Phil Davis could soon find out if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. The free agent light heavyweight contender is reportedly “very close” to signing a new multi-fight deal with Bellator MMA. MMAfighting’s Ariel Helwani broke the news on Wednesday, stating an official announcement could soon follow: According to sources […]
Phil Davis could soon find out if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. The free agent light heavyweight contender is reportedly “very close” to signing a new multi-fight deal with Bellator MMA. MMAfighting’s Ariel Helwani broke the news on Wednesday, stating an official announcement could soon follow: According to sources […]
Gleristone Santos, quite possibly the best MMA prospect in all of Brazil, has signed a contract with the Bellator promotion.
The report came Tuesday from Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting.com.
The 26-year-old Toninho Furia is a featherweight wit…
Gleristone Santos, quite possibly the best MMA prospect in all of Brazil, has signed a contract with the Bellator promotion.
The 26-year-old Toninho Furia is a featherweight with a 27-4 professional fighting record. After competing for years in various leagues mainly around Brazil, Santos moved in 2014 to the U.S.-based Titan Fighting Championship. He went 2-0 under that banner, defeating UFC and Bellator veteran Alvin Robinson by knockout and then taking a split decision over Robert Washington.
Santos has not lost a fight in his last nine contests. His last defeat came in 2011 when he was submitted by UFC alum Carlo Prater.
Bellator makes it official, Gleristone “Toninho Furia” Santos has signed a multi-fight deal with the promotion
In its annual list of the year’s top up-and-coming fighters, Bleacher Report named Santos the No. 5 overall prospect and the best among those competing in the 145-pound division.
A natural athlete, Santos has been on hardcore fans’ radars for some time now. He is known as a high-caliber striker, landing sharp kicks and punches and knocking opponents out with seemingly little effort. ToninhoFuria has nine pro wins by knockout.
But he’s a well-rounded fighter with an improving grappling game. He has also notched six wins by way of submission. Two of his losses came by submission, with one each coming by knockout and decision.
It’s unknown when Santos will make his debut in the organization, though it is easy to imagine the still-young but seasoned veteran going directly to the top end of Bellator‘s featherweight division.
The division’s current champion is another Brazilian standout in Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. Other standouts in Bellator‘s 145-pound stable include Daniel Straus, Pat Curran, Darrion Caldwell and Georgi Karakhanyan.
Greetings, Nation. If you haven’t noticed by the all but complete lack of posts this week, I’ve been away from the office (and in fact out of the state) to deal with some legal issues pertaining to a…gambling snafu. Yeah, let’s go with that.
My recent absence aside, the cutbacks across the board here at Castle CP have forced us to severely limit the amount of posts we can put up per day. So I, in my infinite wisdom, figured a John Oliver-esque recap of the week’s events in a single post would be the best way to keep you in the know moving forward, should CP happen to be your lone source of MMA news. Which if it is…
But let us begin with perhaps the biggest story of the week…
Greetings, Nation. If you haven’t noticed by the all but complete lack of posts this week, I’ve been away from the office (and in fact out of the state) to deal with some legal issues pertaining to a…gambling snafu. Yeah, let’s go with that.
My recent absence aside, the cutbacks across the board here at Castle CP have forced us to severely limit the amount of posts we can put up per day. So I, in my infinite wisdom, figured a John Oliver-esque recap of the week’s events in a single post would be the best way to keep you in the know moving forward, should CP happen to be your lone source of MMA news. Which if it is…
But let us begin with perhaps the biggest story of the week…
-In news no one — I repeat, no one — could have seen coming (except us, like, a month ago), Rampage Jackson has been forced out of his UFC 186 co-main event matchup with Fabio Maldonado. OH THE SHOCK AND TERROR AND ALSO AWE. If you recall, Bellator filed a lawsuit against Jackson back in March following the news that he had re-signed with the UFC while still under one of those “crazy contracts” that the Rebney Era became infamous for.
On Tuesday, New Jersey judge Karen L. Suter granted Bellator an injunction that successfully blocked Rampage from fighting at UFC 186 at the end of the month. When asked why she backed Bellator in this case, Suter claimed that “Equities plaintiff legal talk legal talk peas and carrots.” I’m paraphrasing, but you can read the bullet points here.
-In a more positive story, the UFC announced the hiring of “anti-doping crusader” Jeff Novitzky as vice president of athlete health and performance, a huge step forward in light of the promotion’s newly-instated drug testing policies. Novitzky is the perhaps best known for leading the investigation against both Barry Bonds and BALCO back in 2002 and Lance Armstrong in 2010 while working for the FDA. Why Chael Sonnen, who called out Armstrong years before any of us were ready to hear it, has not yet been brought onto the UFC’s new anti-steroid A-team remains a complete mystery.
