Bellator 266 - Davis vs. Romero (Sept. 18th)

[Egg Shen]

Bare bones thread at the moment just to get it up, i'll add some thoughts in abit.

[wandshogun09]

I knew Yoel was fighting Davis but had no idea it was this weekend! I really hope he wins but I’ve got a bad feeling Davis and his weirdly shaped body is gonna fuck everything up.

Looking at the rest of the card, Karakhanyan vs Rogers jumps out. I read that Karakhanyan is a free agent after this fight as well so an impressive win here could put him in a nice position when seeing what offers are out there.

Alejandra Azul Lara is lovely. Can’t pretend I recall many of her fights but I think she’s gorgeous myself.

Ben ‘Big Tuna’ Parrish, not so much…

[Jesse]

Do we know how much truth there was to the stuff about Romero's eye going around in the past (if I'm remembering it correctly)?

[wandshogun09]

3 minutes ago, Jesse said:

Do we know how much truth there was to the stuff about Romero's eye going around in the past (if I'm remembering it correctly)?

Definitely something up with it.

And of course, there was that stuff about him not getting medically cleared for the Rumble fight earlier this year. Can’t help thinking it was a big part of the reason the UFC let him go. In his 40s, probably on decent coin (by UFC standards) and now he’s ‘damaged goods’, as harsh as that sounds. Think someone said the injury first happened in one of the Robert Whittaker fights. And Israel Adesanya brought it up at the press conference before their fight last year. 

[Carbomb]

Agreed about Alejandra Azul Lara - stunning woman. 

As to the rest of the card, maybe the more well-versed posters here can clarify: I was under the impression Bellator is, or is aiming to be, one of the top MMA promotions in the world - I see two fighters with losing records, i.e. Rhalan Gracie and Jon Adams. Initially, I thought the Gracie was just getting on the card because of his name, but then saw Adams, so I don't know what's going on there. But surely a promotion that purports to compete with the UFC shouldn't have fighters with that kind of record on their roster? Debutants, I'd get - AJ McKee, for example, has only ever fought for them, so he'd have had to be 0-0 at some point, but 0-2? 0-1-1?

[David]

35 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Agreed about Alejandra Azul Lara - stunning woman. 

As to the rest of the card, maybe the more well-versed posters here can clarify: I was under the impression Bellator is, or is aiming to be, one of the top MMA promotions in the world - I see two fighters with losing records, i.e. Rhalan Gracie and Jon Adams. Initially, I thought the Gracie was just getting on the card because of his name, but then saw Adams, so I don't know what's going on there. But surely a promotion that purports to compete with the UFC shouldn't have fighters with that kind of record on their roster? Debutants, I'd get - AJ McKee, for example, has only ever fought for them, so he'd have had to be 0-0 at some point, but 0-2? 0-1-1?

0-2 and 0-1-1 isn't really what would be called a "losing record" as they're still very early in their MMA careers. So long as they're being matched appropriately, then it's fine.

If we were talking guys with 3-12 or 10-34 records then there'd be questions needing asked.

[Egg Shen]

The guy with limited fights and the debutants are usually local MMA fighters who come in with aim to shift a few tickets. Bellator moved away from that during the pandemic because they weren't selling tickets but its back to business now. 

Wouldnt pay too much attention to it, its abit of a 'dark match' scenario where they get the chance to impress Coker and hopefully score a contract or at least another fight.

[Carbomb]

Fair points - I was just under the impression that, unless Bellator (or UFC) saw something special in them, or unless they were running a particular programme like TUF or DWCS, that debutants and inexperienced fighters would have to carve out a career in the VanaraMMA Conference Leagues first, before moving to the Bellator Championship or the UFC Premier League.

[WeeAl]

I hope I'm wrong, but. . . there's pretty much no chance this fight is;

A) Exciting

Or

B) Has the result we all want. 

Let me ask you all. You're an MMA promoter and you get one chance to book a Yoel Romero fight. Do you book him against Phil fucking Davis? Not a hope in Dixie. 

 

[Egg Shen]

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

Fair points - I was just under the impression that, unless Bellator (or UFC) saw something special in them, or unless they were running a particular programme like TUF or DWCS, that debutants and inexperienced fighters would have to carve out a career in the VanaraMMA Conference Leagues first, before moving to the Bellator Championship or the UFC Premier League.

nah, doesnt have to work like that. 

Bellator's model on the undercard is much similar to boxings. Fill it out with local guys and have them selling tickets. You may find a few real prospects sprinkled in there but generally it'll be locals. If you look at the bottom half of this card, id imagine most of them are based in Cali. That or they are associated with other fighters fighting higher up the card.

[David]

5 hours ago, WeeAl said:

I hope I'm wrong, but. . . there's pretty much no chance this fight is;

A) Exciting

Or

B) Has the result we all want. 

Let me ask you all. You're an MMA promoter and you get one chance to book a Yoel Romero fight. Do you book him against Phil fucking Davis? Not a hope in Dixie. 

 

Absolutely. It has Davis via boring-as-fuck decision written all over it.

[Egg Shen]

On 9/14/2021 at 7:04 PM, Carbomb said:

Agreed about Alejandra Azul Lara - stunning woman. 

[wandshogun09]

[Egg Shen]

 

[wandshogun09]