Tim Leidecker

In this Ascension Day edition of my “Tales from the Vault”, I tell you a little story how I played a (small) role in reviving the career of one of Europe’s greatest heavyweight champions.

Like most kids born in the 80ies, I grew up watching Belarusian sambist Andrei Arlovski compete in the UFC in the “dark ages” of the sport. The first fight I really noticed him in was his three-round war with Ricco Rodriguez in the third event under the new Zuffa ownership. Andrei went on to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship and go on to have a fierce rivalry with Tim Sylvia. He also beat the current champion Fabricio Werdum and knocked out Ben Rothwell and Roy Nelson in further high-profile fights.

After years of progress and success, the “Pitbull” train came to a screeching halt at the turn of the decade when he suffered heavy defeats in four consecutive bouts, three of them by knockout. Even though the competition was stiff and prominent (Fedor Emelianenko, Brett Rogers, Antonio Silva and Sergei Kharitonov), at the end of the day on paper were four straight losses and the general consensus within the MMA universe was that Arlovski was “done” and “no longer had it”.

That was the time when he made some trend-setting changes in his life like joining JacksonWink MMA and training under arguably one of the greatest coaches of all time, Greg Jackson. It was also around the time that the “Fight Nights” promotion in Russia started to gather speed and started putting on some pretty exciting fights with future UFC talent like Ali Bagautinov, Zubaira Tukhugov and Gasan Umalatov.

I was interested in that and at the time I was still covering the sport for Sherdog.com on the side, so I reached out to promoter Kamil Gadzhiev to see whether it was possible to cover their next event, “Battle of Moscow 9” in December of 2012. Not only was Kamil excited about the idea, he also asked me whether I had an idea for an opponent for Arlovski. I was surprised at first, because Andrei had since rebounded from his weak phase due to the work of Greg Jackson and headlined events again for the fledgling ProElite and World Series of Fighting promotions.

I didn’t have to think long and I suggested Bellator MMA veteran Mike Hayes. Mike had just lost the Cage Warriors heavyweight title, but had beaten a few good opponents before and was slowly hitting his prime as an athlete. He went on to have a good fight with Andrei, but it was Arlovski who won his first fight back in Russia in over twelve years. In the time that followed, I went to Moscow often and had a lot of fighters competing for Fight Nights.

It was before Gregor Herb’s bout with eventual UFC veteran Gasan Umalatov at Battle of Moscow 12 (which was an insanely stacked card looking back at it now, some of the fighters that competed on it read like a “who is who” of European MMA – Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Albert Tumenov and Jiri Prochazka just to name a few) when Kamil, Andrei and I were sitting at the dinner table discussing Andrei’s future (I was having the traditional vodka with zakuski, while Andrei was preferring cognac, because, as we all know, it’s better for your health).

Andrei told me he wanted to make another run at the big show and as a final argument to drive home his application, he wanted to headline a big event in his home country of Belarus. Again they were looking for an opponent with good name value. I suggested Greek-German heavyweight Andreas Kraniotakes. I was managing “Big Daddy” from 2009-2013 and had gotten him some pretty high-profile fights against Nandor Guelmino, Tim Sylvia and Mike Hayes. Kamil and Andrei liked the idea and we did the fight.

In a co-promotion with Belarusian Fighting Championship, Arlovski and Krantiotakes filled Minsk Arena and had a varied and entertaining fight. Andrei surprised Kraniotakes with a grappling-based approach and ended up knocking him out midway through the second round. The rest is history: Arlovski re-signed with the UFC and had a remarkable run in the late autumn of his career that carried him all the way to a title eliminator for the heavyweight belt at the beginning of this year.

Arlovski is now fighting teammate and fellow European MMA powerhouse Alistair Overeem in the main event of UFC Rotterdam on Sunday.

In the next episode of my weekly “Tales from the Vault” series, the time is winter of 2011 and we are in Göppingen in the Swabian Mountains (just outside of Stuttgart, Germany). Promoter Sam Radi had entrusted me with the task of doing a four-man single-night super lightweight tournament with international participants. The event also marked the return of Stuttgart’s most beloved son Alan Omer after years of international fights in Eastern Europe and the UK.

