Bellator General Discussion and Info

Bernman · Post #401 » by **Bernman** » Tue Oct 30, 2012 3:48 pm

Debuts this week:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spiS3pzOS30[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYr94Usdd0g[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gggubl18S0w[/youtube]

Plus De Lorenzi and notable Bellator vets Douglas Lima, Thiago Santos, Rich Hale, Mike Richman, Shahbulat Shamhalaev, and Ryan Ford.

REDDzone · Post #402 » by **REDDzone** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 2:02 am

I read that ref is being investigated for the late stoppage on Zaromskis.

Honestly seems like this is happening once per event now. Its hard to watch,

Post #403 » by **Shaazzam** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 3:32 am

I love that throw by Minakov.

cowboyronnie · Post #404 » by **cowboyronnie** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:07 am

Guy who fought Clementi looked fantastic. What ridiculous front kicks. At 77.

78: was that Alvin Robinson seriously a Royce bb???

SDM · Post #405 » by **SDM** » Sat Nov 3, 2012 12:06 pm

Some weird fights. Lima is amazing, but that was a terribly one sided fight that he mercilessly dragged on. Ref misses the bell in one of the rounds. The punch that floored Ortiz in the first was great... just a terrible fight otherwise.

Santos looked great, Hale has some serious holes in his striking defense, plus he backs straight up. After the second or third time Santos rushes in, you might want to start considering angles. Hale perservered though, waited for Santos to gas up against the cage, and landed a decent punch. Santos gave up as soon as the fight hit the mat, but it didn't stop about 20 unanswered shots from landing. **** reffing. I could do a better job.

I think dudes like Herman and Hale make a good argument for splitting HW into two. If only the pool was deeper.

Joe Warren's fighting next week. Calls himself the baddest man on the planet or some other indefensible lie. I remember him KO'd twice this past year.

Gold Chain · Post #406 » by **Gold Chain** » Mon Nov 5, 2012 6:19 pm

That IS NOT him.

Doppleganger.

SDM · Post #407 » by **SDM** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 2:41 am

The Volkov fight was faaaaaantastic and also very weird because of the reffing. A must watch.

REDDzone · Post #408 » by **REDDzone** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 5:02 am

SDM wrote:The Volkov fight was faaaaaantastic and also very weird because of the reffing. A must watch.

I'm watching this at your suggestion and you are right, the ref sucks. Spartan's striking just seems so crappy so far, so rudimentary. I'm only through a round though so we'll see.

REDDzone · Post #409 » by **REDDzone** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 5:10 am

Just finished. WOW. Volkov was going to win anyway, but that was the fastest standup I've ever seen. Literally 10 seconds. I don't understand, even if the ref thought that warranted a standup, why did you let it go on for a minute plus just a round earlier? Absolutely shocking.

Volkov may need to work on his takedown defense. That takedown in the second looked like the Couture-Toney ankle pick. That said, its only because mma judging sucks that its a need, because once it gets on the ground he did an amazing job at neutralizing his opponent's strikes. Would have been cool to see him go for some lanky submissions.

SDM · Post #410 » by **SDM** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 3:06 pm

REDDzone wrote:Just finished. WOW. Volkov was going to win anyway, but that was the fastest standup I've ever seen. Literally 10 seconds. I don't understand, even if the ref thought that warranted a standup, why did you let it go on for a minute plus just a round earlier? Absolutely shocking.

Volkov may need to work on his takedown defense. That takedown in the second looked like the Couture-Toney ankle pick. That said, its only because mma judging sucks that its a need, because once it gets on the ground he did an amazing job at neutralizing his opponent's strikes. Would have been cool to see him go for some lanky submissions.

Warnings for spilling a piece of ice, warnings for hitting the forehead, a 10 second stand up, another terrible stand up for good measure... It might be the worst reffing performance I've ever seen.

REDDzone · Post #411 » by **REDDzone** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 3:14 pm

Dude was using his forehead to create space and got like 20 warnings for that. Is that even a rule? I see it ALL the time, never heard anyone called out for it.

SDM · Post #412 » by **SDM** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 3:38 pm

That too... I knew there was something else ridiculous that I forgot. There's no rule for that, not that I know of. You're allowed to use it for positions, but not to strike.

REDDzone · Post #413 » by **REDDzone** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 3:41 pm

I just read this on twitter while looking at ufc on fuel updates:

Jeremy Botter ‏@jeremybotter
Bellator: home of scummy fighters RT @BanDanMcGuane: Convicted Murderer / Bully being paid to fight at Bellator 81 http://BanDanMcGuane.com

Bernman · Post #414 » by **Bernman** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 11:12 pm

I know MMA isn't the most squeaky clean sport morality wise, but Bellator is definitely pushing it. War Machine is one thing having committed a run of the mill assault and making controversial statements, maybe even Brett Rogers because I'm not willing to write you off forever for one domestic abuse situation, but a rapist like Saling and murderer like this guy is way over the line. FWIW, they have now have removed McGuane from the card. I don't even know what Bellator gets out of using some of these guys. The same thing went for Strikeforce with Saling. These are prelim filler fighters. It has to be a product of a lack of research. There are a plethora of guys without a checkered past who they could get who are 3-0 or 9-5.

