Why weekend’s Bellator 165 holds more weight than both UFC fight cards
Why weekend’s Bellator 165 holds more weight than both UFC fight cards
On Saturday the UFC will hold two fight cards in two different countries, UFC Fight Night 99 in Belfast, Ireland, followed by UFC Fight Night 100 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Bellator MMA will hold Bellator 165 that same night in San Jose, California.
Last weekend the UFC held one of their biggest cards to date in UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden. It was a card where most of the fighters who were able and ready to be booked to fight, wanted to make sure they got themselves on the lineup. Would that have an effect on the star power of the cards held shortly thereafter? Maybe a little.
UFC Drawbacks
Let me preface this by saying, “Don’t get me wrong…. I’m watching, but…..”
Both UFC cards are headlined by rematches. The Belfast card is a middleweight rematch between Uriah Hall and Gegard Mousasi, while the Brazil card features Ryan Bader going up against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.
Rematches can be good but only if they make sense. Both these fights feel a little like they were set up just to make fights. Wins for any four of the headliners should not really imply any shake up or movement in the rankings.
The UFC Fight Night 99 card will be featured entirely on UFC Fight Pass, a paid subscription service. This is a factor that will limit viewership, not to mention the card will be held in the afternoon here in the States. The UFC Fight Night 100 card will be aired on FOX Sports 1 but goes up against Bellator MMA on Spike.
Top Lightweights Vie For Title
On the Bellator card, the main event is a world title fight between the organization’s lightweight champion and former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. In a sense, it is sort of a superfight for the organization as you can argue it is a champion vs. champion type bout.
In the co-main event, the surging Michael “Venom” Page takes on Fernando Gonzalez, and on the preliminary card, the son of the late Kimbo Slice, Kevin Ferguson Jr., also known as Baby Slice, makes his pro debut.
If you watch one, you can likely DVR the other with today’s technology, but which would you rather watch? Below are the fight cards for each.
Bellator 165
Complete “Bellator 165: Chandler vs. Henderson” Main Card:
Lightweight World Title Main Event: Michael Chandler (15-3) vs. Benson Henderson (24-6)
Welterweight Co-Main Event: Michael Page (11-0) vs. Fernando Gonzalez (25-13)
Light Heavyweight Feature Bout: Linton Vassell (16-5) vs. Francis Carmont (25-11)
Lightweight Feature Bout: Adam Piccolotti (8-0) vs. Brandon Girtz (14-4)
Flyweight Feature Bout: Keri-Anne Taylor-Melendez (Debut) vs. Sheila Padilla (2-0)
Complete Preliminary Card:
Welterweight Preliminary Bout: Kevin Ferguson Jr. (Debut) vs. Aaron Hamilton (0-2)
Lightweight Preliminary Bout: Carrington Banks (5-0) vs. Jake Roberts (7-0)
Middleweight Preliminary Bout: Diego Herzog (3-2) vs. Nick Pica (5-0)
Bantamweight Preliminary Bout: Jeremiah Labiano (9-5) vs. Vince Murdock (8-2)
Welterweight Preliminary Bout: James Terry (17-9) vs. Justin Baesman (19-10-1)
Bantamweight Preliminary Bout: Alvin Cacdac (16-12) vs. Steve Ramirez (5-1)
Lightweight Preliminary Bout: J.J. Okanovich (2-1) vs. Luis Vargas (Debut)
Featherweight Preliminary Bout: Victor Jones (0-2) vs. Beau Hamilton (1-7)
Lightweight Preliminary Bout: Hugo Lujan (0-1) vs. Cesar Gonzalez (Debut)
Welterweight “VOW” Preliminary Bout: Dominic Sumner (Debut) vs. Justin Roswell (1-0)
Welterweight Preliminary Bout: Danasabe Mohammed (5-0) vs. Dwight Grant (6-1)
Flyweight Preliminary Bout: Sarah D’Alelio (10-6) vs. Jaimelene Nievera (4-1)
UFC Fight Night 99 – Hall vs. Mousasi 2
Main Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Gegard Mousasi vs. Uriah Hall
Ross Pearson vs. Stevie Ray
Timothy Johnson vs. Alexander Volkov
Artem Lobov vs. Teruto Ishihara
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Ian McCall vs. Neil Seery
Magnus Cedenblad vs. Jack Marshman
Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Ali Bagautinov
Kevin Lee vs. Magomed Mustafaev
Anna Elmose vs. Amanda Cooper
Justin Ledet vs. Mark Godbeer
Zak Cummings vs. Alexander Yakovlev
Marion Reneau vs. Milana Dudieva
Brett Johns vs. Kwan Ho Kwak
Charlie Ward vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan
UFC Fight Night 100 card
Ryan Bader vs. Antônio Rogério Nogueira
Thomas Almeida vs. Albert Morales
Cláudia Gadelha vs. Cortney Casey
Thales Leites vs. Krzysztof Jotko
Warlley Alves vs. Kamaru Usman
Sérgio Moraes vs. Zak Ottow
Cezar Ferreira vs. Jack Hermansson
Marcos Rogério de Lima vs. Gadzhimurad Antigulov
Johnny Eduardo vs. Manvel Gamburyan
Luis Henrique vs. Christian Colombo
Pedro Munhoz vs. Justin Scoggins
Francimar Barroso vs. Darren Stewart
