Bellator’s Season Six Featherweight Tournament concluded on Friday night with the finale matchup between Nova Uniao’s highly-regarded Marlon Sandro and the wrestling product of Cincinnati, Ohio,  Daniel Straus.  Straus used a mixture of powerful wrestling, aggressive pacing and exceptional conditioning to tactfully wear his opponent down and earn the unanimous decision.  At times, Sandro appeared exhausted and unprepared for the type of battle that Straus instigated early in the fight.  After the final bell, the more visibly-damaged Sandro hung his head, almost as if he accepted the defeat.  Straus raised his arms in victory and his teammates rushed to greet him with smiles, hugs and congratulatory hand-slaps.  Only the formality of the score announcement separated Straus from a six-figure paycheck and an official shot at a Bellator World Championship.  Judges Eric Colon and Sue Sanidad awarded Straus a clean sweep of 30-27 scores, while Judge Michelle Agustin saw the fight 29-28, still in favor of Straus.  Agustin, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt and instructor at Tong Dragon MMA in Bayville, New Jersey, felt that Sandro was the winner of the third round.  Cage side commentator Jimmy Smith, an accomplished grappler and veteran of six professional MMA fights, agreed with Agustin’s assessment.  While there is no debate regarding who won the overall contest, the third-round discrepancy remains curious.  The disagreement brings to light the potential illusion of a near-submission, and the uncertainty of how certain situations should be scored.  Let’s take an in-depth look at the bout’s grappling-heavy final frame to learn how an extended choke attempt may have been the primary influence in Agustin’s decision.

The first 90 seconds of the round saw some pawing and quick striking exchanges from both fighters.  Neither was able to land a multiple-hit combination or strike of significance.  Straus then ducked underneath for a body-lock/double-underhook attempt, but it was shrugged off by Sandro who pushed Straus against the cage for a short moment.  Straus continued to pummel through while managing to force a separation with 3:48 remaining.  Twenty seconds later, Straus threw a high kick that was at least partially blocked by Sandro.  Straus then attempted a double-leg takedown which Sandro quickly sprawled to defend.  At this stage, the round was closely-contested.  Neither fighter was able to make an obvious impression or gain a clearly advantageous position.

With 3:20 remaining, shortly after Sandro’s sprawl, the Brazilian decided to drop for a single-leg attempt of his own.  He would not earn the takedown, however, he turned to get behind Straus’ back and push his opponent’s chest to the cage while in a standing position.  With 2:42 left, Straus turned to face Sandro which ultimately created an opening for an arm-triangle choke.  Sandro attempted to lock on the choke resulting in a hold that was applied for almost one full minute of the round.  Depending on the observer’s outlook, one may have believed that Straus was in danger of losing the fight during this sequence.

Almost immediately, Straus tilted his neck to the right, stuck his palm on his forehead, and extended his elbow to create space and prevent his carotid arteries from being pinched.  His textbook defensive instincts never allowed Sandro to advance the position.  Straus then appeared to relax (to the point of giving the official a “thumb-up” signal) his body almost content with the situation at hand.  While watching the broadcast, it is clear that Sandro was never close to finishing the fight with this hold.  Sandro did not manage to gain a grip that would close the gap from the left side of Straus’ neck to his own shoulder.   All the while, the clock is running down and Sandro was no further along with his choke then he was when it was first attempted.  Sandro was on the offensive, but with both men on their feet, his positioning was not dominant or especially advantageous.  Sandro, left with no choice but to bail on the choke, conceded the hold as the fighters separated with only 1:05 remaining.  What followed is the most significant offensive maneuver of the round.

With 36 seconds left, Straus ducked under a punch from Sandro, spun behind, and elevated him in the air with an emphatic belly-to-back slam.  Wasting no time, Straus threw one hook in and managed to secure the second hook only a few seconds later.  With only 10 seconds left on the clock, Straus extended Sandro’s body while wrapping his arm around his opponent’s throat for a rear-naked choke attempt.    Time would expire, but Straus had scored the round’s only takedown, gained what is arguably the most dominant grappling position in the sport, and applied what could easily be recognized as the more threatening of the two chokes attempted during the round.  Was that enough to earn a 10-9?  Two judges felt so, but the third did not.  So how did Sandro manage to out-point Straus’ late barrage in the eyes of Judge #3?

