Weigh in stare down. Photos by Ester Lin

The only semi-major event going on this weekend will be Strikeforce Challengers 9 that will feature Sarah Kaufman making her first title defense against Roxanne Modaferri (check out here new highlight vid from Fightlinker.

As a fan of both fighters it will be hard to watch and even harder to pick, but I will be glad for an event this weekend. Not to mention having the site back up is pretty nice too.

Been slacking hardcore recently, so I will just cluster bomb some of the more notable news in mma.

From MMA Junkie

Jon "Bones" Jones

Jon Jones: Heavyweight is an option.

Just four fights into his UFC run, many mixed martial arts fans are already calling for a light heavyweight title shot.

But as Jones prepares for a showdown with veteran grinder Vladimir Matyushenko (24-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) at August’s UFC on Versus 2 event, the soon-to-be-23-year-old told the crew of ESPN’s “MMA Live” that he’s not necessarily just focused on a 205-pound title. “Bones” might eventually go up to heavyweight, too.

“This training camp has been really tough for me, actually,” Jones said on the most recent episode of “MMA Live.” “I got up to about 231 (pounds) for the first time, and I’ll be 23 on Monday. I feel as if I’m growing into a more adult body.

“Who knows what the future holds for me. I’m always training hard, and I’m going to start to focus more on weightlifting in my off-time. You heavyweights gotta watch out because you never know what’s going to happen.”

This may come as a shock to some but anybody who saw how young and huge Jones was when he made it into the UFC (6′4 & 21 years old) it wasn’t that much of a stretch to think he would outgrow the weight class he started in. If he continues to grow in skill and experience as well as size a move to heavyweight would be seen as a smart one for one of the most promising prospects to enter the sport in years.

From MMA Fighting,

A World Cup sans South America, for shame FEG 2.0

FEG Announces Partnership with PUJI Captital, Declares War With UFC

DREAM and K-1 promoter FEG announced Friday that it is entering a partnership with Shanghai-based investment bank PUJI Capital that could be worth 20 billion yen ($230 million).

K-1 President Sadaharu Tanikawa stressed that FEG had not been sold and in fact it will now be setting its sights much higher.

“This is a declaration of war against the WWE and UFC. From Asia, we will take the world,” Tanikawa stated.

Tanikawa admitted that expansion to American soil would be futile at this stage and under the watchful eye of K-1 creator Kazuyoshi Ishii, they will set their sights on the rest of the world.

“Mr. Ishii is completely supporting us. We won’t stand a chance in the American market so we will spread to the rest of the world.”

….

A call for a drastic change in Japanese MMA has been needed since the collapse of PRIDE, even Tanikawa admitted himself.

“When K-1 and PRIDE were competing against each other, 80% of the martial arts market was in Japan. It is now the opposite and Japan is only 20%. We were worried that Japan would be left behind if we let this continue, it is unacceptable. We needed to change our business model.”

“We’ve let Dana White get a lead on us. Before (Shinya) Aoki beats (Gilbert) Melendez, we must win as promoters.”

With last weeks Dream event we saw Shinya Aoki defend his belt and unofficial title as the best Japanese fighter currently competing in MMA. This victory could also been seen as a defeat or moot point considering how utterly ineffectual Aoki was in his fight against Strikeforce Lightweight Champ Gilbert Melendez. Dream also seemed to be in a transitional period from its revamped lighter weight clsasses to this weeks announcement, Fight Entertainment Group (FEG) may be making a case for long awaited fanboy fantasy of a vibrant high level mixed martial arts scene reminiscent of the PRIDE glory days.

Alternate Business Model Graphic. From Middleeasy.com

Wishful thinking aside this partnership will have to produce results first before this is taken seriously. Even if the declaration of war against two major organizations (WWE and UFC) was just a figure of speech. The sentiment of wanting to compete at the highest levels promotion wise is very palpable. Until this partnership produces compelling cards it will be seen as another sad story of investors looking to make a quick buck off of the illusory cash cow of mixed martial arts. Both White and McMahon giving a crap about this is unlikely but it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility if they did take this news into consideration.

At the end of the day when combat sports and sports entertainment organizations compete: The fans win.

From Bloody Elbow

Jake Shields is Officially signed to the UFC Unofficially…huh!?!?

It’s official. According to Graciefighter.com, the UFC has signed the former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, Jake Shields (25-4-1) to a contract. They also announced that the #3 ranked middleweight will drop back down to join the UFC welterweight shark tank:

Jake Shields will be debuting at the 170lbs weight division in the UFC. After careful consideration and consulting with UFC representatives it was determined Jake would be finally going back to his original fighting weight.

