Bellator 127 was arguably the weakest card on paper of the season so far. Still, it had some decent fights on it and some good action. For a free fight card, it was certainly worth the watch.
Of note on the prelims, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou defeated an overmatched jobber in Malik Merad. Here’s a GIF of the finish (this GIF and others in the post via Zombie Prophet/Fansided):
Bellator 127 was arguably the weakest card on paper of the season so far. Still, it had some decent fights on it and some good action. For a free fight card, it was certainly worth the watch.
Of note on the prelims, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou defeated an overmatched jobber in Malik Merad. Here’s a GIF of the finish (this GIF and others in the post via Zombie Prophet/Fansided):
In the main card opener, Christian M’Pumbu faced Kendall Grove. This was M’Pumbu’s first fight at middleweight and it went poorly. The first round was five minutes of wall-and-stall for the most part. In the second, Grove managed to get M’Pumbu’s back during a quick scramble and sunk in a rear naked choke.
The next match featured Rafael Silva against Rob Emerson. Silva laid and prayed his way to a decision win. There was nothing notable or impressive about this fight save for Emerson’s uncanny resemblance to Doug Marshall.
Karo Parisyan met Fernando Gonzalez in the co-main event. This fight wasn’t competitive. Gonzalez hurt a sluggish Parisyan early with a hook and then landed some brutal follow-up ground and pound over the course of the next minute to put Parisyan away.
Then came the main event. Justin Wilcox fought Daniel Straus. This one didn’t last long. Straus clipped Wilcox early with a left hand, face-planting him. After a few more punches, the fight was called.
Here are the complete results:
Main Card
Daniel Straus def. Justin Wilcox via KO (punches), round 1, 0:50.
Fernando Gonzalez def. Karo Parisyan via TKO (punches), round 1, 1:43.
Rafael Silva def. Rob Emerson via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Kendall Grove def. Christian M’Pumbu via submission (rear naked choke), round 2, 4:14.
Preliminary Card
Ray Sloan def. Nick Moghaddam via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 x2)
Saad Awad def. Sergio Rios via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27 x 2)
Thierry Sokoudjou def. Malik Merad via TKO, round 2, 4:04.
Keith Berry def. Joe Pacheco via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Ricky Rainey def. Johnny Cisneros via KO, first round, 3:18.
Justin Baesman def. Johnny Mercurio via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
(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)
Bellator 103 is over — and judging by our front page poll, a significant portion of you don’t really care that much. But we love free MMA so, we watched the card. Here’s our recap:
The first fight of the night pitted old-school Bellator fighter (he fought at Bellator 20) and UFC washout Aaron Rosa against Russian Sambo expert Mikhail Zayats. The bout ended in 47 seconds. Clinch, takedown, kimura, tap. That was the whole fight.
In the second bout on the main card, David Rickels made one of the most innovative entrances in MMA when he drove to the cage in a replica of Fred Flintstone’s car. Thankfully for Rickels, his performance lived up to his entrance. He consistently beat JJ Ambrose to the punch, battering “Superman” throughout the fight, which was stopped in the third round when Ambrose couldn’t defend a tidal wave of body shots.
The third fight of the night, a featherweight tournament semifinal, was the most lackluster. Jesus freak Justin Wilcox took on mullet-wearing Guam native Joe Taimanglo. Wilcox won a ho-hum unanimous decision. The highlight came after the fight when Wilcox referenced John 3:16. If you watched pro wrestling in the late 1990s, you’d know why that was a big deal. But yeah, Wilcox-Taimanglo was mainly takedowns and ineffective ground-and-pound. If you DVR’d the fights, you have our permission to skip this one.
In the night’s main event, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire met Fabricio Guerreiro in the second featherweight tournament semifinal. Freire, known as an aggressive striker, showed off his grappling abilities throughout the fight. He was constantly one step ahead of Guerreiro in the BJJ department, which earned “Pitbull” a unanimous decision victory. With the win, he became the first three-time tournament finalist in Bellator history. He will face Justin Wilcox in the finals.
The complete results for Bellator 103 are after the jump…
Bellator 103 is over — and judging by our front page poll, a significant portion of you don’t really care that much. But we love free MMA so, we watched the card. Here’s our recap:
The first fight of the night pitted old-school Bellator fighter (he fought at Bellator 20) and UFC washout Aaron Rosa against Russian Sambo expert Mikhail Zayats. The bout ended in 47 seconds. Clinch, takedown, kimura, tap. That was the whole fight.
In the second bout on the main card, David Rickels made one of the most innovative entrances in MMA when he drove to the cage in a replica of Fred Flintstone’s car. Thankfully for Rickels, his performance lived up to his entrance. He consistently beat JJ Ambrose to the punch, battering “Superman” throughout the fight, which was stopped in the third round when Ambrose couldn’t defend a tidal wave of body shots.
