Tag: Jessica Aguilar

Bellator 58: The Evening’s “Other” War

(Video: Youtube/BellatorMMA)

The UFC may be the brand name of MMA, but it doesn’t have exclusive rights to action packed bouts. While the UFC 139 pay-per-view was just getting warmed up, the evening’s “other” war and ‘fight of the year’ candidate was breaking out on MTV 2. If you didn’t catch it, I suggest you watch it in full up above.

Season 4 Lightweight Tournament winner Michael Chandler was all over Eddie Alvarez from the opening bell, driving forward and swinging for the fences. Within the first fifteen seconds he had dropped the champion twice and was only moments away from snatching the belt, but once again Alvarez proved difficult to put away. Chandler’s pressure wilted halfway through the second frame, allowing Alvarez to steal the round with a series of effective combinations. By round three Chandler’s fatigue was visible and the champ pounced, battering him across the cage. Though tired and hurt, Chandler continued to look for the big shot that would take Alvarez out. Answering the bell in the fourth, Chandler looked renewed and eager to throw. His hands found their mark, wobbling Alvarez before a big right hand dropped him. Chandler followed him down and mounted him, locking in the rear naked choke as Alvarez turned his back.

(Video: Youtube/BellatorMMA)

The UFC may be the brand name of MMA, but it doesn’t have exclusive rights to action packed bouts. While the UFC 139 pay-per-view was just getting warmed up, the evening’s “other” war and ‘fight of the year’ candidate was breaking out on MTV 2. If you didn’t catch it, I suggest you watch it in full up above.

Season 4 Lightweight Tournament winner Michael Chandler was all over Eddie Alvarez from the opening bell, driving forward and swinging for the fences. Within the first fifteen seconds he had dropped the champion twice and was only moments away from snatching the belt, but once again Alvarez proved difficult to put away. Chandler’s pressure wilted halfway through the second frame, allowing Alvarez to steal the round with a series of effective combinations. By round three Chandler’s fatigue was visible and the champ pounced, battering him across the cage. Though tired and hurt, Chandler continued to look for the big shot that would take Alvarez out. Answering the bell in the fourth, Chandler looked renewed and eager to throw. His hands found their mark, wobbling Alvarez before a big right hand dropped him. Chandler followed him down and mounted him, locking in the rear naked choke as Alvarez turned his back.

In the evening’s co-main event, Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard took on Trevor Prangley at 195 lbs. If Bellator titleholders must fight in non-title fights, we’re far happier seeing it take place at a catchweight than simply fighting within their division without putting the belt on the line. That being said, regardless of the weight class, a dominant champion like Hector Lombard deserves a bigger challenge than a fighter with one lone victory in his past five outings.

(Lombard’s coup de grâce, courtesy of Youtube/BellatorMMA)

Trevor Prangley‘s only real output in the bout came in the form of a double-leg that saved him from an onslaught of punches that had him in deep trouble early in the first round. That takedown bought him time to time to compose himself and survive the remainder of the round, but the South African wrestling champion had only delayed Lombard from doing what he does best—lighting fools up. Round two opened with a few casual exchanges before the the two traded blows in earnest. Lombard connected with a huge right to the jaw that had Prangley doing the fish dance. Again Prangley sought refuge in the form of a takedown, but “Lightning” stuffed the desperation shot and went to work with brutal ground and pound. Lombard was hesitant to deliver unnecessary blows, but continued the abuse until the ref called a halt to the bout just one minute, six seconds into the second round.

(Dias-Sandro, via Zombie Prophet)

Rafael Dias showed a healthy respect for the striking game of Marlon Sandro and kept far out of range at the opening of the bout. That respect didn’t prevent him from dropping Sandro when the two exchanged in a flurry of punches. Sandro recovered quickly with a takedown and maintained control of the bout on the ground. Dias scrambled back to his feet only to find himself caught in a standing arm triangle. Sandro drug him to the canvas and completed the submission, finishing the fight by tapout in 3:56 of the first round.

(Aguilar-Ward, via Zombie Prophet. Use the link for part II)

If you read our interview with Jessica Aguilar, you knew she was ready to scrap. Despite suffering a broken nose in the opening frame, Aguilar’s standup was too much for Lisa Ellis-Ward. Her overhand rights found their target throughout the three round bout. Ward slipped off a missed flying knee in round two which left her open to multiple knees from the clinch and some heavy shots on the ground. Aguilar continued to get the better of the exchanges in round three, but Ward turned it on at the close of the fight with aggressive stand-up and a kimura attempt. Aguilar pulled out of the hold and maintainted control through the close of the fight, taking the bout by unanimous decision.

