Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 111 and UFC Fight Night 37
Mar 12, 2014 - 12:20:49 PM HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 111 and UFC Fight Night 37

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

Bellator 111 and UFC Fight Night 37 both took place this past week; here's the rundown.

Bellator 111

GOOD: Alexander Volkov stops Mark Holata

There wasn't a whole lot to this, other than some power punches thrown by each fighter. Volkov is just too good. He's the better fighter, and he showed it with this first round stoppage.

GOOD: Mighty Mo submits Peter Graham

I give Mo credit for trying for the finish a lot instead of just grinding his way to the win. Both guys stayed active throughout. Mo got the finish in the third round after trying for it for a while. Good tenacity there.

GOOD: Lavar Johnson stops Ryan Martinez

Again, not a whole lot to this fight, as it's also a first round stoppage. If Johnson can land his shots on you, he can stop anyone with his power. He doesn't have any speed, but he's got plenty of power.

GREAT: Eduardo Dantas submits Anthony Leone

Dantas is the Bellator Bantamweight Champion, but Leone had a good gameplan. He was landing a lot, but Dantas pulled off one of the best reversals of all-time. Leone had gone for a takedown, but didn't get it. He kept trying, though. Dantas was trying to get away, but Leone had his ankles so Dantas fell back and immediately took Leone's back. A lightning fast rear-naked choke later and the fight was over. My description there does practically nothing to truly capture how great that was so I would strongly suggest that you look it up online if you haven't seen it already. It was a fantastic moment, and a great way to end the evening.


UFC Fight Night 37

GOOD: Prelim fights

There were three first round finishes as Louis Gaudinot submitted Phil Harris, Luke Barnatt stopped Mats Nilsson, and Ilir Latifi submitted Cyrille Diabete. I always love a finish.

GOOD: Gunnar Nelson submits Omari Akhmedov

This was one-sided, but Nelson did show some good work on the ground as he worked towards the first round finish.

GOOD: Brad Pickett vs. Neil Seery

This was solid, but perhaps not overly exciting. It was a close fight, though Pickett won all three rounds. Seery showed himself well here, he just got beat by the activity of Pickett.

BAD: Michael Johnson vs. Melvin Guillard

This fight sucked. The first round was pretty good, but it fell off considerably from there. Guillard didn't do anything in the second and third rounds, and Johnson played it safe to get the sure win. I don't necessarily blame him as he obviously wanted the win, and he got hit with a beautiful counter right by Guillard in the first round that nearly finished him, but that was because Johnson was trying to goad Guillard. I think if Johnson had fought aggressive, but smart, he could have gotten the finish. Regardless, I understand why Johnson did what he did, but that doesn't make the fight any more interesting.

GOOD: Alexander Gustafsson stops Jimi Manuwa

Gustafsson got the stoppage in the second round, but he controlled the entire fight. This basically went as everyone expected. This was very similar to what Daniel Cormier did to Patrick Cummins at UFC 170 the other week, though better because Manuwa has slightly more of a track record than Cummins. Gustafsson did what he needed to do, and he did it effectively.

There should be no doubt that Gustafsson should get the winner of UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira when those two fight shortly at UFC 172 in April. Jones has thrown out the idea that Gustafsson and Cormier should fight each other, with the winner getting the next title shot. The main reason I disagree with Jones here is what Gustafsson did in his fight with Jones. There are many, many people who believe that Gustafsson won that fight. Regardless of whether or not you believe Gustafsson won, I think many would have been in favor of an immediate rematch. What's changed since then? Gustafsson beat another fighter, which should only serve to strengthen his case, even if only slightly.

I don't think you can make a compelling argument for Gustafsson vs. Cormier unless one of two scenarios play out. One is Teixeira beats Jones, in which case Jones would get an immediate rematch himself. Two is Jones wins, but is severely injured in the process. If Jones were to miss eight to ten months, for example, I could see a case for Gustafsson fighting again. Even then you could allow Gustafsson to wait to fight Jones if he wanted to.

I'm not sure what Jones intended to do when he threw this idea out there. I don't know if he's trying to play head games, or if he seriously doesn't think Gustafsson deserves another title shot so soon? Either way, he needs to be careful of Teixeira and not overlook him. This is the MMA version of a trap game. Looking ahead has gotten many an athlete in trouble.

Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank