Bellator today announced that bantamweight semifinalist Joe Warren has been pulled from tomorrow’s Bellator 98 card, after the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Counsel deemed him medically unfit to compete and wouldn’t grant him the right to fight Nick Kirk in what was scheduled to be the co-main event of the evening. The bout between Warren and Kirk, which is one of two bantamweight semifinals scheduled for the current four-man tournament, has now been postponed indefinitely. This is obviously disappointing news for Bellator’s fans, fans of Warren, and also bettors, as most were going to parlay Warren at -1000 and now won’t get the opportunity to. But the thing that’s most disappointing to me is that, if there was a medical issue, why did this only come up the day before the event was set to take place? Why wasn’t this decided weeks ago? Regardless, the match is off the card and now Bellator has moved a lightweight bout between Derek Anderson and Patricky Pitbull to the main card, which is headlined by Bellator world middleweight champion Alexandre Shlemenko vs. Brett Cooper. Mir vs. Reem Added To UFC 167 The UFC last night announced another giant fight for the upcoming UFC 167 event as heavyweights Frank Mir and Alistair Overeem have been booked to fight one another in a fight that likely won’t even last five minutes. Both fighters are coming off of losing streaks, with Mir having lost three-straight bouts and Overeem having lost his last two, and many believe that the loser of this fight is going to get cut by the promotion. I think this is the perfect matchup to make at this time as far as the rankings go, although it will be a shame to see either of these guys get cut, even though they are both flawed fighters, they always are involved in exciting matches. My initial thoughts are the same as everyone else in that I believe Overeem should be a sizable favorite, perhaps -250 to Mir at +200. Again, those are just initial thoughts but based on everything we’ve seen in the pair’s last bunch of fights, it seems like Overeem is just a bad matchup for Mir as he has the clinch game and power to take Mir out. However, Reem’s chin is likely shot just as much as Mir’s at this point and an upset KO win for Mir wouldn’t shock me. Heck, I’d say it’s even more likely to happen than a submission. UFC 167 now has Mir/Overeem, GSP vs. Johny Hendricks, Chael Sonnen vs. Rashad Evans, Rory MacDonald vs. Robbie Lawler and Tyron Woodley vs. Josh Koscheck scheduled, meaning it’s going to be one of the biggest events of the year.
