With Bellator Season 9 in full swing and the last of three UFC cards in two weeks, it’s time to look over the various fights that have happened and upcoming. However, I should note that due to the various injuries and reshuffles to Bellator 98, those fights will not count against my fight scorecard.
At the same time I will talk about the matches that should have happened and the replacement fights. So here we got with reviews:
UFC Fight Night: Teixeira vs. Bader
Main Event: Glover Teixeira vs. Ryan Bader
Prediction: Teixeira by strikes. Result: Same. Teixeira continued his eight year undefeated streak to earn a title shot for the LHWT belt.
Co-main Event: Yushin Okami vs. Ronaldo Souza
Prediction: Okami by decision. Result: Souza by strikes. Souza’s overall fight game continues to improve every fight so this isn’t surprising.
Joseph Benavidez vs. Jussier Formiga
Prediction: Benavidez by submission. Result: Benavidez by strikes. As I said Benavidez has an overall fight game and that was the difference.
Francisco Trinaldo vs. Piotr Hallmann
Prediction: Trinald by submission. Result: Hallmann by submission. The debuting Hallmann made good on it against a UFC veteran.
Rafael Natal vs. Tor Troeng
Prediction: Natal by decision. Result: Same. As I said Natal has more overall experience and it showed and he controlled Troeng all fight.
Marcos Vinicius vs. Ali Bagautinov
Prediction: Vinicius by submission. Result: Bagautinov by strikes. An overall fight game won out over experience in this flyweight match up.
Overall Score: 3/6; .500 prediction percentage. 1 for the main event, 0.5 for Benavidez, 0.5 for Hallmann submission, and 1 for the Natal win.
Bellator 98
Main Event: Alexander Shlemenko vs. Brett Rogers
Prediction: Shlemenko by strikes. Result: Shlemenko by decision. Rogers essentially went all out and gave Shlemenko a run for his money.
Co-main Event: Joe Riggs vs. Mike Bronzoulis
Prediction: Riggs by strikes. Result: Fight cancelled due to Riggs’ injury. Training injuries unfortunately happen and we’ll have to wait for this.
Joe Warren vs. Nick Kirk
Prediction: Warren by decision. Result: Fight cancelled due to unknown health issues. This was supposed to be a tuneup fight for Warren.
Justin Torrey vs. Andreas Spang
Prediction: Spang by strikes. Result: Spang replaced by Brennan Ward, Ward by strikes. Ward rose to the occasion and made it to the semis.
Jeremy Kimball vs. Perry Filkins
Prediction: Filkins by strikes. Result: Filkins by submission. I’ll be honest and say that I went with an educated guess on little info and won.
Mikkel Parlo vs. Brian Rogers
Prediction: Rogers by strikes. Result: Parlo by decision. Rogers was great in earlier tournaments but the division is advancing constantly.
Jason Butcher vs. Giva Santana
Prediction: Santana by submission. Result: Butcher by strikes. Butcher’s rising career beat out Santana’s experience and rose to the semis.
Patricky Freire vs. Derek Anderson
Prediction: None. Result: Anderson by decision. Freire is in trouble as this is his third loss in a row and he maybe in trouble of releasing.
Overall Score: 1/4; .25 prediction percentage. 0.5 from Shlemenko and 0.5 for the Filkins submission. Injuries are a pain for any promotion.
~ Now for the predictions ~
Bellator 99
Main Event: Patricio Freire vs. Diego Nunes
Prediction: Freire by strikes. Nunes is just coming from the UFC with 2-3 in his last five fights. Freire’s only losses are to Bellator champions.
Co-main Event: Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Houston Alexander
Prediction: Matyushenko by decision. Alexander is a one dimensional striker compared to the wrestling and overall game of Matyushenko.
Justin Wilcox vs. Akop Stepanyan
Prediction: Stepanyan by strikes. Wilcox is a late replacement, hasn’t fought in over a year, and is going down a weight class.
Desmond Green vs. Frabricio Guerreiro
Prediction: Guerreiro by submission. Guerreiro has a only two losses and the majority of his wins are by submission.
Andrew Fisher vs. Joe Taimanglo
Prediction: Joe Taimanglo by submission. Taimanglo hasn’t lost in four years and even though he’s moving up in weight won his Bellator debut.
Agree or not? Leave a comment!