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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
This following piece was originally published on Saturday, August 28.
Bellator's season three bantamweight tournament got off the ground last Thursday with Jose Vega earning a decision victory over Danny Tims, and at Bellator 27 this week at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, Texas, the rest of the quarterfinal bouts will be contested.
One of those fights will feature Minnesota's number one ranked bantamweight Travis Reddinger as he takes on highly skilled BJJ brown belt Ulysses Gomez.
Reddinger enters the Bellator tournament with a 14-2 record, and he hasn't lost since March of 2009 in a fight he took on short notice. But since that time, Reddinger has hooked up with renowned trainer Sergio Cunha, formerly of Chute Boxe and Brazilian Top Team, and he's been on a tear since.
Cunha has set up shop here in Burnsville, MN, with his Minnesota Fight Factory, and Reddinger is one of a few of Cunha's students breaking out onto the big shows. For his part, Reddinger credits much of his current progression and success to his time with Cunha.
"I've been with him about a year now, and if you look at my fights alone you'll see how the progression has been," Reddinger told MMATorch last month. "There's no doubt how big of a difference he's made. The thing with him is, he will commit to you, but you have to commit to him first. It's that simple.
"He doesn't have to be here training me, he doesn't have to be training anyone. He could be out there with Anderson Silva or with Wanderlei Silva or any of those guys. There are a million people better than me that he could be training right now, but he chooses to put his effort forth into people he believes in, and if you commit to him he will give you everything you need to win. I completely believe in him, and if I listen to him I'll be 100% prepared and complete for this fight."
The student-trainer relationship between Reddinger and Cunha has wrought much success already, and he's looking to continue that success in the Bellator tournament. And to do so, he's been following a strict preparation plan laid out by Cunha.
"[I'm working on] a set schedule he wrote out for me," Reddinger said. "[Sergio said] 'this is what you're going to do, this is what it takes to be a champion, and if you want to do it, let's do it, and if not then that's it.' He's there to train us to win, and we either put the effort forth and we commit to it or else he doesn't train us."
"He has everything down to a science. He talks to so many people and he's trained so many people that his knowledge base is just amazing. And the stuff he knows you can tell he can teach you. He's like my father, brother and everything else all wrapped into one right now."
Turning his attention to his first challenge in this eight man field, Reddinger understands fully what he's up against in Ulysses Gomez.
"Gomez is a world class jiu jitsu guy, he's a brown belt under Marc Laimon [with] Cobra Kai," Reddinger said. "I was lucky enough to train with Joe Stevenson when I was out in Vegas a while back, so I know their jiu jitsu is sick. They're good at everything, [so] we're preparing for everything, plain and simple."
As for the rest of the tournament field, Reddinger says the bantamweight division is so good that the level of competition in this tournament is as good as you'll find in the WEC or in Japan. And he's ready for some great action out off all involved.
"The competition is top notch," he said. "135 lb. is a stacked division, no doubt about it. Christ, Urijah Faber is coming down to 135 lb. now. As if there weren't enough sharks in there, let's throw more in and put in the former 145 lb. Champion. Nothing's going to come easy [in this division]. If you're beating schlubbs and you're beating nobodies, you're getting wins but you're not doing anything for yourself, your team or anyone else.
"This tournament is as stacked as well as WEC or Japan or anything. It's not a class lacking in talent at all. Everyone in this tournament is a well rounded player. This tournament's just going to be explosive."
Penick's Analysis: Reddinger drew a very tough test in this first round matchup, but his submission defense and his ground game in general has progressed exponentially since his last loss. While he may be coming in as technically the lesser known of the two fighters, Reddinger is not someone that should be overlooked by any of his opponents in this tournament. If they do that, it's going to be a short night for them and their Championship dreams in Bellator will be over before they begin. This bantamweight field should provide for a ton of excitement, and Thursday's Bellator 27 event could be the most enjoyable event of their third season so far. Make sure to set your DVR if the event is tape delayed, as all of these bantamweight fights should provide some must-see action for Bellator.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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