Wouldn't shock me if it's some kind of silly publicity stunt and Rampage and 50 Cent will "fight" in a music video or something. Or maybe 50 Cent will make a new track for Bellator.
Wouldn't shock me if it's some kind of silly publicity stunt and Rampage and 50 Cent will "fight" in a music video or something. Or maybe 50 Cent will make a new track for Bellator.
King Mo was talkin mad shit about Bader and wound up getting knocked out in 15 seconds for his trash talk.
50 Cent made a blind bet on Mo, and there's a video of him checking Bader's record after making the bet and expressing concern. I wonder why he would just automatically assume it was Mo's fight without researching first?
In the countdown video, 50 Cent (or some rep of his, can't remember) calls Bader and then cancels his "$250,000 bet" on Mo. It's in episode 2 or 3 of the Bellator 199 countdown.
0:20:
Last edited by OD50; May 15th, 2018 at 5:07 AM.
Because that's what celebrities do. "Oh shit homey, King Mo, that dude looks fresh, let me put 250k on that super fly lookin ninja he gonna beat that white boy into next year!" I mean, have you heard Snoop Dogg commentate on MMA? Hideous. I don't care if it's a joke or not that dude is a fool lol.Originally Posted by Mark Hammer
I was leaning more towards he's just a racist. He also put out a video saying Conor McGregor was good "for a white boy". I'd pay good money to see fat Rampage knock him out.
And yes, Snoop Dogg is super cringey.
Oh yeah I am too I just wanted to post a longer version of "He's racist" lol.
That's all it was. He saw a black dude named King and thought it was in the bag.
Lawal says he's dropping to MW after getting bounced by Bader so quickly.
Should have done this to start his career. At 37, well, best of luck I guess.
I agree. I mean, I can't argue with the success he's had in MMA but MW should have been in the cards a long time ago.
Ya, I hate to be all hindsight-y about it now, but you can just look up and down most guys and slot them accordingly.
At 5'11, walking around at 217 lbs, with a 79 in reach and a fit but not particularly huge build.
And he was the number one ranked 185 lb US wrestler for years, right up until his MMA debut.
Could have had an entirely different career arc.
I've also noticed a lot of wrestlers tend to fight at a higher weight class. Brandon Vera I think was wrestling at like 190lbs and then he debuts as a HW, moves down to LHW, and now he's back to killing people at HW.
Who knows, maybe they get sick of that brutal weight cutting and want to eat some pizza and donuts more often lol.
But I do think King Mo would be somewhat of the exception to all of that. He's not Pat Barry, a stout HW who probably would look like a cancer patient if he fought at 185.
Aren't these peeps like 17-20 when they wrestle in high school/college? Probably a lot easier to cut to lower weight classes at that age. Then you have Ronda who competed at 154'ish in the Olympics and 135-145 in MMA.
Lawal was 27 in 2008 when he last competed as a 185 lb wrestler. He made his MMA debut in Sept. of 2008.
Lawal also competed at -96 kilos (212 lbs) quite a bit. Not arguing that he probably should have fought at MW and perhaps dabbled at LHW though.
Him fighting HW gave me another CC highlight though..
Bader has a sneaky great resume. Rampage, 2x Davis, 2x Lil Nog, Latifi, Rashad, King Mo, OSP, Jardine, Cavalcante, The Janitor. Getting finished 3 times within 3 minutes hurts him, as well as 2 other stoppage losses, but he's had an excellent career. If he wins this tournament he could name his price to return to the UFC considering the lack of contenders at 205. If not, he's got a bunch of guys to go through in terms of legacy fights - Mir, Fedor/Sonnen loser, Wand, Rampage, Liddell(!), Ortiz rematch(!), Kongo. He could end up like 33-5 within 3 years, 25 wins in a recognised top company, 2 weight World champion etc. Or he could get banged out by Mitrione and go on a slope.
How is Mitrione's wrestling? He hasn't really fought any solid wrestlers as far as I can remember. His size and power should be trouble for Bader on the feet. Didn't Bader get dropped by Tito before the guillotine or am I remember that wrong? It's been a minute. Getting dropped by Tito Ortiz is never a good thing.
