Tag: Bellator Season 6

Bellator 60 Recap: Curran Smashes Warren, Obtains Featherweight Title

Say what you want about how bitter SPIKE is acting towards the UFC ever since acquiring rights to Bellator. But after watching Bellator 60 last night in Hammond, Indiana on MTV2, it’s not hard to understand what SPIKE sees in the promotion. Season Six kicked off with a bang, with a new featherweight champion and four men advancing in the season’s featherweight tournament.

Even without considering Joe Warren’s Greco-Roman background, it’s no surprise that Warren’s gameplan would consist of attempting takedowns early and often after the brutal knockout loss to Alexis Vila he suffered in his last fight at Bellator 51. And while Warren found success with his takedowns, he was completely unable to keep Pat Curran on the mat. Curran landed some hard shots throughout the fight, but a hard right knee in the third round put Warren out on his feet. But since the referee didn’t stop the fight, Curran then landed a flurry of punches and knees that caused Joe Warren to turn his back to the challenger. And when the referee still didn’t stop the fight, Pat Curran landed two huge uppercuts that floored Warren, finally ending the fight one minute and twenty five seconds into the third round. With the victory, Curran improves to 17-4 in his MMA career, including a 7-1 run in Bellator.

Video After the jump.

Say what you want about how bitter SPIKE is acting towards the UFC ever since acquiring rights to Bellator. But after watching Bellator 60 last night in Hammond, Indiana on MTV2, it’s not hard to understand what SPIKE sees in the promotion. Season Six kicked off with a bang, with a new featherweight champion and four men advancing in the season’s featherweight tournament. 

Even without considering Joe Warren‘s Greco-Roman background, it’s no surprise that Warren’s gameplan would consist of attempting takedowns early and often after the brutal knockout loss to Alexis Vila he suffered in his last fight at Bellator 51. And while Warren found success with his takedowns, he was completely unable to keep Pat Curran on the mat. Curran landed some hard shots throughout the fight, but a hard right knee in the third round put Warren out on his feet. But since the referee didn’t stop the fight, Curran then landed a flurry of punches and knees that caused Joe Warren to turn his back to the challenger. And when the referee still didn’t stop the fight, Pat Curran landed two huge uppercuts that floored Warren, finally ending the fight one minute and twenty five seconds into the third round. With the victory, Curran improves to 17-4 in his MMA career, including a 7-1 run in Bellator.

 
Curran vs. Warren. Props: IronforgesIron.com

In featherweight tournament action, Daniel Straus used his size advantage to outpoint Jeremy Spoon on his way to a unanimous decision victory. After opening the fight looking for the rare standing arm-triangle, Straus opted for a more traditional attack consisting of takedowns and leg kicks for the remainder of the bout. The loss marks the first one in Jeremy Spoon’s career.

In other tournament action, Mike Corey managed to survive an early salvo from Ronnie Mann en route to a unanimous decision victory. Corey utilized his superior wrestling to put Mann on his back and rain down punches. The victory is Mike Corey’s first under Bellator. Also of note, both Marlon Sandro and Alexandre Bezerra advance in the tournament with victories by rear-naked choke. Marlon Sandro was particularly dominant against Roberto Vargas, absolutely crushing Vargas on the feet before earning the submission.

 
Sandro vs. Vargas. Props to IronforgesIron.com

Full results:

MAIN CARD

Pat Curran def. Joe Warren via KO (punches) – Round 3, 1:25
Daniel Straus def. Jeremy Spoon via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Mike Corey def. Ronnie Mann via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Marlon Sandro def. Roberto Vargas via submission (rear-naked choke)- Round 1, 3:35

PRELIMINARY CARD

Alexandre Bezerra def. Kenny Foster via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:57
Jake Nauracy def. Cory Galloway via submission (rear naked choke) – Round 2, 4:22
Travis Wiuff def. Anthony Gomez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Sean McCorkle defeats Richard White via submission (neck crank) – Round 1, 1:02
Josh Shockley def. Shamar Bailey via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27
Genair da Silva def. Bobby Reardanz via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 0:51

Exclusive: Bellator to Return to Casino Rama in Ontario May 4


(Bellator: Now with twice as much maple syrup and back bacon.)

Canadian MMA fans will get a double-dose of Bellator Fighting Championships in back-to-back months this Spring.

CagePotato.com has learned that the Chicago-based promotion has secured May 4 for its second Ontario event of 2012 and that the show will take place at Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario. As we announced last week, BFC will also be holding an April 6 event in Windsor.

