UFC president Dana White spoke with assembled press after UFC 166 Saturday night in Houston. Per usual, all topics were on the table including judging, reffing, who is and isn’t on the chopping block and the future of the heavyweight and light heavyweight division title scene.
UFC president Dana White spoke with assembled press after UFC 166 Saturday night in Houston. Per usual, all topics were on the table including judging, reffing, who is and isn’t on the chopping block and the future of the heavyweight and light heavyweight division title scene.
(Cain Velasquez admires his violence on the big screen. / Photo via Getty)
Suddenly, the rivalry between heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos seems a little less competitive than was hoped for. Many observers were treating this fight as merely the latest engagement in a battle for the heavyweight crown that was to last for years ahead. Less a conclusion to a trilogy and more a precursor to a tetralogy or beyond, it was expected that this fight would see a more competitive affair showcasing the strengths of both men. That didn’t happen. Velasquez absolutely dominated Dos Santos, flooring him in the third before finishing him (sort of) in the fifth. It’s clear now that Cain Velasquez is the unstoppable force. Despite his unquestioned stature as the second best heavyweight in the UFC, Junior Dos Santos is not the immovable object.
Pace and pressure are amorphous terms reliant on context; it’s more difficult to conceive of these finishing a fight than something we can easily discern like a punch or kick. Yet it was the relentless forward motion and unending attack of Velasquez that led to the finish last night and the dominance that preceded it. Dos Santos had his moments; he landed a number of hard shots to open the first round, and landed a nice elbow against the cage to end the second. But other than that, it was all Cain. He didn’t dominate from bell to bell like he did in the second fight, but he wore down Dos Santos over the course of the first two rounds before capitalizing in the third. Velasquez floored Dos Santos with a counter overhand right, and almost finished the fight there; Herb Dean put his hand on Velasquez’ shoulder at one point, but reconsidered.
Things didn’t improve for Dos Santos afterwards, and in the fifth round he went for a desperation front choke. As Cain attempted successfully to escape, Dos Santos rolled, crashing his forehead on the mat. Either disoriented or utterly exhausted, Dos Santos could not continue and Velasquez secured the latest stoppage victory in UFC history. At the undisputed pinnacle of his weight class – the first heavyweight to truly claim this distinction since Fedor Emelianenko – it’s hard to imagine anyone toppling Velasquez soon. Daniel Cormier, who fought earlier in the evening, is his wrestling coach and is moving down to 205. Fabricio Werdum, his presumptive opponent, can submit anyone but will unlikely be able to take the fight to the ground against a wrestler of Cain’s caliber. A future rematch with Dos Santos is not inconceivable, but a different result is at this point. Despite his heart, his chin and his skills, it seems that Dos Santos is not destined to be the foil to Velasquez that we hoped he would be; Velasquez is the heavyweight division’s emperor.
Speaking of Daniel Cormier…
(Cain Velasquez admires his violence on the big screen. / Photo via Getty)
Suddenly, the rivalry between heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos seems a little less competitive than was hoped for. Many observers were treating this fight as merely the latest engagement in a battle for the heavyweight crown that was to last for years ahead. Less a conclusion to a trilogy and more a precursor to a tetralogy or beyond, it was expected that this fight would see a more competitive affair showcasing the strengths of both men. That didn’t happen. Velasquez absolutely dominated Dos Santos, flooring him in the third before finishing him (sort of) in the fifth. It’s clear now that Cain Velasquez is the unstoppable force. Despite his unquestioned stature as the second best heavyweight in the UFC, Junior Dos Santos is not the immovable object.
Pace and pressure are amorphous terms reliant on context; it’s more difficult to conceive of these finishing a fight than something we can easily discern like a punch or kick. Yet it was the relentless forward motion and unending attack of Velasquez that led to the finish last night and the dominance that preceded it. Dos Santos had his moments; he landed a number of hard shots to open the first round, and landed a nice elbow against the cage to end the second. But other than that, it was all Cain. He didn’t dominate from bell to bell like he did in the second fight, but he wore down Dos Santos over the course of the first two rounds before capitalizing in the third. Velasquez floored Dos Santos with a counter overhand right, and almost finished the fight there; Herb Dean put his hand on Velasquez’ shoulder at one point, but reconsidered.
