- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The Ultimate Fighting Championship, Bellator and World Series of Fighting (WSOF) have all taken the weekend off. Bad news for fight fans, but for those looking to make Valentine’s plans, good news: you’re weekend is clear. Next weekend all three promotions are back in action.
Friday starts just like UFC 1 finished
Bellator 149 rematches UFC 1’s Main Eventers, Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie, on Friday, February 19.
The 52-year-old Shamrock enters the cage 28-16-2 with 23 wins by submission. He began his career in 1993 in Pancrase. Since 2000 ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ has gone 5-11, suffering 10 losses by KO or TKO, most recently at the hands of Kimbo Slice at Bellator 138, by first round TKO.
Gracie is slightly younger at 49, but hasn’t competed in MMA since 2007, when he evened the score with Kazushi Sakuraba, earning a unanimous decision victory (Sakuraba won first contest by TKO in 2000). Gracie is credited for introducing much of the world to Gracie Jiu Jitsu, earning 11 consecutive submission wins in the UFC from 93-94.
This is the third time the two will fight. Gracie saw his hand raised after sinking in a rear-naked choke less than a minute into the bout at UFC 1. In ’95 the pair battled to a 36-minute draw.
Not enough freak show?
Also on this card, 5-2 Kevin Ferguson takes on 2-0 Dhafir Harris. Ferguson, better known as Kimbo Slice, has only been the distance once (unanimous decision over Houston Alexander). He competed on The Ultimate Fighter 10. At 42, Kimbo was inactive in MMA following a second-round TKO by Matt Mitrione in ’10, until entering the Bellator cage last year to beating Shamrock in the first round by TKO.
He takes on 38-year-old Harris, who is better known as ‘DaDa 5000’.
Harris has two pro MMA fights to his credit, but against questionable talent: Tim Papp is 1-10; his single win a disqualification for an illegal knee. Cedric James is 0-6, he made it to the second round once (a feat Papp never accomplished) for ten seconds, before being KO’d.
Both Ferguson and Harris have a history with backyard internet fighting, and some type of beef has caused this fight. Too much said.
Saturday WSOF bantamweight title fight
Champion Marlon Moraes puts his bantamweight title on the line versus Joseph Barajas. Moraes hasn’t lost since ’11, to Deividas Taurosevicius by arm-triangle submission. Since then he has stamped out ten wins, with five finishes.
Recently he stopped two of WSOF top bantamweight talents, Sheymon da Silva Moraes and Cody Bollinger, by rear-naked choke.
Barajas is 12-1 and riding a two-fight streak, including a third round TKO of Erik Villalobos in November. He has four KOs and three subs in his 12 wins.
Cowboy versus Cowboy
Sunday, February 21, Pittsburg hosts UFC Fight Night 83, Cerrone versus Oliveira.
Donald Cerrone’s last two losses are a unanimous decision to Rafael dos Anjos in ’13, and a first round TKO in ’15. Between those losses are eight wins, including five finishes, three by KO.
28-7 with 15 subs and five KOs, Cerrone has competed against the lightweight division’s top talent. Following the loss for the title against dos Anjos, ‘Cowboy’ moves to the eelterweight division to take on a fellow ‘Cowboy’.
Alex Oliveira fought four times in the UFC in 2015 and went 3-1. He is on a three-fight win streak, including a third-round KO over Piotr Hallmann, and a first-round sub of veteran fighter KJ Noons.
At 13-3, with nine KO wins, Oliveira is a replacement for Tim Means, who was pulled due to an anti-doping policy violation.
Middleweight co-main
Derek Brunson is coming off back-to-back TKO first-round wins in 2015, over Ed Herman and Sam Alvey. This is Brunson’s sixth fight with UFC, as he takes on 20-9 Roan Carneiro.
Carneiro owns ten wins by submission, he displayed that talent in his UFC debut last February by catching Mark Muñoz in a first round rear-naked choke. ‘Jucao’ is on a six-fight streak.
Let’s get ready to rumble! Pick a fighter and place your bets with PlayUp for great odds. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.