Bellator 64 Ben Askren Vs Douglas Lima

Bellator Welterweight World Championship

Challenger
Douglas Lima
"The Phenom"
Birthdate: 01/05/1988
21-4-0
6'1
170
American Top Team Atlanta
Style: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu/ Muai Thai
Strengths: KO power, Submission finisher, Always looks for the finish
Last 3 Wins: Ben Saunders, Chris Lozano, Steve Carl
Last 3 Losses: Eric Dahlberg, Charles Blanchard, Brent Weedman

Champion
Ben Askren
"Funky"
Birthdate: 07/18/1984
9-0-0
5'10
170
Roufusport
Style: Wrestling-Greco Roman/Freestyle
Strengths: World class Wrestling, GnP, Grinder
Last 3 Wins: Jay Hieron, Nick Thompson, Lyman Good
No Losses

So Who will take the Welterweight Gold Home?

Also on the card:

Featherweight semi final Alexandre Bezerra VS Marlon Sandro
Bantamweight quaterfinal: Travis Marx VS Masakatsu Ueda
Bantamweight quaterfinal: Rodrigo Lima VS Hiroshi Nakamura

No trash-talk? No problem for Bellator 64 headliner Ben Askren

Before his most recent win – and his first-ever Bellator title defense – welterweight champion Ben Askren (9-0 MMA, 6-0 BFC) engaged in a sustained and very public trash-talking campaign with opponent Jay Hieron.

But ahead of Friday's Bellator 64 headliner with challenger Douglas Lima (21-4 MMA, 3-0 BFC), cooler heads have prevailed.

Askren told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) he loves trash-talking as much as the next guy, but he's not going to be the instigator.

"I'm cool either way," he said. "Jay brought it on himself and started with me, so I went back at him. But Douglas has been quiet, and I've got nothing against him, so I see no reason to go at him. I do enjoy talking trash, but I don't start it with people.

"But if they start with me, we can go from there."

Askren, a two-time NCAA Division I national wrestling champion (and two-time runner-up), has experienced a mostly flawless transition into MMA. He joined Bellator in just his fourth bout, won the organization's season-two tournament, and then won the belt from Lyman Good.

Now, he looks for his second successful title defense when he takes on Lima at Bellator 64, which takes place Friday at The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It airs as part of the MTV2-televised main card following prelims on Spike.com.

Askren hopes his latest defense proves more dominant than his first, when he narrowly edged Hieron for a split-decision win. While he showcased his new standup in the fight, it wasn't nearly as effective as he hoped it'd be.

"I was disappointed in the fight overall and the standup," he said. "I thought I was going to beat Jay bad. ... I was really disappointed in that. I got a little predictable as the fight went on and didn't change it up."

Now, he's been extensively fine-tuning his striking at Duke Roufus' gym in Milwaukee.

"It's coming along nicely," he said. "Mixed martial arts these days isn't just one discipline and being great at that and using that to be good at everything and being able win everywhere. My first order of business was getting that jiu-jitsu under my belt. I got my brown belt within a couple years. But I knew my striking was lacking, and I needed to go out and find someone to improve that. Now I'm here at Roufusport doing that."

Lima earned his title shot with a season-four five championship. The run included a decision victory over Steve Carl and a pair of highlight-reel knockouts over Chris Lozano and Ben Saunders.

Color Askren unimpressed, though.

"He had a great tournament," he said. "He has that big right hand that we saw in the tournament. I think that's his best asset. Overall, aside from that, he landed two one-punch knockouts. I don't think he was overly dominant in those fights otherwise.

"I think there's a lot of room for me to take advantage of his weaknesses."

Askren, who was used to a busy wrestling schedule, competed just twice in 2011. And like Lima, he's had a five-month layoff heading into this weekend's event.

Askren has kept busy. But he won't mind if Lima hasn't.

"Hopefully Douglas Lima took a little time off, got a little fat, and will be coming in cutting some serious weight and not be as sharp as last time," he joked.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/28090/no-trash-talk-no-problem-for-bellator-64-headliner-ben-askren.mma

I pick Lima via TKO. Bellator needs a need champ badly and Lima has an entertaining fighting style.

