The UFC Heavy Weight division has been toning-up lately.  Shane Carwin beat a top heavyweight in Gabriel Gonzaga, AKA prospect Cain Velasquez has been on an impressive tear, and early prospects such as Junior Dos Santos and Pat Barry have been opening eyes.  But on April 18th, two heavyweights will go at it to establish who is close to the top of the UFC’s heavy weight division.

Antoni Hardonk first came to show off his Dutch kickboxing at UFC 65 against Sherman Pendergarst.  Hardonk’s vicious leg kicks chopped Pendergarst down and he could not stand back up to fight.  Almost every low kick thrown by Antoni does not leave a loud slapping noise, but a low thud that can be faintly heard.  Those are the kicks that will do major damage where all the power is transferred right into the muscle and bone of the thigh with none of it returning back to Hardonk’s legs.  Only after a couple leg kicks from Hardonk and his opponents can barely use that leg. It’s a beautiful thing and it comes from Hardonk’s technique. If opponents try to clinch with Hardonk to counter the kicks, Hardonk has shown an ability to throw his devastating leg kicks while maintaining the Muay Thai plum.  Not only are his kicks dangerous in and outside of the clinch, but his knees are ferocious from the clinch with his hands complimenting them.  Anyone who faces Hardonk does not want to stand with him and should probably talk to Eddie Sanchez as to why not.  Antoni has shown time and time again that he can take a tremendous amount of punishment and come back to TKO or KO his opponent. 

One aspect of the game that has been shown to be Hardonk’s weakness is his take down defense.  Only occasionally has he attempted to sprawl, but most of the time, he can easily be taken down.  Antoni has been training with Rickson Gracie for over five years so his guard has improved drastically and his submissions are starting to get there.  Justin McCully had to recover for over a year due to an armbar that Hardonk caught him in.  Now against a guy like Kongo, you do not want to have Cheick on top of you.

Cheick Kongo has been a force in the UFC HW division and seems to just now be finding his rhythm.  His striking is one of the best in the UFC HW division.  He out struck Cro Cop in impressive fashion (excluding the groin hits) and broke Cro Cop’s ribs with a vicious axe kick while Mirko was on the ground.  However, Kongo’s weakness is also his ground game.  What has been shown is that he can easily be taken down and controlled from the top. To make matters worse, Kongo has no Jiu-Jitsu skills.  His strength is his standup and his ground and pound game.  Al-Turk showed us how dangerous Kongo is once he is on top of you and able to tee off.   If Hardonk is taken down by Kongo, you will see Antoni pulling an extremely tight guard and will more than likely attempt a submission when possible or wait for the ref to stand them up.

In order for Kongo to win this fight, he will have to take Hardonk down and pound him out or grind him to a decision while worrying about Antoni’s Jiu-Jitsu skills.  Standing up, Kongo has yet to face someone as aggressive and technical as Hardonk.  Kongo will have to watch out for Antoni’s knees, hands, and devastating leg kicks inside and outside of the clinch.  Hardonk will need to be careful of the power that Kongo possesses.  Antoni will have to utilize his stand up against Cheick in a way where he will not willingly take as many hits as he normally would.  If he chooses to take hits freely when closing the distance, he might possibly get rocked and Kongo will pound away with a TKO.

I would give a slight edge in stand up to Antoni.  Hardonk has shown us he can take hits and punishment in order to deliver powerful, technical strikes to his opponent.  The flurry of leg kicks, knees, and punches are a recipe for a knockout for any opponent willing to stand and take those hits from Hardonk.  He has also shown us once he gets caught; he can recover, take more punishment, and stand it back up while beating his opponent by way of technical knockout or knockout. But Eddie Sanchez and Mike Wessel are not Cheick Kongo.  If Hardonk is taken down he will have to endure much more brutal ground and pound from Kongo than Sanchez or Wessel offered. 
Hardonk will want to keep this standing and use his leg kicks to chop down Kongo.  Once Hardonk gets his rhythm of leg kicks, it will be game over.  Cheick will have to neutralize Hardonk’s leg kicks and be extremely cautious while standing.  When the time and opportunity arises, you should see Kongo going for the takedown and trying to pound out Hardonk, but he must not forget Hardonk’s Jiu-Jitsu and get reckless while on top.

This will be a huge fight for both fighters to move up the ladder to the title.  UFC 97 will show us who belongs in the top 5 of the UFC HW division and I would speculate that the winner of Hardonk/Kongo will face Shane Carwin to see who fights the winner of Lesnar/Mir.

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