Bellator is trimming over a dozen fighters from its roster, a representative for the promotion confirmed to MMA Fighting on Tuesday. 13 fighters to be exact, some coming as more of a surprise than others. Welterweight Fernando Gonzalez defeated the likes of Brennan Ward and current UFC fighter Curtis Millender but was still amongst those cut. […]
Bellator is trimming over a dozen fighters from its roster, a representative for the promotion confirmed to MMA Fighting on Tuesday.
13 fighters to be exact, some coming as more of a surprise than others. Welterweight Fernando Gonzalez defeated the likes of Brennan Ward and current UFC fighter Curtis Millender but was still amongst those cut.
Bellator staple Georgi Karakhanyan was also among the 13 fighters cut by Bellator, despite two blistering and quick knockouts over Bubba Jenkins.
Francisco France went 1-2 in the promotion, losing two of those in a row. Others given their walking papers were Alexis Dufresne, Francis Carmont, who was most recently defeated by Linton Vassell, Ben Reiter, former notable UFC and Ultimate Fighter alum Kendall Grove, Strikeforce and UFC veteran Kevin Casey, L.C Davis, Mike Rhodes, Philipe Lins, Steve Garcia, as well as Steve Kozola.
Of the 13 cut, their combined records were 39-31-1; many were already free agents while others were terminated mid-contract.
How do you feel about Bellator’s most recent round of cuts?
Thales Leites has found a way to bring his mixed martial arts career full circle. A little more than five years ago he was jettisoned from the Ultimate Fighting Championship and an afterthought in the middleweight division. Now, not only has he returne…
Thales Leites has found a way to bring his mixed martial arts career full circle. A little more than five years ago he was jettisoned from the Ultimate Fighting Championship and an afterthought in the middleweight division. Now, not only has he returned to the largest stage in MMA; he’s put himself into a position where he should begin to receive consideration as a potential name to watch in the 185-pound group.
After his split-decision defeat at the hands of AlessioSakara at UFC 101, Leites found himself outside of the UFC and looking for work. From that point forward, the Rio De Janeiro, Brazil native turned his career around in a way that very few individuals can after receiving a UFC pink slip. Leites has put together a 10-1 record, that includes four straight wins since being brought back into the promotion in 2013. His current run has allowed him to reach the 11th spot on the current UFC rankings.
However, one must wonder if this new and improved Thales Leites is a true contender in a new-look middleweight division. According to his stats provided by Fight Metric, Leites is much of the same fighter that earned a title shot years ago; except for one recent new wrinkle. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt has found the ability to finish opponents by knockout to go along with his high-level grappling. When he knocked out Trevor Smith at UFC Fight Night: Minotauro vs. Nelson, he earned his first KO victory in nearly 10 years. He then followed up that performance months later by becoming the first man to knockout Francis Carmont in a decade.
Quite the resurgence for a fighter that could have faded away to obscurity. Leites recognizes the importance of finishing fighters at this point in his career.
“I will always try to finish the fight before the decision,” Leites said to Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting. “We’re fighting in a big promotion, with high-level athletes, and sometimes it won’t happen.”
Leites has taken the opportunity to seize the moment as he’s started calling out bigger-named opponents in the middleweight division. He took to that same interview to reiterate his thoughts about facing Michael Bisping next.
“He’s [Bisping] well ranked, has a big name, and I think it would be great if we fight,” Leites said. “It can be in Brazil or England. I think it would be an interesting fight” (via MMA Fighting).
Since then, Bisping has been paired with Luke Rockhold (via Sherdog) but that still leaves a number of other interesting matchups for the Brazilian competitor. With one or two more victories, Leites can find himself on the short list of men ready to face the champion, or be placed in a title-eliminator in 2015. Not many fighters have found a way to turn around their career in such a dramatic way after being cut by the UFC. Thales Leites has proved that it’s possible and his story is yet to be complete.
(“Hang on a second, Frankie, cause you just blew my f*cking mind.” via Getty)
Francis Carmont — or as they refer to him on the CME podcast, “Frankie Cars” — has experienced one of the more surprising career downswings of them all in recent months. A training partner of Georges St. Pierre up at Quebec’s Tristar gym, Carmont kicked off his UFC career with six straight victories, including wins over Costa Philippou, Chris Camozzi, and Lorenz Larkin to name a few. While his grapple-heavy style was never exactly crowd-pleasing (and some of his aforementioned victories overshadowed by questionable judging decisions), Carmont was steadily working his way toward becoming a top contender in the middleweight division according to many.
