Vitaly Minakov once again showed why outside of the UFC, he just might be the best heavyweight in the world. Minakov, a former Bellator champion, improved to 20-0 with a second round finish of Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in one of the featured bouts Friday at EFN-FN 68 from St. Petersburg, Russia. The 32-year-old Minakov, who […]
Vitaly Minakov once again showed why outside of the UFC, he just might be the best heavyweight in the world. Minakov, a former Bellator champion, improved to 20-0 with a second round finish of Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in one of the featured bouts Friday at EFN-FN 68 from St. Petersburg, Russia. The 32-year-old Minakov, who […]
Bellator is making some crazy moves this afternoon. According to a report via MMAJunkie, the promotion has decided to part ways with its lightweight champion Will Brooks, who is now officially a free agent. Bellator President Scott Coker had this to say concerning the former lightweight king’s release: “It was very simple,” Coker said. “Will
Bellator is making some crazy moves this afternoon. According to a report via MMAJunkie, the promotion has decided to part ways with its lightweight champion Will Brooks, who is now officially a free agent.
Bellator President Scott Coker had this to say concerning the former lightweight king’s release:
“It was very simple,” Coker said. “Will Brooks’ contract is ending, and we made a decision not to renew it. We’re going to give him a full release, so we’re not going to be in the Will Brooks business any longer.”
Brooks (18-1) was last seen in the Bellator cage successfully defending his 155-pound strap against Marcin Held in a five-round unanimous decision victory in November.
Coker also stated Brooks is a ‘great kid,’ however, he just believes continuing a relationship between the two parties would simply be a waste of both their times:
“Will is a great kid,” he said. “At the end of the day, he’s had some good fights for Bellator, but I just don’t think it’s a fit, and he should move on to the next part of his life.
I think we’re actually doing him a favor by taking this position. Now he can just move on, and we can move on, as well.
“I just think it would be a waste of time to continue this relationship and try to go through the dance of an option period and a matching period. I just think it wouldn’t have worked out anyway, so we decided today to let it go.”
Coker also revealed that the promotion would be stripping heavyweight Vitaly Minakov of his title due to inactivity.
Minakov (17-0) won the Bellator heavyweight title back in 2013 when he knocked out then-champion Alexander Volkov at Bellator 108. The Russian would make only one title defense in 2014 before contract disputes with the promotion held him out of the cage for two years now.
Since his last Bellator bout against Cheick Kongo in April of 2014, Minakov has been keeping busy with three successful finishes in the Russian Eurasia Fight Nights promotion.
Coker also mentioned that a tournament will be held to determine the next Bellator heavyweight titleholder; however,,they will keep Minakov on their roster:
“There have been a lot of things that we were told he was going to do, and so far none of them has happened yet, so we’re going to be moving forward and start looking for the next heavyweight champ,” Coker said.
“We’re going to build a series of fights that will lead to a fight to determine the next heavyweight champion for Bellator. But as far as waiting for Minakov to come back, I think we’ll be happy if he comes back, but if he doesn’t, we’re already moving on with the title.”
Stay tuned to LowKick for the latest on Minakov’s situation with Bellator, as well as where the talented Will Brooks could possibly land next.
In addition to releasing lightweight champion Will Brooks, Bellator MMA has confirmed that they have stripped heavyweight champion Vitaly Minakov of his title.
Minakov, who sports a perfect 17-0 professional MMA record, with an undefeated 5-0 run under the Bellator MMA banner, was reportedly stripped of the Bellator Heavyweight Championship due to inactivity.
Bellator MMA President Scott Coker spoke with MMAJunkie.com on Saturday afternoon regarding the company’s decision to strip Vitaly Minakov of the Bellator Heavyweight Championship.
“We’re going to retain Minakov’s rights with the company, but we are going to strip him of the title for lack of participation, basically,” Coker said. “We hope we can work it out, but we’re going to be moving on from Minakov.”
Minakov last fought on December 11, 2015, where he tapped out Josh Copeland in the second round with a kimura, however his last Bellator MMA fight came four fights ago when he defeated Cheick Kongo via five round unanimous decision back at Bellator 108 in November of 2013.
In addition to releasing lightweight champion Will Brooks, Bellator MMA has confirmed that they have stripped heavyweight champion Vitaly Minakov of his title.
Minakov, who sports a perfect 17-0 professional MMA record, with an undefeated 5-0 run under the Bellator MMA banner, was reportedly stripped of the Bellator Heavyweight Championship due to inactivity.
