MMA Top 10 Lightweights: Is Mike Chandler Now in Top 10?

Filed under: UFC, Bellator, Rankings, LightweightsMichael Chandler defeated Eddie Alvarez in what may have been the best MMA fight of the year, winning the Bellator lightweight title. Does that make Chandler a Top 10 lightweight?

Not on my list.

I lo…

Filed under: UFC, Bellator, Rankings, Lightweights

Michael Chandler defeated Eddie Alvarez in what may have been the best MMA fight of the year, winning the Bellator lightweight title. Does that make Chandler a Top 10 lightweight?

Not on my list.

I loved the Chandler-Alvarez fight, and I like the 9-0 Chandler a lot. I think he’s one of the most talented young lightweights in the sport, and I think it speaks well for Bellator’s ability to spot talent that they signed him for their lightweight division. (Chandler fought twice for Strikeforce before Bellator scooped him up, and it was obviously a big mistake for Strikeforce to let him get away.) But while Chandler would be in my Top 20, I just can’t put him in my Top 10 yet.

So what could Chandler do to move into the Top 10? I’d love to see Bellator match Chandler up with Shinya Aoki. The previous plan had been to book an Alvarez-Aoki fight, but now that Chandler is the champ in Bellator, Chandler-Aoki would be more appealing. I’d also like to see Chandler take on Kurt Pellegrino, a lightweight who had a winning record in the UFC and is now set to make his Bellator debut against Patricky Freire. Putting Chandler in the cage with a UFC veteran would give us all a good idea how he stacks up against UFC lightweights.

Chandler’s win against Alvarez was obviously the biggest of his career so far. I want to see him get another big win before I put him in the Top 10.

The fighters who are in the Top 10 at 155 pounds are below.

Top 10 lightweights in MMA

(Editor’s Note: The fighter’s rankings the last time we ranked the lightweights are in parentheses.)

1. Frankie Edgar (1): If there was any doubt after Edgar’s two decision victories over B.J. Penn and his draw with Gray Maynard, there’s no doubt anymore: Edgar’s TKO win over Gray Maynard makes him the top lightweight in the world. He’ll have his hands full, however, when he takes on Ben Henderson in February.

2. Gilbert Melendez (3): Melendez, the Strikeforce lightweight champion, should be fighting one of the top lightweights in the UFC. Instead, he’ll defend his belt against Jorge Masvidal, who’s not in my Top 10 or — as far as I know — anyone else’s.

3. Gray Maynard (2): No two fighters have ever met inside the Octagon four times, but if Maynard wins another couple of fights, he’ll have a good case that he deserves to get a fourth shot at Edgar. Maynard is 1-1-1 in his three career fights against Edgar so far.

4. Ben Henderson (6): The former World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight champion, Henderson is now 3-0 in the UFC, with unanimous decision wins over Mark Bocek, Jim Miller and Clay Guida. He’ll get a chance to make his case for being the best in the world when he fights Edgar in Japan.

5. Clay Guida (4): Guida’s four-fight winning streak was snapped by Henderson, but he’ll be back. One thing we can always count on from Guida is that he’s going to stay active, win most of the time, and put on a good show when he loses. Guida has won the Fight of the Night award in four of his last five losses.

6. Anthony Pettis (5): Pettis already has a win over Henderson on his record, and that win was supposed to earn him a shot at the UFC belt. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out that way for Pettis, and when he lost to Guida he lost his chance to fight for the title. But Pettis looked good in beating Jeremy Stephens in October, and if he beats Joe Lauzon at UFC 144, he’ll have to be considered a strong contender for a lightweight title shot.

7. Jim Miller (9): Miller’s loss to Henderson in August may have cost him a title shot. The good news is that his next opponent, Melvin Guillard, is tailor-made for Miller to take down and submit.

8. Shinya Aoki (7): Aoki’s submission victories over Lyle Beerbohm, Rich Clementi and Rob McCullough have been impressive enough, but none of those three is even close to a Top 10 lightweight. Aoki’s level of competition leaves a lot to be desired.

9. Donald Cerrone (NR): Cerrone is 4-0 in the UFC this year and still has one more fight to go in 2011, against Nate Diaz at UFC 141. He could become the first fighter to go 5-0 in the UFC in one calendar year since Roger Huerta in 2007.

10. Nate Diaz (NR): It’s great to see Diaz back at lightweight and looking good in his win over Takanori Gomi. Diaz is too lanky for welterweight, but at lightweight he looks great, and his fight with Cerrone should be tremendous.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler Bellator 58 Fight Video

Filed under: BellatorAfter producing what is likely the best fight in its promotional history, Bellator has made Bellator 58’s Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler fight video available.

Alvarez (22-3) came into the fight riding a seven-fight win str…

Filed under: Bellator

After producing what is likely the best fight in its promotional history, Bellator has made Bellator 58’s Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler fight video available.

