Tag: bellator

Bellator 147 live results: Josh Thomson vs Pablo Villaseca

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Bellator MMA is back on Spike TV at 9 pm eastern with it’s final event of the year, from San Jose University Events Centre. Former Strikeforce Champion Josh Thomson hopes to get closer to a title shot in Bellator with a win over virtual unknown Villaseca. Also on the card is an interesting Featherweight match between former WSOF Champion Georgi Karakhanyan and perennial Bellator contender Daniel Weichel, coming off a loss to then-champion Patricio Friere. And speaking of the Pitbulls, Patricio’s brother Patricky returns to the Bellator cage in a Lightweight fight with another longtime Bellator competitor Derek Anderson. Brian Rogers makes his Light Heavyweight debut against former Strikeforce fighter Virgil Zwicker. Rounding out the card is a Lightweight fight between unbeaten Adam Piccolotti and Mario Soto, with only one loss  on his record.

The prelims start at 7 pm eastern and can be viewed at Spike.com. We’ll have results here after  they take place and then full play by play and results of the main card once it starts on Spike. 

Light Heavyweights Virgil Zwicker (14-4-1) vs Brian Rogers (11-8)

First round:   Zwicker missed weight.  He doesn’t look in shape at all.  They traded punches.  They traded again.  Another big trade.  Neither is getting the better of it.  Hard body kick by Rogers.  Rogers slammed  him down into side control and kept him down the rest of the round.  10-9 Rogers.

Second round:    Rogers kicked him in the groin hard and Zwicker went down.  This was a super nasty kick.  Zwicker is up and going to be able to continue.  Zwicker with a  low kick.  Nice right by Zwicker.  Low kicks by Zwicker.  Rogers threw a kick and lost his balance but got back up.  Takedown by Rogers.  He got his back.  Rogers moved to full mount and throwing punch after punch.  Zwicker is in trouble.  He’s working for a head and arm choke from side control, and got it.     

Lightweights Adam Piccolotti (6-0) vs Mario Soto (6-1)

First round:  These are two local fighters.  Piccolotti has his back in the piggy back position.  Now he’ got him down and has his back.  Now he’s moved to mount.  He’s working for a head and arm choke.  Who is the agent tongiht?  Trying to steal finishes form the opening match.  Soto tried an ankle lock but  Piccolotti reversed to his back.  Soto out of trouble and back up.  Left and right by Piccolotti.  Piccolotti with some punches.  Piccolotti 10-9.

Second round:    Piccolotti took him down off a kick and throwing punches on the ground.  Now he’s in full mount.  Now he’s got his back.  Piccolotti just throwing punches.  Piccolotti workihg for a choke.  Piccolotti gave it up to throw more punches.  Sotob leeding from elbows and Piccolotti working for a choke and looks like he has it.  Soto tapped.  Soto was busted up pretty bad from the elbows.

Lightweights Patricky Freire (14-6) vs Derek Anderson (12-2)

First round:  Glad Coker doesn’t hate Ole Anderson, or else he’d be Derek Kennedy.  Trading hard shots.  Freire smiled.  Anderson landed a good right.  High kick by Anderson.  Right by Anderson.  Anderson got inside and landed some more.  Both now missing a lot.  Pitbull tried for a takedown, Anderson went for a choke but Pitbull escaped and got his back.  He’s in the piggy back position now.  Both to their feet.  Anderson with a nice slam and Pitbull reversed to the top in side control.  Now Pitbull on top  with an elbow.  Andeson reversed to the top.  Pitbull up.  Good round.  10-9 Anderson.

Second round:   Anderson landing.  Pitbull starring to land and hurt him.  Pitbull low kicks and a nice uppecut and jumping kick.  Body kick by Anderson.  Pitbull landed a nice series.  Anderson with a  body kick.  Knee by Pitbull.  Pitbull took him down into side control.  Pitbull has his back.  He’s got a body triangle.  Pitbull with punches.  Pitbull’s round so 19-19.

