Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 127 and UFC Fight Nights 53 and 54
Oct 8, 2014 - 1:50:17 PM HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 127 and UFC Fight Nights 53 and 54

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

Bellator 127 and UFC Fight Night 53 and 54 were this past week. Here's my rundown of the shows.

Bellator 127

GOOD: Kendall Grove submits Christian M'Pumbu

Grove started off strong and kept the pressure on. M'Pumbu fired back, but Grove eventually got the fight to the ground and worked for the submission in the second round.

BAD: Rafael Silva vs. Rob Emerson

I didn't care much for this fight. It was okay, I guess, but it was just kind of there. Silva won the decision.

GOOD: Fernando Gonzalez stops Karo Parisyan

Gonzalez jumped all over Parisyan from the start. The fight went to the ground and Gonzalez pounded out Parisyan for the stoppage not quite two minutes into the first round.

GOOD: Daniel Straus stops Justin Wilcox

This took even less time than the previous fight. Straus showed tremendous power and dropped Wilcox, which lead to the stoppage. Straus looked really good in this fight.


UFC Fight Night 53

GOOD: Mike Wilkinson stops Niklas Backstrom

Wilkinson got a kick right in the face but caught Backstrom with an overhand right out of nowhere that ended things. That was crazy.

GOOD: Jan Blachowicz stops Ilir Latifi

Blachowicz stunned Latifi with a body shot and followed up for the upset win. That's two upsets so far. This probably isn't what the Swedish crowd was hoping for.

GOOD: Max Holloway stops Akira Corassani

Holloway just unloaded on Corassani and didn't let up. The damn ref didn't do Corassani any favors with the late stoppage either. Corassani took unnecessary damage there. The referee deserves a special UGLY for that. Holloway is really making waves as he tries to climb up the ranks in the division.

GOOD/BAD: Rick Story vs. Gunnar Nelson

I didn't like this fight enough to give it a full GOOD. It was solid and competitive, but it seemed to drag too often. Nelson gassed badly in the later rounds. Story won by split decision. When you see the judges scores, it actually becomes a bit of a head-scratcher. One judge scored it 50-44 for Story while another gave it to Story 49-46. The other judge gave it to Nelson 48-47. The 50-44 is the one that makes you take notice. One judge saw enough to score one of the rounds 10-8 Story, but neither of the others did? And one judge even gave the fight to Nelson. Regardless, I think Story getting the decision is the right call.


UFC Fight Night 54

GOOD: Mitch Gagnon submits Roman Salazar

There wasn't a whole lot to this fight. Salazar was fighting on short notice, and was really stepping up in competition. Gagnon got a nice standing rear-naked choke for the finish.

UGLY: Jingliang Li vs. Nordine Taleb

This was a close fight, but it wasn't very good. Taleb won by split decision.

UGLY: Elias Theodorou vs. Bruno Santos

This was another dull fight that doesn't belong on a UFC main card. The dilution of UFC cards is really biting us here. Theodorou won the decision.

UGLY: Yosdenis Cedeno vs. Chad Laprise

Yet another bad fight to suffer through. Laprise won the decision.

GOOD/BAD: Rafael Assuncao vs. Bryan Caraway

It was ok, it was solid. I didn't want solid, though, I wanted something really good. We needed something really good to wash the taste of those last three fights out of our collective mouths. Assuncao won the clear decision.

GOOD: Rory MacDonald stops Tarec Saffiedine

Both guys were bringing it in this fight. They were looking for power shots throughout. Saffiedine hadn't been stopped before, but MacDonald did it here. Granted, it was a bit slow in the early going, but neither guy wanted to get caught so you kind of expect that. It heated up, though, and got really good. MacDonald showed some very good striking and stakes his claim to a title shot.

The problem for MacDonald, though, is that the schedule for a title shot might not be in his favor. UFC Welterweight Champion Johny Hendricks is slated to face Robbie Lawler at UFC 181 in December. That's only about two months away, but if the winner is hurt and needs time off, the UFC might not let MacDonald sit out for long. This is the UFC, though, so I guess you never know. As long as they don't want MacDonald and the welterweight champion to coach The Ultimate Fighter then I'll be ok with MacDonald waiting for a title shot. At least for a little bit.

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