Bellator Doubleheader & Heavyweight Bonanza this Weekend: Fedor, Kharitoniv, Miteione, Bader, Kongo, Roy Nelson...

Friday we get Mitrione vs Bader and Saturday we get the Last Emperor vs Chael Sonnen. In other HW action we get to Nelson, Kharitonov, Kongo, and continued movement toward the climax of this rad HW tournament bracket in Bellator.

Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix Brackets Announced & Alternate Bout

No easy matches first round anywhere in this bracket. Lima hopes to rebound against Koreshkov, Daley got his wish and will face MVP in a striker vs striker affair first round. Rory Macdonald faces Jon Fitch in a battle of UFC alums, and Neiman Gracie comes in as well. My pick for the overall win is Neiman Gracie. He's overwhelmed and finished his opponents in classic fashion: close distance, clinch, take down, pepper with shots and finish via submission. I'm pretty excited, between this and the HW Grand Prix, Bellator still offering up a ton of match-ups that I'll sit down to watch. I'm as excited for this as I have been to watch Covington vs RDA or the insanely terrible repeat rematch of Woodley vs Thompson....and by that I mean, this is more engaging for me as a fan than watching any of the UFC welterweight offerings for quite some time. I had high hopes for RDA to bum rush the title, but Covington's huggy bear Clay Guida attack ended that.

Weekend MMA Round-Up: UFC Japan Friday, Bellator Saturday

Lots of good stuff this weekend. Despite Shogun's unfortunate pullout of the event, OSP will face Okami, Takanori Gomi (yes he still has a job) will face Dong Hyun Kim (once upon a time it looked like he'd fight for the belt), Saki will make his UFC debut after an insane kickboxing career, and given the short list of real contenders, Andrade faces Gadelha because a few wins is all it takes for a title shot in some of the women's divisions. 

Saturday we get some solid Bellator action with Benson Henderson facing Patricky Friere, Roy Nelson punching the clock, and for the 3 minutes it will last, shell shocked Paul Daley facing Lorenz Larkin....and Aaron Pico will try to not get guillotined sub two minutes.

All sarcasm aside, I'm sure the underwhelming rosters will still produce some stoppages as a number of these guys are shopworn or simply prone to getting stopped at those stage in their career.