Filed under: Bellator, NewsAll 18 fighters scheduled for Saturday night’s Bellator 48 card made weight for the show, which will take place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.
The main event features the final bout of Bellator’s Summer Series fea…
All 18 fighters scheduled for Saturday night’s Bellator 48 card made weight for the show, which will take place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.
The main event features the final bout of Bellator‘s Summer Series featherweight tournament, which pits Pat Curran against Marlon Sandro.
Both fighters checked in at 145 pounds for the final. The victor will eventually take on the winner of an upcoming match between Joe Warren and Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.
Curran (15-4) won the season two lightweight tournament in 2010 but lost to reigning champion Eddie Alvarez in a five-round decision. After dropping to featherweight, he beat Luis Palomino and Ronnie Mann to advance and face Sandro.
Sandro signed with Bellator in June and won his first two tournament bouts, defeating Genair da Silva and Nazareno Malegarie, both by decision.
In the co-main event, heavyweight champ Cole Konrad weighed in at 264.5 to face the 255-pound Paul Buentello in a non-title match. Konrad hasn’t been in the cage since defeating Neil Grove via submission and capturing the championship last October. An April bout between Konrad and Buentello was postponed after a Buentello injury, and now he gets his chance to return.
In another featured bout, Ricco Rodriguez looks to extend hist 12-fight win streak against Seth Petruzelli. Both fighters made it under the 230-pound catch weight.
Main Card
Pat Curran (145) vs. Marlon Sandro (145)
Cole Konrad (264.5) vs. Paul Buentello (255) Seth Petruzelli (224) vs. Ricco Rodriguez (229.75)
Rene Nazare (156) vs. Juan Barrante (155.25)
Preliminary Card
Nik Fekete (205) vs. Mark Griffin (205)
Matt Nice (155.5) vs. Andrew Calandrelli (155.5)
Brett Oteri (170) vs. Ryan Quinn (170)
Saul Almeida (146) vs. Tateki Matsuda (145.25) Dan Cramer (205) vs. Jeff Nader (204)
Filed under: BellatorBellator’s summer series comes to an end on Saturday night with the final fight of its eight-man featherweight tournament, featuring Marlon Sandro taking on Pat Curran. Also on the card is Bellator’s heavyweight champion, Cole Konr…
Bellator‘s summer series comes to an end on Saturday night with the final fight of its eight-man featherweight tournament, featuring Marlon Sandro taking on Pat Curran. Also on the card is Bellator’s heavyweight champion, Cole Konrad, in a non-title fight with Paul Buentello, and former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez taking on Seth Petruzelli.
What: Bellator 48
When: Saturday, the MTV2 televised card begins at 9 PM ET.
Where: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut
Predictions on the four televised fights below.
Pat Curran vs. Marlon Sandro The summer featherweight tournament has been a lot of fun, and this is probably the best final we could have gotten: Sandro is a dangerous striker and a lot of fun to watch, but he’ll be challenged by Curran, who previously won a Bellator lightweight tournament and looks great after dropping 10 pounds.
So how does this one go down? I wouldn’t be shocked if Curran uses his superior size and wrestling to take Sandro down repeatedly and grind out a decision, but I think it’s more likely that they stay standing, Sandro lands the more significant strikes, and Sandro takes the decision.
Beating Curran would strengthen Sandro’s claim to being the best featherweight outside the UFC and set up some more big Bellator fights in the future, against either the promotion’s featherweight champion, Joe Warren, or against the winner of Bellator’s last featherweight tournament, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. Pick: Sandro
Cole Konrad vs. Paul Buentello Although this is a non-title fight, Buentello is the toughest test to date for Konrad, Bellator’s heavyweight champion. Konrad has never faced anyone with Buentello’s experience, and if Buentello is in shape and motivated, his punching power could cause some problems for Konrad.
But Konrad is a great wrestler who won the NCAA heavyweight title, and I don’t think Buentello’s takedown defense will be good enough to stay off his back. Look for Konrad to take Buentello down in all three rounds and stay on top of him long enough to grind out a fairly boring decision. Pick: Konrad
Ricco Rodriguez vs. Seth Petruzelli Rodriguez won the UFC heavyweight championship by beating Randy Couture in 2002, then went through a long period of losing big fights and getting into trouble outside the cage. But over the last couple years he has appeared to get his head screwed on straight, and he’s currently on a 12-fight winning streak.
But none of the 12 men Rodriguez has beaten in his current streak are as good as Petruzelli, who’s best known for beating Kimbo Slice in a nationally televised EliteXC bout. Petruzelli is a good enough striker that he could give Rodriguez trouble standing up, but Rodriguez will have a big advantage on the ground and should be able to submit Petruzelli. Pick: Rodriguez
Juan Barrantes vs. Renê Nazare Nazare is a very accomplished Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioner who’s 9-0 as a professional MMA fighter. The 7-5 Barrantes isn’t in Nazare’s league and won’t last long. Pick: Nazare
You know how sometimes you work on something for a long time, but toward the end you’re just making it worse, but you’ve already put time and energy into it so you don’t want to trash it? Yeah, that’s never happened to me before.
