A recap of the most important storylines from Bellator 237, where Fedor knocked out “Rampage” in the main event.
What mattered most at Bellator 237 in Saitama, Japan? Here are a few post-fight musings …
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1. ‘Rampage’ was fun … until he wasn’t
[autotag]Quinton Jackson[/autotag] executed fight week perfectly right up until the moment he got in the cage, and the referee said “fight.” He was in vintage form and endlessly entertaining every time he appeared in front of the media, then rolled out an epic PRIDE-style walkout for his return to Japan after eight years that served as a major nostalgia trip for anyone who lived through that era.
But then the fight against [autotag]Fedor Emelianenko[/autotag] started, and it was a sad state of affairs. While “Rampage” has blown up in weight every fight since moving to heavyweight three years ago, this was by far the worst he’s physically looked. And it translated into an embarrassing result.
The 265-pound Jackson plodded around the cage, struggling to get his footing to target a meaningful punch. The best thing he did the entire fight was check a leg kick from Emelianenko. Otherwise he was a sitting duck, and Emelianenko took advantage as he put together smooth striking combinations before a final overhand stunned Jackson and led to his first knockout loss in 14 years.
No one wants to see that version of Jackson again. If he follows through on his post-fight message about shedding his unnecessary weight and making a return to light heavyweight, where he was once a UFC champion, then perhaps some intrigue will be restored. But if it’s going to be the guy who showed up Saturday night, then he might as well hang up the gloves.
Check out all the facts and figures from Bellator 237, which took place Saturday in Saitama, Japan.
The final Bellator event of the year took place Saturday with Bellator 237, which went down at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, with a card that aired on Paramount and streamed on DAZN.
In the main event, [autotag]Fedor Emelianenko[/autotag] (39-6 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) knocked out [autotag]Quinton Jackson[/autotag] (38-14 MMA, 5-3 BMMA) in the first round of their heavyweight clash. It was the first time “Rampage” has been stopped with strikes since 2005.
Check below for 31 facts coming out of Bellator 237.
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General
Betting favorites went 5-1 on the main card.
Betting favorites improved to 14-8 (with two no contests and one draw) in Bellator main events this year.
Total fight time for the six-bout main card was 43:56.
Main card
Emelianenko improved to 5-2 since he returned from retirement in December 2015.
Emelianenko improved to 9-2 (with one no contest) when facing former UFC champions.
Emelianenko has earned 31 of his 39 career victories by stoppage. That includes all three of his Bellator wins.
Emelianenko has earned all three of his Bellator victories by first-round knockout.
Fedor Emelianenko and “Rampage” Jackson at Bellator 237. (Photo courtesy Bellator)
Jackson fell to 4-4 in his career in heavyweight fights.
Jackson has suffered four of his six career stoppage losses by knockout.
Jackson suffered his first knockout loss since Apr. 23, 2005 – a span of 5,362 days (nearly 15 years) and 24 fights.
[autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag] (20-5 MMA, 17-5 BMMA) has earned 15 of his 20 career victories by stoppage. That includes 12 of his 17 Bellator wins.
Chandler’s 17 victories in Bellator competition are second most in company history behind Patricio Freire (18).
Chandler’s 12 stoppage victories in Bellator competition are most in company history.
[autotag]Sidney Outlaw[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) suffered his first knockout loss since Sept. 13, 2014 – a span of 1,932 days (more than five years) and 13 fights.
Outlaw has suffered three of his four career losses by stoppage.
Michael Page at Bellator 237. (Photo courtesy Bellator)
[autotag]Michael Page[/autotag]’s (17-1 MMA, 13-1 BMMA) earned his third victory in a 92-day stretch. He’s finished all of those wins by knockout.
Page’s 10 stoppage victories in Bellator competition are fourth most in company history behind Chandler (12), Patricio Freire (11) and A.J. McKee (11).
Page’s nine knockout victories in Bellator competition are tied with Douglas Lima and Patricky Freire for most in company history.
[autotag]Lorenz Larkin[/autotag] (22-7 MMA, 4-2 BMMA) improved to 7-3 since he dropped to the welterweight division in January 2015.
Larkin’s four-fight Bellator winning streak at welterweight is tied for the third longest active streak in the division behind Logan Storley (five) and Joey Davis (five).
Larkin has earned nine of his past 12 victories by decision. That includes all four of his Bellator wins
[autotag]Keita Nakamura[/autotag] (35-11-2 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) has alternated wins and losses over his past 10 fights.
Nakamura has suffered nine of his 11 career losses by decision.
Goiti Yamauchi at Bellator 237. (Photo courtesy Bellator)
[autotag]Goiti Yamauchi[/autotag] (25-4 MMA, 11-3 BMMA) improved to 6-1 since he moved up to the Bellator lightweight division in October 2016.
