Tag: Recap

Bellator 61 Recap: Some Faces Get Smashed, No Arms Get Collected

Brian Rogers’ walk-off flying knee KO (Courtesy of YouTube/BellatorMMA)

Bellator kicked off its fourth 185-lb tournament last night and it was a pretty good night of scraps for those in the bludgeoning business. Despite a last minute cancellation of the scheduled Prindle-Santos rematch, the card marched bravely on. Eight middleweights squared off for a chance to advance to the semis and ultimately to challenge reigning champ Hector Lombard. It may not be the most popular tournament at the moment, but it’s ours, dammit, and here’s how it played out.

The opening bout in the eight-man scrum pitted Season 5 runner-up Vitor Vianna against Brian Rogers. Rogers came out as the early aggressor, firing off hard shots at a passive Vianna. Eager to get the fight to the ground, Vianna worked for the takedown, but his back only graced the canvas once for a few seconds following a hip-toss by Rogers. Back on the feet, “The Predator” stunned Vianna with a right hand that wobbled him back on his heels. Smelling blood, Rogers leapt in with flying knee for a textbook falling tree KO. “”That was my third flying knee knockout. Google it,” said Rogers in his post-fight interview. I would, boss, but I’m terrified of the internet. All nine of Rogers’ victories have come by first round stoppage. Not too shabby.

Brian Rogers’ walk-off flying knee KO (Courtesy of YouTube/BellatorMMA)

Bellator kicked off its fourth 185-lb tournament last night and it was a pretty good night of scraps for those in the bludgeoning business. Despite a last minute cancellation of the scheduled Prindle-Santos rematch, the card marched bravely on. Eight middleweights squared off for a chance to advance to the semis and ultimately to challenge reigning champ Hector Lombard. It may not be the most popular tournament at the moment, but it’s ours, dammit, and here’s how it played out.

The opening bout in the eight-man scrum pitted Season 5 runner-up Vitor Vianna against Brian Rogers. Rogers came out as the early aggressor, firing off hard shots at a passive Vianna. Eager to get the fight to the ground, Vianna worked for the takedown, but his back only graced the canvas once for a few seconds following a hip-toss by Rogers. Back on the feet, “The Predator” stunned Vianna with a right hand that wobbled him back on his heels. Smelling blood, Rogers leapt in with flying knee for a textbook falling tree KO. “”That was my third flying knee knockout. Google it,” said Rogers in his post-fight interview. I would, boss, but I’m terrified of the internet.  All nine of Rogers’ victories have come by first round stoppage. Not too shabby.

Giva Santana knew exactly what he wanted to do in his bout with Bruno Santos. So did the fans. And unfortunately for him, so did Santos. Santana, who owns more arms than Kali, worked dutifully to drag Santos to the mat, but “Carioca” wasn’t having it. He rolled out of two takedowns in a close first round and even pulled up on a slam in the second to avoid a ground battle with Santana. Santos continued to take out “The Arm Collector’s” base in the third with a series of leg kicks, and he defended well when they did hit the canvas. It wasn’t the evening’s most exciting bout, but the performance was enough to score Santos a unanimous decision and extend his record to a perfect 13-0.

Through the power of television, Bellator turned back the clock and showcased an undercard bout from earlier in the evening. The Trey Houston-Jeremiah Riggs must have been contested under “The Ultimate Fighter Live” rules, as both men swung for the fences and held nothing back for a potential second round. That go-for-the-kill pace left both men winded half-way through the opening frame. With his back against the cage, Houston exploded forward, driving Riggs across the cage and ending up in side-mount. After a scramble and more haymakers, Houston again scored the takedown. Mounted, Riggs flipped off the cage and reversed positions, but “That Just Happened” happened again with a beautiful armbar to end the fight. The 23-year-old Houston is now 9-0, with all wins coming via stoppage.

Vyacheslav Vasilvsky cut a path to the second round through Victor O’Donnell’s swollen face. Both men were aggressive in the first, with O’Donnell scoring two takedowns and working for mount. He tried to get the fight to the ground again in the second, but was stuffed on a takedown and stumbled backward by a short jab right on the button. From there, it was two rounds of survival. The Russian’s ground and pound had his opponent turtling up, and on the feet he continued to hurt O’Donnell with his accurate hands. O’Donnell showed great heart and proved too tough to put away, but he was out gunned in this battle. Vasilevsky scored the unanimous decision and picked up his fourteenth straight win.