Awesome fight. I will be attending on Friday.

Nice thread. I would say that Askren's unorthodox style of wrestling/grappling is an additional attribute (this goes back to his wrestling career as well).

This will be one hell of a fight I feel like some one will get finished in this bout

Watch the Bellator 64 Weigh-ins Streaming Live at 5 p.m. ET on MMAWeekly.com

Tune in to MMAWeekly.com at 5:00 p.m. ET/2:00 p.m. PT on Thursday for a live video stream of the Bellator 64 weigh-ins.

Bellator 64takes place Friday, April 6, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The main card airs live on MTV2.

Main Card (on MTV2):
Ben Askren vs. Douglas Lima†
Marlon Sandro vs. Alexandre Bezerra††
Travis Marx vs. Masakatsu Ueda†††
Rodrigo Lima vs. Hiroshi Nakamura†††

Preliminary and Post-TV Card (on Spike.com):
Kyle Prepolec vs. Lance Snow
Chad Laprise vs. Josh Taveirne
Chris Horodecki vs. Mike Richman
Nordine Taleb vs. Matt Secor
Taylor Solomon vs. Jason Fischer

†For Askren’s Bellator Welterweight Championship
††Bellator Season 6 Featherweight Semifinal Bout
††Bellator Season 6 Bantamweight Quarterfinal Bout

http://www.mmaweekly.com/watch-the-bellator-64-weigh-ins-streaming-live-at-5-p-m-et-on-mmaweekly-com

War Sandro!

Ben Askren, Douglas Lima Cleared for Bellator 64 Welterweight Title Headliner

Ben Askren’s sophomore welterweight title defense will move forward as planned at Bellator 64, as both “Funky” and opponent Douglas Lima were cleared to compete at Thursday’s weigh-ins.

Askren tipped the scales at 169.6 pounds, while Lima checked in at 170 ahead of Friday’s headlining attraction at Caesars in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

The evening’s main draw will be broadcast on MTV2 and Epix and also features a pair of bantamweight tournament quarterfinals pitting Travis Marx (135.2) against Masakatsu Ueda (135.8) and Rodrigo Lima (136) against Hiroshi Nakamura (135.8). Additionally, semifinalists Alexandre Bezerra (146) and Marlon Sandro (146) will tangle for the first spot in the featherweight finals.

Bellator’s reigning 170-pound kingpin, Askren is perfect through his three years as a pro. The former two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion won Bellator’s second season welterweight tournament in June 2010 and went on to defeat Lyman Good to capture the title later that year. Askren has defended his title just once since, earning a hard-fought split decision over Season 4 winner Jay Hieron this past October at Bellator 56.

Meanwhile, Lima has not lost since 2009 and rides a nine-fight winning streak heading into his showdown with Askren. The former Maximum Fighting Championship titlist made his Bellator debut this past September, outpointing Steve Carl in the Season 5 quarterfinals before knocking out Chris Lozano and Ben Saunders to capture the tournament crown and earn his shot at Askren’s belt.

Bellator 64 Weigh-In Results:

Ben Askren (169.6) vs. Douglas Lima (170)
Marlon Sandro (146) vs. Alexandre Bezerra (146)
Travis Marx (135.2) vs. Masakatsu Ueda (135.8)
Rodrigo Lima (136) vs. Hiroshi Nakamura (135.8)
Elias Theodorou (185.6) vs. Rich Lictawa (192.2)*
Kyle Prepolec (158.6) vs. Lance Snow (159)
Chad Laprise (169.8) vs. Josh Taveirne (170.6)
Chris Horodecki (145.8) vs. Mike Richman (145)
Nordine Taleb (171) vs. Matt Secor (170)
Taylor Solomon (155.6) vs. Jason Fischer (155.6)
*Lictawa will have two hours to cut the remaining 6.2 pounds for his middleweight bout.

CDF47 wrote:Awesome fight. I will be attending on Friday.

nice! tell us how attending the event goes!

AudaxPowder wrote:

CDF47 wrote:Awesome fight. I will be attending on Friday.

nice! tell us how attending the event goes!

