Last night, Bellator checked in with their Summer Series Opener, Bellator 121 from Thackerville, Oklahoma. The event was headlined by Brazilian Luiz Philipe Lins rear naked choke finish over Austen Heidlage, and Britian’s James Thompson pounding out Eric Prindle. Lins advanced in the Light Heavyweight tournament, as did Kelly Anundson and Eggie Valavicius. MMA veteran Thierry Soukoudju won his match in his promotional debut.
Overall, the card suffered when the expected ‘Pitbull’ Freire vs Pat Curran title bout fell through. Bringing in Britain’s Thompson to main event the card against Eric Prindle was really a weak plan B. Thompson, despite a thoroughly tired act and game plan for MMA, continues in the business. To his credit, he has rehabbed his record a little bit, winning 5 of his last 6. The other is a No Contest that he rightfully won while facing Pole strongman Marius Pudzianowski in Poland. His big hole will always be his weak chin, but he got Prindle to the ground early and he ended the fight there, as Prindle chose the fetal position as his best defense and the referee pulled Thompson off.
Prindle is an embarrassment who should be shown the door, where he can follow his arch ricval ‘Big Monster’ Santos to the All You Can Eat Buffet. We will probably be forced to see Thompson again under the Bellator flag, as Bellator may feel he is an upgrade in their weak heavyweight division.
The promotional debut of Soukoudju ended in the first round, as he was able to reverse on the ground and soften his opponent up with hard punches before finishing with the choke. Credit to Terry Davinney, who came to fight and did score a nice takedown on the ‘African Assassin’, but the mission here was to get Soukoudju on the winning track in the new promotion, so he served his purpose.
The lightweight tournament got 3 of the 4 quarter finals bouts out of the way, as Liam Mcgeary already advanced back in May. The bouts saw Brazilian Luiz Philippe Lins emerge as the potential tournament favorite, as he was impressive in winning his match against Austin Heidlage in the first round. Egidijus (call him Eggie) Valavisius advanced via split secision over Carlos Eduardo in a hard fought match. If Valavisius can recover from the grind ofthis fight, he could be a sleeper in the tournament. Kelly Anunson advanced in his bout, winning a UD over Rodney Wallace.