Jake’s opponent is one of the UFC’s top contenders and will be announced shortly.

Seeing as how there was the Aldo vs Faber photo op with Dana White led to Shields contract not being renegotiated and his belt being put up for an fantabulous 8 man middleweight tournamet that got derailed thanks to The Lone Star State not allowing combat sport tournaments. From MMA Fighting

Strikeforce officials would not comment on the proposed tournament last week, telling MMA Fighting only, “We aren’t doing a tournament there.”

But TDLR administrator Greg Alvarez confirmed to MMA Fighting on Saturday that Strikeforce wanted a one-night, bracket-style tournament for the Houston show, which will air live on Showtime. But Alvarez said that request was denied.

“They asked if it was possible and I told them that when Tough Man was outlawed, the state also did away with tournaments back in 2001,” Alvarez said.

Sec. 2052.254 of Texas’ Combative Sports Occupations Code specifically deals with tournaments. The code states: “An elimination tournament may not be conducted in this state.”

Which led to the subsequent title fight between Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza and Tim Kennedy for the Strikeforce middleweight belt and Shields heading to the UFC.

And lastly, how about some Bobby Lashley news, eh?

From Bloody Elbow.

Bobby Lashley’s opponent at the upcoming Strikeforce show in Houston will be IFL and Rage in the Cage veteran Chad Griggs.

Not much to say here other than “Lashley better not pull out of this fight or risk the mma community completely writing him off”.

That should be enough binge blogging for the day. And now to enjoy a weekend without fights, if that is possible.

This can either be taken as me being either super efficient or outrageously lazy. But this site needs an update and there has been a deluge of mma news/fight announcements/fight cancellations and other goings on in the wild and crazy world of mixed martial arts.I was thinking of doing a link post, cuz hey man everyone else is doing it. But I will just stick to my regular weekend picks post along with an in depth look at all silly side incidents around the event.

Dream.15 Weigh in photo from Sherdog.com

Shinya Aoki (70 kg / 154.3 lbs) vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (70 kg / 154.3 lbs)
Katsunori Kikuno (70 kg / 154.3 lbs) vs. Gesias Cavalcante (70 kg / 154.3 lbs)
Gegard Mousasi (93 kg / 205 lbs) vs. Jake O’Brien (did not weigh in; reportedly still cutting)
Tatsuya Mizuno (92.5 kg / 203.9 lbs) vs. Melvin Manhoef (90 kg / 198.4 lbs)
Michihiro Omigawa (64.8 kg / 142.9 lbs) vs. Young Sam Jung (64.8 kg / 142.9 lbs)
Mitsuhiro Ishida (65 kg / 143.3 lbs) vs. Daiki Hata (65 kg / 143.3 lbs)
Kazuhiro Nakamura (83.8 kg / 184.7 lbs) vs. Karl Amoussou (83.5 kg / 184 lbs)

Aoki’s comments on his opponents physique has put him on the spot at the moment.

Kawajiri: “I don’t really like to take a look at men’s bodies, so I didn’t really look at him. He said he’ll surprise the fans. I’ll make sure ours will be a shocking fight,”

Aoki: “I like both men and women. His body is a nice body, and if we both fight with men’s spirit, we can have a fight that everyone wants to see.”

A fight that was first seen as a battle that would answer the question of who is Japans best lightweight has turned into an awkward look at a fighters sexual orientation.

If that wasn’t silly enough, poor Ricco Rodriguez who was rumored to fight Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem. What took place resembled a period peice comedy of errors more than matchmaking for a major mma promotion.

“During my training I found out that Andrei Arlovski was not going to be my opponent, and they changed opponents numerous times. I’ve heard names like Tim Sylvia and Minowa. At one point, I received notice that they had found a opponent but that the Dream heavyweight title was not on the line anymore. With all the changes and the title fight no longer a possibility, I simply had to turn down the opportunity.

“The next day, I immediately took a flight to San Jose to hype up my possible fight against the winner of Fedor Emelianenko or Fabricio Werdum. I then heard rumors that Dream had booked me in a fight against Ricco Rodriguez. I want to make it very clear that I never verbally agreed to fight him and I never signed a contract with Dream to fight him. I feel very sorry for Ricco Rodriguez’s camp if they still think the fight is on, and I apologize to my fans that have bought a ticket to see me compete. I hope this statement has shed some light on the unfortunate situation.”

