Along with several other Bellator titles, the Bellator bantamweight championship will also be contested in 2013. The promotion announced today reigning champion Eduardo Dantas will defend his strap against fellow Brazilian and Novia U…
Along with several other Bellator titles, the Bellator bantamweight championship will also be contested in 2013. The promotion announced today reigning champion Eduardo Dantas will defend his strap against fellow Brazilian and Novia Uniao teammate Marcos Galvao. The bout will take place on February 14th from Charlotte, N.C.’s Bojangles’ Coliseum and will air on Spike TV.
Dantas, 23, won the Bellator bantamweight title at Bellator 65 in April when he defeated Zach Makovsky by submission. He earned the title shot based on winning the season five bantamweight tournament where he bested Wilson Reis, Ed West and Alexis Vila. However, Dantas was knocked out in the first round by Tyson Nam at Shooto Brazil in August. Despite the loss, that bout had no bearing on his Bellator title or standing.
Galvao, 30, won the season six bantamweight tournament to earn his title shot against Dantas. He defeated Ed west, Travis Marx and Luis Nogueira all in 2012 to claim his spot. While Galvao is also a member of Noba Uniao, he trains in the United States. Dantas, meanwhile, resides and trains in Brazil.
Bellator 89 will also play host to the opening round of their middleweight tournament.
Press Release – Newport Beach, CA. (December 21st, 2012) – The stage is now set for the Bellator MMA Bantamweight World Title fight as reigning Bellator Champion Eduardo “Dudu” Dantas is set to defend his belt against fellow Brazilian Marcos “Loro” Galvao on February 14th from Charlotte’s Bojangles’ Coliseum LIVE on Spike TV. The night […]
Press Release – Newport Beach, CA. (December 21st, 2012) – The stage is now set for the Bellator MMA Bantamweight World Title fight as reigning Bellator Champion Eduardo “Dudu” Dantas is set to defend his belt against fellow Brazilian Marcos “Loro” Galvao on February 14th from Charlotte’s Bojangles’ Coliseum LIVE on Spike TV. The night will also feature the opening round of Bellator’s highly anticipated Middleweight Tournament, as well as loaded preliminary card that will be streamed exclusively on Spike.com.
Tickets for the event are on sale now and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or by visiting The Bojangles’ Coliseum Box Office, with tickets starting at just $37 dollars. The event will broadcast LIVE starting at 10 p.m. EST on Spike, as well as in Spanish language on mun2. The preliminary card will be streamed LIVE and FREE on Spike.com starting at 8 p.m. EST.
At just 23 years old, Dantas already has amassed an impressive 14-3 record, including victories over Luis Nogueira, Ed West, Alexis Vila and former Bellator Bantamweight Champion Zach Makovsky. Training under Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu grandmaster and Nova Uniao founder Andre Pederneiras, Dantas is ready for the challenge that awaits him on February 14th.
“I feel great, and I’m ready to defend my belt,” said Dantas. “It seems like I’ve been away from the Bellator cage for a while, and I’m ready to face Marcos. I consider Marcos a friend, but all that goes away when we step into the cage. I’m going to show the world why I am the Bellator Bantamweight Champion.”
Galvao has similar feelings as the Season 6 Bantamweight Tournament Champion has trained with Dantas and Pederneiras in the past with Nova Uniao. Now calling New York home, Galvao knows his February 14th showdown with Dantas is the biggest fight of his career, and won’t let friendship stand in the way of becoming a champion.
“”Everyone is fine with it, and everyone knows what is at stake,” said Galvao.” “We’ve known each other for a long time, but this is our job, and nothing will get in the way of that. We will shake hands before the fight, and we will shake hands after the fight, but it’s going to be war when the cage door shuts.”
“Eduardo and Marcos are two of the best bantamweights in this sport, and with the ties they both have to one of the best MMA camps in the world, Nova Uniao, this has the makings of an incredible fight,” said Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney. “We’ve got a stacked Middleweight Tournament featured on the card along with a number of great preliminary fights on Spike.com, so the Charlotte crowd is in for something special on February 14th.”
