Tag: Bellator News

Ryan Bader’s Coach Describes How To Beat Fedor Emelianenko

Ryan Bader’s coach has offered the details on the gameplan that he thinks will get his fighter a win against MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko. The two fighters are slated to meet in the finals of the Bellator heavyweight tournament. This fight will go down next month at Bellator 214. The Bellator light heavyweight champion scored […]

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Ryan Bader’s coach has offered the details on the gameplan that he thinks will get his fighter a win against MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko. The two fighters are slated to meet in the finals of the Bellator heavyweight tournament. This fight will go down next month at Bellator 214.

The Bellator light heavyweight champion scored a decision win over Matt Mitrione at Bellator 207. This served as a heavyweight grand prix semifinal bout. Before this fight, Bader picked up a first-round knockout victory over Muhammed Lawal in the quarterfinals of this tournament. This fight went down at the Bellator 199 event on the Paramount Network at the SAP Center in San Jose, California.

Bader’s coach Jair Lourenco told MMA Fighting what he expects to happen in this contest and his gameplan.

”It’s going to be a fight between true champions,” Lourenco said. “They are both experienced fighters. Many people talks about Bader being younger and all that, like he’s in his 20’s, but he’s 35. The thing is, he’s an athlete and takes care of himself. They both hit hard and have high-level grappling. It’s going to be a high-level fight and, the longer it takes, the better for Bader because of his conditioning. He does well in five-round fights.

”We’re planning on putting pressure early on to force Fedor to work at a higher pace since the beginning,” he continued. “We will fight to submit him or knock him out, attacking the entire time, full pressure, for five rounds. I think that’s the path. You can’t let Fedor be too comfortable in the fight.”

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Gegard Mousasi Out Of Bellator 214 Title Bout

Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi has been forced out of his latest title bout. Sources confirmed to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani that Mousasi has been forced to pull out of his title defense at Bellator 214 because of a back injury. He was set to fight Rafael Lovato Jr. on January 26, 2019, from The Forum […]

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Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi has been forced out of his latest title bout.

Sources confirmed to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani that Mousasi has been forced to pull out of his title defense at Bellator 214 because of a back injury. He was set to fight Rafael Lovato Jr. on January 26, 2019, from The Forum in Inglewood, California. The World Heavyweight Grand Prix final between Fedor Emelianenko and Ryan Bader will headline the event.

As of right now, it’s unknown how long Mousasi will be out due to the injury. ‘The Dreamcatcher’ has won eight straight fights. He won the Bellator 1985-pound title after departing the UFC. He then destroyed Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald in his next bout. The promotion has not yet determined if his opponent Lovato will stay on the card.

Bellator 214 was supposed to go head-to-head with UFC 233 from Anaheim, California, but when that event was canceled because it lacked a headliner, the New Year’s most heated night of MMA became quite cooler. The loss of Mousasi vs. Lovato Jr. only adds to that early-year cooling.

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Frank Mir Breaks Silence On Bloody Bellator 212 Loss

Last weekend, former UFC champion Frank Mir suffered a bloody loss (watch the highlights) to Javy Ayala at Bellator 212 from Honolulu, Hawaii. The longtime veteran was forced to tap to strikes in the second round due to injury. It was the first time he had ever submitted in his lengthy career. Mir revealed shortly […]

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Last weekend, former UFC champion Frank Mir suffered a bloody loss (watch the highlights) to Javy Ayala at Bellator 212 from Honolulu, Hawaii.

The longtime veteran was forced to tap to strikes in the second round due to injury. It was the first time he had ever submitted in his lengthy career. Mir revealed shortly thereafter that he had suffered an alveolar fracture in the bout, putting his future in jeopardy. Mir’s “Phonebooth Fight’ co-host Richard Hunter detailed the injury in a series of tweets:

“I just talked to [Frank Mir] & he told me he has an alveolar ridge fracture, which caused the tap. Frank was without his mouthpiece for about a minute & 1/2 of the 2nd round & that’s where the injury occurred.

“Also told me he thought it was just his teeth so he was trying to pull them out so he could continue but then the pain went through the roof,” Hunter added. “This is a rough sport, folks.”

