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Eric Prindle is Officially the James Irvin of Bellator, Title Fight Against Cole Konrad Postponed

(Who knew that this moment would become a metaphor for Eric Prindle’s Bellator career?)

At this rate, Bellator’s season five heavyweight tournament is going to take longer to come to a close than Strikeforce’s heavyweight tournament, a notion this writer didn’t think was possible until earlier today. Because believe it or not, season five winner Eric Prindle has been forced to withdraw from a scheduled match on less than a week’s notice yet again, this time from his title fight with heavyweight champion Cole Konrad.

The fight, which was supposed to go down at this weekend’s Bellator 65 card, has now been pushed back to May 25th as a result of a hand injury Prindle suffered in training, an injury that he described as “all my own fault.”

(Who knew that this moment would become a metaphor for Eric Prindle’s Bellator career?)

For those of you who have not followed the story of Eric Prindle’s Bellator run, it is not unlike that of the television show Lost. Every time closure seemed within sight, the rug was abruptly pulled out from beneath the viewing audience at the last moment, leaving them feeling cheated and pissed off, yet somehow more pretentious as well. This first happened in the original finals of the heavyweight tournament, which took place back in November of 2011. Prindle’s opponent at the time, fellow tourney finalist Thiago Santos, nearly punted Prindle’s testicles halfway across this building, leaving the fight to be declared a no-contest when Prindle could not continue.

The rematch was scheduled for Bellator 61, but the former U.S soldier was forced to withdraw from the fight just one day beforehand due to an alleged case of the flu. The rematch was then rescheduled for Bellator 62, and wouldn’t you know it, both fighters actually managed to make it to the weigh-ins. This was where things would go awry once again, as Santos would weigh in at a scale shattering 12.8 pounds over the heavyweight limit. Prindle was awarded a title shot against Conrad, and the fight was scheduled for Bellator 65.

Conrad has not fought since out gunning UFC veteran Paul Buentello in one of Bellator’s infamous non-title bouts at Bellator 48 in 2011 and has yet to defend the belt since submitting Neil Grove at Bellator 32 in October of 2010 to earn it.

Like we said, Prindle’s match against Konrad is scheduled for May 25th, but we wouldn’t recommend buying those tickets just yet.

Bellator 65, on the other hand, goes down this weekend from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey and features a headlining bantamweight title fight between champion Zach “Fun Size” Makovsky and challenger Eduardo Dantas.

-J. Jones

UFC 131 Injury Curse Continues; Pokrajac Latest to Withdraw

(Pokrajac chokes out James Irvin at UFC on Versus 2, but contracts the Sandman Curse in the process. Props: Francis Specker)

UFC 131 was never going to be remembered as the most stacked event of the year, but it did have a lot of crowd-pleasing names on it. Then, Brock Lesnar fell ill with a flare-up of diverticulitis, TUF 11 winner Court McGee tweaked his knee in training, and Mac Danzig’s chest injury snubbed out a compelling bang-up with Donald Cerrone. Throw in injury withdrawals from supporting players Anthony Perosh and Rani Yahya, and you’re left with a ghost-ship of a card that’s making Joe Silva work double-shifts.

Now, just days before the third UFC event in three weeks, the card continues to lose bodies. Due to an undisclosed injury*, Croatian light-heavyweight Igor Pokrajac has been forced to withdraw from his fight against Krzysztof Soszynski, and will be replaced on short notice by Mike Massenzio. (Pokrajac was already an injury replacement for Anthony Perosh, which means that this UFC 131 injury curse has affected K-Sos as much as anybody.)

(Pokrajac chokes out James Irvin at UFC on Versus 2, but contracts the Sandman Curse in the process. Props: Francis Specker)

Best known as a middleweight, Massenzio was released by the UFC last year following consecutive stoppage losses to CB Dollaway and Brian Stann. He last competed on April 29th, scoring a 2nd round TKO over Nate Kittredge at a Combat Zone MMA event in New Hampshire.

In related news, a training injury has forced welterweight contender Martin Kampmann out of his scheduled bout against John Howard at UFC on Versus 4 (June 26th, Pittsburgh). Replacing him will be TUF 7 vet Matt Brown, who was slated to face Rich Attonito on the same card; Daniel Roberts will now come in to face Attonito. It’s a do-or-die fight for Brown, who has lost his last three fights — all by second-round submission.

* It’s nice to see that Sherdog has become as lazy as CagePotato, referring to Soszynski as ‘K-Sos‘. Add it to the list of phrases that we’ve popularized and then run into the ground.

