Filed under: BellatorAfter producing what is likely the best fight in its promotional history, Bellator has made Bellator 58’s Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler fight video available.
Alvarez (22-3) came into the fight riding a seven-fight win str…
After producing what is likely the best fight in its promotional history, Bellator has made Bellator 58’s Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler fight video available.
Alvarez (22-3) came into the fight riding a seven-fight win streak and needing a victory to set up a long-awaited rematch with Shinya Aoki, the last man to defeat him. Chandler (9-0) is a 25-year-old upstart who was a decisive underdog. The lightweight title fight ended up as a rollicking explosion of momentum shifts and dramatic action that produced a new champion and earned immediate praise as a Fight of the Year contender.
The UFC may be the brand name of MMA, but it doesn’t have exclusive rights to action packed bouts. While the UFC 139 pay-per-view was just getting warmed up, the evening’s “other” war and ‘fight of the year’ candidate was breaking out on MTV 2. If you didn’t catch it, I suggest you watch it in full up above.
Season 4 Lightweight Tournament winner Michael Chandler was all over Eddie Alvarez from the opening bell, driving forward and swinging for the fences. Within the first fifteen seconds he had dropped the champion twice and was only moments away from snatching the belt, but once again Alvarez proved difficult to put away. Chandler’s pressure wilted halfway through the second frame, allowing Alvarez to steal the round with a series of effective combinations. By round three Chandler’s fatigue was visible and the champ pounced, battering him across the cage. Though tired and hurt, Chandler continued to look for the big shot that would take Alvarez out. Answering the bell in the fourth, Chandler looked renewed and eager to throw. His hands found their mark, wobbling Alvarez before a big right hand dropped him. Chandler followed him down and mounted him, locking in the rear naked choke as Alvarez turned his back.
The UFC may be the brand name of MMA, but it doesn’t have exclusive rights to action packed bouts. While the UFC 139 pay-per-view was just getting warmed up, the evening’s “other” war and ‘fight of the year’ candidate was breaking out on MTV 2. If you didn’t catch it, I suggest you watch it in full up above.
Season 4 Lightweight Tournament winner Michael Chandler was all over Eddie Alvarez from the opening bell, driving forward and swinging for the fences. Within the first fifteen seconds he had dropped the champion twice and was only moments away from snatching the belt, but once again Alvarez proved difficult to put away. Chandler’s pressure wilted halfway through the second frame, allowing Alvarez to steal the round with a series of effective combinations. By round three Chandler’s fatigue was visible and the champ pounced, battering him across the cage. Though tired and hurt, Chandler continued to look for the big shot that would take Alvarez out. Answering the bell in the fourth, Chandler looked renewed and eager to throw. His hands found their mark, wobbling Alvarez before a big right hand dropped him. Chandler followed him down and mounted him, locking in the rear naked choke as Alvarez turned his back.
In the evening’s co-main event, Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard took on Trevor Prangley at 195 lbs. If Bellator titleholders must fight in non-title fights, we’re far happier seeing it take place at a catchweight than simply fighting within their division without putting the belt on the line. That being said, regardless of the weight class, a dominant champion like Hector Lombard deserves a bigger challenge than a fighter with one lone victory in his past five outings.
Trevor Prangley‘s only real output in the bout came in the form of a double-leg that saved him from an onslaught of punches that had him in deep trouble early in the first round. That takedown bought him time to time to compose himself and survive the remainder of the round, but the South African wrestling champion had only delayed Lombard from doing what he does best—lighting fools up. Round two opened with a few casual exchanges before the the two traded blows in earnest. Lombard connected with a huge right to the jaw that had Prangley doing the fish dance. Again Prangley sought refuge in the form of a takedown, but “Lightning” stuffed the desperation shot and went to work with brutal ground and pound. Lombard was hesitant to deliver unnecessary blows, but continued the abuse until the ref called a halt to the bout just one minute, six seconds into the second round.
