Tag: Bellator

The biggest fight of Dave Jansen’s career awaits him Friday in the form of a Bellator lightweight title shot. 

Taking on current 155-pound champ Will Brooks at Bellator 136 in Irvine, California, Jansen should perhaps feel jitters and nervousness. 

Instead, he’s calm and introspective. 

He clawed his way out of metaphorical hell to earn this chance, and he doesn’t intend to squander it. While he is a heavy betting underdog against Brooks, Jansen feels he knows something others don’t, and this knowledge brings him supreme confidence. 

“He [Brooks] has strong striking, strong wrestling and he’s super confident in himself,” Jansen told Bleacher Report. “These are all virtues I feel I possess even more so than him. I see holes in his game I’m looking to exploit—mentally and physically—and I just have the right people around me. I feel like I am the right person to get this job done and take the belt back to Portland with me.” 

A quick glance at Jansen’s resume will tell you he owns the experience and the talent necessary to earn a victory Friday evening. He’s 20-2—losing only to UFC veterans—and he’s currently enjoying a seven-fight winning streak inside the Bellator cage. 

That ride, however, has been anything but smooth. 

After winning the Bellator Season Seven Lightweight Tournament in March of 2013, Jansen earned a shot at then-lightweight champ Michael Chandler’s strap. He’d conquered mental and physical challenges alike on his road to this moment, and his time had come. 

He was ready for the spotlight. And then he blew out his knee. 

Opportunity vanished. 

After an 18-month layoff spent recovering and preparing to fight another day, Jansen returned to the cage at Bellator 130, defeating Rick Hawn via unanimous decision. 

“For me, it [the layoff] was just a little speed bump,” Jansen said. “I didn’t have to fight Rick Hawn. They offered me the fight, and I jumped right on it because I thought it’d be a great opportunity to get myself right back into contention. I just looked at it as a way to step my game up. I’m a better fighter for preparing for Rick Hawn.” 

Jansen’s performance did not suffer upon his return, and he credits his success to his friends, trainers, family and teammates. They’re a tight-knit bunch—“We’re one organism,” as he tells it—and they would not let him fail. 

Beyond that triumph, though, there’s more to the Jansen story. 

After a successful high school wrestling career that saw him win the Oregon state championship in 1997, Jansen went to college at the University of Oregon with a sweet scholarship in hand. His collegiate career was set: He’d wrestle, he’d get his degree and he’d begin his life. 

In two years, instead of rising to national contention in the wrestling scene, he was out of school altogether. 

“I hurt myself on a skateboard [in college],” Jansen said. “From that point on, I was in a mental funk. I just got into a self-sabotaging thought process.” 

After years of mental anguish working as a short-order cook, Jansen found his sanctuary some six years later in MMA. A co-worker, UFC veteran Chris Wilson, told Jansen about the sport, suggesting it as a way to vent and to fill the combat void left by his abrupt departure from wrestling. 

Upon seeing Wilson compete in an International Fight League event on TV, Jansen was sold. 

“That’s when I noticed, ‘Oh, Portland has its own professional MMA team. I want to be on that!'” Jansen said. “And I knew nothing about fighting. I just figured I’d go in there and just, ‘Who is this Ryan Schultz? I can take him.’ I go out to Team Quest and I learned, ‘Oh, I need to learn how to fight.’ That’s when guys like Ian Loveland, Matt Horwich, Ed Herman and Robert Follis really helped me out on so many levels.” 

Jansen got off to a blazing 13-0 start as a professional before dropping back-to-back bouts under the World Extreme Cagefighting banner to Kamal Shalorus and Ricardo Lamas, but his fate was already sealed. 

He found what he needed. Fighting gave him the drive and the will to make something better of himself, and he was committed for life. 

“I could’ve gone one of two ways,” Jansen said. “I could’ve just been a miserable short-order cook smoking cigarettes and drinking after work. I could’ve gone that route. But thankfully I chose the other route, which was just to better myself and make conscious decisions that move myself forward and hopefully humanity at the same time.”  

At Bellator 136, Jansen looks to take the next step on this journey, and the whole experience is as much inward as it is outward for him. His emotions were at war, and he conquered them. 

Now he moves on to the outward battle against Brooks, where he will have the chance to turn his achievements into something more tangible, something more easily displayed and presented to the world: a shiny golden belt. 

