Bellator 84 is live December 14th, 2012. From the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana. The card features a Heavyweight title fight between Richard Hale and Alexander Volkov, a Lightweight tournament final between Dave Jansen and Marcin Held, as well as a women’s Strawweight match up between Patricia Vidonic and Felice Herrig.
Hale vs Volkov
Hale and Volkov meet Friday night to decide who gets to wear the Bellator Heavyweight strap vacated by the former champion Cole Konrad. This is going to be an exciting bout between two exciting strikers.
Hale the former Light Heavyweight quarter finalist will look to either turn this into a brawl, or implement a Randy Couture style “dirty boxing” strategy. Look for Hale to turn up the pressure in the first round and try to finish the fight early. Though Hale has shown some submission skills in the past, don’t expect him to try to take this fight to the ground unless he is in serious danger.
Volkov is one to watch in the next couple years. The Russian is going to try to use his long reach and Kyokushin Karate black belt to pick the much stronger Hale apart. As we all saw in the Brett Roger’s fight, Volkov can hang with a heavy handed brawler. I believe that that Volkov isn’t going to push the pace too much; he will be content to counter strike and wait for Hale to make a mistake.
My prediction for this fight is that Volkov will win the unanimous decision, unless Hale manages to land a big bomb or to muscle Volkov around for five rounds. This however is highly unlikely; Volkov will use his much more technical striking to dismantle any offense Hale manages to muster up, win the decision, and take the belt home to Russia.
Jansen vs Held
Dave Jansen and Marcin Held will meet in the co-main event to determine the next challenger to Michael Chandler’s title. Both men have great ground skills, but as we’ve seen in the past when two grappler match up the ground game will be eliminated and a stand up battle will ensue.
Jansen has looked phenomenal as of late winning all of his Bellator contests to date. Out of his last five wins three of those have come by submission, and two by decision. However on Friday he takes on a man who is very experienced on the ground in his own right. I believe Jansen will try to use his wrestling in reverse and keep the fight standing, picking apart Marcin Held with his superior boxing.
Marcin Held is a highly touted Polish prospect, with numerous European grappling titles. Much like Jansen, Held has won his past five with three wins by submission and two by decision. Jansen has the slicker submissions in this battle, look for him to try to take down the wrestler and lockup a technical submission early in the fight before either of them become too sweaty.
My prediction for this fight is that Jansen will defeat Held by knock out. Held will try to bring the fight to the ground, and if Jansen doesn’t oblige look for it to be a long night for the Pollock. Watch for a knee from Jansen to end the fight when Held attempts a shot.
Vidonic vs Herrig
Like it or not, women’s MMA is here and they’re bringing the heat. Bellator 84 features a striker vs grappler fight in the women’s Strawweight division. Vidonic is looking to make her Bellator debut against Herrig who is returning to Bellator from the XFC.
Vidonic is coming off a unanimous decision win at CageSport 20, and is looking to try to put two in a row together. Vidonic is going to want to get this fight to the ground as fast as she can against the dangerous striker. In the past Herrig has been well versed in the submission game, so look for her to either try to grind out the victory with ground and pound or for her to end the night with a submission.
Herrig, the former International Kickboxing Federation champion is coming off two straight wins in the XFC. Herrig will be looking to keep the distance and use her strikes to end the night quickly and spoil Vidonic’s Bellator debut. Herrig has recorded only one TKO in her past 11 fights which means that a technical striking clinic could be put on, but don’t sleep on the power of the former kickboxing champion.
My prediction is that Vidonic will close the distance and neutralize the striking of Herrig. Vidonic wins a grueling decision after taking down Herrig and using effective ground and pound to sway the judges in her favor.
– Written by: Josh Leduc