According to MMA reporter Jason Floyd, Bellator MMA has cut ties with two former champions in Brandon Halsey and Emanuel Newton.
No official comment from Bellator regarding the releases has been made.
Halsey (9-2) is a 30-year-old former middleweight champion who has dropped his last two. In June, he was submitted by John Salter. The Season 10 tournament winner lost to Rafael Carvalho for the vacant title last October after being stripped of it in May 2015 for missing weight.
Newton (26-11-1) is just 1-4 over his last five fights, with the two most recent taking place outside of Bellator. He lost the light heavyweight belt in 2015 to Liam McGeary and dropped consecutive fights to Phil Davis and Linton Vassell before submitting Matt Baker at Fight Night Medicine Hat in April.
With Bellator, Glory, RFA, WSOF, XFC, and damn-near any promotion *not* named UFC all holding events over the weekend, there was simply too much action for one understaffed and grossly underpaid MMA outlet to cover. So rather than give you long and boring results recaps of each event (that you’ve already read elsewhere), we’re going to bring you the cream of the crop, the highlights of the highlights, in the form of these gifs, vines, and videos from each event. Capiche?
We begin with easily the most horrifying gif of the bunch, taken from Saturday’s XTreme Fighting Championships International 11 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Just over a minute into a featherweight contest between Guilherme Faria and Missael Silva de Souza Falcao Feijao dos Santos Ruiz (or simply Silva for short), Faria unleashed a monster left hand that zombified his opponent, leaving Silva with the worst knockout face since that one Asian “Faces of Death” kickboxer. Had Silva opted to enjoy a post-fight wank session, there’s not a doubt in my mind that this gif would already have a Potato Award locked up.
Check out a plethora of uber-violent gifs from WSOF, Bellator, and more after the jump.
With Bellator, Glory, RFA, WSOF, XFC, and damn-near any promotion *not* named UFC all holding events over the weekend, there was simply too much action for one understaffed and grossly underpaid MMA outlet to cover. So rather than give you long and boring results recaps of each event (that you’ve already read elsewhere), we’re going to bring you the cream of the crop, the highlights of the highlights, in the form of these gifs, vines, and videos from each event. Capiche?
We begin with easily the most horrifying gif of the bunch, taken from Saturday’s XTreme Fighting Championships International 11 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Just over a minute into a featherweight contest between Guilherme Faria and Missael Silva de Souza Falcao Feijao dos Santos Ruiz (or simply Silva for short), Faria unleashed a monster left hand that zombified his opponent, leaving Silva with the worst knockout face since that one Asian “Faces of Death” kickboxer. Had Silva opted to enjoy a post-fight wank session, there’s not a doubt in my mind that this gif would already have a Potato Award locked up.
Check out a plethora of uber-violent gifs from WSOF, Bellator, and more after the jump.
Next up, a gif that is equal parts predictable (Tito Ortiz losing) and surprising (via submission) from the finishing sequence of Bellator 142′s main event. In what we can only pray was Ortiz’s final final performance, the former UFC champ turned Bellator challenger started off strong with some nasty ground-n-pound. Towards the end of the first round, however, Ortiz got tangled up in the spider web that champion Liam McGeary’s guard has become, forcing him to use the ol’ “Brazilian tap” to get out of an armbar. Unfortunately, Ortiz then slammed himself directly into a reverse triangle and was forced to tap for reals, awarding McGeary the victory with just 20 seconds left in the round.
In case you’re wondering, yes, Tito did manage to completely steal McGeary’s moment in the post-fight interview, as well as remind everyone that, and I quote, ”I’m a legend, or people call me a legend, or whatever.” Way to represent your heritage and your race, Tito.
The first round of Bellator’s 4-man light heavyweight went rather smoothly by all accounts, with King Mo picking up an easy decision win over Linton Vassell to kick off the main card. On the other end of the bracket, former UFC top contender Phil Davis took on former Bellator champ Emanuel Newton, and damn if he didn’t make it look easy. Davis took Newton to the mat early and often before — in a complete departure from the fighter we came to know in the UFC — finishing The Big Homie with a kimura in the first round.
