Beginning of the end for the UFC?
Nah, but Eagle FC has a hot start and that Bellator card last night was tight despite that whole eye poke thing.
First of all, I just want to quickly point out how far this sport has come in such a relatively short amount of time. For older fans of the sport, there was a time where you were lucky to get a Pride VHS. That wasn’t me but I did have to suffer through the era of having to plug in a dial up line to a receiver and NOT BE ON THE INTERNET in order to pay for the PPV and you better hope you didn’t get a call while the PPV was going on. Fast forward to today, at the comfort of my own home, on YouTube, I got to see pretty fun MMA fights across two different promotions with #2 Bellator having their own championship fight between reigning champ and interim in 1 #4 Ryan Bader and #12 Valentin Moldavsky. We also got to see Eagle FC make its debut in America, with Khabib Nurmagomedov warning both the UFC and Bellator about treating their fighters right or else the Eagle has open arms. Even going so far as to say that he has offered a contract to Jake Paul.
Now I do have to state the obvious because this is the internet and common sense is not that common, I AM NOT saying that even though Bellator is second place that it is a close second. Not even remotely. Consider this, this past weeks UFC 270 is going to sell around 350k to low 200k maybe. With that in mind it would still be 26.2 million more that Bellator makes this weekend with out sponsorships or anything else to consider. Eagle FC just started and it was pretty much a VIP party for the MMA elite. So I don’t believe they will even have a gate total worthy of note.
So with that in consideration lets talk about two rather entertaining events with first Eagle FC 44 happening for the first time on American soil in Florida in the FLX cast arena which had the resemblance of a Bellator entrance with a Apex feel.
And we saw three former fighters that had a chance for redemption with Yorgan Decastro, Ray Borg and Rashad Evans all coming out with impressive wins.
Starting off we have Yorgan Decastro who went out and got the first Round Sub, this being his second win outside of the UFC. After that Ray Borg went out there and dogged out a win in a fight where he definitely gave up a height and reach advantage. He was going against Cody Gibson (who has a split decision win over Jon Dodson who is a training partner of Ray Borg over at Jackson Winks.) Gibson is also a full time teacher outside of the cage, don’t let that fool you however.
This guy came to bang and put it on Borg as soon as the bell rang using his length well while also mixing it up with his punches and kicks convincingly winning the first round. That changed in the second where Borg put on a wrestling clinic dominating on the mat for the next two round leading to a unanimous decision. His first since his release from the UFC.
We then had Suga Rashad Evans getting his first win since 2013. He came back to the game at 42 years old and came out in vintage fashion by out wrestling Gabriel Checco to a 30-27 decision. It was a good night for the former UFC fighters. And a feel good moment in seeing a fighter break a five fight losing streak. Per Rashad’s indication he is ready to get back in the cage and after that performance who am I to disagree?
All of this and we must not forget how entertaining the commentary booth dynamic between current pound for pound number #1 Kamaru Usman (#1 Champion Welterweight Division), Former two division champ Henry Cejudo with Cyrus Fees and Chael Sonnen. Honestly the chemistry was there and it was like a podcast in the stories that current, former and undefeated undisputed champions traded. From what I remember, whenever there was silence it was quickly filled with laughter from one of the other commentators.
The Eagle FC has definitely made an impression on me in terms of its potential but just like Bellator and the UFC there is still quite a gap before we can say its overtaken #2.
Speaking of Bellator they had a pretty good event on Saturday in their first fight card for the new year featuring Ryan Bader, who was coming off a two fight losing streak, going up against Fedor Emeliananko protege Valentin Modlavsky to unify the Heavyweight title in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. We also had Benson Henderson who was himself on a three fight losing streaking also an Arizona native going up against Khabib Nurmagomedov’s pupil Islam Mamedov who hadn’t lost a fight since 2009.
The fight between the two ended up going to a split decision but I am not mad about it. It was pretty entertaining and the scrambles between the two showed the experience on display from Benson. This could be the last time we see Henderson in the (Bellator) cage, so if he plans to retire on a win that’s about as much as you can ask for from this brutal sport.
We then had the main event between the easiest fight in the UFC Ryan Bader and Valentin Moldavsky to unify the belt and underdog Ryan Bader comes out red hot and lands a massive right that hurts Moldavsky and almost drops him to have the most significant moment of the round. In the second the story changes a bit where Moldavsky out grapples Bader and holds him against the cage for the next two rounds, by my card 2-1 Moldavsky. Bader’s corner agreed with me as much, telling Bader that he needed the next two rounds in order to win, which I respect. No need to sugar coat anything when you are fighting for a championship. Bader to his credit turns up the heat and starts to put on his own clinic in the fourth. In my opinion 2-2 going into the 5th.
Halfway through the last round it was pretty much even until Valentin took his back and finished off the round with another take down to then push Bader up against the fence to finish off the round. From what I can tell I think that Moldavsky takes it with that final round effort where he had control for almost half the round.
Bader end ups on top via unanimous decision and defends his belt. And his prize is his rematch with Chiek Kongo in a run back with to the first fight that had ended via eye poke. Not only that but he is going to do it in Paris. #11 Chiek’s home turf. Should be fun.
UFC should be concerned that they might lose ground on their off week. It’s just a damn good time to be an MMA fan with plenty of choices for everyone where you are not paying for a ESPN + subscription or a $75 dollar PPV, it’s also not the same quality per but if you are not watching it is your loss.
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As always invest in your mental health,
and fuck you Jon Jones.
Per official No Name MMA Show Rankings