Tag: Bellator

Bellator 84 Recap: Volkov Is New Heavyweight Champion, Lightweight Tournament Postponed

This season, Bellator’s heavyweight tournament ended in the same place where it began – The Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana – but with far less fireworks than anticipated.

With Bellator fixture Richard Hale facing off against Alexander Volkov, a twenty-four year old Russian prospect who used to train with Fedor Emelianenko, fans anticipated a wild brawl would ensue for the heavyweight championship Cole Konrad vacated through his retirement. Hale would bring the fight to Volkov early, dropping the Russian with a right hook in the first round. However, that hook would end up being the only significant strike that Hale would land for the rest of the fight.

For the rest of the bout, the 6’7” Volkov was content to jab his way to a unanimous decision victory. It certainly wasn’t pretty, as the boos from those in attendance demonstrated, but it was enough for Volkov to take home $100,000 and the promotion’s heavyweight championship.

This season, Bellator’s heavyweight tournament ended in the same place where it began – The Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana – but with far less fireworks than anticipated.

With Bellator fixture Richard Hale facing off against Alexander Volkov, a twenty-four year old Russian prospect who used to train with Fedor Emelianenko, fans anticipated a wild brawl would ensue for the heavyweight championship Cole Konrad vacated through his retirement. Hale would bring the fight to Volkov early, dropping the Russian with a right hook in the first round. However, that hook would end up being the only significant strike that Hale would land for the rest of the fight.

For the rest of the bout, the 6’7” Volkov was content to jab his way to a unanimous decision victory. It certainly wasn’t pretty, as the boos from those in attendance demonstrated, but it was enough for Volkov to take home $100,000 and the promotion’s heavyweight championship.

Elsewhere on the card:

– We already explained why that the Season 7 featherweight tournament final between Rad Martinez and Shahbulat Shamhalaev will happen sometime in Season 8, but now the lightweight tournament final will also happen next season. The tournament final was supposed to feature twenty year old Marcin Held battling against Dave Jansen. However, in Indiana an athlete has to be at least twenty-one years old to fight in a casino, so the fight was scrapped at the last minute. I hate to be Captain Hindsight here, but shouldn’t the local commission have noticed Held was only twenty before allowing him to weigh in on Thursday? And shouldn’t Bellator have noticed this law a long time ago?

– Middleweight protege of Joaquin Hansen Daniel Vizcaya wrestled his way to a split-decision over Norwegian Jack Hermansson. Hermansson completely took over the fight in the third round, but it was too little too late, as he was unable to put away Vizcaya.

– Felice Herrig wanted to put on a good show for Bellator, and delivered with a unanimous decision over late replacement Patricia Vidonic. Herrig was in complete control over Vidonic, demonstrating that she’s ready for the poster-girl position Bellator seemingly wants her to fill. It’ll be interesting to see who Bellator finds for her to fight next.

– Remember Joe Vedepo? The party animal who has the distinction (I guess?) of being the only 0-2 fighter in UFC history to lose both of his fights within the first two minutes? Yeah, he followed up a win at Bellator 80 by getting knocked out by Louis Taylor in the first round of last night’s fight. But he lasted 4:12, so there’s always that.

Full Results:

Main Card:

Alexander Volkov def. Richard Hale by Unanimous Decision
Daniel Vizcaya def. Jack Hermansson by Split Decision
Felice Herrig def. Patricia Vidonic by Unanimous Decision
Louis Taylor def. Joe Vedepo by KO (Punch), 4:12, Round One

Preliminary Card:

Christian Uflacker def. Cliff Wright by Technical Decision, 2:26, Round Three
Jerald Williams def. Joey Diehl by Unanimous Decision
Anthony Gomez def. Anton Talamantes by Submission (Rear Naked Choke), 3:30, Round One
Robert White def. Kenny Booker by Unanimous Decision

Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal Gets an Opponent for Bellator Debut and It’s Some Guy


(Yeah, we’re not really stoked for this one either, Mo.)

