Bellator 194 and UFC Fight Night 126 were both this past weekend. Let’s get to the rundown.
Bellator 194
GOOD- Tywan Claxton stops Jose Perez
Claxton landed some big shots in the first rounds, but it wasn’t enough to stop Perez. In the second round, though, Claxton again started landing a lot of shots and the referee was forced to jump in to stop the fight. Good win for Claxton.
GOOD- Vadim Nernkov stops Lima McGeary
Nernkov destroyed McGeary’s leg here. He hit him with a leg kick over and over and over. It was painful to watch McGeary try to continue. He showed great toughness but you can’t absorb that much abuse to your leg and keep going, I don’t care who you are. Huge win for Nernkov. McGeary lasted until the third round, but he paid the price.
UGLY- Heather Hardy vs. Ana Julaton
This was a horrible fight. To borrow a phrase from Jim Cornette, this was a four-finger stinker. This looked like students on their first day of grappling training. I don’t know, this just sucked. Hardy won the decision.
GOOD- Patricky Freire stops Derek Campos
Things started a little tentatively, as each guy tried to feel things out. However, about halfway through the first round, Freire dropped Campos with a huge right hand and it was all over. This was a nice way to try to remove some of the Big win for Freire and a tough loss for Campos.
GOOD/BAD- Roy Nelson vs. Matt Mitrione
Mitrione won the first two rounds with his striking. Nelson did get takedowns in the latter parts of both rounds, but he didn’t do much of anything with them, so to me they’re not worth all that much. Of course, you never know with judges so anything was possible. In the third round, Nelson completely dominated the fight on the ground. You could have argued for a 10-8 Nelson there, but two of the judges went 10-9 (the other went 10-8) and Mitrione won the majority decision. This means he advances to the second round in the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix and will face the winner of Mohammed Lawal vs. Bellator light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader.
Nelson was upset about the decision, but I think it was the right call. I don’t think he did nearly enough in either of the first two rounds to warrant winning either round. It wasn’t a great fight by any stretch of the imagination, but it also wasn’t completely terrible. It was fine, it was solid, and it was sort of what you expected given both guys. I still think Mitrione is the favorite to win it all, and I do expect his other fight (or fights if he wins his next fight) to be more exciting. We’ll see, of course, but it can’t be less exciting.
UFC Fight Night 126
BAD- Sage Northcutt vs. Thibault Gouti
I didn’t care for this fight much at all. The action was ok, but it was just kind of there. Northcutt won the decision, but I thought Gouti won it. Oh well.
GOOD- Brandon Davis vs. Steven Peterson
Peterson showed tremendous heart and toughness, as Davis wailed on him relentlessly. He couldn’t finish him, though, so Davis had to settle for the decision win. Good win for him.
GOOD- Curtis Millender stops Thiago Alves
Millender hurt Alves several times during this fight. At one point in the first round, he thought he had won but Alves was able to recover. In the second round, Millender didn’t make the same mistake and kept hitting Alves until it was finally over. Big win for Millender and a tough loss for Alves.
GOOD/BAD- James Vick vs. Francisco Trinaldo
Some parts of this fight were good, some parts were bad. It started off well, but deteriorated quickly. Vick won the decision.
GOOD- Derrick Lewis stops Marcin Tybura
Tybura was having some success with his takedowns, but Lewis kept landing his heavy shots. There’s only so many of those you can take. Tybura took a lot, but he exceeded his limit in the third round, as Lewis dropped him and finished the fight with some big punches. Nice win for Lewis.
GOOD- Donald Cerrone stops Yancy Medeiros
Things were close early, but then Cerrone landed a combination that dropped Medeiros at the end of the first round, swarmed, and got the stoppage.
This was a huge win for Cerrone, who snaps a three-fight losing streak. He’s talked about moving back to lightweight, and maybe that’s best. One thing for sure, though, is that Cerrone is back on track. I’m sure this does a lot to help his confidence. This was a good win, it wasn’t like it was some dull decision, he took Medeiros out. To finish a guy in the first round is impressive.
I’m not sure if this means Cerrone is back, or if he just had a good night, but I was glad to see it. I love watching Cerrone fight and I think MMA is more fun when he’s in it. If he drops back to lightweight, he could make a title run. It’d be really hard, but it’s possible. He has the striking to do it. We’ll see, though.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank
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