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Bellator 120: Rampage Edges King Mo, Will Brooks Out-Points Michael Chandler

Tonight, Bellator will make its first foray into the PPV market after a botched attempt last year. Bellator 120 was originally scheduled to be main-evented by the rubber match between Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler, but Alvarez recently withdrew due to a concussion. Bellator matched up Chandler with Will Brooks, and bumped King Mo vs. Rampage Jackson into the card’s main event. We’ve also got Tito Ortiz vs. Alexander Shlemenko, Blagoi Ivanov vs. Alexander Volkov, and Michael Page vs. Ricky Rainey.

In this liveblog of Bellator’s first-ever PPV, CagePotato social media kosmonaut and weekend editor Matt Saccaro will be giving you the results for the PPV portion of the fight card, in case you’re too cheap to buy it or don’t have access to it for some reason. He’ll also be posting quick results from the rest of the event, as well as his typical analysis of commercials on the Spike TV portion of the broadcast.

The PPV begins at 10:00 pm EST. The Spike TV preliminaries start at 8:00 pm EST. We’ll start posting results after the jump shortly thereafter. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.

Here are the results for the prelims:

Spike TV Preliminary Card

Cheick Kongo def. Eric Smith via TKO (strikes), 4:35 of round 2
Marcin Held def. Nate Jolly submission (arm bar), 4:20 of round 1
Fabricio Guerreiro def. Shahbulat Shamhalaev via submission (kimura), 3:29 of round 1
Goiti Yamauchi def. Mike Richman unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Spike.com Preliminary Card

Austin Lyons def. Zach Underwood via technical decision (unanimous)
Mike Wessel def. Justin Frazier via TKO (punches), 4:28 of round 1
Ben Brewer def. Andy Uhrich via KO (strikes), 2:40 of round 2
Codie Shuffield def. Andy Lemon via submission (rear naked choke), 2:15 of round 2
Brian Hall def. Cortez Phelia via TKO (punches), 0:24 of round 3

And now, the liveblog for the main card:

Michael Page vs. Ricky Rainey

Round 1: Rainey sugers forwards and misses. Page uses his footwork to escape, riding his bicycle. Rainey lands a right but it didn’t have much power. Page has his hands at his waist. Page starts landing tons of shots, then throws Rainey to the mat. Rainey gets up. Page is looking in the opposite direction while fighting Rainey and landing. he’s turning his back on Rainey now. The showmanship is great but if he loses he’ll look like a twat. Rainey clinches Page and has him against the fence now. Page separates and they reset. Page lands a left and then a front kick. Rainey is already breathing heavy. Page is shaking his ass and dancing, no joke. Page lands a jab. Rainey clinches again, pressing Page against the cage. Rainey goes for a single but Page reverses and almost lands on top of Rainey before he scrambles to his feet and they reset. Page lands a flying knee and then a spinning backfist. Rainey can’t touch page in the striking. Page looks disinterested. He lands two jabs and an uppercut. Rainey runs forwards. Page lands a huge right that floors Rainey and the referee stops the fight. Page wins via KO.

Alexander Volkov vs. Blagoi Ivanov

Round 1: Early striking exchanges favor nobody. Ivaonov clinches and gets Volkov against the fence. he tries a single leg but abandons it. He goes back to the body lock, leaning on Volkov. They spend some time fighting for hand positioning. Not a ton of action against the fence. Ivanov attempts a double but fails. Back to the same over-under position they’ve been in. The referee warns them; he wants action. The two fighters exchange knees. Volkov hits a knee and then a body kick but Ivanov catches it and clinches. Volkov gets double underhooks briefly but separates and lands an uppercut. Ivanov lands a right hand and clinches. Volkov lands a nice knee to the chin. The two fighters do some dirty boxing before Volkov circles out. Ivanov hits a right hand, Volkov hits a left and then a knee. Volkov has the better combinations, hitting a jab, cross, round kick to the body combo. Ivanov lands a right hand as the round ends.

Round 2: Both men miss right hands. Ivanov tries a single leg and Volkov shrugs it off. A brief, wild slugfest ensues but nobody lands anything. Ivanov attempts a throw but botches it; Volkov takes his back and has him in a rear naked choke. Ivanov taps! That was unexpected.