For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA, follow Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney @BjornRebney and check out Bellator on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator
About Bellator MMA
Bellator MMA is the world’s largest tournament based Mixed Martial Arts organization. Televised to nearly 500 Million homes worldwide in over 107 countries, Bellator’s majority owner is entertainment giant Viacom. In the United States, Bellator can be seen on Spike TV, the MMA television leader. With over 150 world-class athletes under contract, Bellator is home to many of the sport’s top mixed martial artists. Bellator’s founder & CEO, Bjorn Rebney, an experienced fighting sports and entertainment executive with a deep commitment to the purity and integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes. Bellator’s core philosophy is that title shots should be earned, not given. This belief gave rise to Bellator’s real sport, tournament-based format, which gives Bellator’s tournaments a true playoff feel that keeps the sport true and distances itself from the subjective side of fighting sports found in organizations that utilize a matchmaking/casting formula. Bellator Fighting Championships’ executive team is comprised of top industry professionals in television production, live event orchestration, fighter development/relations, venue procurement, sponsorship creation/development, international licensing, marketing, advertising, publicity and commission relations. Bellator is based in Newport Beach, California.
About Spike TV:
Spike TV is available in 98.7 million homes and is a division of Viacom Media Networks. A unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), Viacom Media Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV’s press site at http://www.spike.com/press. Follow us on Twitter @spiketvpr for the latest in breaking news updates, behind-the-scenes information and photos.
Bojangles’ Coliseum
Bojangles’ Coliseum first opened in 1955 as Charlotte’s first coliseum. Since then, the 11,000-seat venue has hosted a wide array of concerts, family shows and other diverse entertainment events over the years. The celebrated facility has been known by many names: Charlotte Coliseum, Independence Arena, Cricket Arena and most recently Bojangles’ Coliseum.
About mun2
mun2 is the leading Hispanic cable network for young millennial adults 18-34. From reality to music, on-air to digital, mun2 creates original content that resonates across a multi-screen platform. Young, vibrant and unabashedly Latino, mun2 has a distribution to over 38 million households. The network is part of Telemundo Media, a division of NBCUniversal.
Even though Nick Diaz lost the match that would ultimately determine the No. 1 contender for the welterweight title, he will still be awarded a title fight with Georges St. Pierre at UFC 158 in Montreal. GSP has cited “unfinished business” …
Even though Nick Diaz lost the match that would ultimately determine the No. 1 contender for the welterweight title, he will still be awarded a title fight with Georges St. Pierre at UFC 158 in Montreal. GSP has cited “unfinished business” as the primary reason he is giving Diaz a shot at his belt. While there are obviously a number of other factors that contribute to Georges’ decision to fight Nick (namely that Georges knows he can beat him), there is one person who should possibly be given a lot of the credit for Nick being given his coveted fight with St. Pierre: Carlos Condit.
When Carlos Condit fought Nick Diaz at UFC 143, the contest resulted in a very controversial unanimous decision win for Condit. Carlos clearly landed enough strikes to impress the judges and earn the decision, but way too many people still thought this match was razor thin in terms of who did the best job controlling the pace of the fight and imposing his will on his opponent.
A large amount of fans would argue that Diaz won the whole thing altogether. No matter how many leg kicks or straight punches Condit hit him with, Diaz still pushed forward in such a threatening fashion, that it always seemed that he was just one flurry away from ending the fight. The decision was unanimous, but anyone who watched the fight will recall Diaz connecting with a decent amount of punches and coming dangerously close to securing a rear naked choke in the fifth round.
It looks like Carlos didn’t win in a very definitive manner. It’s unquestionable that he had more successful punches, kicks and knees than Nick Diaz, but the fact is, he won because he out-pointed his opponent. Diazwasn’t out-classed, overwhelmed or proven to be not worthy of top contender status in the welterweight division.
Basically, it can be said that Nick Diazdidn’t really lose that fight.
Therefore, his spot as a No. 1 contender wasn’t exactly taken from him. It’s almost like the fight never even happened.
This brings up the question of whether or not Nick Diaz would still have gotten his title shot if Carlos Condit had won their fight in a much more definitive manner.
What if Condit had knocked Diaz out, or at least come close to making the referee stop the fight due to strikes on one or more occasions? What if he drew a significant amount of blood from Diaz, or just attempted to overwhelm him with a series of vicious Muay Thai-influenced attacks?
