Bellator 76 Tournament and Main event Discussion

Bellator 76
Oct. 12
Caesars Windsor Hotel & Casino in Ontario, Canada



Main Event
Eddie Alvarez vs. Patricky "Pitbull" Freire

FeatherWeight Tournament
Nazareno Malegarie vs. Rad Martinez
Wagnney Fabiano vs. Akop Stepanyan
Mike Richman vs. Jeremy Spoon
Cody Bollinger vs. Shahbulat Shamhalaev

Tournament:
Who has the Toughest Featherweight Opening final?
Who is the dark hoarse of the Tournament?
Who is a unknown but Some one to look out for this Tournament?
What match ups do you want to see for the second Round?
Who is likely to finish all their tournament matches?
Who will win the whole tournament?

Main Event:
Who has the best chance of winning in the main event?
Where does the winner of the main event go after the victory?
Who has more tools in the main event?
Who will land first between the two?

Eddie Alvarez likely leaving Bellator after he fights Patricky Pitbull

October 12th will mark Bellator's return to Canada, and it's headlined by an excellent lightweight encounter between Eddie Alvarez and Patricky "Pitbull" Freire. It's also important because it's the final fight of Alvarez's contract, which would make him one of the highest profile free agents in MMA today. Bellator president Bjorn Rebney was interviewed by MMA Fighting on Alvarez's future with the promotion, and signs (unsurprisingly) point to the former lightweight champion leaving them after his fight with Pitbull.

"It's a fight I wanted to see two years ago," he said. "I always thought it would be an amazing fight, and it will be in all likelihood Eddie's last fight in our organization. God bless him, he's been awesome for us, and win, lose, or draw, he'll do incredibly well if he ends up going to the UFC. I know they have a huge amount of interest in him, and I think he'll probably win their title."

Asked if that meant he was conceding that Alvarez's future was elsewhere, Rebney didn't explicitly agree, but indicated the likelihood of it was high.

"I'm pretty excited about what we've got at 155," he said. "Obviously, Michael Chandler without any question or controversy, he submitted Ed. So he's the best of that group. I think Rick Hawn is a monster. "Tiger" [Alexander Sarnavskiy] isn't well known in the States but he's 21-0 and the top prospect in the world at 155. He's a beast. Pitbull is a monster. We have a stacked 155 division. I'm thrilled with what Sam and our team have done.

Alvarez (23-3 MMA, 7-1 Bellator) is of course the "former" lightweight champion after engaging in an epic battle against Michael Chandler which saw Chandler win via rear-naked choke in the 4th round. He recovered with a mauling of Shinya Aoki, successfully avenging a 2008 loss. The outcome of his fight with Pitbull is pretty important, as a win would see him still with just the one blemish on his record of the last 2-3 years, while a loss is not really something that favors Alvarez when negotiating with other organizations.

If Alvarez goes to the UFC it'd be another fantastic addition to one of the most talent-rich weight classes they have. It would also give Alvarez a chance to fight real "superfights" and not Josh Neer or Roger Huerta, and build upon his #11 status in the MMA Nation Consensus Rankings. In fact, with Clay Guida and Frankie Edgar headed for 145, a win would essentially assure he's a top 10 fighter and reasonably close to a title shot.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/10/4/3457500/eddie-alvarez-likely-leaving-bellator-after-patricky-pitbull

So it looks like eddie might go to zuffa. sucks

Patricky Freire wants Bellator 76 win over Eddie Alvarez to put him back in contention

Patricky "Pitbull" Freire is certainly not lacking for motivation this week.

The Bellator lightweight on Friday meets former champ Eddie Alvarez in the main event of Bellator 76 in a superfight of sorts. There is no title on the line, there is no tournament advancement on the line, there is no promise of a spot in a future tournament.

But given Alvarez's status as a former dominant champ, and that the fight could be his last under the Bellator banner, there is plenty of attention on it.

But Freire (10-3 MMA, 3-2 BFC) is taking his motivation from more than just the lure of beating someone the caliber of Alvarez (23-3 MMA, 7-1 BFC). He's also fighting for the first time since the death of his longtime trainer and mentor, Bruno Gouveia. And he's fighting to continue to make a family impression on Bellator, for which his brother, Patricio "Pitbull," also fights.

