There was plenty of entertainment to be had during Saturday night’s MMA tripleheader, where UFC 180, Bellator 131 and WSOF 15 all fought for fight fans’ attention. The UFC put together a decent event but gave little reinforcements to surround a solid heavyweight tilt between Fabricio Werdum and Mark Hunt.
Bellator, meanwhile, mobilized as many of its big-name fighters as possible.
One of those big names was the heavy-handed Melvin Manhoef. One of the hardest hitters in modern MMA, he has developed a strong following because of his absurd knockout power. His popularity and fan-friendly style instantly made him one of the biggest stars in Bellator, and his role Saturday night was to simply provide some grassroots enthusiasm for Tito Ortiz and Michael Chandler with a big ol’ knockout.
Nobody mentioned that to his opponent, Joe Schilling, though.
Schilling, the former Glory middleweight champion, stuck to the script for a while. He was badly wobbled in the first round with a series of punches, and it bordered on miraculous that a wounded man could make it to the bell opposite a shark like Manhoef. Early in the second, he caught another hand from Manhoef, but as he pedaled away, he planted and landed a brutal right hand, followed by a short left.
Manhoef, who was supposed to be on the fast track to Bellator gold, was left in an unconscious heap on the mat. As counterintuitive as it may seem, however, that could be a big boost for Bellator.
From the outside looking in, this felt like it was designed to be a showcase fight for Manhoef—an easy win to build up the resume of one of its hottest commodities. While Schilling owns an impressive kickboxing resume, his MMA credentials are woefully lacking, with a paltry 1-3 record accrued over one year of competition. Not only that, but with Schilling’s career with Glory either halted indefinitely or outright finished, this did not even function as a cross-promotional effort.
However, by beating Manhoef in emphatic fashion, he instantly becomes a power player at 185 pounds in Bellator. At age 30, Schilling has a lot more fighting ahead of him at this point than Manhoef, who is 38 years old. What’s more, fans’ lack of familiarity with him works in favor of all parties in this instance, as this fearsome knockout artist can be rebranded as a new Mirko Cro Cop.
While it would be reasonable to say “well, he’ll get demolished by any decent wrestler,” Bellator is actually willing to groom fighters. By pitting Schilling against the likes of Alexander Shlemenko, Mikkel Parlo and Brian Rogers, the company can build him up and, if things work out, give him a crack at the title.
Just as important, however, is that this loss does nothing to hurt Manhoef’s brand. While he is popular, he trades in pure violence, not actual elite-level MMA skills. Despite the brutality of his loss, he remains a must-watch fighter.
All that is to say Bellator entered the night with one middleweight star and exited with two.
That’s a pretty good show, no matter how you slice it.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com