Jon Fitch vs Neiman Gracie and Ed Ruth vs Yaroslav Amasov confirmed for Bellator GP

[Hardcore MMA]

About a week ago? Ariel confirmed it when he had Daleys manager on thr show or something like that.

If this is true, that would be great news! Been out of town the past few days and didn’t get to see any MMA news. That’s huge for Bellator. I bet Dazn is happy about that news.

 

[Meathead Jock]

If this is true, that would be great news! Been out of town the past few days and didn’t get to see any MMA news. That’s huge for Bellator. I bet Dazn is happy about that news.

Agreed, i'm going to get a good laugh if MVP turns Daley into a panic wrestler after all of Daley's years crying about wrestlers.

 

[tehMoose]

 

[Goatenstein]

I think the best possible route for this is put Rory and MVP on different sides of the bracket and have them in the finals. Stephen Thompson showed us that style can beat Rory.

Fuck I pumped for this though!

MVP will be fighting real opposition that aren't LWs for the first time. I don't expect him to make the finals.

 

[RODNEY83]

Even Dana doesn't think that.

Here are some of Scott Coker's slime ball tactics, Bobby Lashley goes 5-0 in Bellator, publicly asked Scott Coker for tougher fights to put him on a path to EARNING a Bellator Heavyweight Title shot, Scott Coker responds by nor giving Bobby Lashley a fight in Bellator since October of 2016. Iony Razafiarison schools Sinead Kavanagh at Bellator 173, Iony Razafiarison hasn't had another fight in Bellator. Paul Bradley knocks out Chris Honeycutt to go 3-1 in Bellator to fight out his contract and gets offered no new contract by Bellator. Brittney Elkin signs a 4 fight contract with Bellator, but gets only one. Bobby Brents wins a 4 fight Bellator contract with Bellator through Shamrock FC, Bellator only gives him one. Tony Johnson loses one fight in Bellator against Cheick Kongo with victories over Derrick Lewis and Alexander Volkov, goes 3-1 in Bellator, Scott Coker releases him. Scott Coker purposely omits Bellator's legitimate heavyweights from the FARCE Bellator Heavyweight Tournament like Bobby Lashley and Cheick Kongo and Justin Wren and Augusto Sakai in favor of everything ex-UFC. Scott Coker is just as slimy as any other combat promoter.

 

[Meathead Jock]

Here are some of Scott Coker's slime ball tactics, Bobby Lashley goes 5-0 in Bellator, publicly asked Scott Coker for tougher fights to put him on a path to EARNING a Bellator Heavyweight Title shot, Scott Coker responds by nor giving Bobby Lashley a fight in Bellator since October of 2016. Scott Coker is just as slimy as any other combat promoter.

That is a real odd first point to make. I would be shocked if Lashley saying he wanted tougher competition wasn't just lip service to make him appear more legit and not a can crusher. He would have let Lashley lose a fight before letting him return to WWE willingly.

 

[Thesnake101]

That is a real odd first point to make. I would be shocked if Lashley saying he wanted tougher competition wasn't just lip service to make him appear more legit and not a can crusher. He would have let Lashley lose a fight before letting him return to WWE willingly.

That's the only point I'm iffy about, the others actually make sense.

Can't forget Kleber Silva scoring a KO over Philipe Lins and never being featured on a Bellator card again.

 

[Meathead Jock]

That's the only point I'm iffy about, the others actually make sense.

Can't forget Kleber Silva scoring a KO over Philipe Lins and never being featured on a Bellator card again.

Oh i agree with the rest too. But Lashley was the opening arguement and I can't in the slightest get behind the theory that Coker let him walk over letting him fight legit top guys.

 

[eseseses681]

@eseseses681 have to disagree on your thoughts on Ruth vs Fitch. I think Ruth stuffs all his takedowns and Fitch with his poor striking eventually gets beat up on his feet by Ruths raw striking skills.

You're wrong, and I'm gonna tell you why.

