Most training partners want no part of fighting the same men they work with day in and day out. How can you trust someone to give you their all in the gym if the specter of competition hung over you all the time? It’s one major reason why getting MMA fighters to compete with their teammates is the worst part of any promoter’s job. Guys, simply put, just don’t want to fight their friends.
Eduardo Dantas and Marcos Galvao, I assume, understand this. They also reject it outright.
The Bellator bantamweights did battle for the world title tonight and you’d have never guessed that they trained together at Andre Pederneiras’s world renowned Nova Uniao gym in Rio de Janeiro. Or that Galvoa was not just a mere training partner, but actually Dantas‘s mentor.
Dantas won the fight, but he was not the only winner on this night. MMA is funny—sometimes you can lose a fight on the scorecards and win the hearts and minds of the fans. Others can win a boring decision and lose the confidence of promoters and matchmakers. It’s never as simple as the official results.
So who were the real winners and losers? Click on to find out. Disagree? Let’s discuss in the comments.