/Ok, rewatched the finish and he actually gets dropped by a CM Punk style right hand from Tito..
Of the the guys left in the tourney you have to think Sonnen would be pretty easy pickings for Bader. Smaller wrestler with pretty bad striking and not much power. Mitrione and Fedor could definitely connect and end Bader's night.
Last edited by OD50; May 15th, 2018 at 2:09 PM.
Mitrione was taken down by Roy Nelson. I know there's a weight difference but if Roy can get him down Bader can. Bader's fight smarts have improved since he got into that brawl with Glover - he seldom takes risks anymore and while that's given us dull fights at points he's hardly been touched since. Rumble overwhelmed him but other than that he's hardly lost a round.
Fedor winning it all would be the ultimate redemption story. Mad that it's nearly a decade since that fight with big Tim. We think Fedor's had it bad since then, whereas big Tim's a retired, wheelchair-bound 30 stoner now and Fedor's winning prizefights against former World champions.
Yo...Tim Sylvia fell the fuck off when he lost that Mercer fight in 8 seconds. How, as a top 5 ranked HW, do you recover from a loss like that??? I can't even imagine a top 5 HW in the UFC who's only 32 going from losing to the top 2 HW's in the world back to back and then a 3rd loss in a row but to a retired boxer in 8 fucking seconds.
I mean, looking at his record he still won a lot more fights than he lost but still.....Is that the most embarrassing loss in MMA history? I don't give a fuck how good of a boxer that dude was.
Yeah it was a crazy result. Mercer lost to Kimbo Slice of all people in an amateur fight before that too. It's a fight that wouldn't be licensed nowadays I don't think and he melted him within 10 seconds. Mad.
Well, didn't the fight take place somewhere that had/has super relaxed rules? I swear I heard that Mercer-Sylvia fight was booked somewhere and then it had to be moved to a nearby state so they could get away with booking it. Guess it didn't matter one bit as Mercer had the "touch" and put Big Tim OUT.
We shouldn't really be THAT shocked. Randy Couture manhandled the guy with virtual ease and about knocked him with the very first punch.
I can't think of many fighters I have liked to watch less than Tim Sylvia, was stoked when he lost to Nog and Fedor. Everything from his look to his fighting style to his interviews irked me. I remember him calling out Fedor after defeating one of the two future hall-of-famers; Gan McGee or Cabbage Correira. Can't remember which one of them, probably McGee.
It was Gan.
The thing is....You can't really knock Tim Sylvia when at the same time who was Fedor fighting? He wins the Pride HW title from Big Nog, and A-doesn't defend it and B-at the time Sylvia called him out, Fedor was set to fight Yuji Nagata...........
To be honest, that would have been a great time to have them fight. Although Tim was on the juice
But still...you go look at Fedor's opponents, like with Wanderlai, a lot of those fights were non-title and against guys with little to no experience in MMA. I mean, Fedor won the belt and his first fight after was against some nobody who was 4-3 at the time.
It's the age old UFC/Pride debate that Pride guys fought cans and freak shows while the UFC guys fought legit competition.
I think people are missing the fact that the Pride guys often fought just as much frequent and legit competition but they also fought some freak show fights in between. Like, Cro Cop fought eight times in 2004 where he fought Aleks Emelianenko, Kevin Randleman (twice), Josh Barnett and Ron Waterman (10-1 at the time) but also freak fight mismatches against Yamamoto and Kanehara. In 2005 he fought Coleman, Hunt, Barnett and Fedor but also Ibrahim Magomedov. Magomedov was part of Fedor's team (Red Devil?) so it was just there to build for Fedor/CC.
Rampage had some gimmes against Satake and Minowa but he fought crazy competition overall in Pride; Shogun, Wand, Randleman, Bustamante, Arona, Liddell, Ninja, Igor..
Last edited by OD50; May 15th, 2018 at 5:39 PM.
Oh I'm not even trying to be a pro-UFC guy I was just more saying hey, you can knock Gan and Cabbage by jokingly calling them future hall of famers, but let's compare apples to apples. While Tim Sylvia was fighting a top 10 HW in Gan McGee for the HW championship, Fedor was preparing to fight Nagata.
