Bellator 216: MVP vs Daley - Feb 16

[jimufctna24]

I'd love for Cro Cop to win tomorrow. I am not overly keen on Nelson. 

I also think Cro Cop would beat Fedor these days. Fedor fights completely differently to what he did in his prime. He's a slugger these days, even though his reflexes and punch resistance have diminished. I think that would work to Cro Cop's advantage. I get that fighters have done well against Cro Cop when they have fought aggressively, but those fighters have had a high skill level. Fedor just isn't that guy anymore. It's more likely that Cro Cop would land big and finish him.

 

 

[wandshogun09]

I agree Jim. I’d fancy Cro Cop to beat Fedor now. It sounds mad but I actually think it would be a more exciting fight now as well, despite both being far past their best. Obviously, Fedor vs Cro Cop in 2019 isn’t a fraction of what Fedor vs Cro Cop was in 2005 in terms of relevance, status, importance, hype etc. But purely as a spectator, I think bell-to-bell it would probably be more fun to watch today than it was in 2005. 

I’d root for Cro Cop as well. I love Fedor but he was always my third favourite out of the 3 Heavyweight Kings of Pride. For me it was always 1) Big Nog, 2) Cro Cop and 3) Fedor. But it was pretty much a neck and neck thing between Nog and Mirko. 

It’s mad really that of the 3, it’s Cro Cop who’s held up the longest. He’s had the longest career of the 3 altogether, when you factor in his kickboxing and amateur boxing days as well. Yet here he is still going at 44. Whereas Nog’s been done a few years now and Fedor’s getting KO’d every few fights. Cro Cop’s had some proper shite slumps in his career but he’s come through them and has really redeemed some of that with the streak he’s put together in recent years and the Rizin/GLORY tournament wins and stuff.

An absolute iron man. Just looking up his combat sports career he started fighting in 1996 and he’s had 51 MMA fights, 34 kickboxing fights and 56 amateur boxing fights. 141 fucking fights! And that’s not a Dan Severn 141 where a massive chunk of his opposition is shit. Cro Cop’s fought the best of the best throughout most of his career. And somehow found time to also be a cop, in the Croatian military, an anti-terrorism officer and a fucking politician. All that in 44 years. He’s only 10 years older than me, for fuck’s sake. I’ve done sod all. 

Legend. 

[ColinBollocks]

1 hour ago, wandshogun09 said:

I’ve done sod all. 

Mate, I can't even do decent event write ups!

Definitely up for Fedor v Cro Cop. Vitor being in charge of the athletic commission, Joe.

[Egg Shen]

141 fights, thats crazy. Crocop just never goes away, for years fans have been asking for it but he just keeps reinventing his career and goes on really good runs. The guys still dangerous as fuck. I fancy him to beat Nelson Saturday night.

[Egg Shen]

balls are tingling for this one.

[ColinBollocks]

Genuinely, what a brilliant picture that is. Beautifully highlights what either man is about.

[wandshogun09]

The DAZN YouTube channel has some good stuff up for those who haven’t seen it. Get this lot down you...

MVP and Paul Daley explain their rivalry;

Paul Daley interview;

Bellator fighters predict MVP vs Daley;

MVP vs Daley promo;

MVP-Daley weigh in face-off;

And a bonus little Cro Cop interview;

This feels big now. 

[neil]

Anything worth watching on the prelims for this?

[d-d-d-dAz]

 

 

Surreal. One of the fights I’ve looked forward to for years, and I’m right up front.

[neil]

4 hours ago, neil said:

Anything worth watching on the prelims for this?

Them prelims were great btw...definitely give them a watch if you skipped them.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Going to bed, but just a thought for the morning for you Brits:

Forgetting rd 1, if you didn’t like that fight you are a moron (I’m bias)

And whilst it was razor close, MVP proved that his striking is legit: Daley looked scared of him on the feet, and even though MVP’s wrestling was terrible, he showed he might be able to reverse you at the very least.

I thought he won the fight, but it was razor thin. 

Lima should FUCK him up though.

the projected May 11 card (live, only on DAZN and Sky Sports) is MVP vs Lima, Chandler vs Pitbull, Swagger vs TBD and AJ McKee vs Pat Curran. 

Fuck you if that doesn’t tickle your pickle.

*edit* don’t  know if it got on the broadcast but Jarrel Miller came and at sat next to me during the fight (as I was as with the DAZN crew...

A) he’s the nicest guy ever. Literally as friendly, clever and polite as it comes 

but

b) he’s kind of a kickboxing genius. I know he fought professional kickboxing previously (lost 2 UDs to Cro Cop, one of which he clearly won), but it was genuinely surprising sitting next to him as he called everyone’s next move on the feet. He knew everything that was coming off the smallest show.

[ColinBollocks]

MVP is goosed the second he gets in there with a proper wrestler. I mean Daley is famously annoyingly weak in that department, but he still looked like GSP, by comparison. A proper wrestler with the ability to control, pass and finish is going to absolutely do him. Of course, on the feet MVP showed he's very good - as dAzone pointed out, Daley obviously decide against the sluggfest we were all anticipating. 