The absolute show stealer was a battle between two young light heavyweights as Marco Knöbel from the fledgling Planet Eater team in Balingen was taking on Miodrag Barisic, fighting out of Seiwasser Martial Arts. “Miki” had already competed twice and had the reputation of being a fierce slugger, while Marco, who heads up the successful MFFC-Kampfsportschule in Donaueschingen and who had celebrated a few spots on the podium in BJJ and NoGi competition, was making his MMA debut.

I don’t want to anticipate the outcome of the fight, I will just say so much: It was a real war of attrition with no man backing down and both fighters leaving their last ounce of energy in the ring. The fight was rightfully nominated as “Fight of the Year” by leading German martial arts website GnP1.de that year.

The underlying storyline that’s truly remarkable here is that night, Peter Sobotta and Coach Yasin “Seiwasser” were in opposite corners, coaching against each other. Fast forward to three years later and Yasin is now one of the integral components of Planet Eater as the team’s head striking coach and one of the driving forces behind Peter’s much-improved second UFC run. Solid proof that excellence and good people attract each other.

Marco, meanwhile, has grown into one of the most dangerous combat sport athletes in the light heavyweight division in Germany. He has gone on to dominate the mats in German grappling tournaments and led the team to the German Championship in 2014. Most recently, he knocked out previously undefeated prospect Sebastian Heil to become the number one contender for the Respect Fighting Championship light heavyweight title.

My flight to Zurich is delayed by one hour, so I can take the time to tell another story from the vault: Last time we were in Poland for a country-versus-country battle and one year later we went to Transylvania to do battle with a team from Romania. Around the turn of the last decade, these comparisons between nations where hugely “en vogue” and whenever a foreign promoter was looking for a German team, most of the time I was the one to select the “players” – a MMA version of Jogi Löw so to speak.

While the team composition varied greatly over the years with many fighters dropping in and out of the squad for performance fluctuations, a lack of professionalism or injury, there was one fighter I was always able to rely on and who came as close to a “guaranteed win” for our team as possible: Gregor Herb. At five-foot-eleven and a ripped 200 pounds, this German heavy tank was equipped with explosive takedowns, a stifling top game and powerful submissions. Fighting a prime Herb was no joke.

Already 3-0 at the time after successful battles against the Turks, Russians and Poles, Gregor was given the task to eliminate Romania’s strongest fighter, Ion Pascu. Although at a serious disadvantage to Gregor when it came to battle experience, we had scouted the Bucharest native to be a violent human being who went after the opponent’s carotid aggressively and who had a lot of power in his hands. He was also five years younger and significantly faster than the German Bulldozer.

When fighting for his mother country, Herb always rose to the occasion and managed to overcome difficult situations. This time it was no different. Watch the short clip of the fight to see a classic striker versus grappler confrontation and a strong comeback of a fighter who appears to have huge difficulties with his opponent, but remains persistent and follows through by executing his gameplan perfectly. There’s also cameo’s from young Peter Sobotta, Human Nikmaslak and Mathias Schuck in this clip. Have fun!

In fall of 2010, a young promoter by the name of Krzysztof Halemba assigned me the task of putting together a country-versus-country battle between Poland and Germany, aptly titled “The Eternal Struggle”. At this point, I had already gained some valuable experience of sending a full “national team” into battle by working with the German team that competed in the M-1 Challenge 2008-2009 season.

I had quickly matched jiu-jitsu wizard Maciej Polok, tough Chechen Kerim Abzailov, young up-and-comer Mateusz Teodorczuk, .500 heavyweight Karol Celinski and Polish wunderkind Marcin Held, but I was struggling to find an equal opponent for Berserkers Team light heavyweight Michał Fijałka. The man they call “Sztanga” (eng. “barbell”) had opened his career with six wins, including triumph in a KSW rookie 8-man single-night tournament. Even though he had just suffered his first setback, a controversial submission defeat at the hands of eventual UFC fighter Hans Stringer, Sztanga had the reputation as a fierce competitor, so German light heavyweights were not exactly lining up to face the hulking grappler.