In the main event of the evening, UFC exile Maiquel Falcao took on Norman Paraisy in a heated battle. Falcoa worked for takedowns early on, briefly securing mount and crowding the Frenchman against the fence through much of the first. At the end of the opening round, “Big Rig” hoisted Paraisy into the air, nearly securing a picture perfect “human torture rack” before losing control and dropping his opponent. As the bell sounded, Falcoa landed with a slightly late knee to the body, prompting a very late left hand from Paraisy. The two apologized, but shit was on. Falcao cranked it up a notch in the second, firing off leg kicks and finding a home for his flurries. The Brazilian dropped Paraisy twice in the second, but chose a bit of bravado and posturing over swarming in for the finish. Again, the round ended with some post-bell action from Falcao. The final frame was all “Big Rig”. Paraisy was hurt in the standup and found no sanctuary on the ground. Predictably, the fighting ended shortly after the final bell, but when the dust had settled a dominant Falcao got his hand raised.

The tournament’s four winners will advance to the semi-finals at Bellator 66. Rogers is slated to take on Santos while Vasilevsky will go to work against Falcao.

FULL RESULTS: (via AdCombat.com)

Middleweight Quarterfinals:
Norman Paraisy v Maiquel Falcao – Falcao by Unanimous Judges Decision R3
Vitor Vianna v Brian Rogers – Rogers by KO Flying Knee Strike 4:14 R1
Bruno Santos v Giva Santana – Santos by Unanimous Judges Decision R3
Victor O’Donnell v Vyacheslav Vasilevsky – Vasilevsky by Unanimous Judges Decision R3

Preliminary Card (Live on Spike.com):

Trey Houston v Jeremiah Riggs – Houston by Submission – Armbar, 3:30 R1
Eric Scallan v Derrick Krantz – Krantz by Submission – Choke, 3:01 R1
Jason Sampson v Jeremy Myers – Sampson by Submission Rear naked choke 2:25 R3

 

Sickness Forces Eric Prindle to Withdraw From Bellator 61 Rematch With Thiago Santos


(When you gotta go, you gotta go.) 

An apparent case of influenza has forced Bellator season 5 finalist Eric Prindle out from his rematch with fellow finalist Thiago Santos. After their first contest ended in the most brutal form of No Contest possible back at Bellator 59 in November, the pair was set to give things another go at Bellator 61, which goes down tomorrow from the River Dome in Boisser City, LA.

Prindle’s record stands at 9-1 with the aforementioned 1 no-contest, with three of those wins coming under the Bellator banner. In his promotional debut, Prindle scored a second round TKO due to doctor stoppage victory over Josh Burns at Bellator 40 in April of 2011, then cruised past TUF 10 vet Abe Wagner by UD the following October in their season five heavyweight tournament quarterfinal match. In the semi’s, Prindle demolished fellow power puncher Ron Sparks in just forty seconds at Bellator 56 via one punch knockout, earning his spot in the finals alongside Thiago Santos, who had racked up two straight rear-naked choke finishes in his preliminary matches.

Videos of both the Sparks and Santos fights, along with the full lineup for Bellator 61, are after the jump. 


(When you gotta go, you gotta go.) 

An apparent case of influenza has forced Bellator season 5 finalist Eric Prindle out from his rematch with fellow finalist Thiago Santos. After their first contest ended in the most brutal form of No Contest possible back at Bellator 59 in November, the pair was set to give things another go at Bellator 61, which goes down tomorrow from the River Dome in Boisser City, LA.

Prindle’s record stands at 9-1 with the aforementioned 1 no-contest, with three of those wins coming under the Bellator banner. In his promotional debut, Prindle scored a second round TKO due to doctor stoppage victory over Josh Burns at Bellator 40 in April of 2011, then cruised past TUF 10 vet Abe Wagner by UD the following October in their season five heavyweight tournament quarterfinal match. In the semi’s, Prindle demolished fellow power puncher Ron Sparks in just forty seconds at Bellator 56 via one punch knockout, earning his spot in the finals alongside Thiago Santos, who had racked up two straight rear-naked choke finishes in his preliminary matches.

Prindle vs. Sparks

Prindle vs. Santos

Bellator 61 Lineup 
Main Card
Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Brazil Maiquel Falcao vs. France Norman Paraisy
Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Brazil Vitor Vianna vs. United States Brian Rogers
Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Russia Vyacheslav Vasilevsky vs. United States Victor O’Donnell
Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Brazil Giva Santana vs. Brazil Bruno Santos

Preliminary Card (Spike.com)
Lightweight bout: United States Quaint Kempf vs. United States Josh Quayhagen
Middleweight bout: United States Trey Houston vs. United States Jeremiah Riggs
Welterweight bout: United States Derrick Krantz vs. United States Eric Scallan
Lightweight bout: United States Derek Campos vs. United States Patrick Cenoble
Bantamweight bout: United States Jeremy Myers vs. United States Jason Sampson

-J. Jones

Stefan Struve vs. Mark Hunt Booked for UFC 146


(Struve channels his inner Keanu Reeves during his UFC 130 bout against Travis Browne.) 