“It’s going to help me, [and] it’s going to help a lot of people in my life,” Jansen said. “I think success is a good thing, and I’m ready to accept it.” 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Two of the best young stars on the Bellator roster are in action on Friday night from the Bren Events Center in Irvine, California. Lightweight champion “Ill” Will Brooks will defend his title against Dave Jansen. Also on the card is super impressive submissions artist Marcin Held. The lightweight contender could be next in line for a title shot at 155 pounds if he can beat Alexander Sarnavskiy.

Take a look at the hype video tweeted by Bellator president Scott Coker.

Here’s how you can watch the show, as well as a look at the main card with predictions. Just below the table is a closer look at the top three fights on the card.

 

Held Will Again Exhibit His Ground Game

Whether we’re talking about Bellator or the UFC, Held is one of the best young submissions fighters in the world. Bellator officials know they have something special in the 23-year-old from Poland. The promotion is marketing Held’s bout against Sarnavskiy alongside the Brooks-Jansen and Joe Schilling-Rafael Carvalho bouts.

Despite how young Held is, he has been fighting in Bellator since 2011, when he lost to former champion Michael Chandler. Held was just 19 years old then and clearly not mature enough to beat an elite fighter. Since that defeat, he’s 10-1, with six wins coming by way of submission.

Sarnavskiy is also an accomplished submissions fighter. He has forced 18 former foes to tap out, so he has his own set of impressive credentials on the mat. That said, Sarnavskiy doesn’t possess the diversity that Held has as a submission fighter.

Held’s opponents know that he wants to grapple and submit them, yet they can’t escape his grasp. Held has improved so much since his last defeat to Jansen in 2013. Look for him to notch another impressive submission win to move one step closer to a title shot.

 

Carvalho Will Stop Schilling

Joe “Stitch ‘Em Up” Schilling is one of the most overrated mixed martial artists in Bellator. He’s being marketed as a stud, but he has a record of 2-3. He scored a highlight-reel KO over an old and defenseless Melvin Manhoef in November 2014, and that has sparked Schilling’s notoriety.

For as exciting as Manhoef can be, he’s also one of the worst defensive fighters in history. To put it plainly, Schilling hasn’t beaten anyone. His bout with Rafael Carvalho is positioned where it is on the card because it has the probability to end in an exciting KO.

Schilling earned his reputation with the KO stoppage of Manhoef, but Carvalho has a ton of power himself. All but one of his 10 wins has come by KO or stoppage. A knockout would be exciting, but taking the fight to the ground would put Carvalho in the best spot to win.

Even though he hasn’t shown much of a ground game in his career, it would behoove Carvalho to show another layer on Friday.

Something tells me if he can secure a takedown against Schilling, he’ll dominate him from there. Schilling’s background is as a kickboxer and boxer. The three losses in his career have all come from a submission. Translation: He has no clue what to do on the ground.

Carvalho probably isn’t going to go for a submission, but he will likely pound Schilling out for the TKO win.

 

And Still…

Per Brooks’ Twitter account, he was ready to take on Jansen a week before the bout is scheduled to take place.

The champion’s athleticism and explosiveness create a real dilemma for all of his opponents.

His striking is improving, but his best skill is still his dominant wrestling game. Few lightweights can match Brooks’ strength and technique when it comes to grappling.

That said, Jansen is no pushover. He’s a perfect 7-0 in Bellator, and he’s earned a chance to fight for the title. However, he’ll have to be content with the experience, as Brooks’ speed and defense are going to befuddle him.

Hansen deserves credit for compiling his current run with Bellator, but on Friday he’ll be outworked and out-grappled. Brooks will retain his title with a lopsided unanimous-decision win.

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Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Bellator continues its show under the reign of Scott Coker, as Bellator 136 airs live this weekend. Bolstered by a lightweight title tilt, the card has some big names and should pull some good ratings.

Will Brooks will defend his lightweight championship against Dave Jansen in the main event. Brooks has become one of the best lightweights in the world and a fighter who could be the future of the 155-pound division.

Also on the card are kickboxing star Joe Schilling, former Bellator heavyweight king Alexander Volkov and Russian stud Alexander Sarnavskiy.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at Bellator 136 and make some picks.

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