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

Bernman · Post #1 » by **Bernman** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:01 pm

Card (stacked):

Pat Curran vs. Shahbulat Shamhalaev, FW Title
Mike Richman vs. Frodo Khasbulaev, FW Tourney Champ
Brett Cooper vs. Doug Marshall, MW Tourney Champ
Rick Hawn vs. Karo Parisyan
Lyman Good vs. Dante Rivera
Darrell Horcher vs. Phillipe Nover
Jimmie Rivera vs. Brian Kelleher
Tom DeBlass vs. Carlos Brooks
Liam McGeary vs. Anton Talamantes
Sam Orepeza vs. Shedrick Goodridge
Will Martinez vs. Michael Brent Hess

Post #2 » by **Shaazzam** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 11:20 pm

Crazy card! I'm jacked for this one.

Bernman · Post #3 » by **Bernman** » Wed Mar 13, 2013 11:41 pm

Cooper-Marshall was added as speculated. This is a crazy card for Bellator, indeed. I hope everybody here who is free at the time watches this one live from start to finish.

Post #4 » by **Shaazzam** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 1:28 am

I've been able to watch most of the cards. Thursday night is great for me to chill and stream the prelims and then watch the main card on TV. I just don't usually remember all the guys names lol.

Bernman · Post #5 » by **Bernman** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 2:58 am

You know them enough to assert this correctly this is a good card.

Honestly, the prelims have been mediocre at best overall this season. A few have been anomalously intriguing, like 86's, 90's, and this one; but mostly they are relying on locals, many of whom aren't Bellator caliber, to sell tickets. The prelims in a lot of previous seasons, when they had lesser means, were of higher quality. It shouldn't be that way. Maybe we see more legit prospects and Bellator caliber fighters when the cards are spaced out more for the summer series and as Bellator progresses on Spike. If they'd ever want to televise a group of prelims, like UFC does, they are going to have to increase they're quality. Not be short-sighted just to sell tickets for that particular card, spend a little more money, and give fighters on their roster work between tourneys. The fighters are there on the roster, they just don't use all that are available. As a result I think a lot of people get the wrong idea about what constitutes Bellator caliber. There's a lot more variance and conservative usage of their fighters in Bellator than UFC. Long view, how is that helping them? They entrench a rep and lose momentum like they gained from 90. As a result 901K viewers for 91, 741K last week.

ShowtimeFan · Post #6 » by **ShowtimeFan** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 10:06 pm

Pat Curran vs. Shahbulat Shamhalaev

I love Pat Curren and I love this match-up, but as I said before, everyone who has fought Shah-Sham gets hit, goes dow, and loses, so there is no way I would bet on Pat, he needs to get Shah-Sham on the ground and do some G&P...

Bernman · Post #7 » by **Bernman** » Tue Apr 2, 2013 7:50 pm

ShowtimeFan wrote:Pat Curran vs. Shahbulat Shamhalaev

I love Pat Curren and I love this match-up, but as I said before, everyone who has fought Shah-Sham gets hit, goes dow, and loses, so there is no way I would bet on Pat, he needs to get Shah-Sham on the ground and do some G&P...

He has that capability to get him on the ground and work him with size and BJJ like Khabib Nurmagomedov did earlier in his career. Before that point he can use his length and technique to stick his jab in Sham's face, and tight defense to avoid being head kicked or punched to oblivion. Curran also has the much more proven cardio than Sham. Curran was still going strong against Pitbull in the 5th, while Sham has never gone 5. So even if he's losing early, which I doubt will be the case, he can come back late. Sham's got those crazy striking credentials to potentially setup and score a knockout, so that's a way he can win, but I doubt it'll happen given Curran has never been tko'ed. I've never seen him rocked even.

Between Frodo and Richman, I like Frodo. He's a machine with brute strength, wrestling, and BJJ; so I think he can finish what Bezerra started. Bezerra still arguably beat Richman in spite of gassing. I thought it was a classic draw, actually.

Cooper vs. Marshall - I like Cooper to win with wrestling and gnp, but I'm reticent in that choice. If Cooper wasn't saddled by that knee brace/problem I think he'd pretty much have the Rhino everywhere. But his athleticism has been appreciably hindered. It's hard for him to explode into techniques as a result. If he misses

Horcher-Nover, Good-Rivera, and Rivera-Kelleher are fights to watch on the prelims. Eye-Holland was unfortunately canceled due to an eye injury.

This card is two days away and better than UFC's. Let's get hyped!

tjumper78 · Post #8 » by **tjumper78** » Thu Apr 4, 2013 8:30 pm

can anyone tell me when/how bellator season starts and ends?
been watching the ufc & the strikeforce but never got into bellator until a few weeks ago.
already seen some exciting fights.

it was just weird to me when i saw "season finale".
so if the season ends tonight, when does the new season begin?