The fun doesn’t end there for Rodriguez, after UFC vet and Dream light heavyweight tournament competitor Jake O’Brian failed to make the 205 pound weight limit. Dream turned to Ricco to take his place against Gegard Mousasi.

Shenanigans squared

And yes, this is the tournament that was actually my first article on theclinch.net evar! The event went from the standard 16 man tournament to 8 and now a paltry 4. Consisting of just Mousasi, Manhoef, O’Brian and some guy named Tatsuya Mizuno. Now that all the known drama has been noted lets get to the picks.

Main Event: Dream Lightweight Title Bout

Shinya Aoki vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri

This will be Aoki’s chance to show if he has improved since his unanimous decision loss to Strikeforce Champ Gilbert Milendez. Granted it was his first fight in a cage and this will be contested in the ring. But Crusher Kawajiri has the same wrestler/boxer style that seemed to give Aoki fits. Since his loss Shinya actually spent some time over at Ceasar Gracies gym to improve his game. It would be awesome to see if he has some new tricks up his sleeve. That being said I still see his static cling grappling game getting nullified by a more athletic fighter and Aoki losing his belt.

Crusher via crushing TKO

Dream Light Heavyweight Tournament: Opening/Semi Final Round

Gegard Mousasi vs. Jake O’Brien

Just like the Aoki/Kawajiri title fight, the main question in this fight is whether Mousasi has learned to avoid or get up from takedowns. Lucky for him O’Brien is a huge step down in actual wrestling talent.

Mousasi – via sub

Tatsuya Mizuno vs. Melvin Manhoef

Manhoefs chin issues aside, he should be able to bully and terrorize Mizuno for an exciting first round stoppage.

Manhoef – via Savagery

Gesias Cavalcante vs. Katsunori Kikuno

JZ is a beast shares many similarities with current UFC Light Heavyweight champ Shogun Rua. His muay thai based stand up is nasty, he also possesses underrated ground game and is injury prone like nobody’s business. Surprisingly enough Kikuno is a contemporary of former UFC lhw champ Lyoto Machida with his modified for mma kyokushin karate striking, namely his liver piercing crescent kick. Ring rust aside Cavalcante has this fight in the bag, unless JZ gets hyptonized by Kikuno’s creepy chesire grin and gets owned like Andre Dida.

JZ – via Sub

Michihiro Omigawa vs. Young Sam Jung

Poor Sam Jung, the man is brought in for a good old fashioned Japanese fighter over Korean can crushing. Seeing as its Michihiro “I hold a BS decision win over Marlon Sandro” Omigawa I will hope it blows up in his face. But I am not completely delusional.

Omigawa – via boring decision

Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Daiki “DJ.taiki” Hata

Kawajiri’s teammate Ishida should be able to take this. Lets hope that Hata at least makes it exciting/gives up his back and gets Ishida-plexed.

Ishida – via UD

Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Karl “Psycho” Amoussou

Nakamura is going to get blitzed by a frenchman.

Amoussou – via living up to his nickname

Let me preface this by saying “GODDAMN YOU CARWIN FOR FALLING FOR LESNARS HOMER SIMPSON STRATEGY”. Now with my questions.

Leben proving doubters (myself included) WRONG!

- What is Akiyama’s biggest flaw: cardio or fighting in the wrong weight class?

- Is Leben making a case for comeback fighter of 2010?

- We still have to wait for the speculative ppv #’s but was this Lesnars defining moment, unlike UFC 100 he wasn’t sharing the spotlight with another popular champ in Boss Canada or two TUF coaches nor was there a video game coming out. Not to mention there still being some lingering world cup action & NBA Free Agency frenzy (OMG LeBron, what will he do). Did Lesnar pull off the biggest win in his career so far with his second title defense?

Big win or biggest win?

- Does a main event finish define and entire card/ppv broadcast? It seems no matter how many finishes are on the card or even the co main event if there is no definitive exclamation point put on the main event the entire card suffers for it?

- Is there a place for a new, more sensitive, humble and introspective post illness Lesnar. Or is it passe to heel it up since he has come into his own as a fighter?

- Both Lawlor and Petruzelli seem to have the same problem with pasting their opponents in the first rounds then gassing and getting out grappled.

Cage grabbers get slammed. gif via Caposa on the UG

-Did Gerald Harris steal Rampages thunder? And with 5 finishes in the UFC why hasn’t he been moved to the main card yet? As a Team Thirsty member alongside Rashad and King Mo are we seeing another variant of “The Cuban” or is this just how The Hurricane throws down?

WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS EVEN MEAN?!?

Bizarre post fight pose aside, Bonnar proves once again to be nigh unfinishble and a true company man in receiving one of 2
75k fight of the night bonuses. From MMA Junkie

LAS VEGAS – Gerald Harris, Brock Lesnar, Stephan Bonnar, Krzysztof Soszynski, Chris Leben and Yoshihiro Akiyama each earned $75,000 fight-night bonuses for their performances at Saturday’s UFC 116 event.

Harris earned the “Knockout of the Night” award, Lesnar earned the “Submission of the Night” bonus, and Bonnar, Soszynski, Leben, Akiyama all earned “Fight of the Night” honors

You know you are screwed when you can't even tap.

- Is the new grapple savvy Lytle just going for bonuses or is he making a real title run?

- Is the inverted triangle like the 4 minute mile, once one fighter does it is it the new cool sub to wrap people up in?

- A truly exciting (I would even go as far to say WEC level in terms of action) card actually featured bouts in every weight class, when was the last time that happened?

Thanks to Fightlinker doing most of the link work for me, lol.

Photo by the great Ester Lin

At the MGM Grand in Las Vegas this weekends UFC event thanks in no small part to last weeks upset of consensus #1 heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko. Will feature a championship bout that should shake up the rankings even more as current champ Brock Lesnar defends his belt against undefeated interim champ Shane Carwin. I will be focusing on the main card and spike prelim bouts.

Main Card

About as close as were going to get to the real thing

UFC Heavyweight Championship

Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin

I doubt I can offer any special insight into this bout or uncover some unforeseen angle/variable. Since the aftermath of UFC 111 when Carwin won the interim strap people have been salivating over this fight. The similarities between these two opponents are uncanny at best, both have won NCAA titles (Brock D1, Shane D2), have ridiculous reach (Lesnar 81′, Carwin 80′) and both fighters swing the two biggest glove sizes in the UFC (4XL for Brock, 5 for Shane). Both men have relied on their hulking size and nigh superhuman athleticism to overwhelm their opponents.

They will finally come face to face with an opponent who can cancel out their athletic prowess in one another. Lesnar may have a slight edge in wrestling but Carwin is no slouch in the rasslin’ department and is the more multifaceted fighter than Brock who has to get you down and maintain top position before he does his most effective damage. Lesnar is also coming off a 10 month plus lay off due to illness, a major hurdle for most fighters especially one with as little cage time as Lesnar who is competing at the highest level possible. These combined disadvantages do not bode well for the current champ. I expect Carwin to make short work of him

Carwin – via TKO

Co-Main Event
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben

Leben is stepping in for Wanderlei Silva on short notice to face Sexyama. The Crippler is a good company man and will make this an exciting fight. Akiyama on the other hand went from fighting an mma legend/superstar to now having to deal with an iron headed brawler who is can derail his title aspirations. If Leben can pressure Akiyama into a brawl, he may win, but Sexyama strikes me as a guy who knows he needs to win and will do his damndest to grind out a win.

Akiyama – via Split decision

Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Stephan Bonnar

Bonnar is REALLY washed up.

Soszynski – via UD

George Sotiropoulos vs. Kurt Pellegrino

When two seasoned grapplers step in the cage you will either get a ground war or bad kickboxing. Since Sotiropoulos has some professional boxing experience, Pellegrino is a wrestler primarily I will give George the edge in being well rounded and having more tools. This fight is evenly matched and should get an awards bonus (fight of the night or sub) I see Sotiropoulos continuing his flawless UFC career.

George Greek Noise – via UD

Chris Lytle vs. Matt Brown

Another fight destined for a awards bonus is a rematch between two exciting welterweights. I see Lytle busting out his submission skills once again.

Lytle – via Sub

Spike TV Prelims:

Brendan Schaub vs. Chris Tuchscherer

Brocks training partner vs Carwins lol. I like Schaub but Tuchscherer’s wrestling pedigree will come into play. Logic be damned.

Schaub – via Sub

Seth Petruzelli vs. Ricardo Romero

The Kimbo killer returns to the UFC, I hope this new guy isn’t as good as his record makes him out to be.

Petruzelli – via TKO

Photo from mmabookings.com

A tragedy occurred this weekend that should remind us all the dangers inherent in combat sports. From Sergio Non at USA Today.com.

Michael Kirkham, 30, has become the second man known to have died in the United States from injuries sustained in a mixed martial arts fight.

