Bellator 17 in Boston 5/7/10

[litlmess15]

I attended this show in Boston, and just wanted to share some general comments about the fights:

Imada def Vanier via Armbar: Quite simply, Imada is too slick on the ground for Vanier. Early on in the first it was all Vanier, but after Imada got it to the ground, Vanier looked lost and even struggled to find his rhythm after he got back to his feet initially.

Curran def Huerta via Decision: Tough fight to score. Personally I have Huerta rounds 1 and 3, and gave Curran 2; but honestly they were all close enough to go either way. Curran offered little offense- he was sucessful in counter jabbing and evading Huerta, but never really threatened to end the fight. Huerta was constantly moving forward and trying to push the pace, which is what I thought would give him he upper edge on the scorecards since everything else was so tight. Takedowns were even, neither landed many significant strikes. Not a terribly exciting fight, and really interesting to see what happens with Huerta in Bellator moving forward after he failed to reach the finals to face Alvarez.

Eddie Alvarez def Josh Neer via Rear-Naked: Completely and utterly dominated by Alvarez. Neer landed a couple nice shots early, but then Alvarez immidiately exposed Neer for the one sided fighter he is. He took him down at will without any resitance and landed some brutal ground and pound while keeping Neer in terrible positions up against the cage. Fans were shouting "QUIT WRESTLING EDDIE, START FIGHTING!!!" It amazes me how ignorant some MMA observers are. Alvarez completely outclassed Neer as a mixed-martial-artist and it may be time for Neer to stop complaining about people not brawling with him and learn some sort of takedown defense. To give some credit to Neer, he didn't tap though. He's a tough mofo. Alvarez crawled up his back and sunk in the choke DEEP. He was out while he was standing and went down in a heap. Gotta respect a guy whose willing to push himself to the brink.

Cole Konrad def Pat Bennett via Decision: Konrad looked FANTASTIC in the first round, should have been a 10-8 round...great wrestling sweeps, slick transitions on the ground and BRUTAL ground and pound. He looked like a legitimate heavyweight prospect. Bennett almost didnt answer the bell for the second he was so depleated. But maybe Konrad gassed out or something in the second, because he didn't offer any offense whatsoever. It was a complete stalemate between Konrad and a guy that didn't want to be in the cage in Benett. Third round was dominated by Bennett as he regained his composure. He landed some good strikes on Konrad and won the third easily, but it was too little too late. Konrad looks like Brock Lesnar's fat uncle....he's a good athlete, but looks painfully out of shape. If he recommits to his fitness he could be a force as his skills are sharp.

Justin Torrey def. Lance Everson via TKO/Kick in the groin: Weird fight all around...Everson controlled the action early, but seemed to just curl up in the fetal position and eat punches whenever he was taken down by Torrey...during one of his weird fetal position defenses, Torrey threw a knee to the side and his foot followed through to NAIL Everson where the sun don't shine. The ref didn't see the foot, and saw Everson screaming in pain (he thought it was due to the knee to the ribs) and Torrey raining punches to his side, and ended the fight. Everson was visibly upset as he left the cage, but I saw him outside the venue after and he seemed to be in good spirits, admirable for a guy who lost the fight on a illegal kick. Torrey stays undefeated, but if this gets reviewed, it will definately be changed to a no contest.

Greg Rebello def. John Doyle via Decison: Sleeper of a fight. Rebello controlled the whole fight, had some nice reversals on the ground, but didn't attempt to finish the fight despite dominant position until the final 30 seconds of the fight. He seems to be a pretty good prospect, but lacks the mental tenacity to really advance through the upper tier of the MMA game. Hopefully that changes. Rebello was definately the crowd favorite and seemed to really enjoy the oppertunity to fight in front of his home crowd. Feel-good way to end the night.



Overall, the fights were O.K. some entertaining moments, but there were stalemates in every fight other than Alvarez/Neer. You can definately see the difference in talent. Overall production was just O.K. as well.....felt a little amatuerish. Theatre was a beautiful venue and it seemed very ironic that two guys were beating each other up under a gold plated ceiling with murals of angels and goddesses above them. Can't wait for MMA to come bak to boston in august for UFC 118....

[MattyJames]

I didn't think Curran had a snowballs chance in hell of beating Huerta.

I'm also stoked for 118 in Boston. Card is looking pretty good so far. I'd like to see another bigger fight in the PPV portion but it seems to be shaping up nicely for being this far out.

MAIN CARD

• Champ Frankie Edgar vs. B.J. Penn (for lightweight title)*
• Randy Couture vs. James Toney*
• Kenny Florian vs. Gray Maynard*
• Jorge Rivera vs. Alessio Sakara*
• Nate Marquardt vs. Rousimar Palhares*

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Nick Osipczak vs. Greg Soto*
• Terry Etim vs. Joe Lauzon*
• Nik Lentz vs. Andre Winner*