Things didn’t improve for Dos Santos afterwards, and in the fifth round he went for a desperation front choke. As Cain attempted successfully to escape, Dos Santos rolled, crashing his forehead on the mat. Either disoriented or utterly exhausted, Dos Santos could not continue and Velasquez secured the latest stoppage victory in UFC history. At the undisputed pinnacle of his weight class – the first heavyweight to truly claim this distinction since Fedor Emelianenko – it’s hard to imagine anyone toppling Velasquez soon. Daniel Cormier, who fought earlier in the evening, is his wrestling coach and is moving down to 205. Fabricio Werdum, his presumptive opponent, can submit anyone but will unlikely be able to take the fight to the ground against a wrestler of Cain’s caliber. A future rematch with Dos Santos is not inconceivable, but a different result is at this point. Despite his heart, his chin and his skills, it seems that Dos Santos is not destined to be the foil to Velasquez that we hoped he would be; Velasquez is the heavyweight division’s emperor.
Speaking of Daniel Cormier, he took an easy decision victory over a game Roy Nelson before changing and coaching Cain Velasquez to victory. On his way down to light heavyweight – he weighed 224 for this fight – Cormier dominated Nelson in all facets of the sport. He outstruck, outwrestled, outworked and simply outfought Nelson. There isn’t much to add to this. Cormier, if he can cut the weight, might just be the best fighter at 205 right now. He’s not just a complete fighter; he’s a complete fighter with exceptional abilities in every department. With his win, the members of the 2008 Olympic wrestling team move to 33-0 in MMA, Cormier moved himself to 13-0, and Roy Nelson took sole ownership of the UFC record for most significant strikes absorbed in a career with 511. He might not contend for a title any time soon, but Nelson is still guaranteed to put on good fights at the expense of his cognitive ability.
But the best fight of the night – as well as the literal Fight of The Night – was the slobberknocker between Diego Sanchez and Gilbert Melendez. In what may be the fight of the year, both men left it all in the Octagon. Within 30 seconds of the first round, Sanchez had already managed to take Melendez’ back and things just got crazier from there. Neither man backed down throughout the fight, although Melendez generally got the better of the exchanges. He cut Sanchez in the first round and dropped him at the end of it. But Sanchez wouldn’t be discouraged. Despite being cut so badly above his left eye that the fight was halted twice to check on it, he pressed on. In the third, he caught Melendez with an uppercut in a wild exchange and dropped him, sending the crowd into a frenzy. But it wasn’t to be; tough as Sanchez was, Melendez’ own toughness prevailed. He won a deserved unanimous decision through the strength of superior combinations. This wasn’t a fight were there was a true loser though; both men left everything they had in the cage.
The first two fights on the main card were, suffice it to say, less competitive. Gabriel Gonzaga, looking like a cross between a caveman and a 70′s pornstar, flattened Shawn Jordan with a counter right hand before annihilating him with hammerfists a minute into their bout. And John Dodson knocked out Darrell Montague in the first round, hitting him so hard it took a second for Montague’s brain to register that it wasn’t working anymore. When this realization came, Montague face-planted into the mat and the fight was stopped. The amusing knockout earned Dodson the KO of the Night bonus; the Submission of the Night went to Tony Ferguson for a brabo choke on the undercard.
The sound and fury that accompanied this card have given way to silence. No one is debating whether Cain Velasquez or Junior Dos Santos is the best heavyweight. Any arguments have dissipated; dissent has ceased. Velasquez is less a fighter than a force of nature; save for an act of God – like the right hand that led to his sole loss, which is looking less consequential by the day – he can’t seem to be stopped, let alone withstood. The narrative is no longer waiting to see who can stop him; it’s simply accounting for how much damage he will do.
Results:
Main Card:
Cain Velasquez def. Junior Dos Santos via TKO, Round 5, 3:09
Daniel Cormier def. Roy Nelson via UD (30-27×3)
Gilbert Melendez def. Diego Sanchez via UD (30-27, 29-28×2)
Gabriel Gonzaga def. Shawn Jordan via KO, Round 1, 1:33
John Dodson def. Darrell Montague via KO, Round 1, 4:13
Preliminary Card:
Tim Boetsch def. CB Dollaway via SD (30-26×2, 27-29) [Author’s note: Uhhh…?]
