Bellator MMA * General News Thread

[wandshogun09]

AJ McKee was raised by Jake Shields? I’ve learned something new today. 

[Carbomb]

On the back of that tweet, I looked up Antonio McKee, and I'm guessing the boredom factor must've been critical, because his actual record leaves me wondering why he never fought in the UFC.

EDIT: Ah, he had one fight, nestled in the list there. Saying Dana White was like a "drunk sailor" probably put paid to any further matches.

Edited December 22, 2019 by Carbomb

[wandshogun09]

Completely forgot that McKee Sr had a fight in the UFC. Just looked it up and it was against Jacob ‘Christmas’ Volkmann of all people! What a fitting time of year to be reminded of him. 

In recent times McKee has only popped up on my radar at all due to his son’s success and because he trained Chuck Liddell for Chuck’s disastrous comeback against Tito last year. 

And yeah Carbomb, the criticism was all to do with him not being much good to watch. He had success and he was effective at what he did. I’d rather watch the Best Of Jon Fitch though. 

Edited December 22, 2019 by wandshogun09

[jimufctna24]

Aye, he isn't a fan of Dana's:

Quote

“Over the years, I’ve always been up front. When Jens Pulver was the champion, man I’ll kick the shit out of Jens Pulver. Even Matt Hughes, I’ll out-wrestle any of those guys and beat them. But they [UFC] would never make those fights happen. I wasn’t a corporate boy, I talk s*** and I thought Dana White was a f****t straight up, a punk, a coward. Why? Because he talks all this s*** and then he walks around like he’s this f****n’ tough steroid bald head guy. He doesn’t even know. I was so close to him before the UFC ever blew up, when he was doing cardio kick boxing and snorting dope, his old weird ass.”

McKee Sr made no secret that he tried to make his fights as uneventful as possible in order to avoid damage. For an organisation like the UFC that was simultaneously trying to make the sport more appealing and their own organisation more legitimate, he was an inconvenience. If they signed McKee, he would likely stink up the joint and turn off fans. If they didn't sign him, they would be passing up the opportunity to add a top 10 fighter to their roster. 

In the end, the best possible scenario occurred for the UFC. McKee fought once for the promotion, in a prelim bout, and lost by close decision. The UFC were thus able to claim that they had given McKee Sr his chance and he had come up short

In many ways, he was the Askren of his day.

Edited December 22, 2019 by jimufctna24

[jimufctna24]

Regarding the Fedor vs Rampage fight this weekend:

Most people are able to remember how great a fighter Fedor was between 2002 and 2006. He was probably the best P4P fighter in the world up until Gomi won the LW GP in 2006, or perhaps when GSP took apart Hughes inside 2 rounds in November of that year. His performances against Cro Cop and Big Nog have stood the test of time, and are remembered more than the complacent performances he produced from 2007 onward.

However, a lot of people forget how good a fighter Rampage was in his prime. In Pride, he evolved into very well-rounded fighter. He could box, stuff takedowns, dirty box in the clinch, and had some of the most brutal ground and pound in the sport. He used his well-rounded game to beat top-level grapplers (Arona and Bustamante ), "superior" wrestlers (Randleman), and some of the sport's most dangerous strikers (Chuck and Igor). The Rampage we saw in the UFC, although still good enough to beat Liddell again and outlast TRT Hendo, was not the same fighter. Similar to Fedor, ironically, he had seemingly become obsessed with his boxing and had shelved many of the skills he had developed in Pride. He declined more and more as the years rolled on and eventually transformed into the plodding brawler he is today.

Thus, I can understand why some aren't overly enthusiastic about them fighting this weekend. In 2003, this would have been a very interesting fight between two well-rounded fighters. In 2019, both are 15 years removed from their primes and very limited in terms of what they can do inside the cage. The fight this weekend might be a fun spectacle, and it could even be a fun brawl, but it will leave few clues as to how the two would have compared in their primes. If anything, it will only spark further debates, such as "what would have happened if Fedor was physically able to use his sambo" or "what if Rampage had actually bothered to train". The fight could, therefore, be seen as a cruel tease, that will only raise more questions, rather than provides answers. 