Tito Ortiz vs. Alexander Shlemenko

Round 1: Ortiz misses with two rights and a head kick. He shoots and Shlemenko shrugs it off. Shlemenko starts peppering Ortiz as the crowd chants for Tito. Shlemenko lands two punches to the head but Ortiz counters with a knee. Ortiz presses Shlemenko against the fence, finally making use of his size advantage. He lands a couple of soft knees. Ortiz gets Shlemenko down and has his back. He flattens him out but winds up on top in side control. He’s going for an arm-triangle and he might have it. He has it. Shlemenko is out cold. Holy shit.

After the fight Ortiz cuts the worst promo of all time. He pretended to be Hulk Hogan and it was honestly the most embarrassing thing I’ve seen in MMA.

Michael Chandler vs. Will Brooks

Round 1: Chandler lands a jab. Brooks misses a round kick. Chandler pressures Brooks to backing up against the cage. He shoots a double on Brooks and gets it. Chandler is having a bit of trouble escaping from Brooks’ guard. Brooks gets to his feet. Chandler misses an overhand right, Brooks lands a left and then a good knee. Chandler misses an upcrut. He attempts a double leg but Brooks sprawls. Still, Chandler shoves Brooks up against the cage and keeps him there. Chandler scores a takedown with about two minutes left in the round. The fight stalls out while Chandler is in Brooks’ guard. The round ends.

Round 2: Chandler shoots a single-leg and has Brooks stymied against the cage. Brooks stops the takedown, and now they’re fighting in the clinch. Brooks separates and they reset. Chandler lands a double-leg. The rest of the round will probably be Chandler sitting in Brooks’ guard. With a minute and a half left Brooks FINALLY gets up and even manages to take Chandler down and take his back! But Brooks loses the position and is now on top of Brooks again in guard. That’s where the round ends.

Round 3: Chandler hits a sweet left hook, then shoots a double. Brooks sprawls. He hits a knee on Chandler as they rise up to their feet. Chandler clinches again and bullies Brooks against the fence, but Brooks reverses. They clinch again and Brooks lands a knee and misses an uppercut. Another clinch, Chandler tries a guillotine but winds up getting taken down. Brooks has his back now. He’s got the body triangle locked up. Chandler rolls over into full mount. He’s cut and Brooks is landing ground and pound. It’s not looking good for Chandler. He’s landing some short elbows now, and now more punches. Chandler explodes out of mount and escapes. Wow. They’re standing now. Brooks shoots and fails. Chandler drops to all fours and Brooks tries to take his back again. Chandler gets up. he goes for a head kick that lands on the jaw. He lands another and as he has Chandler wobbled he takes him down and gets the back and body triangle. Only 20 seconds left. The round comes to a close before Brooks can capitalize.

Round 4: Brooks lands a body kick and misses a head kick. Brooks hits a jab; he looks like the fresher fighter. Chandler shoots from across the cage and misses by miles. Chandler lands a nice hook but Brooks BLASTS him off his feet with a power double. He’s got Chandler’s back again now, but Chandler reverses and winds up on top in guard. Not a ton of action. The ref stands them up with 1:30 to go. Brooks lands a good right hand. Chandler shoots underneath a right hand but Brooks sprawls and lands a knee. Chandler is slower than he was last round. Brooks lands an illegal knee (or at least the ref thought so) to Chandler while a hand was on the ground. The fight resumes. Brooks lands a head kick. He stops another shot from Chandler and takes his back AGAIN. He’s going for the RNC with 10 seconds left but he can’t get it.

Round 5: Chandler shoots. Brooks sprawls. They separate and reset. Brooks is looking very fresh still. Incredible cardio. Chandler attempts a single-leg and after a while finally gets it, but Brooks scrambles immediately and escapes. Chandler goes for an ugly double-leg and brooks punishes him with knees to the ribs. Chandler is getting aggressive now, too much so. Brooks gets his back and SUPLEX. He takes Chandler’s back but was too high and slipped off. Now Chandler’s on top of him in guard. With 1:00 left, Brooks escapes to his feet. Chandler gets hyper aggressive and nearly KOs books! he floored brooks. He’s going for an arm triangle now as the seconds are winding down. Brooks escapes, but is still mounted. That’s how the round and the fight ends, with Chandler on top in mount.

The judges gave Will Brooks the split decision. Crazy fight. Crazy card. Wow.