Rafael Dias showed a healthy respect for the striking game of Marlon Sandro and kept far out of range at the opening of the bout. That respect didn’t prevent him from dropping Sandro when the two exchanged in a flurry of punches. Sandro recovered quickly with a takedown and maintained control of the bout on the ground. Dias scrambled back to his feet only to find himself caught in a standing arm triangle. Sandro drug him to the canvas and completed the submission, finishing the fight by tapout in 3:56 of the first round.
(Aguilar-Ward, via Zombie Prophet. Use the link for part II)
If you read our interview with Jessica Aguilar, you knew she was ready to scrap. Despite suffering a broken nose in the opening frame, Aguilar’s standup was too much for Lisa Ellis-Ward. Her overhand rights found their target throughout the three round bout. Ward slipped off a missed flying knee in round two which left her open to multiple knees from the clinch and some heavy shots on the ground. Aguilar continued to get the better of the exchanges in round three, but Ward turned it on at the close of the fight with aggressive stand-up and a kimura attempt. Aguilar pulled out of the hold and maintainted control through the close of the fight, taking the bout by unanimous decision.
Michael Chandler def. Eddie Alvarez via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:06 of Round 4
Hector Lombard def. Trevor Prangley by knockout at 1:06 of Round 2
Jessica Aguilar def. Lisa Ward-Ellis by unanimous decision
Marlon Sandro def. Rafael Dias by Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) at 3:56 of Round 1
Prelims:
Brett Cooper def. Jared Hess by unanimous decision
Valdir Araujo def. Ailton Barbosa by unanimous decision
Cosmo Alexander def. Avery McPhatter by KO at 0:20 of Round 1
Herbert Goodman def. Jonas Billstein by Disqualification (Illegal Soccer Kick) at 3:21 of Round 2 Fabio Mello def. Farkhad Sharipov by unanimous decision
Filed under: Bellator, NewsThe injury that knocked Eddie Alvarez out of his scheduled October lightweight championship defense against Michael Chandler won’t keep him sidelined for long.
The Bellator star is back healthy, and has agreed to face Chandl…
The injury that knocked Eddie Alvarez out of his scheduled October lightweight championship defense against Michael Chandler won’t keep him sidelined for long.
The Bellator star is back healthy, and has agreed to face Chandler at Bellator 58 on November 19, the promotion confirmed late on Wednesday night.
The 27-year-old Alvarez has never lost under the Bellator banner, winning seven in a row since signing with the promotion. He won the lightweight championship in the promotion’s first season, and has successfully defended it on one occasion with a unanimous decision over Pat Curran. He also has non-title wins over Josh Neer and Roger Huerta during that time.
Alvarez is 22-2 overall.
Chandler was a collegiate wrestler at the University of Missouri who burst upon the national fight scene this year, romping through the season four lightweight tournament with wins over Marcin Weld, Lloyd Woodard and the highly regarded Patricky “Pitbull” Freire.
Chandler is 8-0 in his young career, which only began two years ago.
Bellator 58 will emanate from Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, and will also feature middleweight champion Hector Lombard in a non-title fight against veteran Trevor Prangley.
(The Bellator catchweight champ will be looking to extend his unbeaten streak to 25 fights with a win over Prangley.)
Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that its current middleweight champion, Hector Lombard (32-1-1, 1 NC) will square off with UFC and Strikeforce vet Trevor Prangley (23-8-1) in a non-title catchweight affair at Bellator 58 on November 19 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fl.
The bout, which will be contested at 195 lbs for unknown reasons will be the second non-title bout in a row for Lombard, who won the Bellator strap in June 2009 and has only defended it once since, when he defeated Alexander Shlemenko at Bellator 34 last October.
(The Bellator catchweight champ will be looking to extend his unbeaten streak to 25 fights with a win over Prangley.)
Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that its current middleweight champion, Hector Lombard (32-1-1, 1 NC) will square off with UFC and Strikeforce vet Trevor Prangley (23-8-1) in a non-title catchweight affair at Bellator 58 on November 19 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fl.
The bout, which will be contested at 195 lbs for unknown reasons will be the second non-title bout in a row for Lombard, who won the Bellator strap in June 2009 and has only defended it once since, when he defeated Alexander Shlemenko at Bellator 34 last October.
Lombard has not lost since dropping a unanimous decision to Gegard Mousasi at Pride Bushido 13 in 2006. The 33-year-old Cuban has put together an impressive 24-fight streak since then with wins over UFC veterans Jay Silva, Joe Doerksen, Kalib Starnes, Brian Ebersole and Jesse Taylor, whom he beat in his last outing in September under the Australian Fighting Championship banner that saw him win the promotion’s inaugural middleweight title. During that span he also won and defended the Cage Fighting Championship 185-pound title seven times.
He promises to put on a show for the fans in Florida.
“I just want November to get here and knock someone out,” Lombard said. “I doesn’t matter who it is, I just want to do what I do and that’s win. I don’t know much about Trevor, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll be in front of my fans in Florida, and it’s going to be a show.”
Prangley is no slouch himself. The 39-year-old South African holds wins over veterans Chael Sonnen, Matt Horwich and Keith Jardine, Andrei Semenov and Travis Lutter. 1-3 in his last four outings including Strikeforce losses to Tim Kennedy and Roger Gracie and a loss to Tatsuya Mizuno at the DREAM Japan Grand Prix Final in his last fight in July, Prangley, whose penchant for striking should match up well with Lombard’s similar style is no pushover. He says that he expects to stand in the pocket and trade with his young and dangerous opponent and that he’s confident he can best “Shango.”
“Both of us are going to get in that cage and throw bombs, no questions asked,” Prangley said. “It’s no secret both of us like to stand and bang, and that’s exactly what everyone is going to get. I know Hector is really tough on his feet, but so am I, so he’s going to have to play my game when the cage door shuts.”
The next test to Hector Lombard‘s five-year unbeaten streak will come Nov. 19.
The Bellator middleweight champion will meet Trevor Prangley in a non-title 195-pound catchweight fight at Bellator 58. The promotion announced the fight Tuesday morning for the second-to-last event of its fifth season.
Bellator 58 will be the promotion’s ninth event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., which has become its favorite venue. Bellator 50 also took place there last month.
Lombard (30-2-1, 1 NC, 7-0 Bellator) has been arguably the most dominant middleweight in the world aside from UFC 185-pound champion Anderson Silva. Lombard’s last loss came to Gegard Mousasi, a unanimous decision setback at Pride Bushido 13 in November 2006.
In July 2007, he fought to a draw with UFC middleweight Kyle Noke at the first Cage Fighting Championship event in Noke’s native Australia. Lombard would go on to win the CFC middleweight title, and he has defended it seven times in addition to holding the Bellator belt. Lombard, who lives in Australia, also won the Australian Fighting Championship’s middleweight belt last month with a submission of Jesse Taylor.
Since his draw with Noke, it’s been nothing but checks in the win column for Lombard, a former Olympian in judo – 19 straight victories, with 15 coming by stoppage. He won Bellator’s middleweight belt at Bellator 12, rolling through the Season 1 tournament with three stoppage wins. He defended it with a unanimous decision over Alexander Shlemenko at Bellator 34 last year.
“I just want November to get here and knock someone out,” Lombard said in a statement from Bellator. “It doesn’t matter who it is. I just want to do what I do, and that’s win. I don’t know much about Trevor, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll be in front of my fans in Florida, and it’s going to be a show.”
Prangley (23-8-1) will be making his Bellator debut and will be looking to turn around a five-fight streak that has seen him notch just one win – a split decision over Keith Jardine at Shark Fights 13 last year.
