Tag: Bellator MMA

Tito Ortiz Held Choke After Tap Because He “Felt Like An Animal”

MMA legend Tito Ortiz ended his storied career in style by submitting Chael Sonnen in the main event (watch highlights here) of last night’s (Sat., January 21, 2017) Bellator 170 from The Forum in Inglewood, California. Ortiz was able to calmly survive an early guillotine attempt from ‘The Bad Guy’ to mount the smaller Sonnen

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MMA legend Tito Ortiz ended his storied career in style by submitting Chael Sonnen in the main event (watch highlights here) of last night’s (Sat., January 21, 2017) Bellator 170 from The Forum in Inglewood, California.

Ortiz was able to calmly survive an early guillotine attempt from ‘The Bad Guy’ to mount the smaller Sonnen and take his back to look for a rear-naked choke submission attempt of his own. It wasn’t fully around Sonnen’s neck, but the decorated former UFC light heavyweight champion cranked the hold until he had to tap out.

When he did, however, Ortiz caused some minor conroversy when he refused to release the hold on Sonnen after their trash talk got personal in the lead-up to the bout thanks to a few choice references to Ortiz’ ex-wife, porn superstar Jenna Jameson.

And what’s more, Ortiz admitted at the Bellator 170 post-fight press conference (transcribed by MMA Fighting) he held onto the hold a little longer because of the ill will he held towards Sonnen after the famous trash talker poked fun of a pre-fight monologue Ortiz told involving a lion. He was apologetic to the commission, but towards Sonnen, Ortiz said he became that lion in the middle of the fight:

“When he was tapping, I thought he was trying to grab my hands, but I kind of held on to it because I have ill will towards him. But that’s just me, when someone talks about my family, when someone talks about my character, I have bad will towards the person. And I’ve never done that before, but it was just something in my mind saying, if I let go and they stop it and restart it again, I couldn’t let that happen.

“I apologize to the athletic commission for holding on to it a little longer, but I did hold on to it longer. I just had that ill will, I felt like an animal, I felt like a lion, and this lion roared how I said I was going to. This was my fight, no matter what, this is what I was going to do.”

Despite the admitted trangression, Sonnen didn’t seem upset by what had happened, accepting his loss and moving on:

“I tapped and he didn’t let go. I’m not upset about it. I don’t have any ill feelings towards him. But yes did he hold the choke after I tapped? Sure.”

Ortiz further discussed his win and holding onto the choke a bit longer in a post-fight interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto courtesy of Fancy Combat:

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Tito Ortiz vs. Chael Sonnen Full Fight Video Highlights

Reportedly fighting in his final MMA fight, legendary former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz went out on top by beating rival Chael Sonnen in the main event of tonight’s (Sat., January 21, 2017) Bellator 170 from The Forum in Inglewood, California. The fight featured some heated trash talk, and it began just as fired

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Reportedly fighting in his final MMA fight, legendary former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz went out on top by beating rival Chael Sonnen in the main event of tonight’s (Sat., January 21, 2017) Bellator 170 from The Forum in Inglewood, California.

The fight featured some heated trash talk, and it began just as fired up as the press conferences. “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” tagged “The Bad Guy” with a solid shot and transitioned well into a takedown, but Sonnen was able to sweep and secure a guillotine choke that appeared to be somewhat tight. However, he was in half guard, and Ortiz eventually broke free to end up in the mount position.

A few of Ortiz’ patented ground and pound elbows and Sonnen gave up his back, opening a path for an easy rear-naked choke attempt. The hold appeared to not be fully locked in under Sonnen’s chin, but Ortiz cranked until his enemy began to turn purple, eventually tapping out for a victorious final fight in the Bellator cage. After the win, Ortiz let his son Jacob lay his gloves down for the final time.

Watch the highlights of Ortiz’ final win courtesy of Fancy Combat here:

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“King” Kevin Casey Inks Fight Deal With Bellator MMA

kevin-casey

Kevin Casey has signed a fight contract with Bellator MMA. “The King” is a former contestant on The Ultimate Fighter and is expected to debut with the promotion early in 2017.

