Quick hypothetical: You’re the #2 MMA promotion in the world, desperately trying to separate your brand from the #1 promotion while simultaneously trying to draw in their audience. So you sign a relatively big name to this pro-wrestling double deal thingamajig and what does he do? Get knocked the fudge out by a relative unknown. Thankfully, you manage to shoehorn him back into your LHW tournament and he scores a couple solid victories, but how do expedite him into the title picture ASAP? YOU REMATCH HIM WITH THE NO-NAMER FOR AN INTERIM TITLE, THAT’S HOW.
Clearly, the folks over at Bellator follow this line of reasoning, as they have recently booked Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and Emanuel Newton in an interim-title rematch set for their November 2nd pay-per-view extravaganza (which the UFC doesn’t even plan on counter-programming, BTW). It also appears that King Mo has learned his lesson about arrogantly shit-talking his opponent this time around, recently complimenting Newton for being “as hard as baby s–t.” So by the associative property, I guess that makes Mo a calf’s nut sack, then?
While some of you naysayers out there will surely argue that this matchup is a steaming crock of bullshit stew, citing such “facts” as “Emanuel Newton already won the LHW tournament *and* beat King Mo, so why isn’t he fighting for the title?” you should first know that 1) LHW champ Attila Vegh is injured and 2) well, that’s pretty much it.
Featuring a lightweight title rematch between Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler as well as a headlining bout between whatever is left of Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson, Bellator: Reruns and Rematches goes down from the Long Beach Arena on November 2nd. Anyone see Newton capturing lightning in a bottle again?
Quick hypothetical: You’re the #2 MMA promotion in the world, desperately trying to separate your brand from the #1 promotion while simultaneously trying to draw in their audience. So you sign a relatively big name to this pro-wrestling double deal thingamajig and what does he do? Get knocked the fudge out by a relative unknown. Thankfully, you manage to shoehorn him back into your LHW tournament and he scores a couple solid victories, but how do expedite him into the title picture ASAP? YOU REMATCH HIM WITH THE NO-NAMER FOR AN INTERIM TITLE, THAT’S HOW.
Clearly, the folks over at Bellator follow this line of reasoning, as they have recently booked Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and Emanuel Newton in an interim-title rematch set for their November 2nd pay-per-view extravaganza (which the UFC doesn’t even plan on counter-programming, BTW). It also appears that King Mo has learned his lesson about arrogantly shit-talking his opponent this time around, recently complimenting Newton for being “as hard as baby s–t.” So by the associative property, I guess that makes Mo a calf’s nut sack, then?
While some of you naysayers out there will surely argue that this matchup is a steaming crock of bullshit stew, citing such “facts” as “Emanuel Newton already won the LHW tournament *and* beat King Mo, so why isn’t he fighting for the title?” you should first know that 1) LHW champ Attila Vegh is injured and 2) well, that’s pretty much it.
Featuring a lightweight title rematch between Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler as well as a headlining bout between whatever is left of Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson, Bellator: Reruns and Rematches goes down from the Long Beach Arena on November 2nd. Anyone see Newton capturing lightning in a bottle again?
(Full fight video of Shamhalaev’s tournament-winning performance against Rad Martinez at Bellator 90, courtesy of Wax6ynat Wamxanaeb-P3A MaptnHe3 Fuck You.)
At last week’s Bellator 90 event, stone-faced Russian “Assassin” (is there any other kind?) Shabulat Shamhalaev wrapped up the promotion’s 7th season featherweight tournament with a vicious knockout over fellow finalist Rad Martinez. In doing so, Shamhalaev earned a future shot at the winner of the Pat Curran/Daniel Straus featherweight title fight scheduled for April 4th. Fortunately for Shamhalaev (and unfortunately for Straus), a broken hand has forced the season six tournament winner out of the fight and has in turn opened the door for the Russian, who will now face Curran a bit earlier than expected. Bjorn Rebney broke the news via his Twitter account:
(Full fight video of Shamhalaev’s tournament-winning performance against Rad Martinez at Bellator 90, courtesy of Wax6ynat Wamxanaeb-P3A MaptnHe3 Fuck You.)