NZB2323 · Post #9 » by **NZB2323** » Thu Apr 4, 2013 8:36 pm

What channel is this on?

REDDzone · Post #10 » by **REDDzone** » Thu Apr 4, 2013 8:45 pm

Excited for this one.

Bernman · Post #11 » by **Bernman** » Thu Apr 4, 2013 8:47 pm

tjumper78 wrote:can anyone tell me when/how bellator season starts and ends?
been watching the ufc & the strikeforce but never got into bellator until a few weeks ago.
already seen some exciting fights.

it was just weird to me when i saw "season finale".
so if the season ends tonight, when does the new season begin?

Bellator typically have a winter/spring season and then a fall/winter season, where they hold events virtually weekly, and try to hammer out singular tournaments to a count of about 4-6 during that time.

Then in between they have a "summer series" where they have an event more like once per month during that time, trying to get a tournament or two done during that period.

This year's winter/spring season ran from January 17th to April 4th.

Then they are going to do a summer series, the dates for which haven't been announced yet. Normally they start that in June, but that was when they were ended the winter/spring season in late May, and starting their next full season 4 months later. This year they started and thus finished much earlier than usual. So they may start in May and hold more events during the "summer" period to bridge the gap. I'm pretty sure they're holding more events because they are projecting 2-3 tournaments and you couldn't accomplish that in just the normal 3 events. You'll have to stay tuned to find out their plans. They should be announced soon, after this season wraps.

The fall/winter full season should start around September.

NZB wrote:What channel is this on?

Well that's not a good sign for Bellator. It's on Spike at 10/9 central. 7:15/6:15 central on Spike.com if you want to see the prelims.

tjumper78 · Post #12 » by **tjumper78** » Thu Apr 4, 2013 8:54 pm

thank you, bernman!
i really like the every thursday event. haha.
but then i guess it wont be like that all year long like you said.
still, more mma to watch!!

Gibby · Post #13 » by **Gibby** » Thu Apr 4, 2013 10:11 pm

Pat Curran vs. Shahbulat Shamhalaev, FW Title
Mike Richman vs. Frodo Khasbulaev, FW Tourney Champ
Brett Cooper vs. Doug Marshall, MW Tourney Champ
Rick Hawn vs. Karo Parisyan
Jessica Eye vs. Munah Holland
Lyman Good vs. Dante Rivera
Darrell Horcher vs. Phillipe Nover
Jimmie Rivera vs. Brian Kelleher
Tom DeBlass vs. Carlos Brooks
Chris Liguori vs. Andrew Calandrelli
Sam Orepeza vs. Shedrick Goodridge
Will Martinez vs. Michael Phillips

Alright, I completely guessed the first 3 or 4 fights.

Bernman · Post #14 » by **Bernman** » Thu Apr 4, 2013 10:41 pm

Eye's fight was canceled due to an injury she suffered. It's a shame because she's like one of three women fighters I actually enjoy watching.

Horcher should starch Nover. He's kind of a Mein or Richman esque sharpshooting southpaw in the striking department, and his grappling is about at their levels as well. Not something to lean on, but good enough to combat all but the top grapplers.

REDDzone · Post #15 » by **REDDzone** » Fri Apr 5, 2013 2:30 pm

I haven't watched this yet and haven't seen any results, but giving Karo fights seems almost as aggregious to me as giving Filho fights.

tjumper78 · Post #16 » by **tjumper78** » Fri Apr 5, 2013 2:35 pm

shamhalaev went nighty night real fast under curran's guillotine.

cowboyronnie · Post #17 » by **cowboyronnie** » Fri Apr 5, 2013 7:51 pm

This has been a hell of an event so far. The first round of Richman vs Grodo is nuts. Hugh, high level and a lot of KO strikes being blasted.

cowboyronnie · Post #18 » by **cowboyronnie** » Fri Apr 5, 2013 8:02 pm

All thattalk from Frodo about being hard as nails and having been raised in a land of killers, he still waxes his shoulders.

Cammo101 · Post #19 » by **Cammo101** » Fri Apr 5, 2013 8:12 pm

Curran continues to impress with his all around game.

ShowtimeFan · Post #20 » by **ShowtimeFan** » Fri Apr 5, 2013 8:12 pm

Great Card, I was surprised Cooper lost, and I would have liked to see Richmond do MORE against that Hobbit Frodo, but I was geeked at the way Curran won and I love watching Rick Hawn as well..

All entertaining match-ups and fights...

Can't wait for the summer series...