Not too long ago, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal signed a — I guess you’d call it groundbreaking — deal with both Bellator and TNA Wrestling after being released from Strikeforce following a positive test for steroids and an epic Twitter meltdown, a decision he is probably patting himself on the back for in light of recent events. Ever since, we have been quietly waiting to see which one of Bellator’s remaining light heavyweights Mo would square off against first, whether it was…what’s his face, or, uhh…*snaps fingers*…uh…God, I know this…

…

…Turns out, Bellator is going the Josh Barnett route for King Mo’s big debut, bringing in a complete outsider named *checks glasses* Przemyslaw Mysiala to conveniently get squashed just before confetti falls from the ceiling and Mo is declared the next challenger to whomever emerges victorious from the Christian M’Pumbu/Attila Veigh fight. And you better believe that some form of energy drink will be used to hose bitches down at some point in this ceremony, because it sooo will.


(Yeah, we’re not really stoked for this one either, Mo.)

Not too long ago, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal signed a — I guess you’d call it groundbreaking — deal with both Bellator and TNA Wrestling after being released from Strikeforce following a positive test for steroids and an epic Twitter meltdown, a decision he is probably patting himself on the back for in light of recent events. Ever since, we have been quietly waiting to see which one of Bellator’s remaining light heavyweights Mo would square off against first, whether it was…what’s his face, or, uhh…*snaps fingers*…uh…God, I know this…

…

…Turns out, Bellator is going the Josh Barnett route for King Mo’s big debut, bringing in a complete outsider named *checks glasses* Przemyslaw Mysiala to conveniently get squashed just before confetti falls from the ceiling and Mo is declared the next challenger to whomever emerges victorious from the Christian M’Pumbu/Attila Veigh fight. And you better believe that some form of energy drink will be used to hose bitches down at some point in this ceremony, because it sooo will.

To be fair, Mysiala holds a decent 16-7 record to his credit, so counting him out right from the start seems a bit foolish. On the other hand, he is just 2-2 in his past 4 fights and suffered both those losses by (T)KO, and if Mo is good at one thing, it’s the TKO. I’m not sure where Bellator’s matchmaking department finds these people, but we’ll give them credit for keeping things underground and not selling out to those conformist corporate pigs *puts on skinny jeans and cranks up 8-track player*.

The fight is scheduled for Bellator 86 on January 24th, which goes down in Thackerville, Oklahoma and will also feature Ben Askren vs. Karl Amoussou for the promotion’s welterweight title. It will be Bellator’s second event of season eight and will be broadcast live on SpikeTV.

King Mo has not fought since his win over Lorenz Larkin at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine (Author’s note: Man, never gets any easier writing that.) was overturned to a no contest, but can any of you even picture the sick, twisted future in which Mo does not win this?

I hear if Mo takes a header in the locker room on fight night, the bookies will pay you out. Just sayin’.

–J. Jones

Bellator 85 Fight Card Announced for Jan. 17 Spike Premiere

Bellator Fighting Championships is kicking off their first SPIKE fight card with two title fights, featuring some of their most recognizable talents.MMA Weekly reports that Bellator officials have ironed out the details for their first event of their e…

Bellator Fighting Championships is kicking off their first SPIKE fight card with two title fights, featuring some of their most recognizable talents.

MMA Weekly reports that Bellator officials have ironed out the details for their first event of their eighth season, which is getting a shift in schedule.

Instead of Jan. 10 as previously reported, Bellator 85 will take place on Thursday, Jan. 17.

Highlights on the card include two championship bouts, with the promotion’s featherweight champion opening the broadcast in his first title defense. Here’s the confirmed matches for the event so far:

• Lightweight Title: Michael Chandler (Champion) vs. Rick Hawn
• Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. Mikhail Zayats
• Featherweight Title: Pat Curran (Champion) vs. Patricio “Pitbull”

Moreover, Thursdays will be the new standard night for Bellator‘s SPIKE broadcasts. Now that Bellator is moving to SPIKE, the promotion is distancing itself from Friday nights, which have proven to be a poor timeslot for ratings.

