Bellator 86: Askren vs Amoussou, Lawal vs Mysiala (Jan 24th)

[LittleOzzy]

Card will also feature the debut of Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal. Plus tournament vets Douglas Lima and Ben Saunders.

[LittleOzzy]

Welterweight: Ben Askren (c) vs. Karl Amoussou
Light Heavyweight: Muhammed Lawal vs. Przemyslaw Mysiala
Welterweight: Douglas Lima vs. Michail Tsarev
Welterweight: Ben Saunders vs. Koffi Adzisto

Welterweight: Marius Zaromskis vs. Brent Weedman
Welterweight: Raul Amaya vs. José Gomes

[ShowtimeFan]

Ben Askren vs. Karl Amoussou
Muhammed Lawal vs. Przemyslaw Mysiala
Douglas Lima vs. Michail Tsarev
Ben Saunders vs. Koffi Adzisto
Marius Zaromskis vs. Brent Weedman

Win or Lose, one of my top 5 favorite fighters to watch is Ben Saunders.

That title fight might be fun, if Karl A. can stay on his feet, which is not the usual thing when fighting Ben Asken...

[Bernman]

I think Psycho has the tools to stay on his feet, and play a patient, Machida-style striking game against Askren. I just think his nature is too take your head off at all time. and with it comes a heart pounding a million miles per hour, so he's prone to getting taken down and gassing, respectively.

I'm looking forward to seeing if I'm wrong for the first two rounds. After that it will probably be like watching paint dry.

If Amoussou can pull it off, Koreshkov-Amoussou will be a fun fight stylistically, and so will the winner vs. Douglas Lima probably. Askren is killing a lot of good match-up possibilities in the ww division for Bellator. ironically, I think those guys might fare better in the UFC because they are good strikers and their counter-grappling games are solid. It's just tough for them when they match-up with the best amateur wrestler in MMA. In the UFC, with all the wrestlers there, many would have enough wrestling to keep it on the feet and beat him up.

I have Mo, Lima, Saunders, Zaromskis, and Gomes in the other fights of note. This should have been a stout ww tourney, but they lost a few guys, and seemed keen on making a couple squash matches. They left Indio, Baker, Page, Alexandre, Good, MIna, Souza, etc. in the clubhouse. And didn't go after interesting free agents.

[SDM]

Looking forward to this, and I'll actually get to watch it live.

[REDDzone]

War Killa B.

I know King Mo losing would really suck for bellator, but I just loathe that guy.

[Bernman]

Looking forward to this, and I'll actually get to watch it live.

Bellator 87 has less names than its two predecessors, but it will steal the show. Every LW tournament match involves a solid or better fighter and they are exciting match-ups stylistically. It should be even better than Bellator 62's LW tourney quarters, which was one of Bellator's best shows ever, IMO.

[SDM]

Luckily for me, my girlfriend has industry events and parties on Thursdays, so there won't be any wrestling for the remote this season, like what used to happen on Fridays.

[Gold Chain]

French guy used to be an undercover cop in France and his brother fought in Pride.

Helwani does not like Askren.....

[Bernman]

Amoussou has an interesting style, story, and personality. I thought the posing after he inverted heel hooked (IMO MMA sub of the year) Bryan Baker to win the WW title was pretty funny. Then he went right into giving Askren crap for his style. After he choked out Lozano he said he addressed the ww field personally saying he came to destroy them. Before the Rickels fight he called Caveman ugly as hell and then they had a good mean mug during the staredown. He was going at it on Twitter with War Machine before they were supposed to fight prior to him going back to jail. He b-lined to Alvey's corner right before their fight and mean mugged him face to face. I think it would be really good for Bellator if he were to win. This division suits him so much better physically than 185.

[REDDzone]

Didn't realize Amoussou is primarily a judo guy. Cool.

[ShowtimeFan]

Despite the low number of bouts under his belt (10-0), Askern looks everybit as omipontent (in Bellator) as Anderson does in the UFC, I mean he has a unique body, height and style to be able to strike hard enough to get a hold of guys, throw them down and then submit them.

I keep waiting for him to be truley tested and perhps this will be the guy to do it, but until I see someone to even make him backup, ya gotta go with him...

I would like to see him take on some of the top UFC talent as well, he would be a Welterweight, same as Georges St. Pierre, Jake Ellenberger, Dan Hardy, Nick Diaz, Mike Swick, Martin Kampmann, Johny Hendricks, Carlos Condit, etc...

[LittleOzzy]

This fight needs to be stopped.

[LittleOzzy]

That was nasty, that guy won't walk right for weeks.

[SDM]

Askren continues to just do whatever he wants.

[SDM]

Sounded like a nerd there though, calling out THE WORLD.

[ShowtimeFan]

Ben Askren vs. Karl Amoussou
Muhammed Lawal vs. Przemyslaw Mysiala
Douglas Lima vs. Michail Tsarev
Ben Saunders vs. Koffi Adzisto
Marius Zaromskis vs. Brent Weedman

Win or Lose, one of my top 5 favorite fighters to watch is Ben Saunders.

That title fight might be fun, if Karl A. can stay on his feet, which is not the usual thing when fighting Ben Asken...

Sorry to prop myself, but I was 5 for 5...!

All great fights, I love watching Ben Saunders although I doubt anyone in Bellator can stop Askern. Can't wait to see MOre of MO, Saunders vs Lima is gonna be a great match-up, even though Askern expects Saunders to win, I am not as confident, Lima is wickedly good..

[Cammo101]

You had to try pretty hard not to be 5 for 5 on this card. It had so many mismatches it looked like a Strikeforce show.

All in all a good night for Bellator. Askren stays dominate and none of the name guys pulled a Babalu.

[Bernman]

Askren's damage game was much improved. He actually was kind of a fighter in there. He's threatening to make me a fan, in conjunction with his personality. Now all he needs to do is develop subs too and commit to them while being willing to risk losing position. He'll never be a dynamic striker on the feet. He's just not explosive enough. But he surprises guys with a shot on occasion. Maybe enough to keep them honest.

I was pretty frustrated with the squash matches leading up to the main event. It killed the drama. I want to see back and forth, resistance. They were sparring sessions. They have the talent, below LHW, especially, but they're more interested in building some guys at the moment.

The LW tourney next week should be fun to break up the squash match tourney tendency. All those match-ups are competitive and sick. In reality, that card deserves much better ratings than this one, but the opposite in all likelihood will occur.

Bellator has got to stop holding event in the eastern half of the U.S. too if they're going to be on late night on a weekday. It's hard to justify going to the events as a result. The California event had a much better turnout, and atmosphere, not surprisingly. They should be hanging out in Washington, Cali, and the other places to WEC did to fit their time slot better.

[REDDzone]

I have a huge backlog of events I need/needed to watch. Just got to this one today. Askren was impressive. Dominant as usual, but even moreso. Impressive performance by Lima as well though I know nothing of his opponent. King Mo wasn't tested.

Ben Saunders is still one of my favorite fighters to watch. There is never any point when he is on the ground that he isn't inflicting damage or else working for a submission. Not sure there is anyone more active on the ground in mma, maybe guys AS active, but more so? That's tough.

I'll say this though. That idiot ref who stood him up 3-4 times. That was unreal. That seems to be the trend though. I will say that if all matches were reffed like that, I'd stop watching mma for sure. Why watch d-level boxers box when I could just watch boxing?