Cageside View: Lighter weight classes

Demetrious Johnson current flyweight champ

Welcome back to a brand new Cageside View! Sorry for the wait, things kept getting slowing this series down. As you'll learn this series will feature editorials on top of event coverage. On account of me missing covering a... FEW past events it will be about a specific topic this time. As you can already tell from the title this is about the lighter weight classes in mixed martial arts. This article is more for the casual fans or for the fans that want to go from being casual to being more serious about watching MMA. As most hardcore fans probably already know what I'm going to say.

What brought this up was watching UFC on Fox 6 back in January. Where Demetrious Johnson and John Dodson had it out for the flyweight belt. The fight that transpired was one of the most exciting back and forth fights I've seen in a while. Yet, since most people believe "heavyweight equals strongest" most people don't care about seeing the lightweight guys. It's something that's been around since at least pro boxing has been around. So, people probably won't buy a pay per view if it's headlined by fighters of the lighter weight classes.

Here's what you should know about the lighter weight classes if you're not familiar as to why they ought to be given the chance to headline main events more often. The lighter fighters are able to move more often and faster and usually thanks to how well their cardio is they can fight with high energy throughout all the rounds. Going back to the Johnson vs Dodson bout there wasn't much of a lull throughout the fight, though there were some illegal blows that stopped things for a bit, but that doesn't count. There's also fights in the 155 pound weight class like the famous Anthony Pettis vs Ben Henderson where something that is much less likely to be seen by heavyweights, a kick by jumping off the cage. There's also the fact that the 155 lightweight class is a division full of top level fighters, another reason why you won't be bored.

Going on the subject of heavyweight fighters and the heavyweight champion being "the strongest man on the planet" as I've said earlier has been around since at least pro boxing has been around. People would think the biggest guys were naturally the strongest. Of course you can't fake physics, having more mass especially muscle mass does make one physically stronger and there are weight divisions because of this, but that isn't to say someone like Anthony Pettis couldn't defend himself from a heavyweight if need be. Mixed Martial Arts is about technique not just brute strength.

In short, watch the fights of the lighter weight class guys (and women too) and see for yourself how exciting and main event worthy they can be. The athletes may be smaller but they're fights are certainly not.

Cageside view: Bellator 86

We are back with a new Cageside view! First off, I want to thank everyone who read this column's debut. Also don't be afraid to leave a comment, I love feedback and I want to know what you guys think and what I should do more or less of. With that out of the way let's get things underway. First off we have...

The Facts: Results (I'm going based on what I saw)

Preliminaries

Cortez Coleman defeats Matt Jones via unanimous decision

Damon Jackson defeats Zach Church via submission

Raul Amaya defeats Jose Gomez via t.k.o

Brent Weedman defeats Marius Zaromski via unanimous decision

Jason Sampson defeats Chris Pham via submission

Main Card

Ben Saunders defeats Koffi Adzitso via unanimous decision

Douglas Lima defeats Michail Tsarev via t.k.o

King Mo defeats Przemyslaw Mysiala via t.k.o

Ben Askren defeats Karl Amoussou via t.k.o

Hunter Tucker defeats Javier Obregon via digivolution... just kidding he won via submission

The Blows

We had some interesting fights on this card. In the fight involving Ben Saunders a german suplex was attempted this ended poorly for his opponent. Because as his opponent was trying to suplex him Ben Saunders stopped it by sitting on his face. A funny yet still effective way to stop the throw.

Michail Tsarev got his leg destroyed by Ben Lima and I do have to Tsarev respect for still trying to fight but the doctor was right for stopping the fight as Tsarev could not stand on that leg and wouldn't have been able to fight anyway.

King Mo shows that a staph infection and being suspended did not slow him down as he had an impressive first round knockout and showed that all his hard work paid off.

Ben Askren absolutely dominated Karl Amassou. To Amassou's credit he was never knocked out and kept on trying to fight back no matter what. But Ben Askren is just so strong he was able to dictate the fight exactly how he wanted it to go.

I unfortunately did not see the Hunter Tucker fight.

Talking Points

King Mo and Ben Saunders are picking up steam again. I am a big fan of King Mo and it makes me happy to see him come back after all the crap that's happened to him. What about you guys you think King Mo will find success? Ben Saunders looks good in this tournament, is it possible for him to get past the semi finals?

Ben Askren is such a strong dominant champion. Who has the best shot of taking him out, if anybody? Should he just already move up into the UFC?



Here's something extra. Bellator post fight interviews from Sherdog.