The takedown continues to bedevil Alexander Volkov.
Veteran heavyweight Cheick Kongo was the latest to snatch the legs from under the 6’6″ former champion. Grappling was the key for Kongo in his dominant win on Friday night at Bellator 139 in Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane, Kansas. Bleacher Report MMA has the official scorecards:
From the opening round to the final bell, the 40-year-old Kongo worked diligently to secure takedowns. Once he got it in each round, he pounded Volkov like a mallet on raw meat. Hard elbows in the first round opened a nasty cut on the hairline of the 26-year-old Russian. Here’s a look at the shot that busted Volkov open:
The final two rounds were carbon copies of the first.
Volkov tried to prevent the takedown with submission attempts, but his efforts were to no avail. Once on the ground, Volkov seemed to have no clue how to rise to his feet. Kongo stayed relentless and was content to beat Volkov up for 15 minutes.
After his winning performance, Kongo moves one step closer to another shot at reigning heavyweight champion Vitaly Minakov. Kongo lost to Minakov at Bellator 115, but he looks focused on earning another title opportunity.
Guys like Bobby Lashley might be in better position to challenge Minakov first, but Kongo did well for himself against a former champion.
If Volkov‘s ground game hasn’t progressed to this point in his career, you have to wonder if he’ll ever develop that part of his game. Tony Johnson used ground-and-pound to win a split decision over Volkov in his last fight, and there was no improvement shown against Kongo.
Here’s a look at all of the results from Friday’s card and a closer look at the main event bouts:
Curran Outworks Sanchez
If Emmanuel Sanchez’s face could talk, it might have asked referee John McCarthy to stop his fight with Pat Curran on Friday night. Curran’s laser-like punches tattooed Sanchez through the first two rounds. Here’s a look at the highlights of the bout via Whip Clip:
Oddly enough, despite the solid boxing Curran exhibited, the most visual damage done to Sanchez came from a second-round head-butt that opened a nasty gash over the latter’s left eye. With his brain and heart overruling his worn face, Sanchez fought on.
He’ll get some credit for his toughness, but the quality didn’t win him any rounds. Curran scored a sweep on the judges’ scorecards and is seemingly on a mission to try to regain the Bellator featherweight title. Sanchez is no Daniel Straus or Pitbull Freire, but Curran was in fine form nonetheless.
After the fight, he discussed his development and title chances:
Down Goes Schilling
It’s a bird. It’s a plane. Nope, it’s Hisaki Kato flying through the air with one of the sickest superman punches you’ll ever see. Joe “Stitch ‘Em Up” Schilling was the unfortunate recipient of the maneuver. Here’s a look at what has to be a strong favorite for Knockout of the Year in MMA:
Usually, Schilling is the man delivering highlight-reel KOs like the one he scored against Melvin Manhoef. Bellator fighter Ryan Couture acknowledged Friday night wasn’t Schilling’s moment to shine but pointed out Stitch ‘Em Up’s ability to entertain:
The 32-year-old from Japan has had limited MMA experience. This was his first fight with Bellator, but he looked well-schooled against Schilling. After dominating the first round with a takedown and consistent ground-and-pound, Kato put Schilling to sleep with the big left hand.
Without question, there will be a good deal of buzz around Kato‘s next appearance in the Bellator cage.
Cool Entrance, Unfortunate Exit
David “Caveman” Rickels knows how to make an entrance; unfortunately, he needs some work on his finishing skills—from a legality standpoint at least.
The Kansas native set his hometown crowd ablaze with this entrance in his trademark big cat attire.
Rickels has to be kicking himself after he kneed John Alessio when the latter was clearly a downed opponent in the first round. Rickels had Alessio reeling after a series of hard shots put the Canadian in dire straits.
Caveman lost his composure for a moment and landed a left knee to Alessio‘s temple. Here’s a look at the sequence:
The strike was without question an illegal one, but there are two aspects of this fight that fans might question. First, the fight should have been stopped before Alessio went to the mat. Rickels had thrown and landed enough unanswered shots to warrant the stoppage.
Had referee Rob Hinds stepped in a few seconds earlier, the illegal strike wouldn’t have been thrown.
Secondly, you hate to question a fighter’s integrity, but Alessio might have taken the easy way out in this one. He had several minutes to decide if he could continue. He predictably decided to say he couldn’t keep fighting a fight he was clearly losing.
Many people might have done the same thing, but it’s hard not to turn your lips up at the conclusion. When the fight was over, Rickels apologized for his error to his beloved hometown fans:
The Caveman will be back in all his glory, but he squandered an opportunity to shine at home.
Summary
Despite the letdown from the Rickels fight and the one-sided nature of Kongo-Volkov, Bellator 139 had some bright spots. The most memorable moment will undoubtedly be the KO win by Kato. If you had to tab a star of the evening, it would be him.
Kongo showed well, but his fight with Volkov left a bit to be desired from a competitive standpoint. Perhaps a scrap between he and Lashley might be in order to determine the next man to challenge Minakov. That’s assuming the champion decides to defend his title sometime in the next year.
Vote in the poll to let your voice be heard.
Videos provided by Spike and Whip Clip.
Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter:
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com