Bellator 180

I'll make this a quick write up, because I'm in the middle of watching the Larkin-Lima fight.

The best part of the live prelims on Spike was not the Championship fight between Ryan Bader and Phil Davis, but Mike Goldberg calling the fights.  He was fired from UFC rather unceremoniously about 6 months ago, and the UFC events since then has been kinda meh on the fight calling.  I mean come on, who cares what crappy John Anik has to say?  Anyways it was good to hear Goldie again, but then for the main PPV event, Goldie passes it over to Mauro Ranallo.  Lol it should be the other way around, but I guess Mike Goldberg may have to work up to it.  Anyway, here are some quick thoughts on the card:

Lima vs Larkin
Douglas Lima's brother Dhiego's face (more specifically his Bert-sized nose) annoys me, and he keeps winning matches in The Ultimate Fighter Garbrandt vs Dillashaw.  Because of this, i hope Larkin wins.

Chandler vs Primus
I've seen Chandler in some pretty good and competitive fights.  Primus is supposedly a very young fighter, but a prodigy and a huge prospect in the mma.  I will be rooting for Primus and hopes he lives up to the hype.

Fedor vs Mitrione
This is the only reason I am watching this card.  Fedor is a legend and hall of famer.  He is getting old and is definitely past his prime, but he is still dangerous and tough as @#$%.  Mitrione is surprisingly a good fighter with some notable wins under his belt, but he is not at Fedor's level.  Although I'd love to watch a long competitive fight, I a hoping for a quick ko to add to Fedor's highlight reel.

Sonnen vs Silva
Who cares?  I havent seen Sonnen win any good fights in the last few years.  His only good fight i can remember is when he beat up Anderson Silva for a few rounds before ultimately losing via submission.  He even lost to Tito Ortiz!  I mean really, he lost to old ass Tito Ortiz.  I was a big Wanderlei Silva fan, because of his super aggressive fighting style, but it has been a few years since I've seen him fight, and unless he was staying in shape and competitively training everyday, he may gas out early if he is heavy on offense.  I dont really care, but if i were to choose, I'd go for Silva.

p.s. if this Conor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather fight actually does happen, (*crosses fingers*) stay tuned for my write up on that.  =P

p.p.s. kinda bummed the Black Beast lost to Mark Hunt and then retired.  He was a good fighter in the punch hard - get tired way of Bob Sapp.  He was also funny as @#$% when he dissed Travis Browne after KOing him the F out.  People gotta retire sometime but his fights were always fun to watch ... heres to the Black Beast good luck to you son.

UFC 212 Main Event Predictions

The main event will feature UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo (26-2) pitted against Interim Featherweight Champion Max Holloway (17-3).

Holloway is on a bit of a streak with impressive wins against Cub Swanson(25-7), Ricardo Lamas(17-5) and most notably, former Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis(19-6).

This will be Aldo's 2nd fight after his stunning loss to UFC Superstar and household name Conor McGregor.

While Holloway is a highly skilled Muay Thai fighter, he is a notch below Jose Aldo, who is a fierce and creative striker who has even beaten UFC hall of famer Uriah Faber with leg strikes.  Aldo should also be fighting with a chip on his shoulder after feeling disrespected by the UFC by not allowing him a rematch with McGregor.  He had shown his newly tempered determination by demolishing a very game Frankie Edgar in his last outing at UFC 200.

It is this blogger's opinion that this fight will end with Aldo winning by TKO via strikes towards the end of the 4th round.

***Update - It looks like the fight went back and forth, until the 3rd round when Max Holloway dropped Jose Aldo with a vicious right and won via TKO with mounted strikes.  Great fight and great card overall.

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I wanted to mention another fighter on the rise, Tenshin Nasukawa.  He is a Karate based fighter who employs creative striking to KO his opponents.  He has a devastating striking combo where he shoots a fast roundhouse kick to the body then follows up with knees and punches to the body, usually resulting in a KO.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvsgixKCWg8
Let's hope we see this kid in a bigger promotion soon.