Bellator held it’s first extremely lackluster summer series fight card tonight with Bellator 121. We take a lot of heat for being negative, but this card warrants the hate. It was easily the worst card (on-paper) Bellator has put on in ages.
Bellator held it’s first extremely lackluster summer series fight card tonight with Bellator 121. We take a lot of heat for being negative, but this card warrants the hate. It was easily the weakest card (on-paper) Bellator has put on in ages.
Sokoudjou controlled the fight against the doughy Davinney. He was taken down at one point, but managed to sweep Davinney after a minute or two and then finish him with a rear-naked choke (GIF via Zombie Prophet). Not a ton to say about this. It was a textbook squash match but it lacked highlight reel splendor.
Now, Eric Prindle vs. James Thompson. That fight was marketed as King Kong vs. Godzilla and bacon vs. chocolate. It wasn’t. Thompson took Prindle down with comical ease. A few soft ground-and-pound punches (GIF via Zombie Prophet) later and it was over. Nothing special or exciting–save for Thompson’s incomprehensible (but incredible) post fight interview. He talked about a guy having only one testicle. No joke. Watch it for yourself, it was without a doubt the highlight of the night.
In case you’re interested, here are the complete results for the card:
Main Card
Philipe Lins def. Austen Heidlage via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:45
James Thompson def. Eric Prindle via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:55
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou def. Terry Davinney via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:16
Egidijus Valavicius def. Carlos Eduardo via split-decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28) – Round 3, 5:00
Preliminary Card
Joe Vedepo def. Cortez Coleman via majority decision (28-28, 29-27, 29-27) – Round 3, 5:00
Kelly Anundson def. Rodney Wallace via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27) – Round 3, 5:00
Ray Sloan def. Jamelle Jones via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 0:48
Robert McDaniel def. Matt Jones via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27) – Round 3, 5:00
Steve Garcia def. Cody Walker via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:39
William Florentino def. Guillermo Martinez Ayme via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28) – Round 3, 5:00
(I love the serious, half-bored expressions on the Japanese fans’ faces, as if Giant Silva vs. James Thompson is something totally normal that happens all the time. / Photo via Sherdog)
To put it another way — Bellator isn’t the best MMA league in the world, but it has the potential to be the craziest, and that makes it undeniably compelling. The promotion surely recognizes this, which could help explain the new signings of MMA freak-show veterans Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and James Thompson. Both fighters have been added to the main card of Bellator 121, June 6th at the Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma (aka, the event that just lost its legitimate headliner).
After the jump: Videos of Sokoudjou and Thompson beating the crap out of Bob Sapp.
(I love the serious, half-bored expressions on the Japanese fans’ faces, as if Giant Silva vs. James Thompson is something totally normal that happens all the time. / Photo via Sherdog)
To put it another way — Bellator isn’t the best MMA league in the world, but it has the potential to be the craziest, and that makes it undeniably compelling. The promotion surely recognizes this, which could help explain the new signings of MMA freak-show veterans Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and James Thompson. Both fighters have been added to the main card of Bellator 121, June 6th at the Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma (aka, the event that just lost its legitimate headliner).
After the jump: Videos of Sokoudjou and Thompson beating the crap out of Bob Sapp.
(Sokoudjou vs. Bob Sapp, DREAM.11, 10/6/09. Listen to Lenne Hardt’s introduction of Sapp from 1:15-1:30. Damn, I’m getting kind of emotional over here.)
(James Thompson vs. Bob Sapp, Super Fight League 1, 3/11/12)
Tomorrow night in Georgia, former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold returns to the Octagon for the first time since having his face kicked into space by Vitor Belfort at UFC on FX 8 last May. Although Belfort was coming off a blistering head kick KO of Michael Bisping at UFC on FX 7, many were still picking and betting on Rockhold to defeat “The Phenom” in his UFC debut, and the betting line surprisingly closed as a pick ‘em.
Things didn’t go Rockhold’s way that night, to say the least. In hindsight it’s not such a bad loss considering what Belfort did to iron-chinned Dan Henderson in his next bout, but it was still incredibly disappointing for the highly-touted Californian to be knocked out in less than five minutes when — on paper at least — the fight with Belfort should have been much more competitive.
Of course, Rockhold isn’t the first UFC fighter who fell short of expectations in his Octagon debut. The question is, will he rebound in his second fight, or fall deeper into “bust” territory? Read on for our list of eight other fighters who didn’t live up to the hype in their first UFC appearances, and let us know if we’ve left out any notable disappointments.
After the IFL collapsed, the promotion’s former heavyweight champion Ben Rothwell made his way over to the UFC and debuted against fast-rising contender Cain Velasquez at UFC 104. Although Rothwell’s aura of invincibility had been cracked by Andrei Arlovski’s limbs at Affliction: Banned the previous summer, there was still hope that he could get back to his winning ways and make a run for the UFC heavyweight title.
But against Velasquez, it was clear that Rothwell was thoroughly outclassed by a far superior mixed martial artist, and “Big Ben” suffered the second true knockout loss of his career. In hindsight, it’s not surprising that Rothwell couldn’t hang with Velasquez, the current UFC heavyweight champion, but at the time it was a harsh reality check for those hardcore MMA fans who believed in Rothwell after his IFL run.
Tomorrow night in Georgia, former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold returns to the Octagon for the first time since having his face kicked into space by Vitor Belfort at UFC on FX 8 last May. Although Belfort was coming off a blistering head kick KO of Michael Bisping at UFC on FX 7, many were still picking and betting on Rockhold to defeat “The Phenom” in his UFC debut, and the betting line surprisingly closed as a pick ‘em.