Additionally, Bellator also hopes to draw in viewers with TNA Impact Wrestling as their lead-in show. TNA Impact Wrestling airs from 8-10 p.m. ET, with Bellator picking up right afterwards to complete a four-hour programming block.

Bellator‘s previously run all of their other seasons on MTV2 and Bellator.com due to a contract obligation with the UFC that prevented SPIKE from airing other mixed martial arts content.

Using pro wrestling as a lead-in to MMA programming is similar to a successful tactic that The Ultimate Fighter used when it followed WWE RAW back in 2005.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Bellator Confirms Stacked Lineup for Jan. 17 Spike TV Premiere, Debut Date for King Mo and ‘Babalu’

Bellator’s first event on Spike TV will take place Thursday, January 17th, at the University of California’s Bren Center in Irvine, California, and will be headlined by a pair of title fights. The promotion confirmed the news today, revealing that undefeated phenom Michael Chandler will make his first official lightweight title defense at the event (aka Bellator 85) against Rick Hawn, the 14-1 Olympic judoka who won the Season 5 lightweight tournament earlier this year.

Also on the card, featherweight champion Pat Curran — who’s 4-0 since dropping to 145 and is coming off his near-murder of Joe Warren — will be putting his belt on the line against explosive contender Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. Though Freire won all three of his fights in 2011, winning the Season 4 featherweight tournament, he wasn’t able to compete in 2012, partly due to injuries.

And that’s not all. During a Bellator/Spike TV conference call held earlier today, many more details about Bellator 85 and the promotion’s upcoming eighth season were announced. For instance…

Bellator’s first event on Spike TV will take place Thursday, January 17th, at the University of California’s Bren Center in Irvine, California, and will be headlined by a pair of title fights. The promotion confirmed the news today, revealing that undefeated phenom Michael Chandler will make his first official lightweight title defense at the event (aka Bellator 85) against Rick Hawn, the 14-1 Olympic judoka who won the Season 5 lightweight tournament earlier this year.

Also on the card, featherweight champion Pat Curran — who’s 4-0 since dropping to 145 and is coming off his near-murder of Joe Warren — will be putting his belt on the line against explosive contender Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. Though Freire won all three of his fights in 2011, winning the Season 4 featherweight tournament, he wasn’t able to compete in 2012, partly due to injuries.

And that’s not all. During a Bellator/Spike TV conference call held earlier today, many more details about Bellator 85 and the promotion’s upcoming eighth season were announced. For instance…

– Season 8 will last 12 weeks, and will feature five tournaments in the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight and light heavyweight divisions.

– Via MMAJunkie: “[Bellator 85] will feature Seth Petruzelli and Mike Guymon, plus the Bellator debut of Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral in the light heavyweight tourney against Russian Mikhail Zayats.” UFC vets Jason Lambert and Hector Ramirez are also scheduled to compete.

– Bellator 86 will take place the following week, January 24th, at the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma, and will feature Ben Askren‘s latest title defense against Karl Amoussou, King Mo vs. TBA, and welterweight fights featuring Ben Saunders and Douglas Lima.

– The postponed Season 7 featherweight tournament final between Rad Martinez and Shahbulat Shamhalaev will happen sometime in Season 8, since Martinez has to take care of his father this weekend. (You can learn more about that here, if you want to feel sad for the rest of the day.)

Your Champion, Potato Nation: Nick Newell Wins XFC Lightweight Title

(Video via AXSTV)

Former CagePotato Proving Grounds winner Nick Newell kicked, suplex-slammed and choked his way to victory in Nashville, TN last night, earning the XFC 155 pound title in the process. As you can see in the fight video above, Newell took out Bellator veteran Eric Reynolds quickly and improved his unblemished record to 9-0.

Reynolds himself has before gone the distance with both Jorge Masvidal and maybe UFC-bound Eddie Alvarez. Newell beating Reynolds in such dominating fashion, then, has to put him one step closer to consideration for the big leagues.