Third round:   Anderson landing punches.  Head kick by Anderson.  More punches by Anderson.  Pitbull with a takedown.  Anderson back up.  Pitbull got in and Anderson tied him up.  A knee, two punches, and a low kick by Anderson.  Knee by Pitbull.  Both trading.  Pitbull with elbows as Anderson shot for a takedown.  Pitbull reversed a takedown to the top but Anderson back up.  Anderson going for a takedown and Pitbull switched to the top.  Anderson tried a guillotine at the bell.  Close round.  Anderson 29-28 but this could go either way.

Scores:   29-28 Anderson 29-28 Pitbull 29-28 Anderson

Featherweights Georgi Karakhanyan (24-4-1) vs Daniel Weichel (35-9)

First round:  Weichel with a body kick.  Weichel kicked him low.  Weichel landing good low kicks.  Weichel with some punches.  Kharakhanyan slapped him in the face.  Weichel 10-9.

Second round:  Weichel with a front kick.  Karakhanyan with a front kick.  Weichel landing punches.  Weichel with more punches.  Karakhanyan wih a spin kick to the head.  Body kick had by Weichel.  Another body kick by Weichel.  Another body kick by Weichel.  Body kickj by  Weichel.  Weichel landed a left.  Weichel 20-18.

Third round:   Weichel with a punch and body kick.  Kharakhanyan with a body kick.  Nice spin kick to the head by Kharakhanyan.  Right landed by Weichel.  Front kick by Weichel.  Right by Weichel.  Weichel continues to land.  A nice exchange .  Weichel still landing more.  Weichel landing much more.  Kharakhanyan’s left leg all bruised up.  Kharakanyan tried a spin kick and missed.  Weichel 30-27.

Scores:    All three have it 30-27 for Weichel

Main Event –

Lightweights Josh Thomson (21-8) vs Pablo Villaseca (10-1)

First round:  Thomson obviously is the star of the show.  Body kick by Thomson.  Takedown by Thomson.  Thomson working for a triangle.  Now he’s got an armbar.  Now an uma plata.  Villaseca escaped from all the attempts.  Knee by Villaseca.  Knee by Thomson.  Low kick by Villaseca.  Villaseca got a takedown.  Thomson back up.  Villaseca got him down momentarily agan.  Villaseca with a knee to the groin.  Thomson with a takedown.   Thomson 10-9.

Second round:  Thomson  with a takedown and landed some blows.  Thomson trying to get mount.  But Villaseca managed to block the attempt.   Thomson with lots of punches.  Thomson landing a lot of punches.  Thomson is landing punch after punch and it’s about to be stopped.  And it’s over.    3:59

After the fight they Jimmy Smith asked Thomson about facing Will Brooks for the title.  Interestingly, he kind of blew it off, saying he’ll fight Brooks but right now he said the hype was for a fight with Michael Chandler.  That was an interesting response.

Looking at the options for UFC free agent Benson Henderson

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

In the morning hours here in North America, former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson fought Jorge Masvidal in the main event of the UFC’s debut in Seoul, South Korea — the last fight on his UFC contract. Now a free agent, the 32-year-old veteran is near the peak of his game and will be either an attractive acquisition or solid re-signing for the company that manages to secure his services.

In the past few years, many fighters considered top 10 in their weight class have been cut loose by UFC much to the outcry of hardcore fight fans who felt that if UFC was to be taken seriously as a sport, they shouldn’t let top tier talent walk away. But with Henderson, it’s different. Guys like Phil Davis, Jon Fitch, Jake Shields, and Yushin Okami were still top contenders but didn’t move ratings or PPV buys (proven when they went elsewhere), weren’t serious title contenders, and carried high price tags. While UFC runs a lot of cards and could use the depth that these guys provide, they also have a future to think of and names like the ones I’ve listed here were essentially roadblocks for younger talent to make their way to the top.

This is why someone like Henderson is very important. He could arguably be a top 10 competitor at either 155 or 170, and is someone that can very easily headline an FS 1 or Fight Pass card. He also fits in nicely in a co-main event position on a FOX show or PPV. The top of the show is familiar territory for him as in 14 UFC fights, he has been in either the main or co-main event position all but two times. And on one occasion, it could be argued that he was in the co-main (UFC on FOX 1), since only the main event fight aired on television.