And then there's his belief that Alvarez might not be sold on his skills, and that's something he's anxious to prove him wrong on in person.

"This fight is worth a lot to me, since I consider him a top five fighter," Freire recently told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "And, as I recall, he has said a lot about my shortcomings when I was in the lightweight tournament. I'd like to see how to deals with me now."

Freire had a pair of impressive knockout wins in the opening round and semifinals of Bellator's Season 4 lightweight tournament. But against Michael Chandler in the finals, he dropped a unanimous decision. Chandler went on to get a shot at Alvarez in November 2011 and pulled off the upset, submitting the champ in the fourth round.

And that submission may have given Freire some clues for where he wants Friday's fight to go.

"I think he's a complete fighter. He boxes and kicks well," Freire said. "But I feel the path to victory is jiu-jitsu, which is something I'd been neglecting myself leading up to the (Lloyd) Woodard fight. It's highly important."

After his loss to Chandler, Freire made quick work of former UFC fighter Kurt Pellegrino at Bellator 59, stopping him in just 50 seconds with his fists.

But in March, in Bellator's Season 6 lightweight tournament opening round, Freire got caught in an armbar against Woodard. He had no interest in tapping, and the resulting small elbow fracture put him out of action for a short spell.

"Honestly, I don't like how I fought. It wasn't my nature," Freire said. "I fell for his game. He hit me with a jab and I fell down and I was worried the judges would see it as a knockdown. So I got up in a hurry, brawling, looking for the knockout. I didn't use my patience and my usual strategy."

The loss, and a belief he came out "cold" in the fight, gave him a renewed motivation in training for Alvarez.

"For this fight against Eddie Alvarez, I've never trained so much," Freire said. "Expect a real war. It's Eddie's last fight in Bellator. I'm moving forward and throwing everything, including the kitchen sink. It'll be the same kind of battle both of us had against Michael Chandler. If he wants a fight, I'll gladly give it to him."

Freire said Gouveia's death this past spring will serve as an emotional motivator going forward for both him and his brother. Gouveia also helped train the likes of UFC fighters Ronny Markes, Rony "Jason" Mariano, Anistavio "Gasparzinho" Medeiros and Jussier "Formiga" da Silva.

"I hang on to his positive attitude and encouraging words," Freire said of his former master. "He never believed that our opponents could beat us. He was very optimistic. We could fight Godzilla and he'd say we'd get the knockout. … I learned it all – the way to speak, to punch, to kick from my master Bruno. I've been molded in a way that's not going to change."

Freire hopes a win over Alvarez gets him back on track after the losses to Chandler and Woodard. And when Bellator moves to Spike TV in January, he hopes he's a part of the promotion's next lightweight tournament.

With his fellow "Pitbull" brother Patricio, who awaits a featherweight title shot against champ Pat Curran, likely after the new year in Season 8, Freire plans to keep impressing for Bellator – starting against Alvarez on Friday night.

"After this fight, I expect to enter the lightweight tournament early next year," he said. "I believe that Bellator very much enjoys my and my brother's fighting style. Our victories last year, and the way we won by knockout, which is something the American public loves to see – I feel that greatly increased Bellator's visibility and fan base."

In addition to Alvarez-Freire, Bellator 76 includes the opening round of the promotion's Season 7 featherweight tournament. Bellator 76 takes place at Caesars Windsor in Ontario, Canada, just across the border from Detroit.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/31048/patricky-freire-wants-bellator-76-win-over-eddie-alvarez-to-put-him-back-in-contention.mma

ZuffaKiller wrote:So it looks like eddie might go to zuffa. sucks

I remember how he talked about how Bellator was better for him.

This should be an awesome fight. Both guys are awesome. I could see Freire pulling off the upset but Eddie is a beast. Looking forward to it. Sucks that Eddie's probably leaving Bellator after. If he loses that could change things possibly.

Johan Lofgren wrote:

ZuffaKiller wrote:So it looks like eddie might go to zuffa. sucks

I remember how he talked about how Bellator was better for him.

