Bellator 134 started off as a strong card, but injuries have ravaged it. That’s right, Bellator 134 is around the corner, and it’s limping to Friday’s finish line.
Emanuel Newton defends his light heavyweight title against Liam McGeary, who has proved …
Bellator 134 started off as a strong card, but injuries have ravaged it. That’s right, Bellator 134 is around the corner, and it’s limping to Friday’s finish line.
Emanuel Newton defends his light heavyweight title against Liam McGeary, who has proved to be the true top contender. The card is supported by a co-main event with Paul Daley, who takes on Andre Santos in what should be a barnburner.
This card has seen a ton of changes, but it appears we are ready to go with a new five-fight main card. Here are the predictions for Bellator 134.
At 38, Melvin Manhoef (29-13-1) is a finished product. You know exactly what to expect when he fights. There will be violence. It will be furious. And someone will end up looking at the ceiling.
Fifty-four times, in a career spanning almost 20 years, i…
At 38, Melvin Manhoef (29-13-1) is a finished product. You know exactly what to expect when he fights. There will be violence. It will be furious. And someone will end up looking at the ceiling.
Fifty-four times, in a career spanning almost 20 years, it’s been his opponent who has been unable to finish the fight, victim of powerful winging punches that are truly frightening to behold.
“I’m a junkie for the knockout,” he said on the Bellator 133 broadcast, moments before walking to the cage. That’s not subtle—but it’s self evidently true.
In recent years, as he’s slowed and grapplers have improved their games, he’s been the victim of his own success, chasing glory too often for his own good. When Manhoef smells blood, all science fades. There is only violence.
As thrilling as it feels, this aggressive approach can backfire, his punches landing just short and his opponent’s counters landing flush in turn. That doesn’t make his fights any less compelling. The narrative will be the same as it was in his youth—it’s just the story’s end that is now followed by a question mark rather than an exclamation point.
It’s what made Manhoef’s fight with former Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko (52-9) so interesting. Both men needed a win to reestablish their bonafides and insert themselves back into the Bellator championship scene. The winner would rise to relevance. The loser would be relegated to midcard action fights or “opponent” status.
Shlemenko’s trademark spinning strikes aren’t supposed to work against sophisticated strikers. His impressive record, too, has come under fire from cynics not impressed by his pathetic performance against aging legend Tito Ortiz last year.
But he answered any lingering questions about his ability with a spinning right hand that landed right on Manhoef’s skull. After consecutive losses, both early in the first round by submission, Shlemenko badly needed this—not just a win but a moment.
It was going to take a lot to erase the memory of Ortiz beating him so casually in a one-sided fight or to make people forget about Brandon Halsey’s surprising quick upset win, taking Shlemenko’s title the way Ortiz took his pride.
A spinning-back-fist KO against one of MMA‘s most legendary strikers? That just might do the trick.
“Scott Coker please,” Shlemenko begged the Bellator promoter after the fight. “This is my belt. I make mistake. I’m coming for you, Halsey. I’m coming for you.”
Is a single win against a fading star enough to earn another shot at the title? Probably not in the UFC, where each division is a dozen-solid-fighters deep. But in Bellator, where world-class fighters are at a premium, it certainly put Shlemenko in the conversation.
Alexander Shlemenko rocked Melvin Manhoef’s world on Saturday night at Bellator 133 in Fresno, California. A spinning backfist found the mark in the second round and Manhoef’s lights went out.
Here’s a look at the decisive blow from Zombie Prophet, vi…
Alexander Shlemenko rocked Melvin Manhoef’s world on Saturday night at Bellator 133 in Fresno, California. A spinning backfist found the mark in the second round and Manhoef’s lights went out.
Here’s a look at the decisive blow from Zombie Prophet, via Ben Fowlkes of USA Today:
Shlemenko continually tried to land spinning techniques, but Manhoef was able to absorb or sidestep the kicks and punches through the first round. He was also doing a good job stuffing Shlemenko’s takedown attempts.
Manhoef managed to land a hard right hand in the first round, but it didn’t land square on Shlemenko’s face, catching part of the Russian’s shoulder instead.
