Young’s Bellator 94 preview: Two tourney finals

Emanuel Newton meets Mikhail Zayats for the light-heavyweight tourney title. (Bellator MMA)

Sportsnet Staff March 28, 2013, 11:58 AM

By Ryan Young

Bellator’s inaugural season on Spike TV is winding down as the second to last show of the season takes place Thursday at 10 ET.

The USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla., plays host to Bellator 94 where not one but two men will be crowned Season 8 tournament winners.

At lightweight underdog Saad Awad meets the resilient David Rickels, while surging light-heavyweights Emanuel Newton and Mikhail Zayats square off for the 205-pound tournament title.

Here’s how the four-fight televised main card is looking…

Main Event

Season 8 Light-Heavyweight Tournament Final (205-pounds)

Emanuel “The Hardcore Kid” Newton (20-7-1, 3-1 Bellator) vs. Mikhail Zayats (21-6, 2-0 Bellator)

It’s not the final anyone was probably expecting but thanks to a couple huge upset victories these two have emerged as the combatants for $100,000 and a shot at newly crowned champion Attila Vegh.

Newton, 29, is quite familiar with the title-holder given that he lost a split decision to him at Bellator 72 in the previous 205-pound tournament last summer. He began his quest for a rematch by choking out little known Atanas Djambazov in his quarter-final bout. The win was a prelude to Bellator’s early knockout of the year candidate when a perfectly timed spinning back-fist put to rest the hype surrounding Muhammed (King Mo) Lawal, as well Lawal himself.

The Russian and M-1 Global product Zayats scored a shocking knockout of his own over a well-known commodity in the MMA world when he stopped Renato (Babalu) Sobral in the first round of their quarter-final bout. It was the 31-year-old’s sixth straight victory which he extended to seven with another first-round finish in his tournament semifinal opposite Jacob Noe, this time locking in an armbar for the submission.

This is an interesting matchup and should prove to be competitive. Newton has shown he’s tough as nails and isn’t afraid to tango with anyone, but Zayats may have more tools in the ol’ belt. “The Hardcore Kid” could get Zayats up against the cage or on the mat which despite his recent highlight reel spinning back-fist KO is probably his best chance of winning. I’m leaning towards the Russian, but as these two have proven earlier in the tourney anything can happen.

Winner: Zayats by split decision.

Season 8 Lightweight Tournament Final (155-pounds)

Saad Awad (14-4, 2-1 Bellator) vs. David “The Caveman” Rickels (13-1, 7-1 Bellator)

Awad’s nickname should be the Cinderella Man.

It has taken the 29-year-old Californian just 74 seconds to punch his ticket into the finals with vicious knockouts of Guillaume DeLorenzi and Will Brooks but what makes the feat so much more remarkable is that he wasn’t even scheduled to be in the tournament. At Bellator 87 he moved up from the undercard to replace an injured Patricio Freire on two days’ notice and has run with the opportunity.

To finish his story with a fairy-tale ending and extend his six-fight winning streak the newly minted Cinderella Man has to get by one of the most active young fighters in MMA.

Rickels, 24, will be fighting for the sixth time in less than a year when he steps into the cage, but that’s a good thing when you’re 5-1 with a narrow split-decision loss during that span. “The Caveman” grinded out decision victories over Lloyd Woodard and Jason Fischer to earn his final entry and has shown an increased level of comfort every time out.

If you’re Mr. Rickels there’s a good chance you checked out Awad’s two previous tournament bouts and know there’s going to be a ton of power coming your way right off the bat. If he manages to stay conscious for the first two minutes and drag Awad past the opening round he should be able to wear him down and control with his grappling. He earns the late submission W.

Winner: Rickels via third round submission.

Welterweight bout (170-pounds)

Trey “That Just Happened?” Houston (10-1, 1-1 Bellator) vs. Luis “Sergio Junior” Melo (28-11-3, 0-0 Bellator)

There are two things you can’t deny Trey Houston: 1. His nickname is awesome. 2. He fights to finish.

Not one of his 11 professional bouts have required judges, a streak that started with 10 straight wins. That came to end in October when Billy Horne submitted him at Bellator 78. Now Houston is looking for a drop in weight classes from middle to welterweight to help kick-start another run.

Melo, 32, has seen and done almost everything thing there is to do in his native Brazil when it comes to MMA but for the first time in his nearly 10-year-long career he’s riding a five-fight win streak. He’ll look to continue the momentum as he arrives stateside.

It’s really hard to breakdown a matchup between these two but I’ll give you this, it’s probably not lasting for 15 minutes.

Winner: Houston via first round knockout.

Bantamweight bout (135-pounds)

Rodrigo “Ratinho” Lima (10-1, 0-1 Bellator) vs. Ronnie “Iron Mann” Mann (21-5-1, 3-2 Bellator)

At the ripe old age of 20 years old Rodrigo Lima got his first crack at a Bellator tournament.

The Team Nogueira product came up short losing a unanimous decision to Hiroshi Nakamura in his opening round bout for his first professional loss at Bellator 64 last April. Now a year older, he returns to prove the hot start to his career was not a fluke and that he has a long-term future in Bellator and possibly a slot in the next 135-pound tournament.

Mann, 26, won’t be making it that easy for him.

Born in Thailand and training out of England, Mann has had two chances in Bellator’s tournament format as a featherweight making it to the semifinals back in 2011 before failing to win his quarter-final matchup against Mike Corey last March. He hasn’t fought since the Corey loss but a win over Lima guarantees him a third tournament attempt and first at 135-pounds.

As is the case with most fighters who train with the Nogueira brothers, Lima has some sweet jiu-jitsu. That being said, Mann isn’t a scrub on the mat himself. This will likely come down to whoever gets the better of the stand-up but just because of how awesome it will be if this fight hits the floor I’m going to take a flier on a submission and pray it comes to fruition.

Winner: Lima via second round submission.

Bellator 93 results: Due to Waachiim Spiritwolf taking a gnarly shot to the groin resulting in a no contest there were only two main card results last week, in which we went 1-for-2, calling the Dave Jansen decision correctly. That means we’re 28-11 overall.

Ryan Young is a regular contributor to Sportsnet.ca’s MMA section. Follow him on Twitter @YoungRyan4.

Full Bellator 94 weigh-in results:

MAIN CARD

Light Heavyweight Tournament Final: Mikhail Zayats (205.6) vs. Emanuel Newton (204.4)

Lightweight Tournament Final: Saad Awad (155.7) vs. David “Caveman” Rickels (155.8)

Welterweight Qualifier Fight: Luis Melo (169.8) vs. Trey Houston (170.0)

Bantamweight Qualifier Fight: Rodrigo Lima (135.8) vs. Ronnie Mann (135.7)

PRELIMINARY CARD:

Welterweight Feature Fight: Julien Williams (170.0) vs. Kenny Moss (171)

Heavyweight Feature Fight: Augusto Sakai (261.3) vs. Rob Horton (242.2)

Women’s Feature Fight: Patricia Vidonic (115.0) vs. Jessica Aguilar (114.6)

Featherweight Feature Fight: Ronnie Rogers (146) vs. Joe Taimanglo (145.6)