Bellator MMA President Scott Coker spoke with MMAJunkie.com on Saturday afternoon regarding the company’s decision to strip Vitaly Minakov of the Bellator Heavyweight Championship.
“We’re going to retain Minakov’s rights with the company, but we are going to strip him of the title for lack of participation, basically,” Coker said. “We hope we can work it out, but we’re going to be moving on from Minakov.”
Minakov last fought on December 11, 2015, where he tapped out Josh Copeland in the second round with a kimura, however his last Bellator MMA fight came four fights ago when he defeated Cheick Kongo via five round unanimous decision back at Bellator 108 in November of 2013.
Cheick Kongo failed to capture Vitaly Minakov’s Bellator heavyweight title at Bellator 115. The main event was, essentially, the only noteworthy fight on the card. It didn’t start out this way though. A welterweight tournament semfinal was supposed to take place as well, but Andrey Koreshkovsuccumbed to the flu. His fight against Sam Oropeza will be rescheduled.
A middleweight tournament semifinal bout was canceled as well. Jeremy Kimball couldn’t make weight against Dan Cramer. Not surprisingly, Bellator wasn’t able to salvage the card on such short notice. What we got was a patchwork card filled with one-off “feature fights” that meant nothing. In case you’re still interested, we’ve recapped it for you:
Cheick Kongo failed to capture Vitaly Minakov’s Bellator heavyweight title at Bellator 115. The main event was, essentially, the only noteworthy fight on the card. It didn’t start out this way though. A welterweight tournament semfinal was supposed to take place as well, but Andrey Koreshkovsuccumbed to the flu. His fight against Sam Oropeza will be rescheduled.
A middleweight tournament semifinal bout was canceled as well. Jeremy Kimball couldn’t make weight against Dan Cramer. Not surprisingly, Bellator wasn’t able to salvage the card on such short notice. What we got was a patchwork card filled with one-off “feature fights” that meant nothing. In case you’re still interested, we’ve recapped it for you:
First off, this is a catchweight bout as Johnny Cisneros missed middleweight by quite a bit (he weighed in at 193.5 pounds).
The two clinched to start off the fight. Parlo managed to land a double leg but Cisneros sprung to his feet almost as soon as he hit the ground. The two remained clinched. Parlo started to land some nice uppercuts. Cisneros separated and landed a nice uppercut of his own. Parlo clinched, then landed a stiff hook. After 30 seconds of inactivity, the two started exchanging wildly, with several punches snapping Parlo’s head back. There was another pause to the action. Parlo landed an elbow to Cisneros’ head and then took him down. Cisneros got back up, and another insane slugfest ensued. We’re talking just throwing with their eyes closed. In the chaos, Parlo hit another takedown. They were on the ground longer this time, with Parlo chilling in Cisneros’ guard. The latter fighter rose to his feet, and the same pattern of clinch-separate-wild exchange-takedown-get up-clinch-etc. played out until the first round ended.
The second round played out almost exactly like the first, except both fighters were tired now. There was more clinching and eventually Cisneros lacked the energy to return to his feet. Parlo mounted him halfway through the round, though he couldn’t do much with the position. He smothered Cisneros and landed ineffective punches for the remainder of the round.
Parlo’s dominance on the ground continued in the third frame. A wild, overly-aggressive series of punches from Cisneros opened the door for a Parlo takedown. Parlos was content to control things from half guard and mount until the fight ended. Parlo was awarded with a unanimous decision victory.
Kelly Anundson vs. Volkan Oezdemir
Anundson got floored with a leg kick to start things off, but then he landed a clean overhand right. He shots a double leg. Oezdemir sprawled and got pushed all the way back to the cage. Anundson grabbed a body lock and scored a takedown. After some scrambling, the two wound up clinched against the cage again. Oezdemir got up, and then Anundson took him down again, this time slamming him. This was the story of the first round: Anundson landing lots of takedowns and sticking to Oezdemir like animal abuse allegations stick to Michael Vick.
The second round looked like the first, only slower and lazier. I could go into detail but really there’s not much to tell. Anundson controlled Oezdemir until he took his back and sunk in a rear naked choke turned neck crank, bringing this one to an end.
On a side not, Oezdemir wins CagePotato’s official “Most Annoying Surname to Spell Award.”
