Bellator 124 is here, and while it’s not quite Bellator 123 in term of star power, it’s still certainly worth watching.
On the main card we’ve got Ryan Couture meeting Tom Bagnasco, a late replacement. Then there’s L.C. Davis vs. Zeilton Rodrigues. The highly touted Liam McGeary faces Kelly Anundson in the co-main event. The main event is a peculiar booking: Emanuel Newton vs. Joey Beltran for the Bellator light heavyweight title.
Please stand by…
Bellator 124 is here, and while it’s not quite Bellator 123 in term of star power, it’s still certainly worth watching.
On the main card we’ve got Ryan Couture meeting Tom Bagnasco, a late replacement. Then there’s L.C. Davis vs. Zeilton Rodrigues. The highly touted Liam McGeary faces Kelly Anundson in the co-main event. The main event is a peculiar booking: Emanuel Newton vs. Joey Beltran for the Bellator light heavyweight title.
Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran is always good for a scrap. Scott Coker and Co. are hoping he helps to put on a show worthy of a main event attraction at Bellator 124 on Saturday against light heavyweight champion Emanuel “The Hardcore Kid” Newton…
Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran is always good for a scrap. Scott Coker and Co. are hoping he helps to put on a show worthy of a main event attraction at Bellator 124 on Saturday against light heavyweight champion Emanuel “The Hardcore Kid” Newton.
Since arriving in the Bellator promotion, Newton has compiled a 6-1 record and he avenged the lone loss to Attila Vegh in his last bout. It seems as if a more worthy contender should be in line to face Newton, but this bout is coming about because of the flawed—but soon-to-be abolished—tournament format.
Beltran has a record of 15-10 and he’s lost three of his last five fights.
Newton has been waiting a long time because he was in the tournament format, which is one of the downfalls of the tournament because now the champion is waiting six, eight months – maybe a year. We feel like, ‘Look, this guy [Beltran] is a scrapper, and he always brings it, so let’s get it on. You know what? You never know what’s going to happen in a fight.
Under normal circumstances, Beltran would be a gatekeeper in a top promotion, but with Bellator in transition, he gets a shot at the title. We’ll see if he can make the most of it.
Here’s a look at the entire card with predictions for each bout. Just below the table is a closer look at the top three fights on the card.
Bellator 124 Prelims – on Spike.com at 6 p.m. ET
Fight
Prediction
SabahHomasi (7-4) vs. Ben Lagman (6-5)
Homasi by decision
Cortez Phelia (1-1) vs. Eric Ramirez (1-0)
Phelia by unanimous decision
Ben Reiter (14-0-1) vs. Shamir Garcia (6-0)
Reiter by KO
Adrian Henderson (5-0) vs. Leroy Johnson (2-0)
Henderson by TKO
Michael Hernandez (6-3) vs. Thomas Vasquez (7-1)
Vasquez by submission
Michael Hamida (3-0) vs. Adrian Hadribeaj (1-0)
Hamida by unanimous decision
Justin Jaynes (5-2) vs. Ruben Baraiac (5-1)
Jaynes by unanimous decision
Main Card – on Spike at 9 p.m. ET
Fight
Prediction
Ryan Couture (8-3) vs. John Schulz (5-2)
Schulz by unanimous decision
L.C. Davis (21-6) vs. ZeiltonRodrigues (12-3)
Rodrigues by submission
Liam McGeary (8-0) vs. Kelly Anundson (9-2)
McGeary by KO
Emanuel Newton (23-7-1) vs. Joey Beltran (15-10, 1 NC)
Newton by TKO
L.C. Davis Will Regret Taking Fight to Mat With ZeiltonRodrigues
L.C. Davis is a strong grappler with advanced submission skills. He showed that in his victory over TaureanBogguess in March.
Davis’ submission of Bogguess was called one of the 100-best submissions of the year thus far by Tapology.com. Because of his grappling background and wrestling prowess, he’ll probably look to take Rodrigues down.
That’ll be a mistake.
Rodrigues hails from the renown Nova Uniao team, and he can more than hold his own on the mat. Three of his last five wins have come by submission and he’s won five straight overall. He’ll make a splash in his Bellator debut by submitting Davis.
