Harsh on Rory who is genuine top class. He's already beaten Maia and schooled Woodley, who are the next UFC WW title fighters. Guy deserved more of a push especially after 'that' fight with Lawler.
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Harsh on Rory who is genuine top class. He's already beaten Maia and schooled Woodley, who are the next UFC WW title fighters. Guy deserved more of a push especially after 'that' fight with Lawler.
But it's not like those fighters were released for being on losing runs. It was a breakdown of contract negotiations. All three of them would have a good run back in the UFC. As would Larkin, Chandler, Lima etc.
The problem with Bellator is that they prefer the gimmick fights. Chael vs. Silva should never have been the headliner.
No more disastrous than your average UFC card where the lead fighter misses weight or "gets injured" a few days before fight night. I watched the entire card and thoroughly enjoyed it.
- Hardy v Yauger was a very entertaining fight punctuated with a great KO near the end.
- James Gallagher (aka "Conor Lite") seems like an exciting fighter and easily dispatched Lyoto's Machida's brother.
- Bader v Phi Davis was uneventful, sort of like some of their UFC fights
- Lima v Larkin was a decent fight.
- Freeman's quick submission of upstart Aaron Pico was a bit reminiscent of Mickey Gall v CM Punk
- Primus v Chandler - Chandler was extremely unlucky with his ankle giving out. Otherwise it would've been a great fight. He's probably Bellator's biggest asset imo.
- Mitrione v Fedor - Bizarre fight of two over the hill fighters
- Chael v Wanderlei - Very good fight with both fighters not holding back, despite Wanderlei hilarious lack of interest in having a take down defense and Chael tryging wrestle feck him into submission.
Things what worked for Bellator last night
- Mike Goldberg - Felt amazing to have Goldie's voice back on the air, especially when juxtaposed to his crap replacements on UFC. Goldberg's voice is etched into MMA lore and not having it makes the fight experience seem a bit off.
- Great walkout/intros - Bellator just has better introductions than UFC. It has a certain old school, hybrid Pride/UFC quality to it.
- More and more recognizable fighters - They are clearly transitioning from using just older UFC retirees to having very good UFC calibre fighters. I noticed they just added Roy Nelson, Valerie Letourneau yesterday, which when added to Rory MacDonald, Bader, Davis, B. Henderson, Daley (would've been in the UFC if not for Koscheck suckerpunch), Kongo, Rampage, Michael Page, Chandler (both UFC quality) etc.
Long story short, Bellator have done a great job of positioning themselves as a UFC alternative at at time when the post Fertita UFC is losing fighters and having trouble attracting new stars. I expect more and more fighters who are increasingly sick of dealing with White to make the switch in the coming year as the brand continues to expand.
@Raoul im not sure we watched the same card 
I don't have time to pick all the holes out of that post
I don't have time to pick all the holes out of that post
@Raoul im not sure we watched the same card
I don't have time to pick all the holes out of that post
When you do, make sure you juxtapose it against the reality that the UFC is hemorrhaging talent over the past 12 months and will continue to do so as long as Bellator is expanding. Its two big stars Rousey and McGregor are either out of the sport or flirting with not returning because there's more money elsewhere and its best fighter has been out of the sport due to a series of legal issues. Many of the older stars from Anderson Silva, Nick Diaz, GSP, Rashad, Hunt, Arlovski, aren't much better in terms of quality than the ex-UFC stars you see in Bellator these days.
In short, MMA needs competition not a monopoly like what the UFC previously had and Bellator's rise has been a good thing for fighters.
Oh and who are UFC offering up today ? Michael fecking Chiesa v Kevin Lee. If that isn't enough, you can always take a trip down memory lane by watching BJ Penn fight Denis Siver.
