Say what you will about Bellator president Scott Coker putting together a line up with a bout between two former street fighters and a main event with a quinquagenarian, but the viewers responded in a big way.
Bellator 149 averaged a record-…
Say what you will about Bellator president Scott Coker putting together a line up with a bout between two former street fighters and a main event with a quinquagenarian, but the viewers responded in a big way.
Bellator 149 averaged a record-setting two million viewers for the entire three-hour fight card last Friday night (Feb. 19, 2016), peaking with Kimbo Slice vs. DaDa 5000 (2.5 million viewers) while pulling a 2.3 rating with men 18-34.
The main event between Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock (watch it) drew 2.4 million viewers.
The prior high-water mark was previously set at Bellator 138 in November of last year, where 1,560,000 tuned in to watch Shamrock get knocked out by Slice in the opening round. That main event peaked at 2.3 million viewers.
Bellator 149 became the third most-watched mixed martial arts (MMA) program in the last few years.
The top spot belongs to the UFC Fight Night card headlined by Conor McGregor and Dennis Siver in January of 2015 pulled 2,750,000 viewers. Second place belongs to the UFC Fight Night card headlined by Dominck Cruz and TJ Dillashaw, which averaged 2,288,000 viewers.
DaDa 5000, meanwhile, paid a hefty price for his knockout loss (replay here), but appears to be on the mend and will be headed home in a few days.
We are less than three full days removed from Bellator 149, as well as the unfortunate health scare suffered by DaDa 5000 after the 38-year-old fighter’s third-round technical knockout loss to Kimbo Slice on Friday night (Feb. 19, 2016) in Houston, Texas.
DaDa, real name Dhafir Harris, was taken out of cage on a stretcher inside Toyota Center after collapsing at the end of the fight due to severe exhaustion. The following day, Jeremy Botter of Bleacher Report reported that Harris went into cardiac arrest, was in critical condition, and needed to be placed on a ventilator.
MMAFighting’s Marc Raimondi reported that Harris needed to be resuscitated in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
Bellator MMA released a statement from the Harris family, which revealed the fighter had cut over 40 pounds to make the 265-pound limit, had accumulated high levels of potassium in his blood, which then led to severe dehydration. He also reportedly suffered renal failure after the bout.
Brett Okamoto from ESPN reported on Monday (Feb. 23) via Twitter after speaking to the manager of Harris, that the star of the documentary “Dawg Fight” is “walking around and asking to be released.” He also said they are “awaiting lab reports” and Harris should be released from hospital by “end of the week.”
Medical update on Dada from manager: He’s walking around and asking to be released. Awaiting lab reports. Should be out by “end of week.”
That is very encouraging news for Harris, who was fighting for his life on Saturday evening. Harris is now 2-1 overall in his mixed martial arts (MMA) career.
Harris and Slice were both required to undergo an electrocardiogram (EKG) and a electroencephalogram (EEG) tests due to their age in order to be licensed to fight in Texas. Harris also passed the pre-fight medical exam, which checked for signs of dehydration and hypertension. The Texas Combative Sports Program told MMAJunkie that Harris met all the requirements and that they would review their procedures in light of what happened.
“We’ll re-evaluate and decide whether we need to change our procedures,” commission spokesperson Susan Stanford said.
We are less than three full days removed from Bellator 149, as well as the unfortunate health scare suffered by DaDa 5000 after the 38-year-old fighter’s third-round technical knockout loss to Kimbo Slice on Friday night (Feb. 19, 2016) in Houston, Texas.
DaDa, real name Dhafir Harris, was taken out of cage on a stretcher inside Toyota Center after collapsing at the end of the fight due to severe exhaustion. The following day, Jeremy Botter of Bleacher Report reported that Harris went into cardiac arrest, was in critical condition, and needed to be placed on a ventilator.
MMAFighting’s Marc Raimondi reported that Harris needed to be resuscitated in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
Bellator MMA released a statement from the Harris family, which revealed the fighter had cut over 40 pounds to make the 265-pound limit, had accumulated high levels of potassium in his blood, which then led to severe dehydration. He also reportedly suffered renal failure after the bout.
