Tag: Bellator News

‘Risk Taker’ Rory MacDonald Hopes To Make His Name At Bellator 206

Rory MacDonald hopes to ‘make his name’ against middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi at Bellator 206. As soon as MacDonald signed with the Scott Coker-run promotion, speculation began. What division would Rory Mac compete in? Could he really become a two-division champ? One of those questions has already been answered and we will watch in anticipation […]

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Rory MacDonald hopes to ‘make his name’ against middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi at Bellator 206.

As soon as MacDonald signed with the Scott Coker-run promotion, speculation began. What division would Rory Mac compete in? Could he really become a two-division champ?

One of those questions has already been answered and we will watch in anticipation Saturday night (Sept. 29, 2018) as MacDonald tries to capture the middleweight strap from Mousasi.

Although Coker wasn’t too keen on the potential superfight between these two initially, after Mousasi ran through Rafael Carvalho to win the 185-pound title, he changed his tune:

“We’ve got to make this fight happen,” said Coker following Mousasi’s title-winning performance.

“I think he didn’t want to rush into it,” MacDonald told MMAjunkie. “He wanted to make sure he could connect the dots first.”

More likely Coker envisioned a future for Rory that revolved around Grand Prix-style tournaments.

Regardless, MacDonald couldn’t be happier at the way everything has worked out. MacDonald has the opportunity to become only the sixth fighter in MMA history to hold two titles simultaneously in the UFC or Bellator.

The others are Randy Couture, BJ Penn, Conor McGregor, Georges St-Pierre, and most recently Daniel Cormier. The former UFC contender is relishing in the opportunity:

“It could be one of those fights that make my name,” MacDonald said. “It’s rare that you get a multi-weight champ, so it’s cool. It’s a great opportunity to be recognized in the sport as someone who’s not afraid to take risks.”

Even if the risk doesn’t pan out for MacDonald, he will still walk away as the welterweight champ.

But the Canadian will have a quick turnaround. He’s set to defend his title in the opening round of the welterweight GP against Jon Fitch next month.

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Rapper 50 Cent Offers $1 Million Cash To Bellator Grand Prix Winner

This weekend’s (Sat., September 29, 2018) Bellator 206 from the SAP Center in San Jose, California, features the opening round of the 170-pound Bellator Grand Prix. Some big stakes have reportedly just been attached to it. The tournament already features decorated welterweights like champion Rory MacDonald, Jon Fitch, Douglas Lima, Andrey Koreshkov, Paul Daley, Michael Page, Neiman […]

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This weekend’s (Sat., September 29, 2018) Bellator 206 from the SAP Center in San Jose, California, features the opening round of the 170-pound Bellator Grand Prix.

Some big stakes have reportedly just been attached to it.

The tournament already features decorated welterweights like champion Rory MacDonald, Jon Fitch, Douglas Lima, Andrey Koreshkov, Paul Daley, Michael Page, Neiman Gracie. It now features a famous name from a different sort of entertainment.

Partnership Of a New Kind

Bellator revealed in a press release today that they had partnered with rapper 50 Cent. They duo will promote his “Get the Strap” clothing line and Le Chemin du Roi champagne brand. 50 Cent has apparently decided to be generous with the money he’ll make from the partnership. The press release said he would donate $1 million to the winner of the Welterweight World Grand Prix:

“A passionate and knowledgeable MMA fan, Jackson has already agreed to re-invest a portion of his deal by offering one million dollars in cash to the winner of the upcoming Bellator Welterweight World Grand Prix that will air exclusively on DAZN.”

Bellator President Scott Coker gave his thoughts on the upcoming promotional partnership:

“We are thrilled to partner with such a legendary icon who has been a friend to the Bellator family for quite some time. The “Get The Strap” apparel line is just the beginning of many joint ventures we will explore together.”

Managing Fighters?

As the release closed, 50 Cent teased some other ventures in MMA. He said he was going to branch out into managing fighters:

“Bellator has a roster filled with some of the most charismatic athletes in the world. As my relationship with Bellator deepens, you will see me moving into fighter management opportunities that will allow me to integrate top stars into both scripted and unscripted projects across the Viacom networks, as well as the other outlets I have access to.”

Time will tell what that means for Bellator.

Welterweight champion MacDonald will meet middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi this weekend. He’ll then move on to meet Fitch in the Grand Prix. Meanwhile, ‘Rampage’ Jackson will take on Wanderlei a fourth time.

Finally, former champ Douglas Lima will rematch Andrey Koreshkov to kick off the Grand Prix at Bellator 206.