Quinton Jackson vs. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal

Round 1: King Mo shoots right away and successfully lands a single leg. All Rampage can do is keep Mo in his guard. The fans are booing loudly. Mo passes into side control. Rampage manages to stand back up, but Mo retains a body lock. He has Rampage against the fence. Mo goes for a double now and gets it. With about 2:30 left Rampage gets back up but gets double-legged again. He’s got zero answer for Mo’s wrestling. Rampage gets to his feet again with 1:30 to go. Rampage FINALLY manages to separate. Jackson swings big with a left hook and misses. Mo misses a big right hand and Rampage counters with a left. Mo slips while defending against a flurry from Rampage. Rampage gets a little more aggressive as the round ends but can’t connect before the bell.

Round 2: Mo lands a body kick. Rampage lands a left hand that shook Mo a bit. Mo is petrified of Rampage’s striking, it seems. Rampage loads up on right hands and lands a left too. Mo is hurt but manages to clinch. Mo shoots but Rampage throws him off. Mo flies back whenever Rampage’s strikes make contact with him. Mo tries another double leg but Rampage blocks it. They’re against the fence now, with Mo putting his weight on Rampage. He level changes and tries yet another takedown, which fails. A single leg attempt from Mo gets nowhere. Rampage separates for a moment and throws a huge hook. Mo ducks it and clinches. After some inactivity, Rampage separates. King Mo hits a big left hook that hurts Rampage bad. Then he tries the worst flying knee I’ve ever seen, which predictably fails. Afterwards, King Mo brings Rampage to the mat with a double leg. Rampage explodes and gets back up, but it’s too little too late. The round is over.

Round 3: Rampage blocks a single leg attempt from King Mo and lands a flurry of punches. Both fighters breathing heavy. Rampage lands a left hook and Mo initiates a clinch. He bullies Rampage against the fence and pulls off a single-leg takedown. The crowd is booing. There’s three minutes left and King Mo is on top of Rampage in half guard. The fight will probably end here. Rampage gets back to guard. Big John McCarthy calls for action and threatens a stand-up. Rampage turtles up and Mo takes his back. Rampage gtes back to his feet with 2:00 to go. Rampage has his right hand so cocked and loaded it’s ridiculous. Mo shoots a double and has Rampage pressed on the fence. A minute left and they’re still clinched. McCarthy separates them. 30 seconds left. Rampage lands a good uppercut and Mo lands a jab. The fight is over.

Before the decision is announced Rampage and King Mo are still jaw-jacking. Mo is getting pretty animated. They get separated but Mo is still yelling from across the cage. Ugh.

The judges awarded Rampage Jackson with a unanimous decision win. We don’t really agree. They’re yelling at each other after the decision is announced. MMA is terrible sometimes. Rampage is calling for a rematch even though he won. Looks like they’re trying to book the next PPV already. Mo is going apeshit, calling Rampage a dick-rider. Wow.

That’s the event, Potato Nation. Was it worth $50? Probably not, but we certainly had fun watching it because there were quite a few surreal moments.

Bellator 119 a Success but Storm Clouds Gather for PPV Prospects

(Via Brian J. D’Souza)

By Brian J. D’Souza

Last night, Bellator 119 was held at Casino Rama in Orillia, a sleepy town about two hours north of Toronto. By some standards, the show was a success—it featured performances by a talented, well-matched card punctuated with Daniel Weichel (33-8) finishing Desmond Green (11-2) via rear naked choke in the second round of the featherweight tournament finale. It was the type of mid-level show that has proved financially sustainable in the gritty dog-eat-dog world of MMA promotions. Regardless of sweeping reports from Sherdog.com and MMAFighting.com that Eddie Alvarez is pulling out of the inaugural Bellator pay-per-view show next week (reports that Bjorn Rebney denied at the post-fight presser), the promotion’soverall prospects for expansion are limited.

On the undercard of Bellator 119, Brazilian featherweight Marlon Sandro faced London, Ontario native Chris Horodecki. Sandro controlled the pace, committing to his strikes and dominating Horodecki to earn the judge’s decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27). At the post-fight presser, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney explained reasons why the bout was intentionally hidden among the untelevised preliminary bouts:

“Ran into some difficult contract situations that came to light in the last 24-48 hours before the fight…we all felt it was a better decision to keep the [Sandro-Horodecki] fight off TV and not exacerbate a bad situation,” said Rebney. “We got a lot of claims coming in from other camps that were claiming an interest in Chris Horodecki. We didn’t want to put him in a horrible spot of receiving a big lawsuit.”