Things didn’t go Rockhold’s way that night, to say the least. In hindsight it’s not such a bad loss considering what Belfort did to iron-chinned Dan Henderson in his next bout, but it was still incredibly disappointing for the highly-touted Californian to be knocked out in less than five minutes when — on paper at least — the fight with Belfort should have been much more competitive.
Of course, Rockhold isn’t the first UFC fighter who fell short of expectations in his Octagon debut. The question is, will he rebound in his second fight, or fall deeper into “bust” territory? Read on for our list of eight other fighters who didn’t live up to the hype in their first UFC appearances, and let us know if we’ve left out any notable disappointments.
After the IFL collapsed, the promotion’s former heavyweight champion Ben Rothwell made his way over to the UFC and debuted against fast-rising contender Cain Velasquez at UFC 104. Although Rothwell’s aura of invincibility had been cracked by Andrei Arlovski’s limbs at Affliction: Banned the previous summer, there was still hope that he could get back to his winning ways and make a run for the UFC heavyweight title.
But against Velasquez, it was clear that Rothwell was thoroughly outclassed by a far superior mixed martial artist, and “Big Ben” suffered the second true knockout loss of his career. In hindsight, it’s not surprising that Rothwell couldn’t hang with Velasquez, the current UFC heavyweight champion, but at the time it was a harsh reality check for those hardcore MMA fans who believed in Rothwell after his IFL run.
For years, North American fans were hoping and praying for Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto to make his way over to the WEC and fight the other top bantamweights in the world. “KID” never fought in the WEC, but after the UFC swallowed up the promotion and transferred their fighters over to the Octagon, the Japanese superstar got his shot at the big show and took on Demetrious Johnson at UFC 126.
But although Yamamoto was a 2-to-1 favorite over Johnson, he was outwrestled by Johnson and ended up losing a very disappointing three-round decision. Yamamoto then followed that up with two more losses to Darren Uyenoyama and Vaughan Lee, and when you think about how bad he looked in all three bouts, it’s clear Yamamoto wasn’t the same guy who was knocking dudes out left, right and center in Japan. Not even close.
Anthony Pettis had just won the last-ever WEC championship with his highlight-reel showtime kick against Benson Henderson at WEC 53 and had earned his way into a UFC title fight against the winner of UFC 125’s Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard II. But when Edgar and Maynard fought to a draw, UFC president Dana White told Pettis to take another fight and at the TUF 13 Finale he took on veteran Clay Guida in a fight most expected him to dominate.
But despite Pettis’s flashy striking and Guida’s love of standing and banging with his opponents, “The Carpenter” was able to use a smart wrestling gameplan against Pettis, scoring takedowns and sitting in top control long enough to get the judges’ decision. It was a poor performance by Pettis and he had to win three more fights before he finally got his UFC title shot, but when finally got his crack at the belt he made the most of it, with a submission win over Benson Henderson at UFC 164.
Jake Shields had won 14 fights in a row and was coming off a gigantic win over Dan Henderson to retain the Strikeforce middleweight championship when the UFC decided to sign him and put him on the fast track to a title shot. For his first fight, Shields would take on top contender Martin Kampmann at UFC 121, and the winner would earn a fight against UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.
Despite Shields being a sizeable favorite heading into the match, Kampmann and Shields grappled back-and-forth for 15 minutes, and at the end of three rounds it was tough to say who had won. Although many thought Kampmann did enough to secure the victory, Shields ended up getting his hand raised by split-decision. But while the fight went down as a win on his record, it didn’t help him win any fans in his Octagon debut, as his bout with Kampmann was a total snoozer — something that nearly all of Shields’s UFC fights have ended up being.
("I’m sorry, what was your name again?" PicProps: Sherdog)
Thank God that Josh Barnett only did a couple of the things he threatened to do to Geronimo dos Santos at Impact FC in Brisbane last night. Despite his threats to the contrary, …
("I’m sorry, what was your name again?" PicProps: Sherdog)
Thank God that Josh Barnett only did a couple of the things he threatened to do to Geronimo dos Santos at Impact FC in Brisbane last night. Despite his threats to the contrary, reports from Sherdog’s Jordan Breen – who was cageside for the event — indicate that Barnett’s short-and-sweet win over dos Santos in the main event of the upstart Australian promotion went strictly according to the unified rules. And no, that is not a euphemism.
The former UFC heavyweight champion took his enormo Brazilian opponent down and achieved full mount twice during the 2 minute, 45 second contest and eventually used a barrage of strikes from behind dos Santos to force John McCarthy to call the fight. Dos Santos attempted to protest the stoppage, but reportedly failed the “What the fuck is your problem?” test with his unsure, rubbery legs.
Fellow UFC castoffs Karo Parisyan, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and Jeff Monson also recorded wins, while former champion Carlos Newton lost an ugly fight to Brian Ebersole.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/ProMMNow)
Heavyweight standout Dave "Pee Wee" Herman spoke to ProMMANow recently and discussed his contract dispute with Bellator and legal arbitration he has been involved in with the organization.
"Well…
(Video courtesy of YouTube/ProMMNow)
Heavyweight standout Dave "Pee Wee" Herman spoke to ProMMANow recently and discussed his contract dispute with Bellator and legal arbitration he has been involved in with the organization.
"Well. I don’t really know what to say; I just have court. They were pretty much in breach of contract and I followed the contract and let ’em know and they were just like ‘no’. It reminds me of the time I tried to break up with my girlfriend. We’re dating and I’m like, ‘Pfft…This relationship just isn’t working; we’re done.’ She was like, ‘We’re not done. We’re still going out.’ I was like, ‘Man, what to I say to that? I don’t know.’"
