(The Daily Haymaker is a daily series that takes a look back and covers the news, fights being made, and all the other insanity revolving around combat sports. The Haymaker’s purpose is to keep you up to date with the ever changing combat sports world and also provide thought-provoking [hopefully] analysis from yours truly.)
Oh…. My…. God… It can’t be. OH NO! IT’S ULTIMATE RECAPPOOLOOOZA!!!!
Bellator 107
Season 9 Heavyweight Tournament Final
Cheick Kongo (20-8-2) vs Peter Graham (9-6)
Recap: Unfortunately, Peter Graham did not knock out Cheick Kongo with a Rolling Thunder kick. In fact, the opposite transpired. Cheick Kongo pressed the pace and wore down Peter Graham with clinch-work, takedowns, and ground and pound en route to a 30-27 unanimous decision victory. The first frame was the closest of the three, but it was still strong for the French fighter as he out-struck a tentative Graham with jabs, straights, and body kicks. Kongo took the second when he unloaded with knees in the clinch and ended the round with a takedown. The third saw Kongo take down Graham and work on a cut of Graham’s with a litany of elbows.
Analysis: Unlike at Bellator 106, all of the fighters that Bjorn Rebney would logically want to win, actually won. Cheick Kongo, being one of them. Even though he’s 38, Kongo is a name people know, and he’ll provide an intriguing challenge to whoever wins the Vitaly Minakov/Alexander Volkov title fight next week.
Season 9 Bantamweight Tournament Final
Joe Warren (10-3) vs Travis Marx (21-5, 1 NC)
Recap: Unlike his last fight against Nick Kirk where Joe Warren threw around five flying knees in the first round, he showcased patience, and his approach paid off. Warren took down Marx in the first round, and then knocked down his opponent with a knee from the thai clench in the second round. Joe Warren then followed his knockdown with strikes until the fight was called.
Analysis: Hyperboles are over used when it comes to Mixed Martial Arts, but Joe Warren’s TKO victory over Travis Marx was the most impressive performance of his career. The reason I say that is A. Despite being a relative unknown to the casual fan, Travis Marx is a scrappy veteran that is tough to dominate B. Marx has never been finished by strikes up until this fight and C. Warren’s biggest wins prior really weren’t that dominant. His two decision victories over Marcos Galvao and Patricio Freire were controversial, and he dropped the first round to Joe Soto in their clash. Nevertheless, this was a shockingly impressive performance from a fighter that I thought was down after being demolished by Pat Curran.
Season 9 Middleweight Tournament Final
Brennan Ward (9-1) vs Mikkel Parlo (11-2)
Recap: A close first round was awarded to Mikkel Parlo on my scorecard. He was able to defend Ward’s takedown attempts and control the fight in the clinch and on the feet. In the second round, Ward countered a jab from Parlo with a hard jab of his own that knocked down the man from Copenhagen, Denmark. Ward let Parlo get up and then he went to work with a barrage of body punches with the aid of a plum clinch. The fight ended as Parlo got free, only to get lit up on the feet with a flurry of straight punches, until referee Kerry Hatley ended the fight. Parlo protested the stoppage, but I found it just.
Analysis: Brennan Ward is building a reputation for himself as a fighter that improves greatly as his fights progress and as a real character with a personality. The pre-fight video for this fight did a great job of displaying his colorful and refreshingly uncut and real personality of Ward. Like beautiful girls, personality won’t matter when he faces either Doug Marshall or Alexander Shlemenko for the middleweight strap in a fight that’ll be a heavy underdog in.
157lb. Catchweight Bout
Derek Campos (13-3) vs Martin Stapleton (12-3)
Recap: The story of the fight was Derek Campos’s ability to take down Martin Stapleton at will. His wrestling opened up the striking defense of Stapleton, allowing Campos to connect with strikes, in particular a right that dropped Stapleton in the second.
Analysis: Derek Campos will have to win a few more lightweight contests before I buy into him as someone that can make waves in the division, but he sure did look good against a quality opponent in Martin Stapleton. Now 0-2 in Bellator, Martin Stapleton has really underwhelmed me in a tenure in the company that I expected to be much more successful.