-Speaking of steroids, Jorge de Oliveira became the most recent UFC fighter to get nailed for stanozolol, following his loss to Christos Giagos at Fight Night 62. Oliveira has been suspended for a year retroactive to the March 21st event, and his name will likely never be spoken on our tongues again.
-Alexis Dufresne (relationship status to Andy Dufresne: Uncertain) was also caught by a pre-fight medical…for pregnancy! You see how I turned that around on you like that? Bow down to the master, bitches!!! (But seriously, pregnancy is a beautiful thing and should not be trivialized.) Following her 0-2 run in the UFC, Dufresne was set to make her Bellator debut at Bellator 137 in May until a pre-fight medical exam revealed that she was with child.
-In fight-booking news, Mike Swick has been greenlit to return to the octagon for the first time since his 1-1 run in the promotion back in 2012, which itself followed a two year absence due to injuries. The inventor of The Swickatine, Swicks Cheese, and The Swick-ffer will face off against dangerous striker Alex Garcia at UFC 189.
-For its first trip to Poland, the UFC has booked an absolutely abysmal card in Fight Night 64, as is tradition. Barring the main event rematch between Mirko Cro Cop and Gabriel Gonzaga, the four fight main card features three fighters without a Wikipedia page, one of whom is named Sheldon. Sheldon, you guys. UFC Krakow does feature the long-awaited debut of Alexandra Albu, however, which makes this a good a time as any to remind you that she is smokin’ hot…er…incredibly marketable.
-And finally, this photo. My God, this photo. (via r/mma)
Joe Schilling is a badass.
Let’s just get that fact out of the way. As if knocking out Melvin Manhoef at Bellator 131 in his first MMA bout in over six years wasn’t impressive enough, Schilling did it after losing his father and a close cousin ju…
Joe Schilling is a badass.
Let’s just get that fact out of the way. As if knocking out Melvin Manhoef at Bellator 131 in his first MMA bout in over six years wasn’t impressive enough, Schilling did it after losing his father and a close cousin just weeks before the bout.
He nearly didn’t make it to the cage that night. Thoughts of pulling out and abandoning the matchup ran wild, and it took some tough love from his mind coach to set him straight.
“He said, ‘Are you going to give up fighting now because these people died? Your life stops? Your kids don’t need to get fed anymore? Your bills don’t need to get paid? Your coaches shouldn’t be able to see you succeed because this happened?'” Schilling told Bleacher Report. “He put it really bluntly to me, and everything he said was right. I just focused on the fight and dealt with it after the fight.”
Schilling said his mind coach likened dealing with the grief during training camp to an app running in the background of your phone. Even though you’re not actively using the app, it’s draining your phone’s battery.
Even though his loved ones had passed, and he needed to move forward with his life, the grief stuck and sucked away his energy and will.
Understanding this fact, though, gave Schilling the motivation and the confidence to compete, and he kept his coach’s words in mind as he battled through difficulties leading up to his Bellator 136 matchup Friday against Rafael Carvalho.
“I was sick—I might as well put it out there—I had bronchitis and a throat infection [leading into this fight],” Schilling said. “Normally, that would really upset me and make me nervous. But after what I went through before and it worked out so well, I think it’s more of a stable mindset at this point. It was a great result from a difficult experience, and it gives me a lot of confidence going into this fight.”
Another source of confidence for Schilling comes from his success at the highest level in muaythai and kickboxing. He is a World Boxing Council Muaythai champion three times over, and he won the 2013 Glory Middleweight World Championship Tournament.
This experience, he said, puts him at a major advantage inside the cage. He’s accustomed to seeing high-level kicks and punches, and he has already adapted to a speed in the striking game that most MMA competitors do not approach. He’s utilizing a polished and smooth six-speed transmission, while most of his opponents can only tap into a third or fourth gear at best.
While he admits anything can happen in MMA—”It’s like when Kevin Randleman knocked out Mirko Cro Cop,” he’s quick to note—as long as his fights are standing, he feels he has the advantage against anyone in the sport.
“I don’t think there’s anybody who is as high a level of striker as me in MMA, including [former UFC middleweight champion] Anderson Silva,” Schilling said. “A lot of people got knocked out by Anderson Silva or caught by a punch from Anderson Silva because they’re not used to seeing that level of striking or that speed with which he throws his combinations. So, I feel like I see better, and I’m used to seeing higher level striking than these guys are going to give me, so to speak.”
