Bellator 58 Main Fight Card Lightweight Championship bout: Eddie Alvarez (c) vs Michael Chandler Can’t go against Alvarez. Chandler is an excellent fighter though. Reminds of Jake Ellenberger. Chandler is a very good fighter with all around skills, just lacking everything against Alvarez though. If the odds are totally outrageous, then Chandler wouldn’t be the
Bellator 58 Main Fight Card
Lightweight Championship bout: Eddie Alvarez (c) vs Michael Chandler
Can’t go against Alvarez. Chandler is an excellent fighter though. Reminds of Jake Ellenberger. Chandler is a very good fighter with all around skills, just lacking everything against Alvarez though. If the odds are totally outrageous, then Chandler wouldn’t be the worst upset play. Thinking Alvarez via decision.
Alvarez is -260 and Chandler is +200 at Intertops, so the odds aren’t terrible here. Says a lot about Chandler’s skills.
Catchweight (95lb) bout: Hector Lombard vs Trevor Prangley
Hector Lombard definitely will win, but if you like playing upsets, the odds are probably ridiculously one sided for this one. Prangley though can take a punch. However, thinking Lombard via TKO.
Yep Lombard is -800 and Prangley is +500 at Intertops
Women’s (5 lbs) bout: Jessica Aguilar vs Lisa Ellis-Ward
pass
Bellator 58 Undercard
Middleweight bout: Brett Cooper vs Jared Hess
I lean towards Cooper. He became famous by KO’ing IFL star Rory Markham as a replacement fighter back in 2007. Hess also tasted success as a champion in a 3rd tier fight promotion. This fight should be excellent. If Cooper can’t finish Hess could probably win on points. I think Cooper has a shot though.
Prediction: Hess via decision
Welterweight bout: Valdir Araujo vs Ailton Barbosa
pass
Lightweight bout: Cosmo Alexandre vs Avery McPhatter
pass
Middleweight bout: Jonas Billstein vs Reggie Pena
pass
Bantamweight bout: Farkhad Sharipov vs Fabio Mello
“Man, I just can’t tell you how much stronger I feel since I got my leukocyte count under control, you know? I feel like I could do this all day!” PicProps: Keith Mills for Sherdog
Since we all know that you didn’t watch Bellator last night, how about a recap? Come on inside for accounts of the event, plus videos of the middleweight tournament bouts, courtesy of Zee2TehPee and ArnForgesArn.com — massive props to those guys. Boo boo on the crowd in Hollywood, Florida, which seemed just a little too quick to rain down boos on a good night of fights. Come on inside and I’ll tell you all about it.
“Man, I just can’t tell you how much stronger I feel since I got my leukocyte count under control, you know? I feel like I could do this all day!” PicProps: Keith Mills for Sherdog
Since we all know that you didn’t watch Bellator last night, how about a recap? Come on inside for accounts of the event, plus videos of the middleweight tournament bouts, courtesy of Zee2TehPee and ArnForgesArn.com – massive props to those guys. Boo boo on the crowd in Hollywood, Florida, which seemed just a little too quick to rain down boos on a good night of fights. Come on inside and I’ll tell you all about it.
Victor O’Donnell vs Brian Rogers
Man, Victor O’Donnell looks like the little brother of Bronan the Barbarian. Ok, there was a bit of a stoppage controversy on this one, kids, but it’s the kind where you kind of feel bad for everyone involved. Brian Rogers has a streak going of putting a quick smashing on his opponents, so when he wobbles O’Donnell with a headkick and a flurry of hooks, then follows him to the canvas with hammerfists, you can’t really blame referee Troy Waugh for diving it to stop it. Unfortunately, O’Donnell still has plenty of fight left in him, since he was busy establishing guard and wrist control when Waugh waves it off. Brian “The Predator” Rogers scores another TKO victory (referee stoppage due to strikes) at 1:56 in the first, but the crowd turns on him, booing the stoppage. Rogers, who comes off as an extremely nice guy, goes full-on heel with them in the interview. Very strange fight.