And who doesn't love Cro Cop v. Yamamoto from Bushido? The commentary alone is worth checking out lol.
So yeah brother, I was just saying, in Big Tim's defense, he was in the right for calling out Fedor. They were the top 2 Heavyweights in the world. Tim was smashing guys like Cabbage, Gan, and Ricco Rodriguez and Fedor was taking out guys like Semmy Schilt, Heath Herring, and Big Nog. But in 2003, outside of Big Nog, I don't see any of Fedor's competition being even remotely close to Tim Sylvia's level.
And not to get toooo sidetracked but I was looking at guys Gan beat and one was Paul Buentello. Who remembers at UFC 57 where he thought he was so popular that the crowd knew of some random catchphrase he had? So awkward. Can you believe that dude still fights? well he hasn't since 2016 but still neither has McGregor...
I assume Paul Buentello is a multimillionaire that doesn't have to fight like Conor.
Think the last time I saw Buentello was against Overeem in Strikeforce.
That's what I was thinking.
Same. When Reem beat him for the HW title and didn't defend it for 2 years lol.
Someone posted a pic of Mirko in the hospital. One of the responses under it was a fan who said he would be willing to sell someone his tickets to Bellator 200 and that Bellator did him dirty. OD if you're not familiar with that term it means he thinks Bellator fucked him on his trip.
I just thought that was the dumbest thing I've heard in my life. But also made me go damn, Cro Cop is still super popular.
I actually briefly considered going to London/Bellator 200 just for CC this weekend, but when you bought plane tickets, paid for hotel and UFC tickets to watch Jon Jones/Alexander Gustafsson II and ended up with Mighty Mouse/Chris Cariaso instead you tend to be a bit cautious about these things..
I bought tickets instead of for UFC Liverpool because I wanted to see Mirko.
Be nice to see MVP matched up with someone worth a shit. Paul Daley just called him out..
They have been calling each other out forever now. Daley just got handled by Fitch though so that fight wouldn't make much sense besides the rivalry bit. Koreshkov/Larkin/Fitch are all coming off of wins. If Rory fights Mousasi next they could have a mini GP with those four for the #1 contenders spot. Maybe do Daley/Lima II, they both need to rebound from their losses.
Daley, Koreshkov and Larkin would all be "fun" stylistic fights against MVP but the most telling and "interesting" would be Jon Fitch. If a guy with MVP's striking skills also can handle the style of Jon Fitch he could be something very special for Bellator.
/I know Fitch is boring a fuck, but he's still somewhat of a name and is on a five-fight win streak (with Daley, Okami and Shields in there). He probably gets a title fight if he can cuddle together two more wins.
Last edited by OD50; May 26th, 2018 at 3:24 PM.
Larkin's coming off a win, sure, and a loss to Daley just before that.
Fitch looks a terrible matchup for Page imo. He'd get him down, lay on him, put everyone to sleep, and extinguish Page's heat in the process.
Koreshkov would be great and put Page in immediate title contention.
Only mentioned Daley for the heat they've had and as to give him someone who'd stylistically bring out one more good show for Page before he gets into the top 2 or 3 of the division.
Fitch is kind of a dilemma for Bellator, they have all these exciting WW's around the top of the division but Fitch is more than capable of Fitch'ing each and every one of them to the sound of fans changing the channel. He is a name and if he keeps winning you have to give him those top guys though.
I think I can settle for MVP/Koreshkov next. If Page can beat Koreshkov he's ready for a title fight.
That final right hand over the top to Ricket's eye was spectacular. Page's got such good hand speed and accuracy. Shame he's already in his 30's and isn't even in actual title contention yet in Bellator.
And agreed 100% about Fitch. If he were dominant against everyone even with his style it would at least be interesting to watch for that fact. Instead he's just good enough to beat top guys while putting hardcore and casual fans alike to sleep because no one thinks it's ever going to amount to anything. But, he shouldn't necessarily be punished for simply being pretty good and largely uninteresting. Strange predicament his whole career.