Previously: The 10 Most Cursed MMA Events of All Time

Junior Dos Santos ‘Outraged’ After UFC Heavyweight Title Curse Claims Cain Velasquez

(Junior’s ‘Hypnotic Polo Shirt of Brazilian Dominance’ just pissed all over the GSoAV’s face, son.)
Like the Hope Diamond and James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder, the UFC’s heavyweight championship belt is a cursed object, bringing only misery to those w…

(Junior’s ‘Hypnotic Polo Shirt of Brazilian Dominance’ just pissed all over the GSoAV‘s face, son.)

Like the Hope Diamond and James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder, the UFC’s heavyweight championship belt is a cursed object, bringing only misery to those who come in contact with it. Winning the title has resulted in immediate misfortune for Frank Mir (career-threatening motorcycle accident), Josh Barnett (steroid bust), Tim Sylvia (another steroid bust), Bas Rutten (training injuries leading to a seven-year retirement), Randy Couture (two separate contract disputes that caused him to leave the organization), and Brock Lesnar (goddamned Canadians). No heavyweight in the UFC’s history has ever been able to defend the belt more than twice consecutively, and the title has been defended an average of just 1.25 times per year for the last four years.

The Curse of the Belt struck again, right on schedule, when Cain Velasquez suffered a shoulder injury just two months after taking the belt off of Lesnar, and won’t be back in action for 6-8 months. If you ask us, Junior Dos Santos dodged a bullet, since he won’t have to go near that hoodoo-ridden talisman until late next year. But despite all the bad omens, JDS is pissed that his title shot has been delayed, and blames Velasquez himself. Here’s what Cigano had to say in a recent interview with portal Vale Tudo:

CagePotato Stats: The FIGHT! Magazine ‘Cover Curse’, Issue by Issue

(Damn. As if the "Having to Fight GSP" curse wasn’t bad enough… / Image courtesy of fightmagazine.com)
By Jim "jimbonics" Isaacs So there I was, minding my own business, creating a masterpiece through MSPaint in honor of ReX13&…

(Damn. As if the "Having to Fight GSP" curse wasn’t bad enough… / Image courtesy of fightmagazine.com)

By Jim "jimbonics" Isaacs

So there I was, minding my own business, creating a masterpiece through MSPaint in honor of ReX13’s first Bellator article for the ‘Tater. Later that afternoon, after a WILD week in the comments section across all articles, I was honored with a “Comment of the Week” award and subsequently a subscription to FIGHT! Magazine. Sweet! It was the first thing I had won since a pinball contest in Nineteen Dickety-Two.

After a month of salivating and daily mailbox-checking, I had received no magazine. I was convinced I would not actually receive a prize, as hundreds of comments at CP over the past year alluded to. Then it happened. My mailbox was stuffed with bills I would never open, offers I would never respond to, and an extremely thick and glossy FIGHT! Magazine.

There is King Mo, in all his ~~glory~~ bling, staring at me. The first thought in my head was how he got his ass thoroughly beaten by Mousasi yet still won the belt based solely on takedowns. (Though he snared 11 of his 14 takedown attempts, if there was ever a fight to argue against the weight of takedowns in MMA scoring, it was that fight, but I digress). The second thought in my head was that he wouldn’t hold the belt very long, especially with the ultra-quick striker and BJJ black belt Feijão looming. I’m not saying, I’m just saying.

A month later the next magazine had wrestling specialist Kenny Florian on it. He went on to get Gray Maynarded. This got the wheels turning, and I decided to do a little investigating: Does the long-rumored FIGHT! Magazine Cover Curse actually exist?

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

The Curse Is On: Matt Wiman Becomes the Latest Main-Carder to Drop Out of UFC Fight Night 22

(Matt Wiman’s face-off against Shane Nelson gets heated before UFC 107. Poor, sweet Natasha. She has no idea what’s going on. / Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)
Just one day after his opponent Mac Danzig fell off the card, UFC Fight Night 22 co-headliner M…

(Matt Wiman’s face-off against Shane Nelson gets heated before UFC 107. Poor, sweet Natasha. She has no idea what’s going on. / Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Just one day after his opponent Mac Danzig fell off the card, UFC Fight Night 22 co-headliner Matt Wiman has also withdrawn from the event due to a broken arm suffered in training. The Curse of Fight Night 22 has already claimed Alan Belcher (detached retina), as well as Nick Catone (shoulder and back) and Aaron Simpson (staph). Austin-area police are currently rounding up local witches and voodoo priestesses for questioning.

Still, one man’s misfortune is another’s unbelievable opportunity. Stepping in for Wiman against Efrain Escudero will be undefeated Brazilian prospect Charles "do Bronx" Oliveira, who made his UFC debut in dramatic fashion earlier this month at Jones vs. Matyushenko, when he tapped Darren Elkins via armbar in just 41 seconds; the performance scored him the event’s Submission of the Night bonus. Another big win just a month-and-a-half later could put Oliveira on the lightweight map. Will he rise to the occasion?