Bellator 213: Macfarlane vs. Letourneau - December 15 (OFFICIAL DISCUSSION)

Bellator
December 15, 2018
Neal S. Blaisdell Center
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Main Card:
Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (8-0) vs. (10-6) Valérie Létourneau
Main Event |  Title Fight | Flyweight | 125 lbs (57 kg)

Lyoto Machida (24-8)        vs.      (15-2) Rafael Carvalho   
Co-Main Event | Middleweight | 185 lbs (84 kg)

Ed Ruth (6-0)                   vs.         (8-0) Neiman Gracie   
Main Card | Grand Prix First Round | Welterweight | 170 lbs (77 kg)

"King Mo" Lawal  (21-7)    vs.        (12-3) Liam McGeary   
Main Card | Light Heavyweight | 205 lbs (93 kg)

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane will defend her belt against Valerie Letourneau in the main event of Bellator’s first visit to Hawaii, which is set to take place on Dec. 15 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu.

Macfarlane, 28, will be seeking her second championship defense after becoming Bellator’s inaugural champion at 125 pounds last November. The Honolulu native is 8-0 as a pro, with her last three wins all coming by way of submission. In her most recent outing, she defeated Alejandra Lara with a third-round armbar at Bellator 201 in June.

This will be the second major title opportunity for Letourneau (10-6), who previously challenged Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the UFC strawweight championship, losing that fight by unanimous decision. The 35-year-old Canadian debuted with Bellator last December, making the move to 125 pounds, and rattled off back-to-back unanimous decision wins over Kate Jackson and Kristina Williams.

In the co-main event, Lyoto Machida will fight under the promotional banner for the first time at the promotion’s debut event in Hawaii. Machida will face former middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho.

Machida (24-8) signed with Bellator in June after leaving the UFC on a two-fight winning streak. He most recently defeated rising UFC prospect Eryk Anders by split decision in February, as well as ex-UFC champ Vitor Belfort by knockout in May.

Carvalho (15-2) will look to rebound after he lost the middleweight belt to Gegard Mousasi in May. The loss snapped his 15-fight winning streak.

Also on the card, Rising standouts Neiman Gracie and Ed Ruth will face off in their grand prix opener at the event.

Gracie (8-0) recently added a seventh submission to his eight career wins at Bellator 198. The 29-year-old, who trains at uncle Renzo Gracie’s gym in New York, had all but two of his pro bouts take place in the Bellator cage. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert has talked about his Bellator title aspirations in the past and recently told MMAJunkie he felt “validated” by the tournament inclusion.

Ruth (6-0), in turn, was a three-time national wrestling champion at Penn State before signing with Bellator in 2015. The 27-year-old has finished all but one of his fights since then and most recently stopped Andy Murad in the second round at Bellator 201 – which also marked Ruth’s official welterweight debut.

Looking forward to this one with Machida/Carvalho.

Former light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary (12-3) will take on former Strikeforce champ Muhammed Lawal (21-7) in three months. Bellator President Scott Coker announced the new booking today on Twitter.

McGeary has fallen on a bit of a rough patch after starting his career 10-0. He won Bellator’s 205-pound title with a decision over Emanuel Newton in 2015, then defended it later that year against Tito Ortiz. But at Bellator 163 nearly two years ago, he lost the belt to Phil Davis.

The Brit rebounded with a second-round TKO of Brett McDermott. But in May 2017, he was submitted by Linton Vassell at Bellator 179. And in February, he was stopped with a third-round TKO by Vadim Nemkov at Bellator 194, giving him three setbacks in his past four fights.

Lawal fought light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader in the opening round of Bellator’s current heavyweight tournament in May. But it took Bader only 15 seconds to take him out with a quick TKO and knock him from the grand prix. Prior to that, Lawal got a measure of revenge with a decision win over Quinton Jackson at Bellator 175 in March 2017 to avenge a prior setback to “Rampage.”

Kingfedor wrote:
Former light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary (12-3) will take on former Strikeforce champ Muhammed Lawal (21-7) in three months. Bellator President Scott Coker announced the new booking today on Twitter.

McGeary has fallen on a bit of a rough patch after starting his career 10-0. He won Bellator’s 205-pound title with a decision over Emanuel Newton in 2015, then defended it later that year against Tito Ortiz. But at Bellator 163 nearly two years ago, he lost the belt to Phil Davis.

The Brit rebounded with a second-round TKO of Brett McDermott. But in May 2017, he was submitted by Linton Vassell at Bellator 179. And in February, he was stopped with a third-round TKO by Vadim Nemkov at Bellator 194, giving him three setbacks in his past four fights.

Lawal fought light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader in the opening round of Bellator’s current heavyweight tournament in May. But it took Bader only 15 seconds to take him out with a quick TKO and knock him from the grand prix. Prior to that, Lawal got a measure of revenge with a decision win over Quinton Jackson at Bellator 175 in March 2017 to avenge a prior setback to “Rampage.”

Solid fight.

Bellator 213: Countdown - WW Grand Prix Episode 1


Bellator 213: Countdown - WW Grand Prix Episode 2

King Mo got TKO'd by Liam. Neiman Gracie won by submission. Nice wins. Plus, Machida got the "W."

CDF47 wrote:King Mo got TKO'd by Liam.  Neiman Gracie won by submission.  Nice wins.  Plus, Machida got the "W."

I thnik that Machida should retire, he is not that good anymore.

Rizin=PRIDEFC wrote:

CDF47 wrote:King Mo got TKO'd by Liam.  Neiman Gracie won by submission.  Nice wins.  Plus, Machida got the "W."

I thnik that Machida should retire, he is not that good anymore.

Yeah, I only saw the highlights of this one. Could be time for that.

Hard to find the vids for this, DAZN is hardcorr about their copyrights lol.

InfinityLens wrote:Hard to find the vids for this, DAZN is hardcorr about their copyrights lol.

It can be found.

CDF47 wrote:

InfinityLens wrote:Hard to find the vids for this, DAZN is hardcorr about their copyrights lol.

It can be found.

I found a few but sadly not Mo v Mcgeary.

Anyone have the ratings on this?

InfinityLens wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

InfinityLens wrote:Hard to find the vids for this, DAZN is hardcorr about their copyrights lol.

It can be found.

I found a few but sadly not Mo v Mcgeary.

Anyone have the ratings on this?

Oh, that sucks you are missing that fight.