UFC 220 & Bellator 192 Doubleheader Hangover

Quick thoughts:

Stipe showed why he's the best UFC heavyweight of all time. Defended the belt 3x. Even when he doesn't stop the guy he completely dominates him minus a few punches from Ngannou. 

The blueprint to beat Ngannou is exposed. All Stipe has to do left if anything is fight Cain, but Cain only fights every two years anyway, so who knows?

DC showed it was gonna be curtains when he got the late first round takedown and got Volkan to expose his back in an effort to get up. DC really does this well. See his two fights with Anthony Johnson for evidence as well. DC made Volkan look average after several terrifying KO victories. DC's grappling and crucifix and standing clinch work were also impressive. He slipped the dangerous punches, made Volkan respect his punches, and sucked him into his world. Curtains.

I didn't watch the UFC main card nor the prelims, preferring the Bellator main card with Lima vs Rory and Chandler vs Yamauchi. Rory won 4 of the 5 rounds, despite what looked like an alien growing out of his leg, or a broken leg. He managed to score the takedown in rounds 4 and 5 despite basically using one leg. 

Not a barnburner of a fight as Rory's plan was clearly to take Lima where he wanted and methodically break him down, but despite the leg kick punishment injury, Rory took the title in convincing fashion minus that terrible flop to half-guard/full mount incident after the leg injury. Chandler showed how hard it is to throw up submissions off your back against a top tier guy, especially when you keep the opponent's head in the cage for the better part of each round. If Yamauchi had a more chained together attack instead of semi pulling guard at times it would have been a closer fight. Chandler did the right prep work in camp with head and spine in vertical alignment and heavy hips and judicious punches down. He opted to save it for the third round to emphatically rain down blows but it was a convincing return for the guy who wants to roll it back against Primus.

MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL:

Shoutout to Bellator for that cringeworthy tv show placement interview: 

Bellator 192 UFC 220 Almost Head to Head

Bellator starts at 9. Frankly, I'm gonna watch Bellator until the co-main events for the UFC. Thomas Almeida is the only guy on the undercard for the UFC whom I'm very interested in. The Bellator main card has Lima, Rory, Kharkaniyan, Chandler can Yamauchi, and of course Chael vs Rampage. I could tune in to watch the building of some UFC potential guys for a couple hours til the co-main event but Lima, Rory, and Chandler are know commodities to me. 

I'll miss the Legends World Tour match between Chael vs Rampage but I expect some good/great fights on the Bellator Undercard. 

Bellator 192 Formula

Legends league - Chael & Rampage 

Upcoming talent - Aaron Pico 

UFC level fighters and contenders - Rory MacDonald

Casual fan interest/narrative - Khonry

Mid level fighters - Kharkanian/Chandler 

In an odd way it's more compelling than the UFC fight night or even PPV events a lot of the time. It's hard work following all the events and up and comers in the various UFC divisions these days. I can tune in to Bellator as sort of a string of one-offs where I get to see faded Chael fight Rampage in a bizarre HW tournament fight, see some young talent in Pico, several elite professional mma bouts and curiousities like Royce Gracie's son's mma debut. 

I get the freak show curiosity of Royce's son's mma debut. I get to see solid contenders and B level guys like Chandler, Rory, Lima, 

Royces son and the Hw tournament is the extra spice that makes it fun to watch. It's a potent mix of entertainment and the narrative element plus legit pro level fights almost always leaves me entertained after a solid a Bellator card, because Bellator doesn't have to be the UFC, there's a lesser expectation of the integrity of the match-ups and frankly, it often makes for a more flavorful night of fights.