Yeah then he lost the belt and he changed his mind

Alvarez by 2R KO
Malegarie by DEC
Fabiano by DEC
Spoon by DEC
Shamhalaev by 1R SUB

Ill go in-depth at a later date.

I believe Patricky "Pitbull" Freire has a good chance of beating eddie. Patricky should not be underestimated at all.

Even the most blackhearted MMA fan surely got a bit emotional when watching ESPN's "Outside the Lines" feature on MMA fighter Rad Martinez this past year.

The top featherweight prospect balances a burgeoning fight career with the full-time care of his brain-damaged father.

But he's determined to prove his entry in Bellator's Season 7 featherweight tournament isn't simply a matter of charity.

"There are some people out there that don't believe that I deserve to have this shot in this tournament," Martinez told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "There are some people out there that look at me like a charity case because of the story that was run on ESPN. There are a lot of people that think that Bellator gave me this chance just because I'm a nice guy. Well, I want to prove all of those people wrong. I want to show them that I don't only deserve to be in this tournament, but that I have what it takes to become a world champion in the sport."

Martinez (12-2 MMA, 2-0 BFC) meets Nazareno Malegarie (22-2 MMA, 1-2 BFC) Friday at Bellator 76, which takes place at Caesars Windsor Hotel & Casino in Ontario, Canada. The opening round of the eight-man tournament, as well as an Eddie Alvarez vs. Patricky "Pitbull Freire headliner, airs on MTV2 following prelims on Spike.com.

Martinez signed with Bellator (and later won two non-tournament bouts) in 2011 after ESPN's "Outside the Lines" told the fighter's little-known story. Martinez, who took up MMA at the urging of his former Clarion University teammate and former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, made a promise to his dying grandmother that he'd take over as the primary caretaker for his father, who was seriously injured in an car accident in 1991, upon her death.

Despite his commitments at home, the Utah-based fighter is 11-1 in his past 12 fights, and the lone loss came to former UFC fighter Brian Cobb. With Bellator wins over Brian van Hoven and Douglas Frey, he punched his ticket to this weekend's tournament, which earns the winner $100,000 in total pay and a guaranteed title shot.

Martinez's brother and best friend, Levi, has stepped up in his absence as he chases his dream.

"I'm figuring out how to balance training for this tournament and taking care of my dad," he said. "It's going to be hardest on my brother, who's coming in to help a lot while I get ready for these fights. He believes that I'm going to win the tournament, so he has no problem stepping up a little bit more. He just wants me to focus on the task at hand and to bring home that big check and title shot when I'm through with it."

Martinez gets a stiff test in his opening-round matchup. After dominating the regional circuit in Brazil and winning his first 19 pro fights, Malegarie joined Bellator, where his only career losses have come to notables Daniel Straus and Marlon Sandro.

"This tournament is my coming-out party," Martinez said. "I want to show the world how much I've improved, and I want to show that I deserve to be in this tournament. Once I beat Nazareno, people will see that I'm for real.

"He's going to be the most dangerous opponent I've fought so far in my career just based on his amount of experience inside the cage. He's from Brazil, and that tells you all you need to know. Those guys are tough. They're born to fight."

Despite winning half his fights via knockout, Martinez hears the same criticism all wrestlers do. However, he's knocked out his past two opponents in the first round, and he hopes to continue that trend in Bellator's eight-man field.

"I want to show people that I'm not just a wrestler and that I don't have to take my fights down and grind them out, and I think I showed that against my last opponent here with Bellator," he said. "So I'm going into this tournament to prove something to people and to prove something to myself. I need to show that I deserve to be here."



rooting for him...how not to root for this kid who is a great human being, war rad...hope you win this friday...

http://mmajunkie.com/news/31069/bellator-76s-rad-martinez-out-to-prove-hes-no-charity-case.mma

Send him packing: Bellator 76 headliner Patricky Pitbull interview exclusive with MMAmania.com

Patricky "Pitbull" Freire burst onto the scene when he made his Bellator debut in 2011, viciously knocking out both Rob McCullough and Toby Imada to nearly win the season four tournament.

It was through Bellator that the Brazilian got his opportutnity, just like his younger brother Patricio, who's currently the number one contender at 145 pounds for the promotion.