Last edited by Percussion; May 26th, 2018 at 3:39 PM.
Put Fitch against Rory and remove him from any title speculation whatsoever. You’d be crazy to put Page against Fitch.
It sounds like they will do Rory/Mousasi next so we need to sort out the top of the WW division in the meantime. We need to figure the dancing partners among MVP, Koreshkov, Larkin, Lima, Fitch and Daley. Unfortunately Fitch is a pretty bad match for any of them.
Maybe Koreshkov is the one best suited to deal with Fitch (not including Rory Mac), he's a pretty big and strong WW and has improved his wrestling quite a bit since Ben Askren molested him. After that he had little trouble dealing with Benson's grappling (Benson is a natural 155'er of course). He would kill Fitch on the feet if he can keep it there for any amount of time.
Here's the thing about Jon Fitch.
Yes, he is a name. As in we know who he is. But he's not a name that draws so there's your problem. The sport aspect tells you so what, if he wins he wins. THe other part is the fact that he is boring and pretty durable so it's a tough call. Do you put him in their with the top guys and risk losing viewers or do you say fuck it, the best v. the best and if people can't appreciate it so be it?
The narrative that MVP essentially needs to fight people worth a damn is funny to me because I believe had he been active for the last 2 years he would have already been in a title fight if he kept winning. There are sooo many talented fighters at 170, the UFC can't afford them all and Bellator has a solid division lead by a top 2-3 ranked fighter in the world in Rory.
He's been somewhat active, just not in MMA.
Very true. I can't believe how many times Paul Daley has refused to fight MVP yet he's been calling him out.....So you are offered the fight 3-4 times, say no to each one, NOW you want to fight?
There's a reason he had to win eight straight in the UFC before getting a shot at GSP. Dude is every promoters nightmare.
/Mousasi and Rory will both be guests on the MMA Hour today, and since they will be on back-to-back I'm pretty sure what trick Mr Instigator Helwani will pull, the exact same as he did when he had Miesha/Ronda, Cyborg/Megan Anderson and Alvarez/Poirier on as guests back-to-back..
Last edited by OD50; May 29th, 2018 at 12:50 PM.
I've always liked Fitch. I've no idea why to be honest, probably Rusty Cage if I thought about it. I'd root for him against any of those guys regardless of whether he's dull or not. The lack of a middleweight division is a shame because there's work for Rory at welterweight. Honestly would rather Mousasi took some fights at 205 (McGeary maybe) while Rory defends against some top guys.
I think they should both stick around their weightclasses and help build up the guys that aren't that well known. Gegard isn't exactly Jon Jones level but he's a top tier fighter that a win would help elevate someone of the unknown.
Mousasi was just on the MMA Hour and he felt that there was really no names at 185 for him to fight. He was talking about some guys that were pretty good but he didn't even know their names. He said that it was a lose-lose for him because if he beats them nobody cares, and if he loses everyone will shit on him. He considers Rory to be the best "name" for him to fight next.
It's kind of hard to argue with him, the guys at 185 I assume he was talking about are Rafael Lavato Jr (8-0), Ed Ruth (5-0) and John Salter (15-3 / 5-0 Bellator). All good fighters but Lavato Jr and Ruth feels way to inexperienced, and how many would really get excited for Moose/John Salter?
Rory on the other hand has Fitch, MVP and Koreshkov and maybe Larkin and a rematch with Lima later on. There's also Neiman Gracie (8-0) if he wins a couple more. Michael Chandler was 8-0 when he got his shot at Eddie Alvarez back in the day. Chandler got the shot because he won the LW tourney of course, just saying that an 8-0 fighter could upset a way more experienced veteran.
Last edited by OD50; May 29th, 2018 at 2:58 PM.
And I'll be honest, I know and care about just as many names Rory could fight as the names you mentioned for Gegard. That's my point, these guys like Gegard, for one he's not exactly a household name outside the hardcore fan base. But for two, he should be fighting the guys because it helps them build their name.
Gegard became a name by fighting guys who had a name. He didn't make his name fighting the Uriah Hall's of the world.
