The Official Bellator Thread

[Pappy Knuckles]

Looks like Bellator has no interest in signing Jon Fitch.

Quote:

The UFC released Jon Fitch yesterday and the belief was that he could likely land in Bellator and speculation started that he could end up fighting in Bellator. However, Bellator MMA Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney told TheMMAReport.com that they will not be signing him. “I have a lot of respect for Jon [Fitch] and I have a lot of respect for anyone who has to courage to do what these guys do and the athletic ability to do what they do but we are not going to be signing Jon Fitch,” Rebney said prior to Bellator 90. Fitch is considered one of the top welterweight fighters in the world and had a UFC record of 14-3-1. However, he has gone 1-2-1 in his last four fights which led to the UFC deciding to part ways with him. Bellator’s welterweight division is one of the deepest divisions currently in Bellator and Rebney wants to continue the development of the fighters that are currently under contract with his organization. “We have a stacked welterweight division right now. We have a lot of guys that we are developing that we anticipate are going to be world class fighters and break the top ten. We want to keep guys busy. We want to keep guys inside the cage and we have a plan in terms of the next year and who is going to be apart of the tournaments and it’s just not the time.” When it comes to free agents that may come available, it’s a case by case basis in deciding whether Bellator will attempt to sign the fighter. “There is no hard and fast line in the sand with us. ‘King Mo’ Lawal came out of Strikeforce. He is one of my favorite fighters fighting in our organization. He is wildly exciting and awesomely talented. Ben ‘Killa B’ Saunders is another example and is fighting for us tonight. He came out and lost two straight in the UFC when we signed him. I just liking watching him fight. I love the knees and I love the clinch game and I thought he was exciting, so we signed him. There will be others like that. There will be other guys that get released from the UFC and it’s not a hard and fast rule.” According to Rebney, the philosophy of Bellator is to build fighters in the organization and allow them to become a top fighters in the world. “The philosophy that we have employed is where we build some of the best fighters in the world from within. Pat Curran, number two in the world. Michael Chandler, on most peoples list as number four in the world and other guys rapidly ascending to the top five to ten in the world. That has been the model and that doesn’t mean that we are not going to sign guys. That doesn’t mean that a guy might be released from the UFC or any other organization in the world that we may not think he would be a good fit for them here.”

[ManiacMatt1782]

Quote: Originally Posted by ex carrabba fan

King Mo stick with wrestling bruh lol I'm still mad that he got such a large margin of victory against Mousasi. Ever since then I stopped liking Mo. Glad to see Lima make it to the final too

That "win" vs mousasi was the epitome of lay and pray from top position. Mousasi beat the everlasting **** out of mo from his back while Mo barely threw anything in return. Mousasi didnt care that he was on his back, he was out striking Mo from his back. Mousasi deserved to win that fight despite not being able to stop the takedown, because even afer the takedown and the fight was where mo wanted it, Mousasi was still viciously winning the exchanges from the bottom. But Judges only seem to see the fighter on top doing damage.

[p_rushing]

Glad Mo lost, I was laughing watching him laying there. Guy went in there and threw a few punches and dropped his hands and walked around. He thought he would win easily and got to cocky. Too many guys like him fell in love with their KOs and stopped using their base and training.

[Pappy Knuckles]

Karo Parisyan will fight Rick Hawn on April 4th. Karo's been kind of an underachiever the past few years, but he's a fun guy to watch. Cool pickup for Bellator.

[sycodmn]

Went to high school with Newton, and Jesse Juarez, who won on the undercard. Really happy for those dudes.

[redsrule]

Another huge favorite lost today in Will Brooks. That's 4 giant favorites that have lost this month in Rashad, Overeem, King Mo & now Brooks.

[Gotmadskillzson]

I wouldn't say Will Brooks was a favorite, he was everybody's favorite underdog. He was well liked yeah, but he was also fighting against a guy who had 8 more professional fights then him in Saad Awad. I knew sooner or later a more experienced fighter would catch him.

[Pappy Knuckles]

Quote:

Bellator fighter Daniel Straus was arrested on four traffic and drug charges on Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. According to arrest records, Straus was charged with driving on a suspended license, possession of cannabis of more than 20 grams, possession of MDMA/ecstasy, and use or possession of drug paraphernalia. An official was unable to provide additional information and said a spokesperson would be available on Monday during regular office hours. Straus currently is being held in the North Broward Bureau detention facility in Pompano Beach, according to the sheriff's website. His bond for the four charges is set at $2,200.

More bad news for Bellator. Straus is my favorite fighter in their organization, tough news. Anyone know anything about how hard they go after Ecstacy users? The weed wasn't even an ounce, so I wouldn't imagine his charges for that would be too bad. Who knows though.