Tag: Bellator

Brett Cooper Talks Fighting in Bellator, Life in MMA Outside the UFC

Filed under: FanHouse Exclusive, Bellator

When Brett Cooper last stepped into the cage, it was for a five-minute, five-round fight for a championship in the Lords of the Cage MMA promotion. Cooper had prepared to fight for 25 minutes, but things didn’…

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When Brett Cooper last stepped into the cage, it was for a five-minute, five-round fight for a championship in the Lords of the Cage MMA promotion. Cooper had prepared to fight for 25 minutes, but things didn’t go quite as planned: He knocked Keith Berry out in just 10 seconds (video above).

“He came in real quick and aggressive, I countered him with a punch and it was over,” Cooper said. “It was a strange moment because it happened so fast. It was bittersweet. But that’s why you train hard, so things come easy in the fight. But I wouldn’t have been disappointed if the fight would have gone more minutes.”

For the 23-year-old Cooper, who will fight Alexander Schlemenko Saturday at Bellator 44 on MTV2, trying to make it as a full-time fighter outside the UFC sometimes means not wanting to win a fight too quickly: The experience of getting more minutes in the cage can be good for a fighter’s development, and Lords of the Cage isn’t exactly handing out six-figure Knockout of the Night bonuses, like UFC fighters can earn.

Bellator 44 Preview: The Rundown

Filed under: BellatorBellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard in action, and Patricky “Pitbull” Freire vs. Michael Chandler in the finals of the lightweight tournament, are the anchors for this Saturday’s Bellator 44 in Atlantic City.

With two ep…

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Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard in action, and Patricky “Pitbull” Freire vs. Michael Chandler in the finals of the lightweight tournament, are the anchors for this Saturday’s Bellator 44 in Atlantic City.

With two episodes remaining, the season four tournaments are winding down while other bouts are potential qualifiers for next season’s tournaments in September.

After the jump, let’s take a look at five of the storylines heading into Bellator 44.

Bellator Signs MFC Champion Douglas Lima

Filed under: Bellator, NewsMaximum Fighting Championship’s current welterweight champion Douglas Lima has left the organization to sign with Bellator, Bellator announced Monday.

Lima (18-4) has won his last six fights in a row, most recently defeati…

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Maximum Fighting Championship’s current welterweight champion Douglas Lima has left the organization to sign with Bellator, Bellator announced Monday.

Lima (18-4) has won his last six fights in a row, most recently defeating Terry Martin in 74 seconds at MFC 29 in April.

Jay Hieron Beats Rick Hawn, Wins Bellator Welterweight Tournament

Filed under: BellatoraJay Hieron won a very close split decision victory over Rick Hawn Saturday night, taking the Bellator Season 4 welterweight tournament title.

The fight easily could have gone to Hawn, and one judge said it should have, scoring it…

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aJay Hieron won a very close split decision victory over Rick Hawn Saturday night, taking the Bellator Season 4 welterweight tournament title.

The fight easily could have gone to Hawn, and one judge said it should have, scoring it 29-28 for Hawn. The other two judges scored it 29-28 for Hieron, who credited his training for getting him into the kind of shape he needed to be in to win three fights in Bellator’s eight-man welterweight tournament.

“I just train my butt off, man,” Hieron said. “No matter what’s going on, I’m in the gym sweating.”

MMA Top 10 Welterweights: Few Challenges in Sight for GSP

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, Rankings, WelterweightsIt’s hard to believe that Georges St. Pierre could win his ninth straight fight, defending his welterweight title in front of 55,000 fans in one of the biggest events in UFC history, and h…

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Georges St-PierreIt’s hard to believe that Georges St. Pierre could win his ninth straight fight, defending his welterweight title in front of 55,000 fans in one of the biggest events in UFC history, and have it feel like something of a letdown.

But that is how St. Pierre’s unanimous decision victory over Jake Shields felt to many fans: We’ve seen this so many times — St. Pierre spending 25 minutes demonstrating that the other man in the Octagon is simply nowhere near as good as he is — that it’s starting to feel routine. And that’s not how one of the greatest fighters in history stepping into the Octagon should feel.

So are there any challenges remaining in the welterweight division? We’ll look at that question as we run down the Top 10 welterweights in MMA.

Bryan Baker Video: Watch Bellator 43 Champ Propose to Girlfriend

A knockout and then a proposal made it one heck of a weekend for MMA fighter Bryan Baker. Baker threw a left hook to the chin of Joe Riggs in Round 2. Riggs went down and it was all over. Baker won the special feature fight at Bellator 43. Baker i…

A knockout and then a proposal made it one heck of a weekend for MMA fighter Bryan Baker. 

Baker threw a left hook to the chin of Joe Riggs in Round 2. Riggs went down and it was all over. Baker won the special feature fight at Bellator 43. Baker is now 9-1 in his last 10 fights.  

He brought his girlfriend in the cage and dropped to one knee to propose. He confessed his love to the hottie and she said yes. Congrats to the love birds. 

You have to give Baker big props here. This was clearly a pre-planned proposal, which means he felt very confident he would be beating Riggs. 

It takes a lot of guts to propose to a girl in a live national broadcast or in front of thousands of people. 

My only thoughts on this is what would he have done had he lost? No way you want to propose after losing a big fight. He would have had to wait quite a while before popping the question. I doubt this WAG would want to be with a loser. 

The worst part of this video is Baker’s now fiance screaming her head off after he knocked out Riggs. It starts around the :20 mark. You can’t even hear the announcer she is screaming so loud. 

Maybe she knew if he won he would pop the question. I don’t know about that, nor do I know how Baker would put up with that screeching voice.

Oh yeah, she’s smoking hot. 

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