In a fight that is all but guaranteed to end in a decisive, if not brutally violent fashion, it appears that heavyweight contenders Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve and Mark “Mark” Hunt are set to collide at UFC 146, which now features an all heavyweight lineup as its main card for the first time in UFC history. Thank God it’s not being held at a high altitude.

We know what you’re thinking: WHY IS TIM SYLVIA NOT ON THIS CARD?!!!

Hunt has had perhaps the most startling career resurgence in recent memory, scoring three straight octagon victories over Chris Tuchscherer, Ben Rothwell, and most recently Cheick Kongo, with two of those victories coming by way of destructive KO. This was made even more shocking due to the fact that Hunt was only picked up by the UFC in order to fulfill a contract he had signed back in his PRIDE days before the organization was absorbed by Zuffa.

Struve, on the other hand, will be looking to add another three fight win streak to his current 7-3 octagon record come May 26th. We last saw him at UFC on FUEL: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger, when he dispatched Manbearpig Dave Herman via second round TKO. Prior to that, Struve choked out our boy Pat Barry in the first round of their UFC Live 6 co-headliner bout.

UFC 146 transpires at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and features a main event title clash between Junior Dos Santos and Alistair Overeem.

In other fight booking news…


(Struve channels his inner Keanu Reeves during his UFC 130 bout against Travis Browne.) 

In a fight that is all but guaranteed to end in a decisive, if not brutally violent fashion, it appears that heavyweight contenders Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve and Mark “Mark” Hunt are set to collide at UFC 146, which now features an all heavyweight lineup as its main card for the first time in UFC history. Thank God it’s not being held at a high altitude.

We know what you’re thinking: WHY IS TIM SYLVIA NOT ON THIS CARD?!!!

Hunt has had perhaps the most startling career resurgence in recent memory, scoring three straight octagon victories over Chris Tuchscherer, Ben Rothwell, and most recently Cheick Kongo, with two of those victories coming by way of destructive KO. This was made even more shocking due to the fact that Hunt was only picked up by the UFC in order to fulfill a contract he had signed back in his PRIDE days before the organization was absorbed by Zuffa.

Struve, on the other hand, will be looking to add another three fight win streak to his current 7-3 octagon record come May 26th. We last saw him at UFC on FUEL: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger, when he dispatched Manbearpig Dave Herman via second round TKO. Prior to that, Struve choked out our boy Pat Barry in the first round of their UFC Live 6 co-headliner bout.

UFC 146 transpires at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and features a main event title clash between Junior Dos Santos and Alistair Overeem.

In other fight booking news…

Light Heavyweight sluggers Igor Pokrajac and Fabio Maldonado are scheduled to square off at UFC on FUEL 3, which goes down on on May 15 at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia and features a headlining possible number one contender bout between Dustin Poirier and Chan Sung Jung. Maldonado, who hasn’t fought since dropping a close decision to Kyle Kingsbury at the TUF 13 Finale, is stepping in to replace Thiago Silva, who in turn stepped in to replace Antonio Rogerio Nogueria against Alexander Gustafsson for the main event of UFC on FUEL 2.

The full event lineup for both UFC 146 and UFC on FUEL 3 is below.

UFC 146 
Heavyweight Championship bout: Junior dos Santos (c) vs. Alistair Overeem
Heavyweight bout: Cain Velasquez vs. Frank Mir
Heavyweight bout: Roy Nelson vs. Antonio Silva
Heavyweight bout: Mark Hunt vs. Stefan Struve
Heavyweight Bout: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shane Del Rosario
Middleweight bout: Jason Miller vs. C.B. Dollaway
Welterweight bout: Dan Hardy vs. Duane Ludwig
Lightweight bout: Jacob Volkmann vs. Paul Sass
Featherweight bout: Darren Elkins vs. Diego Brandao
Light Heavyweight bout: Kyle Kingsbury vs. Glover Teixeira