At last week’s Bellator 90 event, stone-faced Russian “Assassin” (is there any other kind?) Shabulat Shamhalaev wrapped up the promotion’s 7th season featherweight tournament with a vicious knockout over fellow finalist Rad Martinez. In doing so, Shamhalaev earned a future shot at the winner of the Pat Curran/Daniel Straus featherweight title fight scheduled for April 4th. Fortunately for Shamhalaev (and unfortunately for Straus), a broken hand has forced the season six tournament winner out of the fight and has in turn opened the door for the Russian, who will now face Curran a bit earlier than expected. Bjorn Rebney broke the news via his Twitter account:
As Bjorn noted, the opponent switcheroo arguably makes for a more interesting matchup for both Curran and the fans. Shamhalaev exploded onto the mainstream scene with a pair of uber-violent first round TKO’s in his first two stateside appearances at Bellator 76 and 79. The fact that he appeared to come out no worse for the wear in his destruction of Martinez makes for the perfect matchmaking opportunity. After capturing the featherweight title with an unnecessarily brutal beatdown of Joe Warren last March, Curran most recently outpointed the highly-touted Patricio Freire at Bellator 85 in January.
So Potato Nation, will the Bellator featherweight title, like the middleweight strap before it, fall into the icy hands of the Russians come April 4th?
In an attempt to mimic Mayweather’s “shoulder roll” technique, Mo’s hands could be spotted closer to his waist than his face for the majority of the fight, which would have been fine had Mo counterbalanced that disadvantage with sharp combinations and head movement. Since Mo did nothing of the sort, he wound up losing his spot in the light heavyweight tourney finals and costing me over 2200 dollars on a eight-fight parlay yousonofabitchbastardWHYGODWHY. But if you were to ask Mo, the knockout was not the result of his own arrogance and was in fact quite the opposite:
I didn’t even see the shot. A lot of people saying that I was fighting cocky and with my hands down, but if you watch it, when he missed with his right hand, I threw a right hand and then he came with the spinning backfist.
In an attempt to mimic Mayweather’s “shoulder roll” technique, Mo’s hands could be spotted closer to his waist than his face for the majority of the fight, which would have been fine had Mo counterbalanced that disadvantage with sharp combinations and head movement. Since Mo did nothing of the sort, he wound up losing his spot in the light heavyweight tourney finals and costing me over 2200 dollars on a eight-fight parlay yousonofabitchbastardWHYGODWHY. But if you were to ask Mo, the knockout was not the result of his own arrogance and was in fact quite the opposite:
I didn’t even see the shot. A lot of people saying that I was fighting cocky and with my hands down, but if you watch it, when he missed with his right hand, I threw a right hand and then he came with the spinning backfist.
So he kind of caught me in the act of punching, but no excuses, I’m good, and I will be back and hopefully I get to fight him again in the future. It was the first time I had been knocked out, and the good thing is I came to pretty quick. When I saw the ref standing over me, I just said, ‘Damn!’
If you lost more money that I did an account of Mo, feel free to vent your frustrations in the comments section. As for me, I’m sure these legs will unbreak themselves any…day…now…
When you’re watching a Bellator event, you can only hope that a memorable finish or two will make up for the general lack of star power compared to those other guys. And oh man, did last night’s Bellator 90 event in West Valley City, Utah, deliver the goods, with all four fights on the Spike TV main card ending within the first two rounds, and three more stoppages featured on the prelims.
Season 8 Welterweight Semi-Finals: Ben Saunders faced Raul Amaya for the second time in his Bellator stint, and while Killa B completely dominated their first meeting en route to a unanimous decision win, he didn’t even let Amaya out of the first round this time. Amaya was aggressive from the opening bell, but wasn’t able to find his range against the lanky Saunders, who landed counter-punches and body-kicks at will, before putting Amaya’s lights out with a left high kick. (GIF here, via ZombieProphet/BloodyElbow)
The fight on the other side of the 170-bracket was just as quick and one-sided. Douglas Lima didn’t give Bryan Baker a chance to get in the fight, abusing Baker’s legs with low kicks for a couple minutes, then firing a devastating right hand that crumpled “The Beast” to the mat. Lima will now face Saunders in the Season 8 Welterweight Tournament Final at Bellator 93, in a rematch of their Season 5 Welterweight Tournament Final in November 2011, which Lima won by knockout.
When you’re watching a Bellator event, you can only hope that a memorable finish or two will make up for the general lack of star power compared to those other guys. And oh man, did last night’s Bellator 90 event in West Valley City, Utah, deliver the goods, with all four fights on the Spike TV main card ending within the first two rounds, and three more stoppages featured on the prelims.