Casey has previously fought for Strikeforce, which was run by current Bellator president Scott Coker. The 35-year-old went just 1-2-1 with a pair of no-contests with the UFC.

In 2015, Casey defeated Ildemar Alcantara via decision. Prior to competing inside the Octagon, he went 8-3, including a knockout of former TUF winner Andrew Sanchez.

kevin-casey

Kevin Casey has signed a fight contract with Bellator MMA. “The King” is a former contestant on The Ultimate Fighter and is expected to debut with the promotion early in 2017.

Casey has previously fought for Strikeforce, which was run by current Bellator president Scott Coker. The 35-year-old went just 1-2-1 with a pair of no-contests with the UFC.

In 2015, Casey defeated Ildemar Alcantara via decision. Prior to competing inside the Octagon, he went 8-3, including a knockout of former TUF winner Andrew Sanchez.

Paul Daley Discusses Fight Against Rory MacDonald In Bellator

The Bellator ranks have taken a big boost in 2016, with multiple big names from the UFC crossing over. Former UFC lightweight champion Ben Henderson is one such popular fighter, three-time middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen also signed with BMMA this year. Quinton Jackson, Phil Davis, Tito Ortiz, Wanderlei Silva, Josh Koscheck, the list goes

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The Bellator ranks have taken a big boost in 2016, with multiple big names from the UFC crossing over. Former UFC lightweight champion Ben Henderson is one such popular fighter, three-time middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen also signed with BMMA this year. Quinton Jackson, Phil Davis, Tito Ortiz, Wanderlei Silva, Josh Koscheck, the list goes on. After a number of rather WWE-style main event shows in 2015, it appears Bellator might finally be getting their act together.

That said, the recent and rather hilarious ‘debate’ between Sonnen and Ortiz was both entertaining and cringe-worthy in equal measure. Two fighters who both competed in the UFC welterweight division, and are now house under the Bellator MMA banner are Rory MacDonald and Paul Daley. Although ‘Red King’ had considerably more success in the UFC, both he and ‘Semtex’ are ever popular in the MMA fandom.

Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Similarities

After being pegged for title glory from the early stages of his UFC career, it never came to be for Rory MacDonald. The Canadian fighting phenom faced some bumps in the road when he joined the promotion as a fresh faced 21-year old. His Tristar training partner and friend Georges St-Pierre was the welterweight king at that time, and their relationship meant they would not fight each other. Once ‘Rush’ retired in late 2013, MacDonald had his chance at UFC title glory, losing a brutal and bloody was to Robbie Lawler at UFC 189.

Facing Stephen Thompson in his return, ‘Red King’ did not look the same, and had an even tougher opponent to battle after ‘Wonderboy.’ Unhappy with his new UFC contract offer, MacDonald tested free agency and was swiftly scooped up by Bellator. The similarity in the case of Daley is a thin one, but ‘Semtex’ was also once labelled as a hot prospect in the UFC. He alsop faced adversity, but that came because of a sucker punch on Josh Koscheck after their fight at UFC 113. Now pretty much ancient history, Daley is heading towards the 60-fight mark in his MMA career, and tells MMAJunkie.com that he’d like to cross paths with MacDonald in Bellator:

Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Paul Daley vs. Rory MacDonald?

“Definitely it’s a fight that interests me. I would love to test my skills against a guy that’s challenged for the UFC title. It would be a great fight. He’s the new prodigy after B.J. Penn. It would be great because he has a name, and it would be good to test my skills against him. We’ll see what happens. I think he will probably go straight for the title. We’ll see. If the fight is offered, I’ll take that.”

Rivalry With Koschek?

“I think he’s past that – I think Koscheck is past it,” Daley said. “It’s quiet on the Koscheck front, and I’m not interested in calling him out or anything. I just don’t think the guy’s head is in the game. He’s quiet, and I think he’s a guy that’s going to stay there. More power to him. If you’re not really feeling it, then it’s dangerous to accept such a fight against me.