Liam McGeary‘s Impressive Power Display Will Continue
With knockouts in five of his eight fights, Liam McGeary is establishing himself as one of the most feared strikers in Bellator.
McGeary finished Mike Mucitelli and EgidijusValavicius en route to the light heavyweight tournament final, and there’s a good chance he’ll rock Kelly Anundson on Saturday night.
The best way to slow down a devastating striker is to take him down, or to have enough power to discourage his assault. Anundson is a solid wrestler, but not advanced enough to outclass McGeary to the degree that he’ll need to circumvent his power.
He also only has two KO wins in his career. McGeary will find him with power shots and put an end to the night.
Emanuel Newton Will Beat Joey Beltran Easily
Beltran will always give a good effort, but he simply isn’t skilled enough to take out a well-rounded fighter like Newton. In recent bouts, Newton has proved he can strike and we always knew his grappling was excellent.
He does own eight wins by submission in his career.
Because of the versatility in his game, Newton could approach this bout in several ways. Because he’s been out of the cage since March, the champion will be eager to impress.
He’ll avoid Beltran’s haymakers, counter him, and take him to the ground. Once he has him there, he probably won’t be looking for a submission. Expect him to finish the deal with ground and pound to retain his title.
Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter. I dig boxing and MMA.
Former UFC slugger Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran has fallen on some hard times, y’all. While he’s never been what you would call a world-beater, his past five fights have resulted in two decision losses, one knockout loss, a win overturned due to a post-fight failed drug test, and a submission win over a 43-year-old and already retired Vladimir Matyushenko at Bellator 116. A gutsy, take-no-prisoners kind of fighter Beltran may be, but its safe to say that “The Mexicutioner” isn’t exactly next in line for a shot at the title, even in Bellator’s ultra-shallow light heavyweight division.
Oh, MMA, just when I thought I had you figured out!
Former UFC slugger Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran has fallen on some hard times, y’all. While he’s never been what you would call a world-beater, his past five fights have resulted in two decision losses, one knockout loss, a win overturned due to a post-fight failed drug test, and a submission win over a 43-year-old and already retired Vladimir Matyushenko at Bellator 116. A gutsy, take-no-prisoners kind of fighter Beltran may be, but its safe to say that “The Mexicutioner” isn’t exactly next in line for a shot at the title, even in Bellator’s ultra-shallow light heavyweight division.
Oh, MMA, just when I thought I had you figured out!
Maybe it’s just me, but this fight seems more like something Bjorn Rebney would pull, not his excellence Scott Coker. It’s about as throwaway a title fight as we’ve seen in recent memory, and could only have been booked as a sacrifice to the MMA Gods. That being said, it looks like this year’s Harvest will be even better than last year’s.
I guess the biggest question to come out of this booking is that of Rampage Jackson, who stopped Beltran, then Christian M’Pumbu, then decisioned Kingo Mo to technically earn the next title shot. Has Jackson already gotten cold feet in regards to his Bellator contract? DETAILS AT 11.
Bellator 124 goes down from Michigan’s Compuware Arena on Friday, September 12.
There were no title fights at Bellator 116, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t worth watching. The heavyweight tournament semifinals took place on the card, as well as a single welterweight tournament semifinal.
Mighty Mo shot for a single leg right out of the gate. Mo couldn’t get Volkov down, but managed to keep him pressed against the cage for the first half of the round. Volkov landed a knee to the body in the clinch, which caused Mo to back off. Then, Volkov hit a tremendous round kick to Mo’s face and knocked him out cold. He hit Mo so hard that the shockwaves made Mo’s belly fat jiggle. Easily one of the best head kick knockouts of the year so far, if not ever. Holy crap. Here’s a GIF (via @ZProphet_MMA)
Volkov, Bellator’s former heavyweight champ, will now be going to the season 10 tournament finals.
Read on to see a GIF of the most amazing, pro-wrestling inspired guillotine choke escape we’ve ever seen.
There were no title fights at Bellator 116, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t worth watching. The heavyweight tournament semifinals took place on the card, as well as a single welterweight tournament semifinal.
