Bellator MMA Hits The Big City
By Anthony “Zute” George
Saturday June 24th, Bellator MMA is centerstage, in a way it has never been before. This long-running MMA organization makes its Madison Square Garden debut. Ever since MMA was legalized in New York, Madison Square Garden has been the hot spot for MMA fight cards. Bellator has recognized the importance of fighting at the Garden and has put together a fight card that is sure to leave an impact bigger than the one left by King Kong, when he took Ann to the top of the Empire State Building.
Bellator 180 will begin on Bellator.com with five fabulous fights, featuring some young blood and fighters looking to make their mark in New York City. Welterweights Ryan Couture takes on Haim Gozali, Jerome Mickle takes on Anthony Giacchina in a lightweight bout, John Salgado and Hugh McKenna meet in a catchweight fight at 168 pounds, the catchweight theme continues when Matt Rizzo locks horns with Sergio da Silva at 130 pounds and Bradley Desir and Nate Grebb meet in a lightweight fight.
After the online action, Bellator fans can tune into Spike TV for four fights that are loaded with intrigue. Female Boxing Champion Heather Hardy will enter the cage to take on Alice Yauger. The Brooklyn born Hardy is a popular champion in the Tri-State area and will no doubt generate cross over appeal with boxing fans. After Hardy and Yauger go at it, welterweights Neiman Gracie and Dave Marfone match skills. The Gracie name is synonymous with MMA, it is refreshing to see this name on such a monumental evening. The Spike TV action continues with featherweights James Gallagher and Chinzo Machida in a fight that could be the darkhorse for fight of the night.
Spike TV puts a beautiful cherry on top of this scrumptious free TV card with a main event to die for. Light heavyweight champion Phil Davis defends his title against Ryan Bader. Davis won the light heavyweight crown in his last fight by defeating Liam McGeary by a unanimous decision. Davis is not getting a soft touch with his first title defense, as Bader, who is making his Bellator debut, already holds a spilt decision victory over Davis. Both of these mixed martial artists are enjoying winning streaks, so, something has got to give.
One would think that would be enough mixed martial arts for one evening. Wouldn’t one? One would certainly be satisfied with such a card. But one should know Bellator 180 is just getting warmed up. After the Spike TV extravaganza, Bellator fans can tune into PPV for a card for the ages.
Bellator warms up the PPV audience with a lightweight showdown between Aaron Pico and Zach Freeman, as well as two championship bouts. First, Douglas Lima defends his welterweight crown against the tough Lorenz Larkin. Next, Bellator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler defends his title against Brent Primus. No, these title fights do not serve as your Bellator MMA PPV main event.
The Bellator 180 PPV main event features Chael Sonnen taking on Wanderlei Silva in a grudge match for the ages. After a few false starts, Sonnen and Silva finally get the chance to settle their well-publicized hate for each other where it counts. In the Mecca of all of sports. How fitting. The main even is anchored with a co-feature that might be the most anticipated bout on the card. Fedor Emelianenko is an MMA legend, there is no question. With that said, Fedor is a bit of an enigma to the U.S. audience; he has not fought on U.S. all that much and has been featured on U.S. television sets sparingly. The fights Fedor has had on U.S. were less than stellar. What is in store for Fedor and his fans when he fights in New York City? Well, Matt Mitirone, Fedor’s opponent is ready to make it a less than auspicious debut for the MMA legend.
Madison Square Garden will certainly be raucous Saturday night, loaded with strikes and submission, legends and upstarts. For MMA fans, Bellator 180 is their Super Bowl.
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