What mattered most at Bellator 237 in Saitama, Japan? Here are a few post-fight musings …
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1. ‘Rampage’ was fun … until he wasn’t
Quinton Jackson executed fight week perfectly right up until the moment he got in the cage, and the referee said “fight.” He was in vintage form and endlessly entertaining every time he appeared in front of the media, then rolled out an epic PRIDE-style walkout for his return to Japan after eight years that served as a major nostalgia trip for anyone who lived through that era.
But then the fight against Fedor Emelianenko started, and it was a sad state of affairs. While “Rampage” has blown up in weight every fight since moving to heavyweight three years ago, this was by far the worst he’s physically looked. And it translated into an embarrassing result.
The 265-pound Jackson plodded around the cage, struggling to get his footing to target a meaningful punch. The best thing he did the entire fight was check a leg kick from Emelianenko. Otherwise he was a sitting duck, and Emelianenko took advantage as he put together smooth striking combinations before a final overhand stunned Jackson and led to his first knockout loss in 14 years.
No one wants to see that version of Jackson again. If he follows through on his post-fight message about shedding his unnecessary weight and making a return to light heavyweight, where he was once a UFC champion, then perhaps some intrigue will be restored. But if it’s going to be the guy who showed up Saturday night, then he might as well hang up the gloves.
2. Fedor still has zip
It’s hard to know how much blame to put on “Rampage” Jackson as opposed to giving credit to Fedor Emelianenko, but looking at the Russian’s side of things, that was one of his better performances in recent years.
Although the fight lasted less than three minutes, there were some telling moments from Fedor. He was confident, fast and accurate with his striking combinations, mixed in some kicks for the first time in a while, and was very focused on what he needed to execute tactically.
At 43, Emelianenko’s future appears to be these final two fights on Bellator’s “retirement tour.” It should be appreciated that Bellator president Scott Coker is so keen to give the former longtime PRIDE champion a respectful and proper sendoff from the sport, and it appears Emelianenko is taking it seriously.
This is something we should all be able to live with. There’s no reason we need to see Emelianenko fighting for a Bellator title on his way out – and we’ve already seen what Ryan Bader did to him – but he’s clearly still capable of winning. The MMA world should soak in these final moments of his career, because once they’re gone, they won’t return.
3. The Page problem continues
It’s been the same conversation three times over the past 92 days. Michael Page fights an overmatched opponent, destroys them in highlight reel fashion, then acts as though he’s done something amazing that should lead to a second opportunity against Bellator welterweight champ Douglas Lima.
What “MVP” is doing in there is impressive to a degree. He’s making professional fighters who have been doing this sport for years – and in the case of Shinsho Anzai even made it to the UFC – look like total amateurs. He’s barely getting hit and delivering spectacular moments that look great to casual observers scrolling through their social media feeds.
Throughout that process, though, we’re learning nothing new about Page. We know he can dismantle that level of opponent, because we’ve seen it a dozen times already. Despite that, the promotion continues to offer up the same product.
Can Page win a rematch against Lima? It’s not impossible. He’s a lethal striker and has impeccable accuracy, but it’s absolutely unfair that he continuously gets the kid-glove treatment when fellow welterweight contenders are scratching and clawing their way through tougher fights in hopes of getting a title opportunity of their own.
4. Credit to Coker
For all the criticism Bellator president Scott Coker deserves for his consistently lopsided matchmaking and willingness to undermine the intelligence of educated fight fans, he also deserves praise for going outside the box and makings things a little different.
Bellator has the UFC crushed when it comes to spotlighting fighter individuality with its promo packages, walkouts and fight attire. It also frequently does something the UFC has actively avoided in co-promoting with other organizations.
The fact the card had a number of Bellator vs. Rizin FF matchups provided an additional layer of intrigue. Some of the athletes took representing their brand very seriously, and it creates another level of fun that wouldn’t exist otherwise.
The talent swap between Bellator and Rizin has been going on for a while now, and aside from Kyoji Horiguchi’s untimely injury that caused him to relinquish the bantamweight title in both organizations, it’s hard to pinpoint a glaring downside.
Like every fight promoter, Coker has his flaws. He has many positive attributes too, though, and one of them is his fearlessness in making moves that stray from the norm.
We’ll see what Coker can come up with as he tries to take the Bellator product to the next level in 2020.
5. Best of the rest
There were some other noteworthy happenings at Bellator’s debut event in Japan. Among them:
- Michael Chandler sent another reminder why he’s an all-time great in Bellator when he set a new mark for most finishes in company history with a first-round knockout of replacement opponent Sidney Outlaw. It’s not a performance that told us anything new about him as a fighter, but it showed he hasn’t lost a step, either, despite dropping the lightweight title to Patricio Freire in May.
- Lorenz Larkin will seemingly get away with one. Missing weight for a title eliminator should disqualify someone from getting a shot at the belt, but Bellator plays by different rules. Coker said post-fight Larkin’s dominant showcase against an incredibly durable Keita Nakamura should get him a title fight rematch against Bellator welterweight champ Lima.
- Goiti Yamauchi is good on the ground, if you hadn’t noticed yet. Daron Cruickshank essentially served him a winning position on a silver platter, but Yamauchi made the most of it when he choked out the UFC and Rizin vet in the first round to add to his record for most wins in Bellator history. With 11 wins in 14 Bellator fights, Yamauchi is crafting himself a legacy in Bellator.
