#koreshkov

Joey

July 17th, 2015

So Bellator 140 is tonight and so  in the interest of fairness, here's 12 precarious ponderings for this all welterweight card! It's unfortunate Bellator's tentpole events create an air of meh about some of their other cards because the top fight on this one demands attention. If you were building a top 10 at welterweight entirely based around violence, Douglas Lima would definitely be on it and Andrey Koreshkov would be on the honorable mentions list.  The two will duke it out for Bellator's WW title while the undercard will hopefully bring us a new challenger. Here's 12 things I'm precariously pondering currently!

1- Why does every Bellator feel like it's from either Connecticut, some obscure casino in the Mid West or California? Can we expand our horizons a little bit?

2- I cannot express how great Lima vs Koreshkov could be. I would put Douglas Lima on the top 5 on the "best fighters outside of the UFC" listing. Tremedous striker, slick grappler, all action and young to boot. Koreshkov isn't bad either but I still worry about his wrestling chops.

3- You ever think Ben Askren watches these two fight and wonders what happened to his career?

4- Who is next for the winner? Bellator has claimed that every fight on this card has title implications and it could certainly prove to be the case.  You've got a solid prospect in Chris Honeycutt, MVP and Paul Daley all in fights that could be title shot predecessors. And I mean Brennan Ward is around too I guess?

5- If Paul Daley passes on a Lima title fight to fight Josh Koscheck, I'm going to throw my shit all over the place like an unruly chimp in a zoo.

6-  TheAntiCool called this "2 good fights, 3 showcases" and he'd be right.  The combined record over their last five fights for MVP, Brennan Ward and Paul Daley? 12-3. The combined record over their last five fights for Carroll, Olson and Rudy Bears? 8-7. Oh and only one of those fights happened in Bellator. This is lamb to the  slaughter type stuff.

7-I'm REALLY interested in seeing the battle of Chris Honeycutt vs Paul Bradley. Bradley's not a great fighter but he is a big capable WW who can give people problems with his durability and wrestling. This fight could answer some important questions about Honeycutt and I, for one, am excited to see it.

8- So when is Michael Venom Paige going to get a step up? It feels like there's a chance tthat this is ggoing to get old or worse off, it's going to hurt  the chances of Paige ever developing besides fun, flashy action striker. I guess they got spooked when he had that okay-ish performance vs NahShon Burrell?

9- Also we're well aware that Rudy Bears is fighting on a televised card in 2015 right?

10- Any of you fine folks picking Dennis Olson to upset Paul Daley? I mean Yakovlev did it. Somehow.

11- Random theory on the title shot situation: They want Koshcheck vs Daley so they'll give the title shot to Honeycutt if he wins impressively. If he loses or looks mediocre, they'll bite the bullet on Daley getting the shot.

It's gonna have some real good prospects on its upcoming card.

On the prelims we have:

Shawn Bunch- Superstar amateur wrestler trying his hand at MMA. Bunch's Bellator debut could be best described as "safe", as he outclassed an opponent on the ground but didn't really look to finish the fight or put his mark on the guy. He trains out of super camp AKA and looks to be a guy they have high hopes for. He takes on Steven Garcia making his pro debut. 

  Jeremy Kimball- Jeremy Kimball is another one of those guys who silently racked up a good winning streak on the sly and eventually found his way to one of the top organizations. He reminds me a bit of Court McGee, beard aside. Originally viewed as "the opponent" to Chidi Njoukuani, Kimball finished Njoukuani, copping off a winning streak that included the likes of Tommy Speer and Drew McFedries. Kimball welcomes Strikeforce mainstay Keith Berry to Bellator. 

  Bubba Jenkins- The previously discussed Jenkins has won 3 straight since turning pro and finds himself out of the likes of RFA and TPF and into the loving arms of Bellator. Jenkins has a lot of Phil Davis in him IMO (a talented wrestler who has submissions to burn) and should be a future top 10 LW if he is built up right. He's also a tremendous rapper if such music interests you. His opponent is 5-5 Mike Barrerras. 

    Rodrigo Lima- I toyed with including Rodrigo Lima onto this list because at 22 years old, he's already proven quite a bit. He's fought in Bellator before and he's beaten reputable names. Still, he's merely 22 years of age and hasn't had 12 fights so to me, he fits in "prospect" mode for this one. Lima is in the Bellator bantamweight tournament and takes on fellow 'he could be a prospect I guess" Rafael Silva. There's a lot of talent in Lima and while I dont know if he's "the guy" to knock off Dantas, he's certainly skilled enough. 

Will Brooks- Speaking of skilled guys who are Bellator proven, Will Brooks tries to rebound from his first ever pro loss. Brooks was knocked out in an upset by Saad Awad but that shouldn't hurt his shine. Brooks is very talented and surprisingly poised for a young fighter. Awad may be nothing more than a learning experience for Brooks. He'll be back and is a lock to be a Bellator tournament mainstay if that loss didn't break him mentally. He'll try to bounce back against Chris Levya (9-5). 

And on the main card:

Jared Downing-  A former TUF try out who found success at 145 lbs, Downing is getting a chance at the big stage again under the watchful eye of Bellator. A smothering wrestler, Downing draws a tough challenge by going up in weight to fight double tough and talented Patricio Freire. Hopefully win or lose, Downing gets another shot at his natural weight class where he can be perhaps a solid challenger in the weight class.

Vitaly Minakov- The best HW prospect in all of MMA gets a chance to lock up his inevitable Bellator HW title shot against Ryan Martinez. Minakov has all the tools that the great ones need (solid wrestling, a decent ground game, power in both hands and no real deficiencies in the stand up department) and will get a shot to prove it soon. Ryan Martinez is a guy who is known for upsets so he's a more than capable fight. If Minakov wins, he locks up a shot against whoever Bellator's HW champion is. Minakov is a guy who fans have been drooling over for a while and it looks like he's ready to finally ascend to that top spot.

So this Wednesday is Bellator and it's a card with two title fights, two tournament finales and a loaded prelim slate with the bantamweight tournament beginning. One of those title fights is between Ruskie Andrey Koreshkov and Ben Askren. While not many are giving Koreshkov a shot at pulling off the upset, he definitely earned his spot in the title fight by running through a decent tournament slate.