Full results (via FightoftheNight.com)

Main Card:

Michael Chandler def. Eddie Alvarez via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:06 of Round 4
Hector Lombard def. Trevor Prangley by knockout at 1:06 of Round 2
Jessica Aguilar def. Lisa Ward-Ellis by unanimous decision
Marlon Sandro def. Rafael Dias by Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) at 3:56 of Round 1

Prelims:

Brett Cooper def. Jared Hess by unanimous decision
Valdir Araujo def. Ailton Barbosa by unanimous decision
Cosmo Alexander def. Avery McPhatter by KO at 0:20 of Round 1
Herbert Goodman def. Jonas Billstein by Disqualification (Illegal Soccer Kick) at 3:21 of Round 2
Fabio Mello def. Farkhad Sharipov by unanimous decision

 

CP Interview: Jessica Aguilar Wants the Best — and It Ain’t the Champ

“My regular training schedule was interrupted briefly after I broke a bone and had it pinned for faster and stronger healing – but now I am right back at full speed, 100% healthy, working like an animal, loving every minute and can feel that my training performance has clearly reached a new career high for me – I am really pumped and ready to go!!” -Jessica Aguilar, on training         PicProps: Tom Hill

When you look into Jessica Aguilar’s training regimen, you know that you’re dealing with a dedicated athlete.  Her typical schedule is brutal.  Her gym, American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida, is home to elite fighters.  Her “personal time” — a couple of hours carved out of the afternoon — are usually spent working, to supplement a fighting income that doesn’t always square with having the best equipment, or a registered dietitian on call, or a hyperbaric chamber in your back yard.

Not that you’ll hear her complain.  Aguilar gets by the with help of her sponsors, and she’s quick to point it out.  But unlike the usual ham-handed attempts by fighters to plug companies that send them checks, Aguilar comes across as genuinely appreciative of the people and companies who have supported her through lean times.  Talk to her for five minutes, and you realize that the positivity and tenacity aren’t marketing points, they’re deeply ingrained character traits.  That attitude, the relentless optimism, the rugged determination, have served Aguilar well in her six year career.

Join us after the jump for all of CP’s exclusive interview with Jessica.

“My regular training schedule was interrupted briefly after I broke a bone and had it pinned for faster and stronger healing – but now I am right back at full speed, 100% healthy, working like an animal, loving every minute and can feel that my training performance has clearly reached a new career high for me – I am really pumped and ready to go!!” -Jessica Aguilar, on training          PicProps: Tom Hill

When you look into Jessica Aguilar’s training regimen, you know that you’re dealing with a dedicated athlete.  Her typical schedule is brutal.  Her gym, American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida, is home to elite fighters.  Her “personal time” — a couple of hours carved out of the afternoon — are usually spent working, to supplement a fighting income that doesn’t always square with having the best equipment, or a registered dietitian on call, or a hyperbaric chamber in your back yard.

Not that you’ll hear her complain.  Aguilar gets by the with help of her sponsors, and she’s quick to point it out.  But unlike the usual ham-handed attempts by fighters to plug companies that send them checks, Aguilar comes across as genuinely appreciative of the people and companies who have supported her through lean times.  Talk to her for five minutes, and you realize that the positivity and tenacity aren’t marketing points, they’re deeply ingrained character traits.  That attitude, the relentless optimism, the rugged determination, have served Aguilar well in her six year career.

Jessica Aguilar never meant to start a career in MMA. A life-long athlete, a twenty-three year old Aguilar had just moved from Texas to Florida. The story goes that she started training BJJ on a whim after showing up late for her aerobics class one day, and it clicked from day one.

She was a quick study, and her instructors threw her into a NAGA grappling tournament two months after she started rolling.  Not long after that, she was approached by a promoter at an amateur competition, asking if she’d take a pro fight. Aguilar, completely ignorant of what she was getting herself into (and expecting to lay down an entrance fee), agreed to take the fight by asking, “Sure, I’ll compete, how much do I pay?”

Aguilar got paid for that first fight she took with almost no training and less experience, and she caught a loss to Lisa Ward. Ward was then, and still is, a top five fighter in the women’s 115 pound division.

Aguilar went on to assemble an 8-3 record before being invited to take part in Bellator’s inaugural women’s tournament. She scored a business-like arm triangle choke on Lynn Alvarez in the first round, moving her ahead in the tournament to fight Zoila Frausto.  Frausto won the decision, but this is what the competitors looked like afterwards.  Jessica Aguilar, unscratched, smiled and applauded graciously when the decision was announced.

Jag returned quickly to the cage, picking up a submission win over Elsie Henri less than two months after her screw job loss, then a decision win over powerful wrestler Carla Esparza.