Sam Alvey vs Vitor Vianna
Speaking of strange fights, there’s this. Sam Alvey has his model girlfriend in his corner, gloves on and everything. Vitor Vianna has BJJ championships like Joe Johnson has shoes, but he doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to take Alvey down and introduce us all to the Portuguese Pretzel Choke. So they stay standing, but neither fighter shows much in the way of killer instinct, and 90% of the action is in the last two minutes of the fight. Alvey moves forward most of the fight, defends takedowns well, and scores some damage on Vianna, but Alvey winds up losing a split decision (29-28 x 2, 28-29). The crowd turns on Vianna as well, who seems to have learned English from Wanderlei, if nothing else. Poor fella. Vianna promises better next time, and I hope so.
Bryan Baker vs Jared Hess
The Battle of Dudes Fresh Off of Expensive Surgeries was going to be a lose-lose for me, because I like both of them. Both Baker and Hess had tune-up fights for the tournament, but this would be their first real competition, and it turned out to be a fantastic fight: a really technical grappling exchange with a good tempo. Hess did not look like his pre-surgery self — the limitless gas tank that helped him grind through opponents started to run out by the end of the first, he made quite a few technical errors on the ground, and he did look wobbly and awkward on his feet through the second and third. True to form, though, Hess never quit. The referee stopped the fight because Baker had him back mounted, hooks in, fully extended and dropping big hooks to his cranium region. (Oh, and Baker’s wife still wails like a banshee in the crowd the entire damn fight, and this time she had back-up.) Bryan Baker defeats Jared Hess by TKO (referee stoppage due to ground and pound) at 2:52 of round 3.
Zelg Galesic vs Alexander Shlemenko
Alexander Shlemenko lied to our faces … and I have new respect for him. The Russian whirlwind has expressed open disdain for submission grappling on the ground pretty much anytime someone comes near him with a camera and a translator, and he chases knockouts . Then he comes out to fight Croatian kickboxer Zelg Galesic and goes for a clinch like he’s a heat seeking judo missile. It took less than two minutes for Shlemenko to secure a nasty standing guillotine/neck crank that was right up there with Dan Miller’s. Props to Shlemenko for actually working to improve and roundout his skill set, plus more props for playing it close to the vest. More props on top of that for that monster submission. The big knock against The Storm has been that he was one-dimensional and anyone with some high school wrestling could take him down. If Shlemenko can bring his wrestling and submission defense up to par, suddenly that crazy striking style of his becomes a whole lot scarier. Alexander Shlemenko defeats Zelg Galesic via Submission (Standing Guillotine/Neck Crank) at 1:55 of round 1.
Spike.com Card
Brett Cooper defeats Valdir Araujo via TKO (punches) at 0:35 of round 3.
Radley Martinez defeats Brian van Hoven via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3).
Ailton Barbosa defeats Ryan Keenan via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:55 of round 1.
Christian Souza defeats John Kelly via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3).
J.P. Reese defeats Martin Brown via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3).
Marcelo Goncalves defeats Dietter Navarro via submission (armbar) at 2:01 of round 1.
Shah Babonis defeats Marcos de Matta via KO (punch) at 2:04 of round 3.
Filed under: Bellator, NewsOn Saturday’s Bellator 50, the promotion will host the opening round of its season five middleweight tournament featuring Jared Hess (pictured), Bryan Baker, Zelg Galesic, Alexander Shlemenko, Sam Alvey, Vitor Vianna, Victor …
All entrants made weight Friday as well as the remaining fighters on the non-tournament portion of the card. Check out the final lineup with weights after the jump. Main Card Bouts – 7 p.m. ET on MTV2
Jared Hess (185.5) vs. Bryan Baker (184.5)
Zelg Galesic (184.5) vs. Alexander Shlemenko (185.5)
Sam Alvey (185.5) vs. Vitor Vianna (184.75)
Victor O’Donnell (185.5) vs. Brian Rogers (185.5)
Preliminary Bouts – 5 p.m. ET on Spike.com
Shah Bobonis (139.25) vs. Marcos da Matta (140.25)
Marcelo Goncalves (156.5) vs. Dietter Navarro (156.25) *both agreed to catchweight of 156 lbs.