Having established a good rapport with gyms in the Nuremberg area, I had learned of a Cuban wrestler by the name of Yoel Romero, who had defected to Germany a few years earlier and who was looking to get into MMA after a long and storied wrestling career that yielded him a World Championship as well as an Olympic silver medal. Even though he had not trained in ground fighting at all and no known boxing training either, Romero had won his MMA debut against a much more experienced opponent by knockout in less than a minute.

With the help of my longtime friend and BJJ black belt Franco de Leonardis and his partner Achilleas Chalkidis, we got the “Soldier of God” up to speed and not only did he dominate and win, he also became MMA community meme material by hitting an ankle pick on his much more experienced opponent. Romero would go on to become one of the top contenders in the UFC, while Sztanga had a very solid career himself, defeating many top opponents on the European circuit like Dave Dalgliesh and Hracho Darpinyan (twice).

I’ve been working in the martial arts space for the better part of the last fifteen years now and I’ve been involved in making some pretty bad-ass fights during that time – be it directly as a matchmaker for an event, as an advisor for a show or as an agent booking our own or friendly talent.

To grant you a little insight into my work, I will open my vault and show you some of these fights, some of which you have probably not seen before or even heard of, but trust me – they will all be well worth your time.

Let’s start off today with a true lightweight slobberknocker that took place in Magdeburg, Germany a little more than six years ago. Sascha Poppendieck, who had successfully promoted the “La Onda” event series for well over five years at the time, had asked me to put together an international middleweight tournament with participants from half a dozen different countries.

We had a colorful starting field featuring athletes that would go on to become UFC fighters and internationally wanted terrorists. In one of the super fights I pitted eventual Cage Warriors champion Ivan Musardo against Austrian standout Philipp Schranz.

Two little-known kids on the undercard totally stole the show, though: Sebastian Nowak was a young Div. II wrestler who trained under the “German Brock Lesnar” Mathias Schuck at the time. “Knacki” had a good start into his career, smashing three inferior fighters in a row to go 3-0, and grown quite confident in his abilities because of that.

Both Sascha and I agreed that it was time for a first real test for Nowak, so I looked to Poland for an adequate opponent and found him in Mariusz Pioskowik. I’ve met “Dyzio” for the first time a year earlier when he debuted against eventual KSW champion Maciej Gorski. Even though he came up short that night, I knew the short and stocky Silesian with his tenacious Greco-Roman style was the perfect match for Nowak’s freestyle wrestling.

The bout more than lived up to its expectations and went on to be nominated for the GnP1.de “Fight of the Year” award that year. But we’ve had enough of words, why don’t you go watch for yourself. Please be warned that footage of the fight is not particularly crisp as it’s from the pre-HD era. It is still watchable and enjoyable, though.

Kevin Randleman looking to get restarted by referee Yuji Shimada in his bout against Fatih Kocamis at the Ahoy Rotterdam on Oct. 9, 2005

I am shocked and very sad about the untimely death of one of MMA’s greatest, the “Monster” Kevin Randleman. I woke up to the news that Kevin died of a heart failure last night. With him, the MMA world does not only lose a former UFC heavyweight champion, but also one of its most iconic figures. A freakishly athletic wrestler with bleach-blond hair, Randleman mauled his way onto the scene by winning a pair of 8-man and 4-man tournaments in Brazil in the mid/late 90s.

I first saw Kevin fight Pete Williams at UFC 23, where he won the vacant UFC title after previously losing it to Bas Rutten a few months earlier in a highly controversial fight. I was there when he grinded out a hard-fought decision over tough Fatih Kocamis in Rotterdam in 2005 and sent the Turkish-German brawler into retirement.