Chris Horodecki has fought in three separate promotions since his last three-fight Bellator stint. If he is still under contract to another promotion, Horodecki needs to question his management for placing him in the precarious lose-lose position of limited exposure and shortchanging Bellator’s TV product.

(Via Brian J. D’Souza)

By Brian J. D’Souza

Heavyweights Raphael Butler and Nick Rossborough started with a bang and finished with both men out of gas. Butler intentionally fouled Rossborough with a head butt in the first round when Rossborough had Butler’s back. The ref took a point and restarted them on the feet; Butler took control from there onwards, clearly winning the final two rounds. After the fight, Rossborough claimed to have no memory of what transpired after the head butt; the judges scored the fight 28-27, 28-28 and 28-28 making it a majority draw.

In the other televised bouts, Marius Zaromskis low-kicked Canadian Vaughn Anderson’s leg into hamburger en route to a decision win; Canadian John Alessio used his veteran experience to outwrestle Eric Wisely and grind out a decision win.

For all the skill on display, Bellator has a ceiling in terms of how successful the promotion can become as its homegrown talent is handicapped in terms of perception and marketability. For instance, the May 17 pay per view relies heavily on UFC veterans Quinton Jackson and Tito Ortiz. If Eddie Alvarez fulfills the final fight on his Bellator contract when he recovers from his concussion and is signed to the UFC, he may prove himself equally skilled or superior to UFC lightweights; Bellator would win a moral victory but that wouldn’t necessarily translate into higher viewership for Bellator lightweights like Michael Chandler.

To become a player in the pay per view market, Bellator needs to sign UFC stars at the zenith of their popularity like Jon Jones, Ronda Rousey or Nick Diaz. Assuming Viacom would pony up the scratch, standard contractual language like the 12-month matching clause poses a tremendous problem. When Bellator attempted to acquire Gilbert Melendez, all the UFC had to do was outbid Bellator once and Melendez became UFC property once again.

“God bless Gilbert Melendez, we made him a very rich man,” claimed Rebney. “We made him an offer. The matching clause is in place, he is now the highest paid lightweight the UFC has—[and] one of the highest paid fighters the UFC has fighting in any division.”

Strategically, the UFC will continue to sign its marquee fighters to long-term contracts and match any offers made to their most marketable fighters in order to retain the dominant market position.

Still, Rebney is optimistic about Bellator’s offerings for its first pay per view show, “I think people need to look at it in the context of a fighting event, and not think about branding.”

In fact, the strength of the UFC brand is part of why the promotion remains content to offer an increasingly watered-down product with an escalating frequency of shows. However, some fans are getting wise to the game and are becoming increasingly critical; the UFC has no reason to change unless said fans vote with their pocketbooks.

If Bellator gets its first PPV card off the ground despite Alvarez’s injury and somehow manages to land near the break-even point, future shows will have to be cobbled together using a mix of former UFC fighters and homegrown talent. Throughout this, Bellator will need to stop the UFC from poaching their brightest stars, as was the strategy when Eddie Alvarez attempted to sign with the UFC and Bellator invoked their right to match the offer.

All in all, there’s a lot to be considered for the long-term health of the sport. Having a second major promotion would benefit the industry in every way imaginable, but whether Bellator can survive business forces long enough to be a contender remains a topic for debate.

***
Brian J. D’Souza is the author of the critically acclaimed book Pound for Pound: The Modern Gladiators of Mixed Martial Arts. You can check out an excerpt right here.

Concussion Forces Eddie Alvarez Out of Bellator PPV

Did Dana White study voodoo from Michael Jackson or something? Because Bellator has had worse luck than than nearly any promotion in the history of MMA when it comes to launching a successful PPV.

In case the headline didn’t tip you off, Eddie Alvarez is out of Bellator 120—the promotion’s second attempt to break into the PPV market. His rubber match with Michael Chandler will have to wait.

(Well, in a way, MMA’s “greatest trilogy” did kind of end at Bellator 120…)

Did Dana White study voodoo from Michael Jackson or something? Because Bellator has had worse luck than nearly any promotion in the history of MMA when it comes to launching a successful PPV.