UFC on FUEL 3 
Featherweight bout: Dustin Poirier vs. Chan Sung Jung
Light Heavyweight bout: Fabio Maldonado vs. Igor Pokrajac
Lightweight bout: Donald Cerrone vs. Jeremy Stephens
Lightweight bout: Rafael dos Anjos vs. Kamal Shalorus
Lightweight bout: TJ Grant vs. Carlo Prater
Middleweight bout: Tom Lawlor vs. Jason MacDonald
Welterweight bout: Amir Sadollah vs. Jorge Lopez
Lightweight bout: Cody McKenzie vs. Aaron Riley
Middleweight bout: Brad Tavares vs. Dongi Yang
Bantamweight bout: Yves Jabouin vs. Mike Easton
Bantamweight bout: Jeff Curran vs. Johnny Eduardo
Bantamweight bout: Alex Soto vs. Azamat Gashimov

-J. Jones

Turns Out, Nearly Having Her Arm Ripped Off STILL Didn’t Squash the Beef Between Meisha Tate and Ronda Rousey

(Once again, we must turn to Rowdy Roddy Piper to lead by example.) 

Although moments were tense in the aftermath of “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey’s brutal first round, title-earning armbar over Meisha Tate, it seemed as if the two competitors had finally found, at the minimum, a newfound respect for one another. Sure, Ronda still referred to Meisha as “fake,” but it seemed like these two had perhaps found a common ground. A close friendship and some drunk photos of them making out seemed to be on the horizon, at least to us.

How optimistic ignorant we were.

It all started when Meisha, who may still have to undergo surgery for the damaged ligaments she suffered in the fight, mind you, requested a rematch with the newly crowned 135 lb. champion, stating the following:

I, personally, would love the opportunity to have a rematch. I think at a high level, it takes one mistake. Anyone can make a mistake at any moment and someone’s able to capitalize on that. I don’t feel that Ronda proved anything other than what she’s already (proved) — that she has one thing that she’s great at. Really phenomenal at. But everything else, I could beat her. Give me another shot. I think it was competitive. I think for the most part I was probably winning. And I think at a competitive high level, one day one person could beat the one person, and the other day the other person would beat the other person.

This statement is…let’s call it ballsy, to say the least. And let’s not get into the fact that, “I think for the most part I was probably winning,” just surpassed Judo Gene LeBell’s “nice big dinner” line as the most hilariously confusing sentence in the history of the English language. A hell of a lot of conviction there.

Well believe it or not, Ronda caught wind of Meisha’s statements, because the Internet is a surprisingly crowded place. And wouldn’t you know, she was not too pleased by them.

Hear what she had to say after the jump.


(Once again, we must turn to Rowdy Roddy Piper to lead by example.) 

Although moments were tense in the aftermath of “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey’s brutal first round, title-earning armbar over Meisha Tate, it seemed as if the two competitors had finally found, at the minimum, a newfound respect for one another. Sure, Ronda still referred to Meisha as “fake,” but it seemed like these two had perhaps found a common ground. A close friendship and some drunk photos of them making out seemed to be on the horizon, at least to us.

How optimistic ignorant we were.

It all started when Meisha, who may still have to undergo surgery for the damaged ligaments she suffered in the fight, mind you, requested a rematch with the newly crowned 135 lb. champion, stating the following:

I, personally, would love the opportunity to have a rematch. I think at a high level, it takes one mistake. Anyone can make a mistake at any moment and someone’s able to capitalize on that. I don’t feel that Ronda proved anything other than what she’s already (proved) — that she has one thing that she’s great at. Really phenomenal at. But everything else, I could beat her. Give me another shot. I think it was competitive. I think for the most part I was probably winning. And I think at a competitive high level, one day one person could beat the one person, and the other day the other person would beat the other person.

This statement is…let’s call it ballsy, to say the least. And let’s not get into the fact that, “I think for the most part I was probably winning,” just surpassed Judo Gene LeBell’s “nice big dinner” line as the most hilariously confusing sentence in the history of the English language. A hell of a lot of conviction there.

Well believe it or not, Ronda caught wind of Meisha’s statements, because the Internet is a surprisingly crowded place. And wouldn’t you know, she was not too pleased by them. When asked for a response to Tate’s claims during a recent interview with BloodyElbow, Ronda responded with a shake of her head and the following verbal beatdown:

It just kind of makes her sound dumb. Everyone knows that I wanted to armbar her, and there was nothing she could do to stop me, even with months of preparation. I think that proves a lot. It’s like she’s not even looking at the actual situation. I don’t know what match she was watching, to really think that. One of those pieces of advice that my mom tells me all the time is, ‘Never listen to your own press.’ The second I got out of that cage, my coach was already telling me a million things I did wrong. It just seems tome like she must be surrounded by a bunch of “yes men” all the time, saying stuff like, ‘Oh yeah, you were winning. You were totally dominating.’ If I was her, I would look at that match, look at what I did wrong, and try to fix it next time, and not be like ‘I was totally winning before I lost.’ 

