Tag: Ben Saunders

Bellator 67 Recap: Gono Retires, Baker Upsets Saunders

To put it mildly, I’ve been skeptical about Bellator’s non-title fights in the past. They’ve all been total squash fights, and light-heavyweight champion Christian M’Pumbu actually managed to lose his against Travis Wiuff back at Bellator 55. Last night didn’t exactly make me a believer in non-title fights, but I won’t act like I wasn’t impressed with lightweight champion Michael Chandler after his performance against Akihiro Gono.

Chandler followed up his brilliant fourth round rear-naked choke over Eddie Alvarez back at Bellator 58 with a quick TKO over Akihiro Gono. After catching Gono early with a straight right, Chandler pounced on a stunned Gono and rained down punches until he earned the stoppage. Michael Chandler improves to 10-0 overall, with six fights ending in the first round.

At the post-fight press conference, Akihiro Gono announced his retirement from MMA. Gono has lost three fights in a row, and his record now stands at 32-18-7. His most recent victory was a unanimous decision over Diego Gonzalez at Sengoku 12 in March 2010. While it’s never easy to watch an icon of the sport retire, it’s even harder to watch him continue to lose. Thanks for the memories, Magic Man.

To put it mildly, I’ve been skeptical about Bellator’s non-title fights in the past. They’ve all been total squash fights, and light-heavyweight champion Christian M’Pumbu actually managed to lose his against Travis Wiuff back at Bellator 55. Last night didn’t exactly make me a believer in non-title fights, but I won’t act like I wasn’t impressed with lightweight champion Michael Chandler after his performance against Akihiro Gono.

Chandler followed up his brilliant fourth round rear-naked choke over Eddie Alvarez back at Bellator 58 with a quick TKO over Akihiro Gono. After catching Gono early with a straight right, Chandler pounced on a stunned Gono and rained down punches until he earned the stoppage. Michael Chandler improves to 10-0 overall, with six fights ending in the first round.

At the post-fight press conference, Akihiro Gono announced his retirement from MMA. Gono has lost three fights in a row, and his record now stands at 32-18-7. His most recent victory was a unanimous decision over Diego Gonzalez at Sengoku 12 in March 2010. While it’s never easy to watch an icon of the sport retire, it’s even harder to watch him continue to lose. Thanks for the memories, Magic Man.


All videos props to IronForgesIron.com

In Welterweight Tournament action, Bryan Baker survived an early salvo from UFC veteran Ben Saunders to pick up a unanimous decision victory. Saunders appeared to have Baker in trouble early, attempting numerous submissions, including a flying triangle and a triangle transitioned into an armbar that appeared to have Baker locked up. However, Baker defended the submission attempts from Saunders well, and found success with his takedowns throughout the rest of the fight.

Surprisingly, not only did Baker earn numerous takedowns throughout the fight, but he also got the better of many of the standup exchanges as well. Saunders managed to find success in the clinch, but in the end, it wasn’t enough to earn the victory. Baker improves to 18-3 overall, and will meet the winner of Karl Amoussou vs. David Rickels in order to determine who gets the next shot at Bellator Welterweight champion Ben Askren.

Also of note, the Ontario, Canada crowd was treated to a victory from Canadian fan-favorite Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford. Ford earned a second round TKO over the always game Luis Santos. After getting rocked early, Ford crumbled Santos with a brutal knee to the body and kept punching until he earned the stoppage. Ford improves to 18-4, with only one victory coming by way of decision.

And oh yeah, a heavyweight bout between Damian Grabowski and Dave Huckaba happened. Grabowski won by unanimous decision. Trust me, that’s all you need to know.

Full Results:

Main Card:

Michael Chandler def. Akihiro Gono via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 0:56
Bryan Baker def. Ben Saunders via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Ryan Ford def. Luis “Sapo” Santos via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:24
Damian Grabowski def. Dave Huckaba via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Preliminary Card:

Will Romero def. Matt Veal via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 4:25
David “Bo” Harris def. Nick Kirk via (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Cosmo Alexander def. Lorawnt-T Nelson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Nordine Taleb def. Matt MacGrath via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 2:30
Dom O’Grady def. Nathan Gunn via submission (armbar) – Round 2, 4:51

Bellator 67 Results: Ford, Baker and Chandler Highlight a Stellar Show at Rama

Bellator 67 took place tonight from a packed Entertainment Hall inside the beautiful Casino Rama and saw the fighters deliver an exceptional night of fights for the Ontario fans.The night tipped off with the highly anticipated …

Bellator 67 took place tonight from a packed Entertainment Hall inside the beautiful Casino Rama and saw the fighters deliver an exceptional night of fights for the Ontario fans.

