Sickness Forces Eric Prindle to Withdraw From Bellator 61 Rematch With Thiago Santos


(When you gotta go, you gotta go.) 

An apparent case of influenza has forced Bellator season 5 finalist Eric Prindle out from his rematch with fellow finalist Thiago Santos. After their first contest ended in the most brutal form of No Contest possible back at Bellator 59 in November, the pair was set to give things another go at Bellator 61, which goes down tomorrow from the River Dome in Boisser City, LA.

Prindle’s record stands at 9-1 with the aforementioned 1 no-contest, with three of those wins coming under the Bellator banner. In his promotional debut, Prindle scored a second round TKO due to doctor stoppage victory over Josh Burns at Bellator 40 in April of 2011, then cruised past TUF 10 vet Abe Wagner by UD the following October in their season five heavyweight tournament quarterfinal match. In the semi’s, Prindle demolished fellow power puncher Ron Sparks in just forty seconds at Bellator 56 via one punch knockout, earning his spot in the finals alongside Thiago Santos, who had racked up two straight rear-naked choke finishes in his preliminary matches.

Videos of both the Sparks and Santos fights, along with the full lineup for Bellator 61, are after the jump. 


(When you gotta go, you gotta go.) 

An apparent case of influenza has forced Bellator season 5 finalist Eric Prindle out from his rematch with fellow finalist Thiago Santos. After their first contest ended in the most brutal form of No Contest possible back at Bellator 59 in November, the pair was set to give things another go at Bellator 61, which goes down tomorrow from the River Dome in Boisser City, LA.

Prindle’s record stands at 9-1 with the aforementioned 1 no-contest, with three of those wins coming under the Bellator banner. In his promotional debut, Prindle scored a second round TKO due to doctor stoppage victory over Josh Burns at Bellator 40 in April of 2011, then cruised past TUF 10 vet Abe Wagner by UD the following October in their season five heavyweight tournament quarterfinal match. In the semi’s, Prindle demolished fellow power puncher Ron Sparks in just forty seconds at Bellator 56 via one punch knockout, earning his spot in the finals alongside Thiago Santos, who had racked up two straight rear-naked choke finishes in his preliminary matches.

Prindle vs. Sparks

Prindle vs. Santos

Bellator 61 Lineup 
Main Card
Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Brazil Maiquel Falcao vs. France Norman Paraisy
Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Brazil Vitor Vianna vs. United States Brian Rogers
Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Russia Vyacheslav Vasilevsky vs. United States Victor O’Donnell
Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Brazil Giva Santana vs. Brazil Bruno Santos

Preliminary Card (Spike.com)
Lightweight bout: United States Quaint Kempf vs. United States Josh Quayhagen
Middleweight bout: United States Trey Houston vs. United States Jeremiah Riggs
Welterweight bout: United States Derrick Krantz vs. United States Eric Scallan
Lightweight bout: United States Derek Campos vs. United States Patrick Cenoble
Bantamweight bout: United States Jeremy Myers vs. United States Jason Sampson

-J. Jones

Bellator Announces Season 6 Middleweight Tournament Quarterfinal Matches


(And YOU get an unnecessarily long beatdown, and YOU get an unnecessarily long beatdown!) 

Bellator recently announced the lineup and first round match-ups for its 6th season middleweight tournament, and it features more than its fair share of familiar faces. First off, after reportedly suffering a heart attack during training back in November, former UFC middleweight Maiquel Falcao will be returning to action against 10-1-1 Norman Paraisy. Paraisy, a Paris, France native, previously fell to a first round rear-naked choke at the hands of inaugural UFC middleweight champion Dave Menne in his last Bellator appearance, which took place back in April of 2009. Paraisy has gone 5-0-1 since the loss, picking up wins over Paulo Filho and Jack Mason among others. True to his fighting style, Falcao last picked up a first round TKO victory over Douglas Del Rio, a video of which is below.

(Falcao also strayed from his usual fighting style, however, as he actually managed to stop punching his opponent when the ref intervened.) 


(And YOU get an unnecessarily long beatdown, and YOU get an unnecessarily long beatdown!) 

Bellator recently announced the lineup and first round match-ups for its 6th season middleweight tournament, and it features more than its fair share of familiar faces. First off, after reportedly suffering a heart attack during training back in November, former UFC middleweight Maiquel Falcao will be returning to action against 10-1-1 Norman Paraisy. Paraisy, a Paris, France native, previously fell to a first round rear-naked choke at the hands of inaugural UFC middleweight champion Dave Menne in his last Bellator appearance, which took place back in April of 2009. Paraisy has gone 5-0-1 since the loss, picking up wins over Paulo Filho and Jack Mason among others. True to his fighting style, Falcao last picked up a first round TKO victory over Douglas Del Rio, a video of which is below.


