Bellator Bicentennial: Mousasi v. Carvalho, 5/25

[Bernman]

Main card:

Gegard Mousasi vs. Rafael Carvalho, MW title
Michael Page vs. David Rickels
Big Country vs. Cro Cop
Phil Davis vs. Linton Vassell

Coming to you from London, England.

They'll almost surely add another fight to the main card as this is a tentpole. Pico usually finds his way onto these events. Him vs. one of the English mid-tiers around the weight is a good bet.

[REDDzone]

Isn't it true this will be tape delayed? LOL @ Bellator if so.

[Bernman]

I don't know. That's what they typically have done, and they do for west coast viewing on all events. They really should just find times in-between that work and air live everywhere because it's sport. One of the things holding back the organization.

When they go to England, just start the main card at 6 PM. They can leave the building at 1 or 2 AM on a Saturday night. They're big boys.

[cowboyronnie]

Big Country vs. Cro Cop

EXCUSE ME

[AirCanadaMouse]

It will be tape delayed, which is a massive failure for them. Real shame, this is a good card, anything involving Moose is.

[LALifer49]

This is quite a good card, though I thought Schlemenko took the fight vs moose

[AirCanadaMouse]

This is quite a good card, though I thought Schlemenko took the fight vs moose

I don't see how anyone thinks this... it was a clear 2-1, and a very easy fight to score.

[ShowtimeFan]

It'll be worth watching, but you never know what to expect from these guys on the Senior MMA Tour..

[Bernman]

I'm calling my shot here. I think Carvalho surprises Mousasi, with the most likely avenue being ko. Mousasi has had some struggles against crafty guys who use kicks and can strike powerfully ala Machida and Hall. That describes Carvalho. He also gave Halsey a hell of a time when trying to take him down. Good hips, sprawl, unders, etc. Don't know about the jits, but he's from Brasil so they can't hurt. Mousasi can't be his sleepy version in this fight. He should be motivated given what happened to Shlemenko, but still Carvalho is a very alert fighter who should be in step w/ him. Very underrated guy, imo.

MVP I think has an easy time against Rickels because of what we saw from Chandler, Pat Pitbull, and Amoussou before gassing. Speed is his kryptonite.

[cowboyronnie]

Agree that Carvalho is a handful. Don't know why that's "your shot".

I'm gonna call MY shot and predict Davis vs Linton goes to a decision. That SafeFest + another gimmie for MVP + the loss of Cro Cop...these is not a compelling event at all.

[REDDzone]

Well, Gegard IS a 4-1 favorite in some books, so...

[cowboyronnie]

Carvalho has KOd his opponents in 12 of 16 total fights. 4:1 seems crazy.

[Bernman]

Good prelims for a Bellator, actually. If you're interested I believe you can watch them live at 12:30 PM EST on Spike's website. Then you'd either need to find a pirated stream or wait several hours until the main card to watch it on American TV. Yeah, it's far from ideal, they should have shown it on Saturday and aired it live everywhere w/ an in-between start time, but this is what we have to work with.

[Bernman]

Spoiler:

Rickels wasn't a big enough challenge for MVP at this point, but still impressive that MVP made him say no mas. Rickels is decent and he's tough. He just felt helpless in there. Never thought we'd see him quit.

Please, Bellator, give him a real challenge finally. The fans want to see it. I'm talking Larkin, Daley, Koreshkov, etc. Then he could fight for the title. Let's see some progress in his career. I believe he has the ability and Bellator just doesn't know how to manage fighters. They go way too fast or way too slow. He's too satisfied with it as well.

[Bernman]

Spoiler:

I was wrong. Gegard too smooth on the ground. And I don't think Carvalho even did poorly. Just a well-timed counter td that exploded him into the fence got him down. Carvalho kept popping up and was controlling the hands. But Mousasi was relentless, stayed tight, and was technical tripping him back down before he could turn and get unders. Ultimately swiftly passed to mount while trapping the leg. Carvalho kept his hips active to get to half but Mousasi coolly stayed high but not too high and then pounded him out. I thought an early stoppage for a title fight given limited damage but Carvalho may well not have gotten out of the position anyway.

I think Mousasi's top game is the best part of his arsenal. One of the elites in the sport in that regard. Probably overrated on the feet because that's his background and he's too casual, leaving openings. Next maybe they do that Shlemenko rematch or they really need to have a mw tourney to build a prospect up. They got talent. Lovato has the potential but not the rep yet.

[Bernman]

Spoiler:

Didn't see the fight, but apparently K-1 Phil has arrived. Didn't use to have the oomph for this, but good setup also.

Read on Twitter

[Bernman]

Man, they really screwed themselves by tape delaying and not even putting it on Saturday, huh. Killed the excitement for it. Otherwise there was at least something to grab onto.

[AirCanadaMouse]

Why does Bellator still tape delay? As if the complaints aren’t enough, and the UK fans get screwed over a lot too. That was a fun card, and I don’t mind Rickels taking himself out that fight at all, people calling him out for it have never competed and/or just completely stupid.

MVP needs a step up now. He did the whole boxing thing, Bellator gives him lower tiered opponents (I hate the term “can”) so his record is well padded, now it’s time to face someone with some name value, he isn’t a spring chicken. He needs to make a run now at his age while the interest is still remotely there. Especially after some bad performances.

I love Gegard. But for my sake as a fan, I hope the Rory fight never happens. Love those two, and it’s a bad matchup for Rory, rather see him face Koreshkov.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[Bernman]

They tape delay because Paramount values other shows more and in this case they wanted to show it at night instead of day given it was in England. But when it's on the weekend just pick like an early evening time in the States and they should be able to stay up and watch at the live show. They're short-sighted.

Koreshkov is the fight to make for Rory. And that's not an easy one for him either by any means. He can't alpha him, Koreshkov has become pretty well-rounded over time, and he fights smarter. Beating Chidi Njokuani after he missed weight badly and when the dude has went on to look great at 185 was very impressive. Of course he annihilated Bendo too, before I think the decline happened.

Mousasi can rematch Shlemenko. He's got something to prove in that match-up.

I still like Carvalho. Maybe next time he stuffs the td. We've seen better tdd from him in the past. Throw him into a mw tourney w/ Lovato, Njokuani, Tokov, Van Steenis, and Salter. Give Salter and Carvalho byes.

Daley was already the right step up for MVP. You could still do that now finally, or have him face Larkin. I think Lima is too big of a step. You could try Fitch but we know what could happen. Of course MVP could prove too elusive as well. You have to try at some point or there wasn't much of a point to the MVP era. Don't think they're getting big ratings off him as is.

Tough to figure out what to do with K-1 Phil. Bader is occupied and don't want to see that fight again. Maybe he faces one of their name hw's outside the tourney.

[cowboyronnie]

Man, MVP has no room to complain about the capitulation. The guy has an 8 fight streak, is taking on Caveman Rickels. You're toying with a guy who has no business being in there, yeah, he's going to give up.