Lightweight Bout
Patricky Freire (11-5) vs Edson Berto (17-11-1)
Recap: This fight played out entirely on the feet, and Patricky won the decision by getting the better of the methodical and techinical stand-up battle by seemingly landing more significant blows and employing his speed.
Analysis: This was a must win for Freire who had his back against the cage from a career standpoint because of a three fight losing skid.
Middleweight Bout
Jonas Billstein (12-3) vs Cortez Coleman (9-5)
Recap: In a slow-paced contest, Billstein was able to work Coleman down to the canvas throughout the fight from the clinch. Aside from a guillotine choke attempt that probably had Joe Rogan screaming somewhere, Coleman had little to offer off of his back. In between the second and third rounds, Coleman’s corner told him that he needed to keep the fight standing or else he would lose, and he lost.
Analysis: The Bellator preliminaries are basically fights that pit prospects against journeyman, and what I look for is an dominant and impressive victory that solidifies a prospect’s wrap. Although his win against Coleman was dominant, Jonas Billstein didn’t impress me with this win.
Light Heavyweight Bout
Mike Mucitelli (6-0, 1 NC) vs Ryan McCurdy (8-4)
Recap: Although he’s known for his submission acumen, Mike Mucitelli was forced to fight on the feet because of his inability to bring the fight to the ground, but he was still able to eek out a close decision in what was a sloppy fight. Mucitelli took the latter two rounds thanks to uppercuts and body kicks, but he did drop the first because he was dropped by a right from McCurdy in the closing moments of the period.
Analysis: Like Billstein, this fight left me unimpressed with Mucitelli. He’s going to have to work on his takedowns if he wants to compete with Bellator’s better 205 pounders.
Heavyweight Bout
Raphael Butler (8-0) vs Josh Burnes (7-7)
Recap: Boxer turned MMA fighter Raphael Butler defended a throw attempt from Josh Burnes and forced his to verbally submit by knocking him down with a pair of knees and then following up with ground and pound.
Analysis: Butler was dominant and impressive. His wrestling defense has developed enough to where I can foresee having success in a future heavyweight tournament.
Light Heavyweight Bout
Linton Vassell (12-3) vs Matt Jones (4-6)
Recap: Vassell used his size advantage [10″ reach advantage, 6″ height advantage, and Matt Jones is a middleweight] to power Jones down to the ground, land ground and pound, and pick him apart from a distance on the feet en route to a decision win.
Analysis: I would have liked to have seen Vassell get a stoppage here, but he absolutely dominated Jones from bell to bell. He’s behind Brandon Halsey on my Bellator 205 pound prospect rankings, but Vassell has a lot of effective tools.
Legend 2
Heavyweight Bout
Alexey Oleinik (48-9-1) vs Mirko Cro Cop (28-11-2, 1 NC)
Recap: Cro Cop defended a pair of takedowns to start the fight, but Oleinik was eventually able to get the fight to the ground thanks to a double leg takedown. Cro Cop ended up creating space and getting back up to the feet, but it wasn’t long until he brought the fight to the ground by pulling guard for a guillotine choke. While trying to show off his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu [unsuccessfully], Cro Cop gave up side control where Oleinik locked on a side-headlock looking neck crank. Cro Cop submitted to the rather basic hold.
Analysis: Alexey Oleinik is a scrappy Russian fighter on a nine fight win streak, but Cro Cop losing via neck crank is just an ugly fact I don’t want in my world. I’m sure the Croatian will fight again, but it’s clear we won’t see him in a prominent MMA promotion again. At 36 years and having competed in MMA since 1997, time is of the essence for Oleinik to get the call from the UFC. This was Oleinik’s 39th submission victory.
Kickboxing Bout
Badr Hari vs Alexey Ignashov
Recap: Hari took a decision in a fight that lacked any big striking highlights from the Moroccan-Dutch kickboxer. Badr Hari was able to land punches by stalking Ignashov and putting him against the ropes. On my scorecard, Hari took all three rounds.
Analysis: With Badr Hari, I think we all expect him to return to his prime form, but he just hasn’t looked like the Badr Hari of old. Still, this iteration of Badr Hari is a pretty damn good kickboxer.
