Tag: Pat Curran

Bellator 48: Featherweights Close out the Summer Series

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 some extravagant casinos.

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 some extravagant casinos.

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

[RX]

Bellator 46: Little Dudes, Big Action

Realizing that beautiful things can be accomplished in the summertime, Bellator kicked off its 8-man featherweight tournament last night on MTV 2. If you happened to miss it, we’ve got a quick recap of how things went down along with a few gifs for your viewing pleasure after the jump.

Realizing that beautiful things can be accomplished in the summertime, Bellator kicked off its 8-man featherweight tournament last night on MTV 2. If you happened to miss it, we’ve got a quick recap of how things went down along with a few gifs for your viewing pleasure after the jump.

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.

 

(Gif courtesy of Zombie Prophet)

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.

 

(Gif courtesy of Zombie Prophet)

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.

 

(Gif courtesy of Zombie Prophet)

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.

Full results (courtesy of Yahoo! Sports):

MAIN CARD

  • Pat Curran def. Luis Palomino via submission (Peruvian necktie) – Round 1, 3:49
  • Marlon Sandro def. Genair da Silva via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
  • Nazareno Malegarie def. Jacob Devree via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 1:25
  • Ronnie Mann def. Adam Schindler via KO (punches) – Round 1, 4:14

PRELIMINARY CARD

  • Jessica Aguilar def. Carla Esparza via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
  • Tony Johnson Jr. def. Derrick Lewis via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
  • Alexandre Bezerra def. Sam Jones via submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, 3:27
  • Dan Cramer def. Josh Samman via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Curran, Sandro, Malegarie and Mann Advance at Bellator 46

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.

The winners — Pat Curran, Marlon Sandro, Nazare…

Filed under: ,

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.

 

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Bellator Summer Series Kicks Off June 25, People Will Try To Hurt One Another for Your Entertainment

“I believe you yanks call this a mean mug?” PicProps: Bellator.com

Since we mentioned it yesterday in that blatant vanity post, we’ll go ahead and fill you in with some of the details about Bellator’s plans for the summer. As you may remember, a BFC press release announcing the deal with MTV2 made a vague mention of “a collection of special feature events” on top of two full seasons a year. Details at the time were sketchy, and we weren’t really sure what those special feature events would entail. As the season four tournaments unfolded, we heard more and more about tournament action between seasons, initially referred to as a “mini-tournament”. We’d been thinking that this meant perhaps a couple of four-man brackets, maybe some of those Super Fights that Bellator digs so much.

Man, we were way off. Bjorn Rebney, head honcho of the BFC, has put together another intriguing tournament at 145, and that, ladies and germs, will be your main course for the summer series. If you are interested in that kind of thing, we’ve prepared a short primer on the featherweight tourney, plus a preview of Bellator 46, where the four quarterfinals will kick off in that other Hollywood.

Although we suppose you could come in and just throw poop at the new guy. Whatever.

“I believe you yanks call this a mean mug?”  PicProps: Bellator.com

Since we mentioned it yesterday in that blatant vanity post, we’ll go ahead and fill you in with some of the details about Bellator’s plans for the summer. As you may remember, a BFC press release announcing the deal with MTV2 made a vague mention of “a collection of special feature events” on top of two full seasons a year. Details at the time were sketchy, and we weren’t really sure what those special feature events would entail. As the season four tournaments unfolded, we heard more and more about tournament action between seasons, initially referred to as a “mini-tournament”. We’d been thinking that this meant perhaps a couple of four-man brackets, maybe some of those Super Fights that Bellator digs so much.

Man, we were way off. Bjorn Rebney, head honcho of the BFC, has put together another intriguing tournament at 145, and that, ladies and germs, will be your main course for the summer series. If you are interested in that kind of thing, we’ve prepared a short primer on the featherweight tourney, plus a preview of Bellator 46, where the four quarterfinals will kick off in that other Hollywood.

Although we suppose you could come in and just throw poop at the new guy. Whatever.

Marlon Sandro (17-2) vs Genair “Junior PQD” da Silva (10-3)

Of course you guys remember Marlon Sandro, the Zombifier in Chief out of Brazil’s Nova Uniao, and you of course remember that he signed with Bellator back in February.  Sandro, a consensus Top-5  here in the office, will match firepower with Brazilian Genair da Silva, a Renovacao Fight Team rep who likes knockouts, puppy breath, knockouts, long walks on the beach, knees on the ground, and knockouts.  There’s a bit of a rivalry between the two styles (no really), so have your popcord ready.   

Ronnie “Kid Ninja” Mann (19-2-1) vs Adam Schindler (9-1)

When Ronnie Mann made his Bellator debut a month ago, we thought it was some guy’s fifteen year old son that snuck into the cage.  While he managed to do very unkind things to the face of some poor guy whose name escapes us at this time, he failed to actually end the fight, instead earning a lopsided decision and a spot in this tournament.  Mann did make a good impression with his wrestling prowess–not something you expect from a Brit– and some serious offense on the ground.  Meeting him will be submission wrestler Adam Schindler, a West Virgina native who won the state’s wrestling championship twice.  An Air Force vet (My man! -RX), Schindler has victories at StrikeForce and Bellator, and it will be interesting to see how Mann’s wrestling matches up.  The fight will be Schindler’s first at 145, after fighting at lightweight since his 2007 debut. 