Brett Okamoto from ESPN reported on Monday (Feb. 23) via Twitter after speaking to the manager of Harris, that the star of the documentary “Dawg Fight” is “walking around and asking to be released.” He also said they are “awaiting lab reports” and Harris should be released from hospital by “end of the week.”
Medical update on Dada from manager: He’s walking around and asking to be released. Awaiting lab reports. Should be out by “end of week.”
That is very encouraging news for Harris, who was fighting for his life on Saturday evening. Harris is now 2-1 overall in his mixed martial arts (MMA) career.
Harris and Slice were both required to undergo an electrocardiogram (EKG) and a electroencephalogram (EEG) tests due to their age in order to be licensed to fight in Texas. Harris also passed the pre-fight medical exam, which checked for signs of dehydration and hypertension. The Texas Combative Sports Program told MMAJunkie that Harris met all the requirements and that they would review their procedures in light of what happened.
“We’ll re-evaluate and decide whether we need to change our procedures,” commission spokesperson Susan Stanford said.
Donald Cerrone (29-7 1 NC) won the “Cowboy” battle by submission in his first-ever bout at welterweight at UFC Fight Night 83 earlier tonight (Sun. February 21, 2016).
Cerrone defeated Alex Oliveira by triangle choke inside CONSOL Energy Are…
Donald Cerrone (29-7 1 NC) won the “Cowboy” battle by submission in his first-ever bout at welterweight at UFC Fight Night 83 earlier tonight (Sun. February 21, 2016).
Cerrone defeated Alex Oliveira by triangle choke inside CONSOL Energy Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa. The 10-year veterans sixteenth career submission.
“I get to do 50 and 70 now so everybody, if you want to get hurt I know a guy,” Cerrone told Jon Anik after the bout.
After the first exchange, Oliveira pressed Cerrone against the cage, but could not mount much offense. Cerrone, who seemed to struggle with the size and strength of Oliveira at first, tried for a trip takedown but could not get it. The No.5-ranked UFC lightweight tried again and this time he got Oliveira to the mat.
From there it was only a matter of time. Cerrone quicly transitioned from his back to mount and locked up a mounted triangle choke. As he rolled over to his back, Oliveira was forced to tap out.
The official stoppage came at 2:33 of the first round.
A huge highlight-reel submission victory for Cerrone, who bounces back into the win column after getting throttled his last time out at the hands of current UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos. Cerrone has now won nine out of his last 10 fights and improves to 16-4 in the UFC. The triangle choke was the fourth submission win in his UFC tenure and tenth finish overall and should make him $50, 000 richer when post-fight bonuses are handed out at the end of the night.
Oliveira falls to 3-2 in the UFC and has his three-fight winning streak snapped.
For complete UFC Fight Night 83 “Cerrone vs. Oliveira” results, including play-by-play updates, click here.
Derek Brunson (14-3) has now won four straight fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight division, and you can add a third-straight first round finish to his resume.
Brunson defeated Roan Carneiro (20-10) by technical k…
Derek Brunson (14-3) has now won four straight fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight division, and you can add a third-straight first round finish to his resume.
Brunson defeated Roan Carneiro (20-10) by technical knockout at UFC Fight Night 83 earlier tonight (Sun. February 21, 2016) inside CONSOL Energy Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The official time of the stoppage came at 2:38 of the first round.
The two ranked UFC middleweights shared a few good exchanges to being the opening round and Carneiro over extended on a right hand and slipped to the canvas when Brunson ducked underneath it.
From there, Brunson swarmed him on the ground smelling blood and rained down punch after punch looking for the finish. Carneiro held on as long as he could and referee Keith Peterson was quite lenient, but Brunson eventually landed two significant punches that put Carneiro out for good.
A big win for Brunson, who has now won four straight to improve his UFC record to 6-1. Brunson was ranked No.13 heading into this fight and with the finish, he could jump up in the rankings.
Carneiro, who won the Battlegrounds eight-man tournament back in October of 2015, falls to 1-1 in UFC competition.