The point is, if Carlos Condit really put a beating on Nick Diaz and showed the world that he wasn’t ready for a title shot, there is a chance that Georges St. Pierre wouldn’t view Diaz as a threat to his superiority and would no longer feel the desire to fight him.
This is why Carlos Condit’s failure to gain a definitive victory over Nick Diaz may be a big part of the reason Georges St. Pierre still considers Diaz a competitor he must defeat if he wants to say he has beaten the very best in the welterweight division.
As entertaining as Condit’s fight with Diaz was, the result did not give GSP the direct impression that the loser did not deserve a title shot sometime in the near future. Diaz showed the world that he could hang with one of the most dangerous strikers to ever grace the division and that was enough to inspire GSP to crave a one-sided victory over Diaz that Condit just could not achieve.
The job of the champion is to make anyone who crosses him feel defeat like they never have before. It’s what Benson Henderson did to Nate Diaz, and what Jon Jones did to just about everyone who has tried to take his title.
Thanks to the way Diaz vs Condit transpired, GSP believes only he has the power to truly dominate Diaz and leave no room for questioning as to who is the better man in the end.
So, when we see Nick Diaz stand across from Georges St. Pierre at UFC 158, it won’t just entirely be because of trash talk or a long-time feud. It will also be because Carlos Condit did not do all he could to make sure he didn’t leave it in the hands of the judges at UFC 143.
UFC history will be made when Ronda Rousey defends her UFC bantamweight title against Liz Carmouche. Plus, Dan Henderson takes on former champ Lyoto Machida and Urijah Faber battles Ivan Menjivar. UFC 157: Rousey vs. Carmouche – Saturday, February 23.
UFC history will be made when Ronda Rousey defends her UFC bantamweight title against Liz Carmouche. Plus, Dan Henderson takes on former champ Lyoto Machida and Urijah Faber battles Ivan Menjivar. UFC 157: Rousey vs. Carmouche – Saturday, February 23.
(Contrary to what R. Kelly always told him, Voelker was never able to spread his wings and fly away just because he believed he could.)
We swear this will be our last Patrick Cote-related article for at least a few days, you guys. But being that “The Predator” recently announced his drop to the welterweight division following the cancellation of his rematch with Alessio Sakara and declared that he was still hoping to still fight at UFC 158, we figured we would at least write a follow up now that an opponent has in fact been named. Yes, Cote will be fighting on the Montreal card in his welterweight debut against Bobby “Vicious” Voelker, a five-fight Strikeforce Challengers veteran who boasts an impressive 24-8 record to his credit.
Known for his trio of highly entertaining bouts with Roger Bowling under the Strikeforce: Challengers banner, the 33 year-old Kansas City native has developed a reputation as a comeback specialist, so check out some of his handiwork after the jump.
(Contrary to what R. Kelly always told him, Voelker was never able to spread his wings and fly away just because he believed he could.)
We swear this will be our last Patrick Cote-related article for at least a few days, you guys. But being that “The Predator” recently announced his drop to the welterweight division following the cancellation of his rematch with Alessio Sakara and declared that he was still hoping to still fight at UFC 158, we figured we would at least write a follow up now that an opponent has in fact been named. Yes, Cote will be fighting on the Montreal card in his welterweight debut against Bobby “Vicious” Voelker, a five-fight Strikeforce Challengers veteran who boasts an impressive 24-8 record to his credit.
Known for his trio of highly entertaining bouts with Roger Bowling under the Strikeforce: Challengers banner, the 33 year-old Kansas City native has developed a reputation as a comeback specialist, so check out some of his handiwork after the jump.
Voelker vs. Roger Bowling I
From the opening moments in what would become the very first — and presumably last (sad face) — trilogy in Challengers history, Bobby Voelker and Roger Bowling showed up and threw down. Following a successful debut victory over Erik Apple via second round TKO at Challengers 5, Voelker was shut down by the powerful hands and aggressive wrestling output of Bowling, who managed to rock Voelker on multiple occasions and keep him off balance for the majority of their fight at Challengers 8. Unfortunately, the fight would come to an anticlimactic end in the third when, following an accidental poke to the eye by Voelker, Bowling was unable to continue and handed the technical decision victory.
