Brock Lensar – UFC – MMA News & Notes
By Kevin Nelson
Although your favorite writer has been AWOL lately, there is no truth to the rumor that my mother poisoned my oatmeal in an attempted subtle hint to have me move out. For the record, I am never moving out. With that said, we begin to delve into the wonderful world of MMA and all the news in Bellator, Strikeforce and the UFC…also minor organizations such as TPF,MFC, and Shark Fights.
Bellator
For the first time in Bellator history there is a champion in every division. With his victory in the inaugural light heavyweight tournament to declare a champion Christian Mpumbu established himself as an exciting fighter to watch in the 205 pound division. Other tournament winners in this season of Bellator include Patricio Freire winning the featherweight tournament and getting a rematch with Joe Warren for the featherweight title. The lightweight winner is Michael Chandler. The welterweight winner is Jay Hieron.
As the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, light heavyweight tournaments wrap up we look forward to the middleweight, bantamweight, and heavyweight tournaments to begin. The entrants in the upcoming middleweight tournament are Jared Hess, Bryan Baker, Alexander Shlemenko, Vitor Vianna, Brian Rogers, and Sam Alvey to fight for the right to face Hector Lombard for the middleweight title. The next bellator card takes place June 25th and will be another season of featherweights as the entrants are Ronnie Mann, Pat Curran, Nazareno Malegarie, Adam Schindler, Marlon Sandro,Genair da Silva, Jacob Devree and Luis Palomino. Here are the future matchups for the tournament winners:
Jay Hieron (welterweight tournament winner) vs. Ben Askren (welterweight champ)
Patricio Freire (featherweight tournament winner) vs. Joe Warren (featherweight champ)
Michael Chandler (welterweight tournament champ) vs. Eddie Alvarez (welterweight champ)
UFC
To say the UFC has had a rough couple of weeks is an understatement, as they lost their number one paper view draw Brock Lesnar to Diverticulitis as he was set to fight Junior Dos Santos the UFC 131 Vancouver Pay Per View. Also the UFC 130 card lost Frankie Edgar Gray Maynard 3 as both champion and challenger were injured.
The Ultimate Fighter is having terrible ratings and with the announcement of Jason Miller and Michael Bisping to be the coaches for the next ultimate fighter promises to be intriguing as Bisping has long been acknowledged as a shit disturber as the same can be said for Miller.
The PPV tonight might not be the most intriguing matchups as there are no title fights but it will paint a clear picture of where Mir and Nelson stand in the heavyweight division a loss for Mir will have him known as the heavyweight gatekeeper. A win for Nelson will get him one to two wins away from a title shot. Quinton Rampage Jackson is one of the most fascinating fighters as he is charismatic, entertaining and one of the best fighters in the world when he is motivated how motivated will he be to face Matt Hamill as he has been stopped by Rich Franklin. One thing is for sure Rampage hits a lot harder than Franklin but how motivated is Rampage to face Hamill?
Strikeforce
Exciting lightweight Maximo Blanco has signed a 4 fight deal with strikeforce.The June 18th heavyweight Grand Prix card which features Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum as the main event will also have KJ Noons facing Jorge Masvidal in a lightweight bout. The July card for Strikeforce will have Dan Henderson facing Fedor Emelianenko the undercard may feature Tyron Woodley facing Paul Daley.
Other MMA News
Ryan Ford defeated Karo Parisyan by stoppage in a bout Parisyan was winning. Tachi Palace fights announced a fight for the vacant featherweight title as former Bellator featherweight champion Joe Soto who will be fighting for the first time since losing his bellator title to Joe Warren will be facing Eddie Yagin. Shark fights 15 took place as the main event featured Joey Villasenor fighting Chris Camozzi to a draw. August 5th will feature David Loiseau facing Giva Santana in an intriguing matchup for Loiseau’s Tachi Palace fights middleweight title.