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By: Rich Hansen, MMATorch Columnist
BELLATOR 97
JULY 31, 2013
ALBUQUERQUE, NM
- A big night of fights kicks off shortly with Patricio "Pitbull" Friere vs. the underrated Jared Downing.
FIGHT ONE: Patricio "Pitbull" Friere (17-2) vs. Jared Downing (9-2) (FEATHERWEIGHTS)
ROUND ONE: Raul Porrata is the referee for this fight. Both fighters charge to the middle of the cage. Pitbull drops downing with a left hand. Pitbull grabs a guillotine as Downing tries to get back to his feet and pulls guard. He loses it right away, and now he's on his back with Downing on top of him against the fence. That was likely a flash knockdown more than a potential killshot. Pitbull walks the cage to get back to his feet, but Downing presses him into the fence. Pitbull turns and has Downing's back along the fence. I think Downing is bleeding from the nose. Porrats separates the fighters literally, literally three seconds after Pitbull gets Downing against the fence. Pitbull takes a shot to the cup, but they touch gloves and fight on. Pitbull stuffs a shot and takes Downing's back while standing. He disengages, no harm no foul there. The blood I mentioned before is from Downing's mouth, not his nose. I know you were wondering. Pitbull goes for a standing guillotine against the cage, but Downing takes him down as the round ends. 10-9 Pitbull
- Between rounds, Downing's corner told him point blank that he lost round one. I love a good corner.
ROUND TWO: Downing takes the center of the cage, but then eats a left high kick. Downing is insistent on coming forward. Downing eats a right which almost knocked him silly. Flying knee from Pitbull. That's the third time Downing has been staggered or suffered a flash KO. Big left hand and right hook from downing. That aint no flash KO, that's the end of the fight. Downing crashed to the canvas. Some people are going to complain about the stoppage. Thoe people are called idiots.
WINNER: Patricio "Pitbull" Friere by KO at 0:54 of round 2
STAR RATING & FINAL THOUGHTS: (**) Not much too it. Very Good fighter beats Good fighter. Bellator mic'd the ring well*, because you could really hear Downing's head smash into the canvas. Which is cool, if you're into that kind of thing.
* - This is a nice way of saying the building is so quiet you could hear a fly buzzing in the tenth row.
- Apparently Quinton Jackson is going to make a major announcement later in the program. It will either have something to do with his acting professional wrestling, mixed martial arts, or boxing endeavors.
FIGHT TWO: RYAN MARTINEZ (10-2) VS. VITALY MINAKOV (11-0) (HEAVYWEIGHT TOURNAMENT FINALS)
ROUND ONE: Raul Porrata is back. AND HE SEPARATED THE FIGHTERS BEFORE THE FIGHT EVEN STARTED! Oh wait. He's supposed to. Never mind... Minakov gets Martinez against the cage, and Porrata lets them go more than three seconds against the cage. Porrata warns Minakov about grabbing the fence. Minakov keeps looking for a trip, but Martinez gets Minakov and grabs his head. He lets go, and we're back to the middle of the cage. Minakov's working jabs and uppercuts up the middle, Martinez is throwing looping left hooks. Minakov with a takedown, and has Martinez down against the cage. Martinez pops back up and lands a wild left that Minakov didn't like. Minakov regroups and presses Martinez into the cage. Nice knee by the Russian, and they separate fifteen seconds later, after getting warned by Porrata, who is clearly a plague upon the universe. Martinez is landing with his right as he comes forward. Straight right by the Russian. Minakov grabs Martinez, lands a standing knee to the body and gets Martinez into the fence. Porrata tells them to work after thirteen seconds. Minakov backs off. Thirty seconds left. Minakov shoots from a mile out, but Martinez stuffs him with a wide base. Martinez is pressed against the cage as the round ends. Bad round. 10-9 Minakov
- Roy Nelson is in Martinez' corner for this fight. Jimmy smith gave the round to Minakov.