Hector Lombard def. Nate Marquardt via KO, Round 1, 1:48
Jessica Eye def. Sarah Kaufman via SD (29-28×2, 28-29)
K.J. Noons def. George Sotiropoulos via UD (30-27, 29-28×2)
Adlan Amagov def. T.J. Waldburger via KO, Round 1, 3:00
Tony Ferguson def. Mike Rio via SUB, Round 1, 1:52
Andre Fili def. Jeremy Larsen via TKO, Round 2, 0:53
Kyoji Horiguchi def. Dustin Pague via TKO, Round 2, 3:51
(Cain Velasquez may not kick like Anderson Silva, but his dominance over heavyweight will parallel Silva’s period of dominance over middleweight. / Photo via Getty)
After the events of UFC 166, the heavyweight division is now the UFC’s least thrilling.
Heavyweight is the new middleweight. That is to say that the heavyweight division under Cain Velasquez‘s brutal, face-rearranging reign will resemble the middleweight division under Anderson Silva during his peak — a boring division where no fighter is a threat to the champ. A division where everybody says, “Meh, who cares about who’s challenging for the heavyweight title? Cain is going to destroy him anyway.”
The only fighter to ever humble Cain Velasquez was Junior Dos Santos. But Dos Santos couldn’t repeat his success. Velasquez wrought terrible vengeance on the Brazilian in the rematch at UFC 155, and then again in the rubber match at UFC 166.
Earlier this year, I predicted that the UFC heavyweight division would become stagnant and dull:
Both men are insanely talented. But that’s the problem — they’re both so talented that the rest of the fighters in the division aren’t a match for them. The only challenge to Velasquez is Dos Santos. The only challenge to Dos Santos is Velasquez.
I was right and wrong.
(Cain Velasquez may not kick like Anderson Silva, but his dominance over heavyweight will parallel Silva’s period of dominance over middleweight. / Photo via Getty)
After the events of UFC 166, the heavyweight division is now the UFC’s least thrilling.
Heavyweight is the new middleweight. That is to say that the heavyweight division under Cain Velasquez‘s brutal, face-rearranging reign will resemble the middleweight division under Anderson Silva during his peak — a boring division where no fighter is a threat to the champ. A division where everybody says, “Meh, who cares about who’s challenging for the heavyweight title? Cain is going to destroy them anyway.”
The only fighter to ever humble Cain Velasquez was Junior Dos Santos. But Dos Santos couldn’t repeat his success. Velasquez wrought terrible vengeance on the Brazilian in the rematch at UFC 155, and then again in the rubber match at UFC 166.
Earlier this year, I predicted that the UFC heavyweight division would become stagnant and dull:
Both men are insanely talented. But that’s the problem — they’re both so talented that the rest of the fighters in the division aren’t a match for them. The only challenge to Velasquez is Dos Santos. The only challenge to Dos Santos is Velasquez.
I was right and wrong. Both men are talented. The rest of the division is no match for Dos Santos, but Dos Santos is clearly no match for Velasquez, their first fight notwithstanding. Thus, the future of the UFC heavyweight division is grim. Here’s how it’ll look:
Cain Velasquez destroys all comers — even Fabricio Werdum who, for some reason, people think is now a legitimate title contender. Velasquez will reduce Werdum to awkward, frustrated butt-scooting. The champ likely won’t have much of a problem with the other heavyweight hopefuls; none of them have answers for Velasquez’s wrestling, striking, and conditioning. Unfortunately, those same men probably don’t have an answer for Junior Dos Santos’ boxing acumen and power either.
The UFC heavyweight division in 2013 is analogous to the UFC middleweight division in 2006-7. Anderson Silva was the best guy. Rich Franklin was the next best guy and was better than everyone else besides Silva. The only problem? Silva brutalized Franklin so badly that discussing a rematch was asinine.
Now, just swap out Silva with Velasquez and Franklin with Dos Santos and you’ve got the post-UFC 166 heavyweight division. The excitement is gone. Everyone not named Junior Dos Santos will be fighting for the honor of being third-best, while Dos Santos himself will be fighting for the privilege of being Cain Velasquez’s eternal understudy.