I briefly bumped into him again at UFC 95 where I introduced a young Peter Sobotta to a lot of people he had previously only seen on television. Even though we were both young rugrats back then, Kevin was extremely nice and took the time to offer some advice on Peter’s fledgling career. We brought up his name again last year when we were looking for a guest coach for the Planet Eater summer camp, but ultimately went with Ernesto Hoost instead.

Kevin was not only a great champion, coach and family man, he was also one of my childhood idols. His suplex of all-time GOAT Fedor Emelianenko at the second round of the PRIDE Grand Prix 2004 is one of the greatest moments this sport has ever produced. Professional wrestling is an industry that eats its own children. Here’s one hoping the same won’t happen in MMA as well.

As for Kevin, he has probably already broken out his singlet and is doing a few rounds with Dave Schultz on the big wrestling mat in heaven. Rest in Peace.

Planet Eater has been voted as Germany’s MMA Team of the Year for the second time in its short six-year existence. This may seem to be nothing out of the ordinary for those unfamiliar with German geography, but let me clue you up, so you can understand what a great moment this is for head coach Peter Sobotta and his team.

His optimally-equipped picture-perfect 500m² gym is not located in one of the countries’ metropolises like Berlin, Hamburg or Munich, but in placid 35,000 population small town Balingen in the Swabian Mountains. Usually you would come here for a variety of hiking trails, rock climbing or cross-country skiing. Having an internationally relevant Mixed Martial Arts performance center is definitely not what you would expect here.

What eventually turned out to become a haven for pro fighters from all across Europe started out as a necessity when UFC fighter Sobotta needed to create a professional environment for his training camps. This was incompatible with the typical Swabian pigheadedness. “You want to have the key to the gym, so you can train in the mornings?”, the owner of his previous gym asked in horror. “We can’t do that” was his predictable answer.

So this 23-year-old kid was not only given the task of competing on the biggest stage of martial arts (and at a time when the roster was not bloated up to 550 fighters, but consisted of the crème-de-la-crème of MMA), but running his own business and school from a comparably young age.

Fast forward to 2016: Peter no longer only leads his own squad of home-grown talent like Dima and Kostja Götte, Alexandros Michailidis, Mert Özyildirim and Ilja Stojanov into battle. Other German-based hopefuls like Jessin Ayari and Valdrin Istrefi have joined the camp as well. Fellow compatriots Krzysztof Jotko and Łukasz Bieńkowski represent the Planet Eater colors beyond the border in Poland.

But it does not stop there: Spanish star Abner Lloveras has spent a month in Balingen preparing for his UFC debut. KSW champion Artur Sowiński has come down to brush up on his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills ahead of his title fight in November. Finnish blue chip prospect and CAGE mainstay Aleksi Nurminen has been a regular visitor ahead of his fights. Titanic German middleweight Jonas Billstein enjoys training with Sobotta & Co. as well. The list goes on and on.

As the strategic partner for the gym, I didn’t get tired of stressing to Peter that we need the international orientation in order to not only become a player in the German marketplace, but a relevant name internationally as well. Granted, we’re not at the level of an Allstars Training Center, Fight Nights Team or Straight Blast Gym Ireland just yet, but then again Planet Eater is only six years young and Balingen is not Dublin, Moscow or Stockholm. But we’re right behind them, breathing down their necks.

Under the watchful eye of Dean Lister, Peter has matured into one of the top five jiu-jitsu practitioners in MMA in Europe. His unique style of teaching is yielding him more seminar offers than his schedule can handle. Two years ago, we added coach Yasin Seiwasser, a phenomenal striking and mind coach that can look back on over thirty years of training and teaching. With Marco Knöbel and Rainer Benjatschek, two excellent vets of the fight game and still active competitors in their prime are heading up the branch gyms in Donaueschingen and Überlingen.

Without wanting to give away all too much, but we have big plans for 2016 as well. If you think we will sit back, enjoy our handiwork and rest on our laurels – think again! We have a wealth of ideas how we can make something good even better and I promise we won’t rest until we reach excellence in every aspect. There is one thing that will never change: The character of our group. Planet Eater is more than a team. It’s a family.