The Good Bellator 95 – Bellator ended this season on a high note on Thursday night with four entertaining fights, three of which ended early. The show opened with a grudge match between former title challenger Rick Hawn and UFC vet Karo Parisyan. The first round was relatively uneventful until the closing seconds when Hawn landed a head kick that stunned Parisyan. By the second round it was clear that Hawn was the much better conditioned fighter which was punctuated when he dropped Karo with a right hand followed by a few hammer fists before the referee stopped the contest. The second televised bout ended in even more definitive fashion as Doug Marshall floored Brett Cooper with a right hook that put him down hard on his back. Unfortunately for Cooper the referee did not intervene in time as Marshall landed a final crushing right hand that separated him from consciousness. The win earned “The Rhino” a shot at Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Schlemenko.   The co-main event of the night was the finals of this season’s featherweight tournament between Mike Richman and Frodo Khasbulaev. Both fighters traded strikes standing for the majority of three rounds and while it was competitive, the judges scored the bout for Khasbulaev via unanimous decision after three rounds. With the victory Khasbulaev set himself up to face the winner of the main event of the night. That fight was between Bellator 145 pound champ Pat Curran and challenger Shahbulat Shamhalaev. Many felt that Shamhalaev would be a stern test for Curran given the way destroyed his opposition en route to his title opportunity but that wasn’t the case. After a slow start to the contest, the challenger landed a couple low kicks but neither fighter landed anything significant. Midway through the round Curran shot [...]

The Good Bellator 93 – If you blinked more than once or took a trip to the bathroom or kitchen you may have missed more than a few fights on Thursday nights Bellator 93. Of the 10 fights on the card only two made it out of the first round which included the main event between Dave Jansen and Marcin Held. That bout, which was the finals of this season’s Bellator lightweight tournament saw Jansen emerge the winner via unanimous decision and secure future title shot in the division. As for the rest of the contests, you had an even split between knockouts and submissions while throwing in a no contest between Marcus Davis and Waachim Spiritwolf that ended in the opening round for good measure. If you get a chance to check out a replay of the event do so and if you skip the main event you’ll enjoy a brief, yet fun night of fights.   Anthony Johnson vs Andrei Arlovski – While the World Series Of Fighting 2 main event between Andrei Arlovski and Anthony Johnson may not contend for any fight of the year awards it was a relatively entertaining scrap to cap off a solid event. Both fighters came out swinging for the fences early on but it was the smaller Johnson who landed more often and with more effect. During the closing moments of the first round Johnson scored a flash knockdown on Arlovski who popped back up before being dropped with another right seconds later. Rumble attempted to seize the opportunity and finish The Pitbull but was only able to land a couple more strikes before the referee stepped in as the round ended. Rounds two and three both featured numerous exchanges on the feet but Johnson was clearly fatigued by the third [...]

The Good UFC 157 PPV – Billed as history in the making with with women competing in the octagon for the first time let alone the main event, UFC 157 on pay-per-view not only lived up to the hype but exceeded it. The broadcast started with Robbie Lawler’s return to the UFC as he got a first round referee stoppage against longtime welterweight contender Josh Koscheck. The second fight of the night turned out to be a solid scrap between former Ultimate Fighter winner Court McGee and Josh Neer. McGee won by landing a record-breaking amount of strikes for a fight in the UFC’s welterweight division against Neer who hung tough despite absorbing so much. Former WEC featherweight champion Uriah Faber put on a spectacular performance in his rematch against Ivan Menjivar. Faber was effective early on with elbows inside Menjivars guard. Menjivar managed to scramble to his feet but as he did Urijah hopped on his back and transitioned into a standing rear naked choke eventually submitting his opponent.   The one downside to the pay-per-view was the co-main event between Lyoto Machida and Dan Henderson. Honestly, based on the stylistic matchup a boring decision win for Machida comes as no real surprise and unfortunately that’s exactly what fans got. The crowd quickly got back into things as Ronda Rousey made her way to the cage. The recently crowned champion immediately rushed her challenger in an attempt to get her to the ground and while the fight hit the mat shortly after it was Carmouche who ended up in an advantageous position on Rousey’s back. Ronda got to her feet while Carmouche worked to sink in a standing rear naked choke attempt and although she came ever so close to getting it Rousey was able to shake her off. [...]

