Looking forward to watch this kid compete tonight.
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He put in a good first performance. Some nice jits. Few mistakes left him vulnerable to the guillotine but his huge head will always be a target on the mat. Looked raw on stand up.
Very interesting to see how the UFC might progress a 17 year old. He's got until June 2028 to win a belt and beat Jones' record. 
DC's reaction at about 4.30 is just so good. He made me crack up with him
Prelims live now.
Bellator is on BBC3 for those in the UK, just tuned in.
Watching Bellator
Two juicers up at it
Two juicers up at it
Why do they always come out for the ring walk in jewellery and what not. Only to walk a few yards and have to take it all off. Feck off.
Yoel Romero is still a monster.
Jesus, those elbows were nasty, Romero is a strange, scary dude.
That fight was not a good one. Respect to the fighters, they're at the end of their tether, but as a co-main, that's a disgrace.
Queally is getting a proper beating here.
Peter Queally out of his depth.
So Khamzat is acting like he's going to fight in his own weight class... supposedly Costa.
Let's see what he's about. Terrible division for him. Whittaker will end the train entirely, if he gets that far.
My feeling is even if he beats Xosta, it'll cost him years off his career. Really bad fight for him.
If he runs through any part of that division then sure, he's what some claim him to be.
Let's see what he's about. Terrible division for him. Whittaker will end the train entirely, if he gets that far.
My feeling is even if he beats Xosta, it'll cost him years off his career. Really bad fight for him.
If he runs through any part of that division then sure, he's what some claim him to be.
Really hoping Bo wins tonight
Here’s hoping he does exactly that. Got it on now.
Nickal was so much fun to watch as a wrestler
Holy shit Bo
Me too! It’s one of our biggest recruiting pitches for our wrestling program.
I bet. Such a good base for MMA (and self confidence). With the sport growing in popularity and becoming another career path just like football, basketball, etc, plus the top wrestlers usually becoming champions, hopefully you get plenty recruits.
The fight to make.
Calling out Khamzat. Will endear him to a whole new audience, especially with them both being wrestlers.
I’m hoping so! I’ve no doubt that Bo is the better wrestler, so I’d love to see if he can translate that to a ground and pound / submission on him
Let’s go!
My knowledge of wrestling is next to naught outside of the Olympics and MMA; when you watch someone like Khamzat wrestle, what do you make of it? I'm sure you're looking at it from a perspective I haven't the foggiest of.
Re. Bo. Is that your take from analysing both he and Khamzat, or from Bo's pedigree itself?
From analyzing both of them.
Bo is one of the best college wrestlers ever. He’s also an Under-23 world champion and a senior US Open champion. No offense to Sweden, but winning the US Open > winning the Swedish Open. I know Khamzat allegedly took bronze at some point in his junior career in Russia but I’ve not seen proof of that, and again, that’s not gonna compare to an U-23 world title.
Technique wise, in a pure wrestling match*, Bo’s technique is just better... More polished, more diverse. He’s also in a room training with 4 gold medalists coaching him. I don’t see anything Khamzat does that I don’t think Bo could handle. Some of what I’ve seen Khamzat do in freestyle looked sloppy and also the opponents didn’t look as good as folks I’ve seen Bo dominate.
* obviously, if they meet now, it won’t be a pure wrestling match
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Cheers for that. Sounds like Bo’s a big deal and to that end, will be interesting to see how Khamzat handles being called out, especially so if Bo really amps it up and continues to call out Khamzat at every opportunity.
Yep, no problem. Also - the guys who kept Bo out of repping the US at senior worlds were David Taylor (reigning Olympic & World gold) and J’den Cox (World gold & reigning World silver)…
As for MMA - It’s obviously all gonna depend on how well Bo can keep developing his striking and submissions. But the way Bo has consistently developed and evolved as a wrestler, I feel confident that he can follow the same process as a fighter. I don’t know that he’s ready “right now” to take out someone like Khamzat in an MMA setting, but I think he can develop into being ready to in the near future.
Wrestling is a fantastic base; so many good, let alone great, wrestlers have come through and made top 5-10 in their division with the top guys nestling there or thereabouts the championship/challenger tier. The advantage they have is their standup is respected even if not special because of the threat of the level changes and shoots into grappling attempts. If Bo’s wrestling reputation precedes him, he’ll be given a very wide berth to learn his trade and ironically, it’ll most likely be other wrestlers who have learned how to strike who will be the biggest stand up threats as they won’t fear the shooting as much.
It’s interesting he’s calling out Khamzat regardless given he’s shown he has striking pedigree in his war with Burns.
How did not make the Olympic team? Apparently he finished 6th in the trials, although it seems his compatriot won the gold.
I read he's amazing at pinning opponents down.
Excuse my ignorance!
A country can only send 1 guy per weight. Bo wrestled at 92kg for Worlds, but that’s not an Olympic weight class. He is really dang good, but he’s not quite as good as Olympic gold David Taylor at 86kg or Olympic silver Kyle Snyder at 97kg.
The thing about it is - both of those guys now train at Penn State’s Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. So does World champ Kyle Dake now, and World runner up Zain Retherford. That’s where Bo trains for his wrestling game.
Ah ok, thanks!
Yup, no problem. I edited a little in up there to give some perspective on how they’ll make Bo better
We are live!!
42 years old Guido Cannetti still got enough juice to dispatch tin cans half his age.
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The average age of this card must be getting up there, Oleinik and Latifi both in their 40s, the 42 year old from earlier, Trinaldo is in his mid 40s.