So with that being said, Patricky was incensed when he saw a video of former Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez acting all buddy buddy with UFC President Dana White on national television at the UFC on Fox 3 event earlier this year.

After all, Alvarez still had another fight on his Bellator contract before he could leave the promotion.

Feeling the need to defend Bellator's honor. Pitbull asked if he could be the one to fight Alvarez in his final Bellator bout. He got his wish and will be fighting Alvarez this Friday night (Oct. 13, 2012) in the main event of Bellator 76 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

Freire spoke with MMAmania.com (through a translator) earlier today about defending Bellator's honor against Alvarez, not giving Alvarez a chance to recover if he hurts him and fighting for the memory of his former coach in this exclusive interview.

Check it out:

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): With Patricio in your corner, are you going to have to make sure not to punch him in the face during your warm-up this time around?

Patricky Pitbull: (Patricky laughs and Patricio also laughs in background) That's no problem. I throw my hands and Patricio learned how to try and hold it for me.

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): You hurt your arm in your last fight. How long did it take before you were fully recovered and ready to get back to training again?

Patricky Pitbull: I was hoping for a month but it ended up being 45 days.

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): Did you take any lesson from your coach, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's injury, making sure you were healthy before coming back and training?

Patricky Pitbull: Rodrigo always gave me words of advice, comforting me and saying "don't worry. Everything will be fine." I always believed because Rodrigo is always the one that overcomes everything and there's no one more capable than him of saying that.

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): You mentioned in a prior interview that you neglected your jiu-jitsu heading into your last fight against Lloyd Woodard. What steps did you take in training to rectify that?

Patricky Pitbull: I trained jiu-jitsu and try to correct my mistakes. I was embarrassed because Brazilians come from jiu-jitsu. They can't be submitted by an American so I trained a lot so that never happens again to me. I won't let the same mistakes happen to me again.

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): Eddie Alvarez was shown on video next to Dana White at the UFC on FOX 3 show in New Jersey and Patricky actually asked for this fight. What were your feelings when you saw Eddie with Dana despite him still being under contract with Bellator?

Patricky Pitbull: I thought it was a complete disrespect to Bjorn [Rebney] and the entire Bellator organization. Even though he had said bad things about me, after I saw that, I had a big desire to fight him.

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): Do you feel like you're representing Bellator for this fight against an outsider because it's heavily rumored that Alvarez will be leaving after this fight?

Patricky Pitbull: Yeah, of course. I feel like he's underestimating the Bellator fighters and he doesn't even care for the organization because it's his last fight.

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): You had the potential to fight Alvarez if you had defeated Michael Chandler in the finals of the Bellator season four lightweight tournament. Do you feel this is a second chance for you?

Patricky Pitbull: I'm very happy. I think it's an excellent opportunity that this event is giving to me and I'm content that Bellator has given me this opportunity.

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): No matter how good his performance, it always seems like Alvarez gets tagged and hurt at one point in nearly every one of his fights. Do you feel like if you hurt him, he wouldn't be able to come back like he normally does?

Patricky Pitbull: If a good punch of mine connects, he's not getting up anymore. If he falls, I'm going to crush his head on the ground.

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): With so many of your teammates fighting in Brazil for the UFC on Saturday, do you feel like you've got the same amount of support for this fight on Friday?

Patricky Pitbull: I had much support back home with my coaches because my fight was announced before theirs. I had lots of time to work.

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): Your Nogueira gym is one of the best in the world for heavier Brazilians. As a lightweight, do you ever have issues training against fighters your own size?

Patricky Pitbull: My gym is known for more heavyweight fighters but there are much more fighters in the lighter weights than in the heavier weights. They just haven't had the opportunity to show themselves. There's several great fighters that I had ready to help me.

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): What's your motivation for this fight?

Patricky Pitbull: My motivation is the same as always but this time, I fight for Bellator because I want to show everyone that Bellator is a big event. He's a top fighter and I want to show everyone I can beat a top fighter.

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): If you defeat Eddie, what do you think that would do for your standing in the lightweight division?

Patricky Pitbull: I have a very big notion of everything that's going on. Sometimes I'm surprised that people recognize me when I'm going places. That's new to me. I think if I beat Alvarez, I will be among the top guys, top 15 or higher.