Spoiler

Ruth's striking game is literally spamming one-twos and throwing long mid-kicks. His kicks are the only thing that are really good, too. That might sound more developed than what Fitch has going for him, but throwing kicks against Fitch isn't a good way to avoid getting taken down, and Ruth's not gonna be able to just jump back up if Fitch gets on top of him (when was the last time anybody did that against Fitch?) It doesn't matter how good Ruth's wrestling background is compared to Fitch's: Fitch is too good at wrestling to kick as much as Ruth does and think he won't get taken down. That leaves the one-twos, and Ruth isn't gonna win a one-two match against Fitch, especially if he can't kick to set 'em up. His win against Andy Murad was as A-B-A-B-A-B as you can get, if it wasn't for the body-kicks tiring him out it probably wouldn't have worked.
Fitch is also strong enough and skilled enough to handle Ruth in the clinch-- even if he can't take him down, there's nothing about Ruth's game that would suggest he can keep Fitch from instigating a clinch, much less outstrike Fitch there (Jon's developed some real nice striking tricks in the clinch in recent years). And that's usually how Fitch tires people out, keeping 'em in the clinch long enough. Even if they can stuff his takedowns, they won't be able to not gas out in a long-enough clinch battle before Fitch finally gets 'em down. Suggesting that Ruth can overcome Fitch in a battle of attrition isn't going by Fitch's history in loss. Did Fitch even tire against St-Pierre (who was also incapable of taking Fitch down, if I recall)?

For Ed to outstrike Fitch, it would require him to make some significant improvements between now and their fight, and his noob gains are gonna end soon (and hard). Fitch is still getting better into his 40s, he hasn't plateaued at all, contrary to what some people might think. And without his noob gains, it's gonna be hard for Ruth to match up in time.
Ed knocking Fitch out is more of a likelihood than that, and thats more because Fitch is officially in his 40s now and fighters have a tendency in their 40s to suddenly get knocked out very easily than it is a testament to Ruth's capacity as a knockout artist (wasn't Murad his first knockout that wasn't from wrestlefucking his opponent?)

That's a big part of why Koreshkov has the best chance against Fitch, and if he loses against Lima again that won't matter; stylistically, what did Rory do wrestling-wise against Lima that Fitch couldn't do better?
Koreshkov and Gracie, but that depends if Gracie's good enough at BJJ takedown-trickery to pull Fitch into his world and if Fitch's grappling's gotten good enough since the Palhares and Maia fights that he can get some things going there.

 

[pankrat]

I've become a big fan of Fitch lately. I think he's got a good chance to win the entire thing. Koreshkov and Gracie are his only real threats; Koreshkov can stuff takedowns long enough to land a knockout strike, which Lima, Daley and Page can't say, and his last three losses have been against people with stronger submission grappling than him, like Neiman (he beat Shields by outboxing him, hint-hint).
Ruth and Dynamo don't have the experience to deal with someone like Fitch (if Daley couldn't beat Fitch on the feet, they're not gonna), and Ruth's not gonna be able to hold him in guard for three rounds and earn a unanimous decision like in his other fights. Fitch's strong enough to outmuscle Okami; how's Ruth's athleticism and two-years-in-the-game submission grappling gonna keep him on his back?
Rory will be tough, but if Fitch can beat Koreshkov, he's got a good chance against Rory (they have similar strengths).

I agree with you on Fitch here, especially regarding a match up with Ed Ruth.
Fitch didnt outmuscled Okami though, he tired him out in the clinch in the 1st round, arguably losing that clinch battle and the round. Then Fitch took advantage of Okami being pretty tired (it was Yushin's first weightcut to 170 in a decade) but also showed superior wrestling skill. There were some positions where Okami just had no answer skillswise, and wasnt able to power it out as he was usually able to do at 185.

I think Fitch is still pretty prone to get hit by proficient strikers (which Ruth is not, but Andrei or Rory yes) and at 40 years old I dont see him able to take as much punishment as back in the day when durability was one of his main strenghts. Let's remind Fich was very close to get finished by Brian Foster in his last fight at wsof/pfl

 

[eseseses681]

Fitch didnt outmuscled Okami though, he tired him out in the clinch in the 1st round, arguably losing that clinch battle and the round. Then Fitch took advantage of Okami being pretty tired (it was Yushin's first weightcut to 170 in a decade) but also showed superior wrestling skill. There were some positions where Okami just had no answer skillswise, and wasnt able to power it out as he was usually able to do at 185.

I was tuning in-and-out during the Okami fight. I really like Okami, but his WSOF run did nothing for me (didn't he barely beat Paul Bradley by holding him against the cage? People accused Okami of doing nothing but that for his entire career, but I can't think of another fight where he literally just held the guy against the cage to win.) I just remember Fitch winning and talking about how he overvalued Okami's strength, and being impressed that he could enforce his game on someone like Yushin.
The fact that he outworked one of the physically-strongest middleweights ever says a lot, though. And if Okami outmuscled Fitch in the first and Fitch just tired him out to win, it helps his case out even more. Proof of concept.

I'd also recommend anyone who questions Jon's striking skill to re-watch him getting rocked by Paul Daley. The way he survived that showed more skill on the feet than a lot of his detractors give him credit for (and than a lot of other welterweights would have shown had Daley hurt 'em).