On those shows, Henderson has delivered in terms of ratings or PPV buys…for the most part. Here’s a look*, listed by most recent appearance:

  • Fight Night 60 (main event vs Brandon Thatch) – 913,000 viewers on FS 1 (above average vs. an opponent with very little name recognition)
  • Fight Night 59 (co-main vs Donald Cerrone) – 2,751,000 viewers on FS 1 (record number obviously powered by Conor McGregor, but this was a strong co-main)
  • Fight Night 49 (main event vs Rafael Dos Anjos) – 689,000 viewers on FS 1 (below average,, but this was a very weak undercard and during a very down period for UFC)
  • Fight Night 42 (main event vs Rustam Khabilov) – 1,217,000 viewers on FS 1 (2nd highest FS 1 number at the time against an opponent with no name recognition)
  • UFC on FOX 10 (main event vs Josh Thomson) – 3.2 million viewers on FOX (above average)
  • UFC 164 (main event vs Anthony Pettis) – 270,000 PPV buys (the second highest number for a show headlined by a lightweight title defence that didn’t involve BJ Penn up to that point)
  • UFC on FOX 7 (Main event vs Gilbert Melendez) – 3.7 million viewers on FOX (well above average)
  • UFC on FOX 5 (main event vs Nate Diaz) – 4.4 million viewers on FOX (3rd highest number ever for UFC on that station)
  • UFC 150 (main event vs Frankie Edgar) – 190,000 PPV buys (very weak number for the period. Probably too soon after their first fight, which did very well
  • UFC 144 (main Event vs Frankie Edgar) – 375,000 PPV buys (still the highest number for a show headlined by a Lightweight title defence that didn’t involve BJ Penn)
  • UFC on Versus 5 (co-main vs Jim Miller) – 766,000 viewers on Versus (second highest number of the year on the station for a show with a weak main event of Dan Hardy vs Chris Lytle)

*His other two UFC fights were on the undercards of the first UFC on FOX show and UFC 129, both of which did monster numbers that had next to nothing to do with him.

Clearly, he’s made a difference for a number of years and should continue to do so as his skills haven’t diminished and as recently as this year, he was still doing very strong numbers for UFC. He’d be valuable for Bellator as they hope to bring bigger TV ratings to Spike TV, and would likely be favored in a fight against either their welterweight champion Andrei Koreshkov or lightweight champion Will Brooks. A win by either of those champions would legitimize those divisions in the eyes of fans and a win by Henderson would give them greater exposure and provide marketability that no fighter still in his prime has had for the company.

Asian MMA company ONE Championships would be another viable option. They run shows that draw big crowds in southeast Asia on more or less a monthly basis but have yet to make any real kind of dent in the North American market despite their shows being available on iPPV. A star the level of Henderson could help them get that foothold there while also helping ticket sales in that region, where he is very popular due to his maternal family being from the area.

Henderson is in a rare position where the UFC needs him as much as the outside companies do, maybe even more. Many cards that the UFC runs are somewhat skippable these days but having someone of his caliber on the marquee makes his fight almost a must-see. He almost always has the best fight on the show, and is one of the more skilled fighters in the world in two different weight classes.

Fighters like this do not become available all the time and Henderson should be in a position to almost name his price.

MMA Weekend Ratings: UFC down, Bellator steady, WSOF way down

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

This past weekend saw televised shows from the big three MMA organizations in North America with differering results.

UFC — 

UFC Fight Night 78 from Mexico featuring Kelvin Gastelum vs. Neil Magny in the main event did a below average 750,000 viewers for Fox Sports One for the main card, but a well above average 732,000 viewers for the four fight prelims show that was also on FS1.

The show wouldn’t have been expected to do a great rating with the main event, especially with Magny replacing the popular Matt Brown who was injured in the lead-in to the event. Additionally, the TUF Latin American 2 final matches were on the main card featuring 4 completely unknown fighters to the US audience since that series only aired on UFC Fight Pass in the US.

The year to date average for UFC Fight Nights on FS 1 now stands at just under 908,000 viewers, so Saturday’s show was 17% below that average. However, that number is still 9.5% higher than the 2014 average of just under 829,000 viewers.

