Bellator put on maybe their biggest event of the year on Saturday, live from the SAP Center in San Jose. The card is very stacked, with the new champion Gegard Mousasi facing fellow champ Rory MacDonald in the 185 weight class. In the co-main event slot two absolute veterans of MMA face each other. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson faces Wanderlei Silva in a Heavyweight bout.
On a promotional scale this is also a big show for Bellator as it is their debut on sports streaming network DAZN (pronounced “The Zone”). DAZN had recently broadcasted the Anthony Joshua versus Alexander Povetkin boxing bout. The preliminary part of the show started on Bellator’s website.
- Kicking off the preliminary coverage was Josh San Diego facing Joe Neal in the 140lbs Catchweight. Neal went for a takedown only a minute into the first round. San Diego was dominant in the first round with strikes, getting a takedown in the final seconds of the round. In the second round San Diego out-striked Neal by a margin. The final round was close. Neal started to land good strikes. San Diego got two more takedowns once Neal started to step up his strikes. A significant amount of blood came from San Diego’s head due to an unintentional contact of heads. The fight went the distance, bringing everyone’s attention to the judge’s scorecards. The judges had scorecards that were near opposites to each other, but still giving San Diego the win (29-28 Neal, 30-27 San Diego & 29-28 San Diego).
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| San Diego | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 |
| Neal | 9 | 9 | 9 | 27 |
- Featherweight Jeremiah Labiano faced Justin Smithley in the second bout. Labiano landed a takedown in the first minute. After that they were battling on the ground for the whole round. At one point Smithley was getting hit over and over with hammer strikes, only to respond with a taunting smile. Labiano started to really rain down the strikes while on top, triggering the ref to stop the fight.
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Labiano | ||||
| Smithley |
- Continuing on the prelims was Amber Leibrock versus Arlene Blencowe in another Featherweight bout. Early in the first round Leibrock landed a knee that had Blencowe in trouble. Blencowe recovered and kept it to kickboxing for the final minutes. The second round was much closer with Blencowe being able to match or even do better than Leibrock’s boxing. While the majority of the second round was standing a takedown was done with 20 or so seconds left. Blencowe opened the third round with a takedown. Leibrock tried for an armbar, but Blencowe escaped it with a slam, putting Leibrock right on her head. This really hurt Leibrock, giving Blencowe the win after a few more strikes. Blencowe was weeping out of joy after the fight.
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Leibrock | 10 | 9 | ||
| Blencowe | 9 | 10 |
- In a Bantamweight fight, Ty Costa battled against Cass Bell. Bell has a very distinct golf course green dyed hair. Bell went to the first round on my scorecard. Costa found himself in a similar situation to the last bout in an Armbar. He tried to slam Bell but didn’t get the same result as what Blencowe got. Costa eventually submitted after Bell really locked in the Armbar.
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Costa | 9 | |||
| Bell | 10 |
- We went to another Catchweight bout, this time at 160lbs. Adam Piccolotti faced James Terry. Piccolotti won the first round but was even more prominent with his jab in the second round. This whole fight was an absolute war between these two. Terry became bloodied in the final round. The fight went the full 15 minutes, with the judges giving Adam Piccolotti the win unanimously (29-28, 30-27 & 30-27).
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Piccolotti (R) | 10 | 10 | ||
| Terry | 9 | 9 |
- The main card began after the last fight. The show started with the competitors of the top three bouts tonight coming out to do faceoffs on the stage. The first fight on the main card was Gaston Bolanos versus Ysidro Gutierrez in a Featherweight bout. After being a nearly even first round, Bolanos floored Gutierrez with a left. He landed many strikes from on top to close out the fight and give him the victory.
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Bolanos (R) | 10 | |||
| Gutierrez | 9 |
- Keri Melendez faced Dakota Zimmerman. The first round was explosive right out of the gates with Melendez slamming Zimmerman in an attempt to escape a hold. Zimmerman was trying for a Triangle with over a minute left. It was turned into an Armbar that Melendez was able to endure until the end of the round. The second round was fought mostly up against the cage. Melendez was dominant with striking while Zimmerman was possibly better on the ground. The fight went all three rounds. Keri Melendez won via Split Decision (29-28 Melendez, 29-28 Zimmerman & 29-28 Melendez).
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Melendez (R) | 9 | 10 | 10 | 29 |
| Zimmerman | 10 | 9 | 9 | 28 |
- The up and comer in MMA Aaron Pico competed against Leandro Higo. Quick in the first round both guys were throwing hands. Higo was even throwing some knees when in clinch. Higo got dropped with punches and got back up quickly. Pico kept up the intensity and took down Higo once again. Higo stayed standing but took numerous unanswered shots. While the Pico put on a good performance, the ref really let this go too long. Pico continues to never leave the first round in his MMA career.
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Pico | ||||
| Higo |
- Bellator has had lots of news swirl around about their Welterweight tournament. News broke days ago that of all people, 50 Cent will put forward $1 Million Dollars that goes to the winner of the tournament. It begins tonight with Douglas Lima versus Andrey Koreshkov in a quarter-final fight. This fight is scheduled for five rounds. Round one was primarily against the cage. The second round found itself in a similar position after very methodical stand up. Lima was able to get more strikes in the third round, giving him the round on my scorecard. In between round three and four the broadcast showed that UFC 2-division champion Daniel Cormier is in attendance. Koreshkov got stunned at the 10 second warning of round 4. In the fifth round, Lima put in a Rear Naked Choke after strikes to get the win.
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Total |
| Lima | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | ||
| Koreshkov | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
- In the co-main event slot tonight, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson faced Wanderlei Silva for the fourth time in their career. If Jackson gets the win, he ties the rivalry 2-2. When the two fighters met in the middle before the bell there was no glove touch. At the start of the first round Jackson taunted Silva, signalling to try to hit him. A minute and a half into the first round, Silva was pushed to the cage after being rocked by some strikes. These two both had great combinations after what was a slow first half of the first round. The first round came to a close with both fighters taunting each other. At the start of round two both guys were teeing off. With three minutes left Silva went into a clinch after being shook by a left-right combination. With 30 seconds left in the second round, Jackson dropped Silva with a left and right hook then continued to hit him on the ground until the ref called off the fight. After the fight Rampage said that everyone should respect Wanderlei because nobody else is like him.
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Jackson | 10 | |||
| Silva | 9 |
- Finally, to cover the main event of the evening. In a champ versus champ bout, Gegard Mousasi fights Rory MacDonald. The first round was stand up only, with Mousasi winning it on my scorecard. In the second round MacDonald shot for a takedown but only later would he find out that it was very much to his detriment. Mousasi was able to land tons of shots on the ground and win the fight via stoppage. This ended the evening of fights.
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Total |
| Mousasi | 10 | |||||
| MacDonald | 9 |
As Bellator now has this show in their rear view mirror, they look to their doubleheader weekend coming up in two weeks. The two cards decide the finalists in the Bellator Heavyweight World Grand Prix. Matt Mitrione battles Ryan Bader in Uncasville, CT on the 12th, and the next night Fedor Emelianenko fights Chael Sonnen. That bout takes place in Uniondale, NY. In the MMA world outside of Bellator, there’s a lot going on. This weekend isn’t even over, as RIZIN puts on RIZIN.13 in only a few hours from now. Next week Conor McGregor battles Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229. Below them on the fight card is 12 other bouts.
JackWannan.com 