Sherdog’s Greg Savage broke the news on Twitter last night. Initially, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney denied the rumor, saying the fight was still on. Less than 24 hours later, Bellator hasn’t officially announced anything but media outlets are accepting Alvarez’s withdrawal as fact.

What’ll they do now? Hopefully they convert it to a free card on Spike, like they did with their last ill-fated PPV. It’s unlikely Rampage Jackson vs. King Mo, Tito Ortiz vs. Alexander Shlemenko, Michael Page vs. Rick Rainey [Editor’s note: They were charging money for that fight?] and Will Brooks vs. Nate Jolly will be worth the price of admission. Regarding the last fight, Brooks vs. Jolly, it’s speculated that Brooks will be bumped into the main event against Chandler but who can say for sure.

We can see Dana White readying his famous tombstone now.

Ranking All Nine Fights on the Bellator PPV Card, By My Interest Level

By Seth Falvo

To surprisingly little reaction this weekend, Bellator announced that the lineup for Bellator 120: Alvarez vs. Chandler 3 — also known as the promotion’s first pay-per-view event — has been set. (Bellator 120 goes down Saturday, May 17th, at the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi.) Don’t worry, Bellator has clearly learned from their whole “plan a pay-per-view around two old guys and some fading UFC castoffs” phase. But are there enough intriguing, quality fights on this lineup to justify paying for a Bellator event? Let’s look over the fight card and determine for ourselves.

All nine of the fights for Bellator 120 — four Spike preliminaries, five main card contests — have been ranked solely by my interest in watching them. If you disagree, feel free to write some terrible things about me in the comments section. I look forward to ignoring them.

(Main Card) Lightweight Championship Bout: Eddie Alvarez (c) vs. Michael Chandler

I don’t think either fighter is even capable of a boring match, much less a boring match against each other. I could type paragraph after paragraph on how their first two encounters resulted in two of the greatest fights in our sport’s history, and how…oh why am I even trying to pretend that I’m not going to insert an Al Bundy GIF and move along to the next fight:

(Preliminary Card) Lightweight Tournament Final: Marcin Held vs. Patricky Pitbull

By Seth Falvo

(Main Card) Lightweight Championship Bout: Eddie Alvarez (c) vs. Michael Chandler

(Preliminary Card) Lightweight Tournament Final: Marcin Held vs. Patricky Pitbull

The go-home show before a pay-per-view is extremely influential on buy rates, which is the only reason why I’m assuming this fight isn’t on the main card. These guys have been with Bellator for ages, and always produce fun, exciting fights. I’d be more than willing to pay for this one; not that I’m complaining about getting it on cable.

(Main Card) Michael Page vs. Rickey Rainey

If you don’t enjoy watching Michael Page destroy people with his flashy, devastating offense then you clearly aren’t a fan of MMA. Burn all of your TapouT t-shirts and go watch baseball or something.

(Main Card) Tito Ortiz vs. Alexander Shlemenko

This fight is such a freak show, random, “Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” pairing that Ben Askren has already labeled it a work. Why wouldn’t I be looking forward to it?

(Preliminary Card) Mike Richman vs. Goiti Yamauchi

Back at Bellator 110, it appeared that these two would crush their opponents and meet up in the next round of Bellator’s featherweight tournament. It looked like such an obvious conclusion that I advised you all to bet money on both men winning. Naturally, neither guy advanced, so Bellator booked these two to kick off the preliminaries of their inaugural pay-per-view, because of course this is a thing that’s happening. As forced as this fight feels, I’m not going to act like I won’t at least watch it.

(Preliminary Card) Cheick Kongo vs. Eric Smith

Call me crazy, but I firmly believe that Bellator’s “Sign the UFC’s leftovers” business model isn’t so much an attempt to gain viewers by trotting out guys that fight fans used to sort-of care about as it is an attempt to quell the “These guys haven’t beaten anybody!” criticisms of their roster. In other words, Cheick Kongo isn’t the guy they want, he’s the guy they want to lose to the guys they want. Because, let’s face it, Bellator Heavyweight Champion Vitaly Minakov’s victory over Cup-Cheick did more to establish him as a legitimate heavyweight to most fight fans than a victory over a stoic, doughy Russian they’ve never heard of would have. I’ll pause for you to make your own “Who is Vitaly Minakov?” jokes, I guess (I hope you feel really good about yourself for that super original joke, by the way).