Herman Terrado vs. Justin Baesman
Terrado threw a right hand and then clinched. The two grappled against the cage. They traded short knees and elbows that didn’t amount to much. Terrado went for a big knee with lots of windup but fell on his ass instead. He jumped up and threw a huge flurry of punches, as if to help was away the shame of slipping. The two clinched again. A guillotine attempt by Baesman went nowhere. Terrado took Baesman down after a lengthy bout of stalling. He advanced to mount, and then Baesman turned to his back. After a failed rear naked choke attempt, Terrado turned back to mount, and then gave up his back a second time. Terrado slipped off Baesman’s back as the round ended.
The second round was uneventful until about halfway through. At that point, Baesman took Terrado to the mat after peppering him. Terrado was clearly exhausted and not capable of defending himself. Baesman landed a series of thunderous elbows. Too many, in fact. The fight really should’ve been stopped, but it continued into the third round, which featured numerous messy grappling exchanges and a plucky armbar escape by Baesman (or embarrassing armbar failure by Terrado, depending on your perspective). In the end, the judges declared it a draw.
The heavyweight title fight started with two karmic nut shots. Minakov landed both a kick and a knee to Kongo’s package. After the second offense, referee Herb Dean deducted a point. The most significant happening was late in the first round. Kongo landed two stiff jabs. Minakov countered with a straight right that floored Kongo. Minakov tried to capitalize by going for a leg lock and failed. Nevertheless, he managed to get on top of Kongo, and finish the round in Kongo’s half guard, reigning punches down on him.
Kongo dragged Minakov to the canvas at the start of the second round. He was unable to do anything with it though. Minakov rose to his feet after about thirty seconds. Minakov pushed Kongo against the fence and landed a clean kene to the gut. Kongo tried to claim it was a nut shot but Herb Dean had none of it, thankfully. Minakov landed a straight right. The Russian was clearly the aggressor, backing Kongo up throughout most of the round. He nailed Kongo with another right which wobbled him. But on the way in, Kongo landed a huge counter left. This didn’t phase Minakov though, who immediately threw Kongo down and quickly took his back. After a few punches, he slipped off and the round ended.
A visibly gassed Minakov managed to trip Kongo at the start of round three. The next two and a half minutes were lay and pray. Minakov eventually stood up, but Kongo stayed grounded to avoid knees to the head. In a reversal of fate, Kongo managed to take Minakov down on a lazy, lazy double leg. Kongo couldn’t take advantage of the takedown. He shot for another double leg, and after a sprawl that seemed like it lasted forever, Minakov pulled off an amazing reversal and wound up on top in north south. He switched to side control but by then the round was nearly over. He did land some pretty hard shots to the body, though.
Exhausted, Minakov was unable to stop Kongo’s takedown in the beginning of round 4. He summoned the energy to stand up, only to wind up on the canvas again after another takedown. Minakov was too tired to do anything except for complain about Kongo grabbing his shorts. Herb Dean warned him like 1,000 times but never deducted a point. After prolonged inactivity, Dean stood them up. Minakov successfully landed an inside trip as the round finished (or Kongo toppled over; I couldn’t tell).
Round 5 was literally five minutes of Minakov on top of Kongo in mount and half guard. Sometimes he threw punches. Sometimes he didn’t.
After the 25 minutes were over, the judges deemed Vitaly Minakov the winner.
Here are the complete results:
Main Card
Vitaly Minakov def. Cheick Kongo via unanimous decision (48-46, 48-46, 48-46)
Herman Terrado drew Justain Baesman (29-28, 28-28, 28-28)
Kelly Anundson def. Volkan Oezdemir via submission (neck crank), 3:19 of round 2
Mikkel Parlo def. Johnny Cisneros via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Preliminary Card
Rick Reeves def. James Terry via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Freddie Aquitania def. Josh Appelt via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Sinjen Smith def. Jason Powell via submission (arm bar), 1:52 of round 1
Benito Lopez def. Oscar Ramirez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Said Hatim (center) cuts weight on a treadmill in Minsk, Belarus this week with student Andrei Arlovski (right) and coach Dino Costeas (left) | Photos via HatimStyle
MMA has come quite far in the past decade but very few fighters are featured on national television, sponsored by big companies and able to focus 100% of their energy on the sport. Many more put in the blood, sweat and tears without the bright lights or big bucks, filled with and fueled by love and an inexplicable drive to simply be a better fighter.
They hold down full-time jobs, have families and are known only to those truly in the know. They are the heart and soul of MMA.
Said Hatim is one such fighter.
—
The idea was initially proposed half-heartedly. Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski had recently booked his next fight — a main event contest on the Battle in Minsk card in his home of Belarus on Nov. 29 — and jokingly asked his Muay Thai coach Said Hatim if he also wanted to fight on the card.