And if you thought that was crazy, just wait until you see this…
Remember how we said everything was going smoothly in the *first* round of Bellator’s tournament? Well, the thing about that is, it kind of fell apart after that.
Yes, King Mo was forced to withdraw from his second fight after tearing cartilage in his ribs in the Vassell fight, which bumped former UFC middleweight Francis Carmont (who had picked up a decision win over Anthony Ruiz earlier in the night) into the tournament finale against Davis.
And then…the unthinkable happened. You’ll have to check it out for yourself, because my computer is not allowing me to type “Phil Davis” and the word that we know as “knockout” less than seven words apart.
Over at WSOF 23, Justin Gaethje clashed with Luis Palomino in an immediate rematch of their WSOF 19 “Fight of the Year” contender from back in March. The fight lived up to expectations, turning into another gritty barnburner that saw both men bloodied and battered in under two rounds, as did the finish. The sound of that right hand, lawdy…
WSOF 23 also saw crimefighter turned MMA fighter Phoenix Jones bounce back from a defeat in his WSOF debut in April via a submission of Roberto Yong with the ever-rare leg scissors choke midway through the second round. Thankfully, the ref on hand was able to recognize Young’s tap before we had another Kim Couture-level disaster on our hands. The win improves to Jones to 6-1-1 as a pro overall.
Finally, we have this absolutely brutal falling tree KO which transpired in a light heavyweight tilt between Tomislav Spahovic and Gustav Dietz at FFC 19 on Friday . The only thing more ridiculous than the speed at which Spahovic crashes to the canvas is the absolute lack of emotion the announcers display upon watching it happen. Joe Rogan would have burst a blood vessel in his taint and these guys treated it like the golf announcers in that Geico Kraken ad. That’s some true professionalism, folks.
I sort of remember where I was when Fighters Only announced the first World MMA Awards. What a moment. I sat there at my desk in my two-bedroom apartment in beautiful Henderson, Nevada, reading the announcement and nominee list. I may have thought something like “This won’t last more than a year” or maybe I just finished reading and moved on with my life. December 2008 was a wild time, man.
Yet, here we are during the annual War on Christmas in 2014 and the World MMA Awards are going strong with their seventh annual edition. They proved the maybe-fictional version of my 2008 self wrong.
Fighters Only released this year’s nominee list on Monday, and I have some thoughts. Allow me to list them for you…
1. Someone ran the nominee photos through the “2003” filter. The World MMA Awards built itself a flashy website complete with a sweet animated countdown clock and high-res background video of last year’s awards and 2014 UFC highlights which I’m sure cost a lot of money to license (wink wink). Yet when you click through to vote, you find headshots of nominees that look like they were shot on a flip phone a decade ago.
2.International Fighter of the Year is still a thing. For the first two years, International Fighter of the Year was known as European Fighter of the Year, which, okay, Fighters Only is a UK publication or whatever. They renamed it for 2010, and fighters “outside the Americas” are eligible. Now I’m not sure of the point. Every winner of the award (including the original Euro winners) had a presence in the United States the year they won. Plus, MMA is a global sport, and international fighters aren’t disqualified or handicapped from winning Fighter of the Year proper. The first three winners were non-Americans Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre (who technically isn’t eligible for International Fighter of the Year anyway), and Jose Aldo. You could always present a non-UFC Fighter of the Year and prevent things like…
I sort of remember where I was when Fighters Only announced the first World MMA Awards. What a moment. I sat there at my desk in my two-bedroom apartment in beautiful Henderson, Nevada, reading the announcement and nominee list. I may have thought something like “This won’t last more than a year” or maybe I just finished reading and moved on with my life. December 2008 was a wild time, man.
Yet, here we are during the annual War on Christmas in 2014 and the World MMA Awards are going strong with their seventh annual edition. They proved the maybe-fictional version of my 2008 self wrong.
Fighters Only released this year’s nominee list on Monday, and I have some thoughts. Allow me to list them for you…
1. Someone ran the nominee photos through the “2003” filter. The World MMA Awards built itself a flashy website complete with a sweet animated countdown clock and high-res background video of last year’s awards and 2014 UFC highlights which I’m sure cost a lot of money to license (wink wink). Yet when you click through to vote, you find headshots of nominees that look like they were shot on a flip phone a decade ago.
