Preview: Bellator 231 ‘Mir vs. Nelson 2’

Jake Hager vs. Anthony Garrett

Hager, better known by his professional wrestling moniker, Jack Swagger, steps into the Bellator cage for the third time. He has run through his last two opponents without breaking much of a sweat, leaving fans to cry that Bellator matchmakers are serving him up “softballs.” The former World Wrestling Entertainment champion isn’t just a money grab gimmick like Phil Brooks (CM Punk) was viewed as, however. The 37-year old was an All-American wrestler at the University of Oklahoma where he set a single season record of 30 pins. The All Elite Wrestling trains under “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 1 alumni, Josh Rafferty in Tampa, Florida, where he has been polishing his skills for years. The former Sooner hasn’t shown anything in the standup department yet as he has just quickly closed the distance and taken his foes down. The 6’5” behemoth mauls his adversaries with ground-and-pound until he was able to find the arm triangle submission in both bouts.

While Garrett is only 4-2 in professional MMA and is coming off a loss, he looks the part more than Hager’s last two prey. He stands 6-foot-5 and weighs in at 260, and if you look closely you can see some muscle. He also cut his teeth under the Shamrock FC promotion and has an amateur win over J.W. Kiser, Hager’s opponent for his debut. The 29-year-old appears to just throw wild sloppy strikes with worst technique than you would find on World Star videos. He drops his hands and had been wobbled or dropped in several bouts. Though he has been hurt several times, he has shown incredible heart to fight through the adversity. Garrett is categorized as a wrestler but isn’t close to the level Hager is. He likes to press his opponent against the cage and just snatch up a single hoping his opponent falls to the canvas. Once on top, he just throws hammers and hasn’t shown much of a submission game.

This match was made specifically to get Hager another victory. The professional wrestler is a way better athlete and wrestler than Garrett is. Hager quickly takes down Garrett, batters him with punches, and secure the arm triangle for the third straight bout. Hager wins via first-round submission.