Home
Uncategorized

Joe Vedepo replaces Tom DeBlass, meets Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal at Bellator 131

Jason Floyd

Tom DeBlass pulled out of his Bellator 131 bout against Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal on Saturday and Bellator has announced that Joe Vedepo has agreed to step in on short notice to face Lawal.Joe Vedepo

Bellator officials announced the new fight booking on Monday.

Bellator 131 will come from the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California and will be headlined by Tito Ortiz meeting Stephan Bonnar in a light heavyweight bout.

This is the second straight time that Lawal (13-4, 1NC) was scheduled to meet DeBlass and he had his opponent change shortly before the scheduled fight. Back in September, he defeated Dustin Jacoby by TKO in the second round at Bellator 123 when DeBlass pulled out of the fight with a knee injury.

Vedepo (17-8) made his debut in Bellator in 2012 and is currently on a three fight winning streak. He is coming off a TKO win at Bellator 129 last month and two of his last three wins have come by stoppage.

“This is just an absolutely blessing,” Vedepo said. “When I got the phone call to fight on November 15, I didn’t even need to hear who the opponent was, I was all in. Mo’s tough as hell, he’s one of the best wrestlers in the sport, but I haven’t stopped training in months and I know this is a chance of a lifetime. I always thrive on coming into the fight as an underdog, and while I have all the respect in the world for a guy like King Mo, underestimating what I bring to the cage would be a huge mistake.”

The current Bellator 131: Ortiz vs. Bonnar fight card is below.

Main Card: (Spike TV)
Tito Ortiz (17-11) vs. Stephan Bonnar (15-8)
Will Brooks (14-1) vs. Michael Chandler (12-2)
Muhammed Lawal (13-4, 1NC) vs. Joe Vedepo (17-8)
Melvin Manhoef (29-11) vs. Joe Schilling (1-3)
Mike Richman (17-5) vs. Nan Phan (20-13)

Preliminary Card: (Spike.com)
AJ Matthews (6-3) vs. Kyle Bolt (8-3)
Ron Henderson (0-0) vs. Jonathan Santa Maria (0-0)
Jordan Bailey (2-1) vs. Alex Higley (0-0)
Matt Ramirez (1-0) vs. Nick Garcia (1-1)
Andy Murad (8-2) vs. Bubba Pugh (3-1)
Rolando Perez (7-4-1) vs. Mark Vorgeas (5-2)
Ian Butler (1-0) vs. Joao Faria (1-1)

Previous Matt Van Buren vs. Sean O’Connell booked for UFC Fight Night 59
Next John Howard vs. Lorenz Larkin targeted for UFC Fight Night 59

Related Posts

46 Responses

  1. 4 former ufc fighters on this card. why is old ufc washed up fighters who should retire headline over bellator’s home grown talent n title fight?? Idc about name. still the ratings will be the same bc nobody wants to watch tito vs bonnar.. n plus they couldn’t find a better opponent than vedepo? still a good card, but now that wsof added patino vs reynolds on wsof 15 main card it’s gonna be sick war on super sat!!!

    1. wut do you think about one fc’s next 2 cards? I think they’re pretty good cards. do you know when ben askren will fight again for them?

  2. Man jason your Magic is just as screwed as my Lakers.. they gave frye 4 yr 32 mil contract. n kobe 2 yr 48 1/2 mil. he declined 2 yr 60 mil, but I think he should’ve took 2 yr 25 mil instead. melo got 5 yr 124 mil, took 5 mil less 129. it’s not really kobe’s fault the Lakers suck, it’s the injuries n coaches. n your magic were not smart this offseason. who do you think they should’ve signed instead?

    2. wow fernado gonzalez only got suspended 30 days n fined $315. rest got 9/ 10 months. do you agree or disagree?

  3. Jason can you ask Bellator or the athletic commision for 131 fighter salaries n attendence/ gate numbers?

      1. thought so, but somtimes they don’t for some reason. wut fights are you looking forward to the most on super Saturday? I can’t wait for chandler vs brooks, manhoef vs schilling should be explosive n richman vs pham could be fotn. wsof I can’t wait for the lw title fight. I have a feeling Bellator will announce some fights for next yr at 131.

      2. on Tapology it says WSOF 11 ratings are 906k, but really it’s 781k. wonder why they still haven’t changed it cuz 906k was reported 1st, but that wasn’t the real numbers. I’m glad Bellator didn’t sign sheilds, but I really wished they signed melvin tho. if scott coker was with Bmma a lil sooner melvin would be with them instead. Bellator on Mtv2’s highest rating I think was Bellator 44 with 325k viewers, 58 did 269 with peak of 345 n 47 did 277k. not really that good. I think wsof does better on NBCSN. hbu?