2.International Fighter of the Year is still a thing. For the first two years, International Fighter of the Year was known as European Fighter of the Year, which, okay, Fighters Only is a UK publication or whatever. They renamed it for 2010, and fighters “outside the Americas” are eligible. Now I’m not sure of the point. Every winner of the award (including the original Euro winners) had a presence in the United States the year they won. Plus, MMA is a global sport, and international fighters aren’t disqualified or handicapped from winning Fighter of the Year proper. The first three winners were non-Americans Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre (who technically isn’t eligible for International Fighter of the Year anyway), and Jose Aldo. You could always present a non-UFC Fighter of the Year and prevent things like…
3. Emanuel Newton nominated for Fighter of the Year. Newton wasn’t nominated last year when he upset “King” Mo Lawal (and Bjorn Rebney) twice. So, he turns around in 2014 and rattles off wins against luminous names like Attila Vegh, Joey Beltran, and Linton Vassell and finds himself nominated. This is worse than Bloody Elbow readers voting Matt Brown as their fighter of the year in 2012.
4.Speaking of Bloody Elbow, Brent Brookhouse wasn’t nominated for journalist of the year. Bloody Elbow was given a token nomination for Media Source of the Year, so at least someone’s paying attention. Brookhouse gets left off despite a now-long history of investigative work AND breaking the biggest story of the year. If only he held a microphone, wore children’s shoes, and asked fighters about their beards…
5.Two nominees for Media Source of the Year have documented ties to the UFC. MMA Junkie belongs to USA Today, which has some sort of partnership deal with the UFC. Fightland is, in Tim Marchman’s words, a “joint UFC/Vice venture.” That same report also noted instances of Fightland editing pieces in order to appear more favorable to the promotion.
6.Mike Dolce found himself nominated for Trainer of the Year. Dolce’s claim to fame in 2014 is an ongoing feud with BJ Penn over Dolce’s work for Penn leading up to what turned out to be a disaster of a trilogy fight against Frankie Edgar. Penn isn’t the first fighter to complain about Dolce’s contributions, and both Phil Baroni and Tito Ortiz have chimed in with their thoughts on the Dolce Diet guru.
7.Someone or someones thought Brendan Schaub was worthy of a Personality of the Year nomination. Schaub co-hosts the Fighter and The Kid podcast with Bryan Callen and regularly appears on Joe Rogan’s podcast where Rogan occasionally Kano’s him in front of thousands of viewers. Schaub seems like a nice-enough and articulate-enough guy, but I couldn’t make it more than a minute into an episode of the Fighter and The Kid without feeling embarrassed for everyone involved.
8.Leading Man of the Year, a category sexist enough for the MMA community. Sorry, Shannon Knapp, no matter how many millions of streams Invicta tallies, you’ll never find yourself nominated for the de facto “promoter of the year” category. But hey, there’s a category for you if you wanna throw on a bikini and walk around with numbered signs.
9. Sponsored by Bodybuilding.com and RDX Sports. Nothing says classy gala affair like a store/forum pushing workout pills and unrealistic body expectations and a UK martial arts equipment provider with fewer Twitter followers than a certain tuber-themed MMA site.
10.Holy shit, they let the fans vote on this stuff. The World MMA Awards are determined by the Eddie Justbleeds of the world. Surely, said Justbleeds recognize the relative merits of Ray Longo’s and Duane Ludwig’s coaching techniques. Surely, they recognize such trainers as Doug Balzarini, Brian Blue, Jake Bonacci, and Joel Jamieson. Surely, Garry Cook and Victor Cui are household names. Surely, they understand the difference between “lifestyle” and “technical” clothing brands, and are familiar enough with the “technical equipment” to provide a fair and balanced ballot.
The World MMA Awards: The awards show that MMA deserves, but not the one it needs right now. Or ever.
We know that some of you think we’re die-hard Bellator haters, simply because we have no problem calling a garbage show a garbage show. But believe us, we don’t go out looking for ways to embarrass America’s #2 MMA promotion — this stuff just has a way of finding us.