From Wikipedia: The Casino of the Sky has a functional planetarium utilizing fiber optics to display the sun, moon, and stars accompanying the lighting effects of the Wombi Rock, which is a three-story high crystal mountain crafted of alabaster and more than 12,000 individual plates of hand-selected onyx from quarries in Iran, Pakistan, and Mexico; which were transported to Carrara, Italy and fused into glass.
Now look, we may not be able to fully comprehend the functional value of this “Wombi Rock” but that sounds fucking BALLER. Turns out the Mohegan Sun Casino outside Uncasville, Connecticut is the second largest casino in the United States, and we have someextravagantcasinos.
So when Bellator pops off for the third and last time of the summer this Saturday, don’t talk to me about “minor league” and “small potatoes”. With a talent pool that is constantly getting deeper with the excellent scouting from the BFC office, a tournament format that keeps fans coming back, and a spot waiting for them on SpikeTV (*fingers crossed*) Bellator is big time, baby.
Come on in and let’s run down the show, starting off with that Featherweight Tournament Final…
You know how sometimes you work on something for a long time, but toward the end you’re just making it worse, but you’ve already put time and energy into it so you don’t want to trash it? Yeah, that’s never happened to me before.
From Wikipedia: The Casino of the Sky has a functional planetarium utilizing fiber optics to display the sun, moon, and stars accompanying the lighting effects of the Wombi Rock, which is a three-story high crystal mountain crafted of alabaster and more than 12,000 individual plates of hand-selected onyx from quarries in Iran, Pakistan, and Mexico; which were transported to Carrara, Italy and fused into glass.
Now look, we may not be able to fully comprehend the functional value of this “Wombi Rock” but that sounds fucking BALLER. Turns out the Mohegan Sun Casino outside Uncasville, Connecticut is the second largest casino in the United States, and we have someextravagantcasinos.
So when Bellator pops off for the third and last time of the summer this Saturday, don’t talk to me about “minor league” and “small potatoes”. With a talent pool that is constantly getting deeper with the excellent scouting from the BFC office, a tournament format that keeps fans coming back, and a spot waiting for them on SpikeTV (*fingers crossed*) Bellator is big time, baby.
Come on in and let’s run down the show, starting off with that Featherweight Tournament Final…
Pat Curran vs Marlon Sandro
Curran had an unlikely (some would say controversial) run through the 155 pound tournament last year that led him to an unsuccessful bid to become Bellator’s lightweight champ. His progress through the featherweight brackets has been much smoother, including a sweet peruvian necktie on Peruvian Luis Palomino and a three round beatdown on a twelve year old English boy. Curran has blossomed as a striker in Bellator, using punches, kicks, and knees to good effect since he joined the roster, but his wrestling background will be important in the Sandro fight. Curran must avoid Sandro’s bombs, stay smart on defense, and use his speed to jump off his offense. If he can wrestle Sandro down and maintain control, he can be the first guy to win Bellator tournaments in two weight classes.
Marlon Sandro has made his way through the tournament comfortably as well, after entertaining scraps with Genair da Silva and Nazareno Malegarie. The former Sengoku kingpin was expected to be the challenger for the featherweight title when he signed with Bellator, and he’s now one fight away from a shot at Joe Warren. After his surprising upset loss to Hatsu Hioki, Sandro will have to deal with fighters trying to grind him down with defensive wrestling and take away his thunderous power on the feet. Sandro is durable, well-rounded, and experienced, and he needs very little opportunity to land a KO punch. Sandro has the power to test Curran’s chin as it has never been tested before — Curran has never been knocked out, but the Monster from Rio is absolutely capable of leaving Paddy Mike staring up at Wombi Rock when the fight is over.
Cole Konrad vs. Paul Buentello
Cole Konrad claimed the Bellator heavyweight title by doing his best impression of the proverbial immovable object. He’s a huge athlete with a very good wrestling pedigree, but his striking is rudimentary at best, his cardio is unimpressive, and his submission game is a work in progress, polar bear choke or not. Perhaps the biggest question mark for Konrad is how training has been going at Team DeathClutch since Lesnar has been out.
Across from him in the cage, Paul Buentello holds a significant advantage in the stand up game, with better technique and power than Konrad. Thing is, Buentello probably will not be standing for most of this fight. Once on the ground, the Headhunter doesn’t have the strength to get out from under 300 pounds of Konrad, nor does he have the BJJ skills to win off his back. If Buentello can’t stop the takedowns from Konrad, it’s going to be a long night for everyone.
