Bellator 85: Chandler vs. Hawn
Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:00
Irvine, California
Bellator Fighting Championships returns following a disappointing Season Seven to open 2013 with their debut on their new television home, Spike TV.
Given the upgrading of their promotional reach and potential audience, they have understandably loaded the card with two of their most hotly anticipated title matches and the promotion is looking to make an instant impact on the big stage.
The Bellator 360 series, showcasing the talent and history of the promotion has already proven to be a hit on Spike (and well worth seeking out if you hadn’t already) and along with a manful attempt to appear the UFC’s equal in the ongoing Eddie Alvarez contract saga (more on that in another article), Bellator are really making their play to be seen as a rival to the UFC rather than one of many minor leagues.
Heading up this card is the Lightweight title fight between champion Michael Chandler (10-0) and Season Six tournament winner Rick Hawn (14-1).
A former NCAA division One wrestler, Chandler has shown his well rounded game and maturity in finishing eight of his ten fights, including the last two against Eddie Alvarez and Akihiro Gono.
Also nominally a grappler, Hawn is a former Olympic level judoka but has turned that discipline into a base for setting up knockout wins rather than being the submission machine you might expect.
So what on paper looks like a grappling battle is more likely to be settled with fists, because these guys love to throw down.
Hawn is marginally the larger man and has more MMA experience, but has been defeated and by someone with a strong wrestling base (Jay Hieron) which plays into Chandler’s preferred move set.
As such, allied with his more high profile wins I’d make Chandler the marginal favourite but would be loathe to bet against Hawn. Either way, it’s more than likely to be a hell of a match.
It seems that Bellator are putting a tournament match in between the title matches, which is an interesting way to pace the broadcast but in any case they’re showing their commitment to stacking this card by putting one of the favourites for the Light Heavyweight tournament in this slot.
That fighter is the well travelled former Strikeforce champion and UFC contender Renato Sobral (37-9).
The veteran submission ace (19 wins by tapout) is 6-2 since being fired by the UFC in 2007 for refusing to release a choke. Notably, both his losses have come against genuine top ten talents Dan Henderson and Gegard Mousasi via first round knockout. The moral is clearly to hit him in the face before he can grapple you.
Interestingly, the same can be said of his opponent, Russia’s Mikhail Zayats (19-6) who’s preferred method of victory is by sub (10) and most common loss is by KO (3).
While less experienced and celebrated than Sobral, the Russian is on a five fight win streak since a 2011 loss to Vinny Magalhaes and had been by far the more active fighter, which does matter.
This should be an awesome ground battle and I’m really looking forward to it…
…but not quite as much as the match which opens the SPIKE broadcast. Finishing machine Patricio Friere (17-1) won the Season Four Bellator Featherweight tournament and was all set for the chance to revenge his only career loss over then-champion Joe Warren, until injury delayed his return to the point where he missed the whole of 2012.
This opened the door for 2011 Summer Series Featherweight champion, Pat Curran (17-4) to step ahead of him in the queue and relieve Warren of the belt in decisive fashion back in March.
Both of these guys come to finish fights and both are very much in the elite cadre of the 145lb division. Hell, over their last four fights, they’ve knocked off Joe Warren, Marlon Sandro, Daniel Straus and Wilson Reis. That’s AWESOME.
Despite being active, entertaining fighters these two have had their share of decisions but whether this goes one minute or twenty five, I can guarantee a GREAT fight.
The prelims also feature two of the Light Heavyweight tournament quarter finals with KO machine Seth Petruzelli (14-6), who is best known for messing up Elite XC’s plans and knocking out Kimbo Slice facing off with Jacob Noe (8-1) and Bulgarian finisher Antanas Djambazov (17-2) against “Hardcore Kid” Emanuele Newton (18-7-1) in a pair of compelling matches.
Bellator have clearly set out to put a disappointing 2012 behind them and aim to make an instant impression in their new home. This is a cracking card and I’m a bit disheartened that there seems to be no official way to watch from the UK.
MAIN (Spike TV, 10 p.m. ET)
• Michael Chandler vs. Rick Hawn – for lightweight title
• Renato Sobral vs. Mikhail Zayats – light heavyweight tournament opening round
• Pat Curran vs. Patricio Freire – for featherweight title
PRELIMINARY (Spike.com, 7 p.m. ET)
• Cleber Luciano vs. Mario Navarro
• Jacob Noe vs. Seth Petruzelli – light-heavyweight tournament opening round
• Jason Lambert vs. Hector Ramirez
• J.J. Ambrose vs. Brian Warren
• Atanas Djambazov vs. Emanuel Newton – light-heavyweight tournament opening round
• Mike Guymon vs. Savant Young
• Joe Williams vs. Jamie Yager
• Joe Camacho vs. Aaron Miller
KUMITE 