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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor
Last weekend brought two major televised MMA events in the form of World Series of Fighting 5 and Bellator 99. This week I'm going to do a little Good, Bad, and Ugly about these shows, then move to a UFC 165 preview.
WORLD SERIES OF FIGHTING 5
GOOD: Georgi Karakhanyan with a nice submission
Karakhanyan attacked Waylon Lowe with leg kicks, then finished him with a guillotine. It was a good performance from him, Lowe was on a 4-fight win streak and to get the finish like he did was a good job by Karakhanyan.
UGLY: Taylor vs. Mutapcic canceled
Jesse Taylor, the John McCarthy look-alike who was on The Ultimate Fighter season 7, was to fight Elvis Mutapcic, but the fight was called off because New Jersey commission officials saw Mutapcic popping pills backstage. Mutapcic was interviewed and he said he didn't do anything, he even offered to take a blood test. I don't know the truth, but this deserves a big UGLY, no doubt. What a clustermess.
GREAT: Rolles Gracie does the Flair-flop
This was hilarious. Gracie was fighting Derek Mehman, and was actually out-striking him in the first round. That had to be very disappointing to Mehman because Gracie is...well, he's a Gracie, he's not a striker. In the second round, though, Mehman caught Gracie right on the chin and that started one of the funnier sequences I've seen in MMA in a while. Gracie turned his back to Mehman, stumbled forward a few steps, and then faceplanted ala Ric Flair. You could practically hear the shouts of "To the GIF machine!" as soon as that happened.
BAD: Dave Branch bores us all to sleep
Branch was fighting Danillo Villefort. He smothered Villefort in a horribly boring fight. Enough words on that.
GOOD: Andrei Arlovksi beats Mike Kyle
It wasn't the greatest fight in the world, but Arlovski took some big shots from Kyle and kept coming. It would have been nice if Arlovski could have finished Kyle, but he clearly deserved to win. It was a good win for Arlovski, even though it won't set the world on fire.
BELLATOR 99
GOOD: Justin Wilcox with a huge comeback
Wilcox was losing to Akop Stepanyan, but managed to get Stepanyan's back and locked in a rear-naked choke for the finish. That was a great comeback as it looked like he didn't have it tonight.
UGLY: The rest of the undercard
Andrew Fisher vs. Joe Taimanglo was GOOD in the beginning, then turned into UGLY in the second half of the fight. Just not a good fight. Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Houston Alexander was just awful. Why in the world was this fight on here? Der Green vs. Fabricio Guerreiro was only a tiny bit better, which isn't saying much. These kinds of fights just leave a bad taste in your mouth.
GREAT: Patricio "Pitbull" Friere with a huge knockout
Maybe Patricio should talk to his brother Patricky about living up to the nickname "Pitbull". Friere beat Diego Nunes by knockout in the first round. That's the only time Nunes has ever been finished in his career. That's mighty impressive. It wasn't enough to totally save the night, but it was a great way to end the evening.
*************
UFC 165 comes this Saturday night, and it should be a really good card. UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones defends his belt against Alexander Gustafsson, and the interim UFC Bantamweight Champion Renan Barao defends his belt against Eddie Wineland. I also want to see Pat Healy vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov in a lightweight clash, but the two title fights are the main attraction.
In the first fight, I think Jones is just too much for Gustafsson. I think it's most likely that Jones gets the finish in the second round, after feeling out Gustafsson and finding the range and all that. I think Jones remains patient throughout and allows Gustafsson to make a mistake that Jones will then capitalize on. Anything's possible, of course, but I just don't see how Gustafsson can beat Jones.
The other title fight of the evening should also see the champion get a decisive victory. Eddie Wineland is a good fighter, but Renan Barao is a great fighter. I think this fight goes until the fourth round where Barao gets the submission win. Wineland's a tough guy, but Barao looks like a beast at times. He's going to be very hard to beat. I think Wineland gives it a good shot, but that he won't be able to do it. Again, an upset is possible, but not likely.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank
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