Brian Van Hoven (155.75) vs. Rad Martinez (155.5)
Valdir Araujo (185.25) vs. Brett Cooper (185)
Ailton Barbosa (170.5) vs. Ryan Keenan (170.5)
Martin Brown (155) vs. J.P. Reese (155.75) John Kelly () vs. Cristiano Souza () *were late for weigh-ins, but fight is on according to Bellator
Remember: *this* is the guy that the middleweights are competing to fight. Hector Lombard knocked Vitale down twice with one punch. VidProps: BellatorMMA/YouTube
So anybody notice that I mentioned Bellator yesterday? You did? And you didn’t comment about how splendiferous Bellator is, and how much you like watching the fights, and in general how witty and good looking we are here at CagePotato?
Well that’s just rude. I’m inclined to not even bother running down the other two tourneys planned for this season. Really, it’s like you don’t care.
Oh, alright. Come on in and we’ll have coffee and talk. But no staying over.
Remember: *this* is the guy that the middleweights are competing to fight. Hector Lombard knocked Vitale down twice with one punch. VidProps: BellatorMMA/YouTube
So anybody notice that I mentioned Bellator yesterday? You did? And you didn’t comment about how splendiferous Bellator is, and how much you like watching the fights, and in general how witty and good looking we are here at CagePotato?
Well that’s just rude. I’m inclined to not even bother running down the other two tourneys planned for this season. Really, it’s like you don’t care.
Oh, alright. Come on in and we’ll have coffee and talk. But no staying over.
We covered the bantamweight and welterweight tournament lineups yesterday, but Bellator’s fifth season will also feature fighters in the middleweight and heavyweight divisions, with some returning contenders and some fresh faces.
Middleweight
When Jared Hess ruined his knee fighting Alexander Shlemenko, he had to go through hours of grueling physical therapy. Not to be outdone, I spent a few hours in therapy myself, because that shit was disturbing. And when he returned to fighting at Bellator 42 against Chris Bell, I made one of the funniest jokes I’ve ever written (to me, at least): “Jared Hess is so tough that the production crew played Anita Ward as Chris Bell’s entrance music.”
Hess faces another Bellator favorite, Bryan Baker, who is kinda tough himself: dude was fighting in Bellator tournaments while going through chemotherapy treatments and still almost won the whole damn thing. He returned at Bellator 43, knocked out Joe Riggs, and then proposed to his girlfriend on television. Basically, whoever wins this fight gets a hole punched in his “Certified Badass” card.
Alexander Shlemenko returns as well after unsuccessfully challenging Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard, and meets DREAM veteran Zelg Galesic in the quarterfinals. Galesic dropped two submission losses in DREAM (to Kazushi Sakuraba and Ronaldo Souza) before rebounding with a KO win over some poor English chap named Lee Chadwick.
Vitor Vianna makes his Bellator debut against “Smilin’” Sam Alvey, who picked up a split decision win over Karl Amoussou in a tournament qualifier in May. Vianna, who trains in Vegas with the Wand Fight Team, is 10-1-1, with his only loss due to an injury TKO (broken arm) against Thiago Silva.
Brian “The Predator” Rogers and Victor O’Donnell round out the 185 brackets. O’Donnell almost made it into the TUF house during the eleventh season (Ortiz vs Liddell), but was outpointed by Chris Camozzi. You may remember that Camozzi didn’t make it through the season either… because O’Donnell broke his jaw. Rogers enters the tournament on a hot streak, having defeated his last six opponents via KO or TKO in the first round. So look for these two guys to hit each other a lot.