The night tipped off with the highly anticipated Bellator debut of Canadian Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford taking on tough Bellator veteran Luis Santos. The first round saw Ford come out and feel out his opponent which gave Santos some space to land a solid head kick midway through the round. The kick hurt Ford and he went down before Santos jumped to take his back.

Ford stayed calm and composed and kept himself tight in his defense while Santos tried to find the opening to sink in a choke. The opening did not appear and Ford was able to recover and escape the round. The second saw Ford come out with a new aggression and he locked up Santos as the two backed up to the cage.

A clinch on the cage ensued and Ford was able to get position to open up his brutal knee strikes on Santos. The first one landed to the body and the second one landed flush on Santos’ jaw dropping the veteran to the floor. Ford pounced with a flurry and ended the fight via TKO early in the second round.

It was an impressive debut for Ford in front of a large entourage of family and friends who came in from Edmonton to support him. Ford can now expect to get a spot in the next welterweight tournament and make his run at a Bellator title from there.

There was a huge semifinal fight in this season’s welterweight tournament on the card and classy Bryan Baker was able to out-battle and outlast Ben Saunders in a very exciting fight.

Saunders used some solid knees early and had Baker in what looked to be a very tight triangle in the round, as well. Baker calmly defended and forced Saunders to give up on the hold as fatigue set in to end the round.

The second round saw a reversal of fortunes for Baker as he got top position on Saunders and rained down pressure for the majority of the round. I had the fight deadlocked going in to the third round and it was anyone’s fight to take with a win of the round.

Baker was the stronger, fresher fighter and he quickly got top position on Saunders again early where he rode that control to the win to move to the tournament final. Baker is a classy, impressive individual who is two years in remission after being diagnosed with leukemia a few years ago.

In the main event of the evening, lightweight champion Michael Chandler made extremely quick work of featured opponent Akihiro Gono, landing a right hand in the very first exchange and getting a TKO victory at 0:56 of the first round.

In the other main-card fight on the night, Polish heavyweight Damian Grabowski stole a controversial decision win over a tough and humble Dave Huckaba. I felt Huckaba was the busier fighter, and did more damage with his shots, but the judges saw it differently and chose Grabowski’s takedowns and top control in the decision.

The night of fights was a very good one with the Belllator fighters bouncing back from a disappointing card in Windsor just last month. It is Bellator’s third show at Rama and fourth in Ontario in a year and here’s hoping the trend continues and we see them back in Ontario sooner rather than later.

 

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 @wakafightermma.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Bellator 67 Weigh-in Highlights: Ryan Ford’s Bling; Akihiro Gono Promises Upset

The Bellator 67 weigh-ins were held today from the Casino Rama resort in Orillia, Ontario, and all fighters were on hand to step on the scales and offer final comments to fans and media in attendance.All main-card fighters made weight, and only prelimi…

The Bellator 67 weigh-ins were held today from the Casino Rama resort in Orillia, Ontario, and all fighters were on hand to step on the scales and offer final comments to fans and media in attendance.

All main-card fighters made weight, and only preliminary fighter and local Bellator veteran Will Romero weighed in at over the limit. He has one hour to lose the three pounds he needed to to make the 145-pound limit.

 

Weigh-in Quotes and Highlights

In what can sometimes be a fairly dull event, the clear highlight for me was when Japanese veteran star and long-time original in mixed martial arts, Akihiro Gono, answered Bellator MC Michael Smith’s question in English: “Old veteran is going to make big upset against undefeated champion tomorrow night. Look forward to it!” 

I love when foreign fighters try hard for the fans, and Gono put himself out there with his broken English. With my Canadian-Japanese heritage, it is an honor to have Gono fighting here this weekend, and I look forward to speaking with him tomorrow. 

Now, do I really think that the savy Japanese veteran has a shot at an upset tomorrow? It’s a fight and anything can happen, but I give it a 90 percent chance that Chandler beats him. If Gono pulls the upset, it will be a slick submission from a Chandler mistake. There is a large gap in experience there, and it’s Gono’s only chance.

Another highlight was watching the tattoo-riddled Canadian Ryan Ford take the scale with extremely thick bling around his neck. Even with the large, gold Jesus chain, Ford came in under weight at 169.8 pounds.

Ford is a very popular fighter in Canada and will probably get the biggest pop of the night when he enters the cage tomorrow night.

This is Ford’s Bellator debut and a huge fight for the future of his career. Luis Santos is an extremely tough and experienced fighter. 

Ford was asked by Smith what this debut means to him.

“Everything. I’m ready to put it on for Canada. Luis is explosive and experienced, but I’m ready to get in there and do my thing.”

