The Daily Haymaker for October 28

• IBF LHW Title – Bernard Hopkins (54-6-2, 32 KOs) def. Karo Murat (25-2-1, 15 KOs) via Unanimous Decision (119-108, 119-108, 117-110)
• WBO MW Title – Peter Quillin (30-0, 22 KOs) def. Gabriel Rosado (21-7, 13 KOs) via 10th Round Doctor Stoppage (Cut)
• HW Bout – Deontay Wilder (30-0, 30 KOs) def. Nicolai Firtha (21-11-1, 8 KOs) via 4th Round KO

2. On the WSOF 6 main and preliminary card broadcasts, it was announced that the promotion is partnering with Pancrase.  A co-promoted Japanese show(s) is on the horizon, but the announcement was brief and didn’t provide much clarity as it regards to the logistics of the partnership.

3. Through his twitter, Miguel Torres voiced his discontent with what transpired right before his bantamweight bout against Pablo Alfonso.  According to Torres, the former WEC bantamweight champion was informed by WSOF that he could wear spats in the fight. The athletic commission also gave him approval to wear his knee brace. When Torres arrived in the cage for the fight, he was notified by the referee that he had to change to shorts in order to compete, so Torres had to sprint to the cage, change shorts, and run back in time for his fight against Alfonso.  While this should not excuse Torres for his poor performance in the fight, it should be noted because there is no excuse for a miscommunication error by that from the commission, World Series of Fighting, and the referee.  Heading into a fight, a fighter is in his mental zone, ready to go to war, and something like that throws a fighter off mentally.  For a fighter to go in, ask for permission beforehand, and that to happen is just shameful.

4. Bjorn Rebney needs to find out who in his company has been messing with Indian burial grounds because yet another major injury has struck the promotion. Vinicius Queiroz, who was set to main event Bellator 107 with Cheick Kongo in the season’s heavyweight final, is out of the event due to an injury. No replacement bout has been announced as of press time.

Fights Made

UFC Card in London – March 8th, 2014

Light Heavyweight Bout

Alexander Gustaffson (15-2) vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (21-5)

Background: Following a close decision loss to Jon Jones at UFC 165 in a fight of the year candidate, Alexander Gustaffson’s stock has never been higher.  The fighter hailing from Sweden is considered one of the best 205ers on the planet.   Nogueira is coming off of a February 2013 decision win against Rashad Evans that was preceded by a 2011 TKO victory over Tito Ortiz.

Excitement Level: 8 out of 10.  I don’t like Lil Nog’s chances in this one, but I’m super excited to see Gustaffson back in the octagon.  When you factor in that at 37, we won’t have many more chances to watch Nogueira fight, this fight is one I’m looking forward to.

Lightweight Bout

Melvin Guillard (31-12-2, 2 NC) vs Ross Pearson (15-6, 1 NC)

Background: This is a rematch from their fight on Saturday that ended in disappointing fashion because of the cut on Pearson’s forehead created by an illegal knee from Guillard. Before their UFN 30 bout, Guillard had gone 2-2 in the UFC with wins against Mac Danzig and Fabricio Camoes and losses to Donald Cerrone and Jamie Varner, and Ross Pearson had gone 3-1 with wins over Ryan Couture, George Sotiropoulos, and Junior Assuncao and a loss to Cub Swanson.

Excitement Level: 7 out 10.  Before their fight was unfortunately halted, this scrap looked to be an entertaining slugfest that had an early conclusion point.  I expect more of the same from the rematch.

RFA 11 – November 22

RFA Flyweight Championship

Zach Makovsky (15-4) vs Matt Manzares (5-1)

Background: Using his grappling game, Zach Makovsky became the first Bellator Bantamweight Champion, winning the season three tournament.  Makovsky had a 6-2 record in Bellator and beat Claudio Ledesma in his last fight at CFFC 24.  He’ll look to become the RFA’s first Flyweight Champion.  Matt Manzares has worked his way up RFA with two consecutive victories over Steve Swanson and Kevin Gray.  Manzares will fly up several prospect lists  with a win here.

Excitement Level: 6 out 10. Makovsky can make people ooo and aww with his submissions, but he can also bore a ground with position grappling.  Life is like Zach Makovsky, you never know what you’re going to get.  Manzares is an explosive fighter that has never seen the third round in his six fight career.

Featherweight Bout

Alvin Robinson (13-7) vs Raoni Barcelos (6-0)

Background: Alvin Robinson made his UFC debut at UFC 73 [Robinson was the second youngest fighter on the card.  He’s a few months older than Diego Saraiva, who lost to Jorge Gurgel at the event]. Since his 1-3 UFC tenure, Robinson has fought for ROF, CFX, FTW, AMMA, Bellator, and KD MMA, and now he’s in RFA looking to win a second straight fight after his submission of Joey Munoz in September.  Raoni Barcelos is making his RFA debut. He went undefeated on the Brazilian circuit, and his most recent fight saw him win with a flying knee.

Excitement Level: 3 out of 10.  I’m intrigued by Barcelos since he’s a prospect I don’t know much about, but this fight doesn’t scream fight of the night to me.

Featherweight Bout

Chinzo Machida (1-2) vs Brian Wood (4-3)

Background: 12-time karate champion Chinzo Machida is Lyoto Machida’s older brother.  Machida is making his return to MMA since his December 2010 decision loss to Leonardo Laiola. Wood is a Colorado-based prospect that has won his last three fights.

Excitement Level: 9 out of 10.  This is me being completely irrational. Bring on Machida’s older brother! [I’m going to immediately regret this when the fight actually happens].

Must Reads

1. Ben Fowlkes did a piece with Danny Downes, who is now a contributor at MMAJunkie, called Trading Shots which was basically a discussion between the two of them on some of the major talking points coming out of the weekend’s action and non-action [I’m looking at you Bellator].  It was a fun read, check it out here: http://bit.ly/HnmZR3

2. Missed World Series of Fighting 6? Don’t worry, Cage Potato has got you covered with an entertaining recap of the main card action.  The recap can be found here: http://bit.ly/17RETBo

3. Dave Doyle of MMAFighting wrote a plea towards Tito Ortiz, asking the former UFC champ to hang up the gloves.  Read it here: http://bit.ly/1aqcJja

4. BadLeftHook’s Scott Christ, along with video input from Billy Briscoe and Russell Peltz,  gives his take on whether  or not the match between Peter Quillin and Gabriel Rosado should have been stopped because of Rosado’s cut. The article is here: http://bit.ly/16dEsnA

5. Liverkick.com has the results from FFC 8, a Croation kickboxing and MMA show.  The card featured Ricco Rodriguez, Dion Staring, Zelg Galesic, and many others.  The results are here: http://bit.ly/HqsvBw

My Insane Sports Parlay of the Day: Seattle Seahawks (-13), Buffalo Sabres (+1 1/2), New York Rangers (+1 1/2), St. Louis Cardinals (Money Line), and negative tweets about Tim McCarver (Over 300,000)

That’ll do it for today’s Haymaker. Thanks for reading, and I’ll leave you with a quote from Morgan Freeman.

“Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen – that stillness becomes a radiance.”

-Daniel can be reached at [email protected] or @danielgal.