Mighty Mo shot for a single leg right out of the gate. Mo couldn’t get Volkov down, but managed to keep him pressed against the cage for the first half of the round. Volkov landed a knee to the body in the clinch, which caused Mo to back off. Then, Volkov hit a tremendous round kick to Mo’s face and knocked him out cold. He hit Mo so hard that the shockwaves made Mo’s belly fat jiggle. Easily one of the best head kick knockouts of the year so far, if not ever. Holy crap. Here’s a GIF (via @ZProphet_MMA)
Volkov, Bellator’s former heavyweight champ, will now be going to the season 10 tournament finals.
Coy controlled almost the entire first round via lay and pray. Eventually, McDonough managed to escape Coy’s clutches. With about a minute left, he managed to hurt Coy with an uppercut–badly. Coy was faceplanted on the mat and taking loads of punches, but the ref let it go on. Coy managed to recover and take McDonough down again by the round’s end.
The second round didn’t last long. Perhaps Coy wasn’t so composed after all. McDonough landed a hook that sent Coy to the floor. After that one punch, the fight was stopped.
Adam McDonough will be meeting the winner of Andrey Koreshkov vs. Sam Oropeza (which will take place later in the season) in the welterweight tournament finals.
After an eternity, Matyushenko vs. Beltran started (seriously it felt like an hour of shitty commercials). The first round lacked action. Both men snapped jabs. Both reached with looping hooks and, for the most part, missed by miles. Eventually (and thankfully), the feeling out process sorted itself out, and the fighters engaged with a little more zest. Neither landed anything significant, but it was more fun to watch. The rest of the first round played out like this. Each guy threw big punches but didn’t land too many.
Matyushenko hit Beltran with a stiff jab and an uppercut to start the round. The two started to get more aggressive in round two. There was close to zero technique, but at least it wasn’t a staring contest. Matyushenko backed up Beltran with a flurry and landed a few punches. Beltran countered with his own. Eventually, they started just swinging at random. They might as well have had their eyes closed, to be honest. Matyushenko shot for a takedown from 30 light years away and Beltran stuffed it with zero effort. Beltran and Matyushenko both started breathing heavy as the round ended, making their punches super-labored and slow. The fight got less fun to watch as the seconds passed.
Round 3 was much of the same, but Beltran decided to work the body instead of constantly throwing at (and missing) Matyushenko’s head. Matyushenko shot in, but Beltran reversed him. In the scramble, Beltran wound up on top in side control. He transitioned to north-south and sunk in a north-south choke, earning the submission win. Vladimir Matyushenko’s last fight ends in defeat. And Beltran will meet Alexander Volkov in the heavyweight tournament finals.
Ivanov attempted to rush Johnson and ate an uppercut. Still, he managed to successfully clinch Johnson and keep him against the cage. It didn’t take long for him to hit a single leg and drag Johnson to the floor. Ivanov dropped for a leg lock but botched it. He wound up with Johnson on top of him, hitting him. However, Johnson’s lack of grappling enabled Ivanov to rise to his feet without harm, and then even put Johnson in a guillotine. To escape, Johnson body slammed Ivanov in what was the most awesome guillotine escape I’ve ever seen (it was the closest thing to a pro wrestling body slam you’ll see in MMA–here’s the GIF, again via Zombie Prophet). But Ivanov’s superior grappling skills allowed him to turn the tide. He got back to his feet after the slam, clinched Johnson, and landed a judo throw. A few moments later, he submitted Johnson with an effortless keylock.
Here are the complete results:
Main Card
Blagoi Ivanov def. Lavar Johnson via Submission (keylock), 4:08 of round 1
Joey Beltran def. Vladimir Matyushenko via Submission (north-south choke), 3:06 of round 3
Adam Mcdonough def. Nathan Coy via KO (punches), 0:30 of round 2
Alexander Volkov def. Mighty Mo via KO (head kick), 2:44 of round 1
Preliminary Card
Brandon Halsey def. Joe Pacheco via Unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Karo Parisyan def. Ron Keslar via KO (punches), 4:05 of round 2
Rob Emerson def. Joe Taimanglo via Unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Ricky Rainey def. Andy Murad via TKO (head kick and punches), 1:11 of round 1
Phelipe Lins def. Travis Clark via Submission (rear naked choke), 0:40 of round 1
Rodney Wallace def. Carlos Eduardo via Unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Not Aired
Featherweight Brandon Bender vs. Mario Navarro
Middleweight Dave Vitkay vs. Keith Berry
“This is my last fight,” the Janitor told Frank Trigg during an appearance on the “Toe to Toe With Trigg” interview show on MMAOddsbreaker earlier this week. “Doesn’t matter win or lose. That’s it. [I’ll start] training people, there’s a possibility to open my own gym again. Or I could go the complete opposite direction and work the railroad. I’ll be happy just keeping myself busy.”