Better news for UFC was the continued trend of the FS 1 prelims doing well above average. The 732,000 viewers for that show were 23% higher than the year-to-date average of 595,000 viewers. That number is also up 9.3% from the 2014 average of 544,000. The prelims bouts had an unofficial “Mexico vs the World” theme with the biggest name on that portion of the show being longtime UFC/WEC fighter Scott Jorgensen, a loser to Alejandro Perez.

This week’s numbers was down significantly from the 903,000 viewers for UFC Fight Night 57 one year ago this weekend. That show had a much bigger main event with Frankie Edgar vs Cub Swanson. The prelims for that show were also slightly higher at 777,000 viewers with veteran Yves Edwards being the biggest name.

Bellator —

Bellator 146 on Spike TV was right at its year to date average for regular Friday night shows with 650,000 viewers. Headlined by Melvin Manhoef vs Hisako Kato, the show was virtually identical to the year to date average of 656,000 viewers. It was also up 19% from the most recent non-“tentpole” show in October which did 555,000 viewers. The year to date average is down 3.5% from last year’s 676,000 viewers. There is no similar show from last year to compare to as Bellator took an extended break after the Bellator 131 show with Tito Ortiz vs. Stephan Bonnar.

WSOF —

WSOF on NBC Sports Network did a disappointing 148,000 viewers for an event featuring a one night lightweight tournament for a title shot in 2016. The 25th show in company history had its lowest viewership total since 96,000 viewers watched WSOF Canada on Feb 21, 2014. It was their third lowest total in their run on NBC Sports Network.

Although the show was advertised around the lightweight tourney, there was only one fight actually announced ahead of time featuring former Strikeforce fighter Jason High vs Estevan Payan. The 148,000 viewers for the show is 23% lower than the year-to-date average of 192,000. The 2015 average is down 11% from the 2014 average of 216,000 viewers.

Despite the steady numbers for Bellator and the gradually rising UFC numbers, there has been a steady decline for World Series of Fighting that traces back to their high water point when almost a million viewers tuned in to their one and only live card on the main NBC network in July of 2014.

Josh Nason’s Punch-Out: Sam Caplan on MMA business in a post-Holm vs. Rousey world

Posted on by Josh Nason

****This is a free edition of Josh Nason’s Punch-Out. Please share with your MMA friends and the world in general!****

We are living in a post-Ronda Rousey vs. Holly Holm world, and while the fight itself has been analyzed to death, there’s plenty to discuss with the business aspects of what happens next. That’s why Josh brought in former Bellator VP of Talent Relations and co-host of The MMA Insiders podcastSam Caplan to help talk about that and tons more! If you’re into MMA business talk, this podcast is for you!

Here’s some other topics Josh and Sam talked about:

– What Sam has been up to, including some other non-MMA endeavors

– His thoughts on where we’re at with Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm several days after the fight

– When he would make a Rousey-Holm rematch and it’s an answer you might not expect

– What he would do with Holly Holm from a media perspective

– The decision making that goes into making a big rematch

– His current thoughts on the Bellator product, and what they need to do to succeed

– His thoughts on OneFC and Ben Askren’s next move when his contract is up

– His thoughts on the Reebok deal, Cain Velasquez signing with CAA, and tons more!

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Listen to the show by clicking below or right-clicking/save:

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Show Notes:

– Here’s the Vice Motherboard story Josh was interviewed for.

– Here’s Josh’s column on the potential of the great Rousey comeback story.

November 16, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Seth Rollins injury, Wrestle Kingdom 10 matches

Posted on by F4W Staff

There’s never a good time for a champion to go down, but the knee injury to WWE champion Seth Rollins (Colby Lopez, 29) on the first night of the company’s European tour exposed just how little depth the company has on top.

With Daniel Bryan out due to concussion issues, Randy Orton out due to shoulder surgery and John Cena on sabbatical, believed to be hosting a network reality television show, the company, on one of its biggest house show tours of the year, was left with one star babyface–Roman Reigns, and with Kevin Owens as the closest thing to a main star heel.

Rollins was wrestling Kane for the WWE title in the main event on 11/4 in Dublin.  Rollins did a spot where he came off the top rope with a sunset flip that was to continue into power bombing Kane off the top rope through a table.  However, on landing, Rollins’s right knee gave out and he collapsed.  He did get up and followed by power bombing Kane through the table, and finished the match, winning with a pedigree.

