Tonight and tomorrow will see yours truly glued to the television (and the computer) to watch Bellator MMA 111 on Spike TV tonight, and then UFC Fight Night 38 tomorrow on Fight Pass.
The Bellator card starts minutes from now, and though I'm pretty fanatical about this sport, I'll be honest and admit that I am only familiar with a handful of its fighters. I've seen Eduardo Dantas and Lavar Johnson, but that's about it.
And that's why Bellator is, for the moment, at least, the minor leagues of mixed martial arts. While Bellator does have some legitimate world-class fighters on its roster (Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler), most of their guys are hoping to make a name for themselves at Bellator and then jump ship to the UFC.
But you know what? That's okay. We'll probably still see some entertaining fights tonight. We may even see a proverbial diamond in the rough. Anytime there's a fight, there's potential for insane action. We may jump out of our seats when we see Blake Griffin dunk over two defenders, but we do back flips out of our seats when we see some guy get stretched with one punch. It leaves us wide-eyed and stunned, with our chins glued to our chests. That's a fight, ladies and gentlemen. You can't get that anywhere else.
So I'll tune in to Bellator and see what happens.
But tomorrow at noon my time (Eastern Standard Time), I'll have the laptop open and I'll have the UFC Fight Pass streaming Fight Night 38, live from London, England. The UFC is truly international. Last weekend we saw a much better than expected card when the UFC paid a visit to red China. Dong Hyun Kim landed a blistering spinning elbow that dropped John Hathaway like a sack of tire irons. If you're keeping track, I picked Kim to win. And while I didn't officially pick two other fights on the card, I did state that if I absolutely had to bet, I thought that Matt Mitrione and Hatsu Hioki would win their fights. And they did. So I'm still running pretty hot. I've only made one wrong pick since I started this blog back up a few weeks ago.
So let's talk about Fight Night 38. There are some good fights on this card, dear readers. The most intriguing matchup, by far, is the co-main event between Michael Johnson and Melvin Guillard. These guys used to be members of the same camp--the famous Blackzillians. That is, until Guillard left or was kicked out--the story keeps changing. But back when they were there together, they sparred a lot. For those of you who have never trained in a combat sport--it's bad manners to really hurt your training partners. Sparring is meant to be a learning experience--one from which you can walk away without serious injury. These guys said to heck with that.
I've seen video footage of their sparring sessions. They didn't play around. They went at it hard. Other members have said they constantly had to keep an eye on them because they would try to knock each other out. I predict they will pick up where they left off. Especially since their bad blood only got worse when Guillard left the Blackzillians. The camp didn't have great things to say about him, and he had even less to say about them.
Melvin claimed that he almost always got the better of Michael during their sparring sessions. "About 80% of the time," he said. But the one clip I saw showed Johnson doing quite well against the far more seasoned Guillard.
All the same, I think now is a good time to pause and share a story with you. Being a long time mma fan, I've seen the sport evolve from an underground sport with a small cult following into what it is today. I won't claim it's mainstream, but it is certainly well known. Melvin has been fighting since before it blew up. The first time I saw him, in fact, was not on Season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter, but on a Bad Breed DVD. What in blazes is that, you ask? Bad Breed was a subscription service that sent DVD's packed with mma stuff to its subscribers. Sometimes the DVD's had whole fight cards from smaller shows around the country. Sometimes they contained fighter interviews, behind the scenes looks, and even instructions on how to pull off some of those crazy mma moves we marveled at back in the day.
But one of them had an early fight of Melvin Guillard's. I remember being struck. Simon Cowell often looked for the "X-Factor" when watching performers sing. Well, it was plain to see that Melvin had that X-Factor for fighting.
He was super explosive. Immensely strong. Incredibly athletic. His punches flowed like a man who had been boxing his whole life. His kicks made a sound like a baseball bat slamming into a side of beef. I thought, this kid is special.
Then I watched him on The Ultimate Fighter and fully expected him to win. But he didn't. He was signed to a UFC contract anyway. And since then he has gone on to fight more than almost any other active fighter inside the octagon. He has racked up a ton of knockout of the night bonuses, fight of the night bonuses, and has never been in a boring fight. He either knocks out his opponent, or gets knocked out or submitted.
I've come to terms with the fact that he will never be a world champion--he simply lacks the mental fortitude and discipline that the absolute best guys have--but that doesn't change my opinion that he is, indeed, a special fighter. Watch him, and enjoy.
His opponent, Michael Johnson, is also a bad son-of-a-gun. Like Melvin, he has been inconsistent in the ring, losing to guys he should have beat, and winning against guys he should have lost to. On paper, at least. But he's looked sharp lately, and Melvin had best bring his A-game if he wishes to win this one.
My read end has been in this chair too long, ladies and gentlemen, and I'm in desperate need of a break, so I am going to give a couple quick takes on some other fighters on the card and then get off of here.
Main event: Gustafsson vs Manuwa
Alexander Gustafsson, to many, is the uncrowned 205 pound champion of the world. In his last outing, he put a beating on pound-for-pound great, Jon Jones. Many thought he was robbed of a victory by the judges. Pause for a moment, and understand what that means. It means that Gus is truly one of the best fighters breathing oxygen right now. Line every fighter in the world up in one line from least to greatest, and he is near the front of the pack. He is that good.
Jimi Manuwa is a crippling puncher, blessed with incredible knockout power. If he lands solid on Gus, he could win. But he has only had 14 fights (though he did win all of them...), and not against the level of competition that Gus has fought. Plus, he has gotten visibly tired in the 2nd and 3rd rounds of recent fights. This one is scheduled for 5 rounds. Unless he lands a big shot, Gus handles him.
Alexander Gustafsson TKO 4 Manuwa
Other fighters to watch closely are Gunnar Nelson and Luke Barnatt. Both guys are officially unbeaten, and have looked good. Plus, the Cyrille Diabate retirement fight against Ilir Latifi should be fun to watch.
So go watch the fights, and tune in next time for Part 4 of "The Rise and Fall of Rampage Jackson."
Until then.
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