Bellator 149 Results: Real Winners and Losers from Gracie vs. Shamrock 3 Card

Scott HarrisFeb 19, 2016

You may know Bellator 149 by its more common, if less official name: That Thing That Had Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie and Kimbo Slice and Dada 5000 in It.

Whatever makes you feel good. After all, that was sort of the point of the event, at least for us oh-so fortunate spectators.

In the main event, Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock waged their trilogy fight. The date of Shamrock-Gracie 2? April 7, 1995. Combined age Friday night? One hundred and one. That's not a typo. That's one, zero, oner.

And if that wasn't enough, in the co-main event, you had Kimbo Slice vs. Dhafir "Dada 5000" Harris, fighting it out to determine the one true king of Miami's underground fight scene of the 2000s. Combined age: 80.

In fairness, the card had several other fights. In even further fairness, no one remembers what they are. But that's why we're here. We're covering Royce, Shamrock, Kimbo, Dada, the partridge, the pear tree and everything else, and as usual, the final stat lines only reveal so much, especially at a time like this. These are the real winners and losers from Bellator 148.

Loser: Ken Shamrock

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JANE KALINOWSKY/Associated Press

Royce Gracie won by TKO. It was the first knockout win of his career.

But I just can't bring myself to call him a winner.

As the two clinched up, Gracie appeared to land a knee strike to Shamrock's groin. Shamrock had a bit of a delayed reaction but hit the mat several seconds later clutching his nether region.

Gracie landed some hammerfists, and the referee waved it off.

Shamrock was livid afterward, but to the credit of the stone-faced referee and the shrugging Gracie, Shamrock is often livid. Still, the replay seemed to prove him correct.

At the post-fight news conference, according to the MMAFighting.com Twitter account, Shamrock said, "I wanted this fight. It bothers me a lot. All he had to do was stop and give me a chance to recover, tuck my nuts in. ... In my opinion, it's not over. If it was me personally, I wouldn't want to win that way."

Does that mean there could be a Shamrock-Gracie 4? I'm sure if Bellator officials feel that people will watch it, they'll do it. We'll see how the ratings played out for this one.

But to me, for all the schadenfreude and so-bad-it's-good posturing among fans, the Bellator 149 main event just ended up being sad and embarrassing for all parties.

Winner: Kimbo Slice

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Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Kimbo Slice wins by default. When the TKO victory came, it came not so much from Slice's fists as it did from Dada's—can I call you Dada?—lungs.

Both men wheeled about the cage like the over-the-hill-athletes-who-were-never-actually-really-athletes-to-begin-with that they are. Eventually, Dada took a few steps and simply fell over. Referee John McCarthy had seen enough.

Congrats to Slice for winning the battle of attrition.

Loser: Dada 5000

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Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Say so long to the zero at the end of Dada 5000's pro MMA record. He's now 2-1 after that tough loss.

It turns out that three full rounds were just too much for Dada to bear. He threw some haymakers, lost his breath, never got it back and keeled over in the third round. The fateful blow was not a blow at all, at least not from Slice. Dhafir Harris collapsed without being touched. His own exhaustion laid him low.

He was so winded and spent that officials called in a stretcher. (He was taken to the hospital as a precaution, but all indicators are that he is fine, per ESPN.com.)

As Bleacher Report's own Chad Dundas put it on Twitter, "Kimbo Slice and Dada 5000 might be having the worst fight in modern MMA history right now."

So if you were the worse fighter in the worst fight, where, exactly, does that put you?

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Loser: Melvin Guillard

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Melvin Guillard has had a good run at the top of his sport. That run appears to be over. He is no longer ready for prime time.

After a long, sometimes promising but ultimately unfulfilling run in the UFC, Guillard went to World Series of Fighting, where he soon burned his bridges.

Then he went to Bellator, where he has now dropped both of his fights. Friday, he suffered only his second knockout loss as a professional, to the immortal Derek Campos.

Guillard is still only 32, but his chin seems gone, as does any semblance of fan goodwill he may once have accumulated. He's suddenly showing all of those 52 pro contests, too.

A more minor show may take a chance on Guillard if he does part ways with Bellator. At this point, though, diminishing returns have kicked in.

Winner: Linton Vassell

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Linton Vassell

Linton Vassell has toiled in the light heavyweight trenches for years now. He once fought for the Bellator strap but came up short thanks to a fifth-round submission.

That opponent? Emanuel Newton. That was two years ago. He got a rematch Friday (with no title on the line this time, though).

Since the loss, Vassell has apparently been working on his wrestling. He was always a good grappler but didn't have the takedowns to set it in motion.

That changed Friday, as he controlled a listless Newton for the decision. Revenge surely would have felt good, if he didn't have to take three low blows in order to get it done. But hey, if the refs aren't going to penalize for it, fighters will keep doing it. Sorry, Linton. Er, congrats. Whatever.