It all boils down to perspective.  Sports judging is controversial in nature, and without a definitive set of criteria, fans are left to interpret the vaguely worded, “effective striking, grappling, aggression and cage control.”  I can’t speak for the specific reasons why both Agustin and Smith (who, in fairness, was not tasked with judging the contest) scored the third round for Sandro, but I ask – What good was Sandro’s submission attempt if it lasted one minute and he got nothing out of it?  I can expand on this to suggest that Straus’s defense could have been the catalyst for Sandro’s arm fatigue, the result of which led to the lazy punch attempt that created the opening for Straus’ final flurry.

So what side of the fence are you on, and how would you break down the final round? Join the chatter in the forum.

Leroy Brown
leroybee37@gmail.com

MMA Rankings 2-8-2012 by Forum contributor Leroy. There are a few major changes in the ranks for this edition. Most notably, GSP has been removed since it’s been over a here since his last fight, and it doesn’t appear he’ll be stepping into the Octagon any time soon. The Interim Champ is your interim #1 at 170. Also, Overeem won’t be able to apply for a license until very late this year, so I’ve removed him as well. Here are the upcoming events before the next anticipated update:

Bellator 68 – 05/11
UFC on Fuel – 05/15
Bellator 69 – 05/18
Strikeforce GP – 05/19
Bellator 70 – 05/25
UFC 146 – 05/26

A lot of big heavyweight fights over the next two weeks. Here are the ranks…

Heavyweight (206lb – 265lb)
1. Junior dos Santos (F. Mir – 05/26)
2. Cain Velasquez (A. Silva – 05/26)
3. Fabricio Werdum
4. Frank Mir (J. dos Santos – 05/26)
5. Josh Barnett (D. Cormier – 05/19)
6. Daniel Cormier (J. Barnett - 05/19)
7. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
8. Antonio Silva (C. Velasquez – 05/26)
9. Travis Browne
10. Mike Russow
HM: Fedor Emelianenko, Mark Hunt (S. Struve – 05/26), Roy Nelson (D. Herman – 05/26), Ben Rothwell, Stefan Struve (M. Hunt – 05/26)

Light Heavyweight 205
1. Jon Jones
2. Rashad Evans
3. Dan Henderson
4. Mauricio Rua
5. Lyoto Machida
6. Phil Davis
7. Alexander Gustafsson
8. Forrest Griffin
9. Ryan Bader
10. Quinton Jackson
HM: Rafael Cavalcante (M. Kyle – 05/19), Vladimir Matyushenko, Gegard Mousasi, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Thiago Silva

Middleweight 185

1. Anderson Silva
2. Chael Sonnen
3. Mark Munoz
4. Vitor Belfort
5. Michael Bisping
6. Yushin Okami
7. Tim Boetsch
8. Brian Stann
9. Alan Belcher
10. Chris Weidman
HM: Hector Lombard, Ronny Markes, Rousimar Palhares, Luke Rockhold, Ronaldo Souza

Welterweight 170

1. Carlos Condit
2. Nick Diaz
3. Jake Ellenberger
4. Johny Hendricks
5. Jon Fitch
6. Josh Koscheck
7. Jake Shields
8. Diego Sanchez
9. Martin Kampmann
10. Rory MacDonald
HM: Ben Askren, Charlie Brenneman, Brian Ebersole, Dong-Hyun Kim, Mike Pierce, Tyron Woodley

Lightweight 155

1. Ben Henderson
2. Frank Edgar
3. Gilbert Melendez (J. Thomson – 05/19)
4. Gray Maynard
5. Clay Guida
6. Nate Diaz
7. Anthony Pettis
8. Jim Miller
9. Michael Chandler
10. Eddie Alvarez
HM: Shinya Aoki, Edson Barboza (J. Varner – 05/26), Donald Cerrone (J. Stephens – 05/15), Gleison Tibau, Jacob Volkmann (P. Sass – 05/15)

