By Ryan Young
Coming off arguably its most entertaining event since moving to Spike TV, Bellator will look to duplicate the performance when it debuts in New Mexico with Bellator 91 live at the Santa Ana Star Center beginning at 10 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Headlining the card will be just the second light-heavyweight title fight in Bellator history as champion Christian M’Pumbu tries to defend his title against Bellator Summer Series 2012 tournament winner Attila Vegh.
Also, the Season 8 lightweight tournament semifinals take place when heavily hyped prospect Will Brooks attempts to end the Cinderella story of Saad Awad, and David Rickels meets Jason Fischer for the second time in less than three months.
Let’s see how it should play out…
Main Event
Light-Heavyweight Championship bout (205-pounds)
(c) Christian “Tonton” M’Pumbu (18-4-1, 3-1 Bellator) vs. Attila “Pumukli” Vegh (28-4-2, 4-0 Bellator)
There are few champions in the mixed martial arts world who get as little recognition as Bellator’s 205-pound champ M’Pumbu, and for good reason.
The 35-year-old French-Congolese fighter was given the belt for winning Bellator’s inaugural light-heavyweight tournament in Season 4 almost two years ago. He last stepped into the cage in October 2011 against Travis Wiuff losing a unanimous decision in the non-title bout. The striker has three TKO victories on his Bellator resume (Chris Davis, Tim Carpenter and Richard Hale) and will need another one here to assert himself as the true champion.
Vegh, 27, will be entering the bout with confidence having knocked out Wiuff just 25 seconds into their light-heavyweight tourney final in August. The victory was the Slovakian’s eighth-straight, a streak that includes a split decision over upcoming Season 8 light-heavyweight tourney finalist (and “King Mo” killer) Emanuel Newton.
Both of these fighters are southpaws who love to stand and trade so expect the majority of the fight to be a striking battle. Even though M’Pumbu has never been knocked out or TKO’d in his career, this could be the night. He hasn’t fought in 18 months and the memory of what Vegh did to a common opponent who just defeated him could mess with his head.
Winner: Vegh via second-round TKO.
Season 8 Lightweight Tournament Semifinal bout (155-pounds)
Jason “The Finisher” Fischer (6-1, 3-1 Bellator) vs. David “The Caveman” Rickels (12-1, 6-1 Bellator)
An injury to pre-tournament favourite Alexander Sarnavskiy opened the door for Fischer to jump in and try to avenge a unanimous decision loss to Rickels at Bellator 82 in November. The loss was the first of Fischer’s career but his value only rose after giving Rickels a solid run for his money. The Detroit native returned in January to get back on the right track by submitting journeyman Sevak Magakian via rear naked choke in the first-round.
Despite turning only 24 years old last month, Rickels seems like an experienced veteran inside the Bellator cage. His lone loss was a controversial split decision to Karl Amoussou in the Season 6 welterweight tournament just prior to the Fischer fight, the only blemish in his seven-fight run with the promotion. In his first crack in the 155-pound bracket he was given one of toughest opening round matchups in the form of Lloyd “Cupcake” Woodard. It was a stern test but one “The Caveman” passed with flying colours.
Fischer has looked impressive in his four Bellator outings but I don’t see three months being a long enough time frame for adjustments to be made to alter the outcome of their first fight. He does have everything to gain and nothing to lose in this bout though, something that always makes a fighter more dangerous.
I envision a competitive scrap between the two again, but am sticking with the overall well-roundedness of Rickels to prevail.
Winner: Rickels via unanimous decision.
Season 8 Lightweight Tournament Semifinal bout (155-pounds)
Saad “Assassin” Awad (13-4, 1-1 Bellator) vs. Will “Ill Will” Brooks (9-0, 1-0 Bellator)
As most expected, 26-year-old Will Brooks impressed in his Bellator debut taking a quarter-final unanimous decision over the tough as nails Ricardo Tirloni. Since beginning his professional mixed martial arts career in January 2011, the Illinois native has done nothing but drop the jaws of fans by connecting with the jaws of adversaries. The undefeated potential star also has a knack for finishing fights taking out opponents in seven of his nine wins with a nice mixture of submissions (four) and TKOs (three).
What wasn’t so expected was Awad, 29, earning his entry into the tourney on less than 36 hours’ notice and taking advantage of the opportunity by blasting heavily favoured Guillaume DeLorenzi for the knockout in 31 seconds. It was a shocking moment put on by a fighter who has had a lot of ups-and-downs throughout his career including a first-round submission loss in his only prior Bellator fight more than four years ago.
It was hard not to feel good for Awad following his shocking quarter-final upset (unless you’re DeLorenzi, of course); I just hope he relished it because his run in the tournament will soon be over. Is Brooks the future of the 155-pound division? It’s way too early to entertain that idea yet. But I do know he’s going to win this fight.
Winner: Brooks via second-round submission.
Bellator 90 Results: The unpredictable light-heavyweight tourney burnt us again as we missed both semifinal fights to go 3-for-5 for the second straight week. We did call underdog’s Shahbulat Shamhalev’s knockout of Rad Martinez though, and correctly in the second-round. Overall record this year: 24-6.
Ryan Young is a regular contributor to Sportsnet.ca’s MMA section. Follow him on Twitter @YoungRyan4.
Main card:
Bellator MMA Light Heavyweight Title Fight: Christian M’Pumbu (201.6) vs. Attila Vegh (204.0)
Lightweight Tournament Semifinal Fight: Saad Awad (155.5) vs. Will Brooks (156.0)
Bantamweight Feature Fight: Josh Montoya (135.5) vs. Ed West (135.9)
Lightweight Tournament Semifinal Fight: Jason Fischer (155.6) vs. David Rickels (155.7)
Preliminary card:
Women’s Feature Fight: Holly Holm (135.2) vs. Katie Merrill (134.7)
Welterweight Feature Fight: Blas Avena (170.7) vs. Lenny Lovato (170.9)
Catchweight Feature Fight(187 lbs.): Yair Moguel (187.6) vs. BrennanWard (184.9)
Featherweight Feature Fight: Andres Quintana (145.5) vs. Russell Wilson (145.0)
Heavyweight Feature Fight: Josh Appelt (245.1) vs. Josh Lanier (212.0)
Bantamweight Feature Fight: Adrian Cruz (135.5) vs. Nick Gonzalez (135.4)
