The Octagon Report with Nicnas - May 11, 2018

brospn (60)in #sports • 6 years ago

Last week I discussed a few of the main card fights on the UFC 224 card. These fights included the Bantamweight Bout between John Lineker and Brian Kelleher, the Middleweight Bout between Ronaldo Souza and Kelvin Gastelum and the Women’s Bantamweight Title Fight between Amanda Nunes and Raquel Pennington.

While these fights are some of the most exciting of the upcoming weekend, there is a lot more to drool over. One of these jaw droppers is Ryan Bader vs. the legend Muhammed (KING MO) Lawal. This is the main event of the main card at the Bellator 199 Promotion.

There are a lot of other interesting fights to investigate as well and maybe some predictions this week. It is going to be an exciting Saturday evening for MMA fans. Keep reading to find out more the fights.

Highlighting Upcoming Fights

First up, let’s investigate the Bader and King Mo fight coming up this Saturday on Paramount Network, which is part of the Bellator Promotion. This fight is the last of the opening round in the Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament. The fight was scheduled for Bellator 180 in June of 2017, but was cancelled when Lawal got injured. Bader ended up facing Phil Davis and took him down for the title.

This fight is very important for both fighters because they need to win to move on to the second round versus Matt Mitrione, who is arguably the most equipped in this tournament. More importantly for King Mo, he would have a chance at a rematch for the title.

It isn’t going to be easy for King Mo, but he is a strong contender and will likely pull off this victory. This would make Bellator a little more exciting for upcoming events. Plus, I love watching him fight, but we cannot count Bader out by any means. He is an incredible fighter who is 24-5 and each one of those 24 wins was well earned. Just look at his fight against the amazing Phil Davis.

These two fighters are amazing at grappling and are Division 1 All-American. Lawal is from Oklahoma State and Bader from Arizona State.

Looking into the UFC Promotion, which also runs Saturday night, we have Mackenzie Dern versus Amanda Cooper on the main card. These two Women's Strawweight’s might be unranked and less experienced but this should still be an epic event as Dern is undefeated with six wins. She turned pro in 2016 and has three of her six wins by submission. Two of these were RNC and one was by an armbar. She is a two-time World Champ black belt at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. On March 3rd she beat Ashley Yoder by Split Decision.

Looking at Amanda Cooper, we have a 4-3 record. She is a powerful striker, can adjust her stance on the fly and has a decent submission guard. Sounds like a good match-up for Dern, sothis fight should be fun.

Of Cooper's last four fights, she has lost twice. The first was against Tatiana Suarez in The Ultimate Fighter Finale, in July 2016, in the first round by submission. Then in March 2017, she lost to Cynthia Calvillo in another round 1 submission. She has two recent wins against Angela Magana and Anna Elmose in the UFC. One was a round 2 KO/TKO and the other was a round 3 Unanimous Decision. She loves the armbar, but will she be able to pull it off?

My take in this fight is that it will go back and forth between Dern trying to take Cooper down to the floor and Cooper trying to get the heavier punches in for a longer, but less grappling ,type of fight. I feel the Dern will be able to pull off a submission, but it might take a couple rounds. So, with a lot of hype around her and her newer octagon career, she not only has a lot to prove but a lot to hold on to - her undefeated professional record.

Upcoming

Data	Promotion	Event	Location
May 12	UFC	224: Nunes vs. Pennington	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
May 12	Bellator	199: Bader vs. King Mo	SAP Center at San Jose

MMA News and Highlights

New details of the new UFC/ESPN deal are released. Starting in 2019 events from the UFC Promotion will be streamed on the ESPN + channel as a subscription service. 2018 will be the last year for the events on Fox.
King Mo of the Bellator fighting championship says he is pain free thanks to Birmingham Hip Resurfacing
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Chael Sonnen is the first match to be set for the semifinals of the Heavyweight Grand Prix of Bellator. Who will face Matt Mitrione? King Mo or Bader?
Michael Bisping considering retirement after defeats by GSP (Georges St-Pierre) by submission and Kevin Gastelum by first round knockout. This is bugging Jorge Masvidal as he feels he chances of getting a fight with Bisping is coming to an end. He claims that he is a racist.

_{Photo credits: CC0 Pixabay}

_{Author: @nicnas}
_{Editor: @boatsports90}