Bellator News

BJPENN.COM News - September 21, 2015

World Series of Fighting and Bellator both ran major events this weekend and two Renzo Gracie fighters brought some gold back to the gym with them! Liam Mcgeary stepped into the Bellator cage on Saturday evening to defend his light heavyweight championship against the legendary Tito Ortiz. Ortiz was looking to secure gold for the first time since his dominant run in the octagon with the UFC and was well on his way of doing that when he blasted the champion with shots on the ground. Ortiz left himself susceptible to strikes when the tried to implement his ground and pound gameplan and walked into an inverted triangle choke! The jiu-jitsu paid off for Mcgeary as it put another “W” in his record.

BJPENN.COM News - September 20, 2015

Fedor Emelianenko dropped a bombshell on the mixed martial arts community at “DYNAMITE” on Saturday evening when it was announced he would NOT be fighting for either Bellator or the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Instead, “The Last Emperor” will be squaring off in the main-event of brand new Japan based MMA promotion! The card is set to take place on New Year’s Eve and will mark Fedor’s first fight in Japan since 2011.

BJPENN.COM News - September 20, 2015

When Reebok and Ultimate Fighting Championship signed an exclusive in-octagon sponsorship deal, fighters were reluctant to celebrate. Fighters like Urijah Faber would be forbidden from promoting his clothing line, Torque, in the octagon like he used to in earlier UFC and WEC days. Miesha Tate and Brendan Schaub sponsorship income would decrease by at least 80% due to the inability to rock external sponsorships in the octagon. UFC lightweight Josh Thomson was one of the first fighters to make the choice not to re-sign with the UFC and jump ship to Bellator, following Phil Davis. On Saturday night, “The Real Punk” informed MMA Fighting that three sponsors alone paid him more than $35,000 for his fight on Saturday at Bellator’s “DYNAMITE” event!

BJPENN.COM News - September 20, 2015

Tito Ortiz is one of the most decorated fighters to step inside a cage, whether it be the UFC’s octagon or Bellator’s cage. He started his professional fighting career in 1997 and is still receiving opportunities at championship gold in 2015— and it’s not just because of his star-power. Ortiz was riding a two fight win streak at the time he signed the dotted line to challenge Liam Mcgeary at “DYNAMITE” on Saturday night and was undefeated in the Viacom owned promotion. With big wins over Alexander Shlemenko and Stephan Bonnar, Ortiz seemed like a viable opponent for Mcgeary. Mcgeary did a fantastic job at catching the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion off guard with a reverse triangle submission however, and picked up a quick first round win.

BJPENN.COM News - September 20, 2015

In April 2015, Phil Davis made the biggest decision of his career when he jumped ship from the Ultimate Fighting Championship to Bellator. Davis surely made an impact on his first fight with his new company as he won two fights in one night to become the next Bellator Light Heavyweight Championship challenger! Davis didn’t even need five minutes to dispose of former champion Emanuel Newton on Saturday night at “DYNAMITE”. Newton landed some good shots on Davis, but “Mr. Wonderful” locked on a kimura that there was no escape from. “King Mo” won the semi-final bout on the opposite end of the bracket but injury kept him from competing for the right to fight for another championship.

BJPENN.COM News - September 20, 2015

The final of the Bellator ‘Dynamite’ light heavyweight tournament wasn’t really what we were expecting, with ‘King Mo’ getting injured and unable to compete. However we still got an exciting match up between Phil Davis and alternate Francis Carmont. The fight started and they each stayed patient and went through a feeling out process. Then out of nowhere Davis connected with a big punch that dropped Carmont.

BJPENN.COM News - September 20, 2015

In the night’s main event, at Bellator ‘Dynamite’, undefeated light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary took on MMA vet Tito Ortiz. Early on it was Tito imposing his gameplan, getting McGeary down to the mat and working some ground and pound.

BJPENN.COM News - September 20, 2015

Former UFC lightweight Josh Thomson pulled off a big win in his Bellator debut. He fought Mike Bronzoulis in front of his home crowd and put on quite the performance. Thomson was clearly the better grappler and was able to get the fight to the ground whenever he wanted to.

BJPENN.COM News - September 20, 2015

It was arguably one of the biggest events in Bellator history on Saturday night when the mixed martial arts promotion and GLORY joined forces for the first “DYNAMITE” event in California. The card featured a slew of matches including one night light heavyweight tournament and a light heavyweight championship bout featuring Liam McGeary and Tito Ortiz. Bellator Champion Will Brooks felt like he and other champions were left in the dark in favor of other fighters making their first appearance in the cage, jumping ship from the UFC. While fighters like Phil Davis, Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Thomson got some much-deserved airtime for their fantastic performances, home-grown talent Brooks wasn’t happy former UFC talent got all the attention. Brooks took to social media to voice his disproval:

BJPENN.COM News - September 20, 2015

There are moments in fighters’ careers that they will always remember. For kickboxers, it could be anything from signing with your first major organization to making your walk down to the ring in your first major fight in front of a major audience. Jose Palacios would like a second chance to make a first impression, however, as he will be remembered for busting his a** on his way to the ring in his second GLORY bout.

BJPENN.COM News - September 19, 2015

Bellator MMA put on one of the craziest nights of combat sports ever with ‘Dynamite 1’. We saw GLORY kickboxing and Bellator MMA going on throughout the night and saw some pretty wild fights. Perhaps most exciting was the light heavyweight tournament, which Phil Daivs ended up winning. King Mo was supposed to fight in the final but was injured, so alternate Francis Carmont stepped in. He got TKO’d by Davis in the first round.

BJPENN.COM News - September 19, 2015

In the night’s main event champ Liam McGeary took on Tito Ortiz with the light heavyweight title on the line. The two felt each other out for a little while, then Tito shot in and got the takedown, but McGeary went for a guillotine choke. He held on to it for a little bit, then let it go. Tito stared working from full guard.

BJPENN.COM News - September 19, 2015

Just announced on the Bellator ‘Dynamite’ broadcast, Fedor Emelianenko will return and headline a new years eve event held in Japan. It is not a Bellator event, it’s the new promotion run by the former PRIDE boss and might feature some Bellator fighters on the card.

BJPENN.COM News - September 19, 2015

In basically the only GLORY kickboxing match that actually featured GLORY kickboxers, Saulo Cavalari took on Zack Mwekassa. Cavalari seemed to be the aggressor, landing some nice kicks to start the fight. The real action started in the second round. Cavalari came out with a bunch go heavy kicks to the body and leg. At one point it looked like Zack might have gotten hurt. He also dropped him with a big head kick, but that might have been more of a slip. They continued to scrap. Towards the mid point of the round the referee stopped it and took a point from Cavalari, for holding? That was weird.

BJPENN.COM News - September 19, 2015

Former UFC fighter Josh Thomson made his Bellator debut in front of his home crowd at Bellator ‘Dynamite’ against Mike Bronzoulis. These guys didn’t waste time getting after it. Both fighters got after it. They exchanged on the feet. Thomson almost landed a big head kick but it was blocked. Mike slipped and Thomson capitalized and got top control. He worked from top with Mike pressed on the cage. Thomson looked to transition to a better position. He made his way to full mount, with his legs triangled over Mike’s legs. From here Thomson couldn’t’ really posture up. Finally he gained normal full mount, but then the round ended. Good round for Thomson.

BJPENN.COM News - September 19, 2015

Paul Daley took on Fernando Gonzalez in a GLORY kickboxing match. Daley came out with some hard kicks, to the leg than the body. The round wasn’t too lopsided. Gonzalez held his own, but it most likely went to Daley. His kicks were hard and he seems to be the more active.

BJPENN.COM News - September 19, 2015

Phil Davis and Emanuel Newton fought in the second tournament fight, with the winner advancing to face ‘King Mo’ in the final. Both fighters came out and went through a feeling out process. Newton looked to land some of his spinning kicks. Davis stayed patient. Davis moved in as Newton threw a spin kick. Davis grabbed him and took him down. Newton was able to get up but Davis dragged him bad down. Right away Davis start working for a kimura. Newton got out and worked to he knees, with Davis on his back. Davis landed some punches on the ground. Newton was able to get to his feet, but not for long. They scrambled and Newton tried to grab a leg for a takedown but Davis got out and once again got his own. He had Newton’s back on the cage and started working for a kimura. Davis pulled guard and cranked it.

BJPENN.COM News - September 19, 2015

In the first fight on the main card ‘King Mo’ Lawal took on Linton Vassell in the night’s opening tournament fight. The winner of this would move on to face the winner of Phil Davis and Emanuel Newton. There’s no question Vassell is the massive underdog in this tourney going into it.