Yamauchi has earned 21 of his 25 career victories by stoppage. That includes nine of his 11 Bellator wins.
Yamauchi’s nine stoppage victories in Bellator competition are tied for fifth most in company history behind Chandler (12), Patricio Freire (11), McKee (11) and Page (10).
Yamauchi’s eight submission victories in Bellator competition are most in company history.
Yamauchi’s five submission victories in Bellator lightweight competition are tied for the most in divisional history.
Yamauchi’s five submission victories by rear-naked choke in Bellator competition are most in company history.
[autotag]Daron Cruickshank[/autotag]’s (22-13 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) three-fight losing skid is tied for the longest of his career. He hasn’t earned a victory since September 2018.
Cruickshank has suffered 10 of his 13 career losses by stoppage.
Former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler talks backstage after his first-round knockout victory at Bellator 237 in Saitama, Japan.
SAITAMA – Former Bellator lightweight champion [autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag] bounced back from his title defeat to Patricio Freire in style as he produced a one-shot KO of Sidney Outlaw at Bellator 237 in Japan, then said he won’t sit around waiting for another shot at the belt.
Three-time Bellator champ Chandler (20-5, 17-5 BMMA) produced a near-punch-perfect performance to stop Outlaw in the first round as he went to work on his opponent’s body early, then switched targets to the head to score an eye-catching knockout.
And, speaking backstage to reporters, including MMA Junkie, after the fight, Chandler said he was happy to show his ability to bounce back with a decisive victory.
“That’s the thing, man. You just gotta hop back on that horse,” he said. I let that first string of losses really get to my head and kinda thought the whole world was ending, and the older you get the more you realize this sport is full of ups and downs and you can learn so much from a loss… there’s so much freedom that comes with a loss.
“It all depends on how you bounce off the bottom. I bounced off the canvas my last fight, but it just so happens I was able to hop in the cage and make another guy bounce off the canvas. That’s the game, man. It’s a game of inches.”
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Like his fellow Bellator veterans who competed on the card, Chandler loved the experience of fighting in Japan, and said he made a conscious effort to take in as much of the atmosphere as he could while still keeping his focus on the job at hand.
“Here I am, 10 years in the sport, just fought in the Mecca of MMA and this was an awesome experience. This was really cool,” he enthused. “It’s almost unfortunate that you don’t get to enjoy it as much as you should because you can’t be as present as you want to be. But I tried to be as present as I possibly could be and enjoy this experience.”
As for the fight itself, Chandler said his tactic of investing in the body early to open up the head paid dividends as he landed a huge right hand for the win.
“Get to the body, be fast, be in and out, and that’s what we were doing,” he said. “We were making some debits to the body. That paid off later and he thought I was going to the body, (and I) came to the head and then finished him.
“It’s always a surprise (when you get a KO). It’s so crazy as an outsider you look at a fight and you think it looks predictable because it almost looks choreographed because sometimes things just work out so perfectly. This worked out perfectly, but we were doing damage to the body. I think he thought we were going to the body and then (I) went to the head. I was starting to set up some leg kick stuff, some of the ups and downs. Some of the hands setting up the takedowns, the takedowns setting up the hands. And I finished it in the first round, which was great.”
And with his 20th career victory in the bag, Chandler said he would take some time off with his family before setting his sights on his next text in the summer of 2020. But he said he won’t sit around waiting for current champ Freire to put his belt on the line before making his return to action.
“Obviously the 155 belt is tied up – I’m not going to sit here and dwell on that,” he said. “It’s tied up because I let it be tied up. There’s no finger I can point at anybody besides myself. So I’m going to go back to the drawing board… Bellator always puts on a big card May, June-ish, so we’ll shoot for that.
“I’m not waiting for Patricio at all, in any aspect of life. I lost to him, I’m 2-1 against the Pitbull brothers right now. If he ever figures out
what he’s doing with the Grand Prix, whether he wins it or doesn’t win it, we’ll see what happens. For me, not that the belt doesn’t matter, but the paychecks are the same whether I go in and there’s a belt on the line or not. Fighting in front of the Saitama Super Arena crowd, this was great. So I’m in this for the experiences, I’m in this to become a better human being, a better man every single day. So we’ll see what happens.”
Check out all the fighter walkout songs from Saturday’s Bellator 237 event.
While it takes intense training, world-class skills and maybe even a bit of luck to register a Bellator win, picking the right song to accompany you to the cage is a key talent, as well.
See what the fighters from Bellator 237 went with as their backing tracks in Saitama, Japan.
[autotag]Daron Cruickshank[/autotag]: “Real American” by Rick Derringer
The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.
Michael Chandler punched his way back into the win column.