“I’m past that fight. There are many more interesting fights out there for me.”

“I just want to stay active, and it’s one of the things I’ve loved to do in my career,” Daley said. “There are a lot of opportunities to stay active with Bellator and stay in the cage fighting.”

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Poll: Will Fedor Succeed In Bellator MMA?

Yesterday news arrived that legendary former PRIDE FC heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko was rumored to be making his Bellator MMA debut against Matt Mitrione early next year. The news was big for the world’s second biggest MMA promotion, as any fight featuring Fedor would essentially be their biggest bout ever by default. It will certainly

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Yesterday news arrived that legendary former PRIDE FC heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko was rumored to be making his Bellator MMA debut against Matt Mitrione early next year.

The news was big for the world’s second biggest MMA promotion, as any fight featuring Fedor would essentially be their biggest bout ever by default. It will certainly draw eyes to Bellator, but there are also a large number of signs that Fedor’s tenure in Bellator could be painfully short-lived.

“The Last Emperor” was nearly knocked out by UFC reject Fabio Maldonado – and some would say he was knocked out, it just wasn’t called. That’s a far cry from the once-indestructible champion who ran through every challenger he faced for ten years in his heyday.

Mitrione is no slouch, either, as while he never rose to a lofty position amongst the UFC’s elite heavyweights, he was and still is a dangerous knockout artist who can shut out nearly anyone’s lights with one punch. That may not be the best match-up for Fedor’s obviously fading chin.

What do you think? Will Fedor flourish in Bellator, or will he fail?

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Rory MacDonald Calls Out Chael Sonnen At Gangster-Weight

The ranks of Bellator MMA continues to grow with popular names. Former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald joined BMMA after he could not come to an agreement on his UFC contract offer. Seemingly un-interested in keeping ‘Red King’ under their umbrella, the UFC refused to match Bellator’s offer. The move was not surprising as

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The ranks of Bellator MMA continues to grow with popular names. Former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald joined BMMA after he could not come to an agreement on his UFC contract offer. Seemingly un-interested in keeping ‘Red King’ under their umbrella, the UFC refused to match Bellator’s offer. The move was not surprising as MacDonald had already voiced his displeasure over pay and conditions under the UFC banner. Ex-UFC lightweight champion Ben Henderson is another big name who decided the UFC wasn’t the right place for him.

Three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen added his name to the list of UFC veterans now working for Bellator. News broke last night that Sonnen had officially signed for Scott Coker’s expanding promotion. Having served a two-year suspension by the Nevada Commission for a litany of failed drug tests, ‘The American Gangster’ is now free to compete again.

rory macdonald 1

Zombie vs. Gangster

There’s been plenty of speculation surrounding Rory MacDonald’s first opponent as a Bellator fighter. He wasted no time in blasting the UFC, while in the same breath declaring he’d win the welterweight and middleweight titles with his new employers. How about a gangster-weight fight then? MacDonald took to Twitter to voice his interest in fighting the newly acquired Bellator asset Chael P. Sonnen:

Interesting…

MacDonald’s stint in the UFC was somewhat hindered by his training partner and friend Georges St-Pierre bossing the division. Once Robbie Lawler became champion, the Canadian prospect finally got his shot at UFC gold. Things didn’t pan out well though, as MacDonald suffered one of the most brutal losses in recent memory. After being defeated by TKO against ‘Ruthless’ at UFC 189, ‘Red King’ dropped a decision to Stephen Thompson.

Chael Sonnen

Talking The Talk

The highlight of Sonnen’s UFC career came in the form of two massively hyped showdowns with Anderson Silva. ‘The Spider’ was the champion at that time, and Sonnen’s rivalries with the Brazilian are widely regarded as the most entertaining in UFC history.

What do you think, Rory MacDonald vs. Chael Sonnen at gangster-weight?

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