MMA, however, is not kickboxing. There’s the element of grappling, that pesky component that keeps many of the sport’s best strikers from reaching the top.
Schilling was part of this group when he made his first run in MMA in 2008, going just 1-3 with all three losses coming via submission.
Now, as he recommits himself to the sport under the Bellator banner, he’s more mature and more focused.
He has helped some of the best MMA fighters in the world train for fights—guys like UFC staples Nick and Nate Diaz, Dan Henderson and Mark Munoz just to name a few—and those crazy submissions suddenly don’t seem so scary anymore.
“I’m a much more serious athlete than I was back then, and I’m much more prepared for the ground and the wrestling,” Schilling said. “Before, when I was doing MMA, it was like, ‘Oh, I better knock him out before he takes me down.’ Now, it isn’t such a big issue. I know how to get back to my feet. I know how to submit people on the ground.”
This moment of clarity, the realization that, “Hey, the ground isn’t hot lava, and I don’t need to fear it, after all” came against Manhoef in Schilling’s Bellator debut.
Manhoef rocked Schilling with a big right hand midway through the first round and followed his foe to the canvas in pursuit of the finish. This was Schilling’s worst-case scenario. This is precisely where he didn’t want to be.
“I had built him up in my head to be so strong that the last thing I wanted to do was be knocked down and have Melvin Manhoef pounding on me on the ground,” Schilling said. “But when it went down there, I had this moment of clarity, where I was like, ‘He’s not nearly as strong as I thought!’
“I was able to get back to my guard and get out of that horrible position and start working on my elbows. I really feel like if they hadn’t split us up, I would’ve submitted Melvin that night.”
After he showcases his latest evolution for fans in Irvine, California, and across the globe against Carvalho at Bellator 136, Schilling said he will continue to split time between MMA and kickboxing. He may even sprinkle a little boxing into the mix.
“There’s been talk recently with Spike TV about me doing some PBC boxing, which would be fantastic. It’s something I’m really into,” Schilling said. “This is the first time in my career where I have fights scheduled right after another. Right after I finish one fight, there’s already another one being promoted, which is great. I’m really excited to see how well I can do staying that busy.”
Mixed martial arts has a number of champions across the sport. Those within the Ultimate Fighting Championship are usually recognized as the cream of the crop. However, that does not mean that other men and women do not deserve recognition. Will Brooks…
Mixed martial arts has a number of champions across the sport. Those within the Ultimate Fighting Championship are usually recognized as the cream of the crop. However, that does not mean that other men and women do not deserve recognition. Will Brooks is one of those fighters, and right now, he may be one of the most underrated champions in MMA.
With a 15-1 professional record, it’s interesting that Brooks still flies under the radar with many mixed martial arts fans. His breakthrough moment came at Bellator 120 when he became the interim lightweight champion. This win didn’t come without controversy, as many felt that Michael Chandler defeated Brooks in the bout—so much so that judge Rob Hinds defended his decision to award the fifth round to Brooks in an interview with MMA Mania’s Michael Stets.
“Looking at the full five minutes, what Chandler did the last minute and 15, or whatever it is, wasn’t more effective than the effectiveness that Will Brooks [displayed] through that entire round up until then,” Hinds said in the interview. “That’s why I saw Round 5 going Will Brooks’ way.”
Brooks didn’t need the judges the second time around, as he would finish Chandler at Bellator 131. Still, that performance has not been enough to make Brooks a major star in the sport. He expects that to change with more dominant defenses of the lightweight title.
“[I plan on] making sure people understand this is not something that just happened,” Brooks was quoted as saying in a Sherdog.com report by TristenCritchfield. “This is a long story; I’m going to be around for a very long time, and I’m always going to get better.”
Brooks has continued to look better with every outing since joining Bellator in 2013. Now, as the champion, he will defend his title against former WEC competitor Dave Jansen at Bellator 136. Jansen has not been impressed with Brooks and his rise to fame in MMA.
“It’s very evident to me that he’s dishonest with himself, dishonest with others. He comes off as a bit of a phony,” Jansen said in a separate piece by Critchfield. “I feel Will Brooks’ fear, and that’s genuine, and that’s coming across in the interviews I have seen.”
Whether or not Brooks is afraid of the challenger will remain to be seen on Friday night.