For complete UFC Fight Night 83 “Cerrone vs. Oliveira” results, including play-by-play updates, click here.
Bellator 149 had it all as far as sheer entertainment value. A full-course meal of from soup to “baby nuts,” in a weird and wild night of fights.
HOUSTON — Soup to nuts. That was an old expression my father used to use to describe a good food special at the local diner when I was younger. Usually a full-course meal, which included a large quantity of food offered at a great price.
Bellator 149 undeniably had plenty on the menu last night (Fri., Feb. 19, 2016) from a sheer entertainment perspective, anyway, and it certainly had nuts on top of being live and free on Spike TV.
And it was only fitting that after fight week hit a fever pitch at the pre-fight press conference with Kimbo Slice telling Dada 5000 he has “baby nuts,” that the main event would end mired in controversy after a Royce Gracie (14-2-3) knee strike connected to the groin of Ken Shamrock (28-16-2) inside Toyota Center.
This, of course, following the three round bonanza of bad cardio turned in by Slice and Dada 5000, where Slice somehow survived to win by technical knockout, while Dada got carted off stretched out on a gurney after faceplanting to the canvas because of exhaustion
Nonetheless, the highly-anticipated trilogy between the two mixed martial arts (MMA) legends, which was more than 20 years in the making, ended under questionable circumstances. Gracie connected on a knee to the groin from the clinch, then another to the head/shoulder area, Shamrock went down, then proceeded to grab his groin in pain, and Gracie rained down hammer fists until referee Jacob Mantalvo waved it off.
It was a technical knockout victory for the 49-year-old Gracie, the first-ever in his robust career, the official stoppage coming at 1:32 of the first round. Gracie is still undefeated (2-0-1) against Shamrock all-time, submitting him in their first encounter at UFC 1 (both of them fought to a draw at UFC 5).
“My first knockout, I’m stoked,” an elated Gracie stated at the Bellator 149 post-fight press conference. “I’m very happy. It was my first knockout. I was telling Ken, we come from an era where there was no time limit, no weight divisions, no gloves, no rules, groin strikes were allowed, but I did not catch his groin.”
There were words in the cage immediately following the stoppage as Shamrock felt he was given a raw deal and that he should’ve been allowed to recover.
Indeed, a clearly crestfallen Shamrock gave his take on the ending of the fight.
“I got kneed in the nuts,” he said wistfully. “It is what it is. I don’t know what else there is to say. I apologize to Royce and his corner because it wasn’t his fault, he was doing what he had to do. I wanted this fight. It bothered me a lot because a main event, something like this, you had all those fans there they are waiting to see us end this our way and all he had to do was stop and give me a chance to recover, tuck my nuts back in and go again. That’s all that had to happen. Instead, they called the fight. It was pretty clear to me.”
“Lost,” he continued after being asked how he was feeling. “I don’t … My opinion, it’s not over. I wouldn’t want to win that way. Me, personally, if I hit somebody in the nuts and they went down and I knew that I hit him in the nuts I would probably put my hands up and go, ‘I’m sorry,’ out of reaction. Out of reaction, out of courtesy, out of reaction I would’ve went, ‘whoa, sorry dude.’ I would’ve given him time to get his five minutes to recover. That’s what I would’ve done.”
It doesn’t look like there will be a fourth fight between the two MMA pioneers, though, as Gracie said the final chapter is “closed.” Bellator president Scott Coker added that he had no further plans for the two and that they were both on “one-fight deals.”
Gracie said he usually looks at fights, “like another training day just with an audience and live TV;” however, because of being out of the limelight for more than eight years now, when he stepped into the Bellator cage his heart rate was quite elevated.
“I can tell you my heart ramped up to 120 (beats per minute),” he said. “Before it was about 60 in the locker room. That sometimes worries my corner. They were like, ‘wake up, get going.'” But, “Once the bell rang,” he was back to normal he said.
WIth a win under his belt does he have the itch to compete again soon?
“Let me eat first,” he joked. “I’m tired, I’m hungry.”
