Paid Members lambyUK Posted March 29, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted March 29, 2017 Here's yesterday's Bellator NY press conference. I've only just seen snippets so far, and despite Sonnen being unbearable these days, I thought he delivered really big yesterday. What I found most fascinating was Sonnen openly talking down to Fedor whilst sitting right next to him.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 30, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 30, 2017 Sonnen is clearly sewing the seeds for a Fedor fight. I don't actually believe that Sonnen threw his name in the hat to fight Fedor the first time, or he did knowing that it wasn't something that could actually take place. Sonnen said something along the lines of 'i went to bed Friday night thinking i was fighting Fedor', i ain't buying that. Chael just keeps the wheel spinning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 30, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted March 30, 2017 I still kind of enjoy listening to Chael in a weird way but he just comes across so full of shit it's unbelievable. It doesn't help that he's targeting Wanderlei and Fedor, who I love, I guess. But even when he was mouthing off about Tito, who I can't stand, it was eye rollingly cringey stuff mostly. I just think I'm over Chael's schtick. It was great when it was fresh and he was just verbally blistering Anderson Silva like nobody had ever done before. But it's not the same now. Â Couple that with Wand losing the few marbles he had left over the last few years and it's a strange one altogether this. I'm still looking forward to it but it's pure car crash stuff at this point. Â I saw an interview earlier with Chael and he was slagging off Fedor, think he was on about Fedor not still fighting when Mitrione pulled out last time, and he was saying something like 'when the company needs a main event, you step up. You don't put yourself before the company. I'm a company guy'. It was some bollocks like that anyway. He's obviously chatting shite but why would you put a company before yourself? Any fighter should be looking after number one first and foremost. It's just one of many things he said that just sound stupid. Plus I'm sick of him banging on like Wandy should be some master promoter all of a sudden. Wand's from an era where it was mostly about promoting yourself through inflicting as much violence on your opponent as possible. And he was bloody good at it. He's handled himself terribly in the media over the last 3 years but at the end of it why are we watching in the first place? I don't root for a fighter based on how good he talks. That's just trimmings. Just because it's Chael's thing to waffle the head off anyone holding a camera, doesn't mean everyone else is going to be the same way. And to be honest, it'd be shit if they were. I like Fedor being Fedor. I don't want him trying to be a chubby Russian Conor McGregor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Wanderlei's pre-fight interviews in Pride were great. They were subtitled, but given his tone and demeanour, you could really believe he hated his opponent. This was most evident when he fought Cro Cop in 2006. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Chunk Posted March 30, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted March 30, 2017 Chael's stuff goes so far that it stops being at all believable and just sounds stupid. Before the Tito fight he was calling himself "the best in the world". Nobody is buying that. I'm all for a fighter exaggerating to sell a fight but it has to be believable on at least some level to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 30, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 30, 2017 Rampage wasn't lying, weighed in at 254lb for the Mo fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 30, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 30, 2017 Anyone else feel Rampage could have a decent little run at heavyweight? I may be eating my words come Saturday morning but at heavy he may be able to compete. He isn't shot like some people may lead you to believe, he's always had solid takedown defence and his standup likely gives many heavyweights fits, he no doubt has the power to take up. Â The talk is that he's leaving Bellator win or lose. A good win might line up for a run at heavyweight in the UFC? I think he's do alright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 1, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 1, 2017 Bellator 175 was a fun show, first 3 fights delivered short, fast action with some great finishes, then you had two decent fights on top. Mixed thoughts on the main event, it wasn't great but it was a decent scrap and proved for me that Rampage may have a future at heavyweight. I can't see too many heavyweights putting the kind of pressure with the wrestling game of Mo on Rampage and Rampage for the most part dealt with it ok. Rampage paid the price for landing some decent shots in round because Mo didn't want much of that and spent much of round 3 stuck to Rampage against the cage. Still, if Rampage drops a few lb and gets his gas tank in order i see him doing alright at heavyweight. Mo/Bader has been announced for the free Bellator 180 undercard before the PPV in New York. Emmanuel Sanchez has it all going for him at 145 except for the fact that he doesn't finish fights. He has an exciting style and has the mouth to back it up but his lack of finishing power harms him, still Bellator may go with him next. Marcos Galvao is too small for 145lb though, he needs to address his weight and go back to 135. Sergei Kharitanov got the big KO against Gormley. Happy for Sergei because he brings that Pride nostalgia but he appeared quite slow and plodding before landing the KO strikes, i thought Gormley was handily outboxing him before that. Sergei is too easy to hit at this stage in his career, the crazy Russian bastard will stand and bang with whoever they put in front of him but i could see getting laid out again based on Friday's form. Opener was tremendous, fight was a 30 second destruction job, but Steve Kozola showed how you do a post-fight interview calling out Dillon Danis. Bright future ahead of that guy, seems like the Bellator version of Mickey Gall for me. I don't think Bellator go for Kozola/Danis out of the gate but i'd love to see them do that in New York. Loving Bellator though, the whole production and the constant churning out of announcements on shows is pretty cool (despite them not coming off great sometimes). I honestly prefer the presentation to the UFC these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 2, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted April 2, 2017 Yeah, I think Bellator have the presentation down. They've got it pretty much spot on for me. I wish the UFC would tart up their look a bit. Even if it's just for the really big shows. I know Dana's said in the past that he's always had a boner for the no nonsense entrances where you just see a fighter walking through the tunnel and through a black curtain but I miss the old ramps and screens