ROUND TWO: Martinez has a bloody nose. Big left hand from Minakov, and Martinez responds with a big left of his own. Martinez grabs a nie body lock, but Minakov has him up against the cage. Martinez is bleeding heavily from the nose now. Knee to the stones from Minakov, and Porrata stops the fight to let Martinez recover. Porrata takes a point, which is crazy. The fight resumes in less than a minute. Minakov is getting very agressive, lunging in with wild punches, and he's barely avoiding killshots from the lumbering Martinez. This fight has a ton of power, not a lot of pace, Rich says stating the obvious. Martinez is throwing bombs, but Minakov is taking two steps back to dodge most of them. Nice left from Martinez lands as I wrote that, just to make me look back. Minakov is breathing heavily form the mouth. Everything these guys throw are lunging punches. Kind of surprised someone hasn't been caught and murdered coming in like that. Minakov is lunging so hard his chin is three feet in front of his shoulders. Minakov shoots, gets stuffed, and has Martinez on the cage. The round ends. 9-9. 19-18 Minakov Oh my God I hope this doesn't go to a fourth round overtime.
ROUND THREE: Jimmy Smith agrees with my scorecard. Nice right hand from Martinez has Minakov reeling, but Martinez was bouncing away and could not follow up. nice right hand by Minakov, which leads to a counter right from Martinez. Clinch in the middle which leads to a nice knee from Minakov. Martinez lands a punch of his own as they separate. Minakov with a power takedown from a clinch on the fence. Minakov postures up, lands bombs, and drops back down. Minakov has one hook in and is landing a couple bombs. Martinez almost gives up his back but then rolls to his back when he feels a rear naked choke being applied. Minakov has one of Martinez' wrists trapped and is landing massive elbows. Martinez has no idea how to escape. Every time he turns Minakov grabs his neck. When Martinez rolls back he eats left hands like nobody's business. These elbows are very effective, but not murderous. Martinez has nothing. A series of right hands, seven or eight in a row, ends this fight with abotu a minute left.
WINNER: Vitaly Minakov by TKO at 4:02 of round 3.
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (**-) That was quite was plodding. Minakov was eating way too many counter punches for me to have any confidence in him becoming a great fighter.
- Vitaly Minakov just earned $100,000 for beating Ron Sparks and Ryan Martinez. Feel free to chew on that for a while.
- Snark aside, Minakov might be top-25, and his fight with Alexander Volkov might be very entertaining. I'm anxious to see it.
FIGHT THREE: MUHAMMED LAWAL (10-2) VS. JACOB NOE (12-2) (LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TOURNAMENT FINALS)
- Lawal is three inches shorter than Noe, but has a four inch reach advantage. Noe had a rough weight cut.
