Another weekend means it’s time for another live discussion ultra-post!
Friday
Bellator MMA is back for another week of live fights on Friday night. I don’t think it’s possible to top the insanity of last week’s event, but I’m sure everyone will give it their best shot. The festivities kick off with preliminary action on Bellator.com starting at 6:45 PM ET. I’ve heard of exactly zero of the prelim fighters, but sometimes that’s a good thing. Complete unknowns with a lot to prove often have really intense and aggressive fights, leading to a lot of fun finishes. It also doesn’t hurt that most of these guys are probably kind of bad at MMA.
The main card will be on Spike TV, starting at 9:00 PM ET. There are only four fights on the main card, so I expect Joe Warren to try and put Eduardo Dantas through a table at some point during the night. As for the match ups, we’ve got Ryan Couture in action, and I’m mentioning him because there’s a chance his dad, Randy fights Fedor Emelianenko, at least if Scott Coker gets his wish. Also on this card in the co-main and main event spots are two light heavyweight battles. Liam McGeary takes on Kelly Anundson in what should be a fun scrap, and potentially do something for the winner to get him closer to a title shot. In the main event, the light heavyweight title is on the line as reigning champion Emmanuel “Hardcore Kid” Newton defends his belt against Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran, who is on an impressive one-fight winning streak. I’m glad to see that Bellator’s previous motto of “title fights aren’t given, they are earned” has been left laying in a ditch somewhere outside of Council Bluffs.
Saturday
As I said last week, there is a UFC event every week in September, and this week it’s a Fight Pass-exclusive card from Brazil! Be that as it may, the Uproxx Family of mega-geniuses have once again put in a pain-staking amount of time and effort to predict this card, so plese, take a long look at our Staff Predictions and give us your own picks as well.
The prelims will begin at 5:45 PM ET, and oddly enough, I actually know who most of these people are. There’s a rematch between Rani Yahya and Johnny Bedford after their first fight got stopped due to an accidental headbutt, rendering it a no contest. There’s also Paulo Thiago taking on Sean Spencer, probably with Thiago’s job at stake. Francisco Trinaldo and Leandro Silva are squaring off in a Brazil-vs-Brazil fight (BOTH YOU GUYS UH VAI MORRER!), and the people’s main event is a featherweight contest between Godofredo Pepey and Dashon Johnson.
The main card will begin around 8:00 PM ET. There’s a women’s bantamweight contest between Jessica Andrade and the youngest fighter on the roster, Larissa Pacheco, and I expect that to be a potential fight of the night candidate. We’ve also got Iuri Alcantara in action against Russell Doane, Santiago Ponzinbbio taking on Wendell Oliveira, and Gleison Tibau versus Piotr Hallmann. The main event is a rematch over four years in the making as Antonio Silva faces Andrei Arlovski once again.
The new home for UFC cast-offs is Ray “Sugarfoot” Sefo’s World Series of Fighting. The mid-level organization has a decent deal with NBC Sports and boasts the best inane commentary courtesy of Bas “El Guapo” Rutten.
The prelims will begin at 6:00 PM at WSOF.com and it’s another case of me not knowing most of the prelim fighters. However, a limited amount of research has made me interested in the women’s flyweight fight between Katlyn Chookagian and Brigitte Narcise.
The main card for WSoF 13 starts at 9:00 PM ET and is on the NBC Sports network, also known as “that place the Notre Dame game is on, avoid this channel at all costs”. The main card features two of my favorite things: pseudo-Russian fighters from the Caucasus regions, and over-matched challengers in title fights. The first is covered by Ozzy Dugulubgov and Timur Valiev in lightweight and bantamweight action against Keon Caldwell and Isiah Chapman, respectively. Technically the second thing isn’t quite met as Marlon Moraes will be facing Cody Bollinger in a catchweight bout, but the fight is still scheduled for five rounds. Moraes last tore through Josh Rettinghouse, while Bollinger is more known for not making weight on The Ultimate Fighter.
Mayhem – Mayweather vs. Maidana 2
In what I assume will be the least well-recieved iteration of combat sports, Floyd “Money” Mayweather is rematching Marcos “El Chino” Maidana, with the WBA, WBC and Ring welterweight titles. Things kick off on Pay-Per-View at 8:00 PM ET. There are some undercard fights, but I have never heard of those jamokes, and besides, who cares about anything other than the main event?
That is a lot of fights over two days, friends. Let’s make this the best weekend combat sports live discussion thread ever (Until next week’s)!