Bellator 58 Main Fight Card Lightweight Championship bout: Eddie Alvarez (c) vs Michael Chandler Can’t go against Alvarez. Chandler is an excellent fighter though. Reminds of Jake Ellenberger. Chandler is a very good fighter with all around skills, just lacking everything against Alvarez though. If the odds are totally outrageous, then Chandler wouldn’t be the
Bellator 58 Main Fight Card
Lightweight Championship bout: Eddie Alvarez (c) vs Michael Chandler
Can’t go against Alvarez. Chandler is an excellent fighter though. Reminds of Jake Ellenberger. Chandler is a very good fighter with all around skills, just lacking everything against Alvarez though. If the odds are totally outrageous, then Chandler wouldn’t be the worst upset play. Thinking Alvarez via decision.
Alvarez is -260 and Chandler is +200 at Intertops, so the odds aren’t terrible here. Says a lot about Chandler’s skills.
Catchweight (95lb) bout: Hector Lombard vs Trevor Prangley
Hector Lombard definitely will win, but if you like playing upsets, the odds are probably ridiculously one sided for this one. Prangley though can take a punch. However, thinking Lombard via TKO.
Yep Lombard is -800 and Prangley is +500 at Intertops
Women’s (5 lbs) bout: Jessica Aguilar vs Lisa Ellis-Ward
pass
Bellator 58 Undercard
Middleweight bout: Brett Cooper vs Jared Hess
I lean towards Cooper. He became famous by KO’ing IFL star Rory Markham as a replacement fighter back in 2007. Hess also tasted success as a champion in a 3rd tier fight promotion. This fight should be excellent. If Cooper can’t finish Hess could probably win on points. I think Cooper has a shot though.
Prediction: Hess via decision
Welterweight bout: Valdir Araujo vs Ailton Barbosa
pass
Lightweight bout: Cosmo Alexandre vs Avery McPhatter
pass
Middleweight bout: Jonas Billstein vs Reggie Pena
pass
Bantamweight bout: Farkhad Sharipov vs Fabio Mello
Filed under: MMA Fighting Exclusive, BellatorAny great athlete will tell you that a huge part of success stems from the mind. An unshakeable faith in yourself becomes the biggest tool in your arsenal, especially when battling through injuries or stavin…
Any great athlete will tell you that a huge part of success stems from the mind. An unshakeable faith in yourself becomes the biggest tool in your arsenal, especially when battling through injuries or staving off the challenge of someone trying to steal your job or your championship belt.
But that faith is sometimes flexible to suit your own needs. Just ask Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, who spends most of his camps convincing himself that he stinks and that his opponent may well hold the upper hand against him. For Alvarez, it’s all part of the buildup that makes him outwork his foe in training and outperform him on fight night.
“I don’t want to be confident throughout the training camp,” he told MMA Fighting just two days before his title bout with challenger Michael Chandler at Bellator 58. “I want to be fearful. I want to be insecure. I want to be afraid. I want to be uneasy. I feel if you’re confident, maybe you skip a practice, maybe you don’t focus on the fight or the right things. That fear is my fuel to go the extra mile to do what I have to do to win.”
With a 22-2 record and a seven-fight win streak, the approach has clearly worked for Alvarez, who is considered by most to be the best pound-for-pound fighter on the Bellator roster.
Given that success however, it’s hard to imagine how Alvarez can regularly convince himself that he is in imminent danger. In each of the seven fights that comprise his win streak, for example, he has been considered at least a 2-to-1 favorite against his opponent, often higher.
“As an athlete, I have my fair share of losses,” he said. “Not just in fighting but in wrestling and sports in general. I know what it feels like to lose. I know the pain of losing. That pain never goes away. If you remember that pain, it’ll move you and motivate you. It will help you to win in the future.”
True to his recent history, Alvarez is still a sizable favorite over Chandler, a 25-year-old former Division I collegiate wrestling All-American at Missouri who is a perfect 8-0 since turning pro. Though early in his career, Chandler has impressed most observers with his strong conditioning, poise and wrestling pedigree.
He sailed through Bellator’s season four lightweight tournament, defeating Marcin Held, Lloyd Woodard and Patricky “Pitbull” Freire along the way to set up the showdown with Alvarez. While the champion offers compliments on Chandler’s success, as he speaks, it’s clear that the days of fearing his foe are as behind him as the training camp itself.