Bellator 104 was one of the promotion’s most stacked cards this season. When Bellator mainstay Karl Amoussou and three UFC vets (Paul Sass, Rob Emerson, and Paul Bradley) are relegated to the prelims, there’s some good or at least decent fights on the main card.
The prelims were exciting and had a few notable happenings.
Cliff Wright vs. Derek Loffer was a thrilling back-and-forth match that saw Wright win via armbar late in the second round.
After that, Brandon Girtz pulled a Chris Leben. No, he didn’t urinate in a bed or fail a drug test. He fought twice in two weeks and won both matches like Leben did back in 2010. Girtz submitted Poppies Martinez and Mike Estus at Bellator 102 and Bellator 104, respectively. And these weren’t Hail Mary submissions; Girtz controlled both guys before torquing their arms.
Then, Rob Emerson—wife stealer and one of a select few men to defeat the next Anderson Silva—heel hooked Jared Downing in under two minutes.
Paul Sass, too, won in short order, this time with a toe hold. His opponent Rod Montoya was seemingly ignorant of the fact that Sass has an amazing guard since he kept taking Sass down. Surprise, surprise, Montoya was submitted.
Unfortunately, Karl Amoussou vs. Paul Bradley couldn’t live up to the exciting standard set by the night’s previous bouts. Bradley won a unanimous decision that saw him lay in a gassed Amoussou’s guard for two out of three rounds.
That ended the prelims and brought us into the main card on Spike, which started with *gulps* a Bellator heavyweight fight between Eric Prindle and Peter Graham. It started out alright enough, with Graham nearly finishing Prindle, but then it quickly descended into the usual Bellator heavyweight routine: Heavy breathing, long periods of inactivity, and looping, exhausted punches. At the last second, Graham hit Prindle with a front kick to the face that floored him. Graham won via unanimous decision.
Read the recap for the Bellator 104 main card after the jump.
(Spoiler alert: The guys on the left beat the guys on the right.)
Bellator 104 was one of the promotion’s most stacked cards this season. When Bellator mainstay Karl Amoussou and three UFC vets (Paul Sass, Rob Emerson, and Paul Bradley) are relegated to the prelims, there’s some good or at least decent fights on the main card.
The prelims were exciting and had a few notable happenings.
Cliff Wright vs. Derek Loffer was a thrilling back-and-forth match that saw Wright win via armbar late in the second round.
After that, Brandon Girtz pulled a Chris Leben. No, he didn’t urinate in a bed or fail a drug test. He fought twice in two weeks and won both matches like Leben did back in 2010. Girtz submitted Poppies Martinez and Mike Estus at Bellator 102 and Bellator 104, respectively. And these weren’t Hail Mary submissions; Girtz controlled both guys before torquing their arms.
Then, Rob Emerson—wife stealer and one of a select few men to defeat the next Anderson Silva—heel hooked Jared Downing in under two minutes.
Paul Sass, too, won in short order, this time with a toe hold. His opponent Rod Montoya was seemingly ignorant of the fact that Sass has an amazing guard since he kept taking Sass down. Surprise, surprise, Montoya was submitted.
Unfortunately, Karl Amoussou vs. Paul Bradley couldn’t live up to the exciting standard set by the night’s previous bouts. Bradley won a unanimous decision that saw him lay in a gassed Amoussou’s guard for two out of three rounds.
That ended the prelims and brought us into the main card on Spike, which started with *gulps* a Bellator heavyweight fight between Eric Prindle and Peter Graham. It started out alright enough, with Graham nearly finishing Prindle, but then it quickly descended into the usual Bellator heavyweight routine: Heavy breathing, long periods of inactivity, and looping, exhausted punches. At the last second, Graham hit Prindle with a front kick to the face that floored him. Graham won via unanimous decision.
Kendall Grove made his return to mainstream American MMA (looking life Rufio from Hook) versus Joe Vedepo. Grove controlled the fight from bell to bell. Vedepo spent most of the fight about to be submitted or knocked out. It was one of those fights where the winner looked good but the loser did such a great job of getting his ass beat that everyone can’t shut up about his “heart.”
