As any good MMA event should, Bellator 199 created plenty of talk. Crucially, that talk was about more than just the main event, where Ryan Bader finished King Mo in just fifteen seconds to close out the opening round of Bellator’s World Heavyweight Grand Prix. Following the event, Bellator CEO Scott Coker addressed a number of those topics with Cageside Press and other media outlets in attendance.

“I’ll tell you what, he definitely made a statement,” Coker said of heavyweight Cheick Kongo following Bellator 199 on Saturday. Kongo scored a big knockout win over Javy Ayala at the event. “I think that’s a tribute to his training with Tiki [Ghosen], I think Tiki changed his style.”

“Cheick was such a great kickboxer back in the day,” Coker continued, “and he was such a dynamic striker. And then he’s worked on his ground game a lot and his wrestling a lot, and some of his performances have been okay, not exciting, but he showed he’s back to his old self tonight. That was a great counter-punch.”

Yet with all that praise, don’t start saving up for tickets to a future Cheick Kongo title fight just yet. “These are the type of things that, when I think about the future, I think about ‘lets see how the tournament unfolds.'” Coker explained. “‘Lets see how the other signings unfold. Lets see how we all put this together.’ At the end of the day, I’ll sit down with Rich and everybody at the office and we’ll shuffle the deck and come up with the best matches possible.”

Whether Kongo is in a title match or not, however, “we will have a lot of fights for these heavyweights, because some of them are already getting eliminated.” And after all, “at the end of the day, there’s only going to be one winner, there’s only going to be one champion, at the end. So we’re going to have a good gauntlet of athletes that are going to be able to fight.”

As for a return of the Grand Prix format, perhaps at welterweight or featherweight, Coker said that “I want to get through the heavyweight tournament first, but I think it’s a great format for us.”

“I believe that there is a place for tournaments in MMA,” he continued, “and I think this grand prix tournament proves it’s something that’s worth doing.” In short, “don’t be surprised if you see another tournament or so next year.”

And what of Paul Daley, who had a rough go of it at Bellator 199 against Jon Fitch? Coker fully expects to sort out the complicated relationship between the pair. Daley had previously told Cageside Press that nothing had been hashed out between him and Coker. There was also a question as to how many fights the welterweight star had left with the company.

“My feelings have not changed,” Coker told us in regards to Daley. “That is one of the most dynamic fighters that I’ve been associated with. He had a tough match-up with Fitch, and Fitch is a world class athlete.” The Bellator CEO pointed out that ‘Semtex’ “had a tough time getting up, but Paul was almost at the point where he almost knocked him out” toward the end of the first round.

“I love that guy, I think he will always have a seat here,” Coker continued. “He’s welcome to be here in Bellator. I think we actually have some more fights left than he thinks we might have, but I will sit down and talk to him when I get to London. We’ll sort it out. I hope he’s here for a long time. Win or lose, Paul Daley always brings it. I’ve never been disappointed.”

One fight that still interests Coker is Daley against rival MVP. “That’s a fight that I think should happen, and I think it should happen in London.” The promotion will be heading there shorty, for Bellator 200. With luck, they can get something sorted out with Daley then.

Watch the full Bellator 199 post-fight scrum with Bellator CEO Scott Coker above!

The post Bellator CEO Scott Coker Addresses Future of Cheick Kongo, Paul Daley, and Tournaments appeared first on Cageside Press.

Aaron Pico set up another knockout finish with a body shot at Bellator 199, putting his debut loss far in the distance. Now 3-1 in the past twelve months, Pico is performing like the top prospect Bellator clearly thought he was. He addressed the finish, and his fighting future, at the Bellator 199 post-fight press scrum at the SAP Center in Los Angeles, CA following the event.

“Left hooks to the body is something that always comes natural to me,” he explained. That, Pico said, is thanks to his boxing background. Boxing was a theme that would come up again later in the discussion, but first, Pico, still just 21 years old, told the media in attendance that he “wasn’t surprised at all” that opponent Lee Morrison tried to take him down Saturday night.

“I’ve wrestled with the highest level wrestlers. Olympic champions, world champions,” Pico noted. “I’ve traveled the world all over. I had a feeling he was going to try to take me down.”

In Pico’s estimation, Morrison’s attempt to take him to the mat was foolhardy, but a move made out of desperation. “I’ve wrestled the best in the world and they couldn’t take me down, this guy’s not going to be able to take me down,” he said of the situation. “But my whole thought process coming into the fight, I thought he was going to run a lot more. That’s what they said, he was going to try to cut angles, so we were prepared for that. But in the back of my mind, I knew he was going to go for a takedown, because I knew once he felt my power, that was the only thing he could possibly do, try to take me down.”

