Tag: Johnny Eblen

Bellator 290 faceoffs video: Ryan Bader vs. Fedor Emelianenko, Johnny Eblen vs. Anatoly Tokov

Watch all four Bellator 290 championship combatants, including Fedor Emelianenko, face off for the first time during fight week.

LOS ANGELES – All four fighters involved in the two Bellator 290 title bouts came together for faceoffs following Wednesday’s pre-fight news conference.

In the main event, heavyweight champion [autotag]Ryan Bader[/autotag] (30-7 MMA, 8-2 BMMA) puts his belt on the line in a rematch with [autotag]Fedor Emelianenko[/autotag] (40-6 MMA, 4-2 BMMA) in what will be the legendary “Last Emperor’s” retirement fight. And in the co-headliner, undefeated middleweight champion [autotag]Johnny Eblen[/autotag] (12-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) attempts to make his first title defense against top contender [autotag]Anatoly Tokov[/autotag] (31-3 MMA, 7-0 BMMA).

You can watch the fighters square up in the video above.

[lawrence-related id=2613153,2612540,2613075]

Bellator 290 takes place Saturday at Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The main card airs on CBS following prelims on MMA Junkie.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 290.

[listicle id=2613120]

Video: Bellator 290 pre-fight press conference live stream

Check out a live video stream of the Bellator 290 pre-fight news conference in Los Angeles with headliners Ryan Bader and Fedor Emelianenko.

The Bellator 290 pre-fight press news conference takes place Wednesday, and you can watch a live stream of the event right here starting at 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT).

Attending the event at the host hotel in Los Angeles will be heavyweight champion [autotag]Ryan Bader[/autotag] and [autotag]Fedor Emelianenko[/autotag], who will rematch each other in what will serve as the headliner and Emelianenko’s retirement fight, as well as middleweight champion [autotag]Johnny Eblen[/autotag] and [autotag]Anatoly Tokov[/autotag], who square off in the co-main event. Bellator president Scott Coker also is expected to be on hand.

[lawrence-related id=2613075,2612540,2612354,2612237]

Bellator 290 takes place Saturday at The Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., with a three-fight main card that airs on CBS following prelims streamed on MMA Junkie.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 290.

[listicle id=2613120]

Bellator 290 pre-event facts: Fedor Emelianenko can make history in final fight

Check out the numbers behind Bellator 290, where Fedor Emelianenko has a chance to set records in his retirement fight.

Bellator kicks off its 2023 schedule on Saturday with a landmark event in company history. Bellator 290, which takes place at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., marks the company’s main card network debut on CBS, which follows prelims streamed on MMA Junkie.

A championship doubleheader is set to headline the card. In the main event, [autotag]Ryan Bader[/autotag] (30-7 MMA, 8-2 BMMA) will put his heavyweight title fight against MMA legend [autotag]Fedor Emelianenko[/autotag] (40-6 MMA, 4-2 BMMA), who is set to retire from MMA competition. The pair previously met at Bellator 214 in January 2019, with Bader scoring a 35-second TKO victory.

The co-headliner of the card, meanwhile, will see middleweight champion [autotag]Johnny Eblen[/autotag] (12-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) attempt to make his first title defense when he welcomes challenger [autotag]Anatoly Tokov[/autotag] (31-2 MMA, 7-0 BMMA), who has lost just once over the past 11 years.

For more on the numbers behind the event, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts for Bellator 290.

With goal to become GOAT, Bellator’s Johnny Eblen won’t let being champion make his head too big

Johnny Eblen reached his ultimate goal of becoming a Bellator champion, but says it’s just the start.

[autotag]Johnny Eblen[/autotag] reached his ultimate goal of becoming a champion, but says it’s just the start.

Eblen (12-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) remained unbeaten when he scored a lopsided unanimous decision over Gegard Mousasi to capture the middleweight title at Bellator 282.

