Bellator MMA returns this Saturday on one of the busiest nights this year. The California based promotion goes head-to-head with company rivals the UFC – which has their UFC 180: Werdum vs. Hunt PPV- and World Series of Fighting – which has WSOF 15: Branch vs. Okami – all airing at the same time. How does this event stack up? In addition to a lightweight championship matchup, the main event of Bellator 131 will feature a battle between two UFC Hall of Fame inductees. While it’s great as a combat sports fan to have options, it’s also frustrating to decide which event to watch. Don’t worry, I’ve got 5 Reasons why you should tune into Bellator 131 this Saturday.
Star Power
Ask any casual fan who Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar are and they’ll likely have an answer for you. Say the same about Mark Hunt and Fabricio Werdum – who fight for the interim heavyweight title at UFC 180 – and you’ll no doubt receive some puzzling responses. Bellator 131 features a number of household names including Tito Ortiz, Stephan Bonnar and Muhammed (King Mo) Lawal. In addition this card features one of the best lightweight fights you’ll see all year, in the rematch between Will Brooks and Michael Chandler. Nothing against talented UFC fighters like Ricardo Lamas or Kelvin Gastelum or WSOF’s David Branch or Justin Gaethje, but their personalities don’t exclude the type of star power you’ll get with Bellator 131.
Easy on the Wallet
Did I mention Bellator 131 is free and on Spike TV? Compare that with the UFC 180 PPV which will cost you around $60. The injury bug has struck this event as UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez had to bow out, as did scrappy lightweights Diego Sanchez and Joe Lauzon. The main event still features an interim heavyweight championship matchup, but the rest of the card appears more like a free Fight Night event than a legitimate pay-per-view. WSOF 15 offers up their own free card, but there is very little interest in the 185-title fight between UFC castoffs David Branch and Yushin Okami. Sure the Bellator 131 Ortiz vs. Bonnar light heavyweight headliner isn’t much of a compelling matchup, but there’s surely interest in how this plays out, especially on free TV.
Hall of Famers Collide
Despite the UFC hosting an event in Mexico for the first time, the dominant narrative in combat sports heading into Saturday, is the Bellator 131 headliner between Ortiz and Bonnar. Despite having one of the most awkward in ring showdowns in MMA history, fans have bought in and these two 205-pound fighters have dominated the headlines since. The 39-year-old Ortiz had a successful Bellator debut against former Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko. Pundits believed Ortiz’s days were done in 2012 after suffering his third straight loss to Forrest Griffin – his sixth loss in his last seven fights – at UFC 148. Even though he earned the victory over an undersized opponent, many fans and pundits want to see how much gas “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” has left in the tank. Conversely for the 37-year-old Bonnar – who hasn’t competed since a lopsided loss in 2012 to Anderson Silva, in which he tested positive for steroids – it will be intruding to see how he’ll perform with the extended layoff. The winner of this fight will likely earn a marquee matchup in their next bout; while the loser might be looking at retirement should they come up short.
Will real Lightweight Champion please stand up?
If you don’t know the situation regarding the Bellator lightweight title picture, let me give you the Coles notes version. This past May at Bellator 120; Eddie Alvarez was slated to fight in a rematch against then lightweight champion Michael Chandler. Alvarez was forced off the card due to injury, Season 9 lightweight tournament winner Will Brooks was tabbed as his replacement and would battle Chandler for the interim 155-pound title. Chandler ended up losing a controversial decision, Brooks became the interim champion, and Alvarez would earn his release from the promotion and subsequently sign with the UFC. Since winning the interim 155-pound title, Brooks has felt disrespected not only by Chandler – who said he was injured heading into the fight – but also by Bellator for failing to acknowledge he is the current interim champ in their marketing of Bellator 131. Comparing notes, the WSOF 15 lightweight title fight – happening the same night- between Justin Gaethje and Melvin Guillard stacks up pretty well against this matchup, but doesn’t have the same bad blood that Brooks vs. Chandler does. With Season 7 lightweight tournament winner Dave Jansen and Season 10 winner Marcin Held waiting in the wings, there will be plenty of completion for the winner of this title fight.
Fireworks All Around
This card also features a number of crowd pleasing affairs including a middleweight matchup between kickboxing stars Melvin Manhoef and Joe Shilling. Manhoef is coming off an impressive first round knockout victory over Doug Marshall, while Shilling – a tournament finalist in the Glory kickboxing promotion – makes his return to MMA for the first time since 2008. Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal returns to the Bellator cage to take on Joe Vedepo. With the 205-pound class being extremely shallow outside the UFC, Bellator asked Vedepo, a natural middleweight, to take this fight on short notice for the injured Tom DeBlass. With four of his eight losses coming by way of knockout, it’s likely we’ll see Lawal earn his 11th career knockout victory. Then opening up the main card is a bantamweight bout between Mike Richman and TUF 12 contestant Nam Phan. With 16 career knockouts between these two fighters, it’s unlikely we’ll see this fight hit the judges’ scorecards.
Here’s the full Bellator 131 card below.
Main Card:
– Tito Ortiz (17-11-1) vs. Stephan Bonnar (15-8)
– Will Brooks (14-1) vs. Michael Chandler (12-2) (for the lightweight title)
– Muhammed Lawal (13-4) vs. Joe Vedepo (17-8)
– Melvin Manhoef (29-11-1) vs. Joe Schilling (1-3)
– Nam Phan (20-13) vs. Mike Richman (17-5)
Preliminary Card:
– AJ Matthews (6-3) vs. Kyle Bolt (8-3)
– Ron Henderson (0-0) vs. Jonathan Santa Maria (0-0)
– Jordan Bailey (2-1) vs. Alex Higley (0-0)
– Matt Ramirez (1-0) vs. Nick Garcia (1-1)
– Andy Murad (8-2) vs. Bubba Pugh (3-1)
– Rolando Perez (7-4-1) vs. Mark Vorgeas (5-2)
– Ian Butler (1-0) vs. Joao Faria (1-1)
