Bellator Season 8 Finale (April 4th): Curran vs. Shamhalaev

[Cammo101]

Shlemenko vs. Marshall should be dynamite.

[Bernman]

Marshall is a clown and a terrible number one contender in 2013. That was one of the flukiest title runs in Bellator history, up there with Prindle. Preceding this Bellator run, he had recently lost to fighters who were a combined 0-3 in Bellator tourneys (Galesic and Giva). Spang was overrated and a good match-up, he lucked out in getting the decision against Aliev, then was fortunate to face a Brett Cooper who was lumbering around with knee braces on and a sitting duck on the feet as a result. Shlemenko should destroy him quickly and I'm going to enjoy it. Bellator has to run a MW tourney in the summer series to give Shlemenko a better challenge and wash this taste out of our mouths.

Richman-Frodo was a war.

Curran is a complete fighter and that's how I thought he'd beat Shamhalaev. #2 or 3 FW in the world (I don't count Pettis, yet).

Horcher really disappointed on the prelims. He fought like a zombie. It didn't make any sense. His prospects take a hit.

I'm really going to miss Bellator during their hiatus. Weekly, quality MMA is a treat I get used to. They really ought to think about not being so on and off with their cards.

[Cammo101]

Marshall is a clown and a terrible number one contender in 2013. That was one of the flukiest title runs in Bellator history, up there with Prindle.

The MW tourney was very weak to start. Brett Cooper, the other finalist, is a journeyman at best. It seems the heavier the weight class, the weaker the division in Bellator. Though they are starting to line up some good LHWs. Their HW and MW divisions need a talent injection IMO.

They missed the boat on Antonio Braga Neto, but hopefully they can bring in Khalidov.

[Cammo101]

Hopefully next season's MW tourney looks more like this...

Vyacheslav Vasilesky
Bruno Santos
Doug Marshall
Jonas Billstein
Jason Butcher
Perry Filkins
Maiquel Falcao
Mamed Khalidov

[Bernman]

While it's true that Bellator gets worse the higher the division, in general, naturally because of their equal payouts, I think this MW tourney quality was just as much about bad timing and intent as the state of the MW division. The very last Bellator MW tourney had Vasilevsky, Falcao, Santos, Giva, etc. in it. They are all better than Marshall (like I said of course Giva did beat Marshall, and he lost to Santos). But they weren't in this tourney for a variety of reasons (Santos injury, Falcao title shot, Giva maybe ajudged too old, Vasilevsky's still embroiled in a legal battle, and I think Bellator really wanted to set up a Rogers/Spang rematch but that went by the wayside after one round).

The degree to which their was a regression, or at least stagnation of their formerly respectable MW division derives from the loss of Lombard, injuries to their holdovers, and a drying up of signing many quality prospects in addition to the ones they did not panning out. Billstein, Houston, Hermansson, Ward, etc. really fizzled. Their only realistic hope still is Butcher, and he wasn't ready for this last one (he is now). Maybe Parlo will bounce back, or Filkins surprises. You are right they missed out on Neto. He would have helped. Bellator did solid ratings and gates without spending too much this season. Maybe they can reinvest their profit into their MW division and up. They are if that Khalidov rumour is true.

[cowboyronnie]

Finished the card. Great stuff, man. If only they could have spread some of these match-ups over multiple events (last week was weak, this week amazing).

I can't tell you how much I loved that Richman-Grodo fight. That was high-level kickboxing. Richman's hand speed is nuts (and the one headkick he threw was also a laser) and he moves beautifully. He's a never-to-be-missed fighter. 30-27 seemed unfair...I'm not concerned about his reaction to a loss exactly, but I do hope he keeps his head-up.

Bellator is impressive. The idea of a weekly card is genius when you're an org lacking advertising funds - you don't have to continually ad, everyone knows when you're on. But the flip-side of that is establishing enough talent to keep those cards flush. Unsure of how Hawn-Karo (a super cool match-up) was loaded onto this when there seems no reason to not have attached it to one of the weaker cards. But oh well. (Karo's boxing looked improved...straigh punches, BTW. I hope it sticks around...cool match-ups.)

[REDDzone]

Finally got around to watching this and was actually able to avoid most spoilers which was cool. Good event.

Take one look at Marshall and how he acts and see everything I dislike and wish mma would move away from.

Man I wish Richman would have won. I really like watching that guy fight and honestly I feel like he is still improving.

Curran is awesome. I also thought it was cool that, 9 seconds afters being criticized for not putting himself out there or ever opening up no matter the circumstance, he had a clear path to / pretty much already had dude's back and then came back around and scooped that neck for the guillotine. I mean if Sham pops out of that during the landing or something then Curran went from his opponent's back to on the bottom (granted he would have been in closed guard with an overhook, but still).