Said was a pro kickboxer and boxer for years and has coached and trained with high level fighters like boxer Mike Mollo, UFC veteran Clay Guida, top Bellator featherweight Mike Corey and TUF veteran Mark Miller but his lone, albeit successful, MMA fight had taken place five years ago. Since that time, Hatim has focused on coaching and submission grappling tournaments.
Sure, he’d make the trip to Europe with Arlovski to be in his corner as he usually does, but Hatim was now 38 years old and half a decade removed from his last fight. “The Pitbull” was suggesting that Hatim add to his coaching responsibilities on fight night with his own contest against a much younger competitor. Said didn’t hesitate.
“Andrei told me that he was fighting in a main event November 29 and asked me, ‘Oh, do you want to fight too?,’” Hatim recounts to CagePotato.
“We were joking like that. I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll fight.’”
Said Hatim (center) cuts weight on a treadmill in Minsk, Belarus this week with student Andrei Arlovski (right) and coach Dino Costeas (left) | Photos via HatimStyle
MMA has come quite far in the past decade but very few fighters are featured on national television, sponsored by big companies and able to focus 100% of their energy on the sport. Many more put in the blood, sweat and tears without the bright lights or big bucks, filled with and fueled by love and an inexplicable drive to simply be a better fighter.
They hold down full-time jobs, have families and are known only to those truly in the know. They are the heart and soul of MMA.
Said Hatim is one such fighter.
—
The idea was initially proposed half-heartedly. Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski had recently booked his next fight — a main event contest on the Battle in Minsk card in his home of Belarus on Nov. 29 — and jokingly asked his Muay Thai coach Said Hatim if he also wanted to fight on the card.
Said was a pro kickboxer and boxer for years and has coached and trained with high level fighters like boxer Mike Mollo, UFC veteran Clay Guida, top Bellator featherweight Mike Corey and TUF veteran Mark Miller but his lone, albeit successful, MMA fight had taken place five years ago. Since that time, Hatim has focused on coaching and submission grappling tournaments.
Sure, he’d make the trip to Europe with Arlovski to be in his corner as he usually does, but Hatim was now 38 years old and half a decade removed from his last fight. “The Pitbull” was suggesting that Hatim add to his coaching responsibilities on fight night with his own contest against a much younger competitor. Said didn’t hesitate.
“Andrei told me that he was fighting in a main event November 29 and asked me, ‘Oh, do you want to fight too?,’” Hatim recounts to CagePotato.
“We were joking like that. I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll fight.’”
And, like that, Hatim was locked in. No, he didn’t have his opponent’s name yet. That would come and change several times in the coming weeks.
But the Morocco native had no concern for external factors like that.
“I thought it would be fun to do, and I have a house that we’re remodeling,” he says matter-of-factly about the experience and fight purse he’d get.
By day, Hatim is a sous chef for the oldest continuously operating Italian restaurant in Chicago, Italian Village. By night, Hatim is the Muay Thai instructor of Team Dino Costeas in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood.
Said is up and working by 6am in the kitchen, off to the gym for several hours of teaching by 5pm and then puts in a couple hours of his own training in afterwards before he heads to he and his wife’s new home late each night. Tonight, Said chugs an energy drink while he thinks about the double duty he’ll be pulling in about a month when he will first fight and then rush back to warm up and then corner Arlovski in his own main event bout in Belarus.
“It’s pretty interesting. I don’t know if I’m going to worry about him or myself more,” he wonders out loud.
“For me, I can’t say, ‘Oh I’m only going to worry about myself.’ I’m really going to help my boy over there for his big fight in the main event in his own home town.”
From left to right, Bellator heavyweight champ Vitaly Minakov, Dino Costeas, Said Hatim, unidentified likely Russian bad ass, Andrei Arlovski | Photo via HatimStyle
With that said, Hatim has been doing all he can to prepare himself for his own fight, against Artem Kazersky. Said has focused on conditioning and making sure that his weight is on point for the 61kg weight limit fight.
He’ll be undersized for certain in the fight. In a few weeks, Hatim will land in Minsk weighing 62kg. There will be no big weight cut the day of the fight.
Hatim adheres to the Bernard Hopkins stay-in-shape-all-year-round philosophy. And, despite giving up size, youth, home field advantage and all-around MMA experience, it’s that constant readiness that gives Said his confidence.
“You always want to stay in shape,” he says.