He was diagnosed with a torn ACL, a torn MCL and a torn medial meniscus.  He underwent reconstructive knee surgery on 11/10, performed by Dr. Jeffrey Dugas of the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center, in Birmingham, AL.  He’s expected out of action for six to nine months, putting him out of WrestleMania and making SummerSlam 2016 as a likely return period.

Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

MMA weekend ratings: UFC down, Bellator up from yearly averages

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

This past weekend saw televised MMA shows from both of the big 2 companies in North America.

The higher profile show was UFC Fight Night 77 from Sao Paulo Brazil on FS 1 Saturday night, which averaged 757,000 for the six-fight main card and 609,000 viewers for the four-fight prelims show, which also aired on FS 1. The show was up against huge sports competition in the form of college football on CBS, ABC, FOX, and ESPN which did numbers varying from 1.5 million all the way up to 11 million — all airing directly against the UFC show. An episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Donald Trump, did that show’s highest ratings in three years and aired against the second half of this show.

The show was down about 17.5% from the year to date average of 917,625 viewers on FS 1. The prelims show was actually up 4.4% from the year to date average of 583,083 viewers for previous Fight Night prelim shows on FS 1.

The five most recent FS 1 Fight Nights prior to Saturday had averaged 821,000 viewers and the most recent prelims shows had averaged 525,800 viewers. This would seem to indicate that the hardcore fan base that will watch any fights is actually increasing but that casual fans weren’t terribly interested in this card.

This was the lowest number for an FS 1 show since the 508,000 viewers on July 18th but that show aired in the afternoon from Scotland. The last time a prime time show did this low was the TUF 21 Finale on July 12th that did 691,000 viewers for a show headlined by Stephen Thompson vs Jake Ellenberger and the final matches of the TUF 21 show (which for the first time ever was not a tournament).

An FS 1 show one year ago this weekend, Fight Night 56, headlined by Ovince St. Preux vs Shogun Rua, did 699,000 viewers with the prelims show (airing on FS 2) doing 176,000 viewers. Again, that seems to line up with the general trend of UFC viewership being up in 2015.

Saturday’s show was headlined by Dan Henderson vs Vitor Belfort, who had fought once before on an FS 1 show also from Brazil and also on the same weekend (Nov 9, 2013). That show did 722,000 viewers, so this was up from that time with a similar level of undercard.

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The other show this past weekend was Bellator 145: With a Vengeance, which aired Friday night on Spike TV. This was the final tentpole event of the year for Bellator and did an audience of 814,000 viewers, headlined by featherweight champion Pitbull Friere vs Daniel Straus. Lightweight titleholder Will Brooks vs. Marcin Held and featured fights featuring Bobby Lashley and former lightweight champion Michael Chandler were also on the show.

This number was slightly up from the most recent big special for Bellator, headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary, a four-man light heavyweight tournament, and two Glory kickboxing fights. That September 19th event did 800,000 viewers. The average for the five Bellator tentpole events is now 1,061,400 viewers, so this show was about 23% below that average.

Bellator has averaged 759,286 viewers per show in 2015, so this number was up 7% from that average. This is the first time that Bellator has built one of these shows around main event fighters who were essentially homegrown so in that sense it was more like a regular show. It was also in the traditional Friday night time slot while the three higher rated events took place on a Saturday.

The Bellator per show average is up 8.1% from 2014, which averaged 702,227 viewers.

Bellator’s first tentpole show featured Ortiz vs Stephan Bonnar in a heavily promoted grudge match. That show set a Bellator record of 1,241,000 viewers on Nov 15, 2014, which has since been broken by Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock earlier this year.

F4D 11/9: Filthy Tom on UFC and Bellator, WWE Title tournament, win WWE 2K16, more!

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Filthy Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Tom Lawlor is back today with a shocking amount of stuff to talk about, especially for this show! We’ve got the WWE Title Tournament, Tom’s own Filthy Invitational 2015 tourney for a copy of WWE 2K15, the Smackdown finish and whether it was the worst ever, previews of Retro Raw and Retro Nitro this week, some comedy regarding the RUMBLR app, Bellator and UFC notes for last weekend and this weekend, Shamrock vs. Gracie, RIZIN fights, fun moves Tom has successfully applied to people and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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WOL 11/8: Weekend wrap-up, Seth Rollins, New Japan, UFC, Bellator, more!