The third fight of the night, a featherweight tournament semifinal, was the most lackluster. Jesus freak Justin Wilcox took on mullet-wearing Guam native Joe Taimanglo. Wilcox won a ho-hum unanimous decision. The highlight came after the fight when Wilcox referenced John 3:16. If you watched pro wrestling in the late 1990s, you’d know why that was a big deal. But yeah, Wilcox-Taimanglo was mainly takedowns and ineffective ground-and-pound. If you DVR’d the fights, you have our permission to skip this one.
In the night’s main event, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire met Fabricio Guerreiro in the second featherweight tournament semifinal. Freire, known as an aggressive striker, showed off his grappling abilities throughout the fight. He was constantly one step ahead of Guerreiro in the BJJ department, which earned “Pitbull” a unanimous decision victory. With the win, he became the first three-time tournament finalist in Bellator history. He will face Justin Wilcox in the finals.
Here are the complete results…
Main Card
Patricio Freire def. Fabricio Guerreiro via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Justin Wilcox def. Joe Taimanglo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
David Rickels def. J.J. Ambrose via TKO (punches), 2:37 of round 3
Mikhail Zayats def. Aaron Rosa via submission (kimura), 0:47 of round 1
Preliminary Card
Carlos Eduardo def. Wayman Carter via submission (rear-naked choke), 2:06 of round 1
Remy Bussieres def. Blake Pool via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Maurice Jackson def. Matt Uhde via TKO (doctor stoppage, cut), 0:52 of round 1
Donnie Bell def. Marcio Navarro via submission (neck crank), 2:06 of round 1
Jeimeson Saudino def. Jesse Thornton via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Ricky Musgrave def. Cody Carrilo via submission (kimura), 2:59 of round 1
Filed under: StrikeforceThe grand Strikeforce experiment will continue, whether fighters like it or not. Zuffa’s other organization takes its next step tonight in San Diego with Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal, and it’s already been a whirlwind week…
The grand Strikeforce experiment will continue, whether fighters like it or not. Zuffa’s other organization takes its next step tonight in San Diego with Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal, and it’s already been a whirlwind week for the company that Scott Coker built. Below, a few questions, concerns, and comments heading into Saturday night’s event on Showtime.
I. That silence you hear? Yeah, that’s one reason why guys like Gilbert Melendez can’t wait to get out of Strikeforce and into the UFC. Fighters may not care how many articles get written about them in the lead-up to a fight, but they are still risking their health and whatever remains of their good looks in the cage on fight night, so they would prefer if people gave a damn. When it comes to Strikeforce these days, not many do. Maybe that’s why Melendez still talks openly about how much he’d like to move to the UFC, trying to paint this title defense against Jorge Masvidal as if it’s the last perfunctory step in the job application process for a UFC lightweight. Can you blame him? There’s no buzz for Saturday night’s event — not among media or fans. Dana White can “make it right” for Melendez by cutting him a check to compensate him for being stuck in Strikeforce, but he can’t make people care.
II. Money might help to make it right, but only for so long. Sure, Melendez’s desire to get to the UFC is partially motivated by financial concerns, and that’s the part White can help with. But don’t underestimate the role of ego here. Melendez wants to get paid, but he also wants to know that he’s testing himself against the best in the world, and on the biggest stage in the sport. He’s not getting the chance to do that right now, and he knows it. Nothing against Masvidal, but a win over him doesn’t do much to boost Melendez’s status in the lightweight rankings. It’s a fight where he has far more to lose than gain, in other words. The longer he stays in Strikeforce, the more of those he’s likely to have.
III. So what is Strikeforce, now that it’s not going away any time soon? Stephen Espinoza of Showtime Sports insisted on this week’s media call that “Strikeforce is not a secondary brand. …This is a top-tier organization.” If that were even close to true, however, you probably wouldn’t need to say it. People would just look at the fighters and the fights, and then they’d know. But what we see when we look at Strikeforce is an organization with a few very good fighters and a diminishing cast of also-rans to match them up against. It’s true that Melendez isn’t a second-tier fighter, but what does it matter if Strikeforce can’t find first-tier opponents for him? It’s like White has said about the UFC for years, usually when he wants to disparage the accomplishments of someone like Fedor Emelianenko: the UFC is the place where the best fight the best several times a year. Strikeforce might have some great champions, but they aren’t fighting the best right now. Melendez could make his case as one of the world’s best lightweights, but Jorge Masvidal can’t. Luke Rockhold is an excellent middleweight, but Keith Jardine isn’t a middleweight at all yet, much less a top contender in the division. It would be utterly unthinkable for Jardine to get a crack at Anderson Silva’s middleweight title. But in Strikeforce? Sure, why not. That probably tells us everything we need to know about whether this is a top-tier organization.