“You don’t know when the fight is going to happen. You could walk out of the gym and you might have to fight two guys that try to rob you. I’m always training like I’m going to fight tomorrow or even like I’ll have to fight tonight after I leave the gym. People sometimes ask me, why are you training so hard? This is me. This is how I grew up training. I want to be like this until I die. I don’t want to train easy. This is me. I want to go 100% in anything I do.”
As for fighting a Belarusian in Minsk, Hatim couldn’t care less. He also admits to not knowing much about his opponent, having recently received his name and a tape of fight footage.
“Actually, I don’t know much about him. I just received a video yesterday and I fell asleep watching it because I was so tired from training. He’s a good wrestler, I can tell,” he says.
As for fighting in front of a potentially hostile crowd with hometown judging always a possibility for his opponent, Hatim is similarly nonplussed.
“It don’t matter where you fight,” he says.
“It’s going to be a little bit harder because you’re fighting in someone else’s home town. They’ll have the crowd in their favor. Those things, though, don’t matter to me. I could fight anywhere. I could fight on the bus, on the train, in the bar. It doesn’t matter to me. If you’re a fighter, you’re a fighter. You put your hands up and you do what you do every day in the gym and that’s about it. There’s nothing new.”
Hatim’s apparent lack of stress about fighting again for the first time in years doesn’t appear to be the result of arrogance, though. His relaxed nature likely has more to do with having already fought hundreds of times before, going back to his youth, and indeed fighting his way out of poverty in Morocco.
After being granted a visa to come work in the United States, Hatim started from scratch in Chicago with no English and only his Muay Thai skills and a desperate willingness to work. He trained, got a job in a kitchen and fought.
He did all this until he worked his way up to being a chef and a kickboxing champ and coach. None of it was easy but neither was his training as a child at the gym he grew up in in his hometown of Rabat, Morocco’s capital.
There, Hatim and other students would hop steps and jump rope for so long that once or twice a year, someone’s Achilles tendon would snap. Everyone around them would continue the “warm up” and that fighter would be back a year later, after recovering, training again. On other days, the coach would load up the young fighters up in a van to run in the desert.
There was a catch. The van would dump the fighters out in the desert, miles and miles away from the gym, and drive away. Students had to run back to the gym under the North African sun before beginning their real workout for the day.
Hatim is quite aware that he could end up either winning or losing in Minsk. You’ll forgive him, however, if he isn’t daunted by the prospect of either.
Seeming almost superstitious the way many athletes are, Hatim gets a slight smile when asked if he has visualized how he thinks the fight will go.
“I do, in my head,” he says with a glimmer in his eye that betrays visions of, perhaps, knockout wins dancing in his head.
“But you’ve always got to respect the fighter that you’re going to fight. You always have to respect him. Nowadays, everyone trains hard and does whatever they can can to win the fight. Me too. I do anything I can to win a fight.
“It’s going to be a fight. If the punch goes to the face you need to be able to take it and move on. It is what it is. I’m ready for anything, is all I can tell you. Anytime.”
Said fights Friday, Nov. 29 on the Battle in Minsk undercard. Then, he will corner Andrei Arlovski in the main event.
(Rampage intimidates Beltran while Bjorn Rebney continues to do his best Dana White impression. / Image via Sherdog)
Bellator 108 had the potential to be a disaster for the perennial runner-up promotion, but it wasn’t. All of the main card fights were exciting, first-round finishes. And, most importantly, the right guy won the main event.
Here’s the event recap, from bottom to top:
On the prelims, Bellator’s 6’6″ English light heavyweight prospect Liam McGeary advanced to 6-0. He’s raw but, from what we’ve seen so far, also quite talented and diverse. If he were in the UFC, there’d be dozens of “Is Liam McGeary the man to beat Jones in 2014?” articles written by now.
UFC and strikeforce veteran Nah-Shon Burrell won a forgettable unanimous decision against a guy named Jesus Martinez who also had a Jesus tattoo. Awesome.
Two other UFC vets were featured on the prelims: Tom DeBlass and Jason Lambert. The fight between them was short. DeBlass scored a walk-off KO with a devastating hook early in the first round.
The main card started with the featherweight tournament final between Bellator mainstray Patricio “Pitbull” Freire vs. Justin Wilcox. Pitbull finished Wilcox in the first round in largely uncompetitive fight. Every one of Freire’s frequently-landed punches seemed to rock Wilcox, who eventually succumbed to the Brazilian’s flurries. This was the second time Freire has won the Bellator featherweight tournament.
Read on to learn about the specifics of Rampage’s victory as well as of the Bellator heavyweight title fight.