With his fighting career unknown, Mir broke his silence this week in a statement on Facebook (via BJPenn.com). Posting a picture alongside his daughter, he thanked Bellator, Ayala, and his fans:

“Fight life. Thank you for all the support and messages from everyone. It means a lot. Thank you @bellatormma and to @eyecandyayala, best of luck in your career. Things don’t always go your way but you learned and keep moving forward.”

The loss was an especially brutal one considering it was Mir’s fourth straight. He was finished by heavyweight great Fedor Emelianenko in his previous bout.

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Scott Coker Takes Shot At UFC Over Pulling January PPV Event

Scott Coker takes shot at UFC officials and its President Dana White for their decision to pull the UFC 233 pay-per-view event from the schedule. UFC 233 was set to take place on Saturday, January 26, 2019, at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The main card would air on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET. The […]

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Scott Coker takes shot at UFC officials and its President Dana White for their decision to pull the UFC 233 pay-per-view event from the schedule.

UFC 233 was set to take place on Saturday, January 26, 2019, at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The main card would air on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET. The preliminary card would air on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET and the TV network’s streaming service, ESPN +. However, the promotion decided to scrap the show due to there not being a clear cut main event available in time.

This is great news for Bellator MMA as they hold Bellator 214 on Saturday, January 26, 2019 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The preliminary card will air online at 7:00 pm EST while the main card will air on Paramount Network at 9:00 PM EST. Now, instead of going head-to-head with the UFC, they will be the only game in town.

Bellator President recently spoke with MMAJunkie about this situation and how the Viacom-owned promotion can benefit.

“Absolutely (it’s excited to be unopposed),” Coker said. “Everybody has a business to run. They have a business to run; we have a business to run. We’ve been going on that date for the last three years or however long. So everybody knows we’re going to go on that date. It didn’t work out for them because, to me, it’s a roster issue.

“Who is going to fight? And if you’re going to bring someone to fight against the Fedor-Bader card. Ours is free on Paramount and on DAZN. You’re going to run on pay-per-view, then you better have your A-game. I think they just ran out of bullets.”

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Bellator 213 Results: Ilima-Lei Macfarlane Taps Valerie Letourneau

Bellator 213 results are underway as the Viacom  promotion holds this latest event on television for fight fans around the world to watch the show. It’s once again fight day here at LowKickMMA, and the talent on display tonight (Saturday, December 15, 2018) will come in the form of Bellator 213. Headlining the card are […]

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Bellator 213 results are underway as the Viacom  promotion holds this latest event on television for fight fans around the world to watch the show.

It’s once again fight day here at LowKickMMA, and the talent on display tonight (Saturday, December 15, 2018) will come in the form of Bellator 213. Headlining the card are Ilima-Lei Macfarlane and Valérie Létourneau, but there’s a whole bunch of great fights also taking place on the rest of the main card.

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane and Valérie Létourneau meet in a women’s flyweight bout in the main event. In round 1, it’s largely a feeling-out process but Macfarlane lands a few more punches than does Valerie. In round 2, Macfarlane took her down right out of the gate and got full guard where she landed some nice elbows. Valerie got back to her feet where they continued to strike. In round 3, Macfarlane takes Valerie down and takes her back. She is threatening with a rear-naked choke. Macfarlane switches to an armbar off her back and then to a triangle choke. Valerie is fighting to break free but elbows from the champion overwhelm her, thus allowing her to secure the choke and get the tap.

Lyoto Machida and Rafael Carvalho meet in a middleweight bout in the co-main event. In round 1, they had a feeling out process and then clinched up against the fence. Carvalho managed to take him down but didn’t do much damage before they got back to their feet and exchanged for the rest of the round. In round 2, Machida is bleeding from his nose. Both men are landing some nasty kicks to the legs and body. Carvalho has taken over the fight with better overall striking. They had a wild exchange at the bell. In round 3, Machida was able to take him down and land a series of strikes. Machida locks on a guillotine after a scramble late but he runs out of time. In the end, Machida got the split decision win.

Neiman Gracie vs. Ed Ruth is next in a welterweight bout. In round 1, Ruth scores a takedown and then is caught in a triangle. He powers out of it and regroups to his feet, where he lands two hard punches to the head. In round 2, Gracie scores a takedown and threatens with leg locks. After a scramble, Ruth has to fend off an armbar and then another triangle. In round 3, Ruth drops him late in the round and got top position. Ruth has to fend off another armbar but his scrambles are on point. Gracie lands a few nice punches to the head. In round 4, Gracie scored a takedown right out of the gate and got half guard to continue this dominance. Gracie got his back and locked in the rear-naked choke for the win.

