Bellator Champions Series: Paris

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

Nurmagomedov vs. Shabliy
Alexander Shabliy, DEC
Shabliy upset👀

Mike Shipman vs Imamshafi Aliev and Asael Adjoudj vs Bruno Fontes added

Archie Colgan vs Thibault Gouti added

Yves Landu vs Jonas Bilharinho added

Patchy Mix (ML)
Gregory Babene (KO/TKO/SUB)
Slim Trabelsi (KO/TKO/DEC)
Yasuke Yachi (ML)
Ekaterina Shakalova (ML)
Imamshafi Aliev (ML)
Archie Colgan (ML)
Yves Landu (KO/TKO/DEC

Main event is off but Cedric doumbe vs Derek Anderson is added 

Mix vs. Magomedov II
Patchy Mix, SUB, R3
Mix is on another level right now. I’d say magomedov is the better wrestler but mix is better everywhere. Curious if this goes the distance or if he ko’s him this time around

Doumbé vs. Anderson
Cédric Doumbé, TKO, R2
Doumbe really shocked me against Baki despite the weird ending. Derek Anderson is a good Bellator vet but he has been MIA since the MVP fight. I know mvp is good but that fight was about as uncompetitive as it gets; mvp beat the **** out of him and badly broke his nose. He’s been MIA since then and his only win was against a jobber so who knows what he’s up to. I don’t imagine Anderson is a better wrestler/more of a threat than Baki, so doumbe shouldn’t have issues keeping this standing. He should merk Anderson on the feet

Babene vs. van Steenis
Costello van Steenis, DEC
I’m really split on this one. I don’t want to take the 40 year old even if he is on a good streak, but at the same time, van steenis looked so bad in his last fight. I know Douglas Lima was more expedited, but he has been washed for a long time and has never been a good grappler yet van steenis couldn’t take him down at all. I feel like he should beat the old man but gonna have to look into this one more

Gouti vs. Colgan
Archie Colgan, DEC
I wish he was better at finishing fights but colgan was one of the rare good Bellator prospects. Gouti has ufc experience and has been looking sharper recently, but colgan is better everywhere imo. I hope he can finish but this will probably be a boring decision again

Landu vs. Bilharinho
Yves Landu, DEC
Weird one here. I don’t think landu is that good, he is old and got gifted that decision against niedekski. I’ve also seen him fight a bunch of times but can’t remember his style well enough. Bilarinho is strange; he’s had a lot of hype on him for a while, but he has disappointed me a lot. He has looked pretty dominant in his last two, but hes also fought some really bad fighters. Bilarinho has a lot of flashy and dynamic strikes, but he will often fall behind on volume because he only strikes to knock you out. He can’t grapple that well either and has had a lot of weight issues with 145. He’s probably going to get a highlight reel ko out of nowhere but I’m going to pick landu here. I don’t think bolarinho is that good

Trabelsi vs. Sutherland
Slim Trabelsi, TKO, R1
Light work. This is a lopsided matchup. Trabelsi still relatively green but his wrestling is very good for a hw. Sutherland is a fat brawler and we saw him easily get outgrappled by a much worse grappler in Bably. I do think slim is a bit stiff on the feet, but his jab is very sharp and that should be enough to neutralize Louis’s striking. Slim should dominate here

Barnaoui vs. Yachi
Mansour Barnaoui, SUB, R2
It’s over if barnaoui can’t win this one. When he was active he was really one of the best fighters outside a major org. He hasn’t looked the same at all since coming back, even in his debut win. Hes still got really creative bjj, but he can’t sweep anyone like he used to and his grappling has gone to ****. His striking defense is alst nonexistent as well. Yachi is a solid vet but he’s lost to every notable person he’s fought and been finished a lot. I feel like barnaoui should win but who knows where he’s at currently. He seems washed