 

Main Card Weigh-in Results

Welterweight: Luis Santos (170.0) vs. Ryan Ford (169.8)

Heavyweight: Dave Huckaba (255.4) vs. Damian Grabowski (241.4)

Welterweight: Bryan Baker (171.0) vs. Ben Saunders (171.0)

Lightweight: Akihiro Gono (155.6) vs. Michael Chandler (156.0)

 

Keep it locked here for Bellator 67 Results and Post-Fight press conference highlight’s

 

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

5 Things to Watch for at Bellator 67

Bellator Fighting Championships will return to Canada and Ontario for the second time in a month on Friday with a very exciting and relevant night of fights from Casino Rama in Orillia, Ontario.The mixed martial arts card will be headlined by a feature…

Bellator Fighting Championships will return to Canada and Ontario for the second time in a month on Friday with a very exciting and relevant night of fights from Casino Rama in Orillia, Ontario.

The mixed martial arts card will be headlined by a feature fight between current lightweight champion Michael Chandler and Japanese veteran star, Akihiro Gono. The BFC title will not be on the line.

The card will also feature a welterweight tournament semi-final between Ben “Killa B” Saunders and Bryan Baker. This fight has large implications for the title aspirations of both fighters and could signal a bit of a shifting of the guard within the BFC welterweight division.

In a very highly anticipated fight, Canadian welterweight star Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford will make his BFC debut against 50-win veteran Luis Santos. Ford is a very popular fighter in Canada and many fans will be tuning in to see if Ford can make that next step in his career.

The rest of the card is not to be ignored as top fighters such as heavyweight Damian Grabowski and locals Will Romero, Nordine Taleb and Nathan Gunn will all be in action.

Here are five things to watch for on Friday night.

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Bellator 67 Rama: Ontario MMA Fans Getting Spoiled by Bellator

Bellator 67 will take place this Friday night from the beautiful Casino Rama near Orillia, Ontario and the card is sure to deliver some very electric mixed martial arts action to hungry fans in the region.The card is mixed with a headline super-fight b…

Bellator 67 will take place this Friday night from the beautiful Casino Rama near Orillia, Ontario and the card is sure to deliver some very electric mixed martial arts action to hungry fans in the region.

The card is mixed with a headline super-fight between current lightweight champion Michael Chandler and Japanese veteran sensation Akahiro Gono. In a formula that fans have grown to know and rely on, the card is the filled out by tournament action and a variety of aspiring local fighters.

This is the promotion’s third event in the last 10 months in the 5,000-seat Rama Entertainment Complex and the fans in Ontario are very appreciative of the fact that it is becoming regular stop. The first event was Bellator 47 last July and was highlighted by featherweight tournament action and a great fight between Pat Curran and Ronnie Mann.

The next show at Rama was only four months later, highlighted by the welterweight tournament final that saw Douglas Lima take out Ben Saunders with a second-round knockout.

Bellator has not slowed down in Ontario in 2012, as they held their first show in Windsor last month in the Colosseum inside Caesars Casino. That card was headlined by a title fight between Ben Askren and Douglas Lima, and although the card fizzled a bit, it was by no fault of the promotion.

The card was stacked, but the fighters always make or break the night and the fighters were just a bit too tentative on the night.

Less than a month later, Bellator is back in Ontario this Friday night and the buzz is building within the area. Bjorn Rebney and his crew are consistently building satisfied customers in this region and mixed martial arts fans here should feel very spoiled.

 

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 64 Windsor: Full Card Preview and Predictions

Bellator Fighting Championships make a return to Ontario this Friday night with Bellator 64: Askren vs Lima, from the Colosseum inside Caesars Windsor. The show is a stacked card, featuring a welterweight title fight between champion Ben Askren an…

Bellator Fighting Championships make a return to Ontario this Friday night with Bellator 64: Askren vs Lima, from the Colosseum inside Caesars Windsor.

The show is a stacked card, featuring a welterweight title fight between champion Ben Askren and Season 5 tournament winner Douglas Lima. The main card will also feature exciting Brazilians Marlon Sandro and Alexandre Bezerra going at it in a Season 6 featherweight semifinal match, as well as the first two fights in the Season 6 bantamweight tournament.

The preliminary portion of the card will hold five fights and feature some of the best fighters in Canada and Southwestern Ontario. London native and experienced veteran Chris Horodecki will fight for the third time in Bellator (1-0-1), as he faces U.S. Marine and Minnesota native Mike Richman. Horodecki will be making his featherweight debut after years of success as a lightweight.

The rest of the card is intriguing as well, as it is rounded out by some exciting local fighters who are making their Bellator debut and looking to make a name for themselves. Highly touted up-and-comers Nordine Taleb (who trains out of Tristar) and Adrenaline Training Center knockout artist Chad Laprise are debuting on the card.

The event will broadcast LIVE starting at 8 p.m. EST on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. EST, with the first fight scheduled for 7 p.m. EST. The preliminary card, featuring the area’s top local talent will be streamed LIVE and FREE around the world on Spike.com starting at 7 p.m. EST.

Here is a preview, breakdown and prediction for every fight on the card.

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