Bellator 62: Thiago Santos Misses Weight by 12.8 Pounds (!), Eric Prindle Earns His Title Shot the Easy Way


(Menstrual period, bro. I’ve done nothing this week except retain water and eat Girl Scout cookies.”)

Remember two weeks ago when a Bellator featherweight tournament competitor was kicked out for missing weight by four pounds? That was nothing. At yesterday’s Bellator 62 weigh-ins in Laredo, Texas, season five heavyweight tournament finalist Thiago “Big Monster” Santos hit the scales at 277.8 pounds, whiffing his heavyweight limit by a full 12.8. By our calculations, this is the third greatest weigh-in failure in MMA history.

Instead of postponing Santos’s HW finals match against Eric Prindle again — remember, this fight has already been re-scheduled twice due to savage groin kick and flu-like symptoms — Bellator decided they’d had enough of Big Monster’s antics and booted him from the tournament. By default, Prindle scores the $100k check and will face undefeated champion Cole Konrad for the Bellator heavyweight title later this year.

All of Bellator 62’s season six lightweight tournament fighters were on weight for their opening-round bouts, although welterweight Joseph Daily came in three pounds heavy for his preliminary card match against Sean Spencer. Full weigh-in results and broadcast info for tonight’s event are below…


(Menstrual period, bro. I’ve done nothing this week except retain water and eat Girl Scout cookies.”)

Remember two weeks ago when a Bellator featherweight tournament competitor was kicked out for missing weight by four pounds? That was nothing. At yesterday’s Bellator 62 weigh-ins in Laredo, Texas, season five heavyweight tournament finalist Thiago “Big Monster” Santos hit the scales at 277.8 pounds, whiffing his heavyweight limit by a full 12.8. By our calculations, this is the third greatest weigh-in failure in MMA history.

Instead of postponing Santos’s HW finals match against Eric Prindle again — remember, this fight has already been re-scheduled twice due to savage groin kick and flu-like symptoms — Bellator decided they’d had enough of Big Monster’s antics and booted him from the tournament. By default, Prindle scores the $100k check and will face undefeated champion Cole Konrad for the Bellator heavyweight title later this year.

All of Bellator 62′s season six lightweight tournament fighters were on weight for their opening-round bouts, although welterweight Joseph Daily came in three pounds heavy for his preliminary card match against Sean Spencer. Full weigh-in results and broadcast info for tonight’s event are below…

MAIN CARD (MTV2, Epix2 HD, and Spike.com; 8 p.m./7c)
– Eric Prindle (265.2) vs. Thiago Santos (277.8) – season-five heavyweight-tourney final rematch, fight canceled
– Patricky “Pitbull” Freire (155.6) vs. Lloyd Woodard (154.8) – lightweight-tournament opening round
– Rick Hawn (155.6) vs. Ricardo Tirloni (155.2) – lightweight-tournament opening round
– Thiago Michel (154.8) vs. Rene Nazare (155.8) – lightweight-tournament opening round
– J.J. Ambrose (155) vs. Brent Weedman (155.8) – lightweight-tournament opening round

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com, first prelims start at 7 p.m. ET, remaining prelims conclude at 10 p.m. ET)
– Sonny Luque (162.2) vs. Luis Vega (158.6)
– Steven Peterson (145.2) vs. Chris Jones (145.8)
– Joseph Daily (173.2) vs. Sean Spencer (170)
– Dave Jansen (155.8) vs. Jacob Kirwan (155.4)
– Douglas Frey (145.6) vs. Rad Martinez (145.8)

Bellator 62: Can Patricky Freire Win the Lightweight Tournament?

Bellator LXII is the host of this season’s lightweight tournament quarterfinal, and the question on most people’s mind is if Patricky “Pitbull” Freire can take home this season’s tournament championship.Last season, Freire looked as if he was going to …

Bellator LXII is the host of this season’s lightweight tournament quarterfinal, and the question on most people’s mind is if Patricky “Pitbull” Freire can take home this season’s tournament championship.

Last season, Freire looked as if he was going to run the table, rattling off huge victories over Rob McCullough and Toby Imada (both via knockout). He then ran into trouble in the championship bout, dropping a decision to current lightweight champion Michael Chandler.

Freire is definitely one of the most talented fighters in Bellator, with a great combination of striking and jiu-jitsu. He and his brother Patricio train with the Nogueira brothers, so you know they are getting good training. 