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today for two full hours to talk all the news of the weekend — Seth Rollins, the Survivor Series tournament, Bellator and UFC results and upcoming big fights, New Japan Power Struggle and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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WOR 11/6: Booking around Seth Rollins’ injury, every bad fight ever made in one day

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back today with a very long breaking news audio show on a bunch of different stories — every bad idea fight you can imagine being put together all at once for Bellator and Rizin, how Seth Rollins going down may lead to a breath of fresh air for the entire company with so many booking options and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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Fedor to face pro wrestler Tsuyoshi Kosaka on New Year’s Eve

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

In a night filled with trips back in time, Inside MMA reported tonight that Fedor Emelianenko’s opponent for the Rizin New Year’s Eve show would be Tsuyoshi Kosaka, a 45-year-old retired pro wrestler from Japan.  

After the report aired, Jerry Millen, who works with Emelianenko, denied that Kosaka was the opponent.  Observer sources in Japan say that Emelianenko’s opponent has not been decided and there were several different people under consdieration, Kosaka being one of them.

Kosaka who has a strong judo background, was one of the major stars with the RINGS promotion in the 90, where he had some classic pro wrestling matches, and also headlined a Tokyo Dome show for New Japan Pro Wrestling.

He also competed as a regular in Pride, and went to the semifinals of an eight man UFC heavyweight title tournament after Randy Couture vacated the title, before losing a classic fight with Bas Rutten.

Kosaka won a controversial match over Emelianenko on December 22, 2000, in RINGS, the first loss of Emelianenko’s career.  It was in a tournament, and ended in 17 seconds when Emelianenko was too badly cut to continue from an illegal elbow.  The match would have been ruled a no contest normally, but being part of a tournament, they declared Kosaka the winner since Emelianenko wouldn’t be allowed to continue in the tournament.  Kosaka then lost in the next round via decision to Randy Couture.

It was one of the great “What if’s” in history, since, had Emelianenko not been cut and advanced, he and Couture would have faced in 2001. Fedor would eventually avenge the loss to Kosaka in a fight on April 3, 2005, in Pride, saw Emelianenko win via doctor’s stoppage at the end of the first round. Kosaka had been announced as coming out of retirement for the show last week.

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Dave and Bryan have a brand new Wrestling Observer Radio talking this story right now for subscribers along with the Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock 3 announcement and more!

Point/Counterpoint: Are there too many Bellator MMA shows?

Posted on by Josh Nason

Photo: Sherdog.com

Even with today’s online attack culture environment turning debate into a terrible, overproduced thing, there is still a place for two people to organically disagree on a topic and let the world decide who they think is right: ESPN First Take! (Just kidding.)

Paul Fontaine and I found we disagreed on the topic of whether there are too many Bellator shows, so I suggested we do a Point/Counterpoint on it. Let us know what you think on Twitter who you agree with. 

You can catch Paul’s coverage of Bellator Vengeance Friday night, and listen to a preview of the entire weekend with myself and MMA Fighting’s Shaheen Al-Shatti on the latest JNPO.

Enjoy!

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Josh’s Take —

On a recent JNPO with MMA Weekly’s Erik Fontanez, we talked about Bellator 144 and noted that other than Michael “Venom” Page, there wasn’t a ton on the show to get psyched about. Fans seemed to agree as the show drew just 555,000 viewers — the lowest numbers of any show of the Scott Coker era.

In looking ahead, that number might get worse and the reason for that — wait for it — is too many shows! Granted, I understand that there may be contractual obligations to casinos left over by the Bjorn Rebney era, but the amount of B shows are hurting their ability to put on meaningful and fun five fight shows.

Here’s what I’m talking about:

From tonight’s Bellator 145 event through December 4, Bellator has three shows: one major “tentpole” show and two B shows. The St. Louis A show has a good TV lineup other than Justin Lawrence vs. Emmanuel Sanchez which doesn’t need to be on the main card.

