Issue 108

December 2013

In light of Bellator MMA’s first foray into the pay-per-view market, with the Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson vs. Tito Ortiz showdown on November 2nd, FO looks back on some of our favorite fights from the organization’s action-packed four-and-a-half-year history.

BELLATOR 27

Joe Warren vs. Joe Soto, Sep 2nd 2010

In a stirring, dramatic battle, 2006 Greco-Roman wrestling world champion Joe Warren was taken apart in the first round by Joe Soto, who was a much crisper striker. The featherweight champion, attempting the first ever defense of a Bellator belt, showed complete disdain for Warren’s rudimentary stand-up skills, repeatedly blasting him with uppercuts, hooks and crosses that would have finished plenty of men. But Warren stubbornly soldiered on to survive an obvious 10-8 opening round. Then, 13 seconds in to the second, he floored Soto with a wild right hand and, 20 seconds later, finished the fight and won the title with a brutal knee to the chin and a few more right hands to the head of the prone now former champion.

BELLATOR 33

Eddie Alvarez vs. Roger Huerta, Oct 21st 2010

With his semi-final decision loss to future Bellator featherweight champion Pat Curran, former UFC star Roger Huerta seemed to have not only upset the organization’s big plans of seeing him fight for the Bellator lightweight strap, but his lackluster performance looked to have robbed hardcore fans of something approaching a dream match. However, with tournament winner Curran subsequently injured in training and his lightweight title shot postponed, Huerta squared off with champ Eddie Alvarez in a non-title fight with ‘entertainment’ written all over it. Once in the cage, hometown favorite Alvarez gave Huerta a savage beating in the main event of Bellator’s then-biggest ever show. Punishing Huerta’s legs with vicious kicks and his face with strong punches, Alvarez set a furious pace against a fighter known for his own frenetic style. In one of the most entertaining one-sided fights you’ll ever see, Huerta gamely battled on, even flooring Alvarez late in the first but then the doctor stopped the fight after the second round. 

BELLATOR 34

Zoila Frausto vs. Megumi Fujii, Oct 28th2010

Undefeated and boasting a 22-0 record, Megumi Fujii was expected to be too good technically for the much bigger, more aggressive Zoila Frausto in this 115lb tournament final – which Frausto only reached after taking a heavily disputed decision victory in her semi-final. With 18 submission wins, including a pair of Bellator tournament armbars, the 36-year-old Japanese legend’s obvious gameplan was to take kickboxer Frausto down. But, to the surprise of just about everyone and the immense frustration of cornerman Josh Barnett, Fujii elected to stand. Very skilled on her feet, she landed plenty of shots but she simply didn’t have the power or strength of Frausto. Over the course of five close and very compelling rounds, both women landed some great punches, but it was Frausto who staggered Fujii a couple of times and earned the decision win. 

BELLATOR 44

Michael Chandler vs. Patricky Freire, May14th 2011

A thriller of a lightweight tournament final saw Michael Chandler, a former Division I wrestler, who competed on the same team as welterweight champ Ben Askren, unafraid to stand with the busy, destructive Brazilian. Constantly attacking and moving forward, Chandler showed off his neat striking and superb conditioning (while landing a few too many careless shots to the nuts) over the full three rounds. A frustrated and continually outworked ‘Pitbull’ Freire had Chandler backing off early in the second with some hefty punches but struggled with the relentless pace. Mostly fought on their feet, Chandler also looked good on the ground, controlling and punishing a very dangerous BJJ black belt. By the start of the third and final round, Chandler’s left eye was a mess and he shifted his focus to taking down the Brazilian and bashing him on the ground to seal a decision win that earned him $100,000 in tournament prize money and a title shot at Eddie Alvarez.

BELLATOR 51

Marcos Galvao vs. Chase Beebe, Sep 24th 2011

Five months after being robbed of a win over Joe Warren by horrific judging, former Shooto title challenger and Nova Uniao standout Marcos Galvao met former WEC bantamweight champ Chase Beebe in a quarter-final tournament match at 145lb. Starting furiously, and swapping more submission attempts than the average jiu-jitsu seminar, the first round was fantastic. Repeatedly going for the guillotine choke that had won him seven of his 18 professional victories, Beebe also had to fend off Galvao’s armbar and the round ended with them trading punches. The second and third were slower, and, as Beebe tired, were controlled more by the Brazilian; but even in the final round, Beebe bounced some hard punches off Galvao’s skull. This time, the judges scored for Galvao, resulting in a close but fair decision.