Since losing to Chandler in the tournament, Freire has come back and defeated UFC veteran Kurt Pellegrino in convincing fashion. That proved that Freire could come back from a tough loss and get better.

Freire’s first-round opponent is Lloyd Woodard. Make no mistake about it, this is not a gimme for Freire, as Woodard is a very solid lightweight. Woodard is a solid striker with a decent ground game. The key for Freire is to mix it up and keep Woodard guessing. Doing that could lead to another highlight-reel finish, as we saw when he knocked out Toby Imada. 

Freire should be able to defeat Woodard, as he is far more skilled. Should he beat him, there are six other very solid opponents waiting to take on Freire.

Ricardo Tirloni and Thiago Michel are both in this season’s tournament, and to most people, they are unknown. Tirloni is a very well-rounded and dangerous fighter, but not nearly as well-rounded and dangerous as Freire.

Michel is a very vicious striker, but has problems on the ground with submission artists (Freire is a black belt in BJJ). Both these men are dangerous, but Freire should be able to defeat them.

JJ Ambrose is best remembered for being on The Ultimate Fighter but losing out in the entry round. He also will present a challenge to Freire, but Freire is better in all places.

Brent Weedman and Rene Nazare are veterans of the sport, but I just do not see either of them being able to deal with Freire. Nazare will not be able to stand with “Pitbull,” nor will Weedman. 

The only big challenge I see this season for Freire is Rick Hawn. Hawn is dropping from welterweight, where he was a finalist in the welterweight tournament that Jay Hieron won. Hawn is an Olympic judo player with heavy hands. He has the all-around prowess to give Freire fits. Hawn is also bigger, which is an advantage.

All that said, I do believe Patricky Freire can win the lightweight tournament. He is experienced in the tournament format, extremely skilled and hungry to erase the memory of falling in the last tournament. If he sticks to a solid game plan, I believe he will walk away the season six lightweight tournament champion and earn his rematch with Michael Chandler.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC vs. Bellator: Bellator Champion Zach Makovsky Defends Bellator’s Best

Ever since I watched my first World Extreme Cagefighting event, I’ve been a fan of lighter-weight fighters. Now the UFC has the best Bantamweight and Featherweight divisions in the world, and I’m pretty sure they’ll soon have the best…

Ever since I watched my first World Extreme Cagefighting event, I’ve been a fan of lighter-weight fighters. Now the UFC has the best Bantamweight and Featherweight divisions in the world, and I’m pretty sure they’ll soon have the best Flyweight division too once all is said and done.

But there are still some fantastic lighter-weight fighters out there. Zach Makovsky, Bellator’s Bantamweight Champion, is one of them. And in a recent interview, he made his case for not only the non-UFC Bantamweights, but any and all non-UFC fighters.

Speaking to MMA Weekly, Makovsky had this to say: “I completely agree the UFC has the majority of the best fighters out there in the world, probably in every weight class, but that doesn’t mean there’s no one else out there. And until they have cross-promotions or the UFC owns everything you’ll never know.”

Currently, Makovsky is 14-2 and an undefeated 6-0 in Bellator. Makovsky won a qualifying bout and all his tournament bouts in order to win the Season Three Bantamweight Tournament and become the first-ever Bellator Bantamweight Champion.

He competed twice in 2011, both times in non-title “super fights” that saw him beat first Chad Robichaux and then Ryan Roberts.

Makovsky is set to make the first defense of his title against Eduardo Dantas, the winner of Bellator’s Season Five Bantamweight Tournament.

Of course, what Makovsky is saying is absolutely true. The UFC has been and more than likely will remain the greatest Mixed Martial Arts promotion in the world, but they’re not the only game in town.

They’ve taken down most of their competition, but the simple fact that competition keeps popping up (regardless of how long said competition ends up surviving when they deliberately try to take on the UFC) means that there’s enough good non-UFC stars out there to at least try to establish a different brand.

For the longest time, the clearest example of this was Strikeforce. During the best parts of its run, some of Strikeforce’s shows were amazing enough that the idea of Strikeforce one day becoming a credible alternative to the UFC didn’t seem like just a far-fetched dream. Of course, the UFC now owns Strikeforce and has taken almost all of its top fighters and put them under the UFC banner.

So what’s left? Bellator. And you know what? Even before Strikeforce was bought out by the UFC, Bellator was showing signs of closing the gap between third place and second place.