You are comparing a UFC fight night to Bellators biggest event of the year. I'd take chiesa v lee anyday over the main and co main events from last night. They have to stop with these type of fights being the main events on their tent pole events. MMA does need competition for the UFC but I don't think they are going about it the right way. Booking Larkin against Lima for his first fight in the organisation and putting the debutant Pico in against an experienced wrestler was dire booking. Also Davis v Bader was an obvious fight. But they only fought less than two years ago in UFC. And it was awful. And the rematch was even worse
Ufc have lost a few important fighters. McDonald, Bendo and Larkin are the main ones. But you mentioned Roy nelson like it was a big get for Bellator. It was almost certainly the case UFC were never going to give him a competitive contract after losing 5 out of 7
The best thing about Bellator right now is that UFC are either being forced to offer their fighters more money or they get better contracts at Bellator. Which is one thing I'm sure we can agree on, that the fighters do deserve more cash
Its no more dire than watching Gall smash CM Punk or the ongoing farce of spoonfeeding Bisping lesser opponents so he can stay on as MW champ, or promoting pet fighters like Northcutt, Van Zandt etc. All this at a time when they are allowing the likes of Rory MacDonald to leave and making a mess out of allowing GSP to return. The UFC is simply not what it was even as recently as 12 months ago and Bellator is slowly gaining.
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But Lee said things about Chiesa mom man. You don't talk about his mom
But Lee said things about Chiesa mom man. You don't talk about his mom
Don't you talk about my Mom!
What you gonna do? Walk up to me like a badman and get clapped in the face?Don't you talk about my Mom!
Yeah their face off was embarrassing. But this fight has a lot of potential i think. @Raoul was looking for them to build new stars. Surely this is a positive for you?
So, your one Heather Hardy. Her weigh in attire was fecking beautiful. 
Building stars has nothing to do with fake WWE antics at pressers. Let's see how they fare in the Octagon.
Putting them in a main event will help though, would you agree with that?
It's something I don't think they do enough for the smaller events so I find it quite refreshing, which was why I was a little surprised you didnt think it sounded appealing
I still find your hatred for the UFC at times @Raoul rather bizarre.
Bellator isn't even close to the UFC, for the record. The majority of their talent would jump over to the UFC within a heartbeat given the chance. I completely agree that the UFC needs competition but Bellator still have a lot of work to do to even begin to iron out plenty of the mistakes they make before anybody should even be acting like they're 'gaining' ground on the UFC.
I still don't get your hatred for the likes of PVZ and Northcutt either. They try to build some younger stars and you hate on them yet then complain that they don't try to build stars. But we've already had a lengthy debate on that in the past.
And what's the hate for Lee/Chiesa? Two legit fighters who have only both lost twice in their career. Seems crazy to take a shot at this fight yet then say that 40 year old Chael Sonnen laying on 40 year old Wanderlei Silva for three rounds in the main event for Bellator was a good fight.
Bellator isn't even close to the UFC, for the record. The majority of their talent would jump over to the UFC within a heartbeat given the chance. I completely agree that the UFC needs competition but Bellator still have a lot of work to do to even begin to iron out plenty of the mistakes they make before anybody should even be acting like they're 'gaining' ground on the UFC.
I still don't get your hatred for the likes of PVZ and Northcutt either. They try to build some younger stars and you hate on them yet then complain that they don't try to build stars. But we've already had a lengthy debate on that in the past.
And what's the hate for Lee/Chiesa? Two legit fighters who have only both lost twice in their career. Seems crazy to take a shot at this fight yet then say that 40 year old Chael Sonnen laying on 40 year old Wanderlei Silva for three rounds in the main event for Bellator was a good fight.
I don't hate the UFC, I'm actually interested in great MMA which let's face it, won't happen when one promotion has a monopoly on everything.
As for PVZ and Northcutt, it was quite obvious UFC were attempting to promote them when it was clear as day they weren't the best fighters in their respective divisions. I can't therefore say I'm disappointed that both have since flopped since they were artificially inflated with hype in the first place .
And Lee/Chiesa isn't an interesting fight, but that's ok since this isn't a PPV event so it's not under pressure to produce PPV quality matchups.
There was nothing wrong with either of them getting hyped though. Dude, you can't complain about them not making stars but then also complain when they try to. It wasn't even artificial. Sage was like 19-20 years old and was delivering TKO's and submissions and looked like something out of a fecking 90's action movie. Of course they gave him some hype because he was delivering finishes, had a great look and was ridiculously young, they felt they could have a star in him.