Featherweight 145

1. Jose Aldo
2. Chad Mendes
3. Hatsu Hioki
4. Dustin Poirier (C. Jung – 05/15)
5. Erik Koch
6. Pat Curran
7. Yuri Alcantara
8. Marlon Sandro (D. Straus – 05/11)
9. Ricardo Lamas
10. Chan Sung Jung (D. Poirier – 05/15)
HM: Darren Elkins (D. Brandao – 05/26), Patricio Freire, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Dennis Siver, Cub Swanson

Bantamweight 135

1. Dominick Cruz
2. Urijah Faber
3. Renan Barao
4. Michael McDonald
5. Brian Bowles
6. Scott Jorgensen
7. Brad Pickett
8. Eduardo Dantas
9. Bibiano Fernandes
10. Miguel Torres
HM: Antonio Banuelos, Chris Cariaso, Zach Makovsky, Ivan Menjivar, Eddie Wineland

Talk about it in the forum: http://mma-fighter.com/forum/threads/29961-Rankings-%2805-09-12%29

Check out these great Pride T-Shirts from No Mas. Featuring a shirt with the event poster from Pride 1 with Rickson Gracie and Nobuhiko Takada. Pride Never Die!

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After having to give 2 rematches in his last 4 fights Frankie Edgar finally gets the rematch he deserves against current 155lb champ Ben Henderson.

From Edgar’s Twitter

Rematch anyone??…….it’s on!! Thanks to@danawhite@lorenzofertitta. Me and Henderson 2. Here we go!!

Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson rematch will be this summer

Fight week Blog week. In this edition of DFW’s Vlog we find out Nick Diaz thinks he won the 5th round of his fight with Carlos Condit, that Roy Nelson thinks he stole the 3rd  and that once again fighters don’t remember much of their fights.

Main Card (on Fuel TV)

Diego Sanchez (170lbs) vs. Jake Ellenberger (170lbs)
Stefan Struve (256lbs) vs. Dave Herman (234lbs)
Aaron Simpson (186lbs) vs. Ronny Markes (185lbs)
Stipe Miocic (240lbs) vs. Phil De Fries (241lbs)
T.J. Dillashaw (136lbs) vs. Walel Watson (135lbs)
Ivan Menjivar (135lbs) vs. John “Prince” Albert (135lbs)

Preliminary Bouts (on Facebook)

Jonathan Brookins (145lbs) vs. Vagner Rocha (145lbs)
Buddy Roberts (184lbs) vs. Sean Loeffler (185lbs)
Anton Kuivanen (156lbs) vs. Justin Salas (155lbs)
Tim Means (155lbs) vs. Bernardo Magalhaes (155lbs)

Miesha Tate defends the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight belt against Ronda Rousey. Live on SHOWTIME, Saturday, March 3rd at 10PM ET/PT.

MMA Rankings 2-8-2012 by Forum contributor Leroy. Discuss in the forum with Leroy here. Two big fight weekends in a row, but not much in the way of major shake-ups in the ranks. Next update will be after the first weekend in March. I’m adding a new feature where fighters who have a bout scheduled before the next update will be highlighted. Here are the upcoming events:

2/15 - UFC on Fuel TV – Ellenberger vs. Sanchez
2/25 – UFC 144: Edgar vs Henderson
3/3 – UFC on FX 2: Alves vs. Kampmann
3/3 – Strikeforce Tate vs. Rousey

Heavyweight (206lb – 265lb)
1. Junior “Cigano” dos Santos (UFC Champion 14-1)
2. Alistair Overeem
3. Cain Velasquez
4. Fabricio Werdum
5. Frank Mir
6. Shane Carwin
7. Josh Barnett
8. Daniel Cormier
9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
10. Antonio Silva
Honorable Mention: Travis Browne, Fedor Emelianenko, Cheick Kongo (vs. Mark Hunt – 2/25), Roy Nelson, Brendan Schaub

