Hey, fight fans. We’ve got another good weekend of punch sports action and a hand-crafted live discussion thread to go along with it. Let’s take a look at what’s going down in the world of combat sports.
FRIDAY
Probably the most ridiculous and over the top we’ve seen the organization, Bellator 149 will feature a co- and main event headlined by four men at a combined age of 181. Kimbo Slice and DADA-5000 will meet to hopefully squash their weird Miami backyard brawling beef, while Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie square off for the third and final time.
Everything starts with online prelims, beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET, on Spike.com. The main attraction on the prelims is Justin “The Big Pygmy” Wren and his ongoing humanitarian efforts in the Congo. The main card is on at 9 p.m. ET, on Spike TV. In addition to the silly marquee fights, there’s also former light heavyweight champ Emanuel Newton rematching former title challenger Linton Vassell. In addition, Melvin “The Young Assassin” Guillard is set to face Derek Campos on lightweight action. Bellator 149 should be pretty good, so don’t miss it!
SATURDAY
I’m not going to lie, this event had completely fallen through the cracks and off the radar for me until the start of this week. In all the hype and hullabaloo of Bellator and the mild weirdness of a Sunday UFC card, I was surprised to find out that WSoF was having a show on Saturday. The prelims, which start at 7 p.m. ET on WSoF.com, aren’t really anything to sneeze at, but sometimes the best fights are between two unknowns, hungry to prove themselves to the world.
The main card will be on NBC Sports, starting at 9 p.m. ET. Other than the main event, it’s a little thin on intriguing matchups, which makes me wonder why WSoF is running an event at this time at all. They could have waited a few weeks, giving the fight fans a one-day reprieve between Bellator and UFC, and also managed to build up more interest in their card. Anyway, the main event is My Main Man Marlon Moraes defending his bantamweight title against Joe Barajas. I don’t know much about Barajas, but it doesn’t matter, because I’m just tuning in for Marlon. I believe this is the final fight on his contract, so maybe he’ll test free agency for a week or two and then join the UFC, which I would be super in favor of. Tiny Russian punch man Timur Valiev is also in action, and he’s usually pretty entertaining, and with a win, he could very well be the next man in line for a crack at the bantamweight title, which now makes me kind of want Moraes to stay, at least for that fight.
SUNDAY
Say it with me now — COWBOY BATTLE! This card has taken some big hits, with Tim Means dropping out due to a potential drug test failure, Brandon Thatch because of some other drug issue, and John Lineker because of friggin’ dengue fever. Anyway, there’s still a decent number of fights left, so let’s take a look at the card.
The Fight Pass prelims start at 5:30 p.m. ET with three fights. We start with the Big Dudes, as heavyweights Anthony Hamilton and Shamil Abdurakhimov throw down, followed by a pair of bantamweight bouts. Lauren Murphy is taking on Kelly Faszholz and Marion Reneau faces Ashlee Evans-Smith.
The regular prelims will be on Fox Sports 1, starting at 7 p.m. ET. The first two bouts here don’t show a ton of promise to me, but I think Daniel Sarafian versus Oluwale Bamgbose and Alex Garcia versus Sean Strickland have potential for excitement.
The main card will also be on FS1 and is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. ET. It’s a six-fight card, which is kind of nuts, especially with it being Sunday night. Things kick off with Shane Campbell versus James Krause, there’s also CRUSHER Kawajiri fighting Dennis Bermudez, and Cody Garbrandt facing late replacement Augusto Mendes.
The main event is a Joe Silva nickname special as Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone is putting his ranch on the line against Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira in welterweight action. It’s not as great as the original plan of Cerrone versus Tim Means, but this should still be a really good fight.
