MMA You Want to Watch This Week 9/12 - 918

Well, here we go.  Another week, another round of MMA goodness.  And you know what's fantastic about this week?  Every event I'm going to share with you this time around is free.  Every single one.  And free MMA is good.  Free beer is good, as well, and so are a number of other things... but we'll save that for a different discussion. 

Coming up this week, we have fights that threaten to shake the very foundations of fighter rankings across the globe, fights that are heavy with meaning and incredibly important in their respective divisions.  Or not.  Actually, there may be a couple of fights like that coming up.  But there are also some that are just plain weird and others that are just plain fun.  Experienced fighters and raw, untried kids.  Life and death hanging in the balance.  Dogs and cats living together.  Mass hysteria! 

Ok, I got a little melodramatic there, but no matter.  You've still got a lot of good fights to look forward to this week.   And they're all going to be available either on your television or computer screen.   Sweet. 

Amazon Forest Combat 1

Wednesday, September 14, 8pm, Sherdog.com (Live stream)

Well, for their first event, AFC has certainly brought us an interesting group of fights.  I mean, Karo Parisyan is fighting on this card.  Not to mention, Paulo Filho will be taking on Satoshi Ishii.  And remember Maiquel Falcao?  After his raw deal getting cut from the UFC, he'll be fighting Wednesday night.  Royler Gracie is on the card, along with a number of lesser-known (in the US) fighters that will still undoubtedly put on a great show.  Do yourself a favor, sit down and watch this event.  It will, at the very least, be entertaining.

SBN coverage of Amazon Forest Combat 1

Bellator 50

Saturday, September 17, 7pm (Spike.com prelims), 9pm (MTV2)

This week, it's the quarterfinals in the middleweight tournament.  I'll admit, honestly, I'm not quite as excited about this event as I normally would be.  Because no matter who wins it (and my money is on Alexander Shlemenko again), they still have to face Hector Lombard for the middleweight belt, and you know that's not going to end well for them.  But be that as it may, we still have 4 tournament fights as well as the prelims coming at us at no charge.  See the above note on free MMA being a good thing.

SBN coverage of Bellator 50

UFC Fight Night 25: Shields vs. Ellenberger

Saturday, September 17, ~ 6pm (Facebook prelims), 9pm (Spike TV)

When I look at this fight card, all I can think is that the UFC wanted to remind us of the last season of TUF before the new season gets started next week.  Several contestants from The Ultimate Fighter 13 are fighting Saturday.  Court McGee, Jonathan Brookins, and Shamar Bailey, among others, are all included on this card.

There are a couple of names I'm happy to see here, though.  Mike Lullo is back in the Octagon for the second time, facing Robert Peralta.  Lullo lost his UFC debut to Edson Barboza's inhuman leg kicks.  He had taken that fight on short notice, and to his credit was really trying to keep going even when he almost couldn't stand anymore.  He never did quit - the ref decided that Lullo might want to use his legs again eventually and stopped the fight.  But the kid impressed me just with his willingness to hang in there.  I hope this fight goes better for him.

Making a slightly more dramatic return to the UFC on this card is Alan Belcher.  Belcher has been out for about a year with an eye injury that could have caused him to completely lose the vision in his right eye.  However, surgery was successful, and he'll be in Louisiana this weekend taking on Jason MacDonald.  Considering that around this time last year, his fighting career (not to mention his eyesight) was seriously in doubt, this should be a triumphant return to the Octagon, indeed. 

Oh, yeah, and Jake Shields is fighting Jake Ellenberger.

SBN coverage of UFC Fight Night 25: Shields vs. Ellenberger