Yup, will do.

For Bellator 64's Lima, Hieron revealed the road to victory over champ Askren

Douglas Lima flew 700 miles just to crash a co-worker's party and steal his most prized possession.

Who invited this guy, anyway? What's wrong with him?

Nothing, actually. Lima earned the right to be there by zigzagging North America and punching quality MMA fighters in the face (among other things). Three of them, to be exact.

Bellator season-five tournament winner Lima (21-4 MMA, 3-0 BFC) now challenges welterweight champion Ben Askren (9-0 MMA, 6-0 BFC) in the main event of Bellator 64, which takes place tonight at The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The event's main card, including Askren vs. Lima, airs live on MTV2 (and in high-definition on EPIX). Meanwhile, the preliminary card streams on Spike.com.

After an initial scare in the tournament's opening round against Steve Carl in the form of an equilibrium-disrupting punch behind the ear, Lima went on to grind out a unanimous decision. Then, in the semifinals, he really hit his stride by knocking out power puncher Chris Lozano in the second round – before delivering the same fate to Ben Saunders in the finals en route to capturing the tournament crown.

For his efforts, he was granted $100,000 in total pay – and the opportunity to fight Askren for the belt.

"I earned it," Lima told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "Here we go. I can't wait to get that title."

His three wins inside of three months was a nice feat, but the most impressive aspect was his back-to-back highlight-reel finishes, which really put a stamp on the festivities.

"It (the tournament run) felt really good, especially because it was against strikers," Lima said. "I beat them at their own game. It was pretty exciting. I got to showcase my skills against tough opponents."

Furthermore, that victory over Saunders is arguably the best to date in the 24-year-old's still relatively young career.

"For me, every win is the biggest," Lima said. "But, of course, Ben Saunders had a lot bigger name than myself at the time. You know, UFC veteran. So it was pretty exciting to beat a guy like that. (He's a) great guy as well. I know him personally. It was really exciting. It was a big win for me."

The downside of running the Bellator gauntlet is the toll it takes on a competitor's body. But luckily for Lima, all he received were the typical bumps and bruises that would heal just fine in due time.

"The tournament format it pretty hard because you have to be on a diet the whole time," Lima said. "You have to fight every month. It's a little hard on your body because you are training so much. But, overall, it's perfect. You're always busy."

Lima still took some time off and was able to travel back to his home country of Brazil and spend some quality time with his family.

"But as soon as I got back to the U.S., I went straight back into training," he said. "I've been working on a lot of wrestling and counter-wrestling since that's his (Askren's) game – plus my usual muay Thai and such."

As per usual, Lima's training camp was stationed at his home base at the American Top Team affiliate in Atlanta. Those he credits with helping him along the way include Roan Carneiro, Brian Stann, George Lockhart, Diego Saraiva and the Assuncao brothers; Raphael, Fred and Junior.

The race to double digits is officially on as Lima and Askren both head into the bout riding nine-fight win streaks.

Askren, a former two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion, seeks his second title defense. The 27-year-old is coming off a razor-thin split-decision victory over Jay Hieron this past October in his first title defense.

Due to the fact that Hieron was able to thwart a healthy percentage of Askren's takedown attempts, he was able to score points on the feet, where he had a distinct advantage over his still-developing opponent.

Lima also will be the superior striker when the cage door closes and likely be looking to replicate a sizeable portion of Hieron's game plan in order to give him a path to victory.

"I got to learn a lot watching that fight," Lima said. "I keep watching it and studying it. It's definitely going to help my game."

While some may go as far as to say Askren is one-dimensional on the feet, you won't hear anything remotely close to that characterization come from Lima. As a general rule, if you're a high level athlete and train with Duke Roufus and company on a regular basis, there's a good chance it's only a matter of time before your kickboxing technique and skills evolve.

To what degree depends on a laundry list of factors, but you can't take anything for granted in MMA. Assumptions have consequences.

"He's a good fighter," Lima said. "He's learning his striking. He trains with good people, good coaches (and is a) fantastic wrestler. (I've got) nothing against the guy, but I'm going to go in there and try to rip his head off."