Alvarez says that in the last week or so before the fight, he “comes back to reality” and with that comes his confidence. So he does have criticisms of Chandler’s game. For example, he doesn’t think he’s quite adapted his wrestling for MMA, and he sometimes falls in love with his boxing at the expense of his true strength. But he does like and appreciate Chandler’s own conviction in his skills. Before the tournament, the somewhat unknown fighter predicted he was on a collision course with Alvarez, and lo and behold, here he is, getting ready to stand across from Alvarez at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
“I feel like that’s great,” he said. “I don’t want to fight a guy who’s insecure and not confident in his abilities. I don’t look at my opponents like opposition, but more like my teammate. If you don’t fight me, the crowd isn’t going to get excited. I need him to come out. I need him to be prepared. I need him to be confident, and I need him to fight me.”
But Alvarez is positive he will find a way to win, using his experience as a guide. He says that Chandler has never really been in a fight, and has mostly cruised through dominant performances.
“He can’t call himself a fighter just yet,” he said. “He hasn’t been in a fight. This is going to be his first time. And I think it’s important for me to teach him something.”
The Alvarez-Chandler bout was originally scheduled to be in October, but an injury forced Alvarez to withdraw, pushing the date back a month. That gave Chandler extra time to prepare, which for a young fighter, could be crucial development time.
Alvarez declined to reveal the nature of his injury, simply saying that rest, doctors’ advice and “some needles” were involved, and that he’s now back to full strength. Given Chandler’s tenacious attitude, anything less might be cause for alarm, but Alvarez is confident in the outcome, believing that with their respective styles, the fight isn’t likely to go past two rounds.
“I’m not going to tell you who’s going to score the finish, but at the end of the night, you’re going to hear the words, ‘And still…,” he said.
If that does happen, Alvarez is reportedly set for a rematch with Japanese grappling ace Shinya Aoki in early 2012, a fight that would give him the chance to avenge the only loss in his last 13 fights. Aoki won via heel hook in the first round of their December 2008 fight.
Alvarez says that’s not something he’ll think about until after Saturday night.
“Until there’s a paper in front of me that’s signed and I see it, I’m not even going to entertain the fact that’s going on,” he said. “If I see the paper I’ll believe it, but I have no focus in my mind going on other than Saturday night and coming out victorious.”
If recent fights have made him nervous and fearful, imagine how he’ll prepare for Aoki. But first things first. The time for scared energy is over. There is no fear now. It’s been replaced by a champion’s swagger, making the transformation complete.
“I’m hard to get to,” he said. “And if you do get close enough to me, chances are you’re going to get hurt.”
Filed under: BellatorWhen Viacom purchased Bellator Fighting Championships, it was a strong sign that the promotion has a good chance to survive as America’s No. 2 mixed martial arts promotion. Now Bellator is looking at expanding globally as well.
When Viacom purchased Bellator Fighting Championships, it was a strong sign that the promotion has a good chance to survive as America’s No. 2 mixed martial arts promotion. Now Bellator is looking at expanding globally as well.
“I’m really trying to expand this brand into international markets,” Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney told MMAFighting.com. “I’ve always believed since I started watching MMA that this sport was a very easy sport to grasp and understand — the most basic level of sports competition — one man vs. another man in a world class competition. So my vision has been building up enough presence domestically so we can start to expand internationally.”
Toward that end, Bellator is announcing on Monday a deal with FremantleMedia Enterprises to represent its international TV distribution rights. FremantleMedia has operations in 22 countries and is involved in distributing nearly 10,000 hours of TV programming around the world every year.
“What this really means is we’ve got the foremost partner in the space out there helping us build this brand from an international perspective,” Rebney said. “Domestically I’ve been clear that we’ve got the greatest domestic partner you could have from a television perspective. But now internationally we’ve got them looking to disseminate Bellator content into every single country.”
Rebney said he thinks getting on TV channels around the world will help Bellator attract fans from outside North America, as well as compete for the best international MMA talent. He also said he can see Bellator doing international events in Brazil or Europe, although he said the logistics would be difficult to do an overseas show as one of Bellator’s weekly seasonal events.
“We’ll be able to really expand the power and breadth of the marketing machine,” Rebney said. “We’re three years old and have never done those things, but now that we have a partner like Fremantle we can start that development process. You’ll see more Bellator licensed products, both domestically and internationally. You’ll see more home entertainment, video on demand options in Bellator.”