He will look to notch his first title defense Feb. 4 when he meets Anatoly Tokov (31-3 MMA, 7-0 BMMA) in the Bellator 290 co-main event at Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., just outside Los Angeles. Coming off a win over a notable name like Mousasi, Eblen has plenty of momentum, but won’t let his focus waver.

“I’m going to continue to get better and continue to beat the sh*t out of guys,” Eblen told MMA Junkie Radio. “I just want to be the GOAT. I want to be the best in the world. So, I can’t let this whole being a champion thing blow up my head too big.”

The American Top Team fighter and former NCAA Division-I wrestler will have an all-star corner for his upcoming fight. Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal, Mike Brown, Thiago Alves and former UFC interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier will be there to assist.

“There’s definitely a target on my back,” Eblen said. “And as a I keep winning, the target is going to get bigger and bigger. More people are going to want to take me out, but I embrace it. That’s a matter of me getting so good to where no matter who wants to try to take me out, I’m going to take you out – and that’s my mentality.”

[listicle id=2556383]

Bellator 290 main card set for CBS debut; Lorenz Larkin and more added to prelims

Fourteen fights are on tap for Bellator 290 at The Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., with Fedor Emelianenko vs. Ryan Bader atop the card.

Bellator MMA kicks off its 2023 schedule in a big way with its first fights ever to air on CBS.

Bellator 290 takes place Feb. 4 at The Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The main airs on CBS after prelims on MMA Junkie.

The three-fight main card features three fights already announced, including two title bouts. In the main event, Bellator heavyweight champion [autotag]Ryan Bader[/autotag] (30-7 MMA, 8-2 BMMA) defends his title against all-time great [autotag]Fedor Emelianenko[/autotag] (40-6 MMA, 4-2 BMMA). The bout is pegged as Emelianenko’s final.

The co-main event features middleweight champion [autotag]Johnny Eblen[/autotag] (12-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) as he battles Emelianenko’s training partner [autotag]Anatoly Tokov[/autotag] (31-2 MMA, 7-0 BMMA). A welterweight bout between all-time Bellator finishers [autotag]Sabah Homasi[/autotag] (17-10 MMA, 6-4 BMMA) and [autotag]Brennan Ward[/autotag] (16-6 MMA, 12-6 BMMA) will be the inaugural Bellator bout on CBS.

New preliminary card additions announced by the promotion Friday included a rematch between [autotag]Mukhamed Berkhamov[/autotag] (14-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) and [autotag]Lorenz Larkin[/autotag] (24-7 MMA, 6-2 BMMA), a heavyweight bout between [autotag]Ali Isaev[/autotag] (9-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) and [autotag]Steve Mowry[/autotag] (10-0 MMA, 6-0 BMMA), and former bantamweight champion [autotag]Darrion Caldwell[/autotag] (15-6 MMA, 12-6 BMMA) vs. [autotag]Nikita Mikhailov[/autotag] (9-2 MMA, 2-1 BMMA)

The Isaev vs. Mowry bout was first reported by Severe MMA.

The full Bellator 290 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, CBS)

  • Champion Ryan Bader vs. Fedor Emelianenko – for heavyweight title
  • Champion Johnny Eblen vs. Anatoly Tokov – for middleweight title
  • Sabah Homasi vs. Brennan Ward

PRELIMINARY CARD (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, CBS)

  • Neiman Gracie vs. Michael Lombardo
  • Mukhamed Berkhamov vs. Lorenz Larkin
  • Henry Corrales vs. Akhmed Magomedov
  • Chris Gonzalez vs. Max Rohskopf
  • Karl Albrektsson vs. Grant Neal
  • Diana Avsaragova vs. Alejandra Lara
  • Darrion Caldwell vs. Nikita Mikhailov
  • Jaylon Bates vs. Jornel Lugo
  • Isaiah Hokit vs. Peter Ishiguro
  • Ethan Hughes vs. Yusuf Karakaya

[vertical-gallery id=2606929]

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Dec. 26-Jan. 1)

All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from Dec. 26-Jan. 1.

Bellator in 2022: A robust look at the stats, streaks, skids, and records

A full recap of Bellator’s most significant footnotes and milestones from the events, fights and individual performances of 2022.