The proof is obvious: Every Bellator season, we get amazing highlight-reel moments from multiple Bellator tournaments.

The actual championship fights have also been stellar lately, with two obvious examples being Michael Chandler vs. Eddie Alvarez and Pat Curran vs. Joe Warren, both fights producing new champions that have gotten a lot of people talking, including non-Bellator fans.

As Bellator continues to improve, so does the quality of its fights and the quality of its fighters. It’s fine if you don’t believe that Bellator has great fighters, because those fighters keep trying to prove you wrong every chance they get. And that leads to spectacular moments that Bellator fans like me love to talk about.

If you’re a Twitter user and want to get in on the discussion and/or offer up your own insight, feel free to use #gowatchbellator in your tweets to help spread the word. 

 

Oliver Saenz, also known as PdW2kX, is a freelance journalist, opinion columnist, hardcore MMA fan, and lifelong video game nerd. For more news, views, previews, and reviews on all things Mixed Martial Arts as well as video games, be sure to visit FightGamesBlog.net.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Bellator 62: 4 Fighters to Watch in Season 6’s Lightweight Tournament

This Friday Bellator FC will put on another live MMA event, and another opening round of a season-six tournament. For this week’s Bellator 62 event, it’ll be the lightweights who step into the cage. Bellator’s lightweight division is …

This Friday Bellator FC will put on another live MMA event, and another opening round of a season-six tournament. For this week’s Bellator 62 event, it’ll be the lightweights who step into the cage. Bellator’s lightweight division is well-known amongst Bellator fans as one of the most exciting divisions in the entire promotion, and I personally am more excited for the lightweight tournament than I am for any other tournament in season six.

To explain why, here’s a quick history lesson on the four big names set to compete in Bellator’s Season Six Lightweight Tournament.

First up we have Patricky Freire, who together with his brother Patricio Freire continually stole the show last season. Patricky burst onto the Bellator lightweight scene when he KO’d former WEC champion Rob McCullough, and then he gave fans an amazing “Bellator moment” when he KO’d Toby Imada with a beautiful flying knee that was followed up by some vicious punches. The 2011 loss was the first (T)KO loss for Imada since 2006, and only the fourth (T)KO loss in a career that has seen him fight almost fifty times.

Like his brother, Patricky would end up fighting to the finals of the Bellator season-five tournament he competed in. Unlike Patricio, Patricky would end up falling to Michael Chandler. In one of the bigger scandals of season five, Chandler kicked Patricky in the groin three times, only earning a single point deduction on the third and last groin kick.

Another notable star of Bellator’s Season Six Lightweight Tournament is Rick Hawn, one of two finalists from Bellator’s Season Four Welterweight Tournament. Hawn entered Bellator a perfect 8-0 with six (T)KO wins, and would KO his first opponent in Bellator in order to qualify for Bellator’s Season Four Welterweight Tournament. Hawn would end up winning by both unanimous and split decision before losing a controversial split decision to Jay Hieron.

Bellator’s Season Six Lightweight Tournament also features Brent Weedman, a well-traveled veteran who started competing in 2005 but has already amassed almost thirty professional fights. Weedman is another welterweight dropping down to lightweight, and lost to Jay Hieron in Season Four Welterweight Tournament’s semifinal round. Weedman also competed in Bellator’s Season Five Welterweight Tournament, losing in the quarterfinal round. Weedman’s overall record is 18-7 with only two stoppage losses and with seventeen stoppage wins.

And finally, Bellator’s Season Six Lightweight Tournament also features Rene Nazare. A master at Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Nazare is 11-1 with an even split of four wins by (T)KO and four wins by submission. Nazare has certainly looked impressive in Bellator so far, finishing his first two opponents in the first round and his third opponent in the second round. Despite having competed in Bellator four times, this is the first Bellator tournament Nazare has ever competed in.

Of course, Bellator 62 also features four other lightweight fighters, although all four aren’t as well-known as the four fighters I’ve highlighted here. And if the opening round of the lightweight tournament wasn’t enough, we have the much-anticipated rematch between Eric Prindle and Thiago Santos to finally declare a winner for Season Five’s Heavyweight Tournament.

Putting it simply: Bellator 62 is loaded with top stars and entertaining fighters from one of Bellator’s best and deepest weight divisions, so go watch Bellator 62 and #gowatchbellator!

 

If you’re a Twitter user and want to get in on the discussion and/or offer up your own insight, feel free to use #gowatchbellator in your tweets to help spread the word.

