Did Dana White study voodoo from Michael Jackson or something? Because Bellator has had worse luck than than nearly any promotion in the history of MMA when it comes to launching a successful PPV.
In case the headline didn’t tip you off, Eddie Alvarez is out of Bellator 120—the promotion’s second attempt to break into the PPV market. His rubber match with Michael Chandler will have to wait.
(Well, in a way, MMA’s “greatest trilogy” did kind of end at Bellator 120…)
Did Dana White study voodoo from Michael Jackson or something? Because Bellator has had worse luck than nearly any promotion in the history of MMA when it comes to launching a successful PPV.
In case the headline didn’t tip you off, Eddie Alvarez is out of Bellator 120—the promotion’s second attempt to break into the PPV market. His rubber match with Michael Chandler will have to wait.
Sherdog’s Greg Savage broke the news on Twitter last night. Initially, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebneydenied the rumor, saying the fight was still on. Less than 24 hours later, Bellator hasn’t officially announced anything but mediaoutlets are accepting Alvarez’s withdrawal as fact.
What’ll they do now? Hopefully they convert it to a free card on Spike, like they did with their last ill-fated PPV. It’s unlikely Rampage Jackson vs. King Mo, Tito Ortiz vs. Alexander Shlemenko, Michael Page vs. Rick Rainey [Editor’s note: They were charging money for that fight?] and Will Brooks vs. Nate Jolly will be worth the price of admission. Regarding the last fight, Brooks vs. Jolly, it’s speculated that Brooks will be bumped into the main event against Chandler but who can say for sure.
To surprisingly little reaction this weekend, Bellator announced that the lineup for Bellator 120: Alvarez vs. Chandler 3 — also known as the promotion’s first pay-per-view event — has been set. (Bellator 120 goes down Saturday, May 17th, at the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi.) Don’t worry, Bellator has clearly learned from their whole “plan a pay-per-view around two old guys and some fading UFC castoffs” phase. But are there enough intriguing, quality fights on this lineup to justify paying for a Bellator event? Let’s look over the fight card and determine for ourselves.
All nine of the fights for Bellator 120 — four Spike preliminaries, five main card contests — have been ranked solely by my interest in watching them. If you disagree, feel free to write some terrible things about me in the comments section. I look forward to ignoring them.
I don’t think either fighter is even capable of a boring match, much less a boring match against each other. I could type paragraph after paragraph on how their first two encounters resulted in two of the greatest fights in our sport’s history, and how…oh why am I even trying to pretend that I’m not going to insert an Al Bundy GIF and move along to the next fight:
To surprisingly little reaction this weekend, Bellator announced that the lineup for Bellator 120: Alvarez vs. Chandler 3 — also known as the promotion’s first pay-per-view event — has been set. (Bellator 120 goes down Saturday, May 17th, at the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi.) Don’t worry, Bellator has clearly learned from their whole “plan a pay-per-view around two old guys and some fading UFC castoffs” phase. But are there enough intriguing, quality fights on this lineup to justify paying for a Bellator event? Let’s look over the fight card and determine for ourselves.
All nine of the fights for Bellator 120 — four Spike preliminaries, five main card contests — have been ranked solely by my interest in watching them. If you disagree, feel free to write some terrible things about me in the comments section. I look forward to ignoring them.
I don’t think either fighter is even capable of a boring match, much less a boring match against each other. I could type paragraph after paragraph on how their first two encounters resulted in two of the greatest fights in our sport’s history, and how…oh why am I even trying to pretend that I’m not going to insert an Al Bundy GIF and move along to the next fight:
The go-home show before a pay-per-view is extremely influential on buy rates, which is the only reason why I’m assuming this fight isn’t on the main card. These guys have been with Bellator for ages, and always produce fun, exciting fights. I’d be more than willing to pay for this one; not that I’m complaining about getting it on cable.
This fight is such a freak show, random, “Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” pairing that Ben Askren has already labeled it a work. Why wouldn’t I be looking forward to it?
(Preliminary Card) Mike Richman vs. Goiti Yamauchi
Back at Bellator 110, it appeared that these two would crush their opponents and meet up in the next round of Bellator’s featherweight tournament. It looked like such an obvious conclusion that I advised you all to bet money on both men winning. Naturally, neither guy advanced, so Bellator booked these two to kick off the preliminaries of their inaugural pay-per-view, because of course this is a thing that’s happening. As forced as this fight feels, I’m not going to act like I won’t at least watch it.
