Bellator Fights That Surprisingly Never Happened

[TheBrownRanger]

Which fights that should have happened in the Bjorn/Coker eras do you wish you could have seen?

1. Rampage Jackson vs Emanuel Newton/Liam McGeary (Late 2014-early 2015) - (Rampage vs Newton) Probably wouldn't have happened due to them both being friends and having the same coach. Rampage was coming off a tournament win over King Mo and Christian M'Pumbu. Newton was the LHW champion at the time. Newton's awkward style vs Rampage's aggressive striking could have led to a boring or intense match-up.

(Rampage vs McGeary) Should have happened in early 2015 after McGeary's win over Newton. Rampage legal issues got in the way of that fight ever happening. By the time Phil Davis won the Dynamite tournament, people pretty much forgot Rampage's tournament win.

reference: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...rampage-jackson-vs-emanuel-newton-title-fight

2. Eddie Alvarez vs Will Brooks (Late 2014) - With Alvarez winning the Bellator title from Chandler in 2013 and Brooks becoming a tournament champion and beating Chandler in 2014, it's weird how this match-up was never made. The potential Alvarez/Chandler trilogy really complicated Alvarez/Brooks ever being made. Many wanted to see Alvarez vs Chandler 3 while some wanted Alvarez to fight a fresh contender. Alvarez left for the UFC as soon as Coker was put in charge. Brooks bombing in the UFC has killed the idea of this fight ever happening.

reference: https://www.mmafighting.com/2014/5/...ll-brooks-i-want-to-fight-you-because-i-think

3. Vitaly Minakov's 2nd title defense - The planned "Minakov vs Volkov 2" for Bellator Season 11 would not have happened either way due to an injury of Minakov. Volkov took on Tony Johnson and was soundly beaten. In 2015, many wanted Vitaly Minakov to return to Bellator in order to fight the likes of Tony Johnson and Bobby Lashley. It never came to be due to very complicated circumstances. We were able to see Minakov vs Johnson like 2 years later so I guess we got something.....

 

[qw3rty]

Alvarez vs Brooks is a good example
At that time I thought Brooks were going to win, right now I'm not sure

I guess Rampage vs Tito is another too, I don't know why they didn't reschedule that fight

 

[TheBrownRanger]

Alvarez vs Brooks is a good example
At that time I thought Brooks were going to win, right now I'm not sure

I guess Rampage vs Tito is another too, I don't know why they didn't reschedule that fight

I thought Brooks would win too. Two years later, he barely beats Ross Pearson. Time is a weird thing in MMA.

Rampage vs Tito winner was probably going into that tournament Rampage ended up winning. When Tito got injured, I guess Bellator had to move on with the tournament, preferably with a big name, so they never attempted Rampage/Tito again. With Tito being busy with title pursuits and Rampage having legal issues, there was no time window of that fight possibly happening again.

 

[Falconkick]

Alvarez vs Brooks is a good example
At that time I thought Brooks were going to win, right now I'm not sure

I guess Rampage vs Tito is another too, I don't know why they didn't reschedule that fight

Not sure? Alvarez would finish him. Agreed on Tito/Rampage I was looking forward too that.

 

[FKA]

Tito Ortiz vs Justin Mccully


Remember the whole Bonnar trash talk in the cage with the masked man in a luchador mask only to reveal it was titos ex training partner and friend????

 

[TheBrownRanger]

Tito Ortiz vs Justin Mccully


Remember the whole Bonnar trash talk in the cage with the masked man in a luchador mask only to reveal it was titos ex training partner and friend????

It was just a promo thing. Tito apparently owed McCully a sum of money and never made good on it.

Basically, Bonnar used McCully to get inside Tito's head. McCully is only known for being on UFC Undisputed 2009. I would have been more shocked if Coker signed McCully at all, lol.

Obligatory:

 

[FKA]

It was just a promo thing. Tito apparently owed McCully a sum of money and never made good on it.

Basically, Bonnar used McCully to get inside Tito's head. McCully is only known for being on UFC Undisputed 2009. I would have been more shocked if Coker signed McCully at all, lol.

Obligatory:

I know lol it was cheesy as fuck and I hated it but lets be honest we seen kimbo vs dada 5000 amongst other shitfests in Bellator I wouldn't have been surprised at all if mcully was signed to fight tito after.

 

[Go Go Plata]

Chandler vs Thomson. Was the reason they brought him over and now Thomson's hype has been derailed and he's on the down swing.

 

[Danespina]

Alvarez/Brooks isn't surprising though. As soon as that fight made sense to happen, Alvarez left.

Maybe we'll get it in the UFC one day.

 

[WarriorPoet1]

Saad Awad vs Chandler