Edited December 23, 2019 by jimufctna24

[WeeAl]

To be perfectly honest, even with as limited as he is these days, I'll be completely shocked if Rampage doesn't win this by brutal KO inside 90 seconds. Both men are closer to fossils than they are to prime versions of themselves as Jim mentions above. I think Rampage can hit harder now of the two and no doubt wears a shot better. 

[Egg Shen]

that's how Bellator Japan stacks up, i probably won't bother with that second half but that Bellator opening half lines up pretty good.

[jimufctna24]

The show will air live on Sky Sports at 3am (GMT) on Sunday Morning/Saturday Evening. I therefore assume, given that Japan is 9 hours ahead of the UK, that the show will take place in the afternoon in Saitama.

As much as I have been a miserable cunt about the main event, I am still looking forward to the show. Yamauchi vs Cruickshank should be a lot of fun and Larkin is a very talented fighter. I also don't mind MVP's squash matches as much as some do. 

Here is a video that Jack Slack did about Larkin in case anyone is interested.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcR0xAFVgCY

Edited December 24, 2019 by jimufctna24

[Egg Shen]

An MVP squash will fight in on a year end Japanese MMA show.

[Egg Shen]

On 12/23/2019 at 6:04 PM, WeeAl said:

To be perfectly honest, even with as limited as he is these days, I'll be completely shocked if Rampage doesn't win this by brutal KO inside 90 seconds. Both men are closer to fossils than they are to prime versions of themselves as Jim mentions above. I think Rampage can hit harder now of the two and no doubt wears a shot better. 

yeh i have a feeling as soon as Rampage lands Fedor is gonna go. Rampage is apparently weighing around 260 for the fight though.

[jimufctna24]

Some lovely person on the Sherdog forum has provided cliff notes of Fedor's interview with Sport24. The interview was presumably conducted in Russian. 

Quote

 

I dunno if it's the longest interview but.... but it touched upon some controversial themes, so kudos to the interviewer.
The bits about the upcoming fight were boring.... He likes Jackson as a person -
There was a bit about testing in Bellator and how some people claim that there's very little if any testing done in Bellator - he said he's always being tested before and after the fight by the commission, though no out of fight testing has been done in Russia.

There was a bit about the Russian media - he said he had a few interviews with Russian media in the past and his words were changed, taken out of context, etc - he prefers not to give interviews to the Russian media for that reason.

Then they talked about his brother and this bit I found particularly interesting because Fedor hasn't been very open to discussions about Alexander
Fedor said he saw Alexander's most recent fight, but it wasn't sport - it was more like anti-sport. He said he'd compare it to circus, but such comparison would have been offensive to the circus (alas, hasn't he been in a few circus fights himself?).
All in all.... while there is word that his brother is going straight, Fedor doesn't buy it. To him, Alexander is dead (his words). For Fedor to change his mind, he said his brother should first make amends with all of the people he's raped, stole money from, lied to, etc. Only then is he going to recognize that Alexander is starting to straighten out his life and his lifestyle.

 

I find the comments Fedor made about his brother particularly interesting. I will eventually get round to completing my post on Fedor and RTT in the past discussion thread. It's worth mentioning here that Fedor has had to use his reputation to cover up for Aleks a lot over the years. I'm not surprised that he's finally spoken out against him. 

Here is a clip of the "anti-sport" that Fedor is referring to. Aleks lobs a cap at a Russian weightlifter, cutting his nose in the process - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBhCaYZQZaE

In other news, tickets have apparently not sold well for this weekend's show. Which is a shame. I really wanted this to become an annual event.

Edited December 26, 2019 by jimufctna24

[Egg Shen]

lots of pre-fight press starting to appear on youtube.

 

[wandshogun09]

Nothing to do with Fedor vs Rampage, or anything really, but...fucking hell Douglas Lima. 

 

[Egg Shen]

anyone know the UK start time? (not the Sky air time), just wanna know when to start avoiding spoilers.

Edited December 28, 2019 by Egg Shen

[jimufctna24]

12 hours ago, Egg Shen said:

anyone know the UK start time? (not the Sky air time), just wanna know when to start avoiding spoilers.

Sky are showing the entire event live. Coverage begins at 3am (UK time)

The show starts at 12 noon Japanese time.