Pat Curran (13-4) vs Luis “Baboon” Palomino (16-6)

We passed along the news that Pat Curran was dropping down to 145, after a controversial Cinderella run through the season two brackets and subsequent loss to fade model and all-around BAMF Eddie Alvarez.  Now fighting at a more natural weight, expect Curran to be a force to be reckoned with.  Curran draws Peruvian-American contender Luis Palomino, who frequently competes at 155, including wins over Jorge Masvidal and Jose Figueroa and losses to Yves Edwards and Johnathan Brookins.  Palomino took part in the first Bellator featherweight tournament, losing a split decision at Bellator 1 just two short years ago.  On paper, it seems like an easy win for Curran, but Baboon has the tools to make it interesting.

Nazareno Malegarie (19-1) vs Jacob Devree (10-1)

After the 24 year old Argentine’s battle with eventual tourney finalist Daniel Straus, we reported that we would pay to see him fight again.  Since Bellator listens to its fans, here’s Naza again in tournament action.  Now carrying his first loss at 19-1 (which is still, you know, pretty alright as far as pro fighting record go), the Thiago Tavares training partner will be hungry for a win.  His opponent is Jacob Devree, who we’ll admit not being familiar with. Apparently the PR folks at Bellator aren’t too sharp on his background either, since he rates exactly one sentence in the press release they sent to us. He’s probably legit though: they totally referred to him as “fast-rising”.

Jessica “Jag” Aguilar (10-4) vs Carla Esparza (5-1)

Also slated for action at Bellator 46 is a return to the women’s 125, with tournament vets Carla Esparza and Jessica Aguilar set to lock horns. Esparza had an excellent showing against Megumi Fujii at Bellator 24, despite being a relative MMA n00b at 3-0 and taking the fight on just three days notice (replacing an injured Angela Magana).  Now with two wins between her and that first loss, the former high school wrestler has an intriguing matchup with Jag.  Aguilar rebounded with a submission victory in November after her screwjob-loss to Zoila Frausto-Gurgel, and she will bring her fierce intelligence and unending positivity to the cage for this one.  Oh wait, she’s also one of the most complete fighters in WMMA, repping American Top Team.  If you still believe that women don’t have the skills for MMA, go ahead and DVR this fight.  Then we’ll accept your apology.

[RX]

Featherweight Tourney Matchups Set for Bellator 46 ‘Summer Series’

Filed under: Bellator, News Bellator announced Monday the matchups for all four quarterfinal bouts in the promotion’s featherweight tournament happening on June 25 at Bellator 46 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla.

The “S…

Filed under: ,

Bellator announced Monday the matchups for all four quarterfinal bouts in the promotion’s featherweight tournament happening on June 25 at Bellator 46 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla.

The “Summer Series’ will bridge the gap between last week’s season four finale and the season five premiere slated for Sept. 17.

Check out the featherweight bracket, which includes Bellator lightweight tournament winner Pat Curran and former Sengoku featherweight champion Marlon Sandro.

23-year-old Pat Curran (13-4) is coming off a loss in a Bellator title fight against champion Eddie Alvarez in April. He’s already won a Bellator tournament lightweight division in season two and he’ll be after a featherweight title shot against Luis Palomino. Palomino is 3-2 in Bellator competition and his most notable win was a split decision over Jorge Masvidal in February 2010.

Marlon Sandro (17-2), who trains with UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo, signed with Bellator in February and will be making his debut with Bellator after fighting exclusively in Japan from 2007 through 2010. He joined Sengoku in 2009 and made it all the way to the finals where he lost a close decision in the finals to Michihiro Omigawa. Last June, he earned a shot at the title and knocked out Masanori Kanehara in 38 seconds to become the new Sengoku champion. At the last Sengoku event (to date), Sandro dropped the title to Hatsu Hioki. Sandro will be facing Genair da Silva (10-3), a prospect out of Brazil.

Last September, Ronnie Mann (19-2-1) won the Shark Fights featherweight title against Doug Evans and then signed with Bellator this year. Mann, who was 2-1 with Sengkoku in 2009, outpointed Josh Arocho last month at Bellator 42. His opponent Adam Schindler (9-1) is a one-time Strikeforce competitor and previously fought for Bellator in May 2010. He’s on a six-fight win streak.

Nazareno Malegarie (19-1) joined Bellator in March and suffered his first career loss in a decision to Daniel Straus. Jacob Devree (10-1) of Arizona has been fighting mostly locally and this will be his first taste under the national spotlight.

Bellator 46 Fight Card:

Televised Bouts
Marlon Sandro vs. Genair da Silva
Ronnie Mann vs. Adam Schindler
Pat Curran vs. Luis Palomino
Nazareno Malegarie vs. Jacob Devree

Preliminary Bouts
Josh Samman vs. Mike Bernhard
Tony Johnson Jr. vs. TBA
Jessica Aguilar vs. Carla Esparza

 

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UFC 129 Results: Rory MacDonald and the Top 25 Fighters 25 or Younger

A couple of times a year it is important to take a close look at who the young up and comers are in the sport.Although it is a sport that is in it’s infancy, time can pass quite quickly for those of us paying close attention.We have seen tons of young …

A couple of times a year it is important to take a close look at who the young up and comers are in the sport.

Although it is a sport that is in it’s infancy, time can pass quite quickly for those of us paying close attention.

We have seen tons of young dynamos rise up and entrench themselves into the spotlight, but for every batch maturing into veterans, there is a new batch hungrier and more talented than the last.

Some are practically veterans by the age of 25, while others are hot prospects with unlimited potential.

These are the top 25 MMA athletes that are 25 years or younger.

Begin Slideshow