In two weeks, they return with a Oklahoma B show that only has three main card fights announced thus far with Melvin Manhoef vs. Hisaki Kato as a main event, followed by a Bubba Jenkins fight and a Ricky Rainey fight, all of which should be on the undercard of the St. Louis show. However, Manheof/Kato in place of Lawrence/Sanchez tonight would be great.

Two weeks after that, the promotion returns to San Jose for another B show headlined by Josh Thomson against a guy who doesn’t even have a headshot on the Bellator website. Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Daniel Weichel is the only other main card fight announced and we’re now less than a month away from the show.

Why do all these shows need to exist? Bellator should be focused on maximum impact anytime they hit the TV screen and instead, they are doing just what the UFC frequently does: fill airtime with a mid-level product that doesn’t leave us wanting more.

Scott Coker is a smart guy and he’s got to know Bellator has to be better than this. I hope for his sake that Spike TV agrees and believes that with combat sports, less is truly more.

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Paul’s Take —

After listening to JNPO (great show by the way, strongly recommended), I emailed Josh about this as I have a different opinion. In this case, I think that Bellator’s problems this year have actually been not enough shows.

When Bellator started on Spike TV before the Scott Coker era, they would run weekly in “seasons”, using a tournament format. They took periodic breaks where they would run one show a month. During that time, they had a fairly steady fanbase that would generally fluctuate between 600,000 and 800,000 viewers. I feel that the reason for this is that when they were running weekly, there is a segment of the audience that knew that if they wanted to watch MMA, they could tune into Spike TV and Bellator would be on.

MMA, and especially pro wrestling fans, are creatures of habit. Having a show every week on the same station in the same time slot is generally going to keep a fairly consistent audience. If the shows are good, the audience will trend upward. But when they’re running an erratic schedule, sometimes on Saturdays, sometimes taking a month off, you get what you’ve gotten this year. Over the next little while, and actually dating back to the last Bellator show, they are running bi-weekly from mid-October until early December.

Friday’s “A” show is fairly stacked by Bellator standards. Yes, the Justin Lawrence-Emmanuel Sanchez fight would be better served on the prelims, but Bellator has an excuse here as Pat Curran was originally scheduled to fight former UFC fighter Lawrence. Sanchez stepped up as a late replacement and this should be a fun fight.

The next “B” show is now finalized, and looks not so bad. Melvin Manhoef and Houston Alexander are the most familiar names on the show and it also features prospects Bubba Jenkins and Chidi Njokuani. I think that the stronger than usual B show lineup, combined with a more regular schedule, will result in a better viewership number for Bellator. The last show in December will feature Josh Thomson and former WSOF Featherweight champion Georgi Karakhanyan and Josh Koscheck is rumoured to be making his promotional debut on that show as well, so it should do fairly well.

Time will tell, but I think that Bellator might feel similar to the way I do as plans for next year are for a more regular schedule with an increase in the number of both A and B shows and also running a wider variety of markets and venues.

Kurt Angle broadcasting at tonight’s Bellator MMA show

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Former WWE & TNA Champion Kurt Angle, who was at Bellator’s FanFest Thursday as part of his new arrangement with the promotion, was announced Friday morning as being part of the broadcast crew for tonight’s “tentpole” show on Spike TV.

Lead announcer Sean Grande tweeted that there would be “a very special guest tonight” in the booth, adding #ItsTrueItsDamnTrue and #MilkOManiaIsRunningWild.

Editor’s Note: If you’re reading this post-show, Angle did some color commentating with Grande and Jimmy Smith during the Bobby Lashley/James Thompson fight with a quick hit interview before. They asked him a few questions with one of them being if he was going to fight. He definitely didn’t say no, but there was no immediate, “Yes, I’m planning on it.” Post-fight, Lashley came over and hugged Angle at cageside.

*****

The main events have an interesting twist as police were called earlier this week due to an altercation between featherweight champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire and lightweight champion Will Brooks at the fighters’ hotel. However, the two are not fighting each other.  Brooks claimed he was sucker-punched while on the phone and attacked by Freire and his brother, Patricky, also an MMA fighter with Bellator. Freire claimed he decked Brooks. Police made no arrests and filed no charges.  The two were moved to separate hotels.

Brooks first missed weight yesterday by .8 of a pound, for his title fight with Marcin Held. He was able to make weight within two hours.