 

[pankrat]

I was tuning in-and-out during the Okami fight. I really like Okami, but his WSOF run did nothing for me (didn't he barely beat Paul Bradley by holding him against the cage? People accused Okami of doing nothing but that for his entire career, but I can't think of another fight where he literally just held the guy against the cage to win.) I just remember Fitch winning and talking about how he overvalued Okami's strength, and being impressed that he could enforce his game on someone like Yushin.
The fact that he outworked one of the physically-strongest middleweights ever says a lot, though. And if Okami outmuscled Fitch in the first and Fitch just tired him out to win, it helps his case out even more. Proof of concept.

I'd also recommend anyone who questions Jon's striking skill to re-watch him getting rocked by Paul Daley. The way he survived that showed more skill on the feet than a lot of his detractors give him credit for (and than a lot of other welterweights would have shown had Daley hurt 'em).

Okami's WSOF run was mediocre, but he still gave tough fights to Dave Branch at 185 and Fitch at 170. His fight with Bradley wasnt as you say but the opposite. It was Bradley who almost squeeze out the dec by just keeping Okami pinned against the cage (Bradley is pretty good at that, and strong at 170). Last round though, it was arguably a 10-8 for Okami, who had not looked as good in the feet in a very long time, even showed more diversity in his striking then ever I can recall from him.
He has also adjusted his weight for cutting to 170 better than he had for his fight with Fitch.

Fitch isnt clueless in the feet at all, not only because of his durability and recovery as you mention but he is also pretty mobile and set up his TDs very well with it. He also never panics, can hit back and always keeps going.

 

[lukeuidswords]

Fitch has no chance to win the entire thing. Rory or Koreshkov will wipe him out. Lima can't really wrestle but is a far better striker anyway. I expect Fitch to avoid the ground with Neiman and just cardio kickbox him for 15 minutes.

 

[RODNEY83]

That is a real odd first point to make. I would be shocked if Lashley saying he wanted tougher competition wasn't just lip service to make him appear more legit and not a can crusher. He would have let Lashley lose a fight before letting him return to WWE willingly.

Save the excuses, fact is Lashley asked for tougher fights to earn his way to a Bellator Heavyweight Title. After all, Lashley won 3 National Titles in Wrestling at the NAIA level in college, wrestled for the military, and wrestled on the Olympic level. So he is legit, Coker has denied him of advancing in MMA since October 2016.

 

[Meathead Jock]

Save the excuses, fact is Lashley asked for tougher fights to earn his way to a Bellator Heavyweight Title. After all, Lashley won 3 National Titles in Wrestling at the NAIA level in college, wrestled for the military, and wrestled on the Olympic level. So he is legit, Coker has denied him of advancing in MMA since October 2016.

Excuses? No excuses, I think you are just gullible about Lashleys intentions and flat out wrong on that being Cokers fault.

If Lashley wanted tougher fights and told Coker "if you don't give me a tougher fight i'm going back to WWE full time (because he did that)"

You think that Coker would rather lose him as a fighter completely then risk putting him in a fight that he has a chance of losing or becoming a star from?

That makes no sense at all, and if you can't recognize that I'm not sure what there is to say.

Why would Coker rather run off Lashley without fighting than have him take a fight he could lose?

Lashley didn't want to advance his career, he was scared to take the step up after Griggs.

 

[Deleted member 510653]

those gracies have the weirdest first names man

 

[RODNEY83]

Excuses? No excuses, I think you are just gullible about Lashleys intentions and flat out wrong on that being Cokers fault.

If Lashley wanted tougher fights and told Coker "if you don't give me a tougher fight i'm going back to WWE full time (because he did that)"

You think that Coker would rather lose him as a fighter completely then risk putting him in a fight that he has a chance of losing or becoming a star from?

That makes no sense at all, and if you can't recognize that I'm not sure what there is to say.

Why would Coker rather run off Lashley without fighting than have him take a fight he could lose?

Lashley didn't want to advance his career, he was scared to take the step up after Griggs.

Are you high? Lashley has been on a great run since he lost to Riggs in 2010. Go buy yourself a clue. And look at Coker Vision Bellator ratings, they are awful. So yes, it's Coker's fault. I rather believe a former military man, Lashley, who served this country, than some clueless fan, who can't come up with any facts other than stupid hater-aid for Lashley.

 

[Kinger85]

I have no problem with Daley/MVP in the first round proper of the tournament.