In the night’s first welterweight tournament semifinal, Ron Keslar upset War Machine in decisive fashion. He took War Machine down immediately, took his back, and choked him unconscious at 3:31. We’re still debating at the CagePotato offices as to whether Christy Mack will leave War Machine for Keslar now.
In the second welterweight tournament semifinal, which was Bellator 104′s main event, Brent Weedman and Rick Hawn faced off. It wasn’t the first time these two fighters met. They fought back in May 2012, with Hawn winning. Hawn won via unanimous decision this time too, but it was a ho-hum affair. This season’s welterweight final will therefore be Rick Hawn vs. Ron Keslar.
Here are the complete Bellator 104 results:
Main Card
Rick Hawn def. Brent Weedman via Unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Ron Keslar def. War Machine via technical submission (rear naked choke), 3:31 of Round 1
Kendall Grove def. Joe Vedepo via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Peter Graham def. Eric Prindle via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Preliminary Card
Paul Bradley def. Karl Amoussou via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Paul Sass def. Rod Montoya via submission (toe hold), 2:01 of Round 1
Robert Emerson def. Jared Downing via submission (heel hook), 1:44 of Round 1
Brandon Girtz def. Mike Estus via submission (armbar), 4:25 of Round 1
Cliff Wright def. Derek Loffer via submission (armbar), 4:28 of Round 2
Andre Tieva def. Chris Lane via TKO (punches), 2:14 of Round 1
(The TUF editors refer to this as the “fearection” shot.)
Breaking from our usual tradition of giving long-winded, play-by-play recaps of each week’s The Ultimate Fighter, I’m going to keep things relatively short and sweet for yesterday’s episode, “Zone In,” which featured a fight between Josh Hill (Team Tate) and Michael Wootten (Team Rousey). It might be because the seventh episode of season 18 contained very few highlights of note, it might be because I am just catching up on the episode as I write this. In any case, I’ve already provided more introspection than I will for the rest of this recap, so let’s get started.
Following her three round war with Jessamyn Duke last week, Raquel Pennington receives a congratulatory talking to from Dana White, who insists that she “Let dem hands go, grrrl” if she wants to win this whole thing. He might have phrased that differently.
It’s father’s day back at the house (and presumably, the rest of the world as well), so you know what that means: DADS HAVING A CRYFEST!! Cody Bollinger is hit the hardest by the sads but Ronda Rousey stops by to give all the father’s shaving kits to make them feel better. Oh, so Team Tate gives Edmund a discount coupon for an eyebrow treatment and it’s offensive, but Ronda can hand out shaving kits all willy-nilly and we’re supposed to commend her for it? SHE-NAN-I-GANS.
Not willing to sit idly by and lose the Great Facial Hair Fracas of 2013, Team Tate puts up some photos of Fallon Fox “Edmund Rousey,” a unibrowed, half-man, half-woman thing so horrifying that the cameras dare not show it. POINT GRYFFINDOR TATE. Dana White stops by to remove the photos but neglects to check the sauna like a goddamn amateur. Upon seeing the photo DW missed, Ronda immediately pulls the racist card on Team Tate. That’s right, unibrow jokes now qualify as racist. Tell them how we feel about this latest development, Hubert.
Team Rousey has a training session that consists of convulsing on the mat, Dana White hates one-dimensional fighters like Josh Hill, slow-motion walking blah blah blah FIGHT TIME!
(The TUF editors refer to this as the “fearection” shot.)
Breaking from our usual tradition of giving long-winded, play-by-play recaps of each week’s The Ultimate Fighter, I’m going to keep things relatively short and sweet for yesterday’s episode, “Zone In,” which featured a fight between Josh Hill (Team Tate) and Michael Wootten (Team Rousey). It might be because the seventh episode of season 18 contained very few highlights of note, it might be because I am just catching up on the episode as I write this. In any case, I’ve already provided more introspection than I will for the rest of this recap, so let’s get started.
Following her three round war with Jessamyn Duke last week, Raquel Pennington receives a congratulatory talking to from Dana White, who insists that she “Let dem hands go, grrrl” if she wants to win this whole thing. He might have phrased that differently.
