Even if you weren’t glued to your Twitter account last night, you still had plenty of MMA news to keep yourself entertained. From a middleweight and lightweight tournament to a post-fight brawl to a referee ignoring a fighter’s cornermen throwing in the towel, there were plenty of things to talk about. All of these story lines came from Bellator 66 last night in Cleveland, Ohio.
While this season hasn’t been a stranger to dangerously late stoppages, last night’s main event, a rematch between former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and Shinya Aoki, provided one worthy of mention in our worst referee blunders roundtable. Alvarez dropped Aoki early, and although he initially seemed hesitant to jump into Aoki’s guard, Alvarez unloaded some heavy punches that almost immediately put Aoki out cold. When the referee in charge, Jerry Krzys, didn’t stop the fight Aoki’s cornermen threw their towel into the cage. Of course, everyone knows that “throwing in the towel” is just an expression for giving up, and not a sign that the fighter’s cornermen actually believe that the fight should be stopped, right? No? Well then someone should have explained that to Jerry Krzys, who allowed the fight to continue for a few more seconds before stopping the action.
After the fight, Alvarez had a very simple question for Bellator, and an equally simple follow up request: ”Bjorn Rebney where you at? Show me the money.” Of course, if Bellator can’t- or isn’t willing to- comply with that request, something tells us that the UFC will.
The evening’s co-main event saw a wild back-and-forth brawl between Bellator newcomer Andreas Spang and Brian Rogers. Rogers appeared to have Spang in trouble early, but slipped while attempting a head kick. Spang immediately took Rogers’ back and attempted a rear-naked choke, but Rogers fought his way out of it and attempted a choke of his own as the first round came to an end. Rogers continued to control the fight throughout the second round, yet got caught by Spang with a left hook that shut his lights out.
Props: IronForgesIron.com
After the fight, Spang was face-to-face with the other middleweight tournament finalist, Maiquel Falcao. As evident by the way that he pushed Brian Rogers at the weigh-ins before the fight, Andreas Spang does not like when other people get in his face. Spang responded to the way that bitch looked at me wrong with a shove (naturally). Falcao faked a punch before throwing a knee of his own as Bellator officials, including commentator Jimmy Smith, separated the middleweights. It wasn’t so much a brawl as an awkward post fight staredown gone wrong, but sometimes these things happen in MMA journalism.
Naturally, Maiquel Falcao made it past Vyacheslav Vasilevsky, although it was a far closer fight than most people anticipated it being. Vasilevsky started out strong, using his judo to keep Falcao on his back throughout the first round. However, Falcao managed to take down Vasilevsky towards the end of the second round, and owned the third round with his superior striking.
Elsewhere on the card, lightweights Rick Hawn and Brent Weedman advanced to the finals of this season’s lightweight tournament. Hawn outstruck Lloyd Woodard en route to a second round TKO, while Weedman defeated Thiago Michel Pereira Silva by split decision. Weedman winning on 4/20, eh? I’m sure I’d be the first person to make a joke about that, but I chose not to.
Full Results
Main Card:
Eddie Alvarez def. Shinya Aoki via first-round TKO
Andreas Spang def. Brian Rogers via second-round TKO
Maiquel Falco def. Vyacheslav Vasilevsky via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Rick Hawn def. Lloyd Woodard via second-round TKO
Brent Weedman def. Thiago Michel Pereira Silva via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Preliminary Card:
Jessica Eye def. Anita Rodriguez via unanimous decision (30×27 x 3)
Julian Lane def. Joe Heiland via submission (guillotine)
Frank Caraballo def. Donny Walker via fourth-round KO
John Hawk def. Marcus Vanttinen via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
Attila Vegh def. Dan Spohn via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)