Mousasi/MacDonald for the MW title is set for September 29 in San Jose.
Wanderlia v. Rampage 4 is also good to go
I actually like that fight.
Lyoto Machida has signed with Bellator. I guess they'll do the usual give debut, title shot second defence formula. Gives the Bellator champions a loss to avenge too.
Holy shit I didn't even know that was his last fight in the UFC!
Not 100% sure what you said just there, but if it goes something like Machida in a gimme first fight before taking on the winner of Mousasi/McDonald then I agree.
Bellator honestly has a pretty slick roster. Especially if you follow the sport.
Yeah, they've put together a good roster. I don't think you could say with absolute certainty that Cormier would beat Bader and Whittaker would beat Mousasi either, so there's at least an argument there that Bellator may have the best fighter at both of those weight classes. Their welterweight champ holds a victory over the current UFC champion too. Throw in Benson, Chandler, the Pitbulls, MVP and all those legends at 205 and heavyweight and you're not short on name value. Machida just enhances that further, past his prime or not. UFC has really not been run well for the fight fans for quite a while, I doubt the Fertitta's would have let so much talent go.
I feel rather confident that Cormier would beat Bader.
Whittaker/Mousasi would be the tits though.
I'm intrigued by Bellator's up and comers..
AJ McKee (age 23) 11-0
James Gallagher (age 21) 7-0
Neiman Gracie (age 29) 8-0
Aaron Pico (age 21) 3-1
Jordan Young (age 23) 8-0
Rafael Lavato Jr (age 34) 8-0
Ed Ruth (age 27) 5-0
Yaroslav Amosov (age 24) 19-0
It also wouldn't shock me if they sign Josh Barnett. No USDA and the chance of fighting for Rizin in Japan. Sounds like right up Barnett's alley.
I feel confident that either guy could beat the other but I would definitely lean toward Cormier if they ever did fight. I really wanted them to fight when Bader called him out at a press conference or post-fight, can't remember which one it was but it was ballsy.
It was rehearsed between DC and Bader when Cormier was going through his forced WWE promo shtick phase. Was kind of cringey if you ask me.
And Cormier would be the rightful heavy heavy favorite.
There are rumors that Bellator will put together a four man WW tourney with Koreshkov/Lima/Daley/MVP. The winner should face Rory for the WW title later on. The semi-finals are said to take place on the September 29 San Jose card (Rory vs. Mousasi/Wand vs. Rampage IV).
Just rumors so far but sounds pretty cool to me. I'm guessing that if Rory wins the MW title he might relinquish the WW title and the tournament winner will be the new WW champ.
I would do Lima/Koreshkov III and Daley/MVP first. Lima/Koreshkov are 1-1 so the rubbermatch makes sense, and I think we would all like to finally see Daley/MVP. It's a very good chance of MVP/Daley losing to Koreshkov/Lima and then we will miss out on Daley/MVP again, just like the 2003 dream match between Chuck and Wand in the Pride LHW GP.
Rumors were mostly true but it's not four but the traditional eight man GP. Personally I've never heard of DAZN, but cool I guess.Promotion officials confirmed the news Tuesday at a press conference at Viacom’s New York headquarters that doubled as an announcement of a new “nine-figure, multi-year distribution deal” between Bellator and sports streaming service DAZN. The Los Angeles Times first reported news of the welterweight grand prix.
And they're saying Rory will in fact be part of it just not until after the Gegard fight. Coker is really strange, he tends to box himself in a corner and the last thing we need is another 2 year HW GP lol.
Coker is a huge mark for the old Japanese GP's, in particular the K-1 World Grand Prix. I guess he wants to recreate those old golden times. Difference is that the K-1 WGP was an 8-man tournament held on the same night while these Strikeforce/Bellator "GP's" are held over months and months and even a year. I doubt there are any civilized places in the US where you could have fighters fight three times in one night these days. Strikeforce (who else) had that MW GP in 2007 where they fought twice on the same night, but the first fights were only two rounds. Not sure if the final was two or three.
Having Rory in it makes no sense. It will only create the same problems like when Gomi was in the Bushido GP and lost but not losing his title.