(Falcao also strayed from his usual fighting style that night, as he actually managed to stop punching his opponent when the ref intervened.) 

Also scheduled to throw down are Giva “The Arm Collector” Santana and undefeated Bruno Santos. Owning an incredible 13 wins by armbar in 17 victories, with all but one of those wins coming in the first round, Santana last picked up another first round armbar over Darryl Cobb at Bellator 53. Santos is perhaps Santana’s polar opposite, as ten of his twelve victories have gone the distance, so it will be interesting to see how things play out if this one drags into the later rounds. Our prediction, however, is that Santana collects yet another arm before, in Bryan Baker-esque fashion, proposing to Ronda Rousey and giving birth to the child that will eventually save the limbs of mankind from Rousimar Palhares. Fight fire with fire, Potato Nation.

Elsewhere on the card, season 5 runner-up Vitor Vianna will square off against Brian “The Predator” Rogers. Both men are coming off losses to eventual season winner Alexander Shlemenko; Rogers succumbed to a second round TKO at Bellator 54 and Vianna dropped a unanimous decision at Bellator 57.

And finally, submission specialist Vitor O’Donnell will lock horns with 15-1 Sambo practitioner Vyacheslav “Slava” Vasilevsky. For the love of Krzysztof Soszynski was that name hard to spell. O’Donnell’s last Bellator appearance was a quick one, a first round TKO via head kick at the hands of Brian Rogers in the season 5 quarterfinals.

Any of these names starting to sound familiar? Bjorn Rebney might want to consider adding a few more new faces to Bellator’s next middleweight tourney, because as much as we love rematches, we can only watch the same guys kick each other’s asses for so long. Unless those two happen to be Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard.

Bellator’s sixth season is set to kick off on March 9th, and features CP lifer/steroid aficionado Sean McCorkle taking on Richard White, Joe Warren defending his featherweight title against Pat Curran, and the featherweight tournament quarterfinals.

-Danga 

Exclusive: Canadian Standout Cory MacDonald Signs With Bellator; Will Compete at Middleweight

By Mike Russell

One of Canadian MMA’s best kept secrets got an early birthday present this week.

CagePotato has confirmed with sources close to the situation that highly-touted Kingston, Ontario native Cory MacDonald signed with Bellator yesterday and will compete as a middleweight under the Viacom-owned promotion’s banner.

MacDonald (12-2), who turned 34 today, could see action as part of next season’s middleweight tournament.

Having competed primarily at 170 for the majority of his eight-year MMA career, at 6-foot MacDonald was one of the class’ largest competitors. He has been contemplating a move up in weight for a while due to a lack of opponents willing to face him north of the border. It now looks like the move won’t just be a temporary one and that 12-2 former welterweight, who is undefeated in his past seven bouts spanning back to 2007, will finally get his chance to make a name for himself internationally.

By Mike Russell

One of Canadian MMA’s best kept secrets got an early birthday present this week.

CagePotato has confirmed with sources close to the situation that highly-touted Kingston, Ontario native Cory MacDonald signed with Bellator yesterday and will compete as a middleweight under the Viacom-owned promotion’s banner.

MacDonald (12-2), who turned 34 today, could see action as part of next season’s middleweight tournament.

Having competed primarily at 170 for the majority of his eight-year MMA career, at 6-foot MacDonald was one of the class’ largest competitors. He has been contemplating a move up in weight for a while due to a lack of opponents willing to face him north of the border. It now looks like the move won’t just be a temporary one and that 12-2 former welterweight, who is undefeated in his past seven bouts spanning back to 2007, will finally get his chance to make a name for himself internationally.

With Bellator’s recent migration into the Canadian market, MacDonald, who trains out of Victory Performance Centre in Ottawa and Kingston and spars regularly at Tristar in Montreal, could play a key role in helping market the Chicago-based organization in Ontario and other provinces where he has a fan presence including Quebec and the Maritimes.


(Video courtesy of YouTube/psycoc23)

According to the sources we spoke to, a date for Cory’s Bellator debut has yet to be set, but it could come as early as January.

When contacted for comment, MacDonald’s manager Anna Barone would neither confirm nor deny her client’s signing.