The Good Nonito Donaire – Let’s be honest, most rational observers believed Nonito Donaire would not only defeat but stop Jorge Arce in their WBO super-bantamweight title fight on Saturday night thus the result comes as no surprise. That said, the punch and ensuing knockout from Donaire was visually impressive. Donaire initially dropped Arce with a right hand in the second round. Arce recovered well and looked to take the fight to the defending champ but was knocked down again in the third after being hurt with a right hand. Once again the Mexican fighter got up before the count but ill advisedly waved on Donaire only to be caught with a devastating left hook that put Arce down and out at 2:59 of the third round. It was the fourth win of the year for Donaire and a reminder of why he’s called “The Filipino Flash”.   The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale – It’s almost ironic that the previous nights UFC on FX 6 was the finale of The Ultimate Fighter Smashes considering that Saturdays TUF 16 finale provided so many smashing finishes. Unlike the 16th season of The Ultimate Fighter which featured numerous lackluster fights, the finale saw only 2 of the 11 bouts go the distance. The violent finishes started early as Hugo Viana dropped Reuben Duran three times en route to a first-round knock out. Rustam Khabilov had a memorable UFC debut landing a series of suplexes on opponent Vinc Pichel, the last of which stunned Pichel was saved by the referee after being hit with a few following punches rendering him unconscious. Elsewhere Pat Barry got back on the winning track with a brutal second round knockout of Shane Del Rosario. After surviving some rough spots in the ground in the opening round Barry came [...]

The Good Luis Carlos Abregu – Looking to get back to it’s roots, Saturdays HBO Boxing After Dark broadcast featured a mix of of lesser known and up and coming fighters including a main event intended to launch Puerto Rican prospect Thomas Dulorme to the next level of his career. Apparently Luis Carlos Abregu didn’t get the memo. Although sporting a glossy record of 33-1 with 29 knockouts heading into the bout, Abregu was viewed as an opponent with a somewhat reputable name that could elevate Dulorme and early on it appeared things were going as planned. It was evident from the opening bell that Dulorme was the much faster fighter both in foot and hand speed as he got off his punches against the awkward Argentenian. If nothing else Abregu does have a relatively big punch which Dulorme learned firsthand when he was dropped by a right hand in the third round. Dulorme got off the canvas but was still visibly hurt and Abregu was all over him in an attempt to finish things. Moments later Dulorme would go down again but it would not be ruled a knockdown which was a debatable but ultimately inconsequential judgement call by the referee. The Puerto Rican would switch to southpaw in the fourth round which was an effective strategical move as he outboxed Abregu, whom was having difficulty landing his punches. However Abregu would occasionally land his big right hand. What was up to that point a close fight came to an abrupt end in the eigth round after Abregu hurt and knocked Dulorme down again. Dulorme beat the count but his corner would call a halt to the contest sensing that their charge had little left to offer on this night. The loss was a signifigant one for Dulorme as [...]

The Good Peter Quillin vs Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam – Of the four featured fights set for the recently opened Barclays Center in Brooklyn the bout between Peter Quillin and Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam may have been the least discussed beforehand yet turned out to be the best of the night. Little was known of WBO 160 pound champion N’Jikam who was defending his title in enemy territory but even in defeat he earned many fans respect. N’Jikam boxed well including using good movement, a solid jab and quick combinations to seemingly win the majority of the rounds against the challenger. The problem for the product of Cameroon is the rounds he lost he did so in fight changing fashion. Quillin relied on a powerful left hook to drop N’Jikam twice in 3 seperate rounds, the fourth, sixth, and twelfth. Although thee final scorecards would indicate otherwise, the contest appeared to be up for grabs in the final frame, a round N’Jikam was winning until he got overly aggressive leading to getting caught and the aforementioned knockdowns that followed. Regardless of the final tallies, 115-107 by all three judges, the fight felt much closer and was compelling until the final bell. Dave Jansen vs Magomed Saadulaev – Fridays Bellator 77 brought the opening round of the organizations latest lightweight tournament which was highlighted by the battle between Dave Jansen and Magomed Saadulaev. The opening round was a grappling exhibition as both men dislayed both their offensive and defensive skills throughout the first 5 minutes. The second round featured more striking on the feet and ground as Jansen started building momentum against a tiring Saadulaev. The third and final round didn’t last long as Saadulaev shot in for a sloppy takedown only to be caught in a guillotine choke by the American. A [...]