I'm not too negative on Rory being it. I respect the hesitation but I feel that it makes no sense to have him not be in it and then fight a guy who has had 3 more fights in a 12 month span than he did. That's what I didn't like about the old school Bellator format. You have a guy fight 3 times in 2 months and then fight the champ 2 months after that while the champ has been chilling for the year. Or maybe the champ would be in some weird fight like Eddie Alvarez v. Roger Huerta/Josh Neer. Then if he would lose, that would just cause a ripple because then you'd have the champ who lost in a non-title fight plus a tournament winner.
So, Wanderlei/Rampage 4 will be at HW. Rampage wanting to fight at HW is no surprise but I think Wand would be better off at 205, he's not even a particularly big MW these days.
Coker also confirmed that they are negotiating with Josh Barnett, just like I expected. Maybe we could finally get that Barnett/Fedor fight that never happened in Pride and was just weeks (days?) from happening in Affliction.
Coker also said that the "nine figure deal" they made with DAZN will allow them to go after even more free agents. This could get interesting if they sign more prime fighters like Mousasi, Bader, Davis, Larkin and Rory along with the big "names" like Machida, Wand, Rampage, Fedor etc. I guess Barnett, Bendo and Fitch fall somewhere in the middle.
Would anybody be up for Machida/King Mo for Machida's Bellator debut? Just a thought, Mo said he was going down to MW after the Bader disaster.
Last edited by OD50; June 27th, 2018 at 5:52 AM.
Bellator will start to compete within 5 years I'd imagine. The UFC brand has taken a bit of a beating pretty much since Ronda lost to Nunes. Since that fight 18 months ago there's been Jones/Cormier 2 (with farcical aftermath of Jones' drug test) and MSG 2 with GSP/Bisping (plus farcical aftermath with GSP vacating), with very little else of note when talking about fights that people want to see. Throw in Conor embarrassing the sport with his shenanigans, the constant loss of main events days or sometimes hours before shows, the ineptitude of the marketing department and the thin-skinned face of the company and you've got the recipe for a bit of a freefall. If they're getting bottom barrel PPV buys now, purses have to go up to cover that lack of revenue for the top fighters not getting decent % points anymore. Are they willing to do that?
Mitrione/Bader in the first HWGP semi-final is set for October 12 at the Mohegan Sun. Pretty interesting fight. Bellator said Fedor/Sonnen will be in "close proximity" so nobody gets an unfair advantage time wise.
Man, it would be so cool if Fedor could win the Gp. I can see him beating Chael but Mitrione/Bader, especially Bader will be tough for him. I know he lost to Mitrione but that was kind of like Dan Hardy/Carlos Condit, someone just connected a little better and a little harder.
/I was actually in attendance for Hardy/Condit..
Last edited by OD50; July 10th, 2018 at 3:42 PM.
Fedor just doesn't really fight smart. You go back and watch so many fights, it's like, this is a guy who almost lost to fucking Iron Head because he came in thinking he was Ali or some shit. That last fight with Mir, they just threw punches until one of them fell. But that's Fedor's style and in this later years it's been a blessing and a curse. He doesn't truly understand or doesn't care that he isn't exactly Chris Leben in his prime.
It's kind of strange, he used to be this cerebral fighter mixing stand-up, takedowns and grappling beautifully, nowadays he just swings for the fences. Sometimes it works and other times: Fabio Maldonado.
I don't think he's taken mma seriously since Pride were dismantled.
I also think that when he blew through #3 and #4 Sylvia and Arlovski he should have just called it a day. I also think had Dana not been such a fucking idiot, burying Fedor left and right, that Fedor would have definitely signed with the UFC. I remember Dana saying if Fedor signed, he would have booked the Cowboys stadium and put Fedor v. Lesnar on Spike.
As a promoter, Dana has shot himself in the head several times.
It was a combination of knuckleheads clashing; Dana, M1 and that Jerry/Jeremy Millen or whatever his name is, no clue why Fedor has kept that tool around. I remember one of the biggest crutches was that M1 insisted on co-promoting any event that featured Fedor, and Dana refusing. Too bad, Fedor/Lesnar at Cowboy Stadium in 2008-2009 before Fedor lost to Werdum and Lesnar lost to Cain could have been pretty epic.