Ronda went on to say that she would gladly accept a rematch with Tate, as long as it happened this weekend, and with the same referee as in their first contest. OK, so maybe those last two bits were made up.

Given Tate’s probable layoff, coupled with the general belief that Sarah Kaufman will be getting the next crack at Rousey, it doesn’t look like these two will be seeing one another in the ring anytime soon. However, I leave you with two pieces of evidence that argue that this fight should never, ever, happen again.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

-J. Jones

MMA GIF Party: All the Finishes From ‘The Ultimate Fighter Live’ Episode 1


(It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, with one lucky winner picking up a six-figure UFC contract and an immediate shot at Aaron Riley. / Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/TUF)

In case you weren’t able to watch Friday night’s marathon premiere of The Ultimate Fighter Live — or read our thoroughly detailed recap — here’s the short version: The porn-star will not be moving into the house, Jon Tuck nearly got his toe ripped off, and half of the 16 one-round fights ended via stoppage. Follow us after the jump, and we’ll show you every single one of those stoppages, in a series of GIFs courtesy of IronForgesIron. Enjoy, and let us know who you think will go all the way…


(It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, with one lucky winner picking up a six-figure UFC contract and an immediate shot at Aaron Riley. / Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/TUF)

In case you weren’t able to watch Friday night’s marathon premiere of The Ultimate Fighter Live — or read our thoroughly detailed recap — here’s the short version: The porn-star will not be moving into the house, Jon Tuck nearly got his toe ripped off, and half of the 16 one-round fights ended via stoppage. Follow us after the jump, and we’ll show you every single one of those stoppages, in a series of GIFs courtesy of IronForgesIron. Enjoy, and let us know who you think will go all the way…


(Joe Proctor def. Jordan Rinaldi via guillotine choke)


(Cristiano Marcello def. Jared Carlsten via rear-naked choke)

[VIDEO] Bob Sapp’s Backfist TKO Over Bill Mahood


Spoiler alert: It was a better punch than this one, and twice as effective. Props: Getty Images via MMAFighting.com

I guess it goes without saying, but today has been a pretty slow news day. But even if it wasn’t, I like to imagine we’d still give this our attention. When something as rare as Bob Sapp being involved in a competitive fight happens, it’s worth a few cheap laughs seconds.

Sapp headlined Super Fight League 1, which was live on Youtube earlier this morning, against robbery victim James Thompson. While weighing in for his fight against “The Colossus”, Bob Sapp landed one of the most beautiful backfists I’ve ever seen. His technique was flawless, like it was a something he had actually been practicing. Even Phil Baroni, who was on hand to introduce fighters, seemed shocked at the technique on display from “The Beast”.

Of course, it would have been far more impressive if it actually landed on James Thompson. Or if it, you know, was intentional. But it’s probably for the best that the move was an accident. If he had been trying to do that, he probably would have missed, taken a dive and immediately started tapping.


Spoiler alert: It was a better punch than this one, and twice as effective. Props: Getty Images via MMAFighting.com

I guess it goes without saying, but today has been a pretty slow news day. But even if it wasn’t, I like to imagine we’d still give this our attention. When something as rare as Bob Sapp being involved in a competitive fight happens, it’s worth a few cheap laughs seconds.

Sapp headlined Super Fight League 1, which was live on Youtube earlier this morning, against robbery victim James Thompson. While weighing in for his fight against “The Colossus”, Bob Sapp landed one of the most beautiful backfists I’ve ever seen. His technique was flawless, like it was something he had actually been practicing. Even Phil Baroni, who was on hand to introduce fighters, seemed shocked at the technique on display from “The Beast”.

Of course, it would have been far more impressive if it actually landed on James Thompson. Or if it, you know, was intentional. But it’s probably for the best that the move was an accident. If he had been trying to do that, he probably would have missed, taken a dive and immediately started tapping.

As for his actual fight against James Thompson, picture his fight against Rolles Gracie. Now imagine he had mounted an actual attack at some point during the fight. And imagine that he tapped after awkwardly landing after a takedown a little less than two minutes into the fight. Yep, that’s how he lost this time.

Also of note from the card, Jimmy Ambriz defeated Satish Jha via TKO just fourteen seconds into their bout. Your move, Todd Duffee.