Four Lessons Learned From Bellator 138 & UFC Fight Night 69

It was an intriguing night, to say the least, at Bellator 138 this past weekend (Friday June 19th, 2015), as part of a double header weekend of MMA (mixed martial arts action). UFC Fight Night 69 went down last night (Saturday June 20th, 2015) in Berlin Germany, and had a much more realistic night of fights to offer. Women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk made a hugs statement in the UFC Fight Night 69 main event, quite contrastingly Kimbo and Ken Shamrock made a mess of a very different kind.

We’ll start with the grimy stuff:

Die Bellator, Die!

I could probably leave it at that statement, but that would be no fun. Kimbo Slice returned to ‘victory’ over the ghost of Ken Shamrock, in what can only be described as an inglorious mockery of a sport that already teeters on the edge of  an illegitimate brain child of Vince McMahon. Scott Coker‘s circus has garnered much media from the ‘superfight’, but is it the right type of coverage?

Once again they’ve raised the question of whether MMA is a sport or a form of bastardized entertainment. We know what Bellator likes to portray it as, but the problem is they are ignoring great fighters to keep bums like Kimbo and ‘The World’s Oldest Man’ in the limelight. Which leads nicely to my next point…..

Patricio Freire is a diamond in the rough

The Bellator featherweight champion was very vocal about his dislike for the main event at Bellator 138, putting in to words what many fans and pundits were thinking. ‘Pitbull’ deserved te top spot on the card, and his comeback win over Daniel Weichel should see that the BMMA 145-pound boss is ahead of any clowns or lion tamers that Scott Coker decides to slap on the next ‘huge’ event.

Enough talk of Coker’s cock fights, let’s talk about the Ronda Rousey of the UFC women’s 115-pound division…..

Joanna Jerdzjjustblewmyworld!

UFC women’s strawweight queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk silenced the doubters, myself included, with her dominant win over former Invicta FC atomweight champion Jessica Penne. She battered, bruised and bloodied the unfortunate challenger to a third round TKO finish, and she deserves big respect for how clinical and precise her footwork and striking was in Germany.

Even women’s bantamweight champion and WMMA pioneer Ronda Rousey gave her props on Twitter:

WOW!!!!! @joannamma such a badass, a real fighter’s fighter, couldn’t respect her more!!!! #WhosNext!?!?

— Ronda Rousey (@RondaRousey) June 20, 2015

Makwan Amirkhani is a beast!

Finnish featherweight force Makwan Amirkhani put on yet another top standard showing, this time forcing Massio Fullen to tap out in the first round of their feature prelim bout. After a highlight reel fying knee knockout over Andy Ogle in just eight seconds back in January, ‘Mr Finland’s’ fast finish over Fullen puts his pro record at 12-2, and his current win streak to three. His emotional post fight speech made the Turku Muay Thai product even more likeable, and he will likely get a decent main card slot next time out.

Honorable mentions time……

Honorable mentions

Mairbek Taisumov scored yet another awesome finish, this time blasting Alan Patrick with a seriously hard head kick. Arnold Allen deserves credit for his slick ninja choke against Alan Omer, Taylor Lapilus gets chops for his upset finish against Ulka Sasaki and Dennis Siver will get huge props, even in defeat, if he passes the post fight drug tests for UFC Berlin.

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, Bobby Lashley sucks.