Bellator 63 preview

Bellator returns tonight, and hopefully it will continue its trend of promoting outstanding fights in a tournament format.

Unfortunately this event was not immune to fighter pull-outs, as Brian Foster was unable to recieve medical clearance for his wight with David Rickels, robbing the event of one of its more promising fights. Nevertheless, there are still plenty of intriguing tournament match-ups, beginning with the welterweight debut of  Frenchman Karl Amoussou against Chris Lozano.

Amoussou has a stoppage laden record, and always comes to finish, though his record is far from mind-blowing to this point. Hopefully a drop to 170 pounds will give him a bit of an advantage with his style of relentlessly attacking his opponent with strikes. Lozano bowed out of the season 5 tournament at the semi-final stage, though only after a loss to eventual winner Douglas Lima. He has many wins by KO, though Amoussou should be tough to finish. This should be a fun fight between two fighters who like to bang.

Last year’s tournament finalist and UFC veteran Ben Saunders begins another Bellator tournament run against Raul ‘Smash Mode’ Amaya. Saunders was cut from the UFC after some defeats to high-level competition and accusations of sub-par wrestling. While it is true that his wrestling may not be great, but it is probably a bit better than he is given credit for. I hardly think it is fair to criticize him for being unable to stop a Jon Fitch takedown and GnP assault for example. Saunders uses his reach well to hit opponents from a distance and set up a lethal clinch attack which has proved absolutely devastating in the past. If he can start to unleash the kind of knees that he stopped Brandon Wolff and Marcus Davis with in the UFC, he should be far too much for his opponent. Amaya has a glossy undefeated record full of stoppages, but he has never faced anyone of Saunders’ calibre and I would be surprised to see him win.

Brian Baker is another fighter moving down in weight, and he will be a HUGE welterweight. He has had plenty of success in Bellator and the WEC, though he has fallen short in the final, and semi-finals in his previous Bellator tournament campaigns. He has a lot of power in his punches, and if he can keep his performance level up to his previous standards after a further drop in weight, he should justify himself as the favourite in this fight. Carlos Pereira  should not be underestimated though. Fighting out of the Nova Uniao team, he has had a winning run of 15-2 with a considerable amount of wins by KO. Like many of his team-mates, he attacks with a fan-friendly style, throwing fast-paced, multi-limbed combinations, and 22 KOs in 30 wins demonstrates his success. However, these wins have largely come against lower level Brazilian opposition, and I do expect him to get caught by Baker if he gets a little wild with his strikes, something that is not unheard of for a Brazilian striker, and was particularly evident in Pereira’s loss to Siyar Bahadurzada.

Full fight line up below.

Main Card

Karl Amoussou vs. Chris Lozano – welterweight tournament quarter-final
Bryan Baker vs. Carlos Pereira – welterweight tournament quarter-final
David Rickels vs. Jordan Smith – welterweight tournament quarter-final
Raul Amaya vs. Ben Saunders – welterweight tournament quarter-final

Prelims

Parker Porter vs. Randy Smith – heavyweight bout
Ryan Quinn  vs. Marc Stevens – 165 pound catchweight bout
Saul Almeida  vs. Matt Bessette – featherweight bout
Andrey Koreshkov vs. Taiwan Howard – welterweight bout
Dan Cramer vs. Jeff Nader – middleweight bout
Marianna Kheyfets vs. Munah Holland – women’s flyweight bout
Pete Rogers vs. Brandon Fleming – featherweight bout

TUF Brazil season preview

Yet more pearls of wisdom from James Toney

Box for two decades and end up speaking like this.

Steven Seagal, trainer extraordinaire

No matter how many times Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva claim that he does, I refuse to believe that sensei Steven Seagal has ANYTHING to do with their success in MMA.

The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil – Wanderlei has a super-sized cup

The first episode of the Ultimate Fighter: Brazil is online, and can be viewed here. Its basically highlights of the 16 qualifying fights in the middleweight and featherweight divisions, with an all Brazilian cast, and it is very entertaining.

Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva both seem very natural at giving their thoughts on the fights, and come across as extremely charismatic and likeable. The moment where Wanderlei hinted aat his massive piece of action slayed me. It remains to be seen whether they will remain cool and jovial for the entire season, or begin getting aggressive at each other. Lest we forget, the two men will be fighting each other at the next UFC event in Rio, and it is well documented that they do not like each other.

The same can be said for most of the fighters so far. unlike their American counterparts, they all seem humble and respectful, but lively at the same time. Having spent a couple of sessions at Brazilian Top Team last year this is not surprising to me. It is a wonder any Brazilian fighters get any training done with the amount of fun they always seem to be having making fun and laughing at each other.

With that said, I am sure there will be plenty of confrontation in TUF hose too. Brazil has a pretty macho culture, which often results in tempers flaring at the slightest of comments. Putting two teams of competing fighters in the same house is bound to result in some beef. Whatever happens in the house, I’m sure the fights will be something to look forward to. They did not disappoint in qualifying, that’s for sure.

The full list of qualifying round results are listed below

Featherweights

Rony Mariano def. Dileno Lopes by TKO Round 1
Godofredo de Oliveira def. Johnny Goncalves by Submission (Triangle Choke) Round 1
Hugo Viana def. Alexandre Ramos by TKO Round 1
Rodrigo Damm def. Fabricio Guerreiro by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) Round 2
Wagner Campos def. Fernando Guerra by Decision
Anistavio Medeiros def. Rafael Bueno by Decision
John Teixeira def. Giovanni Souza Jr. by Submission (Armbar) Round 1
Marcos Vinicius Pancini def. Peter Noble by TKO Round 1

Middleweights:

Francisco Drinaldo def. Charles Maicon by TKO Round 1
Cezar Ferreira def. Gustavo Sampaio by Submission (Guillotine Choke) Round 2
Daniel Sarafian def. Richardson Moreira by Decision
Sergio Moraes def. Thiago Rela by Submission (Heel Hook) Round 1
Thiago Perpetuo def. Joao Paulo De Souza by Decision
Delson Heleno def. Gilberto Galvao by Decision
Renee Forte def. Fabio Bolinho by Decision
Leonardo Mafra Teixeira def. Samuel Trindade by Decision

The Ultimate Fighter Live: Cruz vs Faber Episode 3 recap

This season of The Ultimate Fighter Live: Cruz vs. Faber is firmly under way now, and Team Cruz has begun to establish a little bit of dominance over team Faber. Justin Lawrence became the second Team Cruz member to win a round-of-16round fight, and did so by eliminating one of Team Faber’s top picks, Brazilian jiu jitsu master Cristian Marcello.

It was obvious that Marcello was going to be able to find success on the ground, so Team Faber’s goal was to make sure he could avoid getting hurt on the feet  before he could take Lawrence to the mat. Team Cruz was definitely focused on making sure Lawrence was ready for Marcello’s arsenal of jiu jitsu takedowns, which are quite different to the kind of wrestling takedowns that Lawrence was used to.

Faber and his coaches had attempted to drill the idea into Marcello’s head that keeping his chin down and guard up was of vital importance in this fight, as he wouldn’t be hurt by Lawrence’s punches if he maintained a good defence. Unfortunately, Marcello is 34, and has been fighting for many years. If a fighter has developed a bad habit over that period of time, it is very diffficult to correct, especially in just one week. It was obvious that Marcello could be hurt with Lawrence’s dangerous left hook as he constantly backed up and left his chin up in the air, instead of circling away with his chin down.

Marcello did actually have some success standing with Lawrence, but as he began to tire in the second round, his lacklustre defence and Lawrence’s superior striking meant that the eventual KO was inevitable.