Bryan Baker vs Jared Hess
Alexander Shlemenko vs Zelg Galesic
Vitor Vianna vs Sam Alvey
Brian Rogers vs Victor O’Donnell
Heavyweight
Looks like Bellator is going to try to find some more big men to challenge Cole Konrad, the man-mountain that I never say nice things about. I should really stop that. Here goes: Cole Konrad does really nice interviews. He seems like a really decent fella.
Ok, on to the tournament….
Neil “Goliath” Grove and Mike “300″ Hayes both participated in the first heavyweight tourney in season 3: Grove lost in the finals to Konrad, and Hayes dropped a split decision to Alexey Oleinik. Grove is a big dude and has a nasty habit of knocking his opponents out (all eleven of his wins came out of his fists), but Hayes has never been finished. First time for eveything? I think Goliath has got this one.
Ron “The Monster” Sparks joins the fray, currently 7-0 and ready for a step up in competition. I am a bit amused that Jonathan Ivey took him to decision, but I guess everyone has a bad night, right? Sparks will face Mark Holata, a regional fighter who is 2-0 under the Bellator banner, including a submission (due to strikes) win over Tracy Willis in April.
Blagoi Ivanov is a Bulgarian Sambo specialist, and you should really be excited about seeing him. While still barely into his MMA career, Ivanov holds a win over Kazuyuki “Ironhead” Fujita — a fight in which Ivanov broke both his hands. (Hey, they don’t call him “Ironhead” for nothin’.) Oh, and he also won the 2008 World Sambo Championships, defeating a Russian guy by the name of Fedor Emelianenko in the semifinals. He’ll face Thiago “Big Monster” Silva, a heavy-handed BJJ black belt who has been out for a year due to unrevealed injuries.
Abe Wagner, another guy that got bounced out of the TUF house (he lost a decision to Jon Madsen), has had mixed results lately. After a quick win over a grossly out of shape Tim Sylvia, Wagner was submitted by Aaron Rosa, then got back in the win column with a submission win of his own. Now 10-4, Wagner meets Eric Prindle in the quarters. Prindle, a US Army vet, has a submission win on his record, but don’t let that fool you: the other guy tapped to strikes. Not that he’s not learning some subs — Prindle is currently training at Team DeathClutch with guys like Rodrigo Medeiros and Erik Paulson.
Neil Grove vs Mike Hayes
Mark Holata vs Ron Sparks
Blagoi Ivanov vs Thiago Santos
Eric Prindle vs Abe Wagner
So”heart of a champion” is just a meaningless phrase? PicProps: Esther Lin
Heart is awesome. Guts are more important to cage fighting than Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Balls sell more tickets than Olympic medals. Heart is an intangible, an ethereal quality that fighters seem to either have in abundance, or sorely lack. And while intangibles may offend the sensibilities of those who would analyze fights like they’re backward engineering a damn nuclear centrifuge, it’s that very quality that motivates fans to buy tickets, buy shirts, buy pay per views, buy hotel rooms. It isn’t simply some writer’s trope that we use to fill space; this is an attribute that, however hard to pin down, has a demonstrable effect.
There is something about competition in sports that speaks directly to primal emotions in all of us. Ok, apparently not all of us, but still. Fans tend to be emotional people, and not always rational. So a non-tangible quality like “heart” is important, if for nothing but a fighter’s popularity.
Guys like Ox Wheeler or Leonard Garcia or Scott Smith that seem to just go out there and wing it, wind up getting in a war with some guy and they beat the piss out of one another and everybody in the crowd goes bonkers and throws their hotdogs in the air and the collective cry is a noise like the damn building is yelling–that’s why that happens. And everyone goes home horny and it’s generally a good time had by all. It’s a purely emotional response, and base, and uneducated…and it’s totally valid.
