Bellator 156 and UFC Fight Night 89 were this past weekend. Let’s get right to the rundown.
Bellator 156
BAD: Chris Honeycutt vs. Mikkel Parlo
Just not a whole lot happening here. Parlo won the first round, but then Honeycutt rallied to take the final two rounds to earn the decision victory. A nice win for Honeycutt, though, even if it wasn’t the greatest.
GOOD: John Salter submits Brandon Halsey
Halsey looked good, but Salter got him down and tapped him. Big win for Salter here, he’s charging for a title shot in the middleweight division. He’s incredibly dangerous on the ground and is a threat to anybody there. If he gets you down, you got problems.
BAD/GOOD: Chidi Njokuani stops Thiago Jambo
Njokuani nailed Jambo with a body kick that ended things in the third round. The fight up until then sucked but that body shot was so vicious I got to give it a GOOD. The less said the better, in terms of the rest of the fight. Just not very good at all. Nice win for Njokuani, though.
BAD/GOOD: Eduardo Dantas vs. Marcos Galvao
This fight was hard to watch at times because it was pretty dull. At the same time, though, Dantas was dominating with legkicks and peppering jabs and punches. Dantas won the Bellator Bantamweight Title with this decision win. This was both a good fight and a bad one. Dantas fought smartly, but he could have been more aggressive with his striking. I can’t fault him, he wanted to win, but it lead to a dull fight for the most part.
UFC Fight Night 89
GOOD: Joanne Calderwood stops Valerie Letourneau
Calderwood just basically beat up Letourneau until she finally finished her. Letourneau is damn tough, but Calderwood is just so vicious and relentless that she was able to wear her down. Good win for Calderwood, but I don’t know what it means ultimately. This was a women’s flyweight fight, but it doesn’t look like the UFC will make the division permanently so this might just end up being a nice fight.
BAD/GOOD: Olivier Aubin-Mercier submits Thibault Gouti
This fight was okay. It was really close and hard-fought, but it wasn’t all that exciting. OAM got the submission win in the third round. It’s a good win for him, but it was just kind of there.
GOOD: Steve Bosse vs. Sean O’Connell
This was a wild barroom brawl. These guys were throwing heavy hands and were looking for the knockout early and often. This was really entertaining and a fun fight to watch. It wasn’t very technical, but it didn’t have to be. It was fun and that’s all it had to be. Bosse won the decision.
GOOD: Donald Cerrone stops Patrick Cote
Cerrone just completely shut down and dominated Cote. Cerrone did whatever he wanted in this fight. He never seemed to be in trouble, either. There were times where Cote was battling for submissions on the ground, but Cerrone was able to neutralize that and avoid any real trouble. Then he also showed his usual good striking and was able to counter Cote’s attacks. I admit that it wasn’t the most exciting fight the whole time, but I’m a Cerrone fan so that might be why I was more into it than I might be otherwise. Good win for Cerrone, he showed some good wrestling and submission defense.
BAD: Stephen Thompson vs. Rory MacDonald
To be blunt, this fight sucked. Very little happened and both guys were really, really tentative. I’ve seen wildlife be less tentative. It was ridiculous to see guys of this level hesitating so much. I understand it a bit more with Thompson, he was landing more shots and it looked fairly clear that he was winning rounds. So, even though it sucks, he was trying to be smart and not make a critical error. I get that, MacDonald is a dangerous guy.
However, what I don’t get at all is MacDonald’s tentativeness. This was especially true later in the fight. He had to have known that Thompson was ahead on the scorecards. So why would he choose to be so hesitant knowing he was down? I don’t get that at all. He was in a position to possibly get a title shot (or at least be one more win away from one) if he were to have a good performance and he lays a total dud. He didn’t do anything for long stretches of this fight. It’s baffling, to be quite honest. At least Thompson was winning. It may not have been very exciting, but a win’s a win. MacDonald was clearly losing and didn’t seem to care. I’m sure that’s not true, I’m sure he cares a great deal, but he sure wasn’t fighting like it. It sucks to end the card like this, but I guess it happens sometimes. Thompson is still in line for a title shot. It could easily be taken from him, but he’s got to be considered the front runner. There’s no one else who could be ahead of him.
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