IV. Cris “Cyborg” Santos had to wait a year and a half to get another fight in Strikeforce. If she rolls right over Hiroko Yamanaka the way most people are expecting her to, how long will she have to wait for the next one? The answer to that question probably depends on whether she could realistically cut to 135 pounds or not. There simply aren’t enough opponents to keep her on a steady diet of challengers at 145 pounds, but you take one look at her frame and it’s hard to see where the excess pounds would come from. At the same time, if she stays put she’s not going to have much to do.
V. For a guy who hasn’t lost in nearly two years, Gegard Mousasi sure needs a win in a bad way. He’s 3-0-1 since dropping the title to Mo Lawal, but all three of those victories have come in Dream, against fairly unimpressive competition. He should have stomped an aging journeyman like Jardine, but instead ended up with a disappointing draw. If Mousasi is going to live up to his initial promise, he needs to start putting some wins together against opponents who matter. Beating up-and-comer Ovince St. Preux would be a good start, but it would only be a start. That’s what makes this such a tough fight for Mousasi. He has to win. OSP just needs to look good and stay competitive.
VI. Now that Zuffa runs Strikeforce, is KJ Noons in danger of getting cut if he loses his third straight fight? It’s hard to believe that the guy who was Nick Diaz’s nemesis and Gilbert Melendez’s would-be challenger now finds himself on a two-fight losing streak. In fairness, the first was a decision loss to Diaz, and there’s no shame in that — especially when you’re fighting out of your natural weight class to begin with. But then Noons dropped a decision to Masvidal in a bout he was favored in, so he now finds himself in a must-win situation against Billy Evangelista. Or does he? While the UFC might not have much use for serial losers, Strikeforce needs anyone with a name and even a modicum of drawing power. Noons still has both, so maybe that would be enough to justify holding on to him even if he loses. At least that’s one way Strikeforce’s peculiar status could actually work for fighters rather than against them.
VII. Justin Wilcox and Roger Bowling make you wonder: is it better to star on Challengers, or fight in the shadows of the Strikeforce prelims? For the last few years Strikeforce has used the Challengers shows to highlight up-and-comers (and occasionally down-and-outers), while using the prelims of its other events to sell a few tickets with local draws. But now that Challengers is disappearing, it seems as though guys like Wilcox and Bowling will get stuck on Strikeforce prelims instead, which seems both good and bad. For one thing, Challengers wasn’t ever a ratings winner, and the association had a certain negative connotation, like being on the JV squad. On the other hand, at least Challengers fights were on TV. At least they were the show, rather than the unaired show before the show. They might have thought they were playing to a tiny audience before, but now they’re really knocking down trees in a lonely forest. If you put on a great fight and nobody sees it, does it really make a sound?
MMA Fighting recently spoke to lightweight JZ Cavalcante about why it took him so long to get a second fight in Strikeforce, why Zuffa purchasing Strikeforce was a good thing for him, his thoughts on fighting Justin Wilcox at Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum on June 18 in Dallas and his take on the Strikeforce lightweight division.
MMA Fighting recently spoke to lightweight JZ Cavalcante about why it took him so long to get a second fight in Strikeforce, why Zuffa purchasing Strikeforce was a good thing for him, his thoughts on fighting Justin Wilcox at Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum on June 18 in Dallas and his take on the Strikeforce lightweight division.
That’s right, JZ. Dress for the job you want to have.
Joe Silva isn’t the only matchmaker working overtime lately. Strikeforce matchmaker Rich ChouSean Shelby has been as busy shoring up the organization’s upcoming June cards.
The second leg of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix (June 18th-Dallas, TX) will also feature the return of Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante, who will be climbing into the cage for the first time since his October fight against Josh Thomson, a loss that everyone but the judges thought was close as hell. His opponent will be AKA’s Justin Wilcox, who bludgeoned Rodgrigo Damm in a first round stoppage at Strikeforce Challengers 15 last April.
Two more match ups after the jump.
That’s right, JZ. Dress for the job you want to have.
Joe Silva isn’t the only matchmaker working overtime lately. Strikeforce matchmaker Rich ChouSean Shelby has been busy shoring up the organization’s upcoming June cards.
The second leg of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix (June 18th-Dallas, TX) will also feature the return of Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante, who will be climbing into the cage for the first time since his October fight against Josh Thomson, a loss that everyone but the judges thought was close as hell. His opponent will be AKA’s Justin Wilcox, who bludgeoned Rodgrigo Damm in a first round stoppage at Strikeforce Challengers 15 last April.
Jason High has embraced Dana’s new social media policy, going on Twitter to announce his upcoming fight against Quinn Mulhern, who’s been putting in work over at KOTC for the past few years. High has fought once previously under the Zuffa banner, losing to Charlie Brenneman at UFC Fight Night 21. Both men are riding win streaks–High 4, Mulhern 7– into their June 24th bout at Strikeforce Challengers: Fodor vs Terry.
The grand 