Call me crazy, but I firmly believe that Bellator’s “Sign the UFC’s leftovers” business model isn’t so much an attempt to gain viewers by trotting out guys that fight fans used to sort-of care about as it is an attempt to quell the “These guys haven’t beaten anybody!” criticisms of their roster. In other words, Cheick Kongo isn’t the guy they want, he’s the guy they want to lose to the guys they want. Because, let’s face it, Bellator Heavyweight Champion Vitaly Minakov’s victory over Cup-Cheick did more to establish him as a legitimate heavyweight to most fight fans than a victory over a stoic, doughy Russian they’ve never heard of would have. I’ll pause for you to make your own “Who is Vitaly Minakov?” jokes, I guess (I hope you feel really good about yourself for that super original joke, by the way).
Essentially, Bellator is using Kongo as a “jobber to the stars:” a guy who can beat the not-quite-readies, but isn’t a threat to beat any of the promotion’s top heavyweights. This means that every once in a while they’ll have to book him in squash matches against 6-1-1 nobodies so fans will continue to perceive him as a threat, making his losses against the fighters Bellator actually wants to push seem that much more significant. This fight is a necessary evil, is what I’m saying.
(Main Card) Alexander Shlemenko vs. Whoever Bellator Finds to Replace Tito Ortiz at the Last Minute
(Preliminary Card) Heavyweight Tournament Final: Alexander Volkov vs. Blagoi Ivanov
Yes, Bellator’s heavyweight bouts tend to quickly reduce themselves to two guys sloppily waltzing through a “What’s cardio?” display of all things garbage-ass, but I really like the stoic Russian with an “-ov” in his last name. He’s a beast, and should be a legitimate threat to Vitaly Minakov’s unblemished record.
(Main Card) Will Brooks vs. Nate Jolly
Leave it to Bellator to put a popcorn match on the main card of their first-ever pay-per-view. Nate Jolly has never fought for Bellator, and it’s not like he’s a name that casual fans would at least recognize. If they wanted to use the regional star to entice the locals to buy tickets, there’s no reason why they couldn’t put this fight on the preliminaries and bump Mike Richman vs. Goiti Yamauchi to the main card. Likewise, if they wanted to use this fight to get Will Brooks — a 13-1 fighter who has gone 5-1 in Bellator — over with the fans, then why not book Brooks against a fighter that the average Bellator fan would actually recognize?
I’m not trying to insult either fighter/say that the fight will be boring just because I’m not heavily invested in it/deny that climate change is real/whatever it is that MMA fans automatically assume whenever someone writes that they aren’t very interested in an upcoming fight, I’m just saying that I’m really not that interested in this bout.
Tito wants a fight. Shlemenko wants a fight. As a fan, I would love to see the fight. I think it’s got this incredible, kinda cool dynamic going where a small 85er who could conceptually make 70 is going to move up to 205 to fight one of the greatest fighters in the history of 205.
I can’t even with that logic, so for now let’s just focus on the matchup at hand, and more specifically, how it will never actually happen on account of Ortiz pulling out with an injury or sickness in the coming weeks.
Tito Ortiz may be one of the greatest 205ers of all time, but he also has, as Rebney admitted, “a longand storied history of getting injured preparing for fights.” He was injured pretty much his entire UFC career, if you were to ask him, and it’s been the same for his Bellator career thus far. That being the case, we all might as well speculate as to the extent of the injury he will inevitably pull out of *this* fight with, right? It’s the Christian thing to do, so join us after the jump to vote in our poll.
Tito wants a fight. Shlemenko wants a fight. As a fan, I would love to see the fight. I think it’s got this incredible, kinda cool dynamic going where a small 85er who could conceptually make 70 is going to move up to 205 to fight one of the greatest fighters in the history of 205.
I can’t even with that logic, so for now let’s just focus on the matchup at hand, and more specifically, how it will never actually happen on account of Ortiz pulling out with an injury or sickness in the coming weeks.
Tito Ortiz may be one of the greatest 205ers of all time, but he also has, as Rebney admitted, “a longand storied history of getting injured preparing for fights.” He was injured pretty much his entire UFC career, if you were to ask him, and it’s been the same for his Bellator career thus far. That being the case, we all might as well speculate as to the extent of the injury he will inevitably pull out of *this* fight with, right? It’s the Christian thing to do, so join us after the jump to vote in our poll.
