SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
July - 2015
29
Whether Slice vs. Shamrock
was a work or not, it was fun
for a moment to realize it was
actually going to happen. Then
it happened. And it was fun.
I can’t figure out how Sham-
rock didn’t finish the fight with
that rear-naked choke, and like
many others including Joe Ro-
gan have stated since, it cer-
tainly raises an eyebrow inquir-
ing if the fix was in.
We got to see two ‘stars’ in the
business and it was over fast.
The squash reference was ful-
filled.
Slice’s finishing punch wasn’t a
work – it was a legit wallop.
Still, the whole thing just stunk.
However, the pungent aroma
of the main event paled in
comparison to the one that
emanated from Bobby Lashley’s
bout. I’ve worked with Lashley
before as one of his earliest
fights in MMA was with the
Maximum Fighting Champion-
ship and AXS TV. He was fairly
easy to work with, but it was
not easy getting a match setup
for him as he was extremely se-
lective.
Fast forward six years and I
don’t believe much has really
changed for Lashley. There’s
still questions about his gas
tank due to his incredibly de-
veloped physique. Moreso, the
questions are there about his
quality of competition.
Dan Charles was a late replace-
ment and he did what most of
them do – put up a brave face
and then crumble.
But Lashley didn’t make
a statement in crumbling
Charles. It took him nearly
two full rounds to end it. I’ll
give him the squash because
Charles wasn’t much more
than a sparring partner. More
compelling is the story that
Lashley isn’t a half-step closer
to being a heavyweight threat.
Had he come in and demol-
ished Charles with a damaging
suplex and then a barrage in
ground-and-pound, maybe I’d
think different. Perhaps more
blame should be laid at Bella-
tor’s door rather than Lashley’s
feet. On the grand stage of this
event, a greater replacement
opponent might have brought
more out of Lashley. On the
other hand, anybody beyond
Charles’ depth might just have
beat Lashley. Bellator needs to
decide it they’re going to push
Lashley or let him dictate what
opponents he’ll face.
After that slug-like perfor-
mance I’d highly recommend
that Lashley pass on MMA and
go back to wrestling full-time.
It’s a much longer shelf life and
frankly he’ll go further whether
it’s a return to the WWE or in
Japan or wherever.
Outside of the Lashley debacle,
the worst thing I saw from Bel-
lator was that ghastly ‘major
announcement’ which I had
to rail on about via Twitter on
Friday night. Zero enthusiasm
from everyone in the spotlight
except for ancient pitchman
Tito Ortiz. I know Scott Cok-
er doesn’t want to be Dana
White, but his stage appeal
was way beyond invisible. Let-
ting King Mo walk out with
headphones on and look total-
ly disinterested in being there
… well, if someone got fired at
the UFC for letting Dennis Hall-
man walk out in banana ham-
mock fight shorts, then some-
one should be pink slipped for
Mo too.
Outside of the smartly de-
signed arc on the fighter walk-
way, the best thing I saw from
Bellator this past Friday was the
highly entertaining Kyle Kurtz
vs. Adam Cella matchup. Per-
haps there’s a message there
for the bosses. Maybe it’s time
to rethink this whole blasts-
from-the-past approach. May-
be it’s time to stop signing ev-
ery scrap the UFC tosses their
way (see Chieck Kongo, the
next ‘main event’ fighter on
the schedule). Maybe it’s time
to really focus on developing
new fighters and push the new
stars like Douglas Lima.