Welterweight Bout
Paul Daley (33-13-2) vs Alexander Yakovlev (21-4-1)
Recap: Yakovlev controlled the fight with his takedowns and ground punches. For what it’s worth, Daley looked good in the rare striking exchanges, but he was unable to stop the wrestling of his opponent that cost Daley the decision.
Analysis: I don’t know what his contract situation is like, but Alexander Yakovlev has earned himself a call from Bellator with this win. He’s now 3-0 in 2013 after dropping a decision to Rashid Magomedov in ’12. This was a brutal loss for Paul Daley. The probality of a return to the UFC was really hurt in this performance, but he’ll have an opportunity to redeem himself at a BAMMA card in December that also features Jim Wallhead and Colin Fletcher.
Powerplay Promotions – Muay Thai
John Wayne Parr vs Brad Riddell
Recap: JWP, an Australian Muay Thai superstar, beat Brad Riddell in a match that Riddell made surprisingly close. John Wayne Parr was able to piece together multiple punch combinations to win or draw in all five of the rounds. Aside from the fifth and Parr’s front kicks, each round was relatively close as the striking guards off both fighters were put only display.
Result: Parr was originally scheduled to face Cosmo Alexandre, but due to visa issues, Alexandre couldn’t fight. Brad Riddell ended up taking the fight on 48 hours notice, and he was really impressive in defeat.
The News
1. The fighters weighed in for Ultimate Fight Night 32, and everyone made weight. Dan Henderson and Vitor Belfort both weighed in at 204 pounds [75 of which was made up of testosterone].
2. Glory signed talented kickboxer Artur Kyshenko who plans to fight in the promotion’s welterweight division. Kyshenko is a fantastic signing by Glory. I expect him to win the promotion’s welterweight strap.
Fights Made
January 30th on Fox Sports 1
Victor Ortiz (29-4-2) vs Luis Collazo (34-5)
Cage Warriors 63 – December
John Maguire (18-6) vs Philip Mulpeter (6-3)
One FC 13 – December
Lightweight Bout
Caros Fodor (8-3) vs Vayisile Colossa (6-4)
Bantamweight Bout
Kevin Belingon (11-3) vs David Aranda Santacana (9-0)
Flyweight Bout
Geje Eustaquio (4-2) vs Eugene Toquero (4-0)
Flyweight Bout
Paul Cheng (3-1) vs Alain Ngalani (1-0)
Random Results
1. Featherweight Troy Gerhart who was in the first season of Bellator returned after 3 and a half years to TKO Chris Thorne in the first round at RFC 29. Gerhart is now 6-2.
2. Also on the RFC 29 card, Lightweight JP Reese who has competed in Bellator and dropped a Strikeforce bout to Bobby Green beat Billy Quarantillo by Unanimous Decision. Reese is now 10-7.
3. Intermatwrestle.com brought to a light a few intriguing wrestling results. Their rankings were used in the following results.
#17 Northwestern beat Air Force 28-15 and Northern Colorado 33-12. #2 ranked heavyweight Mike McMullan defeated Air Force’s Marcus Malecek 28-15 and Northern Colorado’s Henry Chicino 4-9. #9 ranked 149er Jason Tsirtsis beat Air Force’s Natrelle Damison 13-3 and Northern Colorado’s Beau Roberts 18-3.
#8 Virginia Tech beat Hofstra 28-9. #3 ranked 141er Devin Carter pinned Luke Vaith at 2:55.
Must Reads
1. Here’s my daily recommendation of Chuck Mindenhall’s reflection of the first twenty years of the UFC. He tackled the year 2002 here: http://bit.ly/16N1vG8
2 The Fight Nation’s Brittany Decker penned a fun profile of PXC Lightweight Keita Nakamura here: http://bit.ly/HC0ZRV
3. Here’s the link to the second part of the Kim Winslow story I recommended yesterday: http://bit.ly/1bfE9XQ
4. Need some primer for the HBO Boxing card? Read Fraser Coffeen’s look at the current state of Nonito Donaire’s career here: http://bit.ly/16MvsG9
That’ll do it for today’s Haymaker. Thanks for reading, and I’ll leave you with a quote from Plato.
“Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.”
-Dan can be reached at [email protected] or @danielgal.
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