SAITAMA, JAPAN – [autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag] is back in the win column.
Coming off of a belt-losing effort against Patricio Freire in May, Chandler (20-5 MMA, 17-5 BMMA) returned to form at Bellator 237 on Saturday night. The former Bellator lightweight champion finished [autotag]Sidney Outlaw[/autotag] at 2:59 of Round 1.
The fight took place on the feet, with Chandler being the aggressor. Less than three minutes into the opening round, a straight right hand from Chandler crumpled former Titan FC champion Outlaw. Before a dazed Outlaw could regain his bearings, Chandler landed another hard right hand to finish off the fight.
Chandler’s victory lands him back in the win column after losing to Freire. At Bellator 221 in May, Freire finished Chandler in just 61 seconds. Chandler has now won eight out his most recent 10 outings.
The loss snaps Outlaw’s nine-fight win streak and signifies his first loss under the Bellator banner. Outlaw’s previous defeat came to UFC lightweight contender Gregor Gillespie at Ring of Combat 55 in June 2016.
Outlaw was not Chandler’s originally scheduled opponent. Taking the fight on short-notice, Outlaw replaced UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. Chandler vs. Henderson was supposed to be a rematch of the two fighters’ November 2016 bout, which saw the former win by split decision.
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The 160-pound catchweight bout served as the Bellator 237 co-main event, which took place at Saitama Super Arena in Japan. The card aired on Paramount and streamed on DAZN.
Up-to-the-minute Bellator 237 results include:
Michael Chandler def. Sidney Outlaw via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 2:59
See the top Twitter reactions to Michael Chandler’s knockout win over Sidney Outlaw at Bellator 237.
[autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag] rebounded from losing his lightweight title earlier this year when he defeated late replacement [autotag]Sidney Outlaw[/autotag] on Saturday at Bellator 237.
Chandler (20-5 MMA, 17-5 BMMA) got back on track with a first-round knockout victory over Outlaw (13-4 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) in the 160-pound contract weight fight, which served as the co-main event at Saitama Super Arena in Japan and aired on Paramount.
Check below for the top Twitter reactions to Chandler’s victory over Outlaw at Bellator 237.
Michael Chandler starches Sidney Outlaw in the first round. KO. Chandler’s first fight back since dropping the lightweight title to Patricio Pitbull in May. #BellatorJapan
Former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler notes there are many world champions in their mid-30s.
TOKYO – Contrary to popular opinion on fighting and aging, [autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag] thinks as he gets older, he’s getting better.
A 33-year-old former three-time Bellator lightweight champion, Chandler (19-5 MMA, 16-5 BMMA), who meets Sidney Outlaw on Saturday (Sunday locally) at Bellator 237, disagrees with the notion that combat sports favor the young.
“It’s crazy that people throw around the term, it’s a young man’s sport all the time and I truly don’t think that,” Chandler told reporters, including MMA Junkie, on Friday. “I think it’s a young man’s sport because we take so much damage traditionally, most people take so much damage and by the time you’re 30, you’ve already put so many rounds in the gym, you’ve already put so much into the wars you’ve had in the cage, that by the time you hit 30, the chin might be starting to widdle away maybe but I mean look at the average age of these champions.”
Chandler regained his lightweight title at the age of 32, but lost it right away in his last outing, when he suffered a first-round TKO to Patricio Freire at Bellator 221.
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Many fighters have won championships in the latter years of their careers: UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, Bellator double champ Ryan Bader, and Bellator middleweight champ Rafael Lovato Jr, are all above age 35.
“The average age of a champion these days, I saw it on — I think one of you guys might have put it out…that the average age of a champion is 32-34,” Chandler said. “I mean it’s crazy because I think this sport is an older man’s sport. Not old man in the sense that once you hit 40, it’s a little bit harder but I think you don’t truly become a man in this sport until you hit 30 with that perfect mix of experience, as well as physical prowess, being able to be as strong and have great cardio and also just having more control over your mind.”
Check out the results from the official Bellator 237 weigh-ins in Tokyo.
TOKYO – MMA Junkie is on the scene and reporting live from Friday’s official Bellator 236 fighter weigh-ins, which kick off at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT, 9 a.m. local time).
The weigh-ins, which will include just the main card fighters, take place at the Bellator host hotel.
Among those weighing in are headliners [autotag]Fedor Emelianenko[/autotag] (38-6 MMA, 2-2 BMMA) and [autotag]Quinton Jackson[/autotag] (38-13 MMA, 5-2 BMMA), who meet in a heavyweight clash of legends, as well as former lightweight champion [autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag] (19-5 MMA, 16-5 BMMA), who takes on [autotag]Sidney Outlaw[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) in a 160-pound catchweight co-headliner. Welterweight standouts [autotag]Michael Page[/autotag] (16-1 MMA, 12-1 BMMA) and [autotag]Lorenz Larkin[/autotag] (21-7 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) will also step on the scale for their respective fights.