Like tonight at Bellator 130, for example. We were prepared to give Bobby Lashley a respectful pat on the back for running through his fifth consecutive non-Wiki opponent. But it was the way Lashley won that made us shake our damn heads.
The former WWE star and current TNA attraction faced off against undefeated British heavyweight Karl Etherington, who had come into the fight with a 9-0 record, and all wins coming in the first round — seven of which were earned in under a minute. On paper, Etherington is no can. He was also billed as a judo black belt, which is kind of hard to believe when you watch the GIF of the finish, in which the Brit tries to pull Lashley to the mat, loses his grip, and flops onto his stomach where Lashley bashes him until Etherington taps to strikes. Not exactly Rousey-esque.
For God’s sake, Coker, it’s time to give Lashley one of your real heavyweights. Like…uh…um…Joey Beltran? I have no idea. This is about as good as heavyweight MMA gets in Bellator, unfortunately. Full Bellator 130 results are after the jump, with links to GIFs of the finishes courtesy of the Zombie. Short version: Emanuel Newton defended his title against that guy, and Marloes Coenen won her Bellator debut against some lady.
We know that some of you think we’re die-hard Bellator haters, simply because we have no problem calling a garbage show a garbage show. But believe us, we don’t go out looking for ways to embarrass America’s #2 MMA promotion — this stuff just has a way of finding us.
Like tonight at Bellator 130, for example. We were prepared to give Bobby Lashley a respectful pat on the back for running through his fifth consecutive non-Wiki opponent. But it was the way Lashley won that made us shake our damn heads.
The former WWE star and current TNA attraction faced off against undefeated British heavyweight Karl Etherington, who had come into the fight with a 9-0 record, and all wins coming in the first round — seven of which were earned in under a minute. On paper, Etherington is no can. He was also billed as a judo black belt, which is kind of hard to believe when you watch the GIF of the finish, in which the Brit tries to pull Lashley to the mat, loses his grip, and flops onto his stomach where Lashley bashes him until Etherington taps to strikes. Not exactly Rousey-esque.
For God’s sake, Coker, it’s time to give Lashley one of your real heavyweights. Like…uh…um…Joey Beltran? I have no idea. This is about as good as heavyweight MMA gets in Bellator, unfortunately. Full Bellator 130 results are after the jump, with links to GIFs of the finishes courtesy of the Zombie. Short version: Emanuel Newton defended his title against that guy, and Marloes Coenen won her Bellator debut against some lady.
When Bellator light heavyweight champion Emanuel Newton was inexplicably booked to face former UFC journeyman Joey Beltran at Bellator 124, we were concerned to say the very least. Beltran has always been a gamer, sure, but his recent performances (which included a KO loss to Rampage Jackson and a decision win over Vladimir Matyushenko under the Bellator banner) didn’t exactly paint him as a man ready to face one of Bellator’s most elite fighters. Then this happened:
So yeah, Beltran *might* have been a little out of his league that night, but being that two of Bellator’s top light heavyweights are currently locked in a WWE-style feud with one another, viable contenders appear limited for “The Hardcore Kid.” Just take a look at Newton’s recently scheduled next opponent, if you don’t believe us…
(Photo via Sherdog)
When Bellator light heavyweight champion Emanuel Newton was inexplicably booked to face former UFC journeyman Joey Beltran at Bellator 124, we were concerned to say the very least. Beltran has always been a gamer, sure, but his recent performances (which included a KO loss to Rampage Jackson and a decision win over Vladimir Matyushenko under the Bellator banner) didn’t exactly paint him as a man ready to face one of Bellator’s most elite fighters. Then this happened:
So yeah, Beltran *might* have been a little out of his league that night, but being that two of Bellator’s top light heavyweights are currently locked in a WWE-style feud with one another, viable contenders appear limited for “The Hardcore Kid.” Just take a look at Newton’s recently scheduled next opponent, if you don’t believe us…(via MMAJunkie):
Bellator MMA’s final regular Friday event of the season is set and will be headlined by a light heavyweight title fight. Champion Emanuel Newton (24-7 MMA, 7-1 BMMA) will defend his title against Linton Vassell (14-3 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) in the main event of Bellator 130. Promotion officials today announced the headliner and the rest of the card.
