Bellator MMA * General News Thread

[the_mole]

He's 9-0 but half his wins are against nobodies, guys they match up the guy from Geordie Shore with, if he can get in there with a Koreskov and do what he just done then obviously but right now Rory McDonald is far too smart and well rounded for him.  Rickels was decent but he usually fights at lightweight and his fight with Gonzalez who isn't that great was pretty boring and showed holes in his game Rory would have been able to finish with easy in some of those positions.

Even MVP wasn't calling for a title shot.

Edited May 25, 2018 by the_mole

[Egg Shen]

8 hours ago, TildeGuy~! said:

 

MVP is now 9-0 in Bellator is he ever gonna get a title shot?  There’s not even been talk of him being in the mix for one.  He’s clearly one of their main attractions but they continue to push the former UFC fighters from Yesteryear ala WCW.

there hasnt been really. MVP's Bellator career is a perfect example of why Bellator could benefit from having a bit of a ratings system. At least it would show a bit of structure and maybe force them to push MVP in an upwards direction. He just sort of goes sideways in terms of progression.

Rickels was a decent name on the resume but hes a 155lb'er who moved up for the night. MVP is well overdue a step up against some of the divisions top fighters. 

They've done a slow build but its time to bite the bullet and throw him in with a Koreshkov, Larkin, Lima for example. The Paul Daley fight is a no brainer too, Semtex may have lost his last fight but sometimes a rivalry set up is too good to ignore.

Last nights performance was crazy though. I felt sorry for Rickels, he tried to play MVP's game and match him for weirdness but he was hopelessly outgunned. Id like to hear his point of view on the finish but it was not a good way to go out. Im assuming he has some kind of eye injury for him to wave it off, that right hand he got hit with was ridiculous.

Its a bit shit because ive always been a Rickels fan, but hes destined to be remembered now as the guy who quit on his feet against MVP.

Edited May 26, 2018 by Egg Shen

[jimufctna24]

I missed the show. Happy to read that Mousasi and MVP won. 

Is GAD a Bellator exclusive now? I ask because it seems like he only pops up at Bellator events these days. It was mentioned on Twitter that he turned up at the broadcast desk during last night's prelims. He was also at the Bader vs Mo event a few weeks ago I believe. 

Edited May 26, 2018 by jimufctna24

[Egg Shen]

Hopefuly it'll be the last of GAD. He had a real awkward exchange between fights with Chael Sonnen, it was hard to watch. GAD was trying to outwit Sonnen and it just felt awkward as shit.

How does this man get into these positions?

I also heard Mauros off camera rant, he went mental on somebody. Two minutes later he was back on mic as if nothing had happened, guy is a pro.

[Supremo]

MVP’s performance last night was the most exciting thing I’ve seen in MMA in ages. So much fun to watch. Love that he always has these fun pop culture props, too. If he could do this to top level competition he’d be a megastar.

[Egg Shen]

yeah, and he could very well do that to top competition, we simply dont know yet. The crossover appeal is massive though, the Bellator thing may be holding him back but i hope they get it right. Imagine if it was MVP in Darren Till's position fighting Wonderboy in him hometown this weekend? it would be pretty special. 

Even MVP vs. Till down the line, thats the domestic dream fight right there.

[Mhay2]

Rewatching the card this morning, great performances from Gegard and MVP, I think the quality of opponent needs to be stepped up for MVP, personally the matchup bellator has to make up is MVP vs Paul Daley (possible to headline a uk card) 

[TildeGuy~!]

Was the Geordie Shore fight fixed? The bum he was fighting just let him put on the Guillotine with no hassle

Edited May 26, 2018 by TildeGuy~!

[Egg Shen]

There was some talk of a fix on twitter, mainly due to the way the guy fell after seemingly being choked unconcious. It does like quite suspicious but seeings as he drove a pretty hard knee into Chalmers face shortly before i dont see anything dodgy going on.

Bellator is always riddled with this stuff.

Edited May 26, 2018 by Egg Shen

[wandshogun09]

I've always had the feeling that MVP gets derailed badly when he actually fights someone of any real substance. I mean, he looked impressive here and Rickels is a tough guy. Making him say 'No Mas' like that says...something. But Rickels is also a lightweight who was coming up to 170 for this and style-wise he's tailor-made for Page to look good against. His best opponent to date so far,IMO, was Fernando Gonzalez. He's got some good names on his resume. But even then, Gonzalez is 34 with a less than stellar 27-15 record. He took MVP to a split decision in a terrible fight. Before that his biggest win was over a 38 year old declining and shopworn Cyborg Santos who was coming in off a first round TKO loss just 2 months earlier. 

I can see why people get swept up in MVP and I'm not saying he's shite or anything. He's clearly talented and he's got enough striking pedigree to show he's legit. But I do feel like there's a bit of a smoke and mirrors thing going on with him. People are getting carried away. I saw something the other day where Coker was acting like Paul Daley was ducking Page and another article saying Daley turned the fight down 3 times. Smells like bullshit to me. Say what you want about Semtex - no ground game, one dimensional, self destructive, made some stupid career decisions, whatever - one thing that doesn't ring true is this idea that he's bottled out of fighting MVP, or anyone for that matter. I don't buy it. Daley has taken all sorts of fights over the years, whether they were favourable or a nightmare style-wise. Just look at his last 5 fights Are we seriously expected to buy that Daley ducked MVP to fight Douglas Lima, Brennan Ward, Rory MacDonald, Lorenz Larkin and Jon Fitch consecutively? Much easier route that, isn't it? Page keeps shining in these squash matches and everyone loses their shit, while Daley is taking on the real fighters and getting called a pussy and a fight ducker. Just seems like every time MVP is being lined up for an actual test, something crops up. Either he goes quiet, picks up an injury or fucks off to play pro boxer.  

In other news, Phil fucking Davis by headkick KO?!! Who saw that coming? Linton Vassell certainly didn't. I like to think that was Davis' way of channelling Cro Cop, who was supposed to make the trip to headline the show.

[the_mole]

Bellator to run 6-8 live shows on 5Spike, they will basically be western European Cage Warriors/Bamma  level fights, with one or two big events like the 200 one.

The Geordie shore guy should help and its another boost for UK MMA and it's a market the UFC don't control as they only cone to Europe 5 times a year at the moment.

[Egg Shen]

Thats good news, makes sense to make Chalmers some kind of face of it. He has his detractors but his start in MMA has been pretty good. Are they co-promoting these with BAMMA?

[d-d-d-dAz]

Chalmers deal with BAMMA expired, he’s full Bellator now.

I reckon Bellator are due a big announcement soon. There’s talk about a new tournament for a different weight class, Mousasi/Macdonald and even some big legends fights. Odds on them wrapping it all together into one mega show and then boasting it’s not on PPV?

[Egg Shen]

possibly, Bellator seem to be out of the PPV market for the time being.

Off point but related, MVP is boxing in London tomorrow on a Joe Joyce headlined card, had no idea that was happening until a few minutes ago. Its on Dave from 9pm.

 

[the_mole]

The GP they seemed to be hinting at was a WW one in 2019, guessing Rory, Lima, Koreshkov, MVP, Larkin, Fitch & probably Ward & Ed Ruth making out the other fighters (if they don't sign a WW top 10 that's in the UFC now. Coker says he's up for Mousasi-Rory but not their next fight.

Edited June 14, 2018 by the_mole