As you’d expect from a promoter, Rebney is bullish on what can be expected from Bellator going forward.
“The working relationship with Viacom is spectacular,” Rebney said. “This is another very powerful, very large, very well-connected corporate entity that’s very invested in the Bellator brand in mixed martial arts.”
MMAFighting.com also caught up with Rebney for some other questions and answers regarding issues facing Bellator.
Michael David Smith: Ben Askren beat Jay Hieron in a very close split decision to retain the Bellator welterweight title. Would you consider booking an immediate rematch between the two of them? Bjorn Rebney: I thought it was a great fight. The reason I went out and signed Jay Hieron was because I thought he was a world-class fighter who had never been given his shot. The key selling point I had with Jay was that if you come here you’ll have a clear path to the title. He got it, he bought into it, Ben faced the best fighter he has faced thus far in his career. I thought Ben won the fight. I think the world of Jay Hieron and it would be my pleasure to have him back in another tournament and give him another shot at fighting either Ben Askren or the Ben Saunders-Douglas Lima winner, whoever of them might beat Ben Askren. But I don’t give anyone a title shot. Guys earn a title shot in Bellator. So I’m not going to deviate from what’s made Bellator unique, and that is that you earn it. Jay got super close, and it was a great fight, but the judges decided Ben won the fight, and if Jay wants another shot he’ll come back and earn it.
Are you worried that the tournament format makes your champions too inactive? For instance, Eddie Alvarez likes to stay active, but he’s only fought once this year and twice last year. No, but I’m taking steps right now to increase the frequency of our world title defenses. If you look at other champions you see they typically will defend their titles twice in a year and we’re in a position where champions defend their titles twice in a year, but I would like to increase that frequency. So I’m working with our partners at Spike on an adjustment to the format that will allow us to put more tournaments in each season — not to change the tournaments, but to increase the number of tournaments so we can more regularly provide challengers who have earned the right to fight our champions. Of all the things we’ve done format wise, the only thing that wasn’t as good as I wanted was the superfights. It wasn’t an optimal situation in terms of how it should work in a perfect world, which is the guys should be defending their titles every time they step in the cage. That’s what we’re working on now.
Is Michael Chandler a good enough challenge for Alvarez? And what do you see in Alvarez’s future? I think Mike Chandler is a freak. He’s an absolute monster. His maturation in the game, and his progression as a mixed martial artist, is more prolific than anyone I’ve seen over the last three years. He’s a champion wrestler, who showed in his standup with Patricky Pitbull that he’s a beast. He trains at an amazing camp with Randy Couture in Vegas and he’s an absolute beast. I think Eddie is the best 155-pounder on earth but I think Chandler will be one of the toughest opponents of his career. People will be shocked at how competitive that fight will be.
Is Eddie Alvarez going to fight Shinya Aoki next? It’s signed to happen. The issue becomes what happens in Ed’s fight with Mike. Contingent upon the outcome of that fight, it’s scheduled to happen in the first quarter of 2012. The folks we’re working with it at Dream say they’re ready to move forward for it but we have to see how Ed does in his fight with Mike, although Ed losing his title to Mike wouldn’t preclude him from fighting Aoki.
Lorenzo Fertitta recently predicted that you guys would end up on pay-per-view. Do you think that will happen? I didn’t see that. There’s a potential that we could end up on pay-per-view but our model right now is great because we don’t have to get to pay-per-view for our business model to work. Pay-per-view is a difficult model to get to, but hard-core fans of MMA know when pay-per-view is warranted. I don’t believe we’re there yet but I believe there’s the potential for us to get there. The transition to Spike is an amazing step — they’re the name in MMA on TV. I don’t know when pay-per-view will occur, but it could occur in the future.
When will Season 6 start? First quarter of 2012. We don’t have a date yet, we’ll take some time off after our last fight of this season on November 26 and then get ready to roll.
Which weight classes will you do in Season 6? We’ll definitely have 155, 145 for sure, probably 205 as well because our team has got some amazing signings at light heavyweight, and then we’ll figure it out after that. The question is whether we’ll do four, five or six tournaments next season.