Kirkham, a lightweight who was nicknamed “Tree” because he stood 6-feet-9 and weighed 155 pounds, was making his pro debut Saturday night in Aiken, S.C., after a handful of amateur fights. He was knocked out in the first round and did not regain consciousness before passing away Monday morning.

Kid Nate over at Bloodyelbow.com also wrote a piece that features a video one of Kirkhams amateur bouts. With news still forthcoming along with the autopsy it is too soon to claim what was the cause of death. Hopefully this tragedy will be a reminder to fighters, promoters, fans, managers, trainers, athletic commisions and all those involved in combat sports to be diligent in their efforts to strictly follow and adhere to safety guidelines/laws/regulations. In hopes that events like these remain the rarest of anomalies.

Rest in peace to Michael Kirkham and condolences to his friends and family.

UPDATE

From MMA Junkie,

As the South Carolina Athletic Commission conducts an inquiry into the death of MMA fighter Michael Kirkham, the trainer of his opponent is attempting to raise money for the fallen fighter and his family.

Mark Greubel, who trained and cornered Carlos Iraburo for the fight this past Saturday that took Kirkham’s life, has helped arrange donation methods to cover funeral costs and a trust fund for Kirkham’s five children.

…

Kirkham, nicknamed “Tree” for his lanky 6-foot-9 frame, fought the 145-pound Iraburo at a catchweight of 150 pounds.

Kirkham did not carry life insurance and has five children.

Greubel said there are five locations where donations can be dropped off in person: The Pizza Joint in the Georgia cities of Augusta and Evans and the S.C. city of Aiken; the Limelite Cafe in Augusta; and his gym, Greubel’s MMA, also in Augusta.

Donations can be made online via PayPal at Michael Kirkham Memorial Fund. A link to the fund is also available on http://www.greubelsmma.com.

“I think with a nationwide effort we could definitely cover his funeral costs, but my ultimate goal is to have some trust funds set up for the guy’s children,” Greubel told MMAjunkie.com.

Also from local South Carolina news channel WJBF:

According to Aiken County Coroner Tim Carlton, autopsy results confirmed that Michael Kirkham died from a subarachnoid hemorrhage of the brain due to the injuries/blows to the head he received during the MMA match. Toxicology is pending. Manner of death is to be ruled as accidental. The Aiken County Coroner’s Office is still awaiting the video of the fight from the SC Athletic Commission.

Since I personally have not medical experience I will defer to Wikipedia to explain the specific type of hemorrhage Kirkham suffered.

A Subarachnoid hemorrhage in British English) is bleeding into the subarachnoid space—the area between the arachnoid membrane and the pia mater surrounding the brain. This may occur spontaneously, usually from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm, or may result from head injury.

Fans and the MMA media are still up in arms over the events of last weekend & rightly so. A main stay of both the top 3 in both the heavyweight division and P4P mma trinity (alongside GSP and Anderson Silva) his loss suffice to say is kind of a big deal. The messianic overtones of Fedor and his mystique have been displayed in the most literal of interpretations.

UFC PPV/Showtime?!? The dream of co-promotion lives on. From Bloody Elbow

Even ESPN got in on the action, albeit incorrectly labeling the event a UFC & Showtime collaboration. Promotional misnomer aside, the idea that something big happened in the world of UFC/MMA/human cockfighting was noticeable even amongst the casuals and passers by.

From the silly to the sobering truth, mma fans will find a way to cope and eventually move on. If anything the upset of upsets brings up to a new revelation of Mr. Emelianenko’s new found humanity, we will no longer assume invincibility and now will have to really analyze his fights. Realistically assessing the threats his opponents pose and vice verca. In the end this fight made Fedor what he always wanted to be seen as a fighter and not a god

In a night full of one sided fights, Strikeforce: Fedor vs Werdum main card was all finishes. That fact will not be the reason this event will be remembered for. This card’s main event will go down in the short history of this sport as one of the biggest upsets of all time. Fedor Emelianenko, the myth, the outlier, the invincible fighter who is virtually undefeated was submitted with a via triangle/armbar by Pride & UFC vet and bjj specialist Fabricio Werdum 1:09 into the first round.

And just like that, the impossible happens

From Cung Le avenging his only defeat from Scott Smith with a 2nd round mule kick to the gut. To Cris “Cyborg” Santos’s savage title defense against Jan Finney. The nights didn’t lack in excitement in the least bit. Josh Thompsons bout with Pat Healy was surprisingly competitive until the third round submission when a game Healy was put away by determined former champ in Thompson.