Another year is in the books for Bellator.

The promotion hosted 17 fight cards to maintain its status among the top dogs in the MMA space. During that time, many records were set and a host of historic moments were produced.

Now that the year has come to a close, here are some of 2022’s most significant fights and individual performances.

Bellator 290 gets Johnny Eblen vs. Anatoly Tokov title fight with Nemkov-Romero off

Bellator’s first event in the new year has a new title fight to take the place of one that will head to the back burner.

Bellator’s first event in the new year has a new title fight to take the place of one that will head to the backburner.

The new Bellator 290 co-main event in February will be a middleweight title fight between champion [autotag]Johnny Eblen[/autotag] (12-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) and challenger [autotag]Anatoly Tokov[/autotag] (31-3 MMA, 7-0 BMMA), a teammate of Fedor Emelianenko, who challenges Ryan Bader for the heavyweight title in the headliner. Bellator officials announced the new fight Tuesday.

The middleweight title bout takes the place of the originally announced co-main event between light heavyweight champ [autotag]Vadim Nemkov[/autotag] (16-2 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) and [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] (15-6 MMA, 2-1 BMMA), which officials said in a news release is “unable to take place as scheduled.”

Bellator 290 takes place Feb. 4 at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., just outside Los Angeles. For the first time in promotion history, the main card will air on CBS in a nationally televised prime time broadcast. The card also will stream on Paramount+. Prelims will stream on MMA Junkie.

Eblen won the middleweight title at Bellator 282 in June when he dominated Gegard Mousasi on the scorecards for a 50-45 unanimous decision sweep. The wrestling standout beat John Salter in March to put himself in position for a title shot.

Tokov beat Muhammad Abdullah with a first-round TKO at Bellator 282 for his seventh straight win, all under the Bellator banner. In October 2021, Tokov returned after a two-year layoff and took a split decision from Sharaf Davlatmurodov.

With the change, the Bellator 290 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (CBS, 9 p.m. ET)

  • Champ Ryan Bader vs. Fedor Emelianenko – for heavyweight title
  • Champ Johnny Eblen vs. Anatoly Tokov – for middleweight title
  • Sabah Homasi vs. Brennan Ward

PRELIMINARY CARD (MMA Junkie, 6 p.m. ET)

  • Neiman Gracie vs. Michael Lombardo
  • Jaylon Bates vs. Jornel Lugo
  • Henry Corrales vs. Akhmed Magomedov
  • Karl Albrektsson vs. Grant Neal
  • Chris Gonzalez vs. Max Rohskopf
  • Diana Avsaragova vs. Alejandra Lara
  • Ethan Hughes vs. Yusuf Karakaya

Bellator champ Johnny Eblen welcomes Yoel Romero but concerned he ‘can’t make weight’

Johnny Eblen needs assurances he won’t be duped out of a title defense before he agrees to defend Bellator gold against Yoel Romero.

[autotag]Johnny Eblen[/autotag] needs assurances he won’t be duped out of a title defense before he agrees to put Bellator middleweight gold on the line against [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag].

Romero (15-6 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) called for a shot at Eblen’s (12-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) title this past Saturday at Bellator 285 after he scored a third-round knockout of Melvin Manhoef in their co-main event clash in Dublin. “The Soldier of God” has fought his three Bellator appearances thus far at light heavyweight, but prior to that had spent seven year at a division below.

It was far from a flawless run at 185 pounds, though. Romero missed weight on multiple occasions, and now that he’s 45 years old and hasn’t fought in the weight class since March 2020, Eblen has valid concerns.

Eblen, who beat Gegard Mousasi by dominant unanimous decision to become champ at Bellator 282 in June, said he would prefer to see Romero make weight against another opponent before a title shot. If Bellator insists on putting him in right away, though, Eblen said he would need an alternate to be ready to make weight, and also have guarantees he wouldn’t be financially damaged if the fight didn’t happen.