and all that good bollocks myself. Maybe it's the pro wrestling fan in me. I always preferred Pride's presentation to the UFC's as well. That Kozola stood out to me on this show. Never seen him before but he left an impression. It's exactly what you need to do on a card like this where people are tuning in for the 'names' on top. Do something to get yourself noticed. He did that during the fight and post-fight and I'm instantly interested in his next fight now. Glad Sergei won. Always liked that big lump. It's just a shame he pretty much squandered his potential. Unless you were a fan in the mid 2000s you probably don't really appreciate Kharitonov but he was some fighter in the Pride days. Back then you were talking Fedor, Big Nog and Cro Cop. They were the three kings of heavyweight MMA by far at the time. And I rated Sergei just under that. He was tremendous. Anyone who saw his fight with Nog in the 2004 Grand Prix knows how good he was. That was a prime Nogueira who was in probably the best shape of his life during that tournament and Sergei gave him a real run for his money in a fantastic (and often overlooked) fight. He just seemed to fizzle out, slow down and start getting fat over the years though. For whatever reason the motivation seemed to go. Shame because if he was in his best form I genuinely believe he could've made a splash in the UFC heavyweight ranks. As far as Rampage at heavyweight, I don't know. It's hard to really base much off this fight because Mo's pretty fucking small really when we're talking heavies. He's a better wrestler than the heavies they have though. I think Rampage can definitely go on a decent run in Bellator's heavyweight division. It's a shallow pool and they're all beatable for him, IMO. Rampage vs Fedor is a no brainer if you're Scott Coker. He'll be all over that if Rampage sticks around. Rampage vs Meathead is one as well. They were on about fighting fucking years ago in the UFC and even had a little back and forth about it on Helwani's MMA Hour. That can easily be rekindled. I think if he goes back to the UFC though, he's just not going to hang in the heavyweight division there. I just can't see him in there with the likes of Miocic, JDS, Overeem etc at all. I think he'd end up settling in the middle of the pack and trading wins and losses with the likes of Roy Nelson and Mark Hunt. Fun fights but I don't see him being very competitive above that. He wouldn't beat the very top 205ers in the UFC either but it's an even more shallow division than heavyweight so he'd probably get back in contention quicker there at least. Just depends on if he wants to/is capable of cutting that weight anymore. It's probably heavyweight from here on out. If that's the case I think Bellator is a better fit for him. Plus there's the option he could probably still fight in Japan if he's in Bellator. So maybe do Rampage vs Cro Cop in Rizin or something too. Those are the type of fights Rampage should probably be looking at this late in the game - Fedor, Cro Cop, Sonnen, Meathead, even a fourth go round with Wandy. In the UFC he'd more than likely be used as cannon fodder to bolster the record of a Ngannou or Gustafsson or whoever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 2, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 2, 2017 i'd like to see a UFC run but going by Rampage's interview with on the Big Brown Breakdown, it sounds like Rampage has his heart set on going back to Japan. Echo what you said about Kozola too, it was his 3rd fight in Bellator but the first time ive seen him, instant first impression made, that's how it's done. It's amazing how many fighters squander their oppurtunities to make that first impression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 2, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 2, 2017 10 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: Yeah, I think Bellator have the presentation down. They've got it pretty much spot on for me. I wish the UFC would tart up their look a bit. Even if it's just for the really big shows. yeh, i love how Bellator's shows have an air of unpredictability about them, they do some wacky shit during their broadcasts and sometimes it doesn't come off great but since Coker's come in they always have announcements sprinkled through the shows and have fighters not on the show talk on camera. The UFC shows are so mechanical, they look amazing but it's all very routine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 2, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted April 2, 2017 That's another thing Bellator do right, IMO. When they sign a new fighter they make a bit of a big deal about it. Like the little interviews with Bader and Larkin last night for example. Sure, those guys aren't the most engaging or charismatic speakers but I liked that Bellator acknowledged the signings and tried to get us excited about it.  It's such a simple thing to do as well. And the UFC used to do it. Particularly when they started bringing the Pride guys in in 2007. I'll never forget Dana announcing on one of the PPVs in early 2007 that they'd signed Big Nog and Nog coming into the cage in his leather jacket. It was a nothing segment and I don't even think Nog said anything, just came out and waved or whatever. But I was giddy with excitement that Nog was coming in. Now I'm never going to give a shit about Bader. I love Coker for trying but it's just not happening. I am excited about seeing what Lorenz Larkin can do in Bellator though. Always been a fan since the Strikeforce days and I honestly think he could wind up being one of Bellator's poster boys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 2, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 2, 2017 Yeh the most we get on the UFC broadcast is a graphic onscreen showing an up coming card which may have a new signing mentioned on it. Bellator did a great job showing off the new guys on Friday night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 2, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted April 2, 2017 (edited) Half the time you don't even get that with the UFC these days. The amount of times I've been knocking up a UFC event thread and go 'oh yeah they signed Will Brooks (or whoever) and he's fighting in 2 WEEKS!' There's that many fighters coming in and out of the UFC now you don't even notice a lot of the hirings and firings anymore. Back on Larkin though, how great an addition to Bellator's 170 division is he? Throwing him into that pool of talent with Lima, Koreshkov, Rory, Semtex etc there's so many possibilities. Having him debut against Lima is going to be great. Welterweight might just be the strongest division in the sport right now. No other weight class has such a wealth of talent that both the UFC and Bellator can have such incredible depth. Edited April 2, 2017 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 2, 2017 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 2, 2017 Yeah, Bellator's 170lb division is on fire. So many possibilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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