By Josh Nason, Wrestling Observer
Hey there! It's Friday night and that means another Bellator show. The Scott Coker era has brought us some entertaining telecasts thus far, a solid nod toward the future when they have monthly events. Tonight's event has a few names on it, but feels like more of Coker rummaging through the back of the cupboard to see what he has left for ingredients.
We're running a little behind, so these are notes as I watch.
Kendall Grove. def. Christian M'Pumbu by 2nd round submission (4:14) - Middleweights
Should You Watch? Never.
The former Bellator light heavyweight champion finally drops down to 185 after a less than impressive run as champ. I don't believe they even alluded to his title run in his intro, which is quite embarassing if you think about it. John McCarthy is our ref.
R1: Grove dropped M'Pumbu with a straight right less than five seconds into the fight -- the definition of a quick start. Jimmy Smith says during the fight that he was corrected on Twitter about Kendall Grove fighting at 205. How about getting off social and calling the fight? There is nothing to say about this round because it was that boring. Nothing happened. 10-9 Grove.
R2: More boring. With a minute left and the fight on the ground, Grove got M'Pumbu on the ground and sunk in a rear naked choke for the tap. It sounded like M'Pumbu was complaining he didn't tap but McCarthy says he did. To be fair, it looked like a very light tap, but whatever.
This fight was boring. M'Pumbu has to be done in Bellator and Grove is simply an uninteresting veteran.
Rafael Silva def. Rob Emerson by u/d (30-27 x 2, 29-28 x 2) - Bantamweights
Should You Watch? Never.
This is at a 138-pound catchweight as Silva missed weight for the second straight time. Yet, we're told this fight has major bantamweight title implications. Alright then. Emerson has never been beat at either 135 or 145.
R1: Emerson has tatoos that I think he'll regret having when he's older. Silva drops Emerson with a right hand just over a minute into the fight. Most of the latter half was on the mat with Silva controlling and laying a few pounches and elbows. Blah round. 10-9 Silva.
R2: Silva 10-9. Ground work. That's all you need to know. Thus far, this Spike show is not fun to watch. I should note that Emerson is rocking the Doug Marshall attire tonight.
R3: Emerson started to show a little bit of life in the third, but Silva was content to duck, dodge, and takedown. Emerson physically couldn't respond. Jimmy Smith said that Bellator's 135-pound division was stacked, but that came off as pure hyperbole watching this sluggish 15 minutes. You could tell this was going to be a decision about midway through the first round. Silva 10-9.
What round did the judges see for Emerson? Whatever.
Fernando Gonzalez def. Karo Parisyan by 1st round TKO (1:43)
Should You Watch? Sure.
Looks like Gonzalez missed weight, weighing in at 172 and change (catchweight of 173). If you're not going to make effort making weight on the smaller shows, how could the UFC ever take you seriously? I don't get it.
R1: Gonzalez caught Parisyan with a short left that put him on his knees. Gonzalez started laying in the hard lefts on the ground and the Ox Baker-looking California ref finally stopped it. After two straight finishes, Parisyan gets set back again. Gonzalez looked good, but make weight, dude. This is his second name win after beating Karl Amoussou in his last outing.
Gonzalez says a friend of his was killed two weeks ago, almost blaming that for not making weight while not directly saying it. I guess I can buy that.
Bubba Jenkins and Cheick Kongo were shown at cageside. Bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas vs. Joe Warren main events next week's show. Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar were also shown at cageside, but they did no interview or staredown. C'mon!
Main Event: Daniel Straus def. Justin Wilcox by 1st round KO (:50) - Featherweights
Should You Watch? Sure.
This is Straus' first fight since dropping the feathweright strap to Pat Curran earlier this year. Jesus, this was over quick. Straus hit Wilcox charging in with a left hand and he went flat on his face. Straus hit him with a few shots on the ground, including a hammer fist to the back of the head, for the no-doubt finish. Announcers tried to cover for the hammer fist, saying he was out on the left hand. He wasn't, but whatever. I still remember when Wilcox was an up and coming challenger on the Strikeforce Challengers series.
When asked about Straus fighting current champ Patricio Pitbull, he said, "Let's dance." Not an impassioned promo, but I guess when you KO a dude in less than a minute, you're good.
In earlier action:
Ricky Rainey def. Johnny Cisneros by 1st round TKO (3:18) - 177 pound catchweight
What is with Bellator and guys making weight? Rainey fought Michael Page on the first Bellator PPV. The finish came in the first when Cisnernos was charging in and Rainey caught him with a knee, finishing him with Sakuraba strikes on the ground.
This was the worst show of the Coker era. Luckily, they have seven days to get back on track. See you next week!
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