The question of what comes next, however, became more about that other sport: boxing.

“Absolutely, I would love to get some boxing fights,” he said when prompted about an interest in dabbling in another sport. “When I started boxing around 10, 11 years old, I thought I was just going to go full on professional boxing. I actually wanted to go to the Olympics for boxing, and a couple of guys that I’ve beaten were actually on the Olympic team for 2016. So I was a really really high level boxer, I had I think about 30 amateur fights, but as I was approaching high school, I said ‘I gotta get back to wrestling.'” He did get back to wrestling, and of course MMA as well. That said, “it’s not a matter of ‘do I want to get boxing fights in me?’ I’m eventually going to get boxing bouts in me, I love boxing.”

He already has some lofty goals. “I feel I’m capable of being a world champion in boxing. A lot of people will think I’m crazy, but I spar with the best,” Pico explained. “I spar with a lot of boxers at Wild Card, I’ve been Miguel Cotto’s sparring partner for the last two fights of his career. So when I do go into boxing, I’m going to try to be the best in the world, and that’s being the world champion.”

“If you ask Freddie Roach if I’m capable of becoming a world champion in boxing and in MMA, I’m 100% sure he’ll say yes.”

In the meantime, however, Pico said that “the most important thing right now is to become the best fighter in MMA. The boxing, right now, that’s just a big passion of mine and I’ll definitely want to cross over eventually.” Until then, “the  most important thing and the task at hand is becoming the best fighter in the world.”

You can watch the full post-fight press scrum with Bellator 199’s Aaron Pico above!

The post Bellator 199’s Aaron Pico Talks Fighting Future, Including Boxing Crossover appeared first on Cageside Press.

At long last, the Cheick Kongo fans always dreamed of showed up in the cage. At Bellator 199, the grappling, grinding Kongo of recent years was gone. It may be that opponent Javy Ayala played into his hands, but in a short but entertaining bout, Kongo landed exactly the kind of crushing knockout fans love. The win marked his sixth straight in the promotion, and first finish in that span.

With that sort of performance, it would seem a title fight might be on the horizon. Kongo (28-10-2), for one, isn’t entirely sure, but is certainly open to it. “For sure, that’s something very exciting,” he said following Bellator 199 on Saturday to the assembled media. “But at the [same] time, I will see what the future [brings], and what’s available to me.” When the subject of a title shot having been secured came up again later, Kongo astutely pointed out that “in life you never know anything is secure.”

“Those guys [in the Heavyweight Grand Prix] are going to fight each other” to get to the championship, he noted. And he does intend to fight the winner. “I will be the next guy to fight the actual champion,” Kongo said. That, however, is a long way off. “For sure it would be really great for me to stay in the mix,” he suggested, not wanting to let his skills get rusty.

As for the Grand Prix field, Kongo felt that for Matt Mitrione, “it’s a good setup to get the rematch with Fedor, so he can prove it wasn’t an accident.” Aside from that? “I wish the best for everybody.”

When asked whether he felt the win over Javy Ayala had proven anything to his critics, ‘The Darkness’ replied that “the thing is, I don’t need to prove anything.”

“When I was with a different company,” Kongo continued, “I used to perform as much as I can. I used to perform no matter what’s going on, what’s happened to me. The thing is, today, everybody’s trying to protect his record, trying to feed the fame, and be successful. If I remember, back in the day people used to fight no matter what, used to fight for what they have. Not thinking about the injuries or whatever, it was just about the pride.”

“I used to be one of those guys, old school. I think that way.” It’s a mindset that leads him to “always give the best, no matter what, injured or not.” He added that “I always show up, no matter what. To fight is not easy, but I do my best.”

Prompted by Cageside Press about whether there was any conversation between himself and pal Rampage Jackson in regards to Jackson being in the Grand Prix without him, Kongo cracked wise. “I was like, you know what, I’m gonna f*** you up!” he joked. On a more serious note, he compared himself to a big brother in his relationship with Rampage, saying Jackson being in the tournament but not Kongo himself was no big deal.

On the extended layoff of roughly a year between his last bout and Bellator 199, Kongo told Cageside Press that “it was really bad. I gained weight, what else, I had a f***ing fat belly” he said with a laugh. “It was horrible.” However, Kongo did point out that the time off gave him time to heal, as in the past he’d dealt with both vertebrae and shoulder issues.