It’s father’s day back at the house (and presumably, the rest of the world as well), so you know what that means: DADS HAVING A CRYFEST!! Cody Bollinger is hit the hardest by the sads but Ronda Rousey stops by to give all the father’s shaving kits to make them feel better. Oh, so Team Tate gives Edmund a discount coupon for an eyebrow treatment and it’s offensive, but Ronda can hand out shaving kits all willy-nilly and we’re supposed to commend her for it? SHE-NAN-I-GANS.
Not willing to sit idly by and lose the Great Facial Hair Fracas of 2013, Team Tate puts up some photos of Fallon Fox ”Edmund Rousey,” a unibrowed, half-man, half-woman thing so horrifying that the cameras dare not show it. POINT GRYFFINDOR TATE. Dana White stops by to remove the photos but neglects to check the sauna like a goddamn amateur. Upon seeing the photo DW missed, Ronda immediately pulls the racist card on Team Tate. That’s right, unibrow jokes now qualify as racist. Tell them how we feel about this latest development, Hubert.
Team Rousey has a training session that consists of convulsing on the mat, Dana White hates one-dimensional fighters like Josh Hill, slow-motion walking blah blah blah FIGHT TIME!
Round 1: Being that Hill is a one-dimensional lay-n-prayer not worthy of our praise, he shoots in for a takedown almost immediately. Apparently Hill follows the Michael Bay rule of compromise, and I respect him for it. The rest of the round, however, is boring as shit. Hill fails to capitalize on a rear-naked choke and spends three or so minutes pushing Wootten against the cage. THIS IS WHY THE WOMEN’S FIGHTS ARE GETTING HIGHER RATINGS, YOU GUYS.
Round 2: Ever the contrarian, Wootten starts round 2 by firing off the biggest strike of the fight, a right knee that momentarily drops Hill. Hill gets back to his feet and Wootten takes him down for reasons that are not immediately clear. They become more and more clear, however, as Wootten continues to reign down heavy punches and elbows from Hill’s guard. Hill survives the onslaught and gets back to his feet, only to have Wootten shoot on him. Hill pulls guard and snatches up a guillotine that is a no-go, then Wooten attempts a similarly misguided RNC of his own. Hill reverses and finishes the round with some pitter-patter punches from on top. A much more entertaining round and it looks like we’re going to a third…
Round 3: Hill starts things off with a spinning backfist that misses. After a scramble along the fence, Hill tries to secure another takedown but fails. Another scramble, a few elbows, and Wootten tries for a takedown. Hill trying for a takedown against the fence. Hill trying for a takedown. Hill still trying for that takedown…they break! Hill tries another spinning backfist that is just adorable and Wootten gets a takedown. Wootten stays on top for the final minute and a half, landing a few punches here and there and this one is all over.
Michael Wooten def. Josh Hill via Unanimous Decision.
It wasn’t exactly the barnburner that last week’s fight was, but it’ll do, pig.
Tate congrats Team Rousey on the win, gets flipped off again, rinse, repeat. At the fight announcement, Rousey “picks’ the final two quarterfinal fights: Peggy Morgan vs. Sarah Moras and Cody Bollinger vs. Anthony Gutierrez.
Next week: A recap episode? With no fights? The fuck do they think this is, Twin Peaks?! Yeah, we will not be recapping that.
Team Rousey Women Shayna Baszler (eliminated by Julianna Pena in the quarterfinals, episode 2) Jessamyn Duke (eliminated by Raquel Pennington in the quarterfinals, episode 6)
Peggy Morgan
Jessica Rakoczy
Team Rousey Men Chris Beal (eliminated by Chris Holdsworth in the quarterfinals, episode 3)
Davey Grant
Anthony Gutierrez
Michael Wootten
Team Tate Women
Julianna Pena
Sarah Moras
Raquel Pennington Roxanne Modafferi (eliminated by Jessica Rakoczy in the quarterfinals, episode 4)
Team Tate Men
Cody Bollinger
Chris Holdsworth Josh Hill(eliminated by Michael Wootten in the quarterfinals, episode 7) Louis Fisette (eliminated byDavey Grant in the quarterfinals, episode 5)
Bellator 103 is over — and judging by our front page poll, a significant portion of you don’t really care that much. But we love free MMA so, we watched the card. Here’s our recap:
The first fight of the night pitted old-school Bellator fighter (he fought at Bellator 20) and UFC washout Aaron Rosa against Russian Sambo expert Mikhail Zayats. The bout ended in 47 seconds. Clinch, takedown, kimura, tap. That was the whole fight.