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(Complete lack of facial expressions? Unbuttoned shirt, to expose a gold medallion with possible religious significance? I’m going to take a wild guess and say this man is from…Russia? / Props: YouTube.com/alnado)
Bellator’s “Alvarez vs. Chandler III” pay-per-view card is just over a month away, but only three fights have been officially confirmed so far. And so, reigning middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko has decided to do a little YouTube matchmaking to get a big fight on the card. Here’s what “Storm” had to say in a video statement released yesterday; I’ve done my best to transcribe it in its entirety…
“Tito Ortiz, you say you want to fight May 17th on Bellator’s PPV. I will fight you. I will beat you. Tito, I respect you but I must beat you because I am champion. I know that Tito Ortiz, different weight class. I know that Tito Ortiz, light-heavyweight. This is not problem for me. I ready. I ready fight with light-heavyweight, no problem. Bjorn, make this fight for me because I am champion. I am ze best. I will make good fight. Fight of the night.
Ortiz has already accepted the challenge via Instragram and is already doing the kind of intense training that will lead to a back injury about three weeks from now. You heard it here first.
UPDATE:According to Sherdog, Shlemenko vs. Ortiz has been booked for the 5/17 PPV.
(Complete lack of facial expressions? Unbuttoned shirt, to expose a gold medallion with possible religious significance? I’m going to take a wild guess and say this man is from…Russia? / Props: YouTube.com/alnado)
Bellator’s “Alvarez vs. Chandler III” pay-per-view card is just over a month away, but only three fights have been officially confirmed so far. And so, reigning middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko has decided to do a little YouTube matchmaking to get a big fight on the card. Here’s what “Storm” had to say in a video statement released yesterday; I’ve done my best to transcribe it in its entirety…
“Tito Ortiz, you say you want to fight May 17th on Bellator’s PPV. I will fight you. I will beat you. Tito, I respect you but I must beat you because I am champion. I know that Tito Ortiz, different weight class. I know that Tito Ortiz, light-heavyweight. This is not problem for me. I ready. I ready fight with light-heavyweight, no problem. Bjorn, make this fight for me because I am champion. I am ze best. I will make good fight. Fight of the night.
Ortiz has already accepted the challenge via Instragram and is already doing the kind of intense training that will lead to a back injury about three weeks from now. You heard it here first.
UPDATE:According to Sherdog, Shlemenko vs. Ortiz has been booked for the 5/17 PPV.
In terms of fake heat, Rampage vs. King Mo might even rank above Chael vs. Wandy on the bullshit scale. Then again, this is arguably the biggest fight that Bellator can throw together right now in terms of star power, and booking it for the promotion’s (fingers crossed) first PPV show only seems logical. No other fights for the May 17th card have been announced yet; we’ll keep you posted. Some notable quotes/exaggerations from Bellator’s latest press release are below…
In terms of fake heat, Rampage vs. King Mo might even rank above Chael vs. Wandy on the bullshit scale. Then again, this is arguably the biggest fight that Bellator can throw together right now in terms of star power, and booking it for the promotion’s (fingers crossed) first PPV show only seems logical. No other fights for the May 17th card have been announced yet; we’ll keep you posted. Some notable quotes/exaggerations from Bellator’s latest press release are below…
Quinton Jackson: “I’ve been wanting to come back to Memphis for the last decade, and I’m finally getting that chance to fight in one of the biggest fights of my career for Bellator. After being part of the Bellator family for a while now, I feel like the old Rampage, and that’s not a good thing for Mo. I’m back, I’m a monster, and I’m looking to put on another entertaining fight for all my fans on May 17th.”
Muhammad Lawal: “When it comes down to it, this is a fight I’ve wanted for a long time, and I’m going to be able to beat his ass in his hometown, and everyone is going to respect me. Rampage is just a stepping stone in my way to get that title shot again and get that belt. It’s all I want, and after I beat Rampage, I’m going for that belt, simple as that.”
Bjorn Rebney: “We now have two fights on this card that are absolute fireworks. Like I said before, we have Alvarez and Chandler headlining a card that will end the best trilogy ever in MMA, and now we’ve added two more superstars to the mix with Rampage and King Mo. May 17th is going to be an absolutely huge night for Bellator, live on Pay-Per-View.”
