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Eddie Alvarez did not seem to agree with the judges’ decision for the Pat Curran/Toby Imada Bellator fight
By Zach Arnold | June 10, 2010
I realize he was being honest to interviewer Jimmy Smith, but the way it came off was more or less like burying the judges’ decision that Pat Curran won the fight. Curran beat Toby Imada by split decision on Thursday night and afterwards, Smith asked Eddie Alvarez for his thoughts on Curran winning. You had to see the demeanor of Alvarez, but he stalled for a second and went into a generic response:
“It was a tough fight, it could’ve gone either way,” Alvarez said. “That’s what happens when you leave it to the judges. I’m impressed and looking forward to fighting him.”
For some reason, Eddie didn’t seem that enthusiastic about what happened. Imada, of course, was upset with the split decision. Smith, in post-fight commentary, said that he scored the fight 29-28 for Imada.
I’ll say this about Bellator’s tournament format — no one would have expected Pat Curran to beat Roger Huerta and Toby Imada unless you’re one of Pat’s relatives or friends or training partners. Congratulations go out to him for being a tough, gritty fighter.
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I do have to give it to Curran for being a tough, gritty fighter, but no way did he win tonight’s fight. The rounds were close, but I thought Imada did JUST ENOUGH to win just about all three rounds. It’s funny that most online MMA fans criticize MMA judges for using cage control as a major criteria for who should win a round. Same for takedowns. Well, Imada had the cage control in the first round, and the awesome takedown in the third round, and Curran STILL got the decision. Oh, and Imada was the aggressor in the second round. Eddie Alvarez has GOT to stop Curran within the distance if he wants to beat Curran.
FSN for MMA sucks. This was supposed to be tape delayed to 10:30PM for me but it still isn’t on yet.
Still haven’t seen one show of Bellator. Anyone else that has Verizon Fios no what channel it would be on.
You know it’s almost as if judges are trying to top themselves in making the worst decisions. In the span of over a month we’ve already had 3 bullshit decisions and 3 fighters who put on great fights got screwed out of huge wins.
This is becoming an embarrassment these judges are so inept and lack so little knowledge that it’s starting to become a debacle for all mma orgs.
Few people have been as positive about Curran than me but he lost all 3 rounds to Imada and had one of the worst game plans ever to top it off. Before this fight I would have picked him to upset Alvarez but after seeing him choke in the Main Events unless he can find a new camp he’s going to get dominated.
Got a question for everyone. A pretty random one.
Does Pat Curran have more of a case for being ranked in the top ten than Benson Henderson? Not who would win a theoretical match up(I’d have to think it would end with a Henderson sub…), but who deerves to be ranked higher.
No, Curran not a long ago was tapped by Travis Perzynski. Cerrone x 2 & Varner are much better wins than Huerta and Imada.
I don’t agree with Bendo being ranked in the top 10, he should be at the bottom of the top 15. At the same time Curran is probably not even in the top 25.
Curran landed the two most impressive shots during the fight (not counting takedowns), however, he looked timid for most of the bout. Why did he not engage in the 3rd when you could audibly hear the pop as he landed that right?
Looking forward to the Hornbuckle-Askren fight, might be a prelude of the things to come against high-level wrestlers in another org.
Revealing point of the day: Toby Imada and Pat Curran fought for $100,000 payday, yet no one asks if Bellator is grossly incompetent.
Not to defend the ‘sky is falling’ crowd, but there is a difference between a one-time $100K payout for winning a tournament and signing a guy to a long-term deal where he makes $100K a fight.
Imada and Curran will go back to making peanuts in their next fight.
Curran got 100k for three tournament fights, not for the single final.
So, what, he wasn’t getting paid for any of the other fights? Or Imada? I kinda doubt it.
Neither of these dudes should be anywhere near a $100,000 payoff. TUF doesn’t even offer a guaranteed $100,000 payoff.
Here’s the bellator season two payouts structure:
http://mmajunkie.com/news/18058/bellators-tourney-payouts-tighten-new-weight-classes-likely-for-season-three-tourneys.mma
Whether Curran deserves 100k for 3 victories is another story. I think Hornbuckle or Warren actually deserve it.
Imada capped a 30-27 performance off with a flashy head and arm throw in the final seconds, and he still gets boned over by the judges. Go figure.
Imada’s loss tonight makes him a two time Bellator lightweight tournament runner up (he lost to Eddie Alvarez in last year’s lightweight finals and now this years finals against Pat Curran). What’s the over-under on Toby Imada losing in next season’s lightweight finals, making him a three time runner up? He will be Bellator’s Musashi (or Peter Aerts of the past six years), mark my words.