As a fan of both fighters, Bellators first tournament winner title fight was a bittersweet affair. Even still I was going to give the fight to Soto due to his take down defense and formidable striking prowess, the only chance I was giving Warren was a 5 round unanimous decision based off of his wrestling pedigree, sub defense and inhuman pain tolerance/sheer will to persevere towards victory.

For the first round it seemed like I picked correctly, Soto started off clubbing Warren with a series of left hooks and right uppercuts that made Warren turn his back. Soto continued this assault and even added taunts reminiscent of the Diaz brothers while Warren just hung in there until the bell.

Then the second round started and everything changed. Warren had seemed to completely regained his composure and decided to start throwing punches instead of just taking them and stunned Soto with a overhand right to the temple. Warren immediately pounced and tried to pound out a tko finish but Soto tried to recover by keeping Warren in his guard and scrambling, only to give up his back while still receiving a hail storm of punches. Soto somehow got back to his feet and was pressured to the cage where he was finished with knee-left hook combo that dropped him to the canvas to be saved by the ref. Thus relinquishing his title as Bellators featherweight kingpin to Joe Warren who made his mixed martial arts debut last year in Dreams featherweight tournament, a remarkable feat for the self proclaimed baddest man on the planet.

With that all said and done I hope to see Soto again, this is his first loss and I am pretty sure he has learned a valuable lesson in dealing with an fading opponent: When you are clearly outclassing an opponent, try your best to finish them within the round.

WEC 50

Cruz does best Tiger Knee impressin on Benavidez's face

Went 5-0 on the main card, that being said this card did hold some surprises for me. Namely the improved takedown defense of Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis not to mention his flashy kicks that validate his nickname.

Behold the Au Batido

Scott Jorgenson and Brad Pickett put on the fight of the night as expected, but was still contradictory due to the highly competitive yet one sided end way it was contested. In the main even Dominic Cruz defended his title and gave Joeseph Benavidez another loss in what looked like a replay of their first match up with a bit more feeling. Cruz once again used his hit and run style to frustrate Benavidez who was hoping to stay planted on both feet and hope for a counter and while he was able to land none of the strikes seemed to visibly effect Cruz nor did it change the momentum of the fight. Joeseph had his best round in the fourth where he was able to do serious damage in the clinch where he opened up the champs face with a knee.

In the end it wasn’t enough and Benavidez lost a tough split decision. With Jorgensen coming off his 5th win in a row its safe to assume he will be the next threat to Cruz’s throne and Benavidez will remain a top contender at 135 but will have a better chance at championship gold at 125 whenever the WEC gets the Flyweight division in gear.

Bellator XXV

Had another event with perfect picks on the main card. With that said it wasn’t the most electrifying of events, all fights went to decision. Dan Hornbuckle got a hard fought win after his loss in last seasons welterweight tournament as did everyone else. At the end of the day one can’t complain after the previous Bellator card had all finishes.

Strikeforce: Houston

Muhammad "King Mo' Lawal on his way to losing his title to Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante

Now onto the most notorious card of last week for all the wrong reasons. Spirited middleweight title fight aside between Tim Kennedy and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, a back and forth battle that went the distance like all other middleweight championship fights since Cung Le relinquished the title. It was an okay fight that was easily forgettable due to the bizarre goings on the rest of the card. From KJ Noons brutal round (and some would say fight) ending combination on Jorge Gurgel.

Ouch

Finishing the round strong or intentional late shot?

And then in the second round, Noons went for the kill yet again throwing what seemed to be an illegal kick/knee to a downed opponent.

It doesn't land flush but that could have been nasty.

Former pro wrestler and army vet Bobby Lashley fought and lost after the end of the 2nd round when he was visibly exhausted and dazed in his fight against Chad Griggs. Oddly enough this wasn’t the biggest story of this fight, that dubious honor will go to one of the most vilified referees in combat sports Jon Schorle and his decision to stand up a mounted Chad Griggs so that Lashley could get a cut checked and not giving Lashley his position back. Not only did this result in an already fatigued having to try to get the position back the hard way it led to him expending the little bit of energy he had left which caused him to lose the fight. Utterly unacceptable at any level.