At the very next Challengers event, Voelker and Devela engaged in a grinder of a match that again saw Voelker overwehlmed by his opponent’s grappling in the early going. However, Voelker was able to turn the tide midway through the fight, and with a little help from his superior gas tank, was able to snag a controversial split decision victory when all was said and done.
Voelker vs. Bowling: Part Deux
Voelker was again paired up against Bowling at Challengers 11 — this time in the main event of the evening – and where Bowling’s wrestling and power shots dictated the first fight, it was Voelker’s improved takedown defense and crisp counter-striking that dictated the second. After wading through damn near everything his faster foe had to offer in the first round, Voelker capitalized on a sloppy takedown attempt by Bowling midway through the second and pounded away from the guard until referee Dan Stell called a stop to the fight with just over a minute remaining.
Voelker vs. Bowling III
July 22nd, 2011 would set the stage for the final and most decisive meeting between Voelker and Bowling yet. The event was Challengers 11, with the duo once again finding themselves in the main event slot. The fight started out in relatively the same fashion as the first two, with Bowling utilizing his speed and diverse striking attack to keep Voelker on the defensive.
As noted by lyrical wordsmith Mauro Ranallo, deja vu would rear its ugly head when an errant finger by Voelker would find the very same eye of Bowling that led to the stoppage of the first fight. Thankfully, Bowling was able to continue and even managed to rock Voelker towards the end of the first. But once again, Voelker would come alive midway through the second, delivering a knee to the jaw of Bowling that put him on queer street. The opening would be all that Voelker would need, as he finished off the trilogy with a series of follow up punches shortly thereafter.
So, Potato Nation, now that you’ve seen what Voelker has to offer, do you think Cote’s poor run of luck in the UFC will continue at UFC 158? Or will Cote’s size advantage and high level experience lead him to victory?
As The Ultimate Fighter’s ratings dropped during its less-than-memorable 16th season, one of the most frequently discussed ideas for reviving the brand involved the inclusion of women.
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey ha…
As The Ultimate Fighter’s ratings dropped during its less-than-memorable 16th season, one of the most frequently discussed ideas for reviving the brand involved the inclusion of women.
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey has made it clear you won’t exactly have to twist her arm to get her to participate as a coach, whether the fighters are men or women.
“I’d love going on TUF,” she said. “It would be very interesting, whether we would coach guys or girls. It would be really good for people to see a woman in the position of coaching the men and the men respecting the women. That would be very positive.
“If it was all women, I think it would be hilarious if Dana [White] had to deal with the girls having ‘girl issues.’ You know, if someone was like ‘I can’t fight, I have cramps!’ and see him lose his mind. He would lose his mind if he had to deal with girl stuff, I don’t doubt that some issues would come up. So just for my own personal amusement, I think it would be really funny. But I also think all guys would be really fun, extremely positive. I’m open to anything.”
While White hasn’t committed to the idea of women on TUF, he admits it’s a thought he’s kicked around. And if such an idea came to fruition, he sees Rousey nemesis Miesha Tate as the woman most likely to take the other coaching slot.
“It could happen,” White said. “If there’s two people who would probably coach, you kick [the idea] around, this could happen, that could happen. If they did, it could be her and Miesha. You know, we’ll see. Timing has a lot do with it.”
@davedoylemma: DW says AS will fight GSP, JJ and keep defending his belt at MW. Is there really time for that?
At this point it looks like Silva’s next fight will be a title defense, likely against Michael Bisping, if (and this is a big if) Bisping can defeat Vitor Belfort next month. If Bisping beats Belfort in Brazil, Silva vs. Bisping becomes a monster fight in that country, and Bisping’s mouth will help sell the fight in the rest of the world. After that? We’ll see. These superfights are a bit more complex than Joe Silva sending out fight agreements to 6K to show/6K to win guys. How many times has the window seemed right for Silva vs. either St-Pierre or Jon Jones? And yet they still haven’t come close to sealing the deal. I can understand why Georges St-Pierre didn’t want to jump straight from his win over Carlos Condit to a bout with Silva. He was out for 18 months and then went through a war. And it could be awhile before the planets align to make Silva vs. Jones. Oh, and Silva turns 38 in April. So yeah, Silva defending his belt and fighting a pair of superfights sounds great on paper, but with the clock ticking and all the moving parts involved, color me skeptical.
