Bellator 48 Parting Shots

In a month dominated by three UFC events, Bellator contributed some of the best action of the summer with a rock-solid show from the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut on Saturday night. Fans were treated to explosive finishes- there were only two decisions in nine fights- and a nifty upset in the main event, as Pat Curran knocked out Marlon Sandro with a scintillating head kick.

Curran kicks his way into the featherweight top ten

With just one loss in his last eight fights, and that one loss being to elite lightweight and Bellator 155-lb. champion Eddie Alvarez, Pat Curran has officially earned himself a spot among the best featherweights in the world. He has looked amazing at 145 pounds, and that trend continued in a tough fight on Saturday against Marlon Sandro, who I had previously ranked at number five in the division.

Sandro likely won the first stanza, using accurate striking and great movement to outstrike Curran throughout the opening five minutes. He was doing similarly well in the second, but Sandro apparently picked up on a habit of Sandro’s where he would slip right and then left immediately afterward. Late in the round, Sandro looked to do the same and as he moved his head left, Curran threw an exquisitely-timed kick that floored his foe for good.

Adding to the deception of the technique was Curran’s decision to look at Sandro’s legs as he threw the kick to his head, which likely also kept Sandro off-balance against the technique. Curran said that his extremely-experienced brother Jeff helped him with honing the kick and encouraged him to develop it, though he initially wasn’t comfortable throwing it in practice. It certainly paid dividends on Saturday, as he won yet another Bellator tournament (the first, of course, being the lightweight tourney that got him a shot at Alvarez).

Now, Curran will certainly be in my top ten at the end of the month. However, the enthusiastic Bjorn Rebney showed us again why promoters don’t vote in media top ten lists by proclaiming that Curran was definitely “top four” in his division. I don’t know about all that. Top ten for sure, but top four may be a little much at this juncture. I do think Curran has the potential, though, and that’s coming from someone who doesn’t even have a financial stake in his future performances!

Bellator on Spike? Yes, please

This isn’t even a fight-related item, but it’s an interesting tidbit that requires some thought nonetheless. Sherdog.com has reported that Spike TV executives were in attendance at Bellator 48, and though they declined to comment beyond saying that they were “working”, their presence is made all the more intriguing by the UFC’s new deal with Fox.

Bellator CEO Rebney downplayed it a bit, saying that the execs had been at all of Bellator’s shows since they started appearing on MTV2, but he also pointed out that Bellator’s TV deal is not exclusively with MTV2, but with the group of networks in general, which includes Spike TV. Rebney’s further comments on where the UFC was at in terms of their TV situation and how that played into Bellator’s decision to go to MTV2 only goes to show that Bellator was indeed thinking ahead.

“When you look at any kind of potential alliance with a large corporate entity and you’re making that move, you’re always thinking in the back of your mind, ‘Where could this end up, or where could it push? What could they decide from a programming perspective to do?’” said Rebney. “We were all kind of aware of the fact that the UFC had a home with Spike and potentially might move to Comcast, might buy G4, might end up with ESPN, might end up with Fox. So there’s a lot of things in the back of your mind.”

I’m all for a move, personally. The increased exposure that Spike TV would bring, especially if Bellator moved in on the UFC’s customary Wednesdays right when Team Zuffa departs, would be huge for the promotion. Furthermore, MTV2 isn’t in HD with many cable TV carriers (including mine), and I’d be very happy to have my Bellator fights back in HD as God intended them to be.

Quick Shots

–It’s hard to know exactly what a win over an aging veteran means in mixed martial arts, but I do firmly believe that if you can finish a guy like Ricco Rodriguez, that’s pretty damned good. Seth Petruzelli may not have a storybook career to this point, with two relatively unsuccessful UFC stints under his belt, but I do buy into the hype insofar as that his footwork, speed and striking is very good for a heavyweight.

Petruzelli says that he can beat any light heavyweight, but I like him better at heavyweight, actually. If he can continue to work on his movement in order to stay away from the grasp of larger grapplers, he can be a good heavyweight for years to come. At light heavyweight, his speed is less of an advantage, as is his technical striking.

–Though I’ve been less than enthusiastic in the past about watching former wrestlers like Cole Konrad develop- slowly- before our very eyes, I don’t really blame the stinker against Paul Buentello solely on him. Here’s Konrad, making what appeared to be an earnest attempts to improve his striking against a capable and (usually) dangerous opponent, and Buentello was strangely trigger-shy.

I know Buentello is in the later stages of his career, but I do not know for the life of me why a seasoned striker like him would not have been more actively looking for striking opportunities against an MMA novice like Konrad. The moment that Buentello realized that Konrad wasn’t really looking for a quick takedown, Buentello should have 1) thanked whatever deity he worships for his good fortune and 2) started looking for opportunities to knock Konrad’s face in. Why he didn’t is beyond me, but I don’t really blame Konrad for not getting sloppy and chasing down a dangerous striker who clearly wasn’t looking to push the pace himself.

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Tags: Bellator, Bellator 48, Bjorn Rebney, Cole Konrad, Marlon Sandro, Pat Curran, Paul Buentello, Ricco Rodriguez, Seth Petruzelli