Bellator is back, but not necessarily in a big way. Bellator 110 saw the more marketable Rampage Jackson and Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal prevail, but neither man looked stellar.
What about the rest of the card? The event started off rocky. The first two preliminary bouts ended in unsatisfying no contests—the first due to an accidental illegal knee. The second was the result of an accidental eye poke.
Of note: Daniel Weichel defeated Scott Cleve in the quarterfinal round of Bellator’s season 10 featherweight tournament. He won via submission, though the rear-naked choke was set up by a gorgeous straight right. When Cleve was on the mat, his brains were far too scrambled to adequately prevent Weichel from taking his back and working for the choke. In another prelim quarterfinal bout, Will Martinez upset the highly touted, 21-year-old prospect, Goiti Yamauchi via unanimous decision. Martinez was stronger and fought a smarter fight. He bullied and smothered Yamauchi, who was stymied by Martinez’s aggression.
The main card kicked off with the third featherweight tournament quarterfinal.
(Photo via Getty)
Bellator is back, but not necessarily in a big way. Bellator 110 saw the more marketable Rampage Jackson and Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal prevail, but neither man looked stellar.
What about the rest of the card? The event started off rocky. The first two preliminary bouts ended in unsatisfying no contests—the first due to an accidental illegal knee. The second was the result of an accidental eye poke.
Of note: Daniel Weichel defeated Scott Cleve in the quarterfinal round of Bellator’s season 10 featherweight tournament. He won via submission, though the rear-naked choke was set up by a gorgeous straight right. When Cleve was on the mat, his brains were far too scrambled to adequately prevent Weichel from taking his back and working for the choke. In another prelim quarterfinal bout, Will Martinez upset the highly touted, 21-year-old prospect, Goiti Yamauchi via unanimous decision. Martinez was stronger and fought a smarter fight. He bullied and smothered Yamauchi, who was stymied by Martinez’s aggression.
The main card kicked off with the third featherweight tournament quarterfinal. Mike Richman met Des Green. The latter fighter prevailed in a closely contested but ultimately forgettable decision win.
Up next came the fourth and final featherweight tournament quarterfinal bout. Matt Bessette faced off against UFC veteran Diego Nunes . This match was even closer than Richman-Green, and had more entertainment value to boot (head kicks galore, good exchanges, an active guard on display, etc). Bessette walked away with a split decision victory.
The co-main event of the evening featured Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal in a light heavyweight tournament semifinal (yes, you read that right. It’s a semifinal; the Bellator season 10 LHW tourney only has four fights) against Mikhail Zayats. This was by far the worst fight of the night. King Mo was expected to thrash Zayats, but he did no such thing. He gassed early, and never mounted much meaningful offense. Some few-and-far-between strikes and takedown attempts earned King Mo a unanimous decision win. If he shows up like this against Rampage Jackson (yes, even de -motivated 2014 Rampage), he’ll be destroyed—especially since Jackson’s performance was superior to Mo’s.
Jackson fought Christian M’Pumbu in the main event. The fight was awful until Jackson capitalized on M’Pumbu slipping, earning a TKO with ground and pound. How bad was the fight though? Both men literally put their hands down and started shrugging at each other in the first 30 seconds, perplexed at the other’s inactivity. This glorified dance routine continued until the end of the fight (save for one impressive flurry by Jackson).
If the fight was bad, the post-fight hysterics were worse. First, Jackson stood over M’pumbu’s listless body and started shouting at him. After that bit of theater, Jackson interrupted his own post-fight interview to start screaming at King Mo when he was brought into the cage. It got ugly, a bunch of pudgy production guys had to separate the two. It wasn’t quite Strikeforce: Nashville bad but it was close.
Rampage Jackson def. Christian M’Pumbu via KO, 4:34 of round 1
Muhammad Lawal def. Mikhail Zayats via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Matt Bessette def. Diego Nunes via split decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Desmond Green def. Mike Richman via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Preliminary Card
Will Martinez def. Goiti Yamauchi via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Daniel Weichel def. Scott Cleve via submission (rear naked choke), 3:46 of round 1
Saul Almeida def. Andrew Fisher via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Egidijus Valavicius def. Atanas Djambazov via KO, 0:48 of round 1
Ryan Quinn de. Andrew Calandrelli via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Manny Lara vs. Josh Diekman, No Contest, 0:18 of round 1
Marvin Maldonado vs. Rico DiSciullo, No Contest, 1:53 of round 1