That ref was definitely a fool who worked the Volkov fight. That said, I was fine with the first round stand-up. Volkov had Spartan tied up for almost 40 seconds on the ground. There were many quicker, less warranted stand-ups on today's UFC card. The 2nd round however may have been the quickest I've ever seen. It would have only been rivaled by Mirgliotta playing to the Brazilian crowd in the Rumble-Belfort match. Regardless of the bad reffing, Volkov probably would have won anyways. He had Spartan badly hurt, the momentum was with him, and you could make a case for Volkov in the 1st, or 10-8 in the 2nd. Volkov needs to bulk up still though and develop subs and sweeps off his back w/ those long legs. He gets knocked over by a stiff breeze right now. Like Struve, I could see him taking a huge leap in a year or two with added weight and a little more skill development. His reach is huge, his footwork and head movement sound, he's super accurate, and he can take a punch. He should beat Hale in the finale because Rare Breed's striking D is suspect and he doesn't tend to wrestle much.

REDDzone · Post #415 » by **REDDzone** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 11:23 pm

Its not about any one guy. A war machine, great, Brett Rodgers, crappy but fine. Like you said, its the rapist along with the murderer as well as the wife beater plus the guy coming off two prison stints combined that makes it like, whoa.

Bernman · Post #416 » by **Bernman** » Sun Nov 11, 2012 1:46 am

I think you have to look at it on a case-by-case basis.

Yvel was a scumbag caught on tape numerous times who UFC signed. They tried to protect Jeremy Stephens from going away for a long time for nearly beating a guy to death. Those are indefensible choices by Zuffa.

Bellator seems to have more of them especially considering the relatively short time they've been around. War Machine I don't think should be thrown in the pool with all of the other scumbags considering his circumstances. Standard assault where he did more damage to the other guy, judge threw him back in jail because she didn't like his appearance, he spent his second term in solitary just to avoid any possible conflicts. That guy is 100% fine with me from what I know. But Ryan Ford has no business in a major organization. He was involved in an armed burglary where he tortured people and I think did irreversible damage to one of their hands (cut a few fingers nearly off I think it was). And he shows little remorse still boasting about being a true gangster to War Machine who wants no part of that competition.

The prelim throw-ins like Saling and McGuane were probably just oversights, not that they shouldn't be accountable for them. But they knew about Ford and the others signed to their permanent roster for sure. Beyond rewarding dirtbags, from a consequentialist standpoint I don't see the benefit in them risking the bad reputation on the doorstep of a move that will likely make them a viable competitor to the UFC. I mean this is the first time an MMA organization will have all their content centralized on a major network, at least in terms of the sport, visibility, reach, etc. UFC showed most of their events on PPV when they were on Spike and now they are majorly spread out and the network they are most active on seemingly only I have. Bellator is going to have weekly events, a fresher reality show, highlight shows, previews, a news show, possibly an NCAA tournament style selection show, etc. They'd really have to screw up at this point not to be big. It doesn't behoove them to be risk takers right now.

REDDzone · Post #417 » by **REDDzone** » Sun Nov 11, 2012 2:17 am

I'm with you. Just don't see the benefit, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume its a lack of oversight. That said, the lack of oversight itself is risky. No reason a simple background check can't be run or some sort of due diligence at least.

Didn't know about the Ryan Ford stuff btw. Shocking.

Bernman · Post #418 » by **Bernman** » Sun Nov 11, 2012 8:34 pm

Well, at least one title fight will be going down this season - Christian M'Pumbu vs. Attila Vegh. M'Pumbu's 13+ month inactivity streak will end on December 14th for Bellator 84, the season 7/MTV2 Finale.

The Season 7/MTV2 Finale is also scheduled to feature the FW finals between Rad Martinez and Shahbulat Shamhalaev, in addition to the HW final between Alexander Volkov and Rich Hale. Bellator is planning on going out of cable obscurity with a bang.

Bernman · Post #419 » by **Bernman** » Sat Nov 17, 2012 4:14 am

Tirloni got bent over by the judges against Jansen tonight. It's a shame, he was the best fighter in this tourney by a discernible amount. He deserved 60 more thousand dollars than he received, and would have been the most worthy challenger for Michael Chandler. Once again judges block out everything that happens outside the end of a round and the 1-2 takedowns completed. I thought Tirloni won all 3 rounds. He clearly won 2 and 3.

I'm mildly surprised that Held beat Clementi, for the simple fact I don't think that much of Marcin, but I did wonder if he would be too quick and crafty for Rich on the ground, and Rich's striking was not much better than the crap Marcin was bringing to the table. I do think he'll be beaten by the lucky Jansen in the finale. Jansen doesn't have anything to be ashamed about BTW. He left it all out in the cage. He's just average in the talent department for a big org.

REDDzone · Post #420 » by **REDDzone** » Sat Nov 17, 2012 10:39 pm

Man, that Clementi/Held fight was just awesome. Held is a handful on the ground. Constantly going for the legs, just relentless. That was a good fight for me. I enjoy standup, unfortunately so often we see c level striking in mma, but that grappling display had everything. Held had an awesome sweep at the very beginning of the fight although it wasn't really recognized as such because he stayed on the leg instead of coming to the top. Clementi had an awesome throw in round 2, the battle for the darce but Held kept his head on Clementi's knee and the ground to prevent his head from being buried so Clementi couldn't grab his bicep and also couldn't crossface, crafty. And Held's transition and sub were good too. Fans booing at the end of a very entertaining fight, typical. Just bleed, bro.