The May show will be the third held at the native-run casino. Both Bellator 47 and 57 took place at the venue.


(Bellator: Now with twice as much maple syrup and back bacon.)

Canadian MMA fans will get a double-dose of Bellator Fighting Championships in back-to-back months this Spring.

CagePotato.com has learned that the Chicago-based promotion has secured May 4 for its second Ontario event of 2012 and that the show will take place at Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario. As we announced last week, BFC will also be holding an April 6 event in Windsor.

The May show will be the third held at the native-run casino. Both Bellator 47 and 57 took place at the venue.

Known for giving local fighters a shot at competing on a bigger stage, it’s likely that Bellator will include several up-and-coming mixed martial artists from the Greater Toronto Area and its surrounding municipalities to the card, which will no doubt feature some of its other contracted Canadian talent like Cory MacDonald, Ryan Ford and Nordine Taleb. The event will be rounded out by match-ups from the season 6 bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight tournaments which get underway March 9 at Bellator 60.

We’ll have more news on the fight card as it becomes available.

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 

Report: Bellator Signs Sean McCorkle for Season 6 Debut on March 9th


(“Chainsaw-f*cking” jokes are so much funnier when Dane Cook does them.)

In their continuing efforts to pick up the best fighters that Zuffa doesn’t want, Bellator has reportedly signed former UFC heavyweight prospect Sean McCorkle to compete on the undercard of Bellator 60, March 9th in Hammond, Indiana. According to Sherdog, his opponent is expected to be Richard “Big Man” White, who has lost ten of his last twelve fights.

McCorkle’s brief spin through the Octagon was highlighted by an agonizing weight cut, a debut victory against Mark Hunt, and back-to-back stoppage losses against Stefan Struve and Christian Morecraft. Since then, he’s gone 3-0 in regional leagues, with all wins by first-round submission. Like many of his early opponents, his last two victims carried losing records. McCorkle is already booked to face Mike Gordon next Saturday at a North American Allied Fight Series event in West Virginia. Gordon is undefeated in sanctioned MMA competition, with a perfect record of 1-0. Christ, Sean, where do you find these people?


(“Chainsaw-f*cking” jokes are so much funnier when Dane Cook does them.)

In their continuing efforts to pick up the best fighters that Zuffa doesn’t want, Bellator has reportedly signed former UFC heavyweight prospect Sean McCorkle to compete on the undercard of Bellator 60, March 9th in Hammond, Indiana. According to Sherdog, his opponent is expected to be Richard “Big Man” White, who has lost ten of his last twelve fights.

McCorkle’s brief spin through the Octagon was highlighted by an agonizing weight cut, a debut victory against Mark Hunt, and back-to-back stoppage losses against Stefan Struve and Christian Morecraft. Since then, he’s gone 3-0 in regional leagues, with all wins by first-round submission. Like many of his early opponents, his last two victims carried losing records. McCorkle is already booked to face Mike Gordon next Saturday at a North American Allied Fight Series event in West Virginia. Gordon is undefeated in sanctioned MMA competition, with a perfect record of 1-0. Christ, Sean, where do you find these people?

Bellator 60 will kick off the promotion’s sixth season, and will feature a featherweight title fight between Pat Curran and Joe Warren, as well as all four quarterfinal matches in the Season 6 featherweight bracket. The event was originally scheduled to take place on March 2nd, but that date has now been scrapped.

Semi-related Sean McCorkle quote: ”I always said in the past, the only people who take steroids are the guys who like winning and money.”

Bellator Season 6 Update: War Machine Gets His First Opponent, Maiquel Falcao Joins Middleweight Tourney


(War Machine poses with the kids’ MMA class that he is somehow allowed to teach. Props: @WarMachine170)

Two interesting updates to Bellator’s sixth season, which begins March 2nd…

— After signing to the promotion in December, War Machine has secured his quarterfinal opponent for Bellator’s upcoming welterweight tournament. As he wrote on Twitter yesterday, “Fuck ya its on! My first fight in @BellatorMMA tournament will be March 30th vs. Karl Amoussou!! Gonna send him back to France in peices!!” It will be Machine’s first appearance since his impressive post-prison win against Roger Huerta in November.

Karl “Psycho” Amoussou (13-4-2, 1-1 in Bellator) is indeed French, and has also competed for M-1, Strikeforce, DREAM, and Pancrase. The Haute Tension product most recently scored a first-round TKO over Jesus Martinez in a 175-pound catchweight bout at Bellator 59 in November. Bellator’s Season 6 welterweight bracket will include Bryan Baker, Brian Foster, undefeated triangle-choke specialist David Rickels, and Season 5 tournament finalist Ben Saunders. War Machine is already looking forward to an emotional reunion with his TUF 6 castmate.