Tonight’s main card lineup:

  • Justin Lawrence (146) vs. Emmanuel Sanchez (145.6)
  • Bobby Lashley (239.5) vs. James Thompson (264)
  • Michael Chandler (155.75) vs. Dave Rickels (155.75)
  • Will Brooks (154.8) vs. Marcin Held (154.8) for the lightweight title
  • Patricio Pitbull Freire (144.4) vs. Daniel Straus (144.4) for the featherweight title

More details on the history of Lashley vs. Thompson are available in this week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Josh Nason’s Punch-Out: MMA Fighting’s Shaheen Al-Shatti previews UFC & Bellator’s weekend events

Posted on by Josh Nason

Rejoice, MMA fans! With Vitor Belfort, Dan Henderson, Will Brooks, and more burning up our TV screens this weekend, #JNPO 19 needed a full hour plus to contain all of that and some of the news of the week. Helping host Josh Nason navigate the fightin’ seas this week is MMA Fighting rising star Shaheen Al-Shatti!

Here’s a look at what Josh and Shaheen delved into:

– How Shaheen found his way to MMA Fighting and his abrupt first interaction with Luke Thomas

– How the Real Pro Wrestling feature came together

– Whether the guys want to see Georges St. Pierre come back and if so, who against

– A look at Bellator’s Friday night main card

– Why Josh likes Will Brooks despite him hating on pro wrestling

– Josh lamenting about the amount of Bellator shows and the “B” show Bjorn Rebney feel

– A look at UFC’s Saturday night card in Brazil

– Shaheen’s dark horse pick for the fight he’s most excited for

– Some Clay Guida conversation and a look back at the infamous Revel fight against Gray Maynard

– What Josh and Shaheen want Vitor Belfort to just go away

– Josh’s Opening Round chiding the Internet masses…and more!

Observer subscribers can stream or download via the link below:

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Bellator starts early as “Pitbull” brothers fight Will Brooks in a hotel

Posted on by Dan Velten

Friday’s Bellator show started a couple of days early apparently as Bellator fighter and current Lightweight champion Will Brooks, was beaten up in a hotel by fellow Bellator fighters, Patricky and Patricio Freire, also known as the “Pitbull” brothers.  

According to Will Brooks, “I was looking out this glass window, and out of nowhere, Patricky jumps on my shoulder, and he’s like in my face, mumbling something,” Brooks told MMAjunkie. “So first reaction, I’m trying to create separation. He pushed me, and then his brother jumped on my shoulder and started punching me all while I’m trying to defend myself, and all of their people are holding me back while these guys are punching me. And I’m defenseless by myself with them and all their translators. It’s all on video.”  The video has not come out and it is unclear who filmed it, but Bellator and Missouri athletic commission officials are looking into the incident.  Brooks took a photo of his bloody shirt after the incident and posted it on twitter, which has since been deleted.  

At this time it is unclear what prompted the scuffle, but according to Brooks, he was on the phone with his mother at the time.  “These guys jumped me like cowards,” Brooks told MMAjunkie shortly after the alleged incident. “These guys are going to get what they deserve. They’re cowards.”  The Freire brothers and Brooks have had an ongoing feud for sometime, but nothing involving a phyiscal confrontation.  Brooks said that he suffered a bloody nose, but otherwise is fine.  “They had a real opportunity to beat my ass, and they still couldn’t do anything,” Brooks said. “But I’m just pissed off. I’ve never jumped anybody or needed anyone to fight my battles. Only cowards pick up weapons or use other people to fight their battles against one person.”

Brooks is still scheduled to face Marcin Held on Friday November 6th for his Brooks’ Lightweigtht title and Patricio Freire, who is the Bellator featherweight champion is scheduled to fight Daneil Staus in the main event this Friday night night.

Check out F4WOnline.com’s preview of this Friday’s Bellator Vengeance

Wrestling Observer Live 10/28: Tons of news on Kurt Angle, Young Bucks, RIZIN Fighting and more!

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today with tons of news including a TNA star potentially facing the real deal in an MMA fight, and no, we’re not talking Kurt Angle but we will discuss his signing with Bellator, Raw ratings, Young Bucks to ROH and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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