The main event and 2nd title fight of the evening had newly minted light heavyweight champ King Mo make his first title defense against Anderson Silva training partner and resident muy thai wrecking machine Rafael Feijao. Mo was able to put up 2 good rounds, willing to trade strikes after his wrestling seemed to falter here and there. While he was getting takedowns they were proving difficult to get and it was even harder keeping Feijao on the ground.

This led to Lawal taking chances with his good but still improving stand up, unfortunately the low crouching ‘Cuban’ stance fed right into Calvancantes knees and thai clinch strikes. Despite being up at least 1-1, the 3rd round held a nasty surprise for Lawal as Feijao just pounced on Lawal after tagging him. Mo while stunned tried to get a single leg takedown to shake out the cobwebs but was met with downward elbow after downward elbow, forcing the ref to stop the fight and yet another light heavyweight champ lost his belt in his first title defense in the Strikeforce organization.

All in all a good week of fights and since I will be off work for both the Bellator and UFC cards this week expect fight picks and some twitter action from us here at theclinch.net

From Caposa

Truly brutal stuff here, I am guessing the Sandro and Frausto finishes will be in volume 2.

From MMA Junkie

Two weeks ago, budding female prospect Zoila Frausto (7-1 MMA, 1-0 BFC) wasn’t even a part of Bellator Fighting Championships’ upcoming 115-pound female tournament.

Now – courtesy of a devastating knockout of Rosi Sexton – Frausto is in the tournament and already training for a planned matchup on Aug. 19.

The “Warrior Princess” today told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) that the promotion intends to match her up against Jessica Pene (7-0 MMA, 1-0 BFC) at Bellator 25.

Now that she has fought her way in, all she has to do is make weight and kick ass in what is looking like one of the more compelling tournaments of Bellators third season.

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

Not much to say here other than HOLY MOTHER OF GOD THAT WAS A BRUTAL FINISH!!!

The shove after the knee was a stroke of genius, I wonder why more fighters don’t push stunned opponents down. Since Sexton was only taking this as a tune up fight and was supposed to compete in season 3 115lb tournament. I wonder what Bellator is going to do about her medical suspension? And where does Zoila go from here seeing as the tournament taking place is 2 weight classes down from her usual division of 135.

Darn fighters and their desire to win and the highly random nature of the fight game.

UPDATE:

As mentioned in the comment sections and now MMA Junkie not only is Ms. Frausto a 125lb fighter.

Frausto, who fights at 125 pounds out of Fresno, Calif.’s Team Buhawe, met Sexton at 120 pounds and pulled off the upset with a knee strike and punches that knocked the English fighter senseless at the bout’s two-minute mark.

She is now being considered to take Sextons place in the 115lb tournament, as soon as Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney hammers out the details/logistics with the other fighters he had waiting in the wings for the opportunity to be an alternate/back up fighter.

“I think the plan with Rosi is let her get back into training (and) bring her back not in the tournament, but bring her back for a fight,” Rebney said.

While Frausto’s performance certainly puts her in line to replace Sexton, Rebney said there is no guarantee that she’ll get the job.

“The only thing that’s standing in the way is that we had women who were positioned and we had talked to as the No. 9, 10 and 11,” he said. “The matter is clearing our heads and looking at the situation and saying, ‘Does that warrant her leapfrogging ahead of people who we had otherwise recruited and talked to for that spot?’”

As for Frausto, she said she’d have no trouble making weight.

“When they call me, I will make [115 pounds],” she today told MMAjunkie.com. “I made 120 (pounds) easy, and that was a little bit of a shock to everybody and myself. … I can make that.

“I’ve been doing this to fight the best, and I just beat one of the best. So hell yeah, I want that spot.”

Rebney is making good on his word on letting fighters control their destiny. Hopefully Zoila can compete and Sexton when she is medically cleared can also return to Bellator later this year.