Alvarez (22-3) came into the fight riding a seven-fight win streak and needing a victory to set up a long-awaited rematch with Shinya Aoki, the last man to defeat him. Chandler (9-0) is a 25-year-old upstart who was a decisive underdog. The lightweight title fight ended up as a rollicking explosion of momentum shifts and dramatic action that produced a new champion and earned immediate praise as a Fight of the Year contender.

The full fight video is below.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Bellator 58: The Evening’s “Other” War

(Video: Youtube/BellatorMMA)

The UFC may be the brand name of MMA, but it doesn’t have exclusive rights to action packed bouts. While the UFC 139 pay-per-view was just getting warmed up, the evening’s “other” war and ‘fight of the year’ candidate was breaking out on MTV 2. If you didn’t catch it, I suggest you watch it in full up above.

Season 4 Lightweight Tournament winner Michael Chandler was all over Eddie Alvarez from the opening bell, driving forward and swinging for the fences. Within the first fifteen seconds he had dropped the champion twice and was only moments away from snatching the belt, but once again Alvarez proved difficult to put away. Chandler’s pressure wilted halfway through the second frame, allowing Alvarez to steal the round with a series of effective combinations. By round three Chandler’s fatigue was visible and the champ pounced, battering him across the cage. Though tired and hurt, Chandler continued to look for the big shot that would take Alvarez out. Answering the bell in the fourth, Chandler looked renewed and eager to throw. His hands found their mark, wobbling Alvarez before a big right hand dropped him. Chandler followed him down and mounted him, locking in the rear naked choke as Alvarez turned his back.

(Video: Youtube/BellatorMMA)

In the evening’s co-main event, Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard took on Trevor Prangley at 195 lbs. If Bellator titleholders must fight in non-title fights, we’re far happier seeing it take place at a catchweight than simply fighting within their division without putting the belt on the line. That being said, regardless of the weight class, a dominant champion like Hector Lombard deserves a bigger challenge than a fighter with one lone victory in his past five outings.

(Lombard’s coup de grâce, courtesy of Youtube/BellatorMMA)

Trevor Prangley‘s only real output in the bout came in the form of a double-leg that saved him from an onslaught of punches that had him in deep trouble early in the first round. That takedown bought him time to time to compose himself and survive the remainder of the round, but the South African wrestling champion had only delayed Lombard from doing what he does best—lighting fools up. Round two opened with a few casual exchanges before the the two traded blows in earnest. Lombard connected with a huge right to the jaw that had Prangley doing the fish dance. Again Prangley sought refuge in the form of a takedown, but “Lightning” stuffed the desperation shot and went to work with brutal ground and pound. Lombard was hesitant to deliver unnecessary blows, but continued the abuse until the ref called a halt to the bout just one minute, six seconds into the second round.

(Dias-Sandro, via Zombie Prophet)

Rafael Dias showed a healthy respect for the striking game of Marlon Sandro and kept far out of range at the opening of the bout. That respect didn’t prevent him from dropping Sandro when the two exchanged in a flurry of punches. Sandro recovered quickly with a takedown and maintained control of the bout on the ground. Dias scrambled back to his feet only to find himself caught in a standing arm triangle. Sandro drug him to the canvas and completed the submission, finishing the fight by tapout in 3:56 of the first round.

(Aguilar-Ward, via Zombie Prophet. Use the link for part II)

If you read our interview with Jessica Aguilar, you knew she was ready to scrap. Despite suffering a broken nose in the opening frame, Aguilar’s standup was too much for Lisa Ellis-Ward. Her overhand rights found their target throughout the three round bout. Ward slipped off a missed flying knee in round two which left her open to multiple knees from the clinch and some heavy shots on the ground. Aguilar continued to get the better of the exchanges in round three, but Ward turned it on at the close of the fight with aggressive stand-up and a kimura attempt. Aguilar pulled out of the hold and maintainted control through the close of the fight, taking the bout by unanimous decision.

Full results (via FightoftheNight.com)

Main Card:

Michael Chandler def. Eddie Alvarez via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:06 of Round 4
Hector Lombard def. Trevor Prangley by knockout at 1:06 of Round 2
Jessica Aguilar def. Lisa Ward-Ellis by unanimous decision
Marlon Sandro def. Rafael Dias by Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) at 3:56 of Round 1

Prelims:

Brett Cooper def. Jared Hess by unanimous decision
Valdir Araujo def. Ailton Barbosa by unanimous decision
Cosmo Alexander def. Avery McPhatter by KO at 0:20 of Round 1
Herbert Goodman def. Jonas Billstein by Disqualification (Illegal Soccer Kick) at 3:21 of Round 2
Fabio Mello def. Farkhad Sharipov by unanimous decision

Bellator 58 Predictions

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

Featherweight bout: Marlon Sandro vs Rafael Dias

Marlon Sandro 3rd round TKO.

Sandro is -450 and Dias is +320 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

pass

Eddie Alvarez on Fear as Motivation, Facing Unbeaten Chandler and Aoki Possibility

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…

Filed under: MMA Fighting Exclusive, Bellator

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.”

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

New TV Deal Has Bellator Thinking Globally

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.

“I…

Filed under: Bellator

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.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments