000+ posts too. TEW + WMMA?

[Bigpapa42]

Pretty similar results to what I had in my first show. Hughes was just named Fighter of the Year for 2010, defending his title 3 times, including a rematch against Foster.

You may see me over at GreyDog from time to time, post under Indy31 there. I saw a Big Papa with 4000+ posts too. TEW + WMMA?

Hughes is pretty awesome - limited yet so effective. Too bad he's already a bit older when the game starts.

Foster seems like he's overrated. I have run Hughes vs Foster at least a dozen times between all the different GAMMA games I've started and I don't think he's beaten Hughes once. In other games, I have Foster defend against Tim Boyer first and he always loses to Boyer, too. He just doesn't deliver.

The first time I ran this exact card - before I deleted the fight reports - things went almost exactly the same. The biggest difference was Gleeson beat Gorshin as I expected. And Hughes beat Foster in 40 seconds via TKO.

That would be me at GDS. I have mostly stuck to TEW in the past there, though I am reposting this there as well. I've done a few TEW diaries, including a pretty well-regarded SWF one from 2008. There is just something about doing a wrestling-based writing projects that gives just a bit more creativity than other type of sports-based writing project I've tried.

[calgaryballer]

I agree. Foster has fought Hughes twice, losing a 1:09 in the second round in their first bout (poor) and 4:34 in the first round of their second fight (very poor). He has great wins over Leon Banks and Norbert Vinkus, and an OK win over Gladstone Lopes.

Currently my champs and other interesting guys are -

Sean Morisson, 3-1 since I came in. Lost the title to Sukarno, but then Sukarno left the org and he beat Sammy Gafignan to get it back

Julio Requiro - 3-1, beat Chambers, Stevens and Humphreys before just dropping the belt to Josh Aldariso

Matthew Dean - 5-0, defeated Dexter Darling, Osmosis Benn x2, Petey Mack and Stuart Strange. Benn is in a Jon Fitch like position where he smashes everyone but Dean

Marlon John - 5-0, defeat Le Toussier, Rubenstein (for the belt), Rivero, Mike Watson and just recently, Zvonimir Asanovic (stolen from Alpha-1).

Signed a number of big names away from Alpha-1 and SIGMA, and am now in the process of trying to cull some of the roster as contracts expire. I bought KDM, so got Sukarno, but he left after beating Morrison and defending against Manish Kahn

Morrison gets a tough test against former XCC fighter Philip Ziskie in two events

[calgaryballer]

Also, Ashley Ballard just died in my game, at 27 years old! Whack.

/hijacking

[Bigpapa42]

I don't mind discussing the game in here. Though of making an actual game thread for GAMMA and haven't bothered yet. Here is as good a place to discuss as anywhere.

Having Ballard die sucks. He's not a bad talent. A bit inconsistent in my experience, but solid otherwise. I have yet to see anyone in their prime pass away in one of my games.

Morrison has not lost in any game I've run. Although I haven't put him against Sukarno or Atep of Indonesia yet in any of those games. I like to give either of those two (along with Lermetov) a gimme win or two to build up some name value, making a LW title fight even bigger.

I do love how much the game changes game-to-game. Matthew Dean was all beat unbeatable in one two-year GAMMA game, winning the 1998 Fighter of the Year award. In the next, he fell to Buddy Garner in his first defense and never seemed dominant at all.

[calgaryballer]

Just signed Fezzik for $500,000 a fight from Alpha-1. Can't wait for the big showdown with Hughes, going to have him debut at the end of the year show