In the second round, Manhoef got careless and got caught rushing end and he suffered his second straight vicious, one-punch KO. In his last fight against Joe Schilling in Nov. 2014, Manhoef ate a counter right hand that also sent him sprawling to a KO defeat.
At 38 years old, the veteran KO artist has been the canvas much more than he’s been the painter of late. Retirement should be a real option for him at this point.
As for Shlemenko, he’s right back in the mix to regain the title he lost to Brad Halsey in Sept. 2014. He’s now won two fights in a row, and has to be on track to get another shot at his title with perhaps one more impressive showing.
Here’s a look at the results from the bouts in Fresno. Just beneath the table is a breakdown of the other main card scraps.
Honeycutt Dominates MacFarlane
Every wrestler is not created equal. Both Chris Honeycutt and Clayton MacFarlane came into Saturday night’s clash undefeated and with strong wrestling backgrounds. It didn’t take long for us to see that Honeycutt was more skilled and simply the more powerful fighter in the Bellator cage.
From very early on in the first round, Honeycutt had his way whenever the two men clashed on the ground. MacFarlane had designs on keeping the fight standing, but he simply couldn’t stop Honeycutt’s takedowns.
After enjoying several sequences in dominant position, Honeycutt induced the stoppage in the third round as he flattened MacFarlane on his belly and pounded the exposed ribs. Zombie Prophet has the finish:
Referee Jason Herzog was forced to call halt to the bout with just a minute remaining as MacFarlane was offering no resistance.
The win sent Honeycutt’s record to 7-0 with five of the victories coming via TKO/KO. Honeycutt is still a few fights away from being a serious threat to 170-pound champion Douglas Lima, but the 26-year-old powerhouse is opening some eyes.
Others aren’t as impressed. Adam Martin of Parting Shot doesn’t put much stock in MacFarlane as a formidable opponent.
It will be interesting to see what happens when Honeycutt faces someone who can expose his remedial stand-up skills. As of now, he’s looked great in seven professional bouts.
Budd Destroys Holloway
To put it plain, Gabby Holloway had no business in the cage with Julia Budd. The latter was superior in every aspect of mixed martial arts and it showed.
From the opening of the first round, Budd dominated Holloway with a sprinkle of stand-up and a heap of wrestling. The lone moment Halloway had came from a headlock takedown, but she quickly lost the position to the much stronger Budd.
Bellator is working to increase interest in its women’s divisions, but this bout was booed loudly by the Fresno crowd and the matchmaking was taking to task by Combat Press’ Rob Tatum.
To be fair, Holloway was a late replacement for Talita Nogueira. Still, the bout was far from competitive. Budd looks like the real deal, but it might be a good idea to put her in with a better opponent for a more desirable result.
Weichel Inches Past Curran
There’s a new featherweight on the scene in Bellator, and his name is Daniel Weichel. On Saturday, he earned a split-decision victory over former champion Pat Curran.
Weichel got the nod from two of the three judges, but one somehow saw it for Curran. In my opinion, Weichel won all three rounds, although the second round was close because of a Curran takedown.
Aside from that moment, Weichel controlled the action with pressure and more effective striking. Curran seemed bothered by Weichel’s perpetual movement and striking clearly made this his fight.
Reigning champion Patricio Freire also thought Weichel won all three rounds.
He also seems happy to have a fresh face emerge in his division.
A Weichel-Freire scrap could be exciting. Perhaps that’s a fight that can be made in the coming months.
Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter. I dig boxing and MMA.
There will almost certainly be a finish to the main event Friday night at Bellator 133 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. Melvin “No Mercy” Manhoef will battle Alexander Shlemenko in the featured bout. All but five of Manhoef’s 43 professio…
There will almost certainly be a finish to the main event Friday night at Bellator 133 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. Melvin “No Mercy” Manhoef will battle Alexander Shlemenko in the featured bout. All but five of Manhoef‘s 43 professional bouts have ended with a knockout or submission.