Check out the full post-fight presser with Cheick Kongo above! Be sure to follow us on Youtube and elsewhere for more event coverage.

The post Following A Big Knockout Win At Bellator 199, Cheick Kongo Says “I Don’t Need to Prove Anything” appeared first on Cageside Press.

Entering into Bellator 199 in San Jose, CA on Saturday, a question mark hovered over Adam Piccolotti. For perhaps the first time in his career, his prospect status was in doubt. After starting his pro MMA run a perfect 9-0, Piccolotti had lost twice in 2017. While both losses came to though opponents in the form of Goiti Yamauchi and David Rickels, the shine seemed to come off ‘The Bomb’ a little. Which made a win key at the SAP Center this weekend. And while opponent Carrington Banks lacked the name value of Yamauchi or Rickels, he was still an undefeated prospect in a similar spot to where Piccolotti himself was a couple years ago.

In the end, Piccolotti picked up a third round submission in a very competitive fight. With the win under his belt, the clearly pleased lightweight addressed the media at the Bellator 199 post-fight press scrum, with Cageside Press in attendance. There, he reflected on the win, and had a fair amount of praise for opponent Banks.

“He was strong, it was frustrating,” Piccolotti said of Banks. “He was good at keeping his chin down, and defended the rear-naked choke very well.”

Piccolotti knew the finish would come soon enough, however. “Jiu-jitsu essentially is meant for no time limit. So eventually I knew I was going to find an opening,” he said. “It took a little more softening up and being patient and applying pressure with my hips and my body triangle to find it, but it presented itself. I wasn’t going to rush it, give up position, anything silly like that. I wasn’t too worried about it, I knew I was winning the fight, but getting the finish is always the goal.”

The lightweight was definitely surprised at how well Banks defended the neck crank he’d employed during the bout. “Sometimes with that neck crank, especially in conjunction with the body triangle, it can put a ton of pressure on guys and make them submit,” Piccolotti said. “He was tough as hell, I give him respect, he hung in there.”

“I felt his air leaving his body. I felt him struggling with the body triangle and the neck crank together,” he continued. “A lot of times, even with the neck crank they’ll lift their chin, he didn’t do that. I just gotta give him props on his submission defense.”

As to getting back in the win column, and against an undefeated fighter no less, Adam Piccolotti said simply that “it feels great,” before adding that “the fact that he was undefeated means less to me. I know that he was a tough opponent. I know he had good skills, good ground game, good wrestling, good striking. So to beat an opponent that’s good all around, and to get back in the win column, those are the things that mean the most to me right now.”

As for who’s next? “Anybody in that lightweight division” Piccolotti said with a smile.

Check out the full Bellator 199 post-fight presser with Adam Piccolotti above!

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Bellator 199 saw a plethora of finishes, but one fight, as expected, went the distance. Saying prior to the bout that he intended to drag Paul Daley into deep waters, Jon Fitch did just that. Yet if anything surprised Fitch, it was how Daley acted on the ground. Or, to put it bluntly, the lack of fight Daley seemed to have once he was on his back. It’s a theme Fitch would touch on several times following the bout, where Cageside Press and others took part in the post-fight presser.

“He was trying to talk the ref into standing up the fight, wanted somebody to help him out I guess. Couldn’t do it himself,” Fitch observed when asked about what Fitch was saying while on the ground during the scrap.

Towards the end of the first round, Daley seemed to have Fitch hurt, the one bright spot in the Brit’s performance at Bellator 199. Yet Fitch downplayed the close call. “I was moving, I was rolling with everything. He only caught me with one semi-clean punch,” Fitch said. “Nothing really landed very well. I have a little bit of swelling here, but nothing else really hit me. I was able to keep moving, and my corner yelled at me in between rounds to make sure I was moving forward and not let him initiate any exchanges.”

Talk then went back to Daley’s ground game, or lack there of. And the reaction of the crowd in San Jose, where Fitch is a local. “To me, they’re booing him,” Fitch said.

“I’m slugging away, I’m trying to do work, and this guy’s holding onto my wrists, asking the ref to stand him up,” he continued. “That’s not fighting. Do something. Sweep me, stand up, throw a punch, throw an elbow, do something. Don’t scream to the referee to stand you up so you can stand up. Do it yourself. It’s a fight.”

Even earlier in the bout, with Daley staying on the outside, Fitch was surprised. “Come at me, I thought you were Paul Daley,” he recalled thinking. “Where’s the flying knee, where’s the spinning s***? I guess he was trying to lure me into something, I don’t know what. I dunno, fight.”

