Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 126 and UFC 178
Oct 1, 2014 - 12:15:51 PM HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 126 and UFC 178

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

Both Bellator 126 and UFC 178 took place this past weekend. Here's my rundown of both events.


Bellator 126

GOOD: Mike Richman stops Ed West

They went back and forth for a while until Richman caught West with some punches that turned out the lights. Nice win for Richman.

GOOD: Thiago Meller vs. Bubba Jenkins

I went GOOD because both guys tried but this fight was honestly just more okay than anything else. Jenkins won the decision. I liked the effort in this fight.

GOOD: Marcin Held vs. Patricky Friere

This was another fight with good effort, but it just didn't click with me. Held won the decision, and thinking back on the fight, I thought it was pretty good. It wasn't great by any means, but it was pretty good.

GOOD: Brandon Halsey submits Alexander Shlemenko

Halsey took Shlemenko down, got his back, and slapped on the rear naked choke. It was about as quick as that, as I think the fight only lasted like thirty seconds. With this dominant performance, Halsey becomes the new Bellator Middleweight Champion. What a statement by Halsey.


UFC 178

GREAT: Dominick Cruz stops Takeya Mizugaki

This was on the prelims (which is kind of ridiculous), but deserves special mention here. Cruz hadn't fought since The Jersey Shore was on and popular, yet was able to come out here and get a dominating win over a pretty good fighter. Mizugaki had won five in a row, but couldn't do anything here. Cruz took him out and made a huge statement. He never lost the UFC Bantamweight Title, and is now getting a fight with current UFC Bantamweight Champion T.J. Dillashaw to essentially unify the belt. I know that Cruz was technically stripped long ago, but this is right.

Honestly, I didn't think Cruz could do this. He's come back seemingly better than he was before he got hurt. I thought he would be rusty for sure, but he shot that down real quick. Cruz vs. Dillashaw is sure to be an awesome fight.

GREAT: Cat Zingano stops Amanda Nunes

Nunes was taking it to Zingano early, and damn near stopped her. Towards the end of the first round, Zingano pulled off a DDT to Nunes. I don't know how Nunes continued after that, but that was about the end of her sustained offense there. Zingano poured it on in the second round before getting the TKO finish in the third. What a great fight; Zingano is the clear challenger to UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey now. There's no other option.

GREAT/GOOD/BAD/UGLY: Yoel Romero stops Tim Kennedy

This had it all. Romero came out and was hurting Kennedy with power shots. Kennedy came roaring back, though, and damn near had Romero stopped at the end of the second. The only thing that saved Romero was the end of the round. If there were literally ten to fifteen more seconds, the fight would have been over. Romero was gassed big time.

Then, in between the second and third rounds, Romero's cornermen stayed in the cage too long in order to buy Romero some extra time to get his energy back. That could have, and probably should have, been the end right there, as Romero should have been disqualified. To top this all off, Romero came out in the third and plastered Kennedy for the stoppage win. This was just absurd and surreal. How Romero was able to get his wind back so quickly was nuts. This whole fight was nuts.

GOOD: Conor McGregor stops Dustin Poirier

McGregor made good on his pre-fight promises. There's no doubt that he's top five now. I don't want to get too carried away until I see him fight the best of the division, but he certainly looks like he's as real as it gets. I want to see him fight one of the other top five guys in the division like Cub Swanson, Frankie Edgar, Chan Sung Jung, Ricardo Lamas, and Chad Mendes. Hell, you also have a guy like Dennis Bermudez who's making a name for himself in the division. That doesn't even take into account the UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo. The featherweight division is stacked, so McGregor is going to have a hard time making his case for the title shot without another win or two, but I sure want to see him try. I want to see what he can do against the guys I named. A fight with any of those guys is guaranteed to be entertaining.

GOOD: Donald Cerrone vs. Eddie Alvarez

Alvarez gave Cerrone a good fight, but Cerrone was just a bit better. If they went five rounds, I don't know for sure what would have happened. As it stands, Cerrone won two of the three rounds and got the decision. He looked really good in this fight, but so did Alvarez. This was a really good, and close, fight. There's no doubt that Cerrone won, but Alvarez looked pretty good in there, especially considering the jump in competition. Cerrone should get a #1 contenders fight next while Alvarez should get a lower top 10 guy to fight.

GOOD: Demetrious Johnson submits Chris Cariaso

Johnson almost stopped Cariaso in the first, but Cariaso was saved by the bell. Then, in the second round, Johnson came out took Cariaso down and started working his ground game. He tried a few submissions before locking in a kimura and got the finish. That was an excellent performance from Johnson. Regardless of whether or not Cariaso should have been in this fight, Johnson came out and showed why he's the best flyweight in the world right now. A dominating performance like that was a great capper to tremendous weekend of fights. Bellator 126 and UFC 178 were both good events that get you excited as a fight fan.


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