ROUND ONE: Jason Herzog gets the fighters to touch gloves. He should move to the middle east and solve that conflict, too. Noe flicking the jab to keep Lawal off of him. Lawal's on him, and Noe's on his back. I know, there should have been a 'yada yada yada' in there. Lawal grabs Noe's head as Noe tries to get back up and Noe is back down. Noe's stuck against the cage. Tries to get back up again, and... that didn't work. Noe eats a knee to the chest before getting back up. Lawal working the single, but Noe gets taken down even whilst grabbing the cage. Lawal with another knee to the body before backing off. Nice left high kick from Noe. Lawal charges and plants Noe with a power double leg takedown. There was no setup there. Lawal's posturing up and landing some big shots. Noe finally ties up Lawal's leg to stop the onslaught. Half-guard. Noe's on his hip, but can't get Lawal off of him. Noe tries to use the cage to get back up, and eats about fifteen left hands for his efforts. Don't you hate when you try to do something fun and some guy punches you in the head a dozen times? Lawal has great hips. He's not letting Noe go anywhere without Noe paying for it. 10-9 Lawal
ROUND TWO: Round one was close to 10-8, as Lawal outstruck Noe 50-8. Low kick from Noe. And again. Lawal is cutting off the cage and preventing Noe from circling. Noe's stuck and Lawal shoots an easy double. Full guard. Small hammerfists from Lawal in an attempt to get Noe to let go. It's working, as Lawal is starting to get some space. Hammerfists from Lawal, and he's eating big hammerfists. ARMBAR! Noe had an armbar, but Lawal got free in a few seconds. That would've been Newtontonian, times a thousand. Noes's head is against the cage, with Lawal in full guard. Lawal is trying to stand up so he can get some space, but Noe's doing a semi-decent job at sort of defending a little. Lawal's doing a good job of using his head to keep Noe stuck against the cage. Lawal's opening up again. Noe's bloody, and has swelling under his left eye. I wouldn't mind a mercy stoppage here, even if Lawal hasn't been close to finishing yet. 10-8 Lawal, 20-17
ROUND THREE: Smith has my scorecard as well. Jab from Noe. Noe keeps workign the jab, so Lawal ducks under and runs a power double right through Noe. Noe's o his back against the cage, and Lawal's in half-guard with one knee on the canvas. Noe gets to sitting, but can't get back up. Huge punch from Lawal, and that opened the mouse. Lawal lets Noe up. Big right hook to the mouse from Lawal. Lawal is being very patient, trying to make Noe suffer for as long as possible. Lawal fakes a right hook and shoots a double. Noe's down. Smart of Lawal to put Noe down instead of staying on the feet with Noe. The only place Noe can be dangerous is on the feet. Noe's not defending any more and Herzog mercifully puts a bullet in Old Yeller.
WINNER: Muhammed Lawal by TKO at 2:51 round 3.
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (*+) That was a really lame performance by Noe. It was also sham matchmaking by Sam Caplan and Bjorn Rebney, and anyone with three functioning brain cells should be outraged at the transparency of the bullcrap of this being the toughest tournament in sports.
-Jimmy Smith has Quinton Jackson in the cage. Jackson's debut with Bellator will be a fight with Tito Ortiz. Tito Ortiz then comes to the cage to a really bad Enimem song. Rampage vs. Tito will fight in Long Beach, California on Saturday November 2. Live on... Pay Per View.
- Jokes aside, if Bellator doesn't get Eddie Alvarez on this PPV, I'll never understand what they're trying to do.
FIGHT FOUR: CHAMPION BEN ASKREN (11-0) VS. ANDREY KORESHKOV (11-0) (BELLATOR WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP)
- Koreshkov didn't bring in a single wrestler for his camp. Why bother? There's no way he's going to learn enough in 8 weeks to stop the takedown, so might as well stick to what you know.
ROUND ONE: Jason Herzog is the third man in the cage. Koreshkov touches gloves. I smell a takedown, DON'T TOUCH GLOVES WITH BEN ASKREN!!! Askren gets the tie up and takedown within ten seconds. He has a head chancellery, and Koreshkov is mounted. Guillotine attempt from Askren. Full mount again, and Askren is throwing right hands. Another guillotine, and it's tight. Koreshkov gives a thumbs-up and lets it go. Askren takes Koreshkov's back. Koreshkov trying to stand, but still has Askren on his back. Askren looking for a trip and drags Koreshkov down. Koreshkov is being rag-dolled like he were a weak three year old. Koreshkov back to his feet... for three seconds. Askren landing right hands, and then jumps on his back again. He's looking for a rear naked choke. Gives up, and lands elbows ot the side of Koreshkov's head. This is sooooo good. He's going for the RNC again, but he couldn't get under the jaw. Instead of committing to a neck crank Askren lets it go. Askren has both hooks in and is punching away. Koreshkov is scrambling, and gives up his neck. Ankle pick from behind and Askren's on top again. I wish I understood even 1% of what Askren is doing. It's just magic. 10-8 Askren Koreshkov literally landed 0 strikes.