What do you see as the future of women’s MMA in Bellator? It definitely has a future. It’s definitely something we talk about, strategize on and plan for. We’ve got Jessica Aguilar fighting Lisa Ward coming up. I don’t know if Season 6 will see a women’s tournament but we’ll definitely put women’s fights together. Depth is an issue with eight-woman tournaments — the depth across a weight class isn’t one of women’s MMA’s strengths.
Filed under: Bellator, NewsThe injury that knocked Eddie Alvarez out of his scheduled October lightweight championship defense against Michael Chandler won’t keep him sidelined for long.
The Bellator star is back healthy, and has agreed to face Chandl…
The injury that knocked Eddie Alvarez out of his scheduled October lightweight championship defense against Michael Chandler won’t keep him sidelined for long.
The Bellator star is back healthy, and has agreed to face Chandler at Bellator 58 on November 19, the promotion confirmed late on Wednesday night.
The 27-year-old Alvarez has never lost under the Bellator banner, winning seven in a row since signing with the promotion. He won the lightweight championship in the promotion’s first season, and has successfully defended it on one occasion with a unanimous decision over Pat Curran. He also has non-title wins over Josh Neer and Roger Huerta during that time.
Alvarez is 22-2 overall.
Chandler was a collegiate wrestler at the University of Missouri who burst upon the national fight scene this year, romping through the season four lightweight tournament with wins over Marcin Weld, Lloyd Woodard and the highly regarded Patricky “Pitbull” Freire.
Chandler is 8-0 in his young career, which only began two years ago.
Bellator 58 will emanate from Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, and will also feature middleweight champion Hector Lombard in a non-title fight against veteran Trevor Prangley.
Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez (22-2) has suffered an undisclosed injury and has been forced to pull out of an October 15 title bout with undefeated Season 4 lightweight tournament winner Michael Chandler (8-0) that was slated for Bellator 54 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.
In spite of the setback, Bellator chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney is optimistic that Alvarez will defend his belt in the fall, but wouldn’t say whether or not Chandler will wait in the champ to heal.
(Photo courtesy of Bellator)
Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez (22-2) has suffered an undisclosed injury and has been forced to pull out of an October 15 title bout with undefeated Season 4 lightweight tournament winner Michael Chandler (8-0) that was slated for Bellator 54 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.
In spite of the setback, Bellator chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney is optimistic that Alvarez will defend his belt in the fall, but wouldn’t say whether or not Chandler will wait in the champ to heal.
“Eddie suffered an injury that will keep him out of our October 15th show at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City,” said Rebney. “Eddie Alvarez has a huge heart and if there was any way for him to fight on the 15th, I know he would. Ed’s in spectacular condition, so both of us are hopeful that this fight can potentially still occur later this fall.”
The prelims of the card, which will feature the semifinals of Bellator’s middleweight tournament, as well as Bellator Bantamweight Champion Zack Makovsky in a non-title super fight against former UFC veteran Ryan Roberts, will be broadcast on Spike TV at 7 p.m. ET, while the main card will air at 9 p.m. ET on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX.
Filed under: Bellator, NewsBellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez has suffered an injury that will prevent him from his scheduled title defense against Michael Chandler at Bellator 54 on Oct. 15 in Atlantic City, N.J.
Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez has suffered an injury that will prevent him from his scheduled title defense against Michael Chandler at Bellator 54 on Oct. 15 in Atlantic City, N.J.
Bellator says the fight will be rescheduled and possibly for later in the season.
“Eddie Alvarez has a huge heart and if there was any way for him to fight on the 15th, I know he would,” Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said in a statement. “Ed’s in spectacular condition, so both of us are hopeful that this fight can potentially still occur later this fall.”
Alvarez (22-2), who has won seven straight fights, competed once this year, making a successful title defense against Pat Curran at Bellator 39 in April. Chandler (8-0) earned his shot against Alvarez by beating Patricky Freire at Bellator 44 in May to win the season four lightweight tournament.
At the Bellator 54 event, bantamweight champion Zack Makovsky will remain on the card in a non-title fight against UFC veteran Ryan Roberts. In tournament action will be the two middleweight semifinals between Alexander Shlemenko vs. Brian Rogers and Bryan Baker vs. Vitor Vianna.
Any great athlete will tell you that a huge part of success stems from the mind. An unshakeable faith in yourself becomes the biggest tool in your arsenal, especially when battling through injuries or staving off the challenge of someone trying to steal your job or your championship belt. 
When Viacom purchased 
The injury that knocked 
Bellator