Well that was quick, wasn’t it?
Bellator 214 is in the books and only one of the five fights went the distance. All of the other bouts were done in no more than 129 seconds. The main event saw Ryan Bader become a simultaneous two-division champion, as he used his lead left hook to floor Fedor Emelianenko, then a devastating right hand to put the MMA legend out cold in just 35 seconds. Since leaving the UFC, Bader’s Bellator career has been almost flawless. The only difficult moment he had was his rematch with Phil Davis, which he won by split decision to become Bellator’s LHW champion two years ago. After that? Total domination. He might have only absorbed three strikes this entire heavyweight tournament. Bader wrecked King Mo Lawal in 15 seconds, predictably outwrestled Matt Mitrione with ease, and then starched Fedor on Saturday night.
Was it sad to see Fedor get KO’d like that? Yeah. I’d rather he retire, but take nothing away from just how well Bader has performed in Bellator. I hope he does get the opportunity to defend both belts. Vitaly Minakov would be next for him at heavyweight (assuming Minakov beats Cheick Kongo), and at light heavyweight? Well there’s Vadim Nemkov among the LHW contenders, I suppose. But also Gegard Mousasi moving up to 205 would be cool. I would like to see a rematch with Lyoto Machida, although he’d also have to move up.
Well done to Bader. Another great accomplishment for the ex-Arizona State star. As for Fedor? Well… your heroes get old. And that might have been the final fight in the incredible career of “The Last Emperor.” I’d rather not go much more in-depth than that.
More thoughts coming your way:
- Holy s—. Aaron Pico had Henry Corrales hurt with an uppercut and he probably figured he’d take Corrales out as quickly as he did his previous opponents. Instead, the tables turned and Corrales sparked him out with a right hand, as Pico got reckless and paid the price dearly. Like I said in the predictions, I feared Pico would one day fall in loves with his hands too much and it would cost him down the line. It might have cost him tonight, and Corrales capitalized. He is clearly one of Bellator’s top featherweights, and perhaps he will get his rematch against Patricio Freire, but this time for Pitbull’s title.
- Jake Hager, better known as Jack Swagger from the WWE, had R-Truth rapping him into the cage. Afterwards, he dominated J.W. Kiser pretty much from start to finish to win his first MMA fight. The former college wrestling standout took Kiser down, dropped some elbows and hammerfists, then sunk in an arm-triangle choke from half-guard. Needless to say… Kiser isn’t exactly high-level, but Hager did his thing, and he plans to make MMA his gig “for the next decade.” He’s 36 years old… so he’s 26 in heavyweight years, so maybe it doesn’t sound that crazy.
- I thought Ricky Bandejas did enough to win the decision over Juan Archuleta, but none of the judges saw it that way. Bandejas may regret not being more aggressive when he hurt Archuleta with a knee in the final round, and he wasn’t exactly an offesnive machine in what was the fight-deciding round two. Archuleta has won 17 in a row, and he wants a title shot against Darrion Caldwell. He may very well get it, as it’s not like Bellator is stacked with bantamweight contenders.
- Adel Altamimi, whose background is incredible and a real tearjerker, got his Bellator career off to a superb start with a kimura sweep, which he used to eventually get a fight-ending armbar in just about 75 seconds. That was real slick, and he really made the most of his main card.
- BJJ standout AJ Agazarm’s professional MMA debut was… well it was terrible. Jesse Roberts improved to 2-1 with a split decision win. Agazarm’s striking was woeful, and Roberts stuffed many of his takedowns and outside of a rear-naked choke attempt at the end of round two, was seldom in serious danger of being finished on the ground. If you watched it, don’t rewatch it. If you didn’t watch it… congratulations.