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): I saw your banner for this fight and your late coach Bruno Gouvea is in the center. Do you draw inspiration from him and do you plan on always having him on your banners?

Patricky Pitbull: Him being on my banner doesn't matter per se, it's more that he's just with me for every one of my fights. The reason I put his picture on my banner now is because his death was still pretty recent and I haven't had to have a victory for him and I wanted it to be an homage.

Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): If everything goes perfectly for you on Friday, how would you like the fight to finish?

Patricky Pitbull: Knockout

Patricky would like to thank his sponsors Ricardo Sergio, Analitica, Future Legend, his conditioning coach and Team Nogueira. You can follow him on Twitter @PatrickyPitbull.

http://www.mmamania.com/2012/10/10/3486170/send-him-packing-bellator-76-headliner-patricky-pitbull-interview

Bellator 76 weigh in results LIVE from Windsor for 'Alvarez vs Pitbull'

The official weigh-in event for tomorrow night's (Oct. 12, 2012) Bellator 76 fight card took place today (Oct. 11, 2012) at 5 p.m. ET from Caesars Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

All 20 fighters who stepped on the scales made weight.

Headlining the main event of Bellator 76 will be a highly anticipated lightweight bout between former Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez and top Brazilian brawler Patricky Freire. The fight will be Alvarez's last under his current contract with Bellator so he's hoping to make a good impression on his available suitors outside the promotion with one last great performance.

Also on tap for the main card will be the Bellator season seven featherweight tournament quarterfinals which features eight prospects all vying for a shot at the 145 pound title and $100,000. Former tournament fighter Nazareno Malagarie battles ESPN-featured Rad Martinez while Brazilian veteran Wagnney Fabiano returns from injury to take on Russian Atop Stepanyan.

American prospect Mike Richman is also expected to compete as well as Russian Muay Thai, Sambo and kickboxing champion Shahbulat Shamhalaev.

Complete Bellator 76 weigh-in results are posted below:

Main Card

155 lbs.: Eddie Alvarez (155.4) vs. Patricky Freire (154.8)
145 lbs.: Rad Martinez (146) vs. Nazareno Malegarie (145.8)
145 lbs.: Akop Stepanyan (146) vs. Wagnney Fabiano (145.8)
145 lbs.: Mike Richman (145.6) vs. Jeremy Spoon (146)
145 lbs.: Shahbulat Shamhalaev (145.6) vs. Cody Bollinger (146)

Preliminary Card

155 lbs.: Jason Fischer (155.6) vs. Kyle Prepolec (155.6)
155 lbs.: Chad Laprise (155.4) vs. Ainsley Robinson (156)
185 lbs.: Simon Marini (185.6) vs. Ali Mokdad (184.8)
170 lbs.: A.J. Matthews (170.4) vs. Dom O'Grady (170.8)
145 lbs.: Magomedrasul Khasbulaev (146) vs. Nayeb Hezam (145.8)

http://www.mmamania.com/2012/10/11/3487972/bellator-76-weigh-in-results-live-from-windsor-for-alvarez-vs-pitbull

This is tonight boys. I don´t know much about the FW division but Alvarez vs Pitbull will be cool. Since Alvarez might be leaving for the UFC I´m hoping Pitbull knocks him the f#ck out.

I missed last week's event so I'm ready for this one

Prelims on spike.com now!

http://www.spike.com/shows/bellator-fighting-championships/live/

Let's chat, great card tonight

Damn, FW Shah's GNP is brutal and aggressive as hell. Fedoresque GNP.

Damn, the Russians are tearing through Bellator.

Richman looks pretty legit. Could be the dark horse.

wekka wrote:Richman looks pretty legit. Could be the dark horse.

Yup....He looks like a force in this tournament. 1st round KO of Horodecki a few months ago and now a brutal head kick 1st round finish of Spoon. Very impressive.

two of my pick won and two lost now the main event up next

^Freire vs. Alvarez should be awesome. Coming up now. Been hoping these two would be matched up for a while.

now eddie is going to zuffa sucks

That was fun while it lasted.

Sucks Eddie is leaving. He's a beast.

Awesome event, Bellator and it's fighters served it up nice tonight.