Ladd vs. Shakalova
Aspen Ladd, DEC
Tricky one here. Shakalova has a really fun style but idk how good she is. She is very short and can’t strike but has a very entertaining wrestling style; reminds me of Romanov a little bit. Ladd is a huge step up and much more experienced, but she is also in a weird spot. She doesn’t seem to be there mentally and wins by doing hardly anything in her fights. Shakalova will be able to get her down but I thjnk Ladd can avoid getting subbed & stand up. I just worry about her losing by doing nothing. Gotta side with her because if experience tho

Aliev vs. Shipman
Imamshafi Aliev, TKO, R2
Finally Aliev is back. He is still pretty green despite the undefeated record but he is a very good wrestler. He does have a bad habit of getting caught in sub attempts but he did a very good job of not getting caught in his last fight. Shipman is a striker and doesn’t have much off of his back so Aliev should be fine. I could see this either being a boring 30-27 or a gnp stoppage by Aliev. Either way this is a really easy fight for him

Adjoudj vs. Fontes
Asaël Adjoudj, DEC
This is a really good prospect fight. I lean adjoudj because of activity and size but fontes is really good. I really like what I’ve seen so far from adjouj tho. This is a real test because fontes has faced pretty good comp while adjoudj has gotten a lot of easy fights

Absolutely gross foot/ankle injury for Anderson from a motorcycle accident. Available on his Instagram if you really want to see it. Forget him being out of this fight, the question is whether he'll ever fight again.

I saw that this morning lol, one of the worst injuries I’ve ever seen. Looked like the cut was a few inches deep 

The question is tho, is Doumbe still game? Or will he sit this one out?

@Beefer They'll find a replacement i'm sure of it. They need a main event since Usman/Shabliy is off. So they already have Doumbe no way they'll make him sit it out and give the main event to someone else.

I personally think it's interesting to see how PFL would book matches in Bellator. You just never know what PFL can cook up here, whereas with Bellator, it was kinda predictable on what they would do at times.

Still a decent card, but getting pretty short. Hopefully Doumbe finds an opponent to get back in the comain event.
And hopefully Anderson heals up, that is nasty. I'm never getting a bike 😬

* Edited at 04.23.2024, 6:22 PM ET *

@Mav58 

I would still get a bike. **** it. Ima degenerate.

Jaleel Willis stepping in to fight Doumbe

Not bad, still a good step for Doumbe to see where he's at. Willis is inconsistent but pretty good.

This card is solid. There's a lot of good here. 

Patchy Mix vs. Magomed Magomedov is top-tier stuff. I do think Mix wins again. He's Top 5 BW in the world for my money, The dude is in absolutely top form right now. The streak of wins he has currently? Pettis, Stots, Magomedov, HORIGUCHI. Dude is on a roll and he's killing it for the past couple of years. Mix will forever be underrated due to the fact he's not in the UFC, and that's bs IMO. Dude belongs in every & all conversation for Top BW alive. 

Doumbe vs. Willis is fine, but it's definitely a fight that Doumbe should win within 3 minutes. Anything less barring a 30-22 UD mauling or some **** will be a bad look IMO.

Babene vs. van Steenis is a weird one. Two guys who haven't been active the past few years. On paper, I think this is Babene's fight to lose, but you look at who Steenis has lost to in recent years and it's Lima & Salter, two guys who are well above Babene in the grand scheme of things. Seems like a fight that Costello should win, but who knows?

Anytime I see Jonas Bilharinho on a card I get excited. That dude is a stud and it's an absolute travesty that the UFC didn't sign him after that Contender Series fight where he won via ******* wheel kick. He belongs in a big promotion, and I hope he's found a home with PFL. Bilharinho vs. Landu is a killer fight. Rooting for Jonas always tho.

My favorite fight on the card might be Mansour Barnaoui vs. Yusuke Yachi, an absolute banger. Yachi's getting choked or Barnaoui's getting knocked dead. But even then that might not be the case considering Yachi's had a few submissions in his recent fights. IDK what happens here, but I'm excited to see it.

The two other fights to watch are Aspen Ladd vs. Ekaterina Shakalova & Imamshafi ALiev vs. Mike Shipman. 

All-in-all? Quality card from PFL here.