Essentially, Bellator is using Kongo as a “jobber to the stars:” a guy who can beat the not-quite-readies, but isn’t a threat to beat any of the promotion’s top heavyweights. This means that every once in a while they’ll have to book him in squash matches against 6-1-1 nobodies so fans will continue to perceive him as a threat, making his losses against the fighters Bellator actually wants to push seem that much more significant. This fight is a necessary evil, is what I’m saying.

(Main Card) Alexander Shlemenko vs. Whoever Bellator Finds to Replace Tito Ortiz at the Last Minute

Because we all know it’s going to happen…

(Preliminary Card) Heavyweight Tournament Final: Alexander Volkov vs. Blagoi Ivanov

Yes, Bellator’s heavyweight bouts tend to quickly reduce themselves to two guys sloppily waltzing through a “What’s cardio?” display of all things garbage-ass, but I really like the stoic Russian with an “-ov” in his last name. He’s a beast, and should be a legitimate threat to Vitaly Minakov’s unblemished record.

(Main Card) Will Brooks vs. Nate Jolly

Leave it to Bellator to put a popcorn match on the main card of their first-ever pay-per-view. Nate Jolly has never fought for Bellator, and it’s not like he’s a name that casual fans would at least recognize. If they wanted to use the regional star to entice the locals to buy tickets, there’s no reason why they couldn’t put this fight on the preliminaries and bump Mike Richman vs. Goiti Yamauchi to the main card. Likewise, if they wanted to use this fight to get Will Brooks — a 13-1 fighter who has gone 5-1 in Bellator — over with the fans, then why not book Brooks against a fighter that the average Bellator fan would actually recognize?

I’m not trying to insult either fighter/say that the fight will be boring just because I’m not heavily invested in it/deny that climate change is real/whatever it is that MMA fans automatically assume whenever someone writes that they aren’t very interested in an upcoming fight, I’m just saying that I’m really not that interested in this bout.

(Main Card) Light-Heavyweight Tournament Final: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal

In the co-main event of the evening, we have the final round of a completely unbiased four-man tournament, where the two finalists hate each other so damn much that they engaged in an almost-realistic brawl at Bellator 110, over an incident that took place five years ago. Looks like I’ve finally met a fight that I can’t sum up with an Al Bundy GIF.

Video: John McCain, Lorenzo Fertitta, Jon Jones, Bernard Hopkins, and More Boxing/MMA Figures Unite to Support the Professional Fighters Brain Health Study

(Props: Senator Reid)

There are few occasions where you could get executives from the UFC, Bellator, Golden Boy, and Top Rank in the same room without a full-scale brawl breaking out. But today in Washington, DC, an unprecedented congregation of combat-sports power players joined forces to support a common cause — the Professional Fighters Brain Health Study, which is being conducted by the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas.

According to a press release distributed today, the Professional Fighters Brain Health Study was launched in April 2011, and is “focused on developing methods to detect the earliest and most subtle signs of brain injury in those exposed to head trauma, as well as determining which individuals may be more likely to develop chronic neurological disorders.” You can read a little more about the Cleveland Clinic’s work here.

Senators and lifelong boxing-lovers Harry Reid (D-NV) and John McCain (R-AZ) were keynote speakers at today’s press-conference, which you can watch above in its entirety. The list of speakers also included UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones, Spike TV President Kevin Kay, Bellator lightweight star Michael Chandler, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, Top Rank President Todd duBoef, and boxing legend Bernard Hopkins. Collectively, the combat sports promotions in attendance pledged $600,000 to help the Professional Fighters Brain Health Study continue its research for another year. As the press-release explains:

(Props: Senator Reid)

To date, the study has enrolled nearly 400 active and retired fighters with the goal of evaluating 625 by its completion. Participation is completely voluntary, and fighters in the study receive free, ongoing assessments of their brain health and brain function, including MRI scans. Individual tests will be repeated annually for at least four years…

Studies suggest a percentage of professional fighters have a higher risk of developing long-term conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), depression and other neurological and neuropsychiatric problems, often at a young age. Currently, there is no way to determine if a fighter has sustained cumulative brain damage from head trauma; the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health is working toward identifying risk factors in these individuals.

