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Another card Bellator has made recently that I think is worthy of it's own thread. It seems they are more shifting toward a Strikeforce style of approach, with deeper cards and better match-ups, making more of their shows EVENTS. I was very open about not being a huge fan of Strikeforce and their strategy, but almost all their cards were worth watching, and it would be a substantial improvement over what Bellator has produced in recent years. They also may be looking to monetize more of their fights between having bigger main cards and tv prelims. We'll see if that's true, but it seems an odd thing to do to stack your cards more, if not.

Anyway, here is the event so far....

Bellator 183 (San Jose):

Benson Henderson vs. Patricky "Pitbull" Freire
Lorenz Larkin vs. Paul Daley
Roy Nelson vs. Javy "the upset king" Ayala
Adam Piccolotti vs. Goiti Yamauchi
Aaron Pico vs. tba

That's something for just about all the regulars here. CPT loves him some Bendo. CBR loved Strikeforce and was inspired by Piccolotti's last performance. Susan thinks Pico is the next big thing. Some good bjj from Yamauchi and Piccolotti for RZ (and I think he likes watching our main event participants). And all the chubby guys here who want athletic validation can live vicariously through Big Country and the upset king Javy Ayala. Those guys like to ko or get ko'ed. Should be some good fun.

Hope Larkin smashes Daley.

PICO!

Susan wrote:PICO!

TBA has a perfect record though.

Hopefully TBA is 0-0, 0-1, or 1-0.

How long is Lima out for? I'm just surprised to see Daley get a fight before Rory.

AirCanadaMouse wrote:How long is Lima out for? I'm just surprised to see Daley get a fight before Rory.

AFAIK, he's not out. The fight just hasn't been scheduled. Neither fighter has exactly been Cowboy Cerrone in terms of activity in recent years.

I'll guess it's at the following tentpole event, as this is an example of, seeing as though it's being held on a Saturday.

Pico has his 2nd opponent. It's 7-3 Justin Linn, a former RFA contender. So it looks like they didn't change their aggressive approach w/ his career much. Just moved him down to his proper weight class, which is a discernible improvement. But there is still a question if he's ready for this, especially after a confidence-killing quick first loss.

They're taking forever to announce this full card. 2 weeks away, and they just have the main card + 2 match-ups with 1 win between the 4.

I really don't get their approach with Pico.

Jasen777 wrote:I really don't get their approach with Pico.

Go back to when Coker did an interview with Ariel after the first fight. Bellator wanted to give him a typical debut fight, Coker basically said that Pico and his team was asking for some really high ranked guys, and they kind of met in the middle and gave him that first guy.

I definitely can understand how fighters making the crossover from another sport where they were stars wouldn't want to go through the years-long grind of building up their careers to actually achieving something and making real money. But in the end it may have proved that's exactly what they had to do.

Off the top off my head, the only star wrestler who I can think of that made a really meteoric rise in the sport was Brock. But that's at heavyweight. It's a super thin division. Pico is populating the toughest ones in the sport, where low-level guys in major orgs and high-level ones in feeder leagues possess the athleticism, stamina, and technique of hw contenders/champs.

If nothing else, it adds to the intrigue of the early cards he's on, in a similar way as it did for Conor vs. Mayweather and Punk vs. Gall. You want to see if he's in the group of anomalies who can actually pull it off.

Bernman wrote:CPT loves him some Bendo.

I do?

Card seems interesting though, thanks for the post.

It's this weekend. Considerably better than the ufc event, imo. Even needed to get a fake DHK to bolster the card.

Bendo vs. Patricky is tough to pick, but I'll go with Patricky. He seems to be on the upswing and Bendo on the downside. Bendo is more a counter fighter and Patricky is dangerous coming forward. But he's better on the counter now too, doesn't just shell up. Pretty good tdd. Bendo is going to need to take him down and control him.

Larkin beats Daley on tighter strikes and better kicking game. But Larkin is going to keep the fight on the feet and is not overly long, giving Daley a good shot to win.

I think Big Country will avoid the upset against the upset king. Ayala likes to duck down and throw hooks against taller guys like Kharitonov, Big Monster, . Roy is a fellow stocky guy. He'll be hard to hit, uncharacteristically. And he can fight short guys with those uppercuts. Ayala is going to sleep I think, possibly to the ground and controlled.

Yamauchi is a talented guy, but there's something missing. Piccolotti creates openings and recognizes them, standing or ground. And can control position better. One way or another this is a win and showcase for his ability. Should be fighting guys like in the main event.

Some good fights and surprising results, even if there were some lulls.

Bendo had a decision go against him? Luck evens out over time. It serves him right for trying to point-fight though. But the media scored it for Patricky. Several even had it 30-27.

Larkin was cruising and then he got complacent in mid-range, the only place where Daley can really hurt you.

If only Ayala had decent tdd, because he was tooling Roy on the feet. When Roy gets on top he's boring.

Slick half hook/half uppercut by Pico. That was a funky angle. Linn wasn't expecting to hit between that and it being off a counter. You seldom see someone go out like that off a punch in MMA. Pico is still green though so they should start taking their time. Maybe a similar level opponent next.

Very disappointed in Piccolotti, but that was some slick jits by Yamauchi. Snatched that guillotine super quick off the td, jumped his back later and I think was trapping the hands to prevent him from protecting his neck initially.

Rory is a fan of MMA math, even when it involves a future opponent beating the same opposition and more of them.

I agree with the decision, but it was shocking to see a split decision go against Bendo LOL.

Do you guys think Bellator will shy away from signing UFC guys with the way Benson and Larkin have panned out?

It seems like Bellator guys that make the crossover struggle in the UFC (Will Brooks) and vice versa.

AirCanadaMouse wrote:I agree with the decision, but it was shocking to see a split decision go against Bendo LOL.

Do you guys think Bellator will shy away from signing UFC guys with the way Benson and Larkin have panned out?

It seems like Bellator guys that make the crossover struggle in the UFC (Will Brooks) and vice versa.

From a selfish, long-term perspective, it's probably better for Bellator if UFC guys do struggle there. Then their "original" fighters can make their names off them. That's usually the best and sometimes the only way for that to happen if you're the #2 org in mma.

So if anything, these outcomes should prompt even more signings. Then they could save money on the back ends of their contracts by dumping them. It feels cold, but it's a rough business this mma.