Bellator 172 Results: Real Winners and Losers from Thomson vs. Pitbull
Before the event started, Bellator 172 was doomed to disappoint most of the people who tuned in.
Just a few hours ahead of the first fight of the night, news broke from MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani that Matt Mitrione, who was supposed to face MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko in the main event, was forced out of the card because of illness. While the card itself was no one-fight affair, sporting a number of interesting names, the entire build to the event was focused on the former Pride champion and his massive foe.
Naturally, this made Bellator and Mitrione the biggest losers by a significant margin.
Bellator has pulled strong ratings with throwback names like Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz, and they were no doubt hoping to hit a home run Saturday with Emelianenko's promotional debut. But while this was a setback for Bellator, it is way worse for Mitrione.
The veteran heavyweight has never won a title, doesn't have a major memorable highlight and doesn't have a win over a past or present champion from a major promotion. A win over an all-time great would have been a legacy-making moment, but instead he spent Bellator 172 on a hospital bed in agonizing pain.
The biggest winner, meanwhile, was one of the de facto main eventers, Patricky Freire. The Brazilian was in a high-risk, high-reward position against a UFC veteran and former Strikeforce champion in Josh Thomson and made the most of the situation with a devastating knockout win.
Who else won the night? And who lost? Read on to find out.
Real Loser: Comeback Stories
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Combat sports careers end in one of two ways: sadly and very sadly. Josh Koscheck, though, is pioneering a new way to enter retirement: "very, very sadly."
After being unceremoniously released from the UFC in 2015 following a five-fight losing streak, Koscheck put pen to paper with Bellator MMA. The signing was largely met with groans, as Bellator was regularly building cards around aged throwbacks like Shamrock and Ortiz or novelty acts like Bobby Lashley and Kimbo Slice. Worse, it was getting to the point it was hard not to worry about Koscheck's health every time he entered the cage.
As his Bellator debut was pushed back further and further, the fight became even less intriguing. He finally debuted on Saturday. Unfortunately, any and all concerns over his in-cage abilities proved to be justified. Facing 12-7 journeyman Mauricio Alonso, Koscheck struggled against what was supposed to be a hugely overmatched fighter.
Despite pressing the action early and maintaining the center of the cage, Alonso quickly discovered that there was little bite to go along with the former UFC contender's bark. Alonso outmuscled Koscheck when they locked up and was faster than him at range. The Brazilian had little to worry about from Koscheck.
Empowered, he landed a clean right hand landed to Koscheck's brow, and the 39-year-old instantly went into survival mode. Alonso smelled blood, kept pressing the action and eventually forced Koscheck to turtle up on the mat. The ref had seen enough, and Koscheck was handed his fifth stoppage loss in a row.
This was, quite frankly, as bad as a fight could've looked for the TUF1 alum. Alonso was basically handpicked as someone for Koscheck to beat, owning no serious physical tools, no notable wins and coming in old and worn himself. Despite that, Koscheck couldn't manage any kind of threatening offense.
This wasn't a full on Yair Rodriguez vs. BJ Penn kind of fight, but it wasn't too far off. While he might not like it, Koscheck desperately needs to hang his gloves up.
Real Loser: The Credibility of Bellator's Women's Divisions
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Finding female MMA talent is tough in 2017. It's always been a relatively shallow pool, but most of today's established names are locked up by the UFC. The ones who aren't, meanwhile, are hoping to get that call from Dana White or Sean Shelby.
That puts Bellator into a tough position as it tries to create women's divisions, forcing them into making fights like this one, which featured a 2-1 fighter (Veta Arteaga) facing a woman making her pro debut (Brooke Mayo) on the main card of a nationally televised event.
The fight itself didn't necessarily look out of place on the card. It was back-and-forth, and while it wasn't especially interesting, it featured a decent level of action throughout. The end came via an anticlimactic-but-justified doctor's stoppage in the third round because of swelling around Mayo's eye and succeeded in its goal of building up a potential contender.
Still, while it looked about as good as it could have, this was an indictment of the state of women's MMA in Bellator. Hopefully it can begin picking up some of the talent that is entering the market from the UFC and start putting some better fights together before it belts up a flyweight champion.
Real Winner: Team Fedor
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Fedor Emelianenko may not have fought at Bellator 172, but he did step into the cage—as the cornerman to Anatoly Tokov. While it wasn't as thoroughly hyped as Emelianenko's fight, the 27-year-old gave fans some Russian-style MMA dominance at the expense of Francisco France.
After keeping France against the corner with his striking, Tokov shot for a takedown and landed directly in side control. While that's a hugely advantageous position most of the time, France turned it into a series of deep submission attempts, coming just shy of finishing him on multiple occasions. Tokov managed to survive and returned to his feet.
Despite nearly losing his arm, Tokov showed no fear and immediately went back to the ground with France. This time, however, he wasn't content with just holding top position. A brief hand-fighting session was ended with a big right hand by Tokov and that was followed by several more. France quickly went into a fetal position, which drew a quick stoppage from the referee.
It was a strong showing by the 27-year-old, and while he may or may not stick around in Bellator, he showed that there is still plenty of talent at 185 pounds. Make sure to keep an eye on him if he steps back into the circular cage again.
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Real Winner: Making the Bellator Heavyweight Division Great Again
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Bellator's heavyweight division basically doesn't exist.
Sure, it has big fighters who punch one another. But with no champion, no real hierarchy of contenders and fighters randomly bouncing between weight classes, these fights do little more than occupy slots on a card.
Bellator 172 was partly designed to change that and succeeded by cementing Cheick Kongo as the best big man on the Bellator roster. Facing former training partner Oli Thompson, Kongo looked like a force in all areas of the cage by beating the Brit on his feet in the first round, on the ground in the second and in the clinch in the third.
Granted, this was a fight Kongo was supposed to win. Thompson debuted in Bellator last year in a losing effort against Mitrione and hasn't had success against any of the higher-end fighters he has faced throughout his career. The general excellence of this performance, however, puts Kongo on a pedestal for the foreseeable future.
What comes next is unclear, as there are question marks surrounding all of Bellator's top heavyweights. Regardless, now riding a four-fight winning streak and with an 8-2 record in the promotion, any discussion about reinstating the title should begin with Kongo.
Real Winner: Patricky Freire
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Patricky Freire's career has been defined by his consistently impressive wins against mediocre competition and his equally devastating losses against high-end foes. With his athletic prime behind him and two losses to the reigning champ working against him, he couldn't afford to take another defeat from a probable contender.
Because of that, he desperately needed a win over Josh Thomson at Bellator 172. The former Strikeforce champ has long been a darling to Bellator head honcho Scott Coker, and The Punk has been kept in the contender discussion since he first signed with the promotion in 2015.
Freire would have been doomed to midcard status for the remainder of his Bellator career with another loss to a high-end contender. But he avoided that fate by posting one of the most impressive highlights of his life.
After settling into his range and finding his timing in the first round, Pitbull immediately flipped the switch to "finish this fight" mode and started unleashing heavy punches. Thomson survived the first round, but Freire opened the second by planting his feet and hurling hellish uppercuts.
The first attempt resulted in a clash of heads that saw Thomson fall to the mat. The second, though, landed with a devastating thud that knocked the veteran out cold.
It was a statement victory by the Brazilian, and while it may not move him back into contention, it proved he is still one of the deadliest men in Bellator.
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