Every week, we’ll release a new MMA mix tape entitled “The Remix” that looks back at not only the biggest stories of the last seven days, but some of the ones that aren’t getting enough attention too, with some weekly awards and a prospect to watch going forward added in for good measure.
Bader establishes himself as Bellator MMA’s biggest star
Ryan Bader accomplished a lot of things on Saturday night at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
By knocking out Fedor Emelianenko in 35 seconds, the reigning light heavyweight champion won the vacant heavyweight title and the Heavyweight Grand Prix, which also earned him a belt, while becoming the first fighter in Bellator MMA history to hold titles in two weight classes simultaneously.
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He pushed his record since signing with the promotion to 6-0, including four finishes, and added the name of the iconic Russian heavyweight to an already strong list of vanquished foes. He also set himself up to be the company’s biggest star going forward.
Although it has happened with surprising regularity over the last seven months, the whole “holding titles in two divisions” thing is still a staggering accomplishment that commands attention, regardless of whether it’s happening on the regional circuit or the highest levels of the sport. Not only that, but Bader, like Daniel Cormier, accomplished the feat at the upper limits of the scale, claiming gold in two divisions that have historically commanded a lot of attention and featured a vast array of talented fighters.
Now he’s poised to potentially defend both, which is something none of his contemporaries have managed. Conor McGregor didn’t defend either of his belts, while Cormier dropped the light heavyweight belt without defending it after winning the heavyweight strap in July. Despite having just won the featherweight title at the end of last year, Amanda Nunes has already said she’s done with the 145-pound weight class and ready to relinquish the belt.
Even attempting to pull this off is a massive win for Bader and makes his ever appearance a must-see event. Holding two belts simultaneously is impressive, but defending two belts at the same time is a next-level achievement and regardless of whom he’s facing, fans are going to want to tune in to see if Bellator’s first “Double Champ” can do what his UFC counterparts could not — successfully retain both titles.
Talking with Bader prior to Saturday’s event , the Arizona State alum agreed when I suggested he was underappreciated, but acknowledged he’s not someone who is going to actively seek out recognition because he knows what he’s accomplished. I told him that if he won, I’d be out here advocating for him to start getting that recognition because it’s long overdue, and now here we are.
Bader is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet — a guy who has gone 12-1 in his last 13 fights — and should be one of the cornerstones for Bellator MMA from here on out.
He’s the kind of established, in-his-prime fighter, who should a central part of every big event the company plans over the next 12-18 months and a guy whose success inside the cage is going to help attract more competitors to the brand going forward.
The Pico problem
I touched on this a little in " 10 things we learned" following Saturday night’s event, but wanted to dive a little deeper and pull some examples to help illustrate the point even further here.
Basically, Bellator and Pico were kind of in a no-win situation after he beat Leandro Higo without much resistance back in September. He’d won four straight, all by first-round stoppage, and just handled a former title challenger, albeit from down a division, who was once a highly touted prospect himself.
If they put him in with someone less accomplished, less dangerous, people would accuse Bellator of “protecting him,” but after pairing him off with Henry Corrales and seeing how things turned out, many want to argue he was pushed too far, too fast.
We see this all the time.
Michael “Venom” Page still hasn’t fought anyone of real substance and after three or four “showcase” bouts, fans were clamoring for him to face stiffer competition. Now we’re 13 fights in and people aren’t nearly as enamored with his flashy offense because all he’s faced are guys that he’s supposed to style on.
The flip side is someone like Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, who went from knocking out Dan Stittgen in his UFC debut to facing Matt Brown in his sophomore outing. Even though Brown was struggling at the time, he was still far more seasoned, far more tested than anyone Thompson had faced to date and the loss took some of the wind out of the future title challenger’s sails.
What makes all this so difficult is that there is no easy way to resolve the issue.
In an ideal world, Pico would have been able to spend a year or two facing solid veteran fighters who could push him — the Darren Elkins and Chas Skellys of the world who are durable and tough, but not world-beaters (sorry boys) so that he can garner experience, face some tough situations and progress at a reasonable pace.
But you can only do that so many times before people start clamoring to see the heralded prospect face a real test, at which point you just have to drop him in there with someone dangerous and see what happens.
The other thing that really complicates matters for both Pico and Bellator right now is that debut knockout loss to Zack Freeman.
If Pico entered Saturday’s fight as a 4-0 fighter with four straight first-round stoppage wins or a 5-0 fighter who had actually won his professional debut, this loss just becomes a case of biting off a little more than he could chew. While that’s still partially true, getting sparked for a second time in six fights now adds questions about his chin and his defensive skills to the conversation and getting over being declared “chinny” is a difficult hurdle to clear.
Now, it becomes a case of just how far can Bellator back him off following this loss and how far will Pico want to back off? Remember, he dropped Corrales and had him hurt, so it’s not like he got completely outclassed and really needs to re-evaluate where he fits in the division.
He’s close to contention and has elite potential; he just needs time and experience, neither of which are easy to come by in this sport.
Determining what to do next with Pico is going to be one of the most interesting stories to track over these next several months and the truth is, there is no simple answer that is going to satisfy everyone.
