What's Next For The Winners And Losers Of Bellator 46?

Without hyperbole, Bellator 46 was one of the best events I’ve seen in my short history with Bellator FC. We saw dramatic finishes, amazing submissions, thrilling KO’s, and more. It may have been on the obscure MTV2 network, but you really can’t do much better than five free fights with four ending in stoppages. Now it’s time to ask once again: what’s next for the winners and losers?

Since Bellator 46 was almost solely devoted to the opening round of their “Summer Series” Featherweight tournament, I will be mixing it up for this edition of “What’s Next for the Winners and Losers”. Since the next round of fights has already been announced, I’ll be giving my thoughts on what both fighters need to do to win their second-round match-ups.

Next for Ronnie Mann and Pat Curran: Each other, and whoever wins this fight has got to be the favorite to win the entire tournament. For Ronnie Mann to beat Pat Curran, he’s going to have to be at his absolute best. He needs to keep practicing his swift, technical striking and hone it to a razor’s edge. He also needs to sharpen his killer instinct, if Pat Curran does get dropped he can recover quickly. If this fight stays on the feet, Curran has shown a propensity to lose to better strikers. Let’s not forget that Eddie Alvarez spent much of his five-round war with Curran generally out-boxing him.

For Curran to beat Mann, he’s got to get this one down to the ground, but he should avoid pulling guard at all costs. Mann is just too powerful on top, he stone-cold KTFO’d his opponent with short, bursting hammerfists from inches away. For Curran to beat Mann, he’ll first need to sap his will and drain his cardio with constant takedown attempts and even some grappling against the cage. When it’s the later rounds and Mann’s arms are blown up and his legs are spent, Curran needs to latch onto something and pull with everything he has.

Next for Nazareno Malegarie and Marlon Sandro: Each other, and a very interesting dynamic. Against fighters so skilled and with so much world-traveled experience, Nazareno Malegarie has got to be the “dark horse” of this tournament even though his record stands at an outstanding 20-1. Marlon Sandro would be on more or less equal ground with either Pat Curran or Ronnie Mann if Sandro should win his semi-final fight.

For Malegarie to beat Sandro, he’s got to get him off of his feet. Sandro’s cardio is too good, he can keep active for all three rounds and still swing bombs. I don’t know for certain how good of a chin Malegarie has, but it’d have to be a pretty awesome one to survive a full-fledged Marlon Sandro flurry. Malegarie has shown a propensity for relentless submission attempts, and I think if he can keep that style against Sandro, he’s got a shot of submitting the Sengoku veteran.

For Sandro, it’s all about the “sprawl and brawl”. Malegarie will more than likely show up wanting to take this fight to the mat. Sandro needs to make him pay each and every time he tries to do that. Even if it forces him to use up his power, Sandro needs to stuff takedowns with authority and throw off Malegarie each time Malegarie tries to take the fight to the cage. If this gameplan holds up, eventually Sandro will find his opportunity and he’ll either seal the deal with a KO or take a Unanimous Decision win.

And that’s what I think, fans and friends.