In other news…


(War Machine poses with the kids’ MMA class that he is somehow allowed to teach. Props: @WarMachine170)

Two interesting updates to Bellator’s sixth season, which begins March 2nd…

— After signing to the promotion in December, War Machine has secured his quarterfinal opponent for Bellator’s upcoming welterweight tournament. As he wrote on Twitter yesterday, “Fuck ya its on! My first fight in @BellatorMMA tournament will be March 30th vs. Karl Amoussou!! Gonna send him back to France in peices!!” It will be Machine’s first appearance since his impressive post-prison win against Roger Huerta in November.

Karl “Psycho” Amoussou (13-4-2, 1-1 in Bellator) is indeed French, and has also competed for M-1, Strikeforce, DREAM, and Pancrase. The Haute Tension product most recently scored a first-round TKO over Jesus Martinez in a 175-pound catchweight bout at Bellator 59 in November. Bellator’s Season 6 welterweight bracket will include Bryan Baker, Brian Foster, undefeated triangle-choke specialist David Rickels, and Season 5 tournament finalist Ben Saunders. War Machine is already looking forward to an emotional reunion with his TUF 6 castmate.

In other news…

— Sherdog has confirmed that one-time UFC competitor Maiquel Falcao (28-4) will make his promotional debut as part of the Bellator Season 6 middleweight tournament; his debut date and first opponent haven’t been announced yet. Since being released from the UFC last May due to legal drama, the Chute Boxe-bred knockout artist has gone 2-1 in Brazilian leagues. Though he reportedly suffered a heart-attack in November, Falcao downplayed the story on his Facebook account, writing: “I’ve had some health problems caused by excessive training. This generated several rumors, but none of them is true. What actually happened was too much training, not enough rest.”

Bellator Adds Masakatsu Ueda and Hiroshi Nakamura to Season 6 Bantamweight Tournament

Ueda & Nakamura. Photos not exactly to scale. (Pics: Sherdog.com)

While some MMA promotions are culling their divisions, Bellator is steadily adding depth to its ranks. The Spike-bound organization has announced the addition of two new fighters to their roster. Japanese standouts Masakatsu Ueda and Hiroshi Nakamura will make their Bellator debuts in the Season 6 Bantamweight tournament.

Nakamura went 3-1 in 2011 and comes into the tourney riding a pair of wins over Seiji Akao and Yoshiro Maeda. With his last six fights going the distance, “Iron” seems to have the sort of Fitch-level durability one needs to survive the grueling tournament format.

Ueda has only fallen once in his six-year career. The top-10 ranked bantamweight has also only fought outside of the Shooto organization on one occasion, picking up a win over Royler Gracie at AFC 1 last September. Ueda also holds wins over Rumina Sato and Bellator Season 5 Bantamweight Tournament Champion Eduardo Dantas. He still has an upcoming bout against Kyoji Horiguchi before making his way stateside.

The pair join a nearly-completed tournament line-up of Alexis Vila, Marcos Galvao, Ed West, Rodrigo Lima, Luis Nogueira. Any favorites going in?

Ueda & Nakamura. Photos not exactly to scale.  (Pics: Sherdog.com)

While some MMA promotions are culling their divisions, Bellator is steadily adding depth to its ranks. The Spike-bound organization has announced the addition of two new fighters to their roster. Japanese standouts Masakatsu Ueda and Hiroshi Nakamura will make their Bellator debuts in the Season 6 Bantamweight tournament.

Nakamura went 3-1 in 2011 and comes into the tourney riding a pair of wins over Seiji Akao and Yoshiro Maeda. With his last six fights going the distance, “Iron” seems to have the sort of Fitch-level durability one needs to survive the grueling tournament format.

Ueda has only fallen once in his six-year career. The top-10 ranked bantamweight has also only fought outside of the Shooto organization on one occasion, picking up a win over Royler Gracie at AFC 1 last September. Ueda also holds wins over Rumina Sato and Bellator Season 5 Bantamweight Tournament Champion Eduardo Dantas. He still has an upcoming bout against Kyoji Horiguchi before making his way stateside.

The pair join a nearly-completed tournament line-up of Alexis Vila, Marcos Galvao, Ed West, Rodrigo Lima, Luis Nogueira. Any favorites going in?