Bellator Season 3: XXXIII on 10/28, Lombard vs. Shlemenko & Fujii vs. Frausto

It kicked off last night for those who weren't paying attention.

Tune in for live world-class MMA every Thursday on Fox Sports Net (or Comcast Sports Net depending on your area) at 8pm EST. :good

The primary interest for me this season is the bantamweight tournament and the superfights. Not to beat a dead horse, but heavyweights in almost any combat sport are always some of the most boring competitors on the whole; and women's MMA is usually nearly as bad.

Thoughts from last night:

Is anyone going to even cause Megu Megu to break a sweat? With her natural talent and Barnett in her corner, she's got to be as massively favored as any top seed in Bellator history despite her age.

Hector Lombard is a bad, bad man. If Shlemenko can't get it done, I'm ready to declare him one of the few if not THE middleweight to beat right now to become the undisputed "man" (across all promotions). Bjorn Rebney seems keen on bending over backwards to make whatever inter-promotional mega fights the fans ask for, so depending on the willingness of other companies we could see the likes of Lombard-Le or even Lombard against some UFC guys like Sonnen, Belfort or - dare we dream it? - Silva.

Is it just me or did Yves Edwards struggle too much with Luis Palomino? Can we safely say he's shot? :think

 

^ Agreed. He's in the same position as Aldo in WEC right now. There literally isn't anything tougher than a sparring session coming down the pipe for him.

Who else is gutted about Pat Curran sitting out the rest of 2010 with an injury and having to miss out on carrying his momentum from season 2 into a title shot in the same year? I suppose Alvarez vs. Huerta is a decent consolation prize, at any rate...

 

Tonight's card:

Tournament Bouts

Heavyweight bout: Damian Grabowski vs. Scott Barrett
Welterweight bout: Brad Blackburn vs. Dan Hornbuckle
Heavyweight bout: Cole Konrad vs. Rogent Lloret
Women's (115 lbs.) bout: Jessica Pene vs. Zoila Frausto

Non-Tournament Bouts

Welterweight bout: Shonie Carter vs. Torrance Taylor
Welterweight bout: Brian Gassaway vs. Kevin Knabjian
Welterweight bout: John Kolosci vs. Kenny Robertson
Lightweight bout: Keoki Cypriano vs. Eric Kriegermeier

 

Frausto and Pene was both an athletic and technical mismatch, but Zoila still hasn't shown herself to be a favorite in the 115lb tournament semifinals.

Blackburn vs. Hornbuckle was my favorite type of MMA match - minimal cage clinches and minimal GNP or grounded idling. :yep This was like a slower but heavier handed version of Jorgensen vs. Pickett on last night's WEC card. Hornbuckle vs. Good would be interesting to see, but due to how Bellator is set up we won't until at least next year (Good will only make one title defense in 2010, and it will be against Ben Askren).

By contrast, Grabowski vs. Barrett was my least favorite type of MMA match :yep - a heavy emphasis on wrestling and takedowns, with one man laying on top of the other without either improving position or looking for a submission much of the time, and minimal stand-up striking or ground BJJ. :barf Yuck. When the most exciting moment in a round is a sweep or someone dropping elbows while in a guard, it's a bad scene IMO. The fat man predictably gassed in the third and the Pole still couldn't put him away with his arm punches and half-assed knee strikes. To top it all off, Grabowski got a gift decision. Neil Groves would probably stop him in less than a minute.

Konrad vs. Lloret, speaking of fat wrestlers with ugly styles, was at least a little bit better in the beginning thanks to the Spaniard's sharp boxing. If only he had a better sprawl. Watching Cole's tits and back-flab jiggle while he squirmed for side control and threw love-taps for several minutes was just nauseating. Again, if Groves can stay on his feet he's got a good chance to end it early against Konrad.

 

Did nobody tune in this week?

None of the Season 1 or 2 champions were on the card, but the semi-finals bracket spots in the heavyweight, and women's tournament were filled out, and the bantamweights started up.

I'm watching the recording now, and will report on the action (even though Bellator seems strangely under-appreciated on this forum).