Bellator 125 can be summed up in two words: MELVIN. MANHOEF.
The feared Dutch striker/laughable Dutch grappler makes his return to the American MMA scene tonight in the main event of Bellator 125. He’ll face off against Bellator mainstay and respected striker Doug Marshall.
Other cool things about Bellator 125: Brian Rogers will be fighting Rafael Carvalho. Touted (though slightly derailed) prospect Goiti Yamauchi is up against Martin Stapleton. There’s also Javy Ayala fighting Raphael Butler in a heavyweight bout–which means it’ll either be awesome or terrible.
Keep hitting refresh once the card starts at 9:00 pm EST for updates!
Bellator 125 can be summed up in two words: MELVIN. MANHOEF.
The feared Dutch striker/laughable Dutch grappler makes his return to the American MMA scene tonight in the main event of Bellator 125. He’ll face off against Bellator mainstay and respected striker Doug Marshall.
Other cool things about Bellator 125: Brian Rogers will be fighting Rafael Carvalho. Touted (though slightly derailed) prospect Goiti Yamauchi is up against Martin Stapleton. There’s also Javy Ayala fighting Raphael Butler in a heavyweight bout–which means it’ll either be awesome or terrible.
Keep hitting refresh once the card starts at 9:00 pm EST for updates!
Martin Stapleton vs. Goiti Yamauchi
Round 1: Yamauchi paws with some jabs then throws a knee. Stapleton catches the knee and takes him down. Yamauchi is going for an omoplata right now and he might actually get it. Stapleton is defending it well so far. The omoplata is still going on, and then Yamauchi uses this to sweep Stapleton and now he has his back with a body triangle locked in. Yamauchi is trying for the rear naked choke but it seems to be too much on the chin. Stapleton slips out of the choke but Yamauchi still has his back. Yamauchi goes for another choke but this one is on the chin as well and Stapleton gets out. Stapleton gets his back to the mat and manages to get back to half guard. Yamauchi passes very quickly. As Stapleton tries to scramble away, he gets his back taken again. Yamauchi tries another rear naked choke and gets it this time! The fight is over.
Javy Ayala vs. Raphael Butler
Round 1: Butler gets rocked with a left hand immediately and then gets pressed up against the cage. I have a feeling we’ll be here for a while. Ayala lands some knees to the thighs. Ayala is cut bad, not sure what cut him because he didn’t really take many shots. Ayala literally picks up Butler, throws him to the ground, takes his back, and chokes him out with a rear naked choke. Imagine the least technical way for that sequence to happen and that’s what it looked like.
Brian Rogers vs. Rafael Carvalho
Doug Marshall vs. Melvin Manhoef.
Here are the results so far:
Main Card
Javy Ayala def. Raphael Butler via submission (rear naked choke), 1:03 of round 1.
Goiti Yamauchi def. Martin Stapleton via submission (rear naked choke), 4:37 of round 2.
Preliminary Card
Matt Ramirez def. Oscar Ramirez via submission (armbar), 0:42 of round 1. Chris Honeycutt def. Aaron Wilkinson via TKO (punches), 4:45 of round 2.
Julio Cesar Neves def. Poppies Martinez via TKO (strikes), 2:16 of round 1.
Jonny Bonilla-Bowman def. Art Becerra via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28).
Jesse Juarez def. Ron Keslar via unanimous decision(29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
George Zuniga def. Granson Clark via TKO (punches), 0:34 of round 1.
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.
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’s overall 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.
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.