Seth Petruzelli vs. Ricco Rodriguez
Pay attention to where Rodriguez weighs in — he’s been talking about hitting light heavy for about a year now, and this is his third catchweight in a row. It looks like 205 is a bit too far down for Suave, and the biggest boys at 265 have too much size on him. That won’t be a problem for Rodriguez in this bout, as the Silverback is a jumped-up 205er himself. With a bit of a size advantage and a very solid ground game, Rodriguez should be able to stay away from any Kimbo Killers and work his own game.
Also on the card: BJJ champ Rene Nazare returns to action in Bellator, expect him to show off against Juan Barrantes. Nazare is 9-0 with 7 stoppage wins, and he continues to improve at 28. Something tells us this fight will not go the full fifteen.
On the undercard:
John Clarke vs. Dan Cramer
Andrew Calandrelli vs. Matt Nice
Brett Oteri vs. Ryan Quinn
Nik Fekete vs. Mark Griffin
Saul Almeida vs. Tateki Matsuda
Ronnie Mann and Adam Schindler both landed some hard combinations to start off their opening round fight. Schindler was twice denied the takedown, once clinching Mann against the cage and again later when shooting in from the outside. Sensing his opponent’s desire to fight on the ground, Mann obliged him courtesy of a right-uppercut left-hook combo that dropped Schindler to his back. From there a plethora of hammerfists rendered Schindler unconscious and advanced Mann to the semi-finals.
Luis Palomino stated that he wanted to contest this fight on the feet, but he found himself on the loosing end of both the stand-up and ground battles. After employing a series of heavy kicks, Palomino got rocked by a big right hand and flying knee that sent him falling backward against the cage. He scored a desperation takedown, but Curran popped right back up and secured a takedown of his own. Once on top, Curran worked for a D’Arce choke before switching it up to the rarely-seen Peruvian Necktie and drawing the tap with just over a minute left in the opening round.
Nazareno Malegarie knew how he wanted to defeat Jacob Devree from the opening bell, it just took him thirteen-and-a-half minutes to do it. Melagarie secured a takedown and locked up an arm-in guillotine just seconds into the bout, but Devree would eventually work free from that submission and the following heel hook attempt. Devree stuffed the early takedown attempt in round two only to end up in guillotine trouble again. He’d survive once more, but was mounted following his escape. Devree survived a series of bad positions and the second round, but in the final stanza he found himself both mounted and in a guillotine with no choice but to tap.
Marlon Sandro floored Genair da Silva in the first round with a big right-left combo followed by a guillotine attempt, but da Silva proved tough to finish. Sandro’s effort to keep the fight out of the hands of the judges was understandable at the end of the fight, where despite his seeming to win each round he took home a split decision victory. Judge Ric Bays cast the dissenting vote 29-28 for da Silva.
Filed under: Bellator, NewsMTV2 viewers were treated to an excellent mixed martial arts event on Saturday night, as Bellator 46 yielded four good fights — and the promise of even better things to come.
MTV2 viewers were treated to an excellent mixed martial arts event on Saturday night, as Bellator 46 yielded four good fights — and the promise of even better things to come.
The winners — Pat Curran, Marlon Sandro, Nazareno Malegarie and Ronnie Mann — all looked very good in victory and advanced to the second round of Bellator’s eight-man featherweight tournament. No matter how the four are paired in the tournament semifinals, they’re virtually guaranteed to be a couple of outstanding fights.
The semifinals will take place at Bellator 47 on July 23, along with a Bellator featherweight title fight between Joe Warren and Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, and that card is shaping up to be a great showcase of Bellator’s solid featherweight division.
Curran earned his victory quickly, forcing Luis Palomino to tap out to a Peruvian necktie at 3:49 of the first round. That submission wasn’t what anyone was expecting from Curran, who previously won a Bellator lightweight tournament, but he said afterward that the fight played out just how he wanted.
“I rocked him with a right hand, he went to the ground, he felt a little weak, he was just getting his mind back together,” Curran said. “I just went for it — I practice it in the gym all the time.”
Sandro took a split decision victory after an entertaining 15 minutes in the cage with Genair da Silva. Sandro appeared poised to finish da Silva in the first round, first by knocking him down with a devastating punch, and then by attempting a guillotine choke. But da Silva managed to pull out of the guillotine, shake off the cobwebs and keep fighting. Sandro never came close to finishing da Silva after the first round, but he did control the fight, and it was surprising that one judge scored it for da Silva, 29-28. The other judges gave the fight to Sandro, 30-27 and 29-28, and he looked solid in his North American debut.