Linton Vassell? Who the hell is Linton Vassell? What, was Attila Vegh not available for another-oh, that’s right. I am not afraid to admit that I have no idea who this cat is, but let’s take a gander over this Vincent Lassell’s record, shall we?
That’s…not bad, actually. Anton Verchelli is 3-0 under the Bellator banner with two stoppage victories in 2014, and will be riding a 9 fight win streak into his fight with Newton. Also, his nickname is “The Swarm” and I’m not even sure how it’s physically possible for that nickname to apply to a sole entity.
At 14-3, Quinton Pastel is a hell of a lot more qualified than Beltran ever was to face the likes of “The Hardcore Kid.” At the same time, this matchup simply makes one scratch their head and wonder why Bellator opted *not* to match Newton against Liam McGeary, who won the 2014 Summer Series light heavyweight tournament with a super slick inverted triangle choke over Kelly Anundson on the very same night that Newton last defended his title. So yeah, the f*ck is this matchup.
Of course, Season 10 light heavyweight tournament winner Quinton Jackson also seems like a more viable matchup for Newton, but he has apparently dropped off the face of the earth since decisioning King Mo back in May. (We’re guessing that potential matchup would be saved for Bellator’s next PPV go anyway.)
But yeah, we’re getting Manny Newts vs. Dustin Vasectomy, who didn’t even win a goddamned tournament. Bjork Rubme is spinning in his grave.
It’s been quite a while since we first penned our list of “The Ten Greatest Finishing Moves in MMA” and a lot has changed in the time since. While some of our choices are even more relevant now than they were when the list was originally published in April of 2011, most of them seem either inaccurate or simply out of date in light of current circumstances. Knowing what we know now, we’ve decided to update our list to align with today’s MMA landscape. Enjoy.
Matt Mitrione has evolved into quite the knockout artist since his time on TUF 10, and it’s easy to see why: He’s incredibly light on his feet for a man his size and is easily one of the most purely violent punchers in the heavyweight division. All the man named “Meathead” needed was a little refinement, go figure. That being said, two of Meathead’s last three KO victories have come less by any sort of striking technique and more by a football-style collision of two giant dudes (phrasing). His 19-second finish of Philip De Fries at UFC on FUEL 9 was the first knockout to come by way of hip thrust in UFC History and his recent win over Derrick Lewis at Fight Night 50 looked like something between a forearm shiver and a
In any case, it’s obvious that Mitrione’s professional football past has largely aided his MMA present, and we hope to one day see him score the KO via Goldberg Spear he has been working towards for years now.
It’s been quite a while since we first penned our list of “The Ten Greatest Finishing Moves in MMA“ and a lot has changed in the time since. While some of our choices are even more relevant now than they were when the list was originally published in April of 2011, most of them seem either inaccurate or simply out of date in light of current circumstances. Knowing what we know now, we’ve decided to update our list to align with today’s MMA landscape. Enjoy.
Matt Mitrione has evolved into quite the knockout artist since his time on TUF 10, and it’s easy to see why: He’s incredibly light on his feet for a man his size and is easily one of the most purely violent punchers in the heavyweight division. All the man named “Meathead” needed was a little refinement, go figure. That being said, two of Meathead’s last three KO victories have come less by any sort of striking technique and more by a football-style collision of two giant dudes (phrasing). His 19-second finish of Philip De Fries at UFC on FUEL 9 was the first knockout to come by way of hip thrust in UFC History and his recent win over Derrick Lewis at Fight Night 50 looked like something between a forearm shiver and a
In any case, it’s obvious that Mitrione’s professional football past has largely aided his MMA present, and we hope to one day see him score the KO via Goldberg Spear he has been working towards for years now.
We know, right? Who could have possibly foreseen that Thales Leites — he of UFC 97 and butt-flopping fame — would become a legitimate knockout artist some five years removed from his ill-fated title fight with Anderson Silva? But that’s exactly what’s happened in his second UFC run, proving once and for all that you really can teach an old dog new tricks.
