FEBRUARY 5, 2023 LOS ANGELES, CA JACOB DIETRICH
Johnny Eblen used his struggle IQ to completely fuel Tokov throughout this struggle. The primary spherical was very shut and I had given the benefit to Tokov however this gave the impression to be by design. After the fitting, Eblen had this to say ““It was powerful. First spherical was powerful. After that, I simply did what I wished to do with him. Began puling away. He’s the primary man to beat me in a spherical trigger two judges gave him the primary spherical.” Within the final two rounds, Eblen was ready to make use of his takedowns to use heavy stress to make this a easy choice for the judges. On a card that had some questionable judging, this was a no brainer. For Eblen subsequent, we all know he might be defending his belt however the query turns to who. Fabian Edwards with a win over Gegard Mousasi, he’ll possible get the following title struggle. With reference to his subsequent opponent, Eblen mentioned “In Paris, Mousasi and Edwards are going to struggle. So Mousasi can get it once more and I’d wish to welcome Edwards.”
Subsequent Struggle: Winner of Mousasi vs Edwards on 5/12/23
For Tokov, the outcome was not the one he had hoped for clearly. Tokov seemed nice early within the struggle nevertheless Eblen would go on to man deal with Tokov within the later rounds. Tokov was sufferer of preventing the most effective middleweight on the earth on Saturday evening. He nonetheless has so much to search for and whereas I see Eblen getting the winner of Mousasi vs Edwards, I see Tokov getting the loser. The opposite fighter that might make sense is Eblen’s teammate, Dalton Rosta. He’s presently ranked fifth within the center weight division however because of a name out from Brennan Ward, a extremely marketable persona, I see Bellator giving that struggle to Rosta as I can see him coming away victorious as he begins changing into a star for the promotion. That struggle might occur down the road however simply received’t develop quick sufficient except Ward is given a title shot at 170. Contemplating Ward began the weekend unranked, I see that as an extended shot so it solidifies my prediction.
Prediction: Loser of Mousasi vs Edwards on 5/12/23
Ryan Bader seemed implausible on Saturday evening for the restricted time we had seen him. He got here, took care of enterprise, didn’t use the microphone to remove the eye from Fedor’s retirement. Bader is the one particular person to defeat The Final Empire twice as he defended the title as soon as once more. Bader’s subsequent struggle won’t be as much as him. Whereas I’d like to see Francis Ngannou signal with Bellator to extend reputation of the promotion, I do know this may be an extended shot. I additionally think about it could possibly be a while earlier than we see Ryan once more because it appears we proceed to get struggle card most important occasion bulletins week-after-week. No different heavyweight has actually made a runaway case to be the following challenger and that’s okay. Going into the weekend, I believed Steve Mowry was going to place his title within the hat and make himself into the #1 contender however after a draw which debatably may have been known as by Herb Dean in spherical 2, he couldn’t get it achieved. Cheick Kongo has had his likelihood and so far as I’m involved is a struggle or two away from placing his title into title competition. Fedor is ranked at 3 and as everyone knows, is now retired and shifting into a training function. Linton Vassell and Valentin Moldavsky will face off March tenth which appears to be the #1 contender struggle which is able to arrange a date with Ryan “Darth” Bader. We are going to see who’s subsequent in a month however for Bader, he has to really feel excellent about his place within the sport presently.
For Fedor, he ended a storybook profession on Saturday evening. We thank Fedor in our podcast which might be launched later this week. He’ll proceed to be across the sport as he begins teaching his crew which incorporates fighters like Anatoly Tokov and lightweight heavyweight champion, Vadim Nemkov. Please go to Floor N’ Pound as Hunter and I break down this profession and we give him each piece of grace as he actually was thought-about MMA’s best heavyweight of all time.
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