Light Heavyweight 205
1. Jon Jones
2. Rashad Evans
3. Dan Henderson
4. Quinton Jackson (vs. Ryan Bader – 2/25)
5. Mauricio Rua
6. Lyoto Machida
7. Forrest Griffin
8. Phil Davis
9. Alexander Gustafsson
10. Gegard Mousasi (vs. Mike Kyle – 3/3)
Honorable Mention: Ryan Bader (vs. Rampage Jackson – 2/25), Rafael Cavalcante, Vladimir Matyushenko, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Middleweight 185
1. Anderson Silva
2. Chael Sonnen
3. Yushin Okami (vs. Tim Boetsch – 2/25)
4. Mark Munoz
5. Vitor Belfort
6. Michael Bisping
7. Brian Stann
8. Chris Weidman
9. Demian Maia
10. Rousimar Palhares
Honorable Mention: Alan Belcher, Tim Boetsh (vs. Yushin Okami - 2/25), Hector Lombard, Luke Rockhold, Ronaldo Souza

Welterweight 170
1. Georges St. Pierre (UFC Champion 22-2)
2. Carlos Condit (UFC Interim Champion 28-5)
3. Nick Diaz
4. Jake Ellenberger (vs. Diego Sanchez – 2/15)
5. Johny Hendricks
6. Jon Fitch
7. Josh Koscheck
8. Jake Shields (vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama – 2/25)
9. Thiago Alves (vs. Martin Kampmann – 3/3)
10. Ben Askren
HM: Charlie Brenneman, Paul Daley (vs. Kazuo Misaki – 3/3), Martin Kampmann (vs. Thiago Alves - 3/3), Rory MacDonald, Diego Sanchez (vs. Jake Ellenberger – 2/15), Tyron Woodley

Lightweight 155
1. Frank Edgar (vs. Benson Henderson – 2/25) (UFC Champion 14-1-1)
2. Gilbert Melendez
3. Gray Maynard
4. Benson Henderson (vs. Frankie Edgar – 2/25)
5. Shinya Aoki
6. Clay Guida
7. Anthony Pettis (vs. Creepy Joe Lauzon – 2/25)
8. Jim Miller
9. Michael Chandler
10. Nate Diaz
Honorable Mention: Eddie Alvarez, Donald Cerrone, Joe Lauzon (vs. Anthony Pettis – 2/25), Gleison Tibau, Jacob Volkmann

Featherweight 145
1. Jose Aldo (UFC Champion 21-1)
2. Chad Mendes
3. Hatsu Hioki (vs. Bart Palaszewski – 2/24)
4. Diego Nunes
5. Dustin Poirier
6. Erik Koch
7. Pat Curran
8. Joe Warren
9. Yuri Alcantara
10. Ricardo Lamas
Honorable Mention: Darren Elkins, Patricio Freire, Mark Hominick, Chan Sung Jung, Tatsuya Kawajiri

Bantamweight 135
1. Dominick Cruz (UFC Champion 19-1)
2. Urijah Faber
3. Renan Barao
4. Brian Bowles
5. Scott Jorgensen
6. Brad Pickett
7. Miguel Torres
8. Michael McDonald
9. Bibiano Fernandes
10. Zach Makovsky
Honorable Mention: Antonio Banuelos, Eduardo Dantas, Ivan Menjivar (vs. John Albert – 2/15), Takeya Mizugaki (vs. Chris “Kamikaze” Cariaso – 2/25), Masakatsu Ueda

Check back here for live UFC 143 Nick Diaz vs Carlos Condit Weigh In Results starting at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT

Main Card (Live on PPV, 10:00 PM ET)

Nick Diaz (169lb) vs. Carlos Condit (169lb)
Roy Nelson (246lb) vs. Fabricio Werdum (246lb)
Josh Koscheck (170lb) vs. Mike Pierce (170lb)
Renan Barao (136lb) vs. Scott Jorgensen (135lb)
Ed Herman (185lb) vs. Clifford Starks (185lb)

Preliminary Bouts (FX Network, 8:00 PM ET)

Dustin Porier (146lb) vs. Max Hollaway (144lb)
Matt Riddle (170lb) vs. Henry Martinez (169lb)
Alex Caceres (136lb) vs. Edwin Figueroa (135lb)
Matt Brown (171lb) vs. Chris Cope (171lb)

Preliminary Bouts (Facebook, 7:00 PM ET)

Dan Stittgen (170lb) vs. Stephen Thompson (171lb)
Rafael Natal (186lb) vs. Michael Kuiper (183lb)

Fight week! Vlog week!