BELLATOR 54

Alexander Shlemenko vs. Brian Rogers, Oct 15th 2011

A year on from his unsuccessful Bellator middleweight title challenge against the ferocious Hector Lombard, Alex Shlemenko stepped into the cage for this tournament semi-final. With seven straight first-round wins, Brian Rogers was a very dangerous opponent for the hugely experienced Russian. Both were throwing bombs in the first round and Shlemenko had some success with a nice variety of kicks, but Rogers was landing the harder, cleaner punches. But a terrific second round flurry saw Shlemenko finally land one of his spinning backfists and follow up with some knees to the face. Wobbly, Rogers clinched to slow things down before landing a nice right hand that had Shlemenko stunned; but Shlemenko fought back and finished Rogers with a series of knees to the face, ending a thrilling scrap.

BELLATOR 58

Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler, Nov 19th 2011

Without doubt the greatest fight in Bellator history, Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler’s lightweight title epic has perhaps never quite got the credit it deserves, despite getting a nomination at the 2012 Fighters Only World MMA Awards. That’s partly because just a few hours later, on the west coast, Dan Henderson and ‘Shogun’ Rua went to war in one of the most unforgettable fights in MMA history. But in some ways Chandler’s title win was the better fight. Henderson-Rua drew its drama from both men’s sheer exhaustion, but Alvarez and Chandler fought at a much faster pace and provided more sustained, more highly-skilled action. Chandler almost stopped the defending champ in the opening seconds, repeatedly took him down and dropped him again just before the end of the first. But Alvarez’s striking was better in the second, and in the third he was picking Chandler apart and came close to a stoppage win. Then, in an incredible turnaround, Chandler floored Alvarez and choked him out in the fourth round. A must-see fight. 

BELLATOR 62

Lloyd Woodard vs. Patricky Freire, Mar 23rd 2012

Wild-swinging charismatic oddball Lloyd Woodard and Patricky ‘Pitbull’ managed to cram more action into 6:46 of fighting than all but the most frantic of action movies can squeeze into 90 minutes. A fantastic lightweight tournament quarter-final, ‘Cupcake’ swarmed all over Freire from the outset. Freire fought back and during the first round both men were clearly hurt by their opponent’s punches. When the fight hit the mat the action never slowed as they switched positions repeatedly with fast takedowns and reversals. In the second, Woodard scored with a brutal knee and was controlling the fight on the ground until Pitbull sneaked in an armbar attempt. Escaping nicely, Woodard locked on the fight-ending kimura.

BELLATOR 66

Andreas Spang vs. Brian Rogers, April 20th 2012

A late replacement inserted into a middleweight tournament at the semi-final stage, Andreas Spang made his presence felt at the weigh-ins, shoving Brian Rogers and almost sparking a brawl a day early. In the cage, the Swedish striker was having a very rough time with the heavy-hitting Rogers, taking hefty punches and in some serious trouble more than once. Seemingly on the brink of a stoppage win, Rogers rushed onto the dazed Spang’s beautifully placed left hook that dropped him to the mat. Spang followed up with a hammerfist that prompted the referee’s rescue 3:34 into the second round of a wild fight with an amazing ending. 

BELLATOR 76

Eddie Alvarez vs. Patricky Freire, Oct 12th 2012

In the final fight of his contract before a bitter dispute over money put him on the shelf for over a year, former lightweight champion, and arguably still the promotion’s biggest star, Eddie Alvarez, squared off with ‘Pitbull’ Freire in a main event that more than lived up to its sky-high expectations. Six seconds shy of a full round, their furious fight saw both men desperately hurt in the first 90 seconds. After a minute or so of busy clinch work they separated and from there they never stopped moving and throwing punches until Alvarez put Freire’s lights out with a kick to the face and a punch just to make sure.