Fickle, fickle fans
When Bader was in the UFC, a large portion of the fight-loving population was indifferent to him because he couldn’t be the absolute best the light heavyweight division had to offer and he lost to Tito Ortiz way back in 2011.
When he hit free agency and ultimately headed to Bellator, most didn’t think anything of it because despite having gone 7-1 over his last eight appearances in the Octagon, that one loss — to Anthony Johnson, who only ever lost to Daniel Cormier at LHW in the UFC —meant that Bader wasn’t all that good and wouldn’t be missed.
Now that he’s in Bellator racking up wins and making a strong case for being one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, those same fans want to diminish his accomplishments because they’re not taking place in the UFC.
You didn’t want him, but now you’re going to penalize him for going 6-0 against legitimate competition because it’s not happening inside the Octagon?
I know MMA fans are fickle and none of this is surprising, but it’s still annoying to see because it has corrupted the way we view fighters, both inside and outside of the UFC.
Everyone competing outside of the Octagon gets automatic demerits for not facing the absolute best their division has to offer, but at the same time, tons of ultra-talented, quality fighters in the UFC get undervalued and overlooked because they’re unable to beat the three or four best fighters in their division.
There is no recognition that being the seventh-best welterweight on the planet is still a tremendous achievement because if you’re not first, you’re last. Except if you’re a young fighter on the rise because you’re eventually going to be first and getting on board the bandwagon early is crucial.
And even if you are first, you better be exciting and charismatic and marketable or else you’re still not going to get over with the audience as a whole.
Stop diminishing achievements and overlooking talented fighters just because you’re too lazy to pay attention to anyone other than the most popular names, have some kind of weird bias against fighters outside of the UFC or simply don’t like a particular fighter.
What Bader has done in Bellator is incredible — full stop. If he were still in the UFC, he’d still be one of the absolute best light heavyweights on the planet, just like he was when he left.
Fight of the Weekend: Juan Archuleta def. Ricky Bandejas at Bellator 214
There was nothing flashy or crazy or particularly jarring about this fight; it was just a clean, technical, tactical scrap between two talented fighters.
This whole fight was about moves and countermoves — Archuleta looking to circle and Bandejas trying to cut him off; “The Spaniard” hunting for takedowns and trying to grapple and the kid from Jersey fending him off and making him work; Bandejas landing a big kick and Archuleta working out ways to avoid the follow-up blows and clear his head.
It felt like the kind of fight that Bandejas would win two or three years from now and one that will help him grow as a fighter. He was making quality adjustments and kept closing the distance on Archuleta, literally and figuratively, but he couldn’t put it all together and truly shift the momentum in his favor, leading to the decision going Archuleta’s way.
This fight showed how savvy and experienced “The Spaniard” is and established him as a contender in two divisions, while it should indicate to people that Bandejas has the potential to be someone who hangs around the top tier of the Bellator bantamweight division for the foreseeable future as well.
Submission of the Weekend: Reinier de Ridder submits Rong Fan at ONE Championship: Hero’s Ascent
Who doesn’t love a good D’arce choke?
dream sweet brother
— Jolassanda (@Jolassanda) January 25, 2019
Reinier de Ridder sleeps Rong Fan in 1R (ONE) pic.twitter.com/7mOegDcVVb
The 28-year-old de Ridder is now 10-0 (with 10 finishes) and someone who could land himself a title shot with a couple impressive finishes inside the ONE Championship cage. His opponent, Rong Fan, was on a 12-fight winning streak and had only lost once prior to their encounter on Friday and that came all the way back in his professional debut, so it’s not like de Ridder locked up some neophyte who had no idea what he was doing.
The Dutchman is someone to keep an eye on over these next several months as ONE continues to build momentum and cash in on the big acquisitions they made last year.
Knockout of the Weekend: Henry Corrales def. Aaron Pico at Bellator 214
Not only was the finishing blow a beautiful shot, but when you add in that Corrales got dropped 30 seconds earlier and was catching wreck right up until he connected, this finish becomes even better.
There were some other impressive finishes at Bellator 214 and throughout the MMA world this weekend, but nothing reverberated as much as this one, not even Bader’s 35-second win over Fedor. That was the expected outcome; this was a surprise, both overall and in terms of how the initial seconds of the fight played out.
Corrales is tough, seasoned and getting great coaching now that he’s working with the crew at the MMA Lab. If he gets the rematch with Patricio Pitbull that he was asking for after the fight, it should be an absolute barnburner.
Prospect to Watch after this Weekend: Lowen Tynanes
Tynanes moved to 10-0 over the weekend by picking up a first-round stoppage win over Honorio Banario at ONE Championship: Hero’s Ascent to advance to the next round of the Lightweight Grand Prix.
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The Hawaiian has long been considered one of the top prospects in the sport, but a herniated disc had kept him on the sidelines since his victory over Koji Ando in April 2016. By coming back and running through Banario, the 28-year-old put himself in a position to possibly face Eddie Alvarez in the semifinals, should the former UFC champion successfully get by Timofey Nastyukhin in his promotional debut.
That fight will thrust Tynanes into the spotlight, but it’s a position the talented Hawaiian deserves to be in. Hopefully the injury woes are behind him and he can get back to making his way up the lightweight ranks in 2019.