        1. maybe bellator on Mtv2 did a lil bit better, but I think wsof ratings on NBCSN will be up in few months to a yr. maybe not tho cuz their partners are failing them.

        2. The 906k number was a fast track number, but 781k was the final number. That is on Tapology to fix that. I am sure if you contact them, that will be fixed.

          On MTV2 vs. NBCSN — For me, it’s much easier to find NBCSN since it’s near all of the cable sport network channels. WSOF on NBCSN best average number was 365k and typically is around 200-250k. Going to be tough for them to get good numbers for the next two events with going up against UFC and Bellator on Saturday and UFC in December.

        3. are you gonna do an interview with Scott coker before Bellator 131? I hope so. he’s my fav promoter. who do you have planned for Fridays podcast?

        4. As of right now, my scheduled guest for Friday are Michael Chandler and Tito Ortiz. I am working on other guest right now

        5. Do you think since Bellator next yr will be doing bigger, more stacked events that the prelims should be on Mtv2 instead of Spike.com? can you ask Scott about that next time you talk to him? will they have a post fight press conference n media scrum after the event Sat? sorry that was alot I’ve thrown at you all at once haha.

        6. I expect prelims to stay online. Likely just media scrums. I know they have a lot of media coming to the event

        7. but they have a pre fight press conference on Thursday. so wouldn’t they have a post fight one too? I think 131 will do 1.2/ 1.4 mil viewers, wsof 15 220k/ 242k, n ufc prelims 511k/545k. ppv will prolly do 210k buys may 230k. wut do you think?

        8. I think you range prediction on Bellator and UFC is in the right neighborhood but I think your prediction for WSOF is high. I think WSOF will be around 150-175k.

        9. Ya I think most ppl will dvr wsof n watch bellator n ufc. I’m gonna dvr wsof n bmma also watch one of them to until I fall asleep lol. will you be covering all of them at the same time or will your other partners cover the others n you cover one? I hope corissa furr replaces mercedes terrel n that would be awesome if frank shamrock n mauro ranallo would replace jimmy smith, sean wheelock. but that’s never gonna happen tho.

        11. how are ticket sales going for 131 n wsof 15? also if tito wins should his next fight be for the title or vs rampage? If chandler wins they should do chandler vs jansen that would make sense. richman should be next in line for bw title shot n manhoef should fight shelmenko that’d be fun fight. wut happens with mo if he wins? I’d love to see aa’s next fight to be vs roy nelson or ben rothwell. hbu?

        12. – Last I heard on Bellator 131 ticket sales was there was a recent spike in sales. In terms of WSOF 15, should have some info on that later in the week.

          – If Tito wins, I could see him getting Newton/McGeary winner, Rampage, or Lawal.

          – Jansen should get winner of Chandler/Brooks. Richman is right there for a title shot, may have to take one more fight before title shot though.

          – Manhoef/Shlemenko seems very likely at this point.

          – On Lawal, he is in a tough position right now as long as Newton is the champion.

          – Arlovski is currently injured and out for 6-8 weeks. Both the fights you mentioned make sense, just depends on timing and when Arlovski can get back to training.

        13. I watched tito unrivaled n winner takes all. I was disappointed bc nothing really happened. it was stupid n a waste of time. wut did you think? luis santos was actually 2-2 in bmma not 1-2 like cruz said on mma fighting. I hate how these reporters always get it wrong all the time. I wish I was a mma journalist that would be awesome. how can I be one do you know n I wanna work for a mma promotion be a matchmaker for them any recommendations?

        14. If you want to work for a MMA promotion, find a local promotion in your area and get your foot in the door in some way. Then work your way up from there

        15. ppl think bellator hasn’t created any stars, but that’s not true. ben askren, eddie alvarez, chandler, curran, straus, pitbull bros, minakov, volkov, karakhanyan, lima, koreshkov, netwon, dez green, vegh, shelmenko, warren, soto, makovsky, wilson reis, ect. that 20 freakin stars right there. john pallock was saying that chandler n alvarez aren’t really stars. WTF are you serious??

        16. oh n I forgot about primus, liam, brooks, hasley, tiger, held, hawn, ect. that’s 27 stars they created. n there’s more that they’ve released too. wut are the best fights that bellator n wsof can put on next yr do you think?

        18. will you be at the 131 media scrum? if so can you ask scott if he’ll sign kharitonov, karlos vemola, satoshi ishii, fedor, mamed khalidov, goran rejlic? I doubt fedor would come back. would be siick tho. ufc releasing their schedule next week n by them possibly doing more events helps bellator n wsof out. right? maybe not wsof bc their partners want them to fail n I doubt wsof will make it past next yr. wow Ik I sent you alot of ?’s today. my bad bro.