“I feel like he needs another solid win, especially at 185, so we can make sure he can make weight because he’s always had weight trouble,” Eblen told MMA Junkie. “I don’t want to deal with someone who can’t make weight. I don’t know if that dude’s all natural. I really don’t care. I’ll beat his ass if he’s on steroids or not. I don’t care. Not to say that he’s on steroids, but I don’t know. Who knows. All these motherf*ckers are on steroids, (said) Nate Diaz.”

After knocking out Manhoef, a hyped up Romero said he’s the “best middleweight in the world” right now. However, he hasn’t won in the division while making weight since November 2016, so Eblen found that statement o be quite amusing.

“He’s not (the best middleweight),” Eblen said. “He’s good. He’s explosive, especially at 45 (years old). He’s still dangerous in some scenarios, but I think I would put on a pressure he couldn’t sustain and I think I would drown him out there. I think he’s a good name to beat. He would be a good name to add to the resume.”

Eblen, 30, said he ultimately doesn’t care who is the opponent for his first title defense. He said there are multiple possibilities in the mix, but if his plan to fight in January or February shakes out as he desires, he could see a 2023 campaign that includes up to three fights.

If it pans out that way, Eblen said he expects to see Romero. It’s just a matter of when.

“The most name that was talked about was (Anatoly) Tokov, and it makes sense and I’m down to get that fight but I guess he’s having trouble with a visa or something,” Eblen said. “We have (Fabian) Edwards there, but he’s about to fight over in Italy. … Then we had Yoel and we also had Austin (Vanderford), but Austin ended up losing his last fight and I think a Mousasi rematch is kind of out of the question.

“I was kind of joking when I said I would retire another person, because I didn’t retire Gegard. Some talks, but I think the most sensible title defense would be Tokov, but obviously Yoel can be in the picture too. We just got to make sure he can make weight. Dude hasn’t made 185 since 2020.”

[vertical-gallery id=2583723]

[vertical-gallery id=393960]

Scott Coker likes Yoel Romero at light heavyweight, but won’t stand in way of drop after Bellator 285

Even though he doesn’t fully agree, Scott Coker is willing to let Yoel Romero drop a weight class if he’d like.

After [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] barked into the camera like a dog center-cage, he loudly declared to a raucous Dublin crowd what he wants next – and that’s a crack at middleweight gold.

In the Bellator 285 co-main event Friday, Romero (15-6 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) brutally knocked out a retiring Melvin Manhoef (32-16-1 MMA, 4-5 BMMA) with elbows in the third round. The victory was his second in a row for the promotion, but both victories were at light heavyweight.

Romero is adamant about a middleweight run. Even though Bellator president Scott Coker likes what he sees at light heavyweight, he revealed post-fight that he won’t stand in the way of a weight drop.

“Yoel wants to fight at 185 and he hasn’t fought with us at 185 yet,” Coker said at a post-fight news conference. “He looked good tonight, very calm and very composed. He did a lot of damage and he looked really good. That’s something that’s going to have to be a decision that he’s going to make. To me, I feel like 205 is a good weight class.

“If you look at him, he looks in shape. He looks calm. He’s a beast. I think he looks good at 205. If he really wants to cut and make the weight, that’s going to be up to him. We’ll figure out with his management who was here today and they’ve already started talking in my ear about making the 185 run. If he’s serious about it, then we’d definitely consider it.”

[lawrence-related id=2583571,2583489]

Romero, 45, has won back-to-back fights in 2022 after a 2021 promotional debut loss against Phil Davis by unanimous decision.

As is the case with most of his post-fight news conferences, Coker was unwilling to commit to a declaration of Romero’s next matchup. It’s unclear if a title shot will be next or if he’ll face another contender first.

At middleweight, the current Bellator champion is undefeated American Top Team fighter [autotag]Johnny Eblen[/autotag] (12-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA), who weighed in on Romero’s win in a brief tweet Friday.

“Just another legend I can retire,” Eblen wrote. “Nothing to see here.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 285.

[vertical-gallery id=2583522]