Then 2014 happened, and Carmont suddenly couldn’t buy a win. In successive appearances, he dropped a pair of unanimous decisions to Ronaldo Souza and CB Dollaway at Fight Night 36 and 41, respectively. If that wasn’t bad enough, poor Frankie Cars was then crumbled by the patented overhand right of Thales Leites (a.k.a Tally Lates) at Fight Night 49 last month, making it three straight losses for the once promising French Canadian.
And today, the news of Carmont’s release comes straight from the horse’s mouth, er, Facebook page:
(“Hang on a second, Frankie, cause you just blew my f*cking mind.” via Getty)
Francis Carmont — or as they refer to him on the CME podcast, “Frankie Cars” — has experienced one of the more surprising career downswings of them all in recent months. A training partner of Georges St. Pierre up at Quebec’s Tristar gym, Carmont kicked off his UFC career with six straight victories, including wins over Costa Philippou, Chris Camozzi, and Lorenz Larkin to name a few. While his grapple-heavy style was never exactly crowd-pleasing (and some of his aforementioned victories overshadowed by questionable judging decisions), Carmont was steadily working his way toward becoming a top contender in the middleweight division according to many.
Then 2014 happened, and Carmont suddenly couldn’t buy a win. In successive appearances, he dropped a pair of unanimous decisions to Ronaldo Souza and CB Dollaway at Fight Night 36 and 41, respectively. If that wasn’t bad enough, poor Frankie Cars was then crumbled by the patented overhand right of Thales Leites (a.k.a Tally Lates) at Fight Night 49 last month, making it three straight losses for the once promising French Canadian.
And today, the news of Carmont’s release comes straight from the horse’s mouth, er, Facebook page:
I announce that after 6 win and 3 defeat, I am no longer a UFC fighter. However it is with determination that I will continue my career in combat sports. A friend told me, after my loss against Thales, ” You will come to understand it is the best thing that could’ve happen for your career, it’ll make you stronger.” At that moment i did not quiet understand, and after reflecting i came to auto-criticize myself. I come to the conclusion that in sports just like in life, there are many and different stages. By looking for perfection on my technique, i slowly estrange myself from the combat by instinct. Seeking to score points instead of finishing my opponent. My last loss pushes me to grow everyday. Life is a learning path and my career is far from finish. Thank you very much for your constant support.
We imagine that Carmont will likely get scooped up by either Bellator or WSOF based on his former UFC status alone, but his firing just proves more than anything that the three strike rule still applies to guys with boring styles.
Our advice to Carmont: Train dem hands, score a few quick KOs on the local scene, and maybe get arrested a time or two from some really sketchy sh*t. The three strike rule doesn’t apply to knockout artists, Frankie, and that’s the God’s honest truth. Just be thankful that you are living in an MMA landscape where all can be forgiven because DAT FEIJAO KO DOE.
Francis Carmont, a middleweight who became a UFC contender before dropping three straight contests, has been cut by the promotion.
That’s according to a post appearing Wednesday morning on Carmont’s Facebook page. The news was subsequently reporte…
Francis Carmont, a middleweight who became a UFC contender before dropping three straight contests, has been cut by the promotion.
“I announce that after six wins and three defeats, I am no longer a UFC fighter,” he wrote in his post. “However it is with determination that I will continue my career in combat sports.”
The 32-year-old Carmont (22-10) became known for a successful, if not exactly fan-friendly, fighting style. Carmont relied on his talent and strength to grind out opponents against the fence and coast to decision wins.
No surprise to hear of Francis Carmont‘s UFC release. Three straight losses and the fact that Dana White was never a fan made it easy call.
It’s the kind of style that UFC brass has time and again said it does not prefer. But as long as Carmont was winning, questions about his methods were moot.
He began his UFC career in October 2011 with a decision win over Chris Camozzi at UFC 137. He went on to rip off five more consecutive victories—two by submission, three by decision—over MagnusCedenblad, KarlosVemola, Tom Lawlor, Lorenz Larkin and CostasPhilippou.
The win over Phillippou appeared to vault Carmont, a French Canadian who trains alongside Georges St-Pierre and other luminaries at Montreal’s famed Tristar gym, into the title picture.
At that point, however, Carmont began to struggle. He dropped a decision to Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in February, a decision to C.B. Dollaway and suffered a knockout defeat at the hands of Thales Leites. All three losses happened in 2014.
In his Facebook post, Carmont seemed to acknowledge that his style did not exactly work in his favor.
“By looking for perfection on my technique, I slowly estranged myself from the combat by instinct,” he said. “Seeking to score points instead of finishing my opponent. My last loss pushes me to grow everyday. Life is a learning path and my career is far from finished.”
