Tag: Gegard Mousasi vs. Rory MacDonald

Scott Coker Addresses Upset UK Fans Seeing Children’s Program Instead Of Bellator 206 Headliner

Many fans were not happy to say up all not and still not see this main event.

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Scott Coker addresses the unfortunate situation where fans in the UK had to watch something other than the main event of their big Bellator 206 event.

It appears that this event was a big hit for the Viacom-owned promotion in the United States. However, overseas, they are dealing with many who were not happy about how it ended.

British MMA fans stayed up to watch the show on Channel 5 and were just about to see the headliner. However, the channel switched over to an episode of the children’s program Peppa Pig.

Scott Coker Addresses

Following the fight, Bellator President Scott Coker talked about the situation at the Bellator 206 post-fight press conference. At first, he had Bellator senior vice president of marketing and communications Dave Schwartz give an answer. This is where an explanation was given.

“It’s government regulation that at 6 a.m. that content was not suitable so they had to switch to children’s programming,” Schwartz said. “‘Peppa the pig’, yes.”

“I think that when I think about the replay, I think that we can probably work it out,” Coker said (H/T to MMAFighting). “But it’s six in the morning on a Sunday there and we won’t be able to work this out until Sunday our time, Monday their time. But we are working on it.

“Believe me, when it switched over there were a lot of texts going back and forth and they all were not friendly. We were trying to fix it, we thought it was a technical glitch. But it wasn’t, it was a governmental issue. I can promise you the next time it’s not going to happen. We’ll keep it down to five fights instead of six — like we normally do — and we tried to overdeliver for the fans and we just went over. It’s an unfortunate situation.”

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Gegard Mousasi Finishes Rory MacDonald To Retain Middleweight Title

Gegard Mousasi stayed on top of the middleweight division after stopping Rory MacDonald.

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Rory MacDonald was attempting to go for history in this fight as the Bellator welterweight champion went for an accomplishment that no fighter in the history of the Viacom-owned promotion.

The former UFC star challenged Gegard Mousasi for the middleweight strap, which meant he had the chance to become the first fighter ever in Bellator to hold two titles in two different weight classes.  

As seen in the main event of Bellator 206 that went down on Saturday night (September 29, 2018) at the SAP Center in San Jose, California on their new streaming service home, DAZN, Mousasi scored a TKO win in the second round to retain his middleweight title over MacDonald. 

It’s a tactical affair early but both men are active in the first round. Mousasi lands a nice right to the face a minute in but it’s almost all Mousasi in the first, using a great jab and low kicks. The second round was a completely different story as once MacDonald attempted to roll into a leg lock or takedown, this is when he realized his mistake and ultimate downfall as Mousasi lands several punches from on top, forcing “Red King” to pull guard. Mousasi was landing quite a bit of hard punches and MacDonald’s nose and mouth are pouring blood. After several strikes, the referee stepped in to stop this fight and end the hopes and dreams of MacDonald.

MacDonald became a big name while fighting inside of the Octagon under the UFC banner. Once he made the jump to the Viacom-owned promotion, he further showcased his skills. He won the Bellator welterweight title by scoring a unanimous decision win over Douglas Lima at Bellator 192 back in January. It has also been revealed that MacDonald will take part in the Bellator welterweight grand prix tournament as he takes on Jon Fitch. This fight is being potentially targeted for February.

Mousasi’s contract with the UFC ran out after his controversial UFC 208 win over Chris Weidman. This is when he decided to test out the free agent market and signed with the Viacom-owned promotion. A fun fact about his career is that Mousasi was Bellator MMA President Scott Coker’s light heavyweight champion for a while under the Strikeforce banner.

Heading into this fight, Mousasi was riding an impressive six fight win streak with victories of the likes of Weidman, Vitor Belfort, Uriah Hall, and Thiago Santos. He also won his promotional debut with Bellator by picking up a win over Alexander Shlemenko by decision at Bellator 185. He is coming off a win over Rafael Carvalho at Bellator 200 by scoring score a TKO victory in just 3:25 of the very first round.

Gegard Mousasi def. Rory MacDonald via TKO (punches) at 3:23 of R2

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Bellator 206 Weigh-In Results: Main Event Set

Fighters have hit the scales to officially weigh-in.

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Bellator 206 weigh-in results have been released as the fighters took the stage to get ready for battle inside of the cage under the promotion banner.

Bellator 206 is set to take place on Saturday, September 29, 2018 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. The preliminary card will air online at 7:00 pm EST while the main card will air on DAZN at 10:00 PM EST.

Gegard Mousasi vs. Rory MacDonald for the middleweight title will serve as the headliner. Quinton Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva in a heavyweight bout will be the co-main event, which marks the fourth time they have fought each other.

Rounding out the six bout main card is Andrey Koreshkov vs. Douglas Lima in a welterweight tournament opening round, Leandro Higo vs. Aaron Pico in a featherweight bout, Keri Melendez vs. Dakota Zimmerman in a women’s strawweight bout, and Gaston Bolanos vs. Ysidro Gutierrez in a featherweight bout.

Bellator officials held the weigh-ins for Bellator 206 on Friday and here are the weigh-in results:

MAIN CARD (DAZN, 10 p.m. ET)

  • Champ Gegard Mousasi (184.4) vs. Rory MacDonald (184.9) – for middleweight title
  • Quinton Jackson (254.4) vs. Wanderlei Silva ()
  • Andrey Koreshkov (169.3) vs. Douglas Lima (170) – welterweight tournament opening round
  • Leandro Higo (145.1) vs. Aaron Pico (145.7)
  • Keri Melendez () vs. Dakota Zimmerman (115.6)
  • Gaston Bolanos (145.2) vs. Ysidro Gutierrez ()

Preliminary Card (Online, 7 p.m. ET)

  • Adam Piccolotti (159.1) vs. James Terry ()
  • Jeremiah Labiano (144.9) vs. Justin Smitley (144.2)
  • Danasabe Mohammed () vs. Salvador Becerra ()
  • Arlene Blencowe (145.3) vs. Amber Leibrock (145.4)
  • Joe Neal (139.9) vs. Josh San Diego ()
  • Abraham Vaesau () vs. DeMarco Villalona ()
  • Cass Bell () vs. Ty Costa (136)
  • Isaiah Batin-Gonzalez (135.8) vs. Khai Wu (136)
  • Ignacio Ortiz (144.9) vs. Jacob Ycaro ()
  • Ricky Abdelaziz () vs. Laird Anderson ()
  • Chuck Campbell (205.6) vs. Joseph Ramirez (202.4)
  • Anthony Figueroa () vs. Samuel Romero (156)

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Gegard Mousasi Explains Why UFC Is Declining

Gegard Mousasi has some interesting points to this belief.

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Gegard Mousasi explains why now he thinks that the UFC is in a decline and this all comes after having a new look on the state of the MMA landscape. The Bellator middleweight champion is slated to fight welterweight champion Rory MacDonald at the Bellator 206 event.

Bellator Run

Mousasi’s contract with the UFC ran out after his controversial UFC 208 win over Chris Weidman. This is when he decided to test out the free agent market and signed with the Viacom-owned promotion. A fun fact about his career is that Mousasi was Bellator MMA President Scott Coker’s light heavyweight champion for a while under the Strikeforce banner.

Mousasi is currently riding an impressive six fight win streak with victories of the likes of Weidman, Vitor Belfort, Uriah Hall, and Thiago Santos. He also won his promotional debut with Bellator by picking up a win over Alexander Shlemenko by decision at Bellator 185. He is coming off a win over Rafael Carvalho at Bellator 200 by scoring score a TKO victory in just 3:25 of the very first round.

Gegard Mousasi Explains Why

In a recent media conference call (transcript courtesy of Bloody Elbow), he gave his take on why he thinks the UFC is currently in a decline.

“I feel the UFC is declining because they’re putting on bad cards, the main events are not that intriguing,” Mousasi said. “We have a lot of big names fighting now in Bellator. You have Quinton (Jackson) vs. Wanderlei (Silva), that’s a superfight on its own, obviously (Lyoto) Machida is now here. Ryan Bader. You have Matt Mitrione, you have so many big names.

“I think because of my long career. I’m now where I should be and I’m taking every chance I get to fight for the big fights.”

This event is set to take place on Saturday, September 29, 2018 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. The preliminary card will air online at 7:00 pm EST while the main card will air on DAZN and Paramount Network at 9:00 PM EST.

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