Bellator 67 took place Friday night from the Casino Rama in Ontario, Canada and saw a main event of lightweight champion Michael Chandler taking on Japanese veteran Akihiro Gono in a non-title fight. The event also saw Ben Saunders take on Bryan Baker in a welterweight tournament semi-final.

In the lead up to this fight, things had changed drastically for Michael Chandler. In Mike’s last fight he was a heavy underdog going in to a title fight with then champ Eddie Alvarez. That fight would end up being a contender for ‘Fight of the Year’ and Chandler was able to upset the champion against the odds. This time around though the pressure was on him as the MMA world expected the new champion to show he belonged in his position by taking out Pride and UFC veteran Akihiro Gono. Chandler had said in the fights build up that he wanted to show that his title win wasn’t just a fluke and came out on his toes peppering away with jabs and walking Gono down. As Gono backed off and looked to counter strike Chandler jumped forward with a left-right-left combination that sent Gono backwards before landing a stiff one-two that dropped him.

Bellator 65 took place on Friday the 13th in Atlantic City, NJ. The event was headlined by a bantamweight title fight between champion Zach Makovsky and Eduardo Dantas. The card also featured the second featherweight semifinal and the opening round of the bantamweight title.

In the main event the 23 year old Dantas showed a display of all-around skill in dethroning the champion Makovsky (14-3). Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney has raved about Dantas as one of the best fighters in the world in the division and Dantas showed why Rebney feels that way with a seriously impressive showing.

Makovsky was unable to find an answer for Dantas striking throughout and really the only thing he had going for him was his takedowns but in the second, as he once again shot in, Dantas countered it and took Zach’s back. As Dantas controlled his position and landed strikes he was able to sink in an arm-triangle choke. As Makovsky tried to fight to get out of the choke, Eduardo continued to squeeze until the champ finally lost consciousness and the young Dantas(now 14-2 in his professional career and holding wins over Makovsky, Alexis Vila and Luis Alberto Nogueira) is now the new Bellator bantamweight champion.

With the news breaking on Wednesday that number one contender for the UFC heavyweight championship, Alistair Overeem, failed his pre-fight drug test the MMA world went in to meltdown with speculation of Overeem’s future and who would replace him in the title match at UFC 146 with champion Junior Dos Santos.

While ‘The Demolition Man’ still has the chance of an appeal, things do not look for good for him at this time with his testosterone levels coming in at 14-1. The average man has a 1-1 ratio; however the NSAC, for precautionary reasons, have their limit set at a 6-1 ratio for fear of penalizing an athlete who may naturally produce higher testosterone than the average man.

Overeem's "A" sample was flagged for an elevated testosterone ratio that exceeded the limit by more than double. Keith Kizer (Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director) has stated the heavyweight has the right to request the test's "B" sample, which, if negative, would make him eligible to receive a fight license. All other main card fighters were tested as well however all others passed their tests.

Brad Pickett took the time out of his busy training camp ahead of his upcoming fight on April 14^th against Damacio Page to speak to me over the phone. He gives his thoughts on the upcoming fight, MMA, Renan Barao, his famed entrance to the ring and who he would fight if he got to choose.

 GM- Gregg Mullen

BP- Brad Pickett

GM- Hi Brad, thanks for taking the time to speak with me.

BP- No Problem

GM- What is your first memory of MMA and what made you fall in love with it?

BP- My first memory of mma was watching the first ufc on video, vhs it would have been back then. Watching guys like (ken) shamrock and Royce Gracie back in the day and watching guys like Keith hackney, that was my first memory of the sport.

GM- Did you fall in love with it immediately?

BP- It wasn’t that I fell in love with it immediately I just thought it was really cool. The first time I participated in the sport was when I went and trained at a place called elite fighting systems with Dave O’Donnell and when I was there some little sixteen year old kid just completely out grappled me and that’s when I kind of fell in love with the sport because I was like right I need to learn this.

In true championship fashion, Ronda Rousey versus Miesha Tate lived up to hype built off skill set and animosity. After weeks of back and forth verbal jabs, the two went toe-to-toe on Saturday night’s Strikeforce event, which took place in Columbus, Ohio. And it did not disappoint, despite the title fight affair only lasting a round.

Rousey’s World

In the night’s main event, Randy Rousey’s Judo proved to be too much for Miesha Tate. Tate’s bantamweight title was on the line, in her first defense as champion. The fighters opted to not touch gloves before the fight. And as soon as the bell rang, Tate came out fast with a barrage of left and rights, most missing except a right that caught Rousey’s attention. It was Tate’s own momentum that allowed for Rousey to switch-up a takedown, landing on top of Tate. From that position, Rousey caught hold of Tate’s arm, going for her patent arm-bar. The hold was tight, and Rousey began applying pressure to the arm, as it began to bend. Tate would fend off the hold, and would manage to escape.