Author: Matt Erickson [matt-erickson]

Maybe Marcin Held wants to try to take Rich Clementi’s leg home with him Friday night.

And maybe Clementi doesn’t really care. He knows Held has half of his wins by submission, and lately that has meant latching onto a leg and cranking for all it’s worth.

But when the two meet at Bellator 81, Clementi believes his vast edge in experience will make all the difference and put him into the Season 7 lightweight tournament finals.

It’s not that Dave Jansen has something against knocking guys out. Honestly.

More than anything, it’s just that if you offer up your neck on a silver platter, well, dude’s probably going to take it. That’s what he’s done in three of his past four fights, all under the Bellator banner.

And if he takes another on Friday night, he’ll find himself standing face to face with a shot at a big payday and a title shot.

If this were five years ago in the UFC, Saturday’s card in Montreal would be “UFC 154: Fully Loaded.”

There are a whopping 13 fights, and a tiered progression with how to watch them – from a computer stream, to FX, and finally the big dogs on pay-per-view.

Maybe Darren Elkins and Steven Siler weren’t going to be walking out right before GSP – but the opener on Facebook?

Marlon Sandro has been so close to the mountaintop he could practically have reached out to plant his flag. Twice.

But twice, he has come up short. Friday, Sandro begins the road back to what he hopes is another appearance in a Bellator tournament championship – and what he hopes ultimately will be a different result.

Sandro meets Dustin Neace at Bellator 81 with the hope of setting the tone for a breakout 2013.

The will-he-or-won’t-he drama surrounding Anderson Silva continued on Thursday.

Will he come into the octagon to challenge Georges St-Pierre on Saturday? Is he just there to watch a fight and enjoy some downtime after his own most recent victory? Will any of it even matter?

UFC President Dana White on Thursday added a little more fuel to the fire – and for the first time gave a clue as to when such a pound-for-pound superfight might take place.

MMAjunkie.com Radio today welcomes to the show Darren Elkins and Joey Oddessa.

Elkins fights Saturday at UFC 154 against fellow 3-0 featherweight Steven Siler. Plus, noted MMA oddsmaker Oddessa calls in, along with co-host John Morgan, to break down Saturday’s pay-per-view in Montreal.

MMAjunkie.com Radio airs from noon to 2 p.m. ET (9-11 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Listen to and watch a video stream of the two-hour show at www.mmajunkie.com/radio.