Bellator 237, the promotion’s debut in Japan, takes place Saturday (Sunday locally) at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama. The main card streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.
Michael Chandler knows that Sidney Outlaw has a lot more to gain, but he isn’t taking him any less seriously heading into Bellator Japan.
TOKYO – [autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag] won’t let the change in opponent affect his serious approach to Bellator 237.
Originally scheduled to rematch Benson Henderson on Saturday (Sunday locally), Chandler instead will take on [autotag]Sidney Outlaw[/autotag]. And Chandler, the former three-time Bellator lightweight champion, understands that Outlaw (13-3 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) has a lot more to gain in this fight.
“He’s a big body, he’s a wrestler, he’s a black belt in jiu-jitsu, so he poses threats,” Chandler told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at Bellator 237 media day. “He poses, more than anything he’s the ‘Rocky’ in this story. He gets the opportunity to fight a big name in a big market in a big arena in a big co-main event. I’ve been in that position years ago against Eddie Alvarez, but I’ve been the guy now that has had to either defend my title or defend my ranking or defend my name in the last 20 fights or so, so this is familiar territory for me.”
In his last outing, Chandler (19-5 MMA, 16-5 BMMA) lost the lightweight title to Patricio Freire via first-round TKO. He was looking to get right back with a tough matchup by taking on former WEC and UFC lightweight champ Henderson until an injury forced him out.
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But Chandler is accustomed to change in opponents, and while he admits that the magnitude of the fight isn’t as big, Outlaw will get the same treatment as Henderson or any of his other past opponents.
“I’d be lying if I said (the opponent change) didn’t, if there wasn’t a moment there where it affects you, but I’ve unfortunately and fortunately had a lot of experience with opponents getting hurt, injured, pulled out,” Chandler said. “It’s just the nature of the business. We go out there, train, and fight with reckless abandon. Benson Henderson is a tough guy, and I know he would never pull out of a fight unless he had an injury.
“Either way, it’s not a fight against Sidney Outlaw. It’s a fight against myself. It’s a fight against my talents, my abilities, the calling of my life, being able to go out there and perform the way I know I can perform and the way I know I need to perform.”
For the first time, Bellator this week has touched down in “The Land of the Rising Sun” with a pair of heavyweight legends at the top of the ticket.
Bellator 237, the promotion’s debut in Japan, takes place Saturday (Sunday locally) at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, near Tokyo. The main card airs on Paramount and streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.
In the main event, [autotag]Fedor Emelianenko[/autotag] (38-6 MMA, 2-2 BMMA) takes on fellow PRIDE veteran [autotag]Quinton Jackson[/autotag] (38-13 MMA, 5-2 BMMA) in a bout between two fan favorites among the Japanese fans. Emelianenko is a slight favorite at the sports books, but he’s got a heavy lead from our 13 MMA Junkie editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers at 9-4 in the picks.
In the co-main event, former lightweight champion [autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag] (19-5 MMA, 16-5 BMMA) takes on short-notice opponent [autotag]Sidney Outlaw[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 2-0 BMMA), who will step in for Benson Henderson. Chandler is a heavy favorite in the 160-pound contract weight bout, and only one of our pickers is going against him.
[autotag]Michael Page[/autotag] (16-1 MMA, 12-1 BMMA) is the biggest favorite on the card at as much as 10-1 n his 173-pound contract weight fight against [autotag]Shinsho Anzai[/autotag] (11-3 MMA, 0-0 BMMA). He’s got a heavy 12-1 lead in the picks.
Also on the main card, [autotag]Lorenz Larkin[/autotag] (21-7 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) meets [autotag]Keita Nakamura[/autotag] (35-10-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) at welterweight. Larkin is a 5-1 favorite and has a heavy 11-2 picks lead.
Our most competitive fight, picks-wise, is at women’s flyweight between [autotag]Ilara Joanne[/autotag] (9-4 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) and [autotag]Kana Watanabe[/autotag] (8-0-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), who is just a slight favorite. Watanabe has the slimmest possible edge in the picks at 7-6.
And to open the main card, [autotag]Daron Cruickshank[/autotag] (22-12 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) is a heavy underdog against [autotag]Goiti Yamauchi[/autotag] (24-4 MMA, 10-3 BMMA), who has a massive 12-1 lead in the picks.
In the MMA Junkie reader consensus picks, Emelianenko (54%), Chandler (83 percent), Page (88 percent), Larkin (88 percent), Watanabe (66 percent) and Yamauchi (57 percent) are the choices.