 

[TheBrownRanger]

Here are some of Scott Coker's slime ball tactics, Bobby Lashley goes 5-0 in Bellator, publicly asked Scott Coker for tougher fights to put him on a path to EARNING a Bellator Heavyweight Title shot, Scott Coker responds by nor giving Bobby Lashley a fight in Bellator since October of 2016. Iony Razafiarison schools Sinead Kavanagh at Bellator 173, Iony Razafiarison hasn't had another fight in Bellator. Paul Bradley knocks out Chris Honeycutt to go 3-1 in Bellator to fight out his contract and gets offered no new contract by Bellator. Brittney Elkin signs a 4 fight contract with Bellator, but gets only one. Bobby Brents wins a 4 fight Bellator contract with Bellator through Shamrock FC, Bellator only gives him one. Tony Johnson loses one fight in Bellator against Cheick Kongo with victories over Derrick Lewis and Alexander Volkov, goes 3-1 in Bellator, Scott Coker releases him. Scott Coker purposely omits Bellator's legitimate heavyweights from the FARCE Bellator Heavyweight Tournament like Bobby Lashley and Cheick Kongo and Justin Wren and Augusto Sakai in favor of everything ex-UFC. Scott Coker is just as slimy as any other combat promoter.

I feel fucking robbed that Coker NEVER made an effort to do Vitaly Minakov vs Bobby Lashley for the title.

Contrary to popular opinion, Lashley seemed down for that fight in a couple of interviews on Sherdog and TNA. All they had to do was pay Minakov a bit more.

Lashley vs Appelt being booked literally made me stop watching Bellator for a bit.

 

[DDx2]

Here are some of Scott Coker's slime ball tactics, Bobby Lashley goes 5-0 in Bellator, publicly asked Scott Coker for tougher fights to put him on a path to EARNING a Bellator Heavyweight Title shot, Scott Coker responds by nor giving Bobby Lashley a fight in Bellator since October of 2016. Iony Razafiarison schools Sinead Kavanagh at Bellator 173, Iony Razafiarison hasn't had another fight in Bellator. Paul Bradley knocks out Chris Honeycutt to go 3-1 in Bellator to fight out his contract and gets offered no new contract by Bellator. Brittney Elkin signs a 4 fight contract with Bellator, but gets only one. Bobby Brents wins a 4 fight Bellator contract with Bellator through Shamrock FC, Bellator only gives him one. Tony Johnson loses one fight in Bellator against Cheick Kongo with victories over Derrick Lewis and Alexander Volkov, goes 3-1 in Bellator, Scott Coker releases him. Scott Coker purposely omits Bellator's legitimate heavyweights from the FARCE Bellator Heavyweight Tournament like Bobby Lashley and Cheick Kongo and Justin Wren and Augusto Sakai in favor of everything ex-UFC. Scott Coker is just as slimy as any other combat promoter.

i'll add one. cool story how Coker/Bellator promised Stephan Bonnar a commentator job he never get.

 

[Meathead Jock]

Are you high? Lashley has been on a great run since he lost to Riggs in 2010. Go buy yourself a clue. And look at Coker Vision Bellator ratings, they are awful. So yes, it's Coker's fault. I rather believe a former military man, Lashley, who served this country, than some clueless fan, who can't come up with any facts other than stupid hater-aid for Lashley.

 

[RODNEY83]

I feel fucking robbed that Coker NEVER made an effort to do Vitaly Minakov vs Bobby Lashley for the title.

Contrary to popular opinion, Lashley seemed down for that fight in a couple of interviews on Sherdog and TNA. All they had to do was pay Minakov a bit more.

Lashley vs Appelt being booked literally made me stop watching Bellator for a bit.

Bobby Lashley has been down for EARNING a Bellator Heavyweight Title shot for awhile now. Not given a Bellator Heavyweight Title shot, but EARNING a Bellator Heavyweight Title shot. But we have idiot MMA FANS, who hold on to a fight against Chad Griggs back in 2010, and ignore that Bobby Lashley has gone 5 rounds since that time and 3 rounds since that time and has been a MMA finisher big time Bellator. MMA Fans like Meathead Jock can only hold on to one agenda, HATE FOR BOBBY LASHLEY and think he should never move forward in his MMA career. Fans like that are ignorant. Scott Coker pulls slime ball tactics to regular, too often. Bobby Lashley should have been in Bellator's Heavyweight Tournament. And if he would have lost MEATHEAD JOCK, then so be it. It's sports, there are winners and losers. And if Bobby Lashley would have won, then so be it. It's sports, there are winners and losers. But slime ball Coker denied Lashley and Kongo and Wren and Kharitonov and Augusto Sakai the opportunity because he is so hung up on his UFC love as a Bellator President. Any wonder the ratings for 11 of the past 13 Bellator shows have been under 500,000 average live viewers. That's Coker Vision for you.