UFC Fight Night 132 was this past week. I’ll recap that and then talk about some Bellator news.
UFC Fight Night 132
GOOD- Li Jingliang vs. Daichi Abe
This fight was all right. Jingliang won the decision. I missed parts of this fight as I had to take care of something. I don’t know if I missed a whole lot, though. Still, nice win for Jingliang.
GOOD- Jessica Rose Clark vs. Jessica Eye
Eye maintained constant pressure on Clark throughout, though Clark did have some good success at times. Eye looked good in this fight and she won the hard-fought decision. Good win for Eye.
GOOD- Ovince Saint Preux submits Tyson Pedro
Pedro dropped OSP and nearly finished him, but OSP battled back and ended up locking in a submission himself for the win in the first round. It was an incredible and impressive sequence, definitely worth checking it out if you haven’t seen it already. Good win for OSP.
GOOD- Donald Cerrone vs. Leon Edwards
This was a tough five round fight. Edwards won the decision, though I think you could make an argument for Cerrone having won. Some of that feeling might be my bias, though, as I’ve always respected the way Cerrone carries himself and his willingness to fight.
Prior to this fight, I was still holding out hope that Cerrone would make another title run, but with this loss that basically puts that thought out to pasture.
Edwards is a good fighter but the guys at the top of the welterweight division are just too good now. Cerrone has dished out way more punishment that he’s taken in his career, but he’s taken a lot of punishment over the years. I think he’ll still be a top guy, but more along the lines of being a name and an entertaining fighter.
As for Edwards, he keeps getting better and better. He has a bright future ahead of him and could make his own name shortly. Especially if he keeps this up. This was a big win and should be a building block for more big wins in the future.
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Bellator Roundup
MacDonald vs. Mousasi announced
Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald will fight Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi on September 29th.
This is a huge fight. You could argue that it’s a bit early because each man just won their belts, but it is what it is. I choose to focus on the positives and I think should be a great fight.
This fight almost assuredly goes all five rounds. Each man is so tough and so skilled that a finish seems unlikely. It’s certainly possible, given the ability of the fighters involved, but you can’t expect it. I give Mousasi the edge, but I think it’s close and whoever wins is going to have to go above and beyond in order to get that victory.
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Silva vs. Rampage
Wanderlei Silva has said that he will be fighting Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at the same September 29th Bellator event.
This could be a fun fight, given the history between the two. I assume both will be medically cleared so as long as that happens, I have no reservations about these two fighting. I think this will be good enough to warrant the attention, but we’ll have to wait and see.
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Machida signs
Lyoto Machida has signed with Bellator. This is a good signing for them, so long as they didn’t break the bank for him. Machida is absolutely capable of delivering excitement and bigtime fights, but he’s also capable of putting on duds that will bore you to sleep. I think we’ll see more of the former in this case, because the level of competition will be less for him here.
This hurts the UFC, even if only a little, because Machida is a name. He’s not the biggest name but taking away from the UFC and adding to Bellator tips the scales a bit more. I’m not going to suggest that this move catapults Bellator ahead of the UFC or anything crazy like that, but it helps. Machida is coming off of a highlight reel finish of Vitor Belfort so there’s a little juice behind his name. I don’t think Machida will make the impact Mousasi and MacDonald have but he’ll definitely help.
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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