I still can’t understand why Marcello did not take this fight to the ground. So often in MMA, we see jiu jitsu masters such as Damien Maia and Gabriel Gonzaga lose fights because they want to stand and bang rather than grapple, and that was the case here. Marcello had clearly lost the first round, and was clearly losing the second, so surely it would have been in his best interest to at least try and take the fight to the mat where he would have had an overwhelming advantage.

Justin Lawrence marches on, though he certainly looks more fallible than his qualifying fight suggested. However, he does look to have a great set of skills in several areas, and hopefully more time in the house will help him develop into a true prospect. Despite his elimination, Team Faber have an asset in Cristiano Marcello, he has trained champions such as ‘Shogun’ and ‘The Axe Murderer’ Wanderlei Silva in the past, and his expertise will be invaluable helping his other team-mates prepare for their fights. It appears that he has formed something of a friendship with Newcastle’s own Andy Ogle, which can only be beneficial to the young Geordie’s development.

At the end of the show, the next fight was announced, and Team Cruz’s Myles Jury will fight Team Faber’s Al Iaquinta in a battle of two highly fancied contestants.

Note – many people may not have seen the fight announcement if they recorded the show as it ran over-time. AGAIN. How does this show keep going beyond its planned running time? Everyone knows that the fight could be up to 15 minutes, and they should construct the rest of the show accordingly. The fact that neither fight so far has gone even 2 rounds, yet they run over 60 minutes is quite incredible. That aside viewers were treated to another great fight, and I guess that’s all that matters in the long tun.

Silva vs. Sonnen II confirmed for UFC 147!

Finally, UFC.com has confirmed that the much anticipated rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen will take place at The Estádio Olímpico João Havelange in Rio on June 23rd. The stadium was used for the 2007 Pan-American Games, and is due to be the home of athletics for the 2016 Olympics. It is currently home to Botafogo of the Brazilian first division and has a capacity of 46,931 for football matches. There is no word on what the capacity will be for UFC 147, but the attendance is expected to be a UFC record, breaking the 55,000 person target set in Toronto last year.

I’ve actually been to a match between Flamengo and Coritiba at this stadium, and the atmosphere was incredible, despite the fact there was only 30,000 at the ground. I can’t even begin to imagine what a 55,000+ audience will be like for what could be the most anticipated rematch in MMA history. I for one, cannot wait.

UFC 147 will also feature a heavyweight fight between Fabricio Werdum and Mike Russow, a showdown of TUF Brazil coaches as Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva face off, and the finals of the first series of TUF Brazil.

Bellator 62 results and highlights – Woodard upsets ‘Pitbull’

On Friday night Bellator delivered yet another set of fantastic fights, in which 4 fighters advanced to the semi-finals of the lightweight tournament.

In the first fight, an entertaining back-and-forth battle took place thanks to a classic striker vs. grappler dynamic. Thiago Mitchel did enough with his kickboxing to get the split decision nod over Rene Nazare. It says a lot for quality of the fights on Friday that despite the action taking place in this fight, this was probably the lest remarkable of the lightweight tournament quarter-finals.

The second fight was incident packed, as Brent Weeedman had the opportunity to finish J J. Ambrose early on after he dropped him in the opening seconds of their fight. Bizarrely, he chose not to pounce on Ambrose, and looked like he might regret that decision when he was in danger himself shortly after. However, he managed to survive Ambrose’s submission attempt. Later, Weedman had Ambrose rocked with mouthguard-ejecting up-kick, and he finished the fight with a nice Von-Flue choke.

Rick Hawn made a successful lightweight debut and scored the KO of the night against Ricardo Tirloni that was featured as the Bellator ‘moment’ on the promotion’s youtube channel.

Finally, the headlining fight between Patricky Pitbull and Lloyd Woodard absolutely stole the show as both men put on an absolute war for nearly 7 minutes. This fight was absolutely incredible and well worth taking the time to watch. Both fighters spent half of the first round swinging for the fences and dropping each other with several power shots. Overall Woodard probably had the best of the round by keeping pressure on Pitbull and giving him no room to manoeuvre for an extended stretch of the first round. This was exactly how Michael Chandler was able to get the better of Pitbull last year.