Paige came in at a similar age, delivered a fight of the night and was very similar to Sage. They felt they had a potential star so of course they hyped her up. And let's not forget that both are still 21 and 23, still young and learning the sport. Flopped? Bit early to say that when you consider their age, even more so for PVZ who's losses in the UFC are to Rose, who is regarded as next in line for a title shot and Waterson, who just lost to Rose. We ain't talk about bums here that they're promoting who have zero skill. I never did and never will like the hate for them both and don't agree that they didn't deserve the hype they were given.
We'll see on Lee/Chiesa. I can't really argue that one, if you aren't interested then that's completely subjective. I thought some of the build was hilarious so quite looking forward to seeing it. Would quite like to see Lee win this.
Did you honestly have more interest in chael vs wanderlei at least 5 years too late than chiesa vs lee. If so, for me you have no interest in great MMA at all, but just into the one off token fights, which are all well and good when done once in a bluemoon and not given the main event.
You really do have mixed/ confusing opinions on this thread
This next one should be a good one!
I hope Kevin Lee goes full heel and decks Chiesa's mom on the way in to the octagon.
Chiesa v Lee is minnowish fight that no one cared about before their fake handbags at the presser. To be clear, we are talking about the number 6 and 11 fighters in the LW division that a good number of casual MMA viewers don't even know exist , much less get them excited over watching them lead an entire card.
The Chael-Wanderlei fight was a good fight despite both fighters being well past their respective primes. It offered a good mix of boxing, wrestling, and jiujitsu which is about as much as one might expect. Would I prefer to watch yesterday's Bellator over the upcoming DC/Jones card ? Of course not. But let's not pretend the UFC is the only show in town, because it's increasingly not. And if they continue losing fighters to Bellator, it's natural that more and more UFC fans will naturally gravitate to another promotion at a time when the UFC are losing their biggest stars in the post Fertita era.
Although both laughing and appearing to enjoy that, Johnny Case certainly appears to be enjoying it less
Good to see Horcher get the win after his near death experience (and I don't mean losing to Khabib).
Happy for Horcher. He had a good showing against Khabib on hardly any notice. Hopefully he kicks on from here.
What near death experience?
horrendous. even more glad he won.Horrific motorcycle accident a few days after he lost to Khabib.
Yep, its amazing he's even fighting at all after all his injuries.
- Kidney laceration
- Liver laceration
- Torn ACL’s (anterior cruciate ligament) both knees
- Torn PCL’s (posterior cruciate ligament) in both knees
- MCL (medial collateral ligament) injury in left knee and LCL (lateral collateral ligament) replacement in right knee
- Bone graft on his right knee cap
- Broken arm with compound fracture
- Road rash
So, your one Heather Hardy. Her weigh in attire was fecking beautiful.
There's something intoxicating about her. Sadly she's 35 and not likely to fight much longer, at least not at a top level.
Two lackluster fights so far...this Garcia cat is shite.
DC and Jon Jones watch out. Reyes is coming for you.
feck what a finish! I turned away for a few seconds to open a beer and guffaw at a joke on a Blackadder rerun and it was over. Seems a nice, unassuming dude as well in the post-fight interview.
Still gutted about the Fedor loss, although a double-knockdown is a suitably cinematic end to his career I suppose. I didn't watch it live and haven't seen all the fights yet, but the Bellator event seemed pretty decent to me.
Still gutted about the Fedor loss, although a double-knockdown is a suitably cinematic end to his career I suppose. I didn't watch it live and haven't seen all the fights yet, but the Bellator event seemed pretty decent to me.
How do you miss weight?
Hendricks seems an expert at it.
Christ, Hendricks is done.
What a farce. Yamasaki stops the fight stops the fight without a tap.
Yamasaki fecked up but Chi was about to tap or go out....it was sunk in.
Not sure if he would've gotten him given that time was running low. Still, a horrendous mistake from Yamasaki. He should be sacked for that.
Chiesa was finished IMO (very similar to Ward-Kovalev II), but that is an atrocious call by Yamasaki.
Lee is a force to be reckoned with