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Bellator: Brian Rogers discusses reffing issues
Bellator has a very solid product, and that goes without question. Their latest showing on Friday night proved once again, that they've definitely got the goods. The night was filled with exciting fights, and one of the more notable ones featured the always entertaining Brian Rogers against super tough, Dominique Steele. Rogers, who had a Fund-A-Fighter campaign to raise money for a children's charity, ended up taking the victory in a three round battle. TapouT Radio recently caught up with The Predator, to get his thoughts on the fight, and some of the questionable reffing that marred an otherwise excellent event.
Dominique Steele
He had a better chin on him than I thought, and was able to keep running around, coming forward at times, getting punched, then going back to running around. It went well. I would have like to land a few more kicks and have taken the lead a little bit more, once I established that I was winning the fight, but overall, things were good. I was happy with my performance.
Zarmoskis fight and bad reffing
I was in the stands by the time his fight came on, talking to some friends. We were just off the floor, watching from maybe 50 feet away. It was like, ‘He's out! He's out! No, seriously, he's out.' It was pretty wild.
If you're going to fix the problem, you've got to have more seminars. I know Herb Dean has got his school of reffing and John McCarthy has his, and Bellator commentator, Sean Wheelock has a reffing and judging seminar, as well. There probably needs to be more happening under one federation, rather than all these individuals doing their own stuff. Some type of thing where there's just mandatory referee rules meetings.
Medical and other professionals have to go to workshops to get CEUs (continuing education units), so the referees and judges should have to do the same thing. Doctors don't go to med school 30 years ago and then decide not to ever read another book again. They work to get better and evolve with the times. There has to be some type of measuring stick to make sure people are staying in the loop and staying current. They're needs to be an international committee that oversees everything for it to work. There's also a lot of egos at play in some of these refs and judges, too. There's a human factor here that plays more of a part than people know.
You can follow Brian via his Twitter account, @BRogThePredator
Bellator: Daniel Straus says he knew the moment Alvin Robinson ‘broke'
Friday night's Bellator was one of their best outings this year. There was no shortage of exciting fights, and Daniel Straus' amazing finish over BJJ ace, Alvin Robinson was one of those rare moments where you go and find Zombie Prophet on Twitter and beg for an immediate animated .gif image of the finish. The fight was special in a couple of ways. To beat Alvin at his own game is a bit of a triumph in itself, but that's exactly what he did, tapping the Royce Gracie blackbelt in the second round with a rear naked choke. The other significant fact to be noted here, is that in 18 fights, Straus has only been defeated once, and is now on a five fight streak. In a recent interview with TapouT Radio, Daniel discussed being able to identify the breaking point in his opponents as well as his very bright future.
Alvin Robinson
That was good. You get a lot of doubters and whatnot, but it's really good to go in there with a guy like Alvin, who's a blackbelt, and roll around with him, and get him at his own game. That always feels good. Going into it, I wanted it to stay on the feet, but the fight just didn't go that way, but I ended up realizing that where I wanted to be was on the ground, grappling with him. Breaking a guy in a fight is a really special thing.
You know the moment you have a guy. You can just tell when they break. Sometimes it's a sigh, or a look on their face. They let you know when they've cracked. I knew with Alvin, too. I was on top of him, and I threw an elbow and split him. You could just tell that he didn't want it anymore. That's what allowed me to take his back and end it.
Future Plans
The sky is the limit. I just want to continue to get better. To me, it's not about how good your record looks, it's more about what great tasks you can conquer. They have great guys at Bellator, and I feel like they're top of the line fighters. To be able to come out on top of those guys just gives you a sense of pride and confidence.
To have my name even mentioned in the same breath as the big names, the best 145ers is a big sense of accomplishment for me. Every time I fight, I have a goal, and I try to reach those goals, and get to the top of the pound for pound list. It feels good to have people watch you, and have them say, ‘He's one of my favorite fighters to watch.' It's a whole different type of feeling, and it's one that I strive for.
You can follow Daniel via his Twitter account, @DanielStraus
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