A Frausto rematch was planned, then scrapped, when Jag’s recovery from surgery wasn’t proceeding  properly.  Another opportunity presented itself in the form of another old loss: Lisa Ward.  She’s Lisa Ward-Ellis now, but she’s still the same fighter:  a top-ranked contender in the weight class with a win over Aguilar back in February 2006.  Jag wants to erase that loss, but what she really wants is a shot at the best female fighter in her weight class.  Thing is, the current Bellator women’s champ isn’t who she’s talking about:  Jag has her sights set on Megumi Fujii.

Injury Forces Zoila Frausto-Gurgel Out of Bellator 57 Title Bout With Carina Damm


(Zoila will likely be out of commission until early to mid 2012)

Bellator women’s strawweight champion Zoila Frausto-Gurgel announced today via Twitter that she has torn one of her anterior cruciate ligaments and has been forced to pull out of a scheduled November 12 title defense at Bellator 57 in Orillia, Ontario, Canada.


(Zoila will likely be out of commission until early to mid 2012)

Bellator women’s strawweight champion Zoila Frausto-Gurgel announced today via Twitter that she has torn one of her anterior cruciate ligaments and has been forced to pull out of a scheduled November 12 title defense at Bellator 57 in Orillia, Ontario, Canada.


“Warrior Princess,” who was originally slated to take on Jessica Aguilar this month before an injury forced JAG out of the bout. A broken hand she sustained in her Bellator 35 non-title bout win over Karina Hallinan  in March left her sidelined for a few months while she rehabbed the injury. Zoila says she is awaiting a date for surgery and will remain in shape via strength and conditioning while she waits for the injury to heal, but it’s unlikely that Mrs. Jorge Gurgel will be back to defend her belt until at least April of 2012 if all goes well with physiotherapy and there are no complications with the procedure.

 

Bellator Summer Series Kicks Off June 25, People Will Try To Hurt One Another for Your Entertainment

“I believe you yanks call this a mean mug?” PicProps: Bellator.com

Since we mentioned it yesterday in that blatant vanity post, we’ll go ahead and fill you in with some of the details about Bellator’s plans for the summer. As you may remember, a BFC press release announcing the deal with MTV2 made a vague mention of “a collection of special feature events” on top of two full seasons a year. Details at the time were sketchy, and we weren’t really sure what those special feature events would entail. As the season four tournaments unfolded, we heard more and more about tournament action between seasons, initially referred to as a “mini-tournament”. We’d been thinking that this meant perhaps a couple of four-man brackets, maybe some of those Super Fights that Bellator digs so much.

Man, we were way off. Bjorn Rebney, head honcho of the BFC, has put together another intriguing tournament at 145, and that, ladies and germs, will be your main course for the summer series. If you are interested in that kind of thing, we’ve prepared a short primer on the featherweight tourney, plus a preview of Bellator 46, where the four quarterfinals will kick off in that other Hollywood.

Although we suppose you could come in and just throw poop at the new guy. Whatever.

“I believe you yanks call this a mean mug?”  PicProps: Bellator.com

Since we mentioned it yesterday in that blatant vanity post, we’ll go ahead and fill you in with some of the details about Bellator’s plans for the summer. As you may remember, a BFC press release announcing the deal with MTV2 made a vague mention of “a collection of special feature events” on top of two full seasons a year. Details at the time were sketchy, and we weren’t really sure what those special feature events would entail. As the season four tournaments unfolded, we heard more and more about tournament action between seasons, initially referred to as a “mini-tournament”. We’d been thinking that this meant perhaps a couple of four-man brackets, maybe some of those Super Fights that Bellator digs so much.

Man, we were way off. Bjorn Rebney, head honcho of the BFC, has put together another intriguing tournament at 145, and that, ladies and germs, will be your main course for the summer series. If you are interested in that kind of thing, we’ve prepared a short primer on the featherweight tourney, plus a preview of Bellator 46, where the four quarterfinals will kick off in that other Hollywood.

Although we suppose you could come in and just throw poop at the new guy. Whatever.

Marlon Sandro (17-2) vs Genair “Junior PQD” da Silva (10-3)

Of course you guys remember Marlon Sandro, the Zombifier in Chief out of Brazil’s Nova Uniao, and you of course remember that he signed with Bellator back in February.  Sandro, a consensus Top-5  here in the office, will match firepower with Brazilian Genair da Silva, a Renovacao Fight Team rep who likes knockouts, puppy breath, knockouts, long walks on the beach, knees on the ground, and knockouts.  There’s a bit of a rivalry between the two styles (no really), so have your popcord ready.   