The night even had the official retirement announcement of former UFC and Strikeforce champion turned analyst Frank Shamrock.

But the stunning finish in the main event will be the talk of the mma world for weeks to come. With the UFC holding a title unification bout between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin. The long and some will argue still viable notion of Fedor being the #1 heavyweight fighter in the world will come under heavy scrutiny depending on the outcome of the UFC 116 main event.

As a guy who got into this sport way after Pride folded, Fedor losing doesn’t hit me as hard as it would veteran aficionados and hardcore fans. The first live fight with The Last Emperor I saw was his bout against Arlovski. Since then I have borrowed and rented dvd’s, scoured youtube videos of actual fights and highlights and began to see what the big deal was. The only thing different in this fight from others was that Emelianenko got himself in harms way but didn’t get out of danger. Werdums surest chance to win was by sub and that’s what happened. Numerous fighters have jumped on opponents after they have fallen only to get submitted. Fans and detractors will make of this loss what they will and the GOAT discussions will try to distill more out of this fight than there is. No fighter is invincible, everyone loses and at the end of the day a 31-2 record is still among the best in the sport. And now to luck on forums and enjoy the fallout.

I don’t think I’ve been more entertained by a card that I picked totally wrong.

From Zoila Frausto savage finish of Rosi Sexton.

The Warror Princess is not to be trifled with.

To Joe Warren’s tenacious showing against Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. In the first round of the featherweight final, Pitbull got 1 takedown, knockdown and even sunk in an rnc seconds before the bell. Then the momentum began to switch. Freire started strong in the second but Warren found his stride and got a takedown where he mounted a tepid offense, but maintained top position for the remainder of the round.

Warren dictating the pace. From MMA Junkie

In the third frame a clearly fatigued Pitbull was taken down again and was stifled until the final bell. He was bloodied but more tired than beaten up. In the end his intense first round offense, some would say 10-8 worthy due to multiple types of successful offense didn’t convince the judges he was the victor. And Joe Warren, the self proclaimed “Baddest Man on The Planet” was awarded the split decision, $100,000 and a shot at current featherweight title holder Joe Soto. This fight along with the Pat Curran decision are this seasons most controversial wins.

While Ben Askren using his Olympic caliber wrestling to win his welterweight tournament was no surprise. Other than the guys at Middle Easy, who would think a whirling dervish like Alexander Shlemenko would clobber Brain Baker like he did. Not only was it one of the bigger upsets in the finals along with Currans win, it was also the only finish in a tournament final this season.

With the promise of amazing female fights and bantamweight brawls along with a somewhat foreboding heavyweight tournament, even though it was a grind posting picks for the weekly events. I enjoyed every card put on this season. So props to Mr. Rebney and the workhorses at Bellator for putting on another great season of tournament based mixed martial arts

Before I get down to my picks let me do a quick recap of last weeks card that I was only able to do a tweet of my picks on. Hindsight makes scholars of us all, but I flat out did not see Ben Akren controlling Dan Hornbuckle like he did.

From MMA Junkie

Now on to this weeks event that features the finals from both the feather and middleweight tournaments. Along with two qualifying bouts for next seasons bantam and female 115lb tournaments.

Middleweight Tournament Championship

Alexander Shlemenko vs. Bryan Baker

Seeing as how Shlemenko made it to the finals via his opponents freak injury and the fact that he is fighting a bigger, more athletic and well rounded mixed martial artist in Baker. I don’t see Shlemenko getting an over sized check worth 6 figures.

Baker – via whatever he damn well pleases

Featherweight Tournament Championship

Patricio Pitbull vs. Joe Warren

The Staredown from the weigh-ins. From MMA Junkie

At a glance I see this being a repeat of Warrens performance in the Dream featherweight semi finals where he got submitted under a minute. Patricio does have submission savvy to catch Warren in something. But with last weeks main event showing that elite level wrestling can stave off most submission attempts and grind their way to a UD. I’m going to have to choose what is more likely, Warren getting caught or Pitbull getting smothered.

Pitbull – via Sub

Bantamweight Tournament Qualifier
Nik Mamalis vs. Albert Rios

I have no idea who will win, I just hope it will be as entertaining as last weeks bantamweight fight.

Female Tournament Qualifier
Zoila Frausto vs. Rosi Sexton

This is Sexton’s fight to win, especially since she is already in the tournament. Zoila just like her sister who fought last week is a solid striker, but it all goes out the window when she gets dragged to the ground. So unless the Warrior Princess can get a flash knockout, Dr. Sexton takes this.

Sexton – via Sub