Thursday, August 30, 2012

Hey Bjorn Rebney! Put women's MMA on Bellator's main card

Michelle Ould
Last week Bellator announced that Michelle Ould will face Munah Holland on the Sept. 28 show at Caesars in Atlantic City. This is a prelude to the 125lb tournament that will happen in 2013. I never expected the tournament to happen this year. Michelle is from California and trains at Team Quest. For the last couple of years she has been riddled with injuries. In 2010 she suffered a broken foot during a match against Zoila Gurgel. There were complications and she was out for over a year. She was scheduled to fight Munah last year and had to cancel at the last minute due to a back injury. She returned with a win over Gina Gallea on the Jan. 13 Fight Me MMA show in St. Charles, MO. Michelle's record is 6-4. Munah Holland should be a stiff test for Michelle. Munah is a former boxer converting to MMA. She has knockout power unlike other fighters who claim to have KO power when it is actually TKO power. Her record is 5-1 and she trains at Team Tiger Schulman in New Jersey. Long time fans will recall that dojo was the home for Laura D'Auguste. Her last win was a win over Carina Damm on the July 13 Matrix Fights show in Philadelphia. I didn't see that one but I did see her March win over Marianna Kheyfets. Kheyfets fought a very stupid fight by trying to trade strikes with a boxer and she got knocked out. So we know Munah can punch. But I have seen numerous boxers attempt MMA and some of them never pick up the ground game. So that makes Munah somewhat unproven for me. And at age 37, her age to MMA experience level is not in her favour. And I am aware that some fans don't like me bringing that up, but it's part of my formula in evaluating fighters and like it or not, it can be an issue. Father Time is very cruel. So there has been some confusion about where this match will air. Someone tried to tell me it would be on Spike TV but Bellator won't start on Spike until 2013. If this fight is on the main card, it will air on MTV2. If it's on the prelims, it will stream on the Spike website. My guess is it will be on the prelims. Some fans want to influence Bellator's decision and are planning a Twitter blast this Saturday at 5PM. I don't know if it will help but it can't hurt. I don't know if Bellator president Bjorn Rebney understands the symbolism to women's MMA fans of having a women's match on the main card. In Canada, Bellator airs delayed on The Score anyway so I will watch the whole show online but the Twitter blast is a good way to send a message to Rebney that they need to run more women's matches. I won't be able to participate in the blast because I am going to see Cuban jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval at the CNE on Saturday and I will be in the subway at 5PM and there's no phone service underground. But I think as many fans as possible should participate.

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