Season 8 Welterweight Semi-Finals: Ben Saunders faced Raul Amaya for the second time in his Bellator stint, and while Killa B completely dominated their first meeting en route to a unanimous decision win, he didn’t even let Amaya out of the first round this time. Amaya was aggressive from the opening bell, but wasn’t able to find his range against the lanky Saunders, who landed counter-punches and body-kicks at will, before putting Amaya’s lights out with a left high kick. (GIF here, via ZombieProphet/BloodyElbow)
The fight on the other side of the 170-bracket was just as quick and one-sided. Douglas Lima didn’t give Bryan Baker a chance to get in the fight, abusing Baker’s legs with low kicks for a couple minutes, then firing a devastating right hand that crumpled “The Beast” to the mat. Lima will now face Saunders in the Season 8 Welterweight Tournament Final at Bellator 93, in a rematch of their Season 5 Welterweight Tournament Final in November 2011, which Lima won by knockout.
Season 8 Light-Heavyweight Semi-Finals: The Spike card led off with a 205-pound match between Mikhail Zayats and Jacob Noe, who you may remember as the guys who beat Renato Sobral and Seth Petruzelli at Bellator 85. Zayats took control from the very beginning, flooring Noe with a right hand and establishing top position on the mat. After some ground-and-pound, Zayats established mount and methodically set up an armbar, cranking it for the tap.
You’d think that Zayats would now be set up for high-profile meeting with Muhammad Lawal in the tournament finals, but Emanuel Newton went and screwed those plans up later in the evening. Unlike Przemyslaw “The Inanimate Object” Mysiala, Newton wasn’t afraid to stand toe-to-toe with Mo; Lawal’s shots might have been cleaner during their striking exchanges, but Newton was getting his licks in and making it a battle. But that battle didn’t last long. Halfway through the opening round, Newton whiffed so hard on an overhand right that he found himself with his back turned to Mo. So he figured, hey, why not throw a completely-blind spinning backfist? And because the MMA Gods have a sadistic sense of humor when it comes to fight promotions putting all their eggs into a single fighter’s basket, that spinning backfist landed across Lawal’s jaw, sending the King into a slow-motion tailspin. And so, it’ll be Newton vs. Zayats for all the marbles. How do you like that.
Season 7 Featherweight Tournament Final: The fight between Rad Martinez and Shahbulat Shamhalaev was originally supposed to go down in December, but Shamhalaev had to bow out at the last minute due to food poisoning. Shamhalaev was in fine form last night, punching Martinez to the mat in the first round, and nailing him with leg kicks. Martinez’s best moment came as he scored a takedown to stifle Shamhalaev’s momentum near the end of the round. Once the fighters were re-started for round two, it was all Shamhalaev, who dinged Martinez with unanswered power punches that staggered the Utah native, then smashed him with an overhand right that effectively ended the match — GIF here, via ZombieProphet/BloodyElbow — punching his ticket to a future title shot against Pat Curran.
Full Bellator 90 results are below.
Main Card
– Shahbulat Shamhalaev def. Rad Martinez via KO, 2:12 of round 2 *
– Emanuel Newton def. Muhammed Lawal via KO (spinning backfist), 2:35 of round 1 **
– Douglas Lima def. Bryan Baker via KO, 2:34 of round 1 ***
– Mikhail Zayats def. Jacob Noe via submission (armbar), 3:38 of round 1 **
Preliminary Card
– Ben Saunders def. Raul Amaya via KO (head kick), 2:56 of round 1 ***
– Travis Marx def. Chase Beebe via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
– Jesse Juarez def. Jordan Smith via split-decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
– Sean Powers def. David Allred via submission (rear-naked choke), 2:10 of round 3
– Lionel Lanham def. Joe Rodriguez via KO, 0:49 of round 1
* Season 7 Featherweight Tournament Final
** Season 8 Light-Heavyweight Tournament Semi-Final
*** Season 8 Welterweight Tournament Semi-Final
Lawal is back in action tonight at Bellator 90, where he and Emanuel Newton will meet in the semi-finals of the promotion’s Season 8 light-heavyweight tournament. We caught up with Mo recently to discuss getting back in the ring and his training for the peculiar tournament structure. Check out our conversation below, and be sure to tune in to the Spike TV broadcast of Bellator 90 at 10 p.m. ET, which will also feature the Season 8 welterweight tournament finals, and the delayed featherweight tournament final between Shahbulat Shamhalaev and Rad Martinez.
CagePotato: What was it like getting back in the cage last month after such a long layoff?
Muhammed Lawal: The weird thing is. It didn’t feel any different. I had [agent] Mike Kogan, my brother Bull who is fighting in Legacy Fighting Championships in April and Jeff Mayweather with me like usual. I had all my friends and family and coaches around me, so it felt normal.
But I also felt relieved and I felt rejuvenated to see blood and sweat on you, to step into the cage. Seeing my opponent on the other side made me realize what I really missed. It’s like when you are dating a girl. When she’s gone you think, ‘damn, I really miss this or that about her.’
