While not as stacked as the season opener last week, Bellator MMA still had a solid card to offer fight fans Friday night with Bellator 124. Featuring a headlining bout of light heavyweight champion Emanuel Newton taking on the Mexicutioner Joey Beltran, the promotion's 124 event was a bit of a patchwork affair. The title shot for Beltran felt like the influence of Scott Coker at work: put in a guy with a name, even if he hasn't won a lot lately. In fact, it was extremely reminiscent of Keith Jardine's middleweight title shot in Strikeforce: The Dean of Mean hadn't won a single fight for the promotion (his first appearance was a draw), yet his drop to middleweight earned him an instant title shot against then-champion Luke Rockhold. Emanuel Newton vs. Beltran felt a lot like that: Bellator under Coker wanted a known name for Newton, someone recognizable that he was likely to beat. He had two wins over King Mo, but the rest of the division is occupied elsewhere: Rampage Jackson won't fight Newton because they share a coach, Vladimir Matyushenko retired after losing to Beltran, Houston Alexander lost to Matyushenko, Tito Ortiz is fighting Stephan Bonnar, and Stephan Bonnar's only contribution to Bellator thus far has been a strange pro wrestling style promo. What other names are there for Bellator at light heavyweght? It should be noted that their entire light heavyweight roster, as far as star power goes, is made up of UFC cast-offs, with the exception of Newton and Mo. What does all that mean? What else did Bellator 124 have to offer? Lets take a look at five lessons learned from Bellator 124.
Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.