Prangley had won five straight and 11 of 12 before the recent stretch that has him 1-3-1 with Strikeforce losses to Tim Kennedy and Roger Gracie, and a draw with Karl Amoussou. In July, he was knocked out by Tatsuya Mizuno in the first round at Dream’s Japan GP event.
Prangley toggles between middleweight and light heavyweight, but has spent most of his time at 205 pounds the last several years. Early in his career, he submitted Chael Sonnen, who avenged the loss three years later.
“Both of us are going to get in that cage and throw bombs, no questions asked,” Prangley said. “It’s no secret both of us like to stand and bang, and that’s exactly what everyone is going to get. I know Hector is really tough on his feet, but so am I. So he’s going to have to play my game when the cage door shuts.”
Apparently Renato “Babalu” Sobral is a free agent. Otherwise, Bellator wouldn’t be talking to the former UFC light heavyweight contender about possibly facing its middleweight champ, Hector Lombard.
According to Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, his promotion has been involved in talks with Sobral’s camp to sign the 36-9 submission specialist for a non-title bout with Lombard (30-2-1, 1 NC) at Bellator 58 on November 19, but nothing is set in stone. Strangely, the promoter still announced that the bout was in the works, which could simply be a tactic to pressure Babalu, who has only fought twice in the past two years, into signing on the dotted line.
“I’ve been a big ‘Babalu’ fan for a lot of years,” Rebney told MMAJunkie. “They weren’t really on our radar, but then they reached out to us and opened the door and asked for a few things. We agreed to all of them. … But now we’re siting back and waiting. We haven’t heard anything back from them in three or four days.”
(“Publicity stunt, you say? What’s that?”)
Apparently Renato “Babalu” Sobral is a free agent. Otherwise, Bellator wouldn’t be talking to the former UFC light heavyweight contender about possibly facing its middleweight champ, Hector Lombard.
According to Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, his promotion has been involved in talks with Sobral’s camp to sign the 36-9 submission specialist for a non-title bout with Lombard (30-2-1, 1 NC) at Bellator 58 on November 19, but nothing is set in stone. Strangely, the promoter still announced that the bout was in the works, which could simply be a tactic to pressure Babalu, who has only fought twice in the past two years, into signing on the dotted line.
“I’ve been a big ‘Babalu’ fan for a lot of years,” Rebney told MMAJunkie. “They weren’t really on our radar, but then they reached out to us and opened the door and asked for a few things. We agreed to all of them. … But now we’re siting back and waiting. We haven’t heard anything back from them in three or four days.”
Lombard says he’s ready and willing to fight Babalu and says that he has no problem fighting above his middleweight class for a fight of that caliber, in spite of the fact that he hasn’t fought at 205 in more than five years.
“I got a call from Bjorn … and he talked to me about the situation that ‘Babalu’ wanted to fight me. He wanted the fight at 205 pounds. I said, ‘I’m here to fight. Let’s just make the fight happen as soon as possible,’” Lombard explained. “It wouldn’t be one of the easiest fights of my career. But he’s got a good name.”
Let’s hope this isn’t another “We made the offer. Now the ball’s in Scott Coker’s court,” type of deal as was the case in the ballyhooed Gilbert Melendez and Eddie Alvarez bout that never happened. Babalu is a guy who always comes to fight, wherever the action goes and Lombard is a nasty fighter, so there’s a pretty good chance this bout could deliver. Don’t leave us hanging, Bjorn. Pick up the phone and get it done. Not like the Lombard-Filho bout we’re still waiting on. Okay, not really, but you get the picture.
The event, which is scheduled for the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida and will be broadcast on MTV2 will also feature the final round bouts from Bellator’s Season 5 tournament as well as the promotional debut of Shooto’s 183-pound South American champion, Carlos Alexandre Pereira.
After producing what is likely the best fight in its promotional history, Bellator has made Bellator 58’s Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler fight video available. 
The injury that knocked 
The next test to 