I wanted to get a feel for things in the cage when I got in there but the dude [Mysiala] came forward with haymakers and I knew this might happen, so luckily Jeff Mayweahter trained me well. He trained me to slip, slip, catch, block and roll, and that’s what I tried to do. I hit him with a check hook while he was trying to land a big shot.
CP: Your semi-final fight is just four weeks after the last one. Do you have any injuries left over that you’ll have to fight with?
Lawal is back in action tonight at Bellator 90, where he and Emanuel Newton will meet in the semi-finals of the promotion’s Season 8 light-heavyweight tournament. We caught up with Mo recently to discuss getting back in the ring and his training for the peculiar tournament structure. Check out our conversation below, and be sure to tune in to the Spike TV broadcast of Bellator 90 at 10 p.m. ET, which will also feature the Season 8 welterweight tournament finals, and the delayed featherweight tournament final between Shahbulat Shamhalaev and Rad Martinez.
CagePotato: What was it like getting back in the cage last month after such a long layoff?
Muhammed Lawal: The weird thing is. It didn’t feel any different. I had [agent] Mike Kogan, my brother Bull who is fighting in Legacy Fighting Championships in April and Jeff Mayweather with me like usual. I had all my friends and family and coaches around me, so it felt normal.
But I also felt relieved and I felt rejuvenated to see blood and sweat on you, to step into the cage. Seeing my opponent on the other side made me realize what I really missed. It’s like when you are dating a girl. When she’s gone you think, ‘damn, I really miss this or that about her.’
I wanted to get a feel for things in the cage when I got in there but the dude [Mysiala] came forward with haymakers and I knew this might happen, so luckily Jeff Mayweahter trained me well. He trained me to slip, slip, catch, block and roll, and that’s what I tried to do. I hit him with a check hook while he was trying to land a big shot.
CP: Your semi-final fight is just four weeks after the last one. Do you have any injuries left over that you’ll have to fight with?
Lawal: I’ve got a scratch on my cauliflower ear, that’s it. So I’ve had to keep that clean to prevent staph infection but other than that I’m fine.
CP: I’m always interested in asking fighters how they try to condition themselves. As a camp winds down, you’ve got to maintain your conditioning but also taper down a bit so as not to tire out your muscles. Being a part of this Bellator tournament, though, it seems you’ve got a much different task than most high-level fighters in other organization. How have you been approaching conditioning for this tournament? Do you take each three-to-four week period as its own camp or are you trying to build on things between fights?
Lawal: I don’t really do training camps. In college I learned how to do periodization training to try and find the right time to peak. We break training and fights into phases, with the idea of peaking for the finals. My first phase, for the first fight in the tournament didn’t have a lot of strength work in it. I did a lot of rounds and technique. Then, for the next phase, this fight, I worked with my strength coach on exploding and recovering. So, I’d do a circuit and then take a thirty-second break so that if I have to explode three times in a fight, for example, I will be able to. For the finals we will be going all-out with a full-out training camp that is power-focused. We’ve been slowly adding things.
CP: Is the Bellator tournament structure similar to what you experienced during your amateur wrestling career, because of all the meets and tournaments you have to do throughout a year?
Lawal: College was similar, yeah. In college you have to peak for two things — conference championships and nationals. You have to be in peak shape but not over-train. In international wrestling, you’ve got U.S. nationals, the trials and then the world tournament. I had great coaching from Kevin Jackson. Josh Smith was my college coach. Even in high school, I had great coaching on how to do this.
CP: You’ve fought all over during your MMA career, already. You’ve fought in Japan, in the states for Strikeforce, and now for Bellator. How was the specific experience fighting for this new organization?
Lawal: It is the same because they are all professional. Things start on time. There is a set schedule. The only thing that is different is the platform.
CP: Speaking of the platform, Bellator is now a part of Viacom and your fights are perhaps on a larger platform than they have been before; it’s certainly Bellator’s largest platform. The ratings have been promising for Bellator on Spike. Are you excited about being a centerpiece to Bellator’s strategy to grow larger and become a major MMA player?
Lawal: My goal is to help bring to it to the forefront. Right now, it won’t be what it will be. But if I can help it get there and the kids now are reaping the benefits of it later, I’ll be happy.
CP: Have you studied Emanuel Newton much? When you look at him, what do you see in an opponent?
Lawal: I’ve studied him. I know him. I like him. He’s a good guy. He’s got an awkward Tae Kwon Do style of kicking and he is able to pace himself real well. He fights. I know it’s going to be a fight in there.