@JosiahRenaudin: Which current champion do you think is most likely to lose his belt in 2013?
Interesting question. Let’s run through the list here. Junior dos Santos? Assuming he gets by Cain Velasquez on Dec. 29, I guess the next question is whether you think Daniel Cormier will position himself for a title shot in 2013, or whether Cormier is more on pace for 2014. Short of that, JDS looks pretty safe. Jon Jones? His only fight in the first half of 2013 is against a middleweight. He looks safe barring a huge upset late in the year. You have to figure on Silva fighting twice at most, and the way he does things, he could wake up one morning and decide he wants another light heavyweight fight or some form of a non-tile fight. With GSP, sorry, I just don’t see him coming close to losing to Nick Diaz. After that, it becomes a question of how many more title defense he has in 2013, or if he commits to a Silva fight. Benson Henderson looks as safe as any champion next year. Bantamweight depends on how long Dominick Cruz will be out, and how he’d match up with Renan Barao after he returns. At flyweight, the way Demetrious Johnson schooled Ian McCall in their rematch and then had an easy time with presumed favorite Joseph Benavidez, that makes him look like a solid candidate to still be champ on Jan. 1, 2014.
You’ll notice I skipped over featherweight. That’s for a reason. Jose Aldo Jr. has a pretty tough challenge coming up in Frankie Edgar. If you’re clicking on this website to begin with, you probably don’t need to be told Edgar’s credentials. By the time Aldo enters the cage to meet Edgar at UFC 156, the champion will have been out of action over a year and will be meeting a former champion from a higher weight class who has never been finished in his career. I’m not predicting an Edgar victory, but Aldo faces the gravest immediate threat among the UFC’s championship roster.
@JosiahRenaudin: Will Chad Mendes ever fight a Featherweight at his level again?
Hey, there’s no law saying you can’t submit two Fightweet questions. Mendes’ case has been one of those matters of bad timing. He’s not going to be rushed straight into another title shot against Jose Aldo. Chan Sung Jung has been injured. Clay Guida is fighting Hatsu Hioki on Jan. 26. Dustin Poirier just fought last week. And so on. Mendes wants to stay active, so he’s got to basically take what’s available. Assuming he defeats Manny Gamburyan at UFC 157, Mendes should finally be back in position to take a big-name fight.
@RuckerYeah: What’s up with all these stories from steakhouses in Burbank? How do I get in on that racket?
What happens here is, the UFC will bring a fighter with a big upcoming fight through Los Angeles to do a day of media rounds, and as part of it, they’ll invite a group of local reporters to lunch with the fighters. Sometimes it’s done the day before a main eventer heads out to Las Vegas for the week, sometime’s it’s to promote the first day of ticket sales.
But these gatherings often produce great material, for several reasons. It’s a relaxed setting. Once the fighter realizes it’s not like fight week, where he’s being whisked from quick interview to quick interview as if he’s just a cog on an assembly line, he or she tends to open up quite a bit more than usual. Likewise, if White is there, since he’s not being assaulted with a string of asinine “Who do you think will fight for the flyweight title in 2078?” and “When is the UFC coming to Madagascar?”-type questions, he’ll open up with his thoughts on things he might not usually discuss, like his thoughts on gay fighters and his take on how MMA camps are run. True, you don’t exactly have to twist a sportswriter’s arm to get them to go to lunch at a steakhouse, but the events serve their purpose.
@charlietaylor17: If Lombard continues to perform like saturday, how many fights do you think he is away from fighting for the title
Several. Last Friday’s fight against Rousimar Palhares was as close to a gimme as Hector Lombard is going to get in the UFC. Lombard’s striking skills are his strongest point. Palhares’ only career TKO in 14 wins was an injury stoppage in 2006. During the fight, Palhares played right into Lombard’s hands by keeping it standing. Palhares, unlike Tim Boetsch this summer, looked psyched out by Lombard from the moment the bout started. UFC lowered the bar for Lombard’s second fight after the huge hype before his first fight. He cleared the bar. But he’s still got a ways to go before he’s part of the title conversation again. A fight with the winner of Alan Belcher vs. Yushin Okami on Dec. 29 sounds about right.
@JUSTOSLICE: How do you beat Benson Henderson?
Easy: You springboard off the fence and kick him in the head.
Even though Nick 