 

Oliver Saenz, also known as PdW2kX, is a freelance journalist, opinion columnist, hardcore MMA fan and lifelong video game nerd. For more news, views, previews and reviews on all things Mixed Martial Arts as well as video games, be sure to visit FightGamesBlog.net.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Chris "The Polish Hammer" Horodecki Set to Make His Featherweight Debut

After fighting professionally for seven years at lightweight with much success, Chris “The Polish Hammer” Horodecki is set to make his featherweight debut at Bellator 64 in Windsor on April 6th.
The former IFL and WEC contender is 18-3 i…

After fighting professionally for seven years at lightweight with much success, Chris “The Polish Hammer” Horodecki is set to make his featherweight debut at Bellator 64 in Windsor on April 6th.

The former IFL and WEC contender is 18-3 in his career at lightweight, but has decided to make the shift to 145 pounds for his upcoming fight against Mike “The Marine” Richman. In my opinion, it is a very wise and exciting decision for the future of this young, elite fighter.

I was able to chat with Horodecki last week at the Adrenaline Training Center in London, Ontario.

“First fight at featherweight, yes. All my fights have been at 155 but I need to make that transition, you know. I feel making 155 was too easy and, you know what, these guys at 155 are getting really, really big. There’s no reason I shouldn’t be a contender at 145.” Horodecki told Bleacher Report MMA.

Horodecki is and has been a top contender in Canada at 155 pounds throughout his seven-year professional career. During his time in the IFL and WEC, he also tangled with some of the best lightweights in the world, such as Anthony Njoukuani, Danny Downes and UFC contender Donald Cerrone.

In his next fight on April 6th, he faces Minnesota native, former cast member of the UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter and U.S. Marine Mike Richman. Facing the United States’ elite tough guys is nothing new to Horodecki.

“Actually, my last opponent, Mike Corey, is a Marine or former Marine with the military, and I have also had another Marine in the IFL, Josh Odom, that I competed against.”

This time it will be a bit different for the London, Ontario native and part owner of Adrenaline Training Center.

“I’ve done pretty well, they keep lining me up with these Marines, but this time they’re on our territory on Canadian soil so I got my fans with me.”

Horodecki defeated Odom via unanimous decision, and fought Corey to a controversial draw last November in a fight that many thought he had done enough to win. He remains undefeated against the United States servicemen.

Corey has since dropped down to featherweight as well, and is currently in the second round of the Bellator FW tournament. Horodecki is watching the tournament closely, and shared his thoughts on who he thinks may come out on top.

“A close friend of mine, Ronnie Mann, was fighting in that tournament, fought Mike Corey, who I was training with the week previous so it was kinda a tough one to watch, but Mike did really good, he’s a grinder. He’s got a tough fight next as he’s fighting Daniel Strauss in Windsor. It’s going to be on the same card as me. He’s kind of the sleeper right now”

Corey trains at Team Curran in Chicago with head trainer and MMA veteran Jeff Curran, as well as current Bellator featherweight champion Pat Curran, who recently won the title with an incredible highlight reel knockout of Joe Waren.

Team Curran shares a great training relationship with Horodecki and Team Tompkins, dating back a few years. Horodecki touched on the history of that valuable relationship.

“We’ve been training together for the past seven or eight years, going back and forth. When Shawn moved to Las Vegas it kind of slowed down a bit. But now we’ve decided to get the team going again, the connection and myself and Mark Hominick made the trip out last week.”

“It’s great to have that alliance again. We are going out there again in a week, and then Jeff Curran’s coming back and he’s gonna be cornering myself in my fight at Bellator in Windsor. He’s also going to be cornering Mark Hominick in UFC Atlanta in April.”

I’m looking forward to Horodecki’s debut on April 6th, and a steady climb up the featherweight division in 2012.

Photography Courtesy of Randi Lotsberg Photography/MMAOntario

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca

Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Bellator vs. TUF: What’s the Better Way to Spend Your Friday Night?

Recently, The Ultimate Fighter has been actually registering a pulse within the MMA community, as the show has been revamped since crossing over to the FX network. With a new format which invites fans to tune into live fights every Friday night, the or…

Recently, The Ultimate Fighter has been actually registering a pulse within the MMA community, as the show has been revamped since crossing over to the FX network. With a new format which invites fans to tune into live fights every Friday night, the organization’s only threat appears to be that of the Bellator Fighting Championships, […]