Following decision wins over Tom Watson and Ed Herman, the BJJ Black Belt has notched impressive KO wins over Trevor Smith and the once highly-touted Francis Carmont (aka Frankie Cars) via the classic overhand right. And we know what you’re thinking, “Anyone can throw any overhand right. Anyone.” And you’re right, it may not be the flashiest punch in the book, but if Big Country can make a career of it, why can’t Tally Leites?
While Cerrone may prefer the right and Holm the left, these two have gone on pretty unprecedented streaks in the head kick department as of late, with Holm collecting 2 of her past 4 wins by the technique (with 1 in that span also coming by body kick KO) and “Cowboy” picking up head kick KO wins in 2 out of his past 3 (over Adrian Martins and Jim Miller).
We legitimately feared for Daniel Cormier‘s life when Jon Jones started dropping them thangs during their brawl at the UFC 178 media day. When Bones isn’t training his ‘bows to slice up faces in the octagon, he’s more than likely using them to carve smuggled blood diamonds into precious gems (which are then sold by Chris Weidman), and his five round butchering of Glover Teixeira at UFC 172 merely confirmed this.
(Robin Black breaks down Saunders’ omoplata in typically awesome fashion.)
Things couldn’t have gone much better for Ben Saunders in his UFC return at Fight Night 49 last month. Taking on late replacement opponent Chris Heatherly, Saunders turned an early mistake into the first omoplata finish in UFC History, and boy oh boy was it nasty. When imagining what must have been going through Heatherley’s head as he was having his arm twisted into a pretzel, we can only recall the words of comedian and masochistic pain artist Jim Norton:
“I feel like I have to shit…That was the worst one ever.”
He might not have been looking that great against Joey Beltran in the moments leading up to it, but we’ll be damned if Emanuel Newton’s second spinning backfist knockout under the Bellator banner wasn’t even more vicious than the first, and the first one made King Mo go full Groot for Christ’s sake. You never go full Groot.
Perhaps the greatest thing about Newton’s backfist is the manner in which he throws it, which at best seems like an afterthought and at worst seems like a guy casually swatting a bee off his mailbox. Newton has simply run out of fucks to give when it comes to highlight reel knockouts, to the point that he doesn’t even care to look his opponents in the face while delivering them. It’s taking the concept of a walk-off knockout to a whole ‘notha level is what it is.
#4 — Hendo’s H-Bomb
A finishing move that truly needs no introduction, Dan Henderson‘s H-Bomb reintroduced itself to the world at Fight Night 38 regardless, pancaking Shogun Rua’s nose and closing the book on one of the most improbable comeback victories in UFC History. Did you know that he also used it to knock the piss out of Michael Bisping at UFC 100? We’ve mentioned it a time or two around here, but are just making sure.
#3 — Ronda Rousey‘s Armbar Judo Slam + Storm of Hammerfists
Screw the armbar, DID YOU SEE WHAT SHE JUST DID TO THAT POOR LADY?!
The hard truth is, there is no move on this list that has had more of an impact on a fighter’s career than Alistair Overeem’s patented nosedive and semi-conscious tumble to the mat. In the span of less than a year, the move was almost solely responsible for Overeem’s plummet from “Can-Crushing He-Man” to “Second Biggest Bust of All Time“, and was in no finer form than his most recent upset loss to Ben Rothwell. The best part: He’s already ready to show it off again! Not since the Flair Flop has a fall from grace been so graceful!
Of course, if Overeem’s nosedive ranks at #2, it means that only one move can logically rank above him…
If the final moments of his UFC 164 fight with Brandon Vera didn’t prove the effectiveness of Ben Rothwell’s celebratory jig (a.k.a The Hillbilly Seizure Attack), his massive upset of The Reem earlier this month surely did.
According to our local interpretive dance expert George Shunick, Rothwell’s jig can best be described as “a cross between a native Wisconsin mating dance and a mild stroke.” In any case, Rothwell has used the power of dance to overcome almost impossible odds on two separate occasions now — like a hairy, redneck Billy Elliot (Hill-Billy Elliot?) — and has easily earned the top spot on this list because of it. LALALALALA CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!!
Honorable mentions: Chris Beal’s flying knee, Tim Kennedy’s dry hump, BJ Penn’s hidden monk stance (lol!)