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Bellator 205 Results: AJ McKee KO’s John Macapa

Join us for live play-by-play coverage:

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Bellator 205 preliminary card 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 (Friday, September 21, 2018) will come in the form of Bellator 205. Headlining the card are AJ McKee and John Macapa, but there’s a whole bunch of great fights also taking place on the rest of the main card.

AJ McKee and John Macapa meet in a featherweight bout in the main event. In round 1, after some good back and forth action, early, McKee landed a spinning back head kick but fell down. Once he got up, McKee landed a straight hand that put out Macapa’s lights out.

Rafael Lovato Jr. and John Salter meet in a middleweight bout in the co-main event. In round 1, they had a feeling out process early. There was no significant moments and even the announcers pointed it out. Slater briefly clinched with him up against the fence but then backed off. In round 2, Lovato landed a big strike as Salter went for a takedown and advanced with it to the point that Lovato went for a guillotine choke as he was taken down. Lovato gave up on the choke as he held him into place. Salter made some minor transitions but Lovato did a good job of not letting him pass full or half guard. In round 3, Lovato took him down late in the ring where he got full mount and then back mount as he landed some big strikes as he continued his performance in the late stages. Lovato worked him over with strikes while looking for the rear-naked choke, which he did to win the fight.

Veta Arteaga vs. Denise Kielholtz is next in a women’s flyweight bout. In round 1, they come out and clinch right away but back away. After some minor exchanges, Veta clinched up with her up against the fence. There wasn’t a lot of action as they clinched for the majority of the round. In round 2, Kielholtz clinched with her right out of the gate but once again, nothing happened and they separated again. They had a decent exchange up against the fence until Veta decided to go for a takedown and got it in the middle of the round to full guard. Kielholtz was able to get back to her feet. Kielholtz scored a takedown but Veta got back to her feet and went for a guillotine choke and Kielholtz tapped out.

Opening the main card on the Paramount Network is Patricky Freire vs. Roger Huerta in a lightweight bout. In round 1, Freire was staying back and looking to counter strike early on. Freire caught him with some good combos as Huerta was trying to find his range with kicks. Huerta blocked a big head kick and they had some nice exchanges in the pocket to the point that Freire was taking big leaps to get out of the way. Huerta had a small cut on his nose. Huerta was backing down and coming forward while bleeding heavily from his nose. Huerta stunned him with a nice combo but Huerta stayed upright. Freire scored a late-round takedown. In round 2, Freire stunned him right out of the gate but Huerta went for a takedown and got it briefly before kicking him off. Freire fired back with a big right hand that dropped him and finished the fight.

Bellator 205 Results

Here are the results for this event:

Main card (9 p.m. ET, Paramount Network)

Featherweight Bout: A.J. McKee def. John Macapa via KO at 1:09 of Round 1.

Middleweight Bout: Rafael Lovato Jr. def John Salter via Submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:27 of Round 3.

Women’s Flyweight Bout: Veta Arteaga def. Denise Kielholtz by Submission (guillotine choke) at 4:24 of Round 2

Lightweight Bout: Patricky Freire def. Roger Huerta via KO at 0:43 of Round 2.

Preliminary card (7 p.m. ET, Online)

Vince Morales def. Justin Hugo via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-27, 29-27).

Adam Borics def. Josenaldo Silva via Submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:46 of Round 3.

Jarod Trice def. Sean Powers via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Emilio Trevino def. Sua Tuani via TKO (punches) at 1:55 of Round 2.

Ben Moa def. Steve Mowry via Submission (Americana).

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Gegard Mousasi Explains Why UFC Is Declining

Gegard Mousasi has some interesting points to this belief.

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Gegard Mousasi explains why now he thinks that the UFC is in a decline and this all comes after having a new look on the state of the MMA landscape. The Bellator middleweight champion is slated to fight welterweight champion Rory MacDonald at the Bellator 206 event.

Bellator Run

Mousasi’s contract with the UFC ran out after his controversial UFC 208 win over Chris Weidman. This is when he decided to test out the free agent market and signed with the Viacom-owned promotion. A fun fact about his career is that Mousasi was Bellator MMA President Scott Coker’s light heavyweight champion for a while under the Strikeforce banner.

Mousasi is currently riding an impressive six fight win streak with victories of the likes of Weidman, Vitor Belfort, Uriah Hall, and Thiago Santos. He also won his promotional debut with Bellator by picking up a win over Alexander Shlemenko by decision at Bellator 185. He is coming off a win over Rafael Carvalho at Bellator 200 by scoring score a TKO victory in just 3:25 of the very first round.

Gegard Mousasi Explains Why

In a recent media conference call (transcript courtesy of Bloody Elbow), he gave his take on why he thinks the UFC is currently in a decline.