Researchers measure changes in brain volume, nerve fiber injury and connectivity, and blood flow via MRI scans. Any changes seen on the participant’s MRI will be correlated with their performance on assessments of cognition, behavior, balance and speech. For fighters who demonstrate a relationship between MRI findings and clinical decline, researchers hope to determine whether there are other factors such as genetics, lifestyle characteristics or the amount or type of exposure to head trauma that make them more susceptible to injury.

Preliminary results from the study have already been published or presented at a number of national meetings. Among the promising findings, the study detected changes in the volume of specific brain regions. The connections between certain areas of the brain were detected by MRI scanning in some individuals within as little as a one-year period, suggesting that MRI measures may turn out to be a useful method of tracking brain changes over time in those exposed to head trauma.

Moreover, the study found that exposure to head trauma – using the Composite Index, a formula that includes number of fights, years of fighting and fights per year – correlates with brain volume and cognitive performance. Those with a higher score on the Composite Index are more likely to score lower on cognitive testing. Pending validation over time, this may be a screening tool to identify fighters at higher risk of brain injury.

“We have made great progress in the study so far, and we are continuing to work toward understanding why certain individuals sustain long-term brain injury from repeated head trauma and how we can detect changes early to protect those individuals,” said Charles Bernick, M.D., Associate Medical Director at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and principle investigator on the study. “With the support of the fighting community, our goal is to use this information to improve safety in these sports for generations to come.”

According to Lorenzo Fertitta:

“Nothing is more important to the UFC than the health and safety of our athletes. As the world’s premier MMA organization we have consistently lived up to that commitment to our fighters and we always will. UFC was the first – and remains the only – combat sports organization to provide our athletes with accident insurance coverage for training-related injuries. Today’s announcement is a no-brainer for us, as we continue our commitment to athlete safety. We are proud to join with these other prominent promoters – our colleague and competitors – to support the Cleveland Clinic’s brain health study.

We are encouraged by the early results of the study and we look forward to the final findings of the Lou Ruvo Center’s research, knowing that they will benefit our athletes, as well as athletes from many other sports. Finally, the support shown by Senators Reid and McCain, and many of their colleagues, cannot go unnoticed. They have been true leaders and we thank them on behalf of the UFC, our athletes and our fans.”

And finally, the best photo-op of the day:

(Props: JonnyBones on Instagram)

For more information, check out clevelandclinic.org/brainhealth.

Alvarez vs. Chandler 3 Is Happening, And It May Headline a Bellator Pay Per View

(Photo via Tracy Lee/CombatLifestyle.com)

The rivalry between Bellator lightweights Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler has already produced a 2011 Fight of the Year candidate and Bellator’s most-watched broadcast of all time. It would be insane if the promotion didn’t try to pair these two up for a rubber-match in 2014. So yeah, that’s happening.

On Friday, Bellator revealed that Alvarez and Chandler are already filming promos for the fight, which doesn’t have an official date or venue at this point. Shortly afterwards, MMAFighting published a video interview with Alvarez, in which the Bellator 155-pound champ told Ariel Helwani that he believed the fight would headline a pay-per-view card:

“We weren’t able to do the first one on pay-per-view, and I definitely want to headline a pay-per-view card, and we get an opportunity to do that. What better way to do that than to have one of the best trilogies in MMA history? Why not fight the guy three times, four times, five times? Who cares? It’s a hell of a fight every time.”

(Photo via Tracy Lee/CombatLifestyle.com)

The November 2013 rematch between Alvarez and Chandler was originally supposed to be the co-main event of a Bellator pay-per-view show headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Quinton Jackson, but then Ortiz got injured and pulled out, the pay-per-view was canceled, and Alvarez vs. Chandler 2 was slotted as the headliner of a free Bellator show on Spike — which became must-see TV, thanks in part to all the attention generated by the doomed PPV.

I’m halfway-convinced that this was Bellator’s plan all along. (They couldn’t have possibly expected Ortiz and Rampage to stay healthy, right?) At any rate, it all worked out for the best. Alvarez won a narrow split-decision after five rounds, avenging his previous submission loss against Chandler, and over a million viewers tuned in to see it.

We already know that MMA fans will show up to watch Alvarez and Chandler beat the crap out of each other when it’s aired on cable. The question is, are you willing to pay $34.95 for a fight that was already given away twice for free?