Bellator Fighting Championships: Round 2

[Mickey Massuco]

(mod edit) Previous thread @ Bellator Fighting Championships: Round 1

 

[909]

Rampage vs. Sonnen
Mitrione vs. Nelson
Bader vs. Lawal
Fedor vs. Mir

This isn't exactly what I wanted but lol Rampage vs. Chael.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Fat Rampage getting outwrestled by an off-the-juice Chael will be sad.

Also I think Mo might be a pretty bad style match-up for Bader.

 

[KOAB]

That Fedor/Mir dream match a decade in the making doe

 

[HSJ]

That Fedor/Mir dream match a decade in the making doe

CHOOOOO CHOOOOOO

 

[BruiserBrody]

2 things.... I guess I figured they'd do round 1 all on one mega card. Secondly, they removed a lot of the fun of this idea by putting the smaller guys against each other, I was hoping for some total freak show stuff

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Yeah but this guarantees some freak show stuff for the next round.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

https://www.mmafighting.com/2017/12/7/16746268/khonry-gracie-royce-devon-brock-booked-bellator-192

Royce's son is fighting on the Rampage/Chael card.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Mayday McDonald and Val Letourneau making their debuts tomorrow night and the show is on tape delay. SMDH.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Jimmy Smith and Bellator have parted ways.

UFC, pick this fuckin' guy up. One of the best CC guys in broadcasting.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Big John McCarthy has retired from his career as a referee and will be joining Bellator as a commentator. Sounds like it will be Goldberg as a permanent PBP guy with a rotation of Chael/McCarthy/Mir as CC.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Goldberg/BJM commentating for Bellator will be surreal.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

From a technical knowledge standpoint he's a great pickup but he doesn't have a ton of broadcasting experience. The upside for him is that he won't have a Rogan to work alongside that will be trying to out-do him.

 

[Zetterberg is God]

Jimmy Smith and Bellator have parted ways.

UFC, pick this fuckin' guy up. One of the best CC guys in broadcasting.

And they have indeed signed him.

 

[909]

Rampage just weighed in at 253 lirl

 

[AA484]

How did he look (fat)?

 

[909]

How did he look (fat)?

I hadn't seen the pics initially but he looks like he went on a full roid regiment.

https://twitter.com/MMAFighting/status/954412878831865857

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Yeah he's around the same weight he fought Mo at but looks way better and he's too lazy to get there naturally so I'm gonna go with roids too.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

I thought Rampage's style was bad for Chael even if he was out of shape. Now...

 

[Mickey Massuco]

we might see a slam tomorrow after Chael mentally quits.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Neither guy has any game of their back and both are mentally weak so basically whoever hits the first takedown wins.

 

[AA484]

Both are damaged goods but Rampage has more left, even at this point.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Rampage has been finished 5 times in 50 fights, most of which were spent fighting against the best of the absolute best over ten years. Even in those finishes, he showed how tough he was. He fought with broken ribs against Rua when Rua was at his most roided and dangerous, and was basically a walking punching bag for a few minutes until the ref had to step in. He ate 50 knees against Wanderlei and was so beat up he was tipped over by the ref intervening to save his life, but he never quit the entire time. He had to legit be put to sleep in one of the most vicious ways I've ever seen in the second Wanderlei fight. His two submission losses are when he was super green against one of the P4P GOAT's, and after fending off the roided P4P GOAT's takedowns for three rounds.

Everyone else he's beaten or simply been overwhelmed with top grappling by. Even in those fights like against Rashad, he was lighting him up at the end and probably would have KO'd him in the 'championship rounds'. He fought back, he didn't break.

I agree his game off of his back has no offence and little defence, and that's why he's lost more fights than he should have. But that's due to a lack of skill, not mental weakness. I think that's ridiculous to say, because Rampage would be on my list of toughest guys in the history of the sport.

Compare that to Chael's record of quitting any time a strong man puts him on his back, or how he reacts to getting hit on the feet and being out of range for a takedown, and it's not even close. fake edit: ffs Chael has literally been finished in 14 of his 15 losses, I just checked. I didn't realize it was that bad lirl that's a guy who wilts when he can't impose his will. He's been finished in a third of his professional fights, and looking at his record it's consistent from the beginning of his career.

Chael might get a takedown in this fight, he might win a boring decision if those muscles are all show and no go. It's hard to predict these old dawg fights, but I think Rampage is roided and in decent shape, and is less broken down than Chael. Who knows, but to put it another way, anyone who tells you prime Rampage doesn't murder prime Chael probably posts on The_Donald.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Okay, looking up Chael pics on Twitter he looks even more roided, and is lean to boot. That means he's on a lot of EPOs so I'm sure he has the gas tank to go three hard Chael-style rounds. So I REALLY don't know what's going to happen.

Looks like these guys figured out Bellator's 'testing' system, this tournament is gonna be like going back in time to the PRIDE days.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Not freakshow enough to be like PRIDE. Chael is a small guy compared to the others but not as undersized as, like, Minowa against Hong-Man Choi.

 

[AA484]

Rampage is a decent wrestler that can throw. At one time he may have had the best hands in the sport. If he can keep Chael from dry humping him the whole fight he should be good.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Doesn't Rampage have a bad back now that prevents him from wrestling well anymore?

 

[Youth N Asia]

Chael’s shittalking game just feels so old since Conor has come along. I always get a laugh when he does his “I’m a bad man” speech after a snoozer decision win.

What a mediocre show.

 

[BruiserBrody]

I loved the announcers putting over the Grand Prix excitement while Fatpage and Sonnen laid around motionless.

Page's corner delivered the always useful "Don't let him take you down" advice.

Matt Mitrone's talking always impresses me.

 

[Youth N Asia]

Bigggest highlight of the night was seeing that McCarthy is going to be solid on commentary moving forward.

Rory finally got a title. And it was way forgettable.