As for what’s next, Fitch told Cageside Press that  “I’m not getting any younger, so I’d rather fight for a title sooner than later.” When it comes to champ Rory MacDonald, however, surprisingly, Fitch hasn’t seen much of him. “I know Rory’s really tough, but I have to be honest, I’ve never watched him fight. I don’t watch fights anymore, I’m just in them.”

Check out the full post-fight presser with Jon Fitch above!

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“A one punch knockout, and get out of there, in a tournament style, that’s a big thing,” Ryan Bader commented following his fifteen second knockout win over King Mo Lawal at Bellator 199 on Saturday in San Jose. He’s not wrong. “I could have went in there and got lumped up and maybe won, but then I’m taking a month, month plus off. Now I get to compound on all the work I already put in.”

Bader’s win shocked many, who expected a long, grinding, grueling grappling battle in the main event. Instead, they got a reasonable facsimile of a heavyweight bout from a pair of light heavyweights. It came with its share of trash talk, mostly from Mo, which Bader shrugged off when the dust settled. “I respect Mo,” he said during the post-fight presser, with Cageside Press in attendance. After all there’s “always some talk before a fight. He’s a competitor. I went out there and got the job done. It’s an honor fighting him, I competed against him back in the day. It’s crazy to think that sixteen, seventeen years later, eighteen years later, we’re doing it again, at a huge stage. So much respect to him.”

Moving forward, with a statement win under his belt, Bader may appear to be the favorite. In his mind, he always was. “I’m not really into the whole favorite, betting favorite kind of stuff, but I thought I was the favorite coming in regardless.”

Looking back and cherishing the victory may be short lived in the Grand Prix format however. “Now I have [Matt] Mitrione,” Bader noted, “who’s a true heavyweight. I’m actually stepping up into the heavyweight division now. He’s big, he’s quick. I feel like this is the fight where I’m kind of coming into that.” There’s likely to be a lot of questions to come, despite King Mo being one of the “tougher guys in the tournament.” Because as Bader pointed out, “body wise, I’m used to fighting guys like that.”

“It gets real now. It’s heavyweight,” he continued. “I’m going to have to bring some guys in to emulate that. I’ll gain a little bit of weight, but I’m going to keep what makes me good also. I’m going to be good, I’m going to be fast, in shape, I’m looking forward to that fight.”

On upcoming opponent Meathead, who Bader referred to as a “buddy,” he observed that “he moves really well for a big guy. He’s good on his feet, he’s lanky and big. Where he lacks a little bit is his wrestling, where I’m good at.”

The fifteen second KO surprised many — but how might things have gone if the fight had lasted a little longer? Bader told Cageside Press that “we knew he was going to keep ducking his head to the right. He came out and threw that jab, he doesn’t really keep his right hand up. It makes him awkward, it makes him good, because he can throw that right hand from anywhere and you can’t really see it.” With that in mind, the plan was “to start throwing some kicks in there. Not just box with him. Even take him down a little bit. I just felt that if we got into that mode of trading shots, I was going to be more resilient.”

Despite the “buddy” label, Ryan Bader says he’ll have no issues moving forward against Mittrione. “I fought with my good buddies on the Ultimate Fighter,” he pointed out.

“I can elbow him in the face and we can be friends after.”

Check out the full post-fight press scrum with Ryan Bader above. Bader will meet Matt Mitrone in the semi-finals of Bellator’s World Heavyweight Grand Prix later this year.

The post Bellator 199 Heavyweight Grand Prix Winner Ryan Bader Reflects on KO of King Mo, Looks Ahead to Meathead appeared first on Cageside Press.

In the main event at Bellator 199 on Saturday in San Jose, the World Heavyweight Grand Prix got back underway. Sure, it was a pair of light heavyweights, including champ Ryan Bader, partaking. But that shouldn’t take away from the fun, should it? It was the final bout of the opening round, and with its conclusion, the semi-final bracket would be set. Facing Bader was King Mo Lawal, a man with plenty of Grand Prix experience.

Heading into the fight, King Mo accused Ryan Bader of having no rhythm, while Bader pointed out simply that his awkward style got him wins. It was likely to be a preview of an eventual 205lb title fight, but first, there was three rounds or less in the grand prix.

A lot, lot less in the end. Within seconds, Ryan Bader put an end to King Mo’s night! Lawal opened by going to the body early with a punch. Then Bader came forward with a left hook that dropped King Mo. Bader charged in after him, and while Lawal tried to cover up, Bader unleashed right hand after right hand until ref Mike Beltran had seen enough and waved it off!