It was a fitting ending to a bizarre and fun-filled night of fights. A Brazilian submission specialist who is pushing 50, winning by technical knockout for the first time in his career, two former bare-knuckle fighters fighting past the point of exhaustion to a chorus of guffaws and laughter, Dada 5000 getting carted off on a stretcher, and a controversial groin strike to put an anti-climatic bow on the ending.
Bellator 149 had it all as far as sheer entertainment value. A full-course meal of from soup to “baby nuts,” in a weird and wild night of fights.
HOUSTON — Soup to nuts. That was an old expression my father used to use to describe a good food special at the local diner when I was younger. Usually a full-course meal, which included a large quantity of food offered at a great price.
Bellator 149 undeniably had plenty on the menu last night (Fri., Feb. 19, 2016) from a sheer entertainment perspective, anyway, and it certainly had nuts on top of being live and free on Spike TV.
And it was only fitting that after fight week hit a fever pitch at the pre-fight press conference with Kimbo Slice telling Dada 5000 he has “baby nuts,” that the main event would end mired in controversy after a Royce Gracie (14-2-3) knee strike connected to the groin of Ken Shamrock (28-16-2) inside Toyota Center.
This, of course, following the three round bonanza of bad cardio turned in by Slice and Dada 5000, where Slice somehow survived to win by technical knockout, while Dada got carted off stretched out on a gurney after faceplanting to the canvas because of exhaustion
Nonetheless, the highly-anticipated trilogy between the two mixed martial arts (MMA) legends, which was more than 20 years in the making, ended under questionable circumstances. Gracie connected on a knee to the groin from the clinch, then another to the head/shoulder area, Shamrock went down, then proceeded to grab his groin in pain, and Gracie rained down hammer fists until referee Jacob Mantalvo waved it off.
It was a technical knockout victory for the 49-year-old Gracie, the first-ever in his robust career, the official stoppage coming at 1:32 of the first round. Gracie is still undefeated (2-0-1) against Shamrock all-time, submitting him in their first encounter at UFC 1 (both of them fought to a draw at UFC 5).
“My first knockout, I’m stoked,” an elated Gracie stated at the Bellator 149 post-fight press conference. “I’m very happy. It was my first knockout. I was telling Ken, we come from an era where there was no time limit, no weight divisions, no gloves, no rules, groin strikes were allowed, but I did not catch his groin.”
There were words in the cage immediately following the stoppage as Shamrock felt he was given a raw deal and that he should’ve been allowed to recover.
Indeed, a clearly crestfallen Shamrock gave his take on the ending of the fight.
“I got kneed in the nuts,” he said wistfully. “It is what it is. I don’t know what else there is to say. I apologize to Royce and his corner because it wasn’t his fault, he was doing what he had to do. I wanted this fight. It bothered me a lot because a main event, something like this, you had all those fans there they are waiting to see us end this our way and all he had to do was stop and give me a chance to recover, tuck my nuts back in and go again. That’s all that had to happen. Instead, they called the fight. It was pretty clear to me.”
“Lost,” he continued after being asked how he was feeling. “I don’t … My opinion, it’s not over. I wouldn’t want to win that way. Me, personally, if I hit somebody in the nuts and they went down and I knew that I hit him in the nuts I would probably put my hands up and go, ‘I’m sorry,’ out of reaction. Out of reaction, out of courtesy, out of reaction I would’ve went, ‘whoa, sorry dude.’ I would’ve given him time to get his five minutes to recover. That’s what I would’ve done.”
It doesn’t look like there will be a fourth fight between the two MMA pioneers, though, as Gracie said the final chapter is “closed.” Bellator president Scott Coker added that he had no further plans for the two and that they were both on “one-fight deals.”
Gracie said he usually looks at fights, “like another training day just with an audience and live TV;” however, because of being out of the limelight for more than eight years now, when he stepped into the Bellator cage his heart rate was quite elevated.
“I can tell you my heart ramped up to 120 (beats per minute),” he said. “Before it was about 60 in the locker room. That sometimes worries my corner. They were like, ‘wake up, get going.'” But, “Once the bell rang,” he was back to normal he said.