So”heart of a champion” is just a meaningless phrase? PicProps: Esther Lin
Heart is awesome. Guts are more important to cage fighting than Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Balls sell more tickets than Olympic medals. Heart is an intangible, an ethereal quality that fighters seem to either have in abundance, or sorely lack. And while intangibles may offend the sensibilities of those who would analyze fights like they’re backward engineering a damn nuclear centrifuge, it’s that very quality that motivates fans to buy tickets, buy shirts, buy pay per views, buy hotel rooms. It isn’t simply some writer’s trope that we use to fill space; this is an attribute that, however hard to pin down, has a demonstrable effect.
There is something about competition in sports that speaks directly to primal emotions in all of us. Ok, apparently not all of us, but still. Fans tend to be emotional people, and not always rational. So a non-tangible quality like “heart” is important, if for nothing but a fighter’s popularity.
Guys like Ox Wheeler or Leonard Garcia or Scott Smith that seem to just go out there and wing it, wind up getting in a war with some guy and they beat the piss out of one another and everybody in the crowd goes bonkers and throws their hotdogs in the air and the collective cry is a noise like the damn building is yelling–that’s why that happens. And everyone goes home horny and it’s generally a good time had by all. It’s a purely emotional response, and base, and uneducated…and it’s totally valid.
Keep in mind, without those newbs and meatheads who come in droves and fall in love with “sloppy” fights and “gutsy” fighters, there is no growth to the sport. Yes, new fans can be can be annoying, so you’d do well to help them learn, rather than piss on their parade about what a shitty fight that was that they just enjoyed so much.
Note to MMA hipsters: yes, your knowledge of obscure brazilian fight leagues and Russian grappling tourneys is impressive. But it’s not wise to demand that a fan have a certain level of knowledge before they’re allowed to enjoy the sport alongside you. Just sayin’.
***
If you’ve seen Jared Hess fight, you’ve probably gotten a pretty good look at what heart looks like. Like Shane Carwin, Hess took a pretty nasty beat down, a seventeen-minute session from Hector Lombard in the first Bellator middleweight finals, almost exactly two years ago. Doctors stopped the fight, but Hess never quit. Did he, like Carwin, have very little chance of winning that fight? Yes, very small chance indeed. And heart is what carries a fighter through, holding on to that very small chance.
Heart is what made Hess sign on for another tournament, and another potential shot at the man who had beaten him so thoroughly. Foolhardy? Perhaps, but his resolve is admirable. Hess won his way back to the finals the next season, and faced the Russian hurricane, Alexander Shlemenko. Hess dominated the fight for two rounds. In the third, he continued to dominate, until he landed awkwardly and a everloving cataclysm happened inside his knee. He dislocated pretty much everything from the knee down — and he continued to dominate the fight. It was two minutes later, with Hess close to taking an easy decision win, that the ref noticed that Hess couldn’t stand on his leg because it was no longer functional and called the fight. And Hess had the balls to argue with him. He showed heart.
Heart makes you do awesome things, it just doesn‘t always go the fighter‘s way. Diego Sanchez’s Traveling Slam of Positivity? That came from heart. Anyone can pick a guy up and slam him on his back with enough training. It takes guts to hoist a grown man on your shoulders and jog him back to your corner while you roar like a silverback gorilla. I guess ‘roids could do it, too.
No, heart is something that you can’t quantify, or test for, or even train for. Statisticians and odds-makers be damned, but fighters will continue to show heart, and hoards of fans will continue to love them for it. Everyone loves an underdog, and fans will still love him when he loses, because he went down swinging. No one is denying the loss, or masking some truth: sometimes fighters are outgunned and overmatched, but he gutted it out anyway. He showed heart.
Heart is awesome. And hating on heart? That’s just some cynical bullshit. Screw that. I’m going to go watch Huerta-Garcia.
On Saturday’s 