Forgot about M1 for some reason. Yeah they sucked as well but I mean shit, I would have bent over backwards to get Fedor at that time.
And I still want Fedor-Barnett. It could definitely headline a Rizin event. Or Bellator. HUGE fight.
I'm pretty sure Coker will try to put together Fedor/Barnett down the line. I have a feeling Barnett will be the first challenger for whoever wins the GP.
Bellator WW GP:
Rory McDonald (20-4)
Andrey Koreshkov (21-2)
Douglas Lima (29-7)
Lorenz Larkin (19-7)
Michael Page (13-0)
Jon Fitch (31-7-1)
Neiman Gracie (8-0)
Ed Ruth (6-0)
Aroslav Amasov (20-0)
TBA
TBA
TBA
Seems there will be two fights that are qualifiers for the GP, so I guess 12 fighters in all.
First fight of the GP will be Koreshkov/Lima III on the same card as Rory/Mousai and Rampage Wand. Pretty crazy that four guys will have fought each other seven times during this card, Rampage/Wand (4) and Lima/Koreskhkov (3). Must be some kind of record.
Last edited by OD50; July 18th, 2018 at 10:36 AM.
Page vs. Larkin leaps off the page at me. Says 2 fights will be "play in" to guarantee a tourney place, which would suggest it might be the prospects and the unnamed 10th guy (Paul Daley?) for the 2 remaining spots. Lets say Ruth vs. Amasov and Gracie vs. Daley.
Guessing the brackets:
McDonald vs. Fitch
Koreshkov vs. Lima
MVP vs. Larkin
Ruth vs. Gracie (assuming they win)
Looks a top heavy bracket but gives the 3 unbeaten prospects a great chance of getting to the final while building considerable experience. You don't want to risk Fitch Fitching Michael Venom Page after all.
No Paul Daley? Interesting.
There's still three TBA's
Or am I missing something?
It's a 10 man field, with 4 guys fighting for the last 2 places in the 8 man tournament. The 2 winners would then face each other in the quarter final.
Ok, got it. Odds have to be on Daley being #10. Not sure what WW it could be otherwise. Maybe Saad Awad, he's on a four fight win streak. Ben Askren would be the shock of shockers..
Coker suggested that "maybe Jon Fitch will have to fight Neiman Gracie and the winner gets into the tournament.." Would be kind of odd to have an established veteran like Fitch needing to qualify, but on the other I can see Coker's reasoning.
Bellator has a legitimately good WW division. I haven't been paying close attention to his career but surely Benson could get squeezed into the GP.
I'm guessing the Koreshkov fight discouraged him from trying WW ever again (twas a brutal drubbing). He just got his first legit win in Bellator (he was getting lit up against Pitbull before the injury) against a beyond washed-up Roger Huerta. I'd recommend some baby steps at LW for Bendo, not getting in there with McDonald, Koreshkov, Lima, MVP, Larkin etc.
And yeah, Bellator WW has really turned into something pretty dang good.
The welterweight division is great across both the UFC and Bellator. A lot of depth. The legitimacy of Bellator's division is helped by Rory (has a win over Tyron), Larkin (DESTROYED Magny in one of my favourite stand up performances) and Fitch (definitely a top 10 welterweight of all time). Throw in legitimate unbeaten prospects in Ruth, Gracie, MVP, Storley, Joey Davis and Amasov, two top 15 current welterweights in Lima and Koreshkov, a trio of very solid veterans in Gerald Harris, Brennan Ward and Paul Daley and a couple of developing "names" in Baby Slice and Conor's BJJ teacher and it'll be fun to watch develop over the next couple of years.
Koreskhov is one of my favorite fighters currently, great dynamic striking and has worked on his ground game since Askren impregnated him..
I like Lima as well, should be a good rubber match.
Man that dude does the exact opposite of what he should do (move 45 degrees forward to his left). Instead he goes "oh fuck" and just jumps up in the air..
