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On Friday, Bellator 257’s 13-fight card features a reigning champion, two former champs, a trio of undefeated prospects and a pile of contenders in need of a bounceback win. And to top it all off, the Bellator MMA Light Heavyweight Grand Prix, which launched last week, will see its quarterfinal round three-quarters of the way done by the end of the night. High stakes abound, but here are three fighters who are under just a little extra pressure to stand and deliver.
Don’t Let ‘Em Do You Like This, Pedro Carvalho
What can you say for a man who went from a main-event title challenger in his last fight to the middle of the undercard this weekend? Ouch. Yes, the main event in question was a featherweight grand prix quarterfinal, and Carvalho got starched in half a round by Patricio Freire, but “Pitbull” does that to a lot of people, and Carvalho had earned his way to that title shot fair and square with a six-fight win streak, the last four of them in the Bellator cage. However, Carvalho now gets to live the harsh reality of Bellator’s deepest division, as not only has he been consigned to the prelims, he is being matched up with 7-0 prospect Jay-Jay Wilson. Bellator does an admirable job of building young talent, even when it involves feeding the old lions to the new; think Adam Borics vs. Aaron Pico. Adding insult to…well, insult, Carvalho is a slight underdog to Wilson.
Still just 25, Carvalho has prospects in the division. In particular, if the Grand Prix final between “Pitbull” and A.J. McKee yields a new champ, Carvalho will be one of the most prominent 145ers the “Mercenary” hasn’t already faced on his 17-fight journey to the top. There might be a fairly quick route back to another title shot for Carvalho, but it starts with putting away Wilson on Friday, sending Bellator matchmakers the message that he’s not ready to be sent down the featherweight food chain — or the bout sheet — just yet.
Julia Budd: Crown ‘Jewel’ or Buried Treasure?
Speaking of falls from grace, a little over a year ago, Budd was Bellator champ and had been by consensus no worse than the No. 3 woman in the world in her weight class for probably five years. In fact, until Cristiane Justino’s shocking loss to Amanda Nunes, “Cyborg” vs. Budd was the featherweight dream matchup we despaired would never happen.
Last January, Justino handed Budd her first loss in eight years, wresting the title from her and adding it to her own considerable trophy case. Budd bounced back with a dominant win over Jessy Miele last August, but the fight was frankly kind of a stinker, and so “The Jewel” finds herself busted down from headlining champion, to co-main event, to the prelims, in the space of three fights. The good news is that Bellator signed 9-5 Dana White's Contender Series Brazil reject Dayana Silva to debut against Budd, and she is currently hovering around +1000 on the sportsbooks. The bad news — or at least the caveat — is that against such a hugely overmatched opponent, Budd needs to do more than just win another one-sided decision if she wants to stoke any interest in a “Cyborg” rematch. Budd is 37 years young — her stepson Lance Gibson Jr. is fighting on Friday’s undercard as well — and proving that she is still champ material begins with doing champ things to Silva this week.
Phil Davis, You’re Still Wonderful To Me, Dammit!
Davis is the most underappreciated light heavyweight of his era, and I don’t even think it’s very close. He’s 22-5, and all five losses have been to super-elite fighters. He has never lost back to back fights. He has never been finished, and in fact his last three losses have all been split decisions. In Vadim Nemkov’s five-fight reign of terror in Bellator, Davis is the only man Nemkov hasn’t finished. He has been a Top 15 fighter for a full decade, and yet has continually improved his game over that time; he is a far better striker now than he was in his UFC heyday seven or eight years ago.
All that being said, Davis is at risk for becoming — or remaining — a forgotten man at 205. Even I, who follow Bellator closely and cover this sport professionally, am occasionally surprised to remember that Davis actually won the Bellator light heavyweight title. For that reason, Davis appears in this column today even though all four grand prix quarterfinalists have plenty to fight for: Nemkov, obviously, holds the title and is defending it each time out. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov is a complete unknown to most Western fans and has exactly one fight to prove he isn’t just another CIS hype job. Corey Anderson wants to show that the UFC made a huge mistake in letting him go so easily in his competitive prime.
Davis is 36 and showing no particular signs of slowing down, and in any event, lightning-fast reflexes have never been what drove his game. However, the perception is that Nemkov has improved enormously in the two and a half years since their first meeting, while Davis has been more static. A win on Friday would prove that perception wrong while at the same time making Davis a two-time Bellator champ and avenging a loss. To accomplish all those things in one night’s work would be…wonderful. On the other hand, if he loses, he will be 0-for-4 against Nemkov and Ryan Bader, the two best fighters he has faced. And with the grand prix just getting underway, tying up the cream of the division, his chances of getting another big matchup any time in the next year or so will be severely compromised.