I don't get to talk too much about Bellator on here, so I'm glad that I get to mix it in today. I've said before that I don't do too much Bellator, especially picks, because I'm not as familiar with the back end of their roster as I am with the UFC. When I talk about the UFC and I suggest future opponents for certain fighters outside of the rankings, I have a decent feel for where they are in the top 30 or even lower and what other fighters are in their same range. I wouldn't be able to do that for Bellator and instead of just making things up or having to basically copy what someone else already said, I just leave that for someone who is more familiar with the roster from top to bottom. With that said, I do watch quite a bit of Bellator, especially when they aren't overlapping with the UFC. I think Bellator needs to keep their Friday night time slot and stop trying to compete on Saturday nights, though. There's plenty of days in the week to hold events, they don't need to compete with the UFC. Even though they did almost no promotion for it at all, this past weekend was stacking up to potentially be their event of the year. We were getting the conclusion to their light heavyweight Grand Prix with Vadim Nemkov defending his title against Corey Anderson and then the rematch between AJ McKee and Patricio Pitbull. Both of these fights had some talking points coming out of them and I wanted to mention them while the timeline allows for it.
I feel horrible for Corey Anderson. I don't necessarily call myself a fan, but I have found myself rooting for him quite a bit in his career, especially recently. He's been at the top of the 205 lbs division in both the UFC and now Bellator for what seems like forever now. He's just always had that title avoid him in some way and I was happy that he was finally getting the title shot and was pulling for him. If you didn't see the fight, it ended up ending in a no contest after Anderson and Nemkov leaned into each other during a ground exchange causing an accidental clash of heads. The contact opened a huge cut near Nemkov's eye and the referee immediately halted the action. The doctor was called in and he quickly determined that Nemkov wouldn't be allowed to continue. We weren't able to get a technical decision because the fight hadn't completed at least 3 of the scheduled 5, so we are left with a no contest. Obviously, this fight will be run back and the Grand Prix will be officially completed and the check will be handed out, but I can't help but feel for Anderson. He was clearly winning the fight and was about to be up 29-28, had the third rounded ended the way it was looking. Nemkov could have came back and won those last two rounds, but it was really looking like Corey was finally going to capture the title that has eluded him for so long. I normally try not to align myself with fighters incase one of them sees this and I don't want to come across as biased incase this website ever actually becomes something that is relevant in the space, but I'm definitely going to be on Corey Anderson's side here. He's been through so much from his UFC days and the way it ended to him going over to Bellator and finally reaching the title fight. For it to end like that is gut wrenching. I don't think they've put out a potential date for when the rematch will be booked, but I'm looking forward to it whenever it is back on the schedule. Hopefully Bellator at least tries to promote it this time around too.
The main event was the rematch between AJ McKee and Patricio Pitbull for the featherweight championship that was surrounded with a bit of controversy. For some reason, McKee thought he was winning the fight even though some are arguing that he never won a round. I had the fight 49-46 for Pitbull, but I would have accepted a 48-47 in his favor as a reasonable take as well. McKee is probably the best fighter on Bellator's entire roster and is certainly their most exciting and marketable. However, it was pretty clear all fight week that he wasn't taking this fight as seriously as he needed to. He did an interview on the MMA Hour and he was talking about everything except for Patricio Pitbull and it kind of showed. He was talking about how easily he would defeat Alex Volkanovski and how he was going to demand $1 million per fight and then got beaten pretty convincingly. His reaction after they read the decision tells us that he thought he was winning or was being told that from his corner. If you're not familiar with the situation, AJ McKee's dad is the primary coach in his corner and I never really think that is a good idea, fighting or otherwise. I don't think mixing family with work is generally a good strategy and this is why. Obviously Antonio is biased towards his son and is going to think he's winning, but now it is to the detriment of his son's performance. A coach who isn't as invested as a caring and loving father would have been able to assess the situation more realistically and provided AJ with the feedback he needed during the fight. That stuff is just my personal opinion though and clearly the pair has worked out for them way more often than not. I'm not really sure why McKee thought he was winning though. His offensive output was so limited and that isn't his normal style. He has since come out and said that the trilogy fight won't happen at featherweight if it does at all, so maybe the weight cut has something to do with it. That wasn't the AJ McKee that we had become accustomed to and it is hard to say why, but he did seem distracted to some degree. There was some confusion on what this means for his contract as well. That fight was on the champions clause for him, so now that he is no longer the champion, no one seemed to know exactly how that changes things. McKee is still a young guy and hopefully he can use this as a learning experience.
As for Pitbull, what else is there to really say about the guy at this point. He's been one of the faces of Bellator for so long now and fights like these are exactly why. He had never lost a rematch coming into this fight and he remained perfect Friday. Whether McKee took him lightly or not, Pitbull came ready to fight and he largely looked good. He was at a significant size disadvantage and he had to be careful. On the feet, he was the one who was landing more frequently and with more power, which wasn't really expected. He was also doing well in the grappling exchanges for the most part and had a nice attempt at a guillotine even though McKee was eventually able to escape. I thought he won the fight pretty clearly and it was a really good performance from him. We'll see what the future holds for him as champion and if the trilogy fight with McKee ever actually happens.
What did you guys think of the fights? What did you think about the way Anderson vs Nemkov ended? Would you have Anderson as the favorite in the rematch based on what we saw? What about McKee vs Pitbull? How did you score the fight? Do you think we will get the trilogy? Leave your thoughts and comments below. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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