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WALKER: Reviewing Bellator's Spike TV debut from Team Curran country
Jan 18, 2013 - 7:40:44 PM WALKER: Reviewing Bellator's Spike TV debut from Team Curran country

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By: Brad Walker, MMATorch Columnist

First let me say that I watched the Bellator card from Sideouts bar and grill in Island Lake, IL with many of my teammates from Team Curran, and other locals who support Pat Curran, because after all he is a home town fighter, and he used to work at Sideouts as well. The atmosphere was electric as TNAwful finally went off the air and the cheers came in waves every time Pat hit the screen, with a good amount of boo's for Patricio Pitbull. All in all the atmosphere was fantastic with the guys from the team, and watching our buddy go out there and throw down to defend his title is always a great sight. Bellator's new opening looks much more mainstreamed and sleek than it used to, they've made some great upgrades for this card. Oh, and opening with a title fight was a genius idea, so the folks watching who hadn't had a chance to change the channel had a reason to hang around and watch – well played Bjorn Rebney.

Pat Curran showed without a shadow of a doubt that he is the #2 featherweight in the world, above Chad Mendes and above anyone not named Jose Aldo. The first round could be scored either way, probably with an edge to Friere, and round three was very clearly in "Pitbull's" direction too. As the fight went on you could see Curran hit his stride, and then decide to turn it on and start lighting up his opponent. There were numerous times Pitbull looked to be hurt, but with Curran's laid back style that works more to his counter punching, he wasn't going to just attack willy nilly and hope to land a shot. Curran's head kick was brutal, and the smile returned by Pitbull had the team going nuts, that's how you know a man has been hurt, Friere has an incredible chin.

Personally, I scored the fight 48-47 for Curran, and I don't see anywhere in the fight that a third round could have gone to Pitbull, although the nonstop unchecked leg kicks probably have Pat sitting in his hotel room icing as I write this. The reaction to the phrase “split decision” in the bar was basically the seeds of a riot being planted within us Curran-folk. When the final scorecard was read, the place erupted in cheers, truly a great moment to see with so many people I respect as much as I do my teammates, many of whom are pro and amateur fighters as well. It was a fantastic fight, and although I know Strause is next in line for Curran, I would not be opposed to a Curran/Friere rematch coming out of that bout, it was exciting and the standup exchanges were fantastic. It may not make the fight of the year candidate list, but it's a great start on Spike for Bellator.

Babalu Sobral makes my head hurt by default simply because he's still referred to as an elite fighter when he has never really done anything to prove that he's elite. He beat Shogun 9 years ago, so that surely doesn't count and he defeated Chael Sonnen 7 years ago. This man is not an elite fighter; he's a sub-mediocre fighter who has done nothing of note since 2005. Zayats on the other hand is one of the old M-1 fighters, so the bout was basically set up so we would get Sobral and King Mo in the finals. Well guess what – Zayats just wrecked that bout, and made sure Sobral is on the path to retirement.

It really is time for Sobral to hang it up; he got KO'd without even really being hit with any heavy handed shots. They were short shots and it looked similar to when Dan Henderson knocked him out in Strikeforce; the man's chin is gone, and it's time to say goodbye to Babalu. Zayats to his credit looked fantastic in the bout and didn't let Sobral get any real measure of control before he decided to clean his clock with the iron fist of mother Russia. I expect we will see Zayats and King Mo in the finals of this tournament, and then the winner of that will face Rampage once Bellator gets a crack at signing him. This fight was very subpar but basically what I would expect from a bout containing one relative unknown and one guy we all know isn't good.

Michael Chandler is a monster in all ways shapes and forms; his dismembering of Rick Hawn was fast and furious to say the least. The look on the face of Hawn as soon as Chandler locked in the choke was an instant classic, and the fight was clearly going to be ending. Chandler's game has come a long way, but once again the thin Bellator lightweight division will stifle his rise up the ranks as it once did to Eddie Alvarez as well. I can't watch the fight and think “this guy can beat Alvarez again” because it was a once in a lifetime defeat. However, with their lack of depth, I expect Chandler to keep everyone a step away from the gold until he too decided he wants to play in the UFC's cage.

Overall the card was good; I decided to head home during the Petruzelli and Noe fight, as did basically everyone else. Bellator put on a good first card on Spike, mostly carried by the back and forth action in the Curran/Friere fight which was fantastic. The belt is coming back to Team Curran, where we will all stare at it and wonder if it's ok to touch it, as we all did when Pat first brought it home with him. I think Bellator showed with that card that not only does it have the ability to put on a great card with Spike, but also that they have been able to upgrade their look to match the new channel as well. Good things are on the horizon for all of the folks at Bellator, and I expect we will continue to see things improve as the balls continues to roll.

Below I have attached a video of the Team Curran reaction to Pat's win:

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