The southpaw Newell began his attack against Reynolds with rear and and lead kicks, both low and high, before closing the distance and getting behind Reynolds with a body lock. From there, Newell maintained control and bided his time before lifting his opponent high up into the air and slamming him face down onto the mat. Newell quickly spun around to get his legs around Reynolds and took his back.


(Video via AXSTV)

Former CagePotato Proving Grounds winner Nick Newell kicked, suplex-slammed and choked his way to victory in Nashville, TN last night, earning the XFC 155 pound title in the process. As you can see in the fight video above, Newell took out Bellator veteran Eric Reynolds quickly and improved his unblemished record to 9-0.

Reynolds himself has before gone the distance with both Jorge Masvidal and maybe UFC-bound Eddie Alvarez. Newell beating Reynolds in such dominating fashion, then, has to put him one step closer to consideration for the big leagues.

The southpaw Newell began his attack against Reynolds with rear and and lead kicks, both low and high, before closing the distance and getting behind Reynolds with a body lock. From there, Newell maintained control and bided his time before lifting his opponent high up into the air and slamming him face down onto the mat. Newell quickly spun around to get his legs around Reynolds and took his back.

Reynolds stood up with Newell on his back while trying to defend the rear naked choke attempt but could not loosen the soon to be champion’s grip. Reynolds fell backwards onto the ground and submitted to the hold, tapping out. Overcome with emotion, Newell got up, ran around the ring with his arms outstretched before falling to his knees and looking up to the sky.

– Elias Cepeda

Heads Up: Potato Nation Staff Sergeant Nick Newell Fights Tomorrow at XFC 21

In case you haven’t been following the career of CagePotato’s own “Proving Grounds” Winner Nick Newell lately, all you have to know is that he is still an undefeated ass-kicking machine. On the heels of his most impressive victory to date over Adam Mays (see above), Newell will be looking to improve to a perfect 9-0 when he takes on the toughest test of his career, Bellator veteran Eric Reynolds, in the main event of XFC 21, which goes down tomorrow night from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Tennessee.

Sporting a 16-5 record, Reynolds is no slouch to say the least. Although they were ultimately losing efforts, Reynolds made it three rounds with former Bellator lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez and former Strikeforce lightweight title challenger Jorge Masvidal in back-to-back efforts during his stint with Bellator in 2009. Now riding a three fight win streak, Reynolds will surely have his hands full with Newell, who proved in his victory over Denis Hernandez at XFC 15 (an event headlined by Reynolds) that he is just as deadly on the ground as he is on the feet.

You can catch the fight live on AXS TV, which is available for free as an app on your iPhone or iPad.

In case you haven’t been following the career of CagePotato’s own “Proving Grounds” Winner Nick Newell lately, all you have to know is that he is still an undefeated ass-kicking machine. On the heels of his most impressive victory to date over Adam Mays (see above), Newell will be looking to improve to a perfect 9-0 when he takes on the toughest test of his career, Bellator veteran Eric Reynolds, in the main event of XFC 21, which goes down tomorrow night from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Tennessee.

Sporting a 16-5 record, Reynolds is no slouch to say the least. Although they were ultimately losing efforts, Reynolds made it three rounds with former Bellator lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez and former Strikeforce lightweight title challenger Jorge Masvidal in back-to-back efforts during his stint with Bellator in 2009. Now riding a three fight win streak, Reynolds will surely have his hands full with Newell, who proved in his victory over Denis Hernandez at XFC 15 (an event headlined by Reynolds) that he is just as deadly on the ground as he is on the feet.

You can catch the fight live on AXS TV, which is available for free as an app on your iPhone or iPad. Y’all have them newfangled iPhones, right? *Jeff Foxworthy voice* Did you hear about the iPhone they invented exclusively for rednecks? It only has one app, which tells you how far removed you are from the single women at your next family reunion!

Tom Cruise is a big Blue Collar Comedy fan, FYI.

–J. Jones