If you want to know the full results of the card, we’ll have them right here:
Preliminary Card
Neil Magny vs. Alex Garcia
Beneil Dariush vs. Tony Martin
Matt Hobar def. Aaron Phillips via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Ben Saunders def. Chris Heatherly via submission (omoplata) at 2:18 of round one.
Wilson Reis def. Joby Sanchez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
Main Card
James Vick vs. Walmir Lazaro
Chas Skelly vs. Tom Niinimaki
Max Holloway vs. Mirsad Bektic
CB “Nick Diaz” Dollaway was in full effect against Francis Carmont Saturday at UFC Fight Night 41 in Berlin, Germany.
From the bout’s onset, Dollaway played the part of entertainer, throwing his hands in the air and smiling at every kick landed b…
CB “Nick Diaz” Dollaway was in full effect against Francis Carmont Saturday at UFC Fight Night 41 in Berlin, Germany.
From the bout’s onset, Dollaway played the part of entertainer, throwing his hands in the air and smiling at every kick landed by his foe. This aligns well with Dollaway’s most recent outings; he’s slowly come into his own inside the cage, and he’s been supremely relaxed and confident, even boisterous, of late.
Undeterred, Carmont bought into Dollaway’s bravado and looked to match him at his own game, throwing his arms up and mocking Dollaway’s taunts throughout Round 1. The Frenchman even roared (literally, he yelled) during a failed takedown attempt, upping the ante for hilarious expressions of gamesmanship inside the cage.
In the end, these two middleweights were well-matched, and they did not shy away from each other at any point throughout the three-round co-main event.
It was the unranked Dollaway who got the better of the No. 9-ranked Carmont after 15 minutes of action, though, and the former The Ultimate Fighter contestant notched what is his biggest UFC win to date via unanimous decision.
What We’ll Remember About This Fight
The taunting was fun, and it definitely injected the bout with a juicy shot of excitement early on, but Dollaway’s all-around dominant performance left the most lasting impression.
Carmont is no joke—he was 6-1 in the UFC coming into this fight, and he had only lost to No. 4-ranked middleweight Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza during his stint with the promotion. Unfazed by this resume, Dollaway went to work and showed off his continually evolving game, besting the Canadian everywhere the fight went.
While Dollaway seemed to fall in love with kickboxing in his most recent bouts, it was his bread and butter—his wrestling—that won him this fight. After a close Round 1, he secured takedowns in both Round 2 and Round 3, and Carmont was unable to handle his smothering top game.
For his efforts, Dollaway takes a nice stride forward in the 185-pound division.
What We Learned About Dollaway
Dollaway is a gamer, and he’s not going to shy away from a gunfight.
While Carmont was the longer, more technical striker, Dollaway stood in the pocket and traded blows, catching his opponent with a nice left hook in Round 1 and proceeding to control the action inside the cage from that point.
His wrestling is still overwhelming, and his gas tank held up, fueling him to a decision victory.
Dollaway is looking an awful lot like a top-10 middleweight these days, a testament to his hard work and improvements as a mixed martial artist.
What We Learned About Carmont
We now know Carmont’s full potential.
After a dominant, albeit uninspiring, effort against Costas Philippou at UFC 165, Carmont dropped his first UFC fight to Souza at UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Mousasi. Souza is an incredible talent, though, and fans wondered how much weight to put on that loss.
Against Dollaway, Carmont proved that his defeat to Souza was no fluke; he really just doesn’t have elite, game-changing skills inside the cage. Dollaway took him down at will, and he inflicted more damage throughout the fight, definitively taking the judges’ decision.
For the TriStar product, this is unacceptable if he wants to establish himself in the division’s top 10. Now, he will tumble down the ladder, and he’ll need to improve drastically if he wants to keep from becoming a gatekeeper.
What’s Next for Dollaway?
While Dollaway termed himself a top-10 middleweight in his post-fight interview, he needs to face another foe just outside the top 10 in his next outing: Yoel Romero.
Both guys are elite wrestlers with powerful attacks on the feet, and they’re both piecing together impressive runs right now. Put them inside the Octagon, lock the door and see which man is truly ready for elite competition at 185.
What’s Next for Carmont?
The loser of the night’s main event between Gegard Mousasi and Mark Munoz makes sense for Carmont moving forward.
Whoever loses that fight will be 0-2 in his last two in the division, and a fight with Carmont will help sort out who deserves to stay in the divisional rankings.
CB “Nick Diaz” Dollaway was in full effect against Francis Carmont Saturday at UFC Fight Night 41 in Berlin, Germany.