They continued in a similar fashion in the second round, throwing BOMBS at each other, abandoning all defence and looking for the decisive shot that would close the show. A massive knee from Woodard signalled the beginning of the end as Woodard was able to lock in a kimura. Pitbull fought back and was able to sweep Woodard in a similar fashion to the Mir/Nog II fight, but just like in that fight, another reversal immediately followed, and an arm-breaking kimura forced the tap. What a fight.

Bellator is really making up for the 6 week gap in UFC events with some great shows featuring some fantastic fights. In my eyes it has firmly established itself as the number 2 MMA promotion in the world.

Full results below.

Main Card

Lloyd Woodard def. Patricky “Pitbull” Freire via submission (kimura) – Round 2, 1:46 – lightweight-tournament quarter-final
Rick Hawn def. Ricardo Tirloni via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:36 – lightweight-tournament quarter-final
Brent Weedman def. J.J. Ambrose via submission (Von Flue choke) – Round 2, 3:26 – lightweight-tournament quarter-final
Thiago Michel def. Rene Nazare via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) – lightweight-tournament quarter-final

Prelims

Luis Vega def. Sonny Luque via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 1, 3:43
Chris Jones def. Steven Peterson via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
Dave Jansen def. Jacob Kirwan via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Rad Martinez def. Douglas Frey via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:08
Sean Spencer def. Joseph Daily via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:24

Bellator 62 tonight!

The third event of Bellator’s sixth season takes place tonight, though just like last week the heavyweight tournament final main event has been scrapped. Thiago Santos missed weight by 12 pounds, so Bellator have awarded Eric Prindle the $100,000 tournament prize and the chance to get beaten up by Cole Konrad for the Bellator heavyweight belt, presumably later this season.

Because of this heavyweight debacle, the main card will once again be made up of tournament fights, this time in the lightweight division. The favourite for the competition has to be last season’s losing finalist Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Friere. He followed up his loss to tournament winner, and current Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler by scoring an impressively quick KO win over long-time UFC contender Kurt Pellegrino. Fireire is a savege, adn the prospect of a 5 round fight with Chandler for the title once this tournament wraps up is appealing in the extreme. As an example of what he’s capable of, here is Freire’s Ko of Toby Imada in the semi-final of last year’s tournament.

Also competing are fighters from last season’s welterweight tournament, Brent Weedman, and finalist Rick Hawn. Bracket permitting, all logic points towards a Freire/Hawn final, but with the uncertainty of a drop in weight for Hawn, and the potential for anything to happen in an MMA fight, this is far from a grantee. The full tournament line-up is listed below, along with the line-ip of preliminary fights.

Main Card

Patricky “Pitbull” Freire vs. Lloyd Woodard – lightweight tournament quarter-final
Rick Hawn vs. Ricardo Tirloni – lightweight tournament quarter-final
Thiago Michel vs. Rene Nazare – lightweight tournament quarter-final
J.J. Ambrose vs. Brent Weedman – lightweight tournament quarter-final

Prelims

Sonny Luque vs. Luis Vega
Steven Peterson vs. Chris Jones
Joseph Daily vs. Sean Spencer
Dave Jansen vs. Jacob Kirwan
Douglas Frey vs. Rad Martinez

UFC 145: Jones vs. Evans Extended preview

The hype for one of the biggest fight of the year has started. It’s weeks away yet, but the anticipation for this fight should be feverish by the time it comes around.

Pretty much because they have to, the UFC has small previews for two other main card fights in this video. Poor old Che Mills. Even without an intimate knowledge of the UFC you can tell he’s being brought into this fight as cannon fodder for Rory MacDonald. Highlights of just one fight, British, fighting a Canadian in Canada (who happens to be a good wrestler). The prospects are bleak. I’d love it if he could score the upset though.

Also featured is a heavyweight fight between Brendan Schaub and Ben Rothwell which I’m sure most people are struggling to care about.