Tonight: Bellator debuts on Spike TV

Bellator’s good at finding unknown talent that possess a lot of raw potential. Throughout the tournament, they mature and grow as fighters. Tonight’s Bellator on Spike TV debut features four of those fighters. The main card will open up with Pat Curran defending his featherweight crown against Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. The main event title fight will be lightweight champion Michael Chander vs Rick Hawn. Both are excellent fights with four great fighters.

Michael Chandler really came in as a fighter nobody really thought much of. By the end of the lightweight tournament, he had given us a hell of a ground fight with Marcin Held and ballsy, exciting upset of Patricky “Pitbull” Freire. Still, very few gave him the chance of beating Eddie Alvarez in a November 2011 showdown. At the time, most were saying Alvarez was simply too good to waste time fighting lower level fighters in Bellator. Chandler disproved that notion and proved that he was one of the best lightweights on Earth. On the same night that featured Dan Henderson vs Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Chandler and Alvarez gave us a classic as well. Alvarez vs Chandler was picked by many outlets as the “Fight of the Year”, and it was a great coming out party for Michael Chandler. Even then, it’s a little sad that most have not taking notice of Chandler. Chandler is an all around badass, with great wrestling, powerful striking and a submission grappling game.

In what was essentially a squash match, Michael Chandler came back and made quick work of Akihiro Gono on May 2012. He used a straight right hand to knock the Japanese star down to the canvas and get the TKO win. It’s a shame though that it’s taking this long for Chandler to fight a serious challenger. It’s no fault of his own, but I’m glad that he’s finally fighting Rick Hawn.

Rick Hawn became a favorite of online gif collectors after he made an example of out LeVon Maynard in his Bellator debut on October 2010. Hawn would lose his first Bellator tournament in the finals to Jay Hieron. It was a close competitive affair with a somewhat disputed decision. Hawn would drop down from welterweight to lightweight, and won the Bellator lightweight tournament in 2012. He showcased better striking skills, as he KO’d his first two opponents in the quarter-finals and semi-finals. He then beat Brent Weedman via decision to win the tournament on May 2012. Hawn was a 2004 Olympic judoka, so he has world-class grappling and is starting to get better boxing.

Pat Curran is a similar story. He dashed the dreams of Mike Ricci on April 2010 via KO in the first round. He then upset Roger Huerta on May 2010, before winning a controversial decision against Toby Imada on July 2010 for the tournament final. He earned a title shot against Alvarez but he was beaten decisively. Curran dropped down to featherweight and has been on a role since. He won the featherweight tournament by headkicking Marlon Sandro and ripped away the featherweight strap from Joe Warren in one of the most horrifying ending to an MMA bout in recent memory. Curran has great takedown defense and has some very slick counters on his feet.

Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (brother of Patricky), a Team Nogueira prospect came in to Bellator, producing exciting and action packed moments in the 2010 featherweight tournament. He lost in the finals against Joe Warren, in what was a debated decision amongst some folks. He didn’t let that bother him as he won the 2011 featherweight tournament by beating Georgi Karakhanyan, Wilson Reis, and Daniel Straus. Patricio is known for his very aggressive striking, and for having great BJJ on the ground.

Both title fights have the potential to be exciting encounters and are the best way to start off this new Bellator-Spike TV partnership. If these first two months are any indication, it looks like 2013 will be a great year for combat sports.