I’m going to call it right now: Matyushenko is going to lose to Beltran — not that it really matters, even to Matyushenko himself. (“Doesn’t matter win or lose.”) Remember last month when Cyrille Diabate announced his retirement before his fight against Ilir Latifi, and then got choked out without attempting a single significant strike? Diabate’s desire to win had already left him. He was just fulfilling an obligation. That’s basically what’s happening here with Matyushenko.
(This is probably the most modest, understated highlight reel I’ve ever seen. Very fitting, actually.)
“This is my last fight,” the Janitor told Frank Trigg during an appearance on the “Toe to Toe With Trigg” interview show on MMAOddsbreaker earlier this week. “Doesn’t matter win or lose. That’s it. [I’ll start] training people, there’s a possibility to open my own gym again. Or I could go the complete opposite direction and work the railroad. I’ll be happy just keeping myself busy.”
I’m going to call it right now: Matyushenko is going to lose to Beltran — not that it really matters, even to Matyushenko himself. (“Doesn’t matter win or lose.”) Remember last month when Cyrille Diabate announced his retirement before his fight against Ilir Latifi, and then got choked out without attempting a single significant strike? Diabate’s desire to win had already left him. He was just fulfilling an obligation. That’s basically what’s happening here with Matyushenko.
On the positive side, V-Mat enjoyed a long and mostly-successful MMA career which was highlighted by a light-heavyweight title reign during his 6-0 stint in the IFL, and 12 appearances in the UFC over two separate stints (2001-2003, 2009-2013), including a title fight against Tito Ortiz at UFC 33. Matyushenko put together a 27-7 lifetime record, with wins over guys like Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Tim Boetsch, Igor Pokrajac, and most recently Houston Alexander during his Bellator debut last September (which kind of sucked, to be honest). He helped launch the careers of Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson by serving as a reputable opponent that they could smash.
And now, the 43-year-old Belarusian is hanging up the gloves, perhaps to “work the railroad.” We wish Matyushenko the best with everything that comes next.
(Rampage intimidates Beltran while Bjorn Rebney continues to do his best Dana White impression. / Image via Sherdog)
Bellator 108 had the potential to be a disaster for the perennial runner-up promotion, but it wasn’t. All of the main card fights were exciting, first-round finishes. And, most importantly, the right guy won the main event.
Here’s the event recap, from bottom to top:
On the prelims, Bellator’s 6’6″ English light heavyweight prospect Liam McGeary advanced to 6-0. He’s raw but, from what we’ve seen so far, also quite talented and diverse. If he were in the UFC, there’d be dozens of “Is Liam McGeary the man to beat Jones in 2014?” articles written by now.
UFC and strikeforce veteran Nah-Shon Burrell won a forgettable unanimous decision against a guy named Jesus Martinez who also had a Jesus tattoo. Awesome.
Two other UFC vets were featured on the prelims: Tom DeBlass and Jason Lambert. The fight between them was short. DeBlass scored a walk-off KO with a devastating hook early in the first round.
The main card started with the featherweight tournament final between Bellator mainstray Patricio “Pitbull” Freire vs. Justin Wilcox. Pitbull finished Wilcox in the first round in largely uncompetitive fight. Every one of Freire’s frequently-landed punches seemed to rock Wilcox, who eventually succumbed to the Brazilian’s flurries. This was the second time Freire has won the Bellator featherweight tournament.
Read on to learn about the specifics of Rampage’s victory as well as of the Bellator heavyweight title fight.
(Rampage intimidates Beltran while Bjorn Rebney continues to do his best Dana White impression. / Image via Sherdog)
Bellator 108 had the potential to be a disaster for the perennial runner-up promotion, but it wasn’t. All of the main card fights were exciting, first-round finishes. And, most importantly, the right guy won the main event.
