Category — Bellator

Wow. Just wow. Just as we’re beginning to answer the question of whether Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Dan Henderson is the greatest MMA fight of all time when it turns out it might not even have been the best fight on Saturday night. I don’t want to spoil the outcome of the bout between Bellator lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez and undefeated challenger Michael Chandler, and if you don’t already know how it turns out then I strongly suggest you watch the fight before reading anything else. You won’t be disappointed.

This is a pretty compelling promo for Bellator’s fifth season. Of course, it’s all about the Bruce Lee narration. He would make any fight video seem cooler than it actually is. If only the fighters were better. Maybe that’ll change once the promotion moves from MTV2 to Spike TV.

There’s something about the way Falaniko Vitale reacts to Bellator middleweight champ Hector Lombard’s right hook, the way his body drops, immediately tries to stand and then realizes it better sit down, that is both brutal and comical. Definitely a highlight of last weekend’s Bellator 44.

Eddie Alvarez may have boxed his way to retaining his lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Pat Curran, but the highlight of Saturday’s Bellator 39 was this flying knee from Patricky “Pitbull” Freire to the chin of Toby Imada. It literally had Imada out on his feet, as though his body didn’t have sense enough to fall down.

The Korean Zombie’s twister is one of the most impressive submissions in UFC history. Maybe the most impressive. It was certainly good enough to win last night’s Submission of the Night. At least in the UFC. Bellator 38 may beg to differ with it’s second-ever inverted triangle sub. Toby Imada did it first.

MMA on MTV? Sure, the former music vid network is home the Jason “Mayhem” Miller’s Bully Beatdown, but it doesn’t exactly seem like a place you’d expect to find legitimate mixed martial arts. So the deal between MTV2 and Bellator Fighting Championships comes as a bit of a surprise. It just doesn’t feel like a good fit.

Maybe it’s because I want to be able to watch Bellator but I’d sooner go five rounds with Georges St. Pierre with both hands tied behind my back than have anything to do with MTV or its tweeny bopper programs. It’s the Justin Bieber channel for fuck’s sake, who, incidentally, I would pay good money to see go five rounds with GSP. At least GSP would finish that fight. Probably. But I digress.

The deal will see MTV2 air two annual 12-week seasons live (beginning with the fourth season in March) plus three “off-season” events. The cabler reaches 80 million homes, which isn’t nothing, but it’s still less than channels like FX, with which Bellator was also considering a deal. FX reaches 100 million homes and airs quality programming like Sons of Anarchy and Justified, tough shows about tough men doing tough things, which seems more like a natural fit for MMA.

But Bellator boss Bjorn Rebney calls the MTV2 alliance a “dream marriage” and a “perfect fit” and yada yada. I’m not getting it. Yes, MTV has a young demographic, as does MMA, but I can’t believe there’s much cross-over between the two. What am I missing?

There’s really only one fight on Thursday’s season-ending Bellator 34 card: power striker Zoila Frausto vs. the 22-0 Japanese grappling phenom Megumi Fujii. It will result in the crowning of the promotion’s first women’s champ but more than that, it’s an opportunity to see the female Shinya Aoki in action.

If you’re looking for a little pre-Brocktoberfest actio, check out Thursday’s superfight between Eddie Alvarez and Roger Huerta at Bellator 33. Expect fireworks as the two 155-pounders throw down. Likewise, Ben Aksren and Lyman Good will tee it up in the welterweight division, although this one will likely spend a lot more time on the mats.

This is what makes MMA so great – that the tide of a particular fight can turn on a dime. Defending Bellator featherweight champ Joe Soto schooled challenger Joe Warren in the first round of their title bout on Friday. It was a striking clinic that left Warren dazed and confused, to say the least. Then round two started.

This is one sweet submission. On Thursday, Dan Hornbuckle locked in a kimura from the bottom, dropped a leg across Steve Carl’s neck to hold the position, swept to top position and finished it off to earn himself a berth in the Bellator welterweight final against Ben Askren. Textbook.