In the second bout on the main card, David Rickels made one of the most innovative entrances in MMA when he drove to the cage in a replica of Fred Flintstone’s car. Thankfully for Rickels, his performance lived up to his entrance. He consistently beat JJ Ambrose to the punch, battering “Superman” throughout the fight, which was stopped in the third round when Ambrose couldn’t defend a tidal wave of body shots.
The third fight of the night, a featherweight tournament semifinal, was the most lackluster. Jesus freak Justin Wilcox took on mullet-wearing Guam native Joe Taimanglo. Wilcox won a ho-hum unanimous decision. The highlight came after the fight when Wilcox referenced John 3:16. If you watched pro wrestling in the late 1990s, you’d know why that was a big deal. But yeah, Wilcox-Taimanglo was mainly takedowns and ineffective ground-and-pound. If you DVR’d the fights, you have our permission to skip this one.
In the night’s main event, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire met Fabricio Guerreiro in the second featherweight tournament semifinal. Freire, known as an aggressive striker, showed off his grappling abilities throughout the fight. He was constantly one step ahead of Guerreiro in the BJJ department, which earned “Pitbull” a unanimous decision victory. With the win, he became the first three-time tournament finalist in Bellator history. He will face Justin Wilcox in the finals.
The complete results for Bellator 103 are after the jump…
Bellator 103 is over — and judging by our front page poll, a significant portion of you don’t really care that much. But we love free MMA so, we watched the card. Here’s our recap:
The first fight of the night pitted old-school Bellator fighter (he fought at Bellator 20) and UFC washout Aaron Rosa against Russian Sambo expert Mikhail Zayats. The bout ended in 47 seconds. Clinch, takedown, kimura, tap. That was the whole fight.
In the second bout on the main card, David Rickels made one of the most innovative entrances in MMA when he drove to the cage in a replica of Fred Flintstone’s car. Thankfully for Rickels, his performance lived up to his entrance. He consistently beat JJ Ambrose to the punch, battering “Superman” throughout the fight, which was stopped in the third round when Ambrose couldn’t defend a tidal wave of body shots.
The third fight of the night, a featherweight tournament semifinal, was the most lackluster. Jesus freak Justin Wilcox took on mullet-wearing Guam native Joe Taimanglo. Wilcox won a ho-hum unanimous decision. The highlight came after the fight when Wilcox referenced John 3:16. If you watched pro wrestling in the late 1990s, you’d know why that was a big deal. But yeah, Wilcox-Taimanglo was mainly takedowns and ineffective ground-and-pound. If you DVR’d the fights, you have our permission to skip this one.
In the night’s main event, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire met Fabricio Guerreiro in the second featherweight tournament semifinal. Freire, known as an aggressive striker, showed off his grappling abilities throughout the fight. He was constantly one step ahead of Guerreiro in the BJJ department, which earned “Pitbull” a unanimous decision victory. With the win, he became the first three-time tournament finalist in Bellator history. He will face Justin Wilcox in the finals.
Here are the complete results…
Main Card
Patricio Freire def. Fabricio Guerreiro via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Justin Wilcox def. Joe Taimanglo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
David Rickels def. J.J. Ambrose via TKO (punches), 2:37 of round 3
Mikhail Zayats def. Aaron Rosa via submission (kimura), 0:47 of round 1
Preliminary Card
Carlos Eduardo def. Wayman Carter via submission (rear-naked choke), 2:06 of round 1
Remy Bussieres def. Blake Pool via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Maurice Jackson def. Matt Uhde via TKO (doctor stoppage, cut), 0:52 of round 1
Donnie Bell def. Marcio Navarro via submission (neck crank), 2:06 of round 1
Jeimeson Saudino def. Jesse Thornton via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Ricky Musgrave def. Cody Carrilo via submission (kimura), 2:59 of round 1