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

To say the last couple of weeks in MMA have been busy would be as silly as saying the disaster in the gulf of Mexico is a minor inconvenience. With the top 3 (or 4 if you split the Zuffa owned UFC and WEC promotions) mixed martial arts organizations all holding events withing the same 7 day period, you would think an mma blogger like myself would have a plethora, no a veritable smorgasbord of topics to discuss, picks to mull over, post event analysis to bump gums/keyboard over.

Along with the standard random news/developments and goings on I sadly had to bow out due to my main soap box/this website going on the fritz. More accurately, there seemed to be a problem with the site posting auto save drafts from what seemed to be every article I had ever written. Thanks to Brandon for addressing the issue and getting things back in order. Now it is time for me to find my riddum and head back into the fray that is the “mma blogesphere” while the getting is still good. There is still the weekly goodness from Bellator going down along with 3 of the top heavyweights in the world fighting in a 2 week period, first on the Strikeforce: Fedor vs Werdum card and next weeks UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin which has already made headlines due to one of the co main event fighters, the legendary Wanderlei Silva being replaced due to injury by last weekds knockout of the night winner and fan favorite Chris The Crippler Leben.

I still wonder how this will look in hindsight months and years from now, these past couple of months have been the closest to constant weekly major org mma this young sport has ever seen. And if this is a sign of things to come, the future is bright in regards to human cockfighting.

Some good news has been released in regards to Jared Hess and his freak knee injury from Alex Shlemenko at Bellator 20.

First a brief write up on the nature of the human knee and pic of the injured, disappointed, but still game fighter from Sherdog.com.

The human knee is beautifully designed for the majority of what man has asked of it in the last 500,000 years. The simple structure is near ideal for following the perambulations of migrating antelope or fleeing predation from the alpha predators primitive man evolved among. However, as Jared Hess demonstrated in his bout with Alexander Shlemenko last Thursday at Bellator 20, the dynamics of an MMA fight can far exceed what nature designed the knee to endure.

The knee joint is composed of the long bone of the femur resting on the relatively flat plateau of the tibia (the primary bone of the lower leg). The femoral condyles transmit the weight of the body to the smooth, cartilage-covered menisci of the tibia. The patella, or kneecap, is not truly a component of the joint. The joint is bound tightly together by four ligaments, which are small bands of dense connective tissue. Within the deep notch of the femur, “crossing” from anterior to posterior, and vice versa, run the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments.

To either side of the joint, providing stability against forces applied to the sides of the knee, are the medial and lateral collateral ligaments. It was one of these, the LCL, that Hess felt give way in the first takedown of the first round, well before anyone but the fighter and the referee noticed anything amiss.

While I did suspect that the knee was damaged earlier in the fight, I was incorrect in blaming the 2nd round heel hook. But Hess was trying to avoid Shlemenko’s stand up game for obvious tactical reasons. Here is the view of the fight and current situation from the figthter himself, interview via MMA Junkie.

Hess after tko (knee injury) loss at Bellator 20

“The thing is I really didn’t even feel it at the time,” Hess stated in the announcement. “I don’t know if it was my adrenaline, but all I could think about was trying to finish that guy.”

Hess assures fans that the injury is not as bad as it looks in pictures, though doctors say it will take him four to six months to recover.

“I had a chance to watch it on TV after the fight, and I think it really looked a lot worse than it is,” Hess said. “It’s a bad tear, but the three other ligaments (the ACL, the PCL and the MCL) are all fine.”

…

Hess, who now lives in San Diego, is optimistic that he’ll pick up where he left off when he gets healthy. When he does, he wants a chance to avenge the Shlemenko loss. (The Russian now advances to the season-two finals).

“The thing I’m most upset about is that, in my eyes, I was winning that fight,” Hess stated. “I’d love to get a rematch with [Shlemenko] once I come back.”

Rebney said he’s more than happy to welcome Hess back.

“Jared Hess is really a throwback to the kind of warrior mentality that existed long ago,” Rebney stated. “I can’t say enough about the character that Jared displayed in our cage last week. Immediately after his knee buckled and the referee forced Jared to sit down, he turned to me and started asking me to step in and tell the referee that he should be allowed to finish the fight.

We here at The Clinch wish Hess a speedy and complete recovery.