        19. I will not be at Bellator 131 as I will be in Washington D.C. this weekend. On schedule, Bellator cutting back on their schedule is great for fans as their cards will be much deeper than they have been previous.

  4. check this out Jason. ppl actually think that bellator started a war with the ufc, but it’s the opposite. ufc started this shit on going the same night n same area as bellator on the 5th. just like they always counter prgramed strikeforece, affliction, elite xc, ect.. dana n the ufc hate competition. even tho I don’t see bmma as any competition to them. ufc just wants to fuck with their ratings that’s why they do it. http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/11/11/7193607/wanderlei-silva-joins-the-rogue-s-ball-at-bellator

        1. I got so many ?’s bro. I could talk about mma all day, but I won’t bc you’re very busy n I don’t wanna bored/ annoy you to death. man I need to find a job bad.

  5. were is the brett cooper 5 rounds it’s not on youtube or bellator.com wtf?? n why does bellator always promote washed up ufc fighters over their champs/ best fighters. they always mention n promote ufc more than they do bmma…

      1. ya, the 1st ever five rounds was with brett cooper. it’s not on youtube or their website anymore. I don’t get it.

        1. n wut was bellator thinking trying to have wandy at pre party n 131?? they should be sued. but if wandy lied to them then I can see why they did it.

        2. nm they allowed him to do several appearances including doing live commentary for xfc brazil. but bc ufc hates bmma they pulled him lol. btw bonnar passed 2 random urine drug tests n tito 1. one person said must say I’m really disappointed look forward to post fight results though. haha he wanted him to fail so the fight would be off ahaha.

  7. yo I saw when they 1st announce tito vs bonnar n chandler vs brooks that on sherdog 131 fight card had 5 g+1 share n 166 p share or wtv it is. I think it’s how many ppl shared it n after they started announcing more it cleared n all of it went to 0. I wonder wut happened. now they got a couple shares. I wonder how much it would’ve been if it didn’t clear out. but anyway you busy or something? I wish there was real competition to the ufc in mma. bellator could have been if it didn’t release or treat their fighters bad like alvarez, askren, lombard, soto, aliev, tsarev, shamhalaev, mighty mo, dez green, valavicius, ect. if they still had those fighters they could be a real threat to ufc I think. maybe if they matched up their fighters right. who do you think is a better match maker sam caplan or rich chou? also does rich chou actually get to make the fights or does the spike tv executives get the final say n does scott coker have anything to do with it too? I heard scott say they’ll have a press conference sat at 3pm to announce the 1st qt with all the fighters fighting at it. one more thing. will the press conferences for thur n sat be online to watch do you know?

    1. Ik I talk alot bro, but that’s bc I’m a very passionate mma fan. I’m sure you’d understand right?

      1. I do not believe the press conferences will be streamed. In terms of matchmaking, its a decision between Coker, Chou, and Zach Light

        1. did you see my comments for 127 fighter saleries n about brett cooper 5 rounds on here? also I wanna see big fights n fun fights in bmma without freakshow fights if you know wut I mean. will brooks talks to much n cries all the time. that will be his downfall this sat. ppl who talk alot before a fight usually get ktfo..

        2. my 5 most intriguing fights this weekend are gaethje vs gulliard, chandler vs brooks 2, richman vs pham, hunt vs werdum, n schilling vs manhoef. luke thomas thinks you’re really insane if you think 131 is better than 180 ppv. he’s just a ufc fantard bc if you rather pay 60 bucks for in my opinion has only one fight worth watching over 3 fun explosive fight in schilling vs manhoef, richman vs pham, n chandler vs brooks you have some issues. not only that there’s 9 total free fights on tv with wsof n bmma n you rather pay 60 bucks for a card that’s got fucked with injuries lol. hey it’s there money. wtv I’ll be watching some sick fights for free while ppl buy 180 n don’t get there money’s worth.

  8. one person said this about chandler. “I agree with brooks. Chandler has been whining a lot lately and it’s annoying. With two loses in a row whether he thinks he won them or not, he should be keeping his mouth closed until he proves himself again. I hope he gets beat” LMFAO. that doesn’t even make sense bc brooks is the one that’s whining n crying make 20 min videos about how much bmma n the world hates him. he never shuts up n he’s so annoying, but everybody’s on brooks side. they all want chandler to lose bc he’s bellator’s face or so called. man it’s unbelievable how many ppl wanna see bellator fail even still with coker in charge.

Comments are closed.