Bellator to crown new heavyweight champion with eight-man GP in 2018

Bellator just announced eight-man HW GP in 2018

list of participants:
Fedor Emelianenko (36-5)
Frank Mir (18-11)
Roy Nelson (23-14)
Matt Mitrione (12-5)
Ryan Bader (24-5)
Quinton Jackson (37-12)
Muhammed Lawal (21-6)
Chael Sonnen (29-15-1)

This is type of MMA I love!

i love this too but i dont like the Chael Sonnen name Remplace him by kharithonov or moldavsky

Wow. This is a great GP.

CDF47 wrote:Wow.  This is a great GP.

It will be and anyone could win it, on a different note I was reading on Facebook the bitchy comments they would've hated mma 15-20 years ago. Another person I would like to see depending is cro cop he would be awesome addition.

Though they should include Lashley and Kongo as well.

westcott123 wrote:

CDF47 wrote:Wow.  This is a great GP.

It will be and anyone could win it, on a different note I was reading on Facebook the bitchy comments they would've hated mma 15-20 years ago. Another person I would like to see depending is cro cop he would be awesome addition.

Though they should include Lashley and Kongo as well.

I agree. Lashley, Kongo, or Sergei should be alternates if the 8 fighters are locked in.

Fedor vs Mir in the first round

Great tournament. I was kind of hoping for LHW vs HW match ups in the first round, but should be good anyway!

Fedor/Mir is a very interesting fight.

I'm extremely mixed on the whole thing. A tournament is a cool idea and a great way to reintroduce the heavyweight division but on the other hand, they've already said this thing will go throughout 2018 which means we have to wait another year for a champion which is frustrating. I also wish instead of Light Heavyweights that we got some of the younger prospects like Sakai and Moldavsky put in. Putting Bader in it potentially creates a logjam at Light Heavyweight and it make Bellator look bad if he wins as he goes from not being able to get a title shot in the UFC to a two divisional champion in Bellator. There's also no excuse not to have Kongo or Kharitonov in it especially since Kongo has the best record in the heavyweight division. I also feel like Coker is trying to recreate the magic of the SF Tournament but that tournament had depth and star power while each of the fighters were the best heavyweights in the world. Here, we just have names and while Fedor, Mir, and Jackson are all time greats while Nelson and Sonnen have had great careers, they're all way past their prime. The tournament feels more like a retirement community having a high school reunion instead of finding out who's the best in the world.

It is not what the SF GP was. It does have some great fighters in there including Fedor.

I really have a hard time making predictions on this one.

I was trying to rank fighters 1-8, let me try to rank them 8-1 instead (based on likelihood to win, which is harder to do, not knowing the first-round matchups, outside Fedor-Mir).

8. Chael Sonnen
7. Jackson
6. Bader (I have Bader and Lawal about neck and neck. Head-to-head, it's a pick em fight to be honest. I lean toward Lawal, though not by much.)
5. Lawal (Jackson and Lawal are close, but Lawal had a slim win over Jackson, and Rampage is likely declining).
4. Frank Mir (To be honest, 4 might be too high for Mir based on his recent body of work. But the fighters below him have notable flaws, and Mir is a full-fledged heavyweight. So, he lands at 4.)
3. Roy Nelson (Nelson could be higher. On the basis of matchups, I think Fedor has the edge head-to-head. Mitrione-Nelson is a tough fight to predict, however Mitrione gains his ranking on the basis of his recent win over Fedor. Nelson could give it a good run.)
2. Fedor (Given the lineup, Fedor lands at #2. I could see him being lower. However, based on recent work, there isn't a clear cut case for ranking him below either Nelson or Mir.)
1. Mitrione (Mitrione's recent knockout of Fedor, in addition to his prior fights, land him at #1).


Darkhorse: Ryan Bader. Bader is technically pretty decent, while there is a degree of unknown going into the matchups with respect to how he will cary the weight, and how he will fare against bigger guys (if he gets so far).

Bum of the bunch? I don't expect much from Sonnen. Let's let him try to prove me wrong.

Wildcard? King Mo, due to his streakiness and inconsistency. Hey may just give it a serious run, and could win. He is certainly among the best athletes in the group, and has experience fighting at heavyweight, and in tournaments, which could be helpful.

Don't we have some younger heavyweights?

I see Mir and Bader in finale.
King Mo and Nelson have decent change too.

Of course i'm rooting for Fedor but I think he is way out of prime.

I am rooting for Fedor and hope he pulls it off. He is past his prime though which sucks.

I think it's funny on other sites people are talking shit cuz bellator threw in some lhws instead of using all hws.....

First off 2 of the 4 lhws have competed at HW before.....
King MO fights both HW and LHW it's nothing new to him.
And RAMPAGE openly moved to hw and has already fought at 265.....again nothing new.

Then you got BADER who said on an interview he wanted to test HW and is a good name.

......then C hael p SONNEN.......what a joke but i will enjoy watching him get smashed.

Fedor vs MIR......thank u god....former champs finally meet in what should have been fedor first fight in the UFC should he had signed back in the day.

Rumored matches....chael sonnen vs rampage...likely the only fight C hael stood any chance of being competitive in hopefully RAMPAGE destroys him.

To be clear I think kongo earned a spot but I think it's funny the ppl who said he was boring now are sticking up for him lol.

He will likely be one of the alternates like kharitinov if injury should strike.

Kongo and Kharitonov would be great alternates.

It would be more awesome if it was 16 man GP.

8 new places could be fulfilled with fighters like Kharitonov, Kongo, Lashley, Minakov, CroCop, Tony Johnson, Gabriel Gonzaga, Satoshi Ishii, Ivan Shtyrkov, Sergey Pavlovich, Tyrell Fortune, Justin Wren, Javy Ayala...

They actually could fill in a 16 man GP and make it solid

I just hope that we don't get fighters pulling out. I really wish this was a one night GP.

Oh well hope for the best

CDF47 wrote:I am rooting for Fedor and hope he pulls it off.  He is past his prime though which sucks.

I just want Fedor to beat frank Mir come on mma gods make it happen. If mir beats Fedor then yes you know what will happen.

westcott123 wrote:

CDF47 wrote:I am rooting for Fedor and hope he pulls it off.  He is past his prime though which sucks.

I just want Fedor to beat frank Mir come on mma gods make it happen. If mir beats Fedor then yes you know what will happen.

Yeah, Fedor definitely needs to beat Mir.

Bellator need to sign Pavlovich and give him the reserve spot

Kingfedor wrote:Bellator need to sign Pavlovich and give him the reserve spot

Pavolich would be a good pickup. I think a number of orgs. have to be looking at him. Hope Bellator or Rizin gets him.