I gotta say I was impressed by Askrens wrestling. He´s one strong mofo.

AudaxPowder wrote:

CDF47 wrote:Awesome fight. I will be attending on Friday.

nice! tell us how attending the event goes!

Bellator put on a good show. Production was sweet. Undercard was real good. FOTN was Richman's KO over Horodecki. Main card (4 fights) all went to decision so they were not that great.

Johan Lofgren wrote:I gotta say I was impressed by Askrens wrestling. He´s one strong mofo.

Yup, if Askren gets his hands on you then you are going to the ground. No other choice.

CDF47 wrote:

AudaxPowder wrote:

CDF47 wrote:Awesome fight. I will be attending on Friday.

nice! tell us how attending the event goes!

Bellator put on a good show. Production was sweet. Undercard was real good. FOTN was Richman's KO over Horodecki. Main card (4 fights) all went to decision so they were not that great.

He was having trouble with Richman's handspeed obviously, but he got himself KOd by going backwards. The way things were looking, he was likely bound to be KOd anyway, but the advice that needed to be screamed from the corner starting with the first couple exchanges was don't back up. I saw that KO coming a mile away.

nodogoshi wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

AudaxPowder wrote:

CDF47 wrote:Awesome fight. I will be attending on Friday.

nice! tell us how attending the event goes!

Bellator put on a good show. Production was sweet. Undercard was real good. FOTN was Richman's KO over Horodecki. Main card (4 fights) all went to decision so they were not that great.

He was having trouble with Richman's handspeed obviously, but he got himself KOd by going backwards. The way things were looking, he was likely bound to be KOd anyway, but the advice that needed to be screamed from the corner starting with the first couple exchanges was don't back up. I saw that KO coming a mile away.

Yeah, I agree. I saw that coming as well. Horodecki was out struck and out boxed clearly throughout the whole fight as long as it lasted.

CDF47 wrote:

nodogoshi wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

AudaxPowder wrote:

nice! tell us how attending the event goes!

Bellator put on a good show. Production was sweet. Undercard was real good. FOTN was Richman's KO over Horodecki. Main card (4 fights) all went to decision so they were not that great.

He was having trouble with Richman's handspeed obviously, but he got himself KOd by going backwards. The way things were looking, he was likely bound to be KOd anyway, but the advice that needed to be screamed from the corner starting with the first couple exchanges was don't back up. I saw that KO coming a mile away.

Yeah, I agree. I saw that coming as well. Horodecki was out struck and out boxed clearly throughout the whole fight as long as it lasted.

If you watch the fight, every time he goes backwards he gets clocked. when he got KOd, he starts wading backward, Richman starts to charge him again, and then he pulls straight back and gets KOd against the fence. Pretty bad fundamentals.

Askren should get far more respect than GSP does.

nodogoshi wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

nodogoshi wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

Bellator put on a good show. Production was sweet. Undercard was real good. FOTN was Richman's KO over Horodecki. Main card (4 fights) all went to decision so they were not that great.

He was having trouble with Richman's handspeed obviously, but he got himself KOd by going backwards. The way things were looking, he was likely bound to be KOd anyway, but the advice that needed to be screamed from the corner starting with the first couple exchanges was don't back up. I saw that KO coming a mile away.

Yeah, I agree. I saw that coming as well. Horodecki was out struck and out boxed clearly throughout the whole fight as long as it lasted.

If you watch the fight, every time he goes backwards he gets clocked. when he got KOd, he starts wading backward, Richman starts to charge him again, and then he pulls straight back and gets KOd against the fence. Pretty bad fundamentals.

Yeah, I agree. His striking was pretty sub-par in that fight.

AudaxPowder wrote:Askren should get far more respect than GSP does.

He should get more respect than he does due to his Olympic wrestling credentials and his undefeated record in MMA. I just wish he would start finishing some fights. He can control great on the ground and once he gets his hands on you, there is no choice but to hit the mat but his striking power on the ground and his GNP needs to be more effective. For all the time he spends on top on the ground he does very little damage. If he was better at subs. too that would be great but he should really focus on his GNP power, accuracy, and effectiveness.