Here’s the event recap, from bottom to top:
On the prelims, Bellator’s 6’6″ English light heavyweight prospect Liam McGeary advanced to 6-0. He’s raw but, from what we’ve seen so far, also quite talented and diverse. If he were in the UFC, there’d be dozens of “Is Liam McGeary the man to beat Jones in 2014?” articles written by now.
UFC and strikeforce veteran Nah-Shon Burrell won a forgettable unanimous decision against a guy named Jesus Martinez who also had a Jesus tattoo. Awesome.
Two other UFC vets were featured on the prelims: Tom DeBlass and Jason Lambert. The fight between them was short. DeBlass scored a walk-off KO with a devastating hook early in the first round.
The main card started with the featherweight tournament final between Bellator mainstray Patricio “Pitbull” Freire vs. Justin Wilcox. Pitbull finished Wilcox in the first round in a largely uncompetitive fight. Every one of Freire’s frequently-landed punches seemed to rock Wilcox, who eventually succumbed to the Brazilian’s flurries. This was the second time Freire has won the Bellator featherweight tournament.
Then the card moved onto Marcos Galvao vs. Tom McKenna. Galvao, a BJJ ace, smothered McKenna, cut him open, and finished him via TKO near the end of the first round. Thought it seemed like a piss-break match (it was the least-significant fight of the night yet it was sandwiched between two important fights rather than at the beginning of the card), it was an enjoyable fight to watch.
A Bellator heavyweight title fight was the night’s co-main event, which is telling. A has-been former UFC champ facing a never-was UFC reject took top billing over a match for a “world” title. Champion Alexander Volkov met fellow Russian Vitaly Minakov. The fight started with brief fireworks, then went into a lull after which Minakov floored Volkov and finished the champ with strikes. It was all over in a round.
Rampage Jackson fought late-replacement Joey Beltran in the main event. Despite being a little doughy (the fight was at a catchweight of 210 rather than 205), Jackson didn’t look as bad as the MMA world thought he would. He was a little quicker than in his previous outings, threw a few kicks, and landed some great knees. There were bouts of stalling and clinching for the latter half of the first round, but Rampage eventually landed a flurry that floored Beltran, prompting a stoppage right as the bell rang. One of the night’s highlights came after the fight, during Rampage’s post-fight promo. He was trying to take the mic from Jimmy Smith, who refused to acquiesce all the while you could hear someone screaming “DON’T LET HIM TAKE IT,” at the top of their lungs. It was about as awkward as that time Dana White reprimanded Colton Smith for ignoring the Harley-Davidson rep when he won a motorcycle.
Overall? Not bad. The fights were optimized for the casual fans (quick TKO finishes) and, for the first time in a while, something went right for Bellator: Rampage won his fight in convincing fashion. And the card he was on, one that was likely to draw more eyes than others, was entertaining. The fights might actually want to make people watch another Bellator show in the future.
But the biggest issue after Bellator 108 is what they’ll will do with Rampage now. He’s likely to high-profile for a tournament, yet they’ll compromise their integrity (like that matters) if they gift Rampage a title shot. Bellator’s future will be interesting, to say the least.
Complete results:
Main Card:
Quinton Jackson def. Joey Beltran via TKO (punches), 4:59 of Round 1
Vitaly Minakov def. Alexander Volkov via TKO (punches), 2:57 of Round 1
Marcos Galvao def. Tom McKenna via TKO (punches), 4:29 of Round 1
Patricio Freire def. Justin Wilcox via TKO (punches), 2:23 of Round 1
Preliminary Card:
Sam Oropeza def. Chip Moraza-Pollard via TKO (punches), 0:37 of Round 1
Tom DeBlass def. Jason Lambert via KO (punch), 1:45 of Round 1
Nah-Shon Burrell def. Jesus Martinez via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Anthony Morrison def. Kenny Foster via majority decision (28-28, 29-27, 30-26)
Liam McGeary def. Nahim Wali via submission (armbar), 1:31 of Round 1
Will Martinez def. Kevin Rodday via submission (rear naked choke), 3:50 of Round 1
Dan Matala def. Ryan Cafaro via TKO (strikes), 3:52 of Round 2
Rob Sullivan def. Sergio da Silva via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Joey “The 