I personally know what it feels to get (spinning) back-kicked by someone who knows what he's doing. Trust me, it's absolutely miserable.
The dude in the lower right is my former instructor; Fredrik Wagner, and he kicked like a fucking mule.
Last edited by OD50; July 18th, 2018 at 1:29 PM.
Yeah he's excellent. I'm of the opinion that he got caught by Lima and should be favoured in the rematch. Hasn't got Douglas' lights out power but if he can keep it technical he'll win that fight. He might be Rory's biggest test actually, he's shored up his wrestling and would be a big test on the feet. Especially if Rory takes a bit of a kicking from Mousasi. That fight should be fucking amazing by the way. Jealous of US fans with that DAZN thing, one month free trial and they'll get that fight card plus Joshua vs. Povetkin in the space of a week. Mousasi vs. MacDonald, Rampage vs. Wanderlei and Koreshkov vs. Lima might be the best triple header of the year quite frankly, helped by Holloway/Ortega falling through. Gegard vs. Rory for me is 2 top 25 P4P fighters fighting definitely (I'd say both are at worst top 3 in their individual weight classes), Rampage/Wand is a freak show fight that I love because it's 2 old bastards that hate each other and will fight like it, and Koreshkov/Lima will be excellent.
Bellator, for me to follow it properly, needs to get its UK TV situation sorted. Even if they take a lowball offer from Sky to show the live events, it'll be live and create a buzz. I can't do delayed fight cards, nor any delayed sports really.
Yup, really looking forward to that debut DAZN show, on paper it's great. Wand/Rampage may be two crusty vets, but unlike Chael Sonnen you know Wanderlei will stand and kill or be killed with Rampage. McDonald/Mousasi and Lima/Koreshkov is proper world class level fights on paper. I'm sure Coker wil add two more interesting fights for the main card.
The UK thing is weird as hell. I was trying to find some way to watch Bellator 200 live but no dice.
And there we go, Paul Daley has been added to the WW GP. Seems Bellator is pondering Daley/MVP or Larkin/MVP for the first round.
I'm pretty hype for this.We got the deal done -- we get the big fights done!" Coker told ESPN, via text message. "Paul is in the tournament.
Fedor/Chael is set for October 13 at the Nassau Coliseum. Mitrione/Bader goes down October 12 at the Mohegan Sun. Pretty cool having the semi-finals on back-to-back nights.
WW GP:
Rory MacDonald vs. Jon Fitch (WW title fight)
Paul Daley vs. Michael Page
Douglas Lima vs. Andrey Koreshkov
Neiman Gracie vs. Ed Ruth
Lorenz Larkin vs. Yaroslav Amosov (alternates)
I didn't realize Fitch was on such an impressive win streak. Not very active though and shit he's 40? Time flies.
So, Conor McGregor Jr. (James Gallagher) just got owned, embarrassed and KTFO in South Dakota of all places. Too bad for Bellator I guess, they had a big name/draw in the making there.
Maybe not so smart to match him up with someone who's 10-1, the champion of a smaller organization and who trains with Frankie Edgar, Eddie Alvarez and Marlon Moraes after being out for 14 months due to injuries.
Last edited by OD50; August 18th, 2018 at 11:36 AM.
Did they? Came across as a poor man's Conor which as we've seen from the laundry list of failed wannabe's, this kid was going to be no different. I live for moments like this. Especially the Sweet Chin Music that sealed his fate.
Eh, people are just trying to follow the blueprint to success for their careers. I can't fault anyone for that and I'm certainly not going to hope for and relish in their failure.
Don't worry I got you covered Mark. I will gladly laugh in the face of cocky loud mouth motherfuckers who think their shit don't stink then take a superkick to the face and put to sleep like a bitch. Maybe the dude should worry more about evolving his stand up and less with the shenanigans.
And I'll be honest, never heard of the dude before and if I have it was out of sight out of mind. His eternal claim to fame will be on those "best knockouts" countdowns where you have the cocky douche acting absurd and then getting his comeuppance in a violent manner.
I actually thought the other guy was going to whip out his dick and piss all over this strawberry banana guy.
Maybe you should stop worrying about/hating on other people.
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