The fight was decent, but nowt more or less (I'm not biased). I get the criticism by some, after expecting a stand-up battle. Fighters grinding against the fence and each other is hardly the most exciting part of the sport. Particularly two fighters that are hardly elite grapplers.

I'd need to watch it again because I genuinely don't have a clue who won that. However, to MVP's credit, that last 2+ minutes of the final round was huge from him.

[jimufctna24]

I scored the main event to MVP..................just. The first four rounds were pretty straight forward to score. It was 2-2 going into the 5th. I just about scored the 5th to MVP by the end. 

Chuffed that Cro Cop won. I felt the judges got it right. I felt he won rounds 1 and 2 by landing the better shots. Not sure why one judge gave him round 3 though. If the Fedor fight is not possible. then I wouldn't mind seeing him fight Sergei next. 

Oh, and I like Big John on commentary. 

 

 

[ColinBollocks]

It will be funny if MVP does a Conor v Aldo against Lima. You know the talk leading up to that will be "how long is MVP going to last against a BJJ black belt?".

[wandshogun09]

I had Daley winning that but in a fight like that you can’t even moan about the decision. When rounds are coming down to a matter of a couple of strikes landed or one grappling transition or whatever, you’ve left too much room for interpretation in the judges’ minds. I sympathise with any judge trying to score a fight like that. Reminded me a bit of Till vs Wonderboy from last year in that nearly all of the rounds bar one or two could’ve really gone either way. 

Douglas Lima called Daley shooting in the pre-fight and Chael nearly laughed him out of the booth. Shows what he knows.

I didn’t think Daley was scared. I just think he couldn’t figure him out, angles or timing-wise, plus he couldn’t get in close range. The only way to do any kind of damage was to just get hands on him and take him down. I actually thought he did well not to let his head go. After the way the first round went I really thought Daley was going to be so frustrated he’d come out for the second over-aggressive and charge into something but he held it together and went to the wrestling. Which, it’s got to be said, if Paul Daley is outgrappling you, as an MMA fighter you’ve got problems. We keep hearing that MVP has this excellent ground game that we never see but based on this, I have serious doubts. Either a) MVP’s mythical unseen ground game doesn’t exist or b) Daley’s grappling has improved massively and is MMA’s best kept secret. I think it’s A. Douglas Lima, Rory MacDonald and Jon Fitch will have been licking their chops watching this. It sounds mega cynical but I’m now fully expecting MVP to pick up an injury before he fights Lima, taking him out of the GP. He’s barely squeaked this decision over Semtex. There’s nothing but nightmare matchups waiting for him in the rest of the tournament. Even the least accomplished guy left is a Gracie. MVP’s O is going soon one way or the other. 

Was chuffed to see Cro Cop get the win. Was a shit fight though. Mirko looked tentative due to Roy’s power and the takedown, and Roy just kept plodding forward going for a telegraphed takedown. Just didn’t gel for a good fight unfortunately. Still, I thought the right man won. Roy threw his little tantrum after but fuck him. I thought it was the right decision. I had Cro Cop taking the first two rounds, there wasn’t a whole lot in it but I thought he edged it by stuffing all the shots and landing better stuff on the feet. Roy might’ve nicked the third but it was too late.

I like this rematch thing Cro Cop’s got going now. Mauro said he’s 7-0 in rematches. Let’s have Fedor vs Cro Cop 2. I think it’s time. 

Kongo vs Minakov 2 was cack as well. And in fairness, for once it wasn’t so much Kongo. Thought Minakov looked awful here. I haven’t seen a ton of him but what I had seen previously was impressive. Can probably chalk it up to his year-plus lay-off though. Fair play to Kongo. He’s not much fun to watch but he gets it done. A Bader vs Kongo title fight isn’t doing it for me but it’s the fight that should probably happen now. Don’t think anyone’s going to be clamouring for Kongo vs Minakov 3 anytime soon. 

Yaroslav Amosov looked decent beating Erick Silva. Wasn’t the most entertaining fight but it was a good performance from Amosov. He could be worth keeping an eye on. 

Sounds mad and I never thought I’d say it going in but Valerie Loureda stole the show in the opener for me. It was a nothing fight in terms of relevance. It was a girl making her pro debut vs a girl who was 1-2. But it was short and sweet and the finish and post-fight hysteria left an impression if nothing else. Man, she was REALLY happy to win that fight wasn’t she? Be interesting to see how she progresses. She’s definitely got something. She could be a bit of a star if she keeps winning. Bellator don’t exactly have a heaving roster of flyweights at the moment but they’ll hopefully be moving her along gradually anyway and not Aaron Pico-ing her. 

Not the best show in terms of fights delivering but I enjoyed watching it as a whole. Nice having it on Sky Sports as well. 

But GAD needs to fuck the fuck off now. Over a decade we’ve put up with that floppy haired clown, from the Setanta days through ESPNUK to BT Sport to FOX to Sky. How he’s bluffed his way into stealing a paycheque for that long covering MMA and Boxing I’ll never know. He’s got to be up there with the best blaggers ever in sports punditry. I’ll give him that much.