“I feel the UFC is declining because they’re putting on bad cards, the main events are not that intriguing,” Mousasi said. “We have a lot of big names fighting now in Bellator. You have Quinton (Jackson) vs. Wanderlei (Silva), that’s a superfight on its own, obviously (Lyoto) Machida is now here. Ryan Bader. You have Matt Mitrione, you have so many big names.

“I think because of my long career. I’m now where I should be and I’m taking every chance I get to fight for the big fights.”

This event is set to take place on Saturday, September 29, 2018 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. The preliminary card will air online at 7:00 pm EST while the main card will air on DAZN and Paramount Network at 9:00 PM EST.

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Archives: Meryl Streep Says MMA is Not an Art, MMA World Reacts (2017)

The original story was published on this day five years ago. It is presented to you in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of the MMA News Archives.

On This Day Five Years Ago…

[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JANUARY 9, 2017, 9:21 AM]

Headline: Me…

Meryl Streep January 9

The original story was published on this day five years ago. It is presented to you in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of the MMA News Archives.

On This Day Five Years Ago…

[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JANUARY 9, 2017, 9:21 AM]

Headline: Meryl Streep Says MMA is Not an Art, Scott Coker & Fighters Disagree

Author: Fernando Quiles Jr.

An unlikely name has entered the realm of mixed martial arts (MMA) overnight. Renowned actress Meryl Streep accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement award last night (Jan. 8, 2017) at the 74th Golden Globe Awards. During her speech, Streep gave MMA a mention, although it wasn’t a flattering one.

Here is what she said:

“Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. And if we kick them all out you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.”

This prompted responses from some MMA fighters and even Bellator President Scott Coker chimed in. He offered Streep an invitation to see Bellator 170 live in Inglewood, California (via Twitter). Here is his invitation:

“Meryl,

I’m a lifelong fan of your work but also a lifelong martial artist who happens to promote mixed martial arts around the world.

The global sport of mixed martial arts celebrates male and female athletes from all around the world who work years tirelessly honing their craft and- yes- art. They come from every country and every walk of life. We at Bellator support them and honor their skill.

Please be my guest at the LA Forum on January 21st and you will see that Mixed Martial Arts is truly artistic – which will feature fighters from all over the world competing at a world class level.

Scott Coker

President Bellator MMA”

Others weren’t as kind in their responses. Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight Tamdan McCory was none too pleased with Streep’s words:

James Vick was just as heated over the speech as “The Barn Cat” was:

A prominent name in MMA media, Ariel Helwani, also took issue with Streep’s comments on the sport.

Even UFC host and reporter Megan Olivi took the actress to task.

It’s unlikely that Streep will take Coker up on his offer, but never say never in the world of MMA.

Continue Reading Archives: Meryl Streep Says MMA is Not an Art, MMA World Reacts (2017) at MMA News.

(Archives) Watch: MVP Mocks Ronda Rousey With New Dance (2017)

The entire MMA world was abuzz over Ronda Rousey’s second KO straight loss in what would ultimately be her final bout in the UFC. Among those to chime in was Bellator’s Michael Venom Page (MVP).

The following article was published five years ago to…

Michael Page, Ronda Rousey

The entire MMA world was abuzz over Ronda Rousey’s second KO straight loss in what would ultimately be her final bout in the UFC. Among those to chime in was Bellator’s Michael Venom Page (MVP).

The following article was published five years ago today. It is presented to you in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of the MMA News Archives.

On This Day Five Years Ago…

[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JANUARY 1, 2017, 3:25 PM]

Headline: Michael Page Pokes Fun at Ronda Rousey With Dance

Author: Fernando Quiles Jr.

It’s no secret that Bellator’s Michael Page is flashy and flamboyant. The welterweight has turned some heads with his fighting style and highlight-reel knockouts. His stunning flying knee knockout of Evangelista Santos caused “Cyborg” to suffer a fractured skull.

“Venom’s” flashiness has transitioned outside the cage. He took to his Instagram account to ring in the new year. He has created a new “Do the Rousey” dance. In the video, Page mocks “Rowdy’s” defense in her women’s bantamweight title fight against Amanda Nunes at UFC 207.

Rousey was starched by “The Lioness” in 48 seconds at the final Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event of 2016. It was “Rowdy’s” first bout since she was knocked out by Holly Holm in Nov. 2015. Following her second straight knockout defeat, the Internet has exploded with jokes and memes at her expense.

Count “MVP” in as one of those taking full advantage.

Page has yet to taste defeat with a 12-0 record and has competed for Bellator eight times. While Page is known for his exciting style, his last bout with Fernando Gonzalez was seen by many as a snoozer. “Venom” walked away with a split decision win.

Continue Reading (Archives) Watch: MVP Mocks Ronda Rousey With New Dance (2017) at MMA News.