Malegarie displayed some absolutely beautiful Brazilian jiu jitsu in winning a third-round submission against Jacob DeVree. Malegarie had what appeared to be a tight guillotine choke in the opening moments of the first round, but DeVree maintained his poise and broke free. DeVree also broke free of a Malegarie heel hook, and he survived the rest of the first round thanks in part to a questionable stand-up by referee Troy Waugh. But Malegarie was absolutely relentless on the ground, controlling DeVree there for almost the entire second round and then pulling off a textbook-perfect guillotine choke early in the third round, finally forcing DeVree to tap. Malegarie is now 20-1 in his MMA career.
Mann unleashed an explosive assault on Adam Schindler in winning by first-round knockout, knocking Schindler down with a quick right uppercut and a hard left hook and finishing him with a few more unanswered punches to the face on the ground before the referee finally stopped it. It was a brilliant showing by Mann, who improved his professional MMA record to 20-2-1. If Mann, who’s known primarily as a submission specialist, can show off that kind of striking consistently, he’s going to be a force in this tournament.
Filed under: UFC, Rankings, FeatherweightsKenny Florian is the most likely next contender for the UFC featherweight championship. But has he really earned a title shot against Jose Aldo?
If the way you “earn” a title shot is to work your way up the la…
Kenny Florian is the most likely next contender for the UFC featherweight championship. But has he really earned a title shot against Jose Aldo?
If the way you “earn” a title shot is to work your way up the ladder and become the No. 2 fighter in your weight class, then the answer is no. Florian has fought just once at 145 pounds — his unanimous decision victory over Diego Nunes at UFC 131 — and that’s not enough to get him in the No. 2 spot ahead of Chad Mendes, who’s been fighting at featherweight his entire career and built up a 10-0 record.
But the real way a fighter earns a title shot is to become the guy the fans want to see fighting for a title: The UFC is in the business of selling pay-per-views, and Florian vs. Aldo would sell far more pay-per-views than Mendes vs. Aldo. Mendes has fought in the Octagon once and isn’t all that well known, while Florian has fought in Octagon 16 times and is a fan favorite. That’s why he’ll get the next crack at Aldo.
However, that’s not to say Florian isn’t also among the elite featherweights in MMA. Find out where I have him ranked below.
(Number in parentheses is the fighter’s previous ranking.)
1. Jose Aldo (1): So far, in the UFC and WEC there hasn’t been a featherweight who has what it takes to challenge Aldo: He’s 9-0 fighting under the Zuffa banner and hasn’t been in any real trouble. We’ll see if Florian can be the man to test Aldo, but I have my doubts.
2. Chad Mendes (2): Mendes thought he had earned the next shot at Aldo, but instead he’ll take on Rani Yahya in August, and hope that a good showing there earns him a title fight after that. Mendes is only 10 fights into his MMA career and still a little green, so having to wait a little longer may be good for him.
3. Hatsu Hioki (3): Here’s hoping Hioki is able to sign with the UFC soon. The best featherweights in the world are waiting for Hioki, who has been great in Japan and whose long limbs and well-rounded striking and grappling style could make him a threat to most of the top competition in the UFC.
4. Kenny Florian (NR): Is one win at 145 pounds enough to make Florian worthy of a Top 5 ranking? I think it is, considering that the one win was a very impressive one against a good opponent, and considering that Florian was generally recognized as a Top 5 fighter in a more talented weight class when he was fighting at 155.
5. Manny Gamburyan (4): Gamburyan is trying to bounce back from his loss to Aldo in September, and he’s got a very interesting fight coming up against Tyson Griffin, who like Gamburyan and Florian is a former lightweight hoping for more success in the shallower waters of the featherweight division.
6. Marlon Sandro (6): Bellator’s featherweight division has picked up some top-notch talent, and in my opinion the best of the bunch is Sandro, who will take on fellow Brazilian Genair da Silva in the first round of Bellator’s summer featherweight tournament.
7. Mark Hominick (7): His gutsy performance in defeat against Jose Aldo endeared Hominick to MMA fans. There’s talk that Hominick could face Chan Sung Jung next, in a fight that couldn’t possibly be anything less than thrilling.
8. Erik Koch (8): Koch is 12-1 in his career, with the only loss coming against Mendes. He’s been matched up with Season 12 Ultimate Fighter winner Jonathan Brookins in September.
9. Dustin Poirier (10): Poirier has looked like a much better fighter since moving down to featherweight, dominating both Josh Grispi and Jason Young at 145 pounds. Poirier is only 22 years old and is a likely future title contender.
10. Diego Nunes (9): Although he came up short against Florian, Nunes is only 28 years old and not done improving. He has a lot of big featherweight fights ahead of him.
All 18 fighters scheduled for Saturday night’s Bellator 48 card made weight for the show, which will take place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.
Bellator
MTV2 viewers were treated to an excellent mixed martial arts event on Saturday night, as 