King Mo Lawal vs. Liam McGeary is next in a light heavyweight bout. In round 1, they had a feeling out process for the majority of the round until Mo took him down but couldn’t’ keep him there. They briefly clinched up against the fence until separated. McGeary tagged him with a combo but slipped and fell. McGeary lands a nice left hook to the head late. In round 2, Mo continued to land leg kicks in order to open up his combos. McGeary was doing a nice job of using his range. Mo got poked in the eye and there was a pause in the action. Mo went for a takedown but McGeary fired away with elbow strikes that stunned him. Mo recovered and tried to keep him down but couldn’t. In round 3, McGeary dropped him with a straight right hand as Mo wobbled down to the ground then landed one more strike for extra measure.

Opening the main card on DAZN is Kona Oliveira vs. Nainoa Dung in a lightweight bout. In round 1, Dung took him down right out of the gate and got guard. Not a ton of action but Dung was able to control the pace from this position throughout the round. In round 2, Dung scored another takedown right out of the gate and got north-south position.  Oliveira was able to scramble but Dung stayed up. Dung stood up and was kicked in the face then Oliveira was able to get to his feet. In round 3, Dung took him down, got full mount and rained down strikes to end the fight.

Here are the results for this event:

MAIN CARD (DAZN / 10 PM EST)

Women’s Flyweight: Ilima-Lei Macfarlane def. Valerie Letourneau via Submission (Triangle Choke) R3, 3:19

Middleweight: Lyoto Machida def. Rafael Carvalho by split decision

Welterweight: Neiman Gracie def. Ed Ruth via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) R4, 2:17

Light Heavyweight: Liam McGeary def. Muhammed Lawal via KO (Punches) R3, 0:53

Lightweight: Nainoa Dung def. Kona Oliveira via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 2:05

Preliminary card (Bellator.com / 7 PM EST)

Dustin Barca def. Isaac Hopps via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)

Maki Pitolo def. Chris Cisneros via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 2:40

Kai Kamaka III def. Shojin Miki via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

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Michael Chandler Insists He Has ‘Keys’ To Beating Khabib

Michael Chandler secured a decision win over Brent Primus (watch highlights here) in the main event of last night’s (Fri., December 14, 2018) Bellator 212 from the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Now, Chandler says he has the keys to solving the toughest lightweight puzzle in the world. With his victory, he became the […]

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Michael Chandler secured a decision win over Brent Primus (watch highlights here) in the main event of last night’s (Fri., December 14, 2018) Bellator 212 from the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Now, Chandler says he has the keys to solving the toughest lightweight puzzle in the world.

With his victory, he became the first Bellator fighter with three championship reigns in one weight class. The victory ended a rivalry (for now) that dated back to their first meeting at June 2017’s Bellator 180. Chandler badly injured his foot in the first round of their first match-up. He lost the fight by TKO as a result.

Since then, Primus had remained inactive while Chandler won two bouts in that span. Bellator’s top company man finally got his title back by outlasting Primus over the course of five rounds. Now, he’s shifting his gaze to bigger contests.

Much, much bigger, but this one may not be attainable for him right now. After his win over Primus, Chandler told reporters via MMA Fighting he has one name in mind if he could pick. That fighter is UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov:

“Khabib. I mean, I think. I think if we’re talking regardless of organization, Khabib’s the number one guy in the world. And I’m always wanting to fight the number one guy in the world. And I don’t just say that because because he’s the number one guy in the world. I think, as we saw tonight, I can do that to anybody in the entire world, I think.”

Chandler made a point not to state he was calling out Khabib, however. He was only asking a reporter’s question:

“But, you know, it’s tough. I kinda put myself in a predicament when I say Khabib because people are like, ‘Why are you calling out Khabib?’ when really it was a reporter asking me who I wanted to fight. I’m not out here calling out Khabib.”

He may not be calling “The Eagle” out, but he does think he has the keys to solve the undefeated UFC champ’s attack:

“But I do think I hold the keys to that lock, that puzzle, that a lot of people can’t solve.”

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