ROUND TWO: Bellator cut off the first 7 seconds of the round, and Koreshkov is on top. Probably stuffed a shot. Don't worry, ten seconds later and Askren is on top in full side control. To mount. Too easy. Now he has Koreshkov's back. All in thirty seconds. Askren is riding Koreshkov like a horse and chanted USA to the crowd. Korechkov collapses under his weight. Askren still has both hooks. Koreshkov looks like utter crap. Askren keeps the hooks in and rolls. Koreshkov is bleeding under his right eye. Full back mount with Koreshkov belly down. Askren is laughing. Elbows. Askren is trying to trap Koreshkov's wrist. Askren is the best in the world at what he does. Koreshkov gets to one knee and one foot, so Askren shifts his weight 2% and Koreshkov's on his back. Askren moves to north-south, just because. Side control, because, why not? Koreshkov rolls to his side, and Askren lands elbows to his skull. Askren looking for a crucifix. He's got the far arm trapped, which is backwards from how you normally go for a crucifix. koreshkov rolls out of the crucifix, so Askren passes into a new crucifix, just to show that he can. The round ends. 20-16 2 rounds, 0 strikes landed.
ROUND THREE: Alexander Shlemenko literally picked up Koreshkov and carried him to the stool between rounds. The round opens with Koreshkov landing a big knee as Askren gets the takedown. That knee staggers a lit of people; Askren walked right through it. Koreshkov looks worse than Abel Trujillo did against Khabib Nurmagomedov. We're more than two minutes into the round. Want to guess? I wanted to just watch some of this without splitting my attention. Askren has mount, and he's striking away with elbows and punches. He's not even thinking finish, and why should he? Askren lets Koreshkov turtle, and has side control. Koreshkov getting slaughtered. I literally think this is how hot dogs are made. Askren picks koreshkov and gently places Koreshkov into a different position. Damnedest thing I've ever seen. Askren's just sitting on Koreshkov's back and looking around at the crowd, not even moving. THAT is an amazing display of soul-eating. 30-24
ROUND FOUR: Koreshkov stuffs the shot with a nice sprawl and is on his back, mounted, ten seconds into the round. Koreshkov has quit. He's not moving. Herzog told Koreshkov to move. He's broken and might not ever be the same as a fighter. Askren is toying with him, and I think a crash test dummy would put up the same level of opposition at this point. Full mount, short elbows. Askren has stopped fighting in order to have a conversation with Herzog for five seconds. Koreshkov didn't move, because he's a polite gentleman. Koreshkov gives up his back. Herzog wants to stop this fight, but Askren is having too much fun. Double-punch from Askren, and Herzog finally puts a bullet. Just an embarrassing performance from Koreshkov.
WINNER: Ben Askren by TKO at 2:58 of round 4.
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (****-) I'm a fanboy, fine, sue me. There is no one who does what Askren does. As good as anderson Silva is on the feet, Askren is better at what he does so superbly; controlling fights when they get down.
- Total Strikes: Askren 248, Koreshkov 3.
- Askren ground strikes: 247 landed, 264 thrown.
- Dude.
FIGHT FIVE: CHAMPION MICHAEL CHANDLER (11-0) VS. VITALY MINAKOV (14-1) (BELLATOR LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP)
- Rickels has four inches of height and three inches of reach on Chandler.
- It won't matter.
ROUND ONE: Rickels takes the center of the cage and lands a soft leg kick. And a harder one that spins Chandler around. If Rickels has a heart attack and dies RIGHT NOW, he still put in a better performance than Andrey Koreshkov. Oh, did I forget to mention that Rickels is unconscious and this fight is over?
WINNER: Michael Chandler by KO at 0:44 of round 1.
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (***) A counter left hand from Chandler followed up by an immediate flurry of punches put Rickels' lights out. That is, you know, the other way to eat someone's soul.
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