Ronnie “Kid Ninja” Mann (19-2-1) vs Adam Schindler (9-1)

When Ronnie Mann made his Bellator debut a month ago, we thought it was some guy’s fifteen year old son that snuck into the cage.  While he managed to do very unkind things to the face of some poor guy whose name escapes us at this time, he failed to actually end the fight, instead earning a lopsided decision and a spot in this tournament.  Mann did make a good impression with his wrestling prowess–not something you expect from a Brit– and some serious offense on the ground.  Meeting him will be submission wrestler Adam Schindler, a West Virgina native who won the state’s wrestling championship twice.  An Air Force vet (My man! -RX), Schindler has victories at StrikeForce and Bellator, and it will be interesting to see how Mann’s wrestling matches up.  The fight will be Schindler’s first at 145, after fighting at lightweight since his 2007 debut. 

Pat Curran (13-4) vs Luis “Baboon” Palomino (16-6)

We passed along the news that Pat Curran was dropping down to 145, after a controversial Cinderella run through the season two brackets and subsequent loss to fade model and all-around BAMF Eddie Alvarez.  Now fighting at a more natural weight, expect Curran to be a force to be reckoned with.  Curran draws Peruvian-American contender Luis Palomino, who frequently competes at 155, including wins over Jorge Masvidal and Jose Figueroa and losses to Yves Edwards and Johnathan Brookins.  Palomino took part in the first Bellator featherweight tournament, losing a split decision at Bellator 1 just two short years ago.  On paper, it seems like an easy win for Curran, but Baboon has the tools to make it interesting.

Nazareno Malegarie (19-1) vs Jacob Devree (10-1)

After the 24 year old Argentine’s battle with eventual tourney finalist Daniel Straus, we reported that we would pay to see him fight again.  Since Bellator listens to its fans, here’s Naza again in tournament action.  Now carrying his first loss at 19-1 (which is still, you know, pretty alright as far as pro fighting record go), the Thiago Tavares training partner will be hungry for a win.  His opponent is Jacob Devree, who we’ll admit not being familiar with. Apparently the PR folks at Bellator aren’t too sharp on his background either, since he rates exactly one sentence in the press release they sent to us. He’s probably legit though: they totally referred to him as “fast-rising”.

Jessica “Jag” Aguilar (10-4) vs Carla Esparza (5-1)

Also slated for action at Bellator 46 is a return to the women’s 125, with tournament vets Carla Esparza and Jessica Aguilar set to lock horns. Esparza had an excellent showing against Megumi Fujii at Bellator 24, despite being a relative MMA n00b at 3-0 and taking the fight on just three days notice (replacing an injured Angela Magana).  Now with two wins between her and that first loss, the former high school wrestler has an intriguing matchup with Jag.  Aguilar rebounded with a submission victory in November after her screwjob-loss to Zoila Frausto-Gurgel, and she will bring her fierce intelligence and unending positivity to the cage for this one.  Oh wait, she’s also one of the most complete fighters in WMMA, repping American Top Team.  If you still believe that women don’t have the skills for MMA, go ahead and DVR this fight.  Then we’ll accept your apology.

[RX]

Bellator XXXI: Oh Yeah? Well, We Got Girls Fighting

(Bellator: the only place where chicks who like to bang are respected.)
By ReX “Dude, Big Ups to the 90s” Richardson
Chances are very good that you missed at least one good fight card last night. If you neglected to tune in to Versus for WE…


(Bellator: the only place where chicks who like to bang are respected.)

By ReX “Dude, Big Ups to the 90s” Richardson

Chances are very good that you missed at least one good fight card last night. If you neglected to tune in to Versus for WEC 51, you are likely still kicking yourself in the balls for not watching a card that was ludicrously stacked (and lived up to expectations). If you forgot about the Bellator Fighting Championships in all the excitement, you passed on some pretty fun stuff there, too: of eight fights, only one went to decision. The women’s division was on showcase last night with two semifinal bouts, seasoned with a double handful of the kind of hungry fighters who tend to knock the piss out of one another.

Follow me past the jump, because let’s face it, at this time of day you’re just killing time until the weekend anyway. I’ll let you know where I stand on the judges’ controversy. **dramatic music**

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Megumi Fujii to Put Long Win Streak on Line vs. Lisa Ward at Bellator 31

Filed under: Bellator, NewsThe owner of the longest winning streak in mixed martial arts will put the historic stretch on the line again, along with a spot in the Bellator 115-pound women’s tournament finale, when Megumi Fujii takes on Lisa Ward at Bel…

Filed under: ,

The owner of the longest winning streak in mixed martial arts will put the historic stretch on the line again, along with a spot in the Bellator 115-pound women’s tournament finale, when Megumi Fujii takes on Lisa Ward at Bellator 31.

The promotion confirmed the Sept. 30 matchup on Thursday morning.

Fujii, the owner of a stunning 21-0 record, will square off with Ward in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in what is actually a rematch of a 2007 bout that saw the unbeaten Japanese sensation win by first-round arm bar.