He’s usually the hammer in these situations, having scored 27 of his 29 wins by KO, but there are times when he’s the nail.
Most recently, Manhoef was viciously stopped by Joe Schilling back at Bellator 131 in Nov. 2014. It was the fourth time Manhoef had been stopped by KO and perhaps the ugliest of them all.
The quick countershot from Schilling had Manhoef out cold before he came crashing to the mat. At the age of 38, you might think the veteran would be thinking about retirement. He’s doing nothing of the sort despite the fact that he’s clearly putting some serious wear and tear on his body.
Per Steven Marrocco of MMAjunkie.com, Manhoef said this when asked about possibly hanging up the gloves, or retiring: “This is me, man. I see it like this: When you are in war and they shoot one arm off, what are you going to do? Are you going to quit, or are you going to fight? You have to fight. This is how I am.”
He’ll go back to war Friday against a formidable foe in Shlemenko. The former middleweight champion is trying to climb the ladder back to the top of Bellator‘s 185-pound division. The rugged and relentless Manhoef is in his way.
MMA Fighting’s Marc Raimondi knows what to expect in this one.
Shlemenko has far more facets to his game than Manhoef. The former clearly has striking prowess. That’s evidenced by his 29 wins via KO, but he’d be a fool to engage in a slugfest with Manhoef. Quite honestly, that’s the only way No Mercy can win.
The more cerebral Shlemenko will pick his spots to strike, but he’ll use Manhoef‘s aggression against him to score the takedown. Like many brawlers, Manhoef has nothing to offer as a grappler. He has never won a fight by submission, and he’ll be at Shlemenko‘s mercy if the fight goes to the ground.
Look for Shlemenko to score a submission victory in the second round. A guillotine choke might just be his maneuver of choice. Here’s a look at the viewing information, full fight card and predictions for the televised and live streamed bouts. Just below the table is a closer look at the featherweight feature bout between former champion Pat Curran and Daniel Weichel.
Curran Will Out-Strike Weichel
Since arriving in Bellator in in Feb. 2014, all Daniel Weichel has done is win. He won all three of his fights in 2014, and he’s now stepping up his level of competition in a major way against veteran, former champion and perennial contender Pat Curran.
There’s no secret to Weichel‘s game. He wants to take the fight to the mat and submit his opponent with his advanced grappling game. In his career, 21 of his 34 career wins have come by submission. Making Curran tap is easier said than done.
He’s only lost one fight by submission in his career, and that came back in 2009 before he arrived at Bellator. Because of Curran’s underrated ground game, and his technical striking proficiency, I believe he has the edge in this bout. Weichel lacks the speed and explosiveness that fighters like Patricio Freire and Daniel Straus posses.
Those two fighters were able to emerge victorious over Curran, but Weichel won’t. Curran will win a unanimous decision based on more effective striking.
Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter. I dig boxing and MMA.
The UFC has a show this weekend. World Series of Fighting has a show this weekend. Bellator has a show this weekend. It’s a busy weekend, MMA fans. Bellator 133 comes to you live Friday on Spike TV and hosts a fun night of fights. The card is headlined by middleweight standouts Melvin Manhoef and […]
The UFC has a show this weekend. World Series of Fighting has a show this weekend. Bellator has a show this weekend. It’s a busy weekend, MMA fans. Bellator 133 comes to you live Friday on Spike TV and hosts a fun night of fights. The card is headlined by middleweight standouts Melvin Manhoef and […]
The UFC and Bellator are duking it out in February with five total events, but Bellator looks to be the more interesting promotion with the best fight cards this month. There was a time when we would go months without MMA. Now here we are, inundated with mediocre and thin cards. That doesn’t make them […]
The UFC and Bellator are duking it out in February with five total events, but Bellator looks to be the more interesting promotion with the best fight cards this month. There was a time when we would go months without MMA. Now here we are, inundated with mediocre and thin cards. That doesn’t make them […]
At 38, Melvin Manhoef (29-13-1) is a finished product. You know exactly what to expect when he fights. There will be violence. It will be furious. And someone will end up looking at the ceiling.