WIth a win under his belt does he have the itch to compete again soon?
“Let me eat first,” he joked. “I’m tired, I’m hungry.”
It was a fitting ending to a bizarre and fun-filled night of fights. A Brazilian submission specialist who is pushing 50, winning by technical knockout for the first time in his career, two former bare-knuckle fighters fighting past the point of exhaustion to a chorus of guffaws and laughter, Dada 5000 getting carted off on a stretcher, and a controversial groin strike to put an anti-climatic bow on the ending.
Kimbo Slice opened up about his third round technical knockout win over Dada 5000 on last night (Fri., Feb. 19, 2016) at Bellator 149 inside Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. HOUSTON — You can’t say that it wasn’t entertaining … even if t…
Kimbo Slice opened up about his third round technical knockout win over Dada 5000 on last night (Fri., Feb. 19, 2016) at Bellator 149 inside Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
HOUSTON — You can’t say that it wasn’t entertaining … even if the feeling was fleeting.
Most thought Kimbo Slice (6-2) and Dada 5000 (2-1) were on a crash course that would end within several minutes of the first round in their fight at Bellator 149 last night (Fri., Feb. 19, 2016). But, what unfolded inside Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, was truly an odd and strange fight encounter where exhaustion was getting the better of both fighters in a poor display of conditioning, where to win was merely a matter of surviving.
Is this the kind of fights Spike and Bellator want to be known for?
“We want to entertain fans and we want to get viewers, but we let Scott and his team come up with the fights and we broadcast team and we do a good job broadcasting and we are excited to do it. But, at the end of the day we let him put on the product and we put it on TV,” said Spike TV senior vice president of sports, Jon Slusser.
Slice, 42 scored a few takedowns in the bout and as the fight wore on both fighters had almost nothing left. There punches lacked power, their movement slowed to almost a stand still and at one point after a stand up by referee Big John McCarthy, Dada took several seconds to get back up to his feet.
It was Slice, the former YouTube sensation, who would prevail, as Dada — without really getting hit with a punch –corkscrewed backward and stumbled until face planting into the canvas as referee McCarthy waved it off for good (watch it again here).
The official time of the stoppage came at 1:32 of round three. Dada was carried off on a stretcher and taken to a nearby hospital for precautionary reasons.
“Not any more,” he told MMAMania, before elaborating on surviving and finding a way to get the victory.
“Losing is not an option for me. You got to really beat the hell out of me in there. I’m not going to never give up. I don’t care if you have a submission you are going to have to break it or put me to sleep. And if you got better hands than me you are going to have to knock me out. It’s silly for the ref to stop it. I’m that type of fighter. You know what I’m saying? I’m not going to never, ever give up in a fight. As long as I can breathe and get back to my feet, we are going to go.”
Slice had bragged earlier in the week about submissions and about working more diligently on his ground game. Was he proud of landing that first takedown and showing everyone he was capable?
“Man, I’ve seen a lot of submissions I wanted to go for, Mikey,” he paused to call out his head coach from American Top Team, Mike Brown. “But, he said let’s just go for the old-fashioned KO. I saw a few things I wanted to go for, but he said ‘let’s stick to the game plan.’
“I’m a witness,” Royce Gracie chimed in. “He was practicing for a foot lock in the locker room. Mike’s like, ‘nope, don’t do it.'”
Slice, who weighed in at 232 pounds for the fight, said he “underestimated the weight” of Dada, who came in at 265 pounds.
“I should’ve trained with a little bit more bigger guys and get used to that weight,” he said. “He is a pretty strong dude. He took punches better than I thought. But, hard work in training camp pays off.”
As for what’s next, Slice said he’d like to fight in July and get back into training and is “down to fight anybody.”
With the kind of fights we’ve seen in Bellator lately, Sean Gannon was brought up as a potential opponent. Gannon was the only fighter to defeat Slice back in his bareknuckle days.
“He suffered a lot of damages in that bareknuckle fight,” Slice said proudly. “He pretty much got cut up everywhere. If he signs a contract then hopefully we can do it. I don’t back down from a fight.”