With the win, Ryan Bader moves forward in the Bellator World Heavyweight Grand Prix, where he’ll face former UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrione. It was a near flawless performance from ‘Darth Bader’ — and may change a few opinions about him getting in with the heavyweights, as although Lawal is best known as a light heavyweight, he’d previously won a RIZIN heavyweight grand prix.

Ryan Bader def. King Mo Lawl by knockout, Round 1, 0:15

The post Bellator 199 Results: Ryan Bader Smokes King Mo In Mere Seconds, Advances in Heavyweight Grand Prix appeared first on Cageside Press.

At Bellator 199 on Saturday, former UFC star Jon Fitch, most recently WSOF/PFL welterweight champion, made his promotional debut. Welcoming Fitch to the fold was Paul Daley, the ever-dangerous British striker. One man would inch closer to a shot at the title, currently held by Canada’s Rory MacDonald.

Not surprisingly, Fitch pressed for the takedown early in round one, pressing Paul Daley up against the fence. Daley employed a wide base and used a whizzer to stay up, but Fitch refused to be denied. Step by step, inch by inch, he pushed, pulled, and dragged Daley to the floor.

Back up, however, Daley then showed why he’s so dangerous, tagging Fitch with a left, then another, blow after blow, swinging away with Fitch stuck with his back against the cage. Fitch showed some decent head movement, however, and managed to escape the round!

In the second, Fitch attacked the body early but again quickly moved in for a takedown, once again dragging Daley down by the fence. Fitch worked from half guard, utilized knee on belly, rained down punches, and methodically wore down the Englishman as the round progressed. Daley didn’t make it easy, attempting to control the wrists, but he simply couldn’t get Fitch off him — and spent the bulk of the round with Fitch all over him.

The third picked up where round two left off. Fitch took Daley down almost immediately, and rode him like a backpack. Strikes from the back weren’t hard enough to secure a finish, but kept Fitch active and stopped the affair from being stood up. Daley clutched at Fitch’s wrists, to no avail. Fitch would control him to the final bell, the fight playing out just as many had expected.

Jon Fitch def. Paul Daley by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-26, 29-26)

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One of Bellator’s surging prospects, featherweight Aaron Pico met another far more experienced opponent when he faced Lee Morrison at Bellator 199. With a 2-1 record heading into the night, Pico was staring across the cage at a fighter with over twenty-five professional fights. Yet Pico has often displayed a maturity beyond his two short decades, and that level head was once again on display Saturday night.

Arron Pico went right after the more experienced fighter off the opening bell. First a right hand, then a kick and right hand combo. He kept up the pressure, and when Lee Morrison lunged in at him, he caught Morrison with another big right! Moments later, a left uppercut to the body sent Lee Morisson into a backwards somersault, and Lee Morrison was all but finished. Pico threw in a few follow-up shots as Morrison covered up by the fence, and the ref waved it off!

After the bout speaking to Bellator’s Big John McCarthy, Pico said that he wanted to take on tougher competition. “I’m one step closer to being champ of the world” he said.

Aaron Pico def. Lee Morrison by TKO, Round 1, 1:10

The post Bellator 199 Results: Aaron Pico Thrashes Lee Morrison, Sets Up Finish with Body Shot appeared first on Cageside Press.

At Bellator 199 on Saturday in San Jose, CA, Cheick Kongo made his return to the cage. Opposite him was Javy Ayala, the man who shocked with a knockout of Sergei Kharitonov last year, then went three rounds in a losing effort against Roy Nelson. Surprisingly, the bout wasn’t part of the heavyweight grand prix, despite the pair being two of the top heavyweights in Bellator MMA.

In this heavyweight affair, Ayala came out swinging hard, forcing Kongo to neutralize him with a clinch. Breaking out of the clinch, Ayala chose to close the distance and look for a takedown of his own, eventually pushing Kongo into the fence. The grappling went on for a short while, then Kongo landed a leg kick back in the middle. Then, Cheick Kongo decided to give us all a glimpse of the old Kongo: Javy Ayala charged in with an overhand right, and Cheick Kongo answered with a crushing right to the side of the head. Ayala dropped like a stone, and Kongo followed him down for follow-up strikes as the ref dove in to make the save.

A stellar knockout my Cheick Kongo, who makes a statement in his return to action!

Cheick Kongo def. Javy Ayala by knockout, Round 1, 2:29

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