Looks like Evans is toeing the same line as teammate GSP in regards to fighter gameplans.

Article and pic from MMA Junkie,

Now, as he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) on Saturday, his takedown skills and dominant top game will be the foundation for future game plans. That includes his strategy for newly crowned champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, with whom Evans secured a future meeting by defeating Jackson.

“I felt like I needed to bring [wrestling] back after the Machida fight,” said Evans, who posted back-to-back knockout wins over Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin before the loss to Machida. “One thing that happens sometimes when you find success in one area – and I found success standing up – I kind of forgot about the area where I was strongest.”

Evans said his return to wrestling is part of his win-first mentality.

“Me doing wrestling now is just going to be something I do from here on out,” he said. “Because no matter how far (I get) in my stand-up, I’ve always got to remember that my bread and butter is my wrestling, and everything else stems from that.”

….

“One thing you understand really quickly as a fighter – and the fans don’t really understand – is that you’re not punching with eight- or 10-ounce gloves on,” he said. “You’ve got four-ounce gloves on, and underneath that is a cast.

“And it only takes one good shot for the fight to be over. I wasn’t trying to take no shots for no amount of boos.”

Kid Nate over at Bloody Elbow gave a breif but pointed view of the situation

As MMA evolves and becomes more of a sport and less of a spectacle, we’re going to see more and more winning fighters adopt this approach.

Fans may love fighters who bring it at all costs, but we haven’t seen Chris Lytle and Marcus Davis fight for many titles have we?

Hard to argue with the facts, while it is possible to an exciting fighter to win a championship belt.

It is much harder to keep and defend the title. At the highest levels of competition with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line.

Rashad Evans: $435,000 (includes $185,000 win bonus)
def. Quinton Jackson: $250,000

Michael Bisping: $190,000 ($15,000 win bonus)
def. Dan Miller: $15,000

Mike Russow: $24,000 ($12,000 win bonus)
def. Todd Duffee: $8,000

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: $120,000 ($40,000 win bonus)
def. Jason Brilz: $11,000

You can begin to see why a fighter would take a more cautious path to a very rewarding victory as opposed to a sour and paltry defeat. That being said as fans and purveyors of multiple monthly PPV shows at $50 a pop and $55 to $60 if you want it in HD, you can begin to see the case for people wanting more stand and bang for their buck? This debate has been raging for a while now, in regards to wrestling heavy stratagems harming or helping the sport. Commentator and combat sports aficionado , Michael Schiavello weighed in on the hot topic a while back.

This game plan, pioneered by the Colemans and Severns remains the basic, successful recipe for American wrestlers in MMA today. The question is: does this recipe make for less exciting spectacles of MMA? Indeed a further question could be: have American wrestlers taken the martial arts out of Mixed Martial Arts?

The article was seen as some as a mark against American wrestling as it pertains to MMA. Upon closer inspection you see it is a mark against those who use wrestling as a neutralization tool only and do nothing to damage their opponent or finish the fight. Which I think is something everyone can agree on hardcore or casual. But when we are talking about fighting opponents at the highest level, finishing becomes a more difficult and risky endeavor. Not every champ gets to feast upon a late replacement opponent to highlight reel aka Bellator middleweight title holder Hector Lombard and Jay “Called on Monday, fight on Thursday” Silva.

Top ranked opponents are usually hard to finish, hell even Shogun needed 2 tries to beat Machida. I may have given GSP some guff over fighting safe. But the reality of the situation is that prize fighters are trying to make as much money as they can before they are no longer able to compete without seriously jeopardizing their health. This is a hurt business after all, a motor-sport analogy for the actual insanity of combat sports would be:

Combat Sports = Building a high performance vehicle from scratch with the best parts money can buy and pouring all your resources to making it the best automobile possible. Then pit it against another labor of love in a 1 on 1 destruction derby. This car is also your everyday car too.

Could you imagine some guy smashing a Ferrari into a Lotus just for the pure competition of it all? So if a fighter found a way to minimize damage to himself while simultaneously ensuring victory, could you really blame him for doing so? I know I would but logic would win out in the end. But what does a keyboard warrior like me know?