This is a promising time for Brooks to put on a spectacular performance during his defense against Jansen. Over in the UFC, Anthony Pettis has been unseated as the lightweight champion by Rafael dos Anjos. Pettis was expected to become a superstar worthy of the nickname “Showtime,” but losing the belt puts a major snag in those plans.
Even though Brooks fights for Bellator, with proper placement, he could become the face of the lightweight division. Viacom, Bellator’s parent company, has the ability and funds to promote its stars, but the company has yet to find a champion with the desire to promote himself or herself just as much. Brooks seems like the man to fit that mold.
“This is just the beginning for me,” Brooks told Critchfield. “People are going to see not just what I do in mixed martial arts, but what I do outside of mixed martial arts.”
“The Time Is Now” has become a mantra used by the UFC to describe their efforts to grow in 2015. However, Brooks can use the same saying as he enters his title fight at Bellator 136 to pave his way toward becoming a star in the sport.
It’s more than a little hard to believe Marcin Held is just 23 years old.
For starters, he’s been a professional mixed martial artist since September of 2008, a span of nearly seven years (that made you feel old, huh?).
He received his firs…
It’s more than a little hard to believe Marcin Held is just 23 years old.
For starters, he’s been a professional mixed martial artist since September of 2008, a span of nearly seven years (that made you feel old, huh?).
He received his first taste of combat inside the steel cage at 16. He began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu at 9 and boxing at 15. His life to this point has been defined by combat, and this constant immersion in the world of punches, kicks, knees, takedowns and submissions has lent him a certain calm under fire rarely seen by someone his age.
Even though virtually the entire nation of Poland will be rooting for him Friday evening, and a lightweight title shot is likely on the line against Sarnavskiy, Held refuses to get flustered. He’s in control of his emotions, and he’s focused on the task at hand.
He’s a lifelong fighter, after all, and this is nothing new.
“It’s very nice [to have the Polish support],” Held told Bleacher Report. “[But] I’m not really thinking about this. I’m trying to do what I have to do. I’m trying hard, and I’m doing everything I can to not fail. There’s no pressure for me.”
Perhaps it’s the heavy accent. Perhaps it’s his stellar 20-3 record with 15 finishes that reminds you he’s a cold-blooded killer inside the cage. Perhaps it’s the fact that, at 23, he’s already accomplished more in his MMA career than most prospects will achieve in a lifetime.
Whatever it is, there’s no denying Held owns a certain mystique. His words come out direct and to the point, and he doesn’t reach for hyperbole to describe his accomplishments. To him, it’s just his path. This is what he’s meant to do.
Even when talking about his stellar Brazilian jiu-jitsu background—which has seen him capture several prestigious medals in both gi and no-gi divisions—Held refuses to admit he’s something special. They call him “The Polish Prodigy,” but to hear him tell it, he’s anything but.
“I think Brazilian jiu-jitsu is for everyone,” Held said. “You don’t need something special to be good at it. There are a lot of different techniques, a lot of different moves, and everyone can adapt their styles to themselves.”
As his matchup with Sarnavskiy approaches, Held remains calm and focused. Sarnavskiy‘s 30-2 record contains seven knockouts and 18 submissions, and the Russian fighter will, by most accounts, own an advantage in the striking department on fight night.
To the rapidly evolving Held, though, his opponent’s skills are nothing to fret.
“He’s very good standing, but I’ve had fights like this before where my opponent was better standing,” Held said. “So I know what to do. I’ve done a lot of stand-up with my coach to prepare.”
Held is even less concerned about Sarnavskiy‘s 18 submission victories. Held is a whiz on the ground, and despite owning only 11 submission victories of his own, he sees the ground game as a major advantage for himself at Bellator 136.
“A lot of people are saying he’s a good grappler because he has a lot of submissions, but his submissions are always after a big punch when he knocks his opponent down; then he goes and submits them,” Held said. “He knows what to do on the ground, but I still think I have a big advantage there.”
While he’s not looking past Sarnavskiy by any stretch, Held looks forward to a rematch with another lightweight competitor on Friday’s card.
In the main event, Dave Jansen will challenge for Will Brooks’ lightweight title, a fight that Held will watch diligently.
He previously lost to Jansen at Bellator 93 in the finals of the Bellator Season Seven Lightweight Tournament, and now he wants his revenge.
“I want Dave Jansen to win,” Held said. “I would like a fight with him again…I made some mistakes with my strategy—I lost too much power in the second round, and in the third round I was exhausted. Now I think I’m much better. Now I think the fight would go differently.”