(Rampage intimidates Beltran while Bjorn Rebney continues to do his best Dana White impression. / Image via Sherdog)
Bellator 108 had the potential to be a disaster for the perennial runner-up promotion, but it wasn’t. All of the main card fights were exciting, first-round finishes. And, most importantly, the right guy won the main event.
Here’s the event recap, from bottom to top:
On the prelims, Bellator’s 6’6″ English light heavyweight prospect Liam McGeary advanced to 6-0. He’s raw but, from what we’ve seen so far, also quite talented and diverse. If he were in the UFC, there’d be dozens of “Is Liam McGeary the man to beat Jones in 2014?” articles written by now.
UFC and strikeforce veteran Nah-Shon Burrell won a forgettable unanimous decision against a guy named Jesus Martinez who also had a Jesus tattoo. Awesome.
Two other UFC vets were featured on the prelims: Tom DeBlass and Jason Lambert. The fight between them was short. DeBlass scored a walk-off KO with a devastating hook early in the first round.
The main card started with the featherweight tournament final between Bellator mainstray Patricio “Pitbull” Freire vs. Justin Wilcox. Pitbull finished Wilcox in the first round in a largely uncompetitive fight. Every one of Freire’s frequently-landed punches seemed to rock Wilcox, who eventually succumbed to the Brazilian’s flurries. This was the second time Freire has won the Bellator featherweight tournament.
Then the card moved onto Marcos Galvao vs. Tom McKenna. Galvao, a BJJ ace, smothered McKenna, cut him open, and finished him via TKO near the end of the first round. Thought it seemed like a piss-break match (it was the least-significant fight of the night yet it was sandwiched between two important fights rather than at the beginning of the card), it was an enjoyable fight to watch.
A Bellator heavyweight title fight was the night’s co-main event, which is telling. A has-been former UFC champ facing a never-was UFC reject took top billing over a match for a “world” title. Champion Alexander Volkov met fellow Russian Vitaly Minakov. The fight started with brief fireworks, then went into a lull after which Minakov floored Volkov and finished the champ with strikes. It was all over in a round.
Rampage Jackson fought late-replacement Joey Beltran in the main event. Despite being a little doughy (the fight was at a catchweight of 210 rather than 205), Jackson didn’t look as bad as the MMA world thought he would. He was a little quicker than in his previous outings, threw a few kicks, and landed some great knees. There were bouts of stalling and clinching for the latter half of the first round, but Rampage eventually landed a flurry that floored Beltran, prompting a stoppage right as the bell rang. One of the night’s highlights came after the fight, during Rampage’s post-fight promo. He was trying to take the mic from Jimmy Smith, who refused to acquiesce all the while you could hear someone screaming “DON’T LET HIM TAKE IT,” at the top of their lungs. It was about as awkward as that time Dana White reprimanded Colton Smith for ignoring the Harley-Davidson rep when he won a motorcycle.
Overall? Not bad. The fights were optimized for the casual fans (quick TKO finishes) and, for the first time in a while, something went right for Bellator: Rampage won his fight in convincing fashion. And the card he was on, one that was likely to draw more eyes than others, was entertaining. The fights might actually want to make people watch another Bellator show in the future.
But the biggest issue after Bellator 108 is what they’ll will do with Rampage now. He’s likely to high-profile for a tournament, yet they’ll compromise their integrity (like that matters) if they gift Rampage a title shot. Bellator’s future will be interesting, to say the least.
Complete results:
Main Card:
Quinton Jackson def. Joey Beltran via TKO (punches), 4:59 of Round 1
Vitaly Minakov def. Alexander Volkov via TKO (punches), 2:57 of Round 1
Marcos Galvao def. Tom McKenna via TKO (punches), 4:29 of Round 1
Patricio Freire def. Justin Wilcox via TKO (punches), 2:23 of Round 1
Preliminary Card:
Sam Oropeza def. Chip Moraza-Pollard via TKO (punches), 0:37 of Round 1
Tom DeBlass def. Jason Lambert via KO (punch), 1:45 of Round 1
Nah-Shon Burrell def. Jesus Martinez via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Anthony Morrison def. Kenny Foster via majority decision (28-28, 29-27, 30-26)
Liam McGeary def. Nahim Wali via submission (armbar), 1:31 of Round 1
Will Martinez def. Kevin Rodday via submission (rear naked choke), 3:50 of Round 1
Dan Matala def. Ryan Cafaro via TKO (strikes), 3:52 of Round 2
Rob Sullivan def. Sergio da Silva via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
