Realizing that beautiful things can be accomplished in the summertime, Bellator kicked off its 8-man featherweight tournament last night on MTV 2. If you happened to miss it, we’ve got a quick recap of how things went down along with a few gifs for your viewing pleasure after the jump.
Ronnie Mann and Adam Schindler both landed some hard combinations to start off their opening round fight. Schindler was twice denied the takedown, once clinching Mann against the cage and again later when shooting in from the outside. Sensing his opponent’s desire to fight on the ground, Mann obliged him courtesy of a right-uppercut left-hook combo that dropped Schindler to his back. From there a plethora of hammerfists rendered Schindler unconscious and advanced Mann to the semi-finals.
(Gif courtesy of Zombie Prophet)
Luis Palomino stated that he wanted to contest this fight on the feet, but he found himself on the loosing end of both the stand-up and ground battles. After employing a series of heavy kicks, Palomino got rocked by a big right hand and flying knee that sent him falling backward against the cage. He scored a desperation takedown, but Curran popped right back up and secured a takedown of his own. Once on top, Curran worked for a D’Arce choke before switching it up to the rarely-seen Peruvian Necktie and drawing the tap with just over a minute left in the opening round.
(Gif courtesy of Zombie Prophet)
Nazareno Malegarie knew how he wanted to defeat Jacob Devree from the opening bell, it just took him thirteen-and-a-half minutes to do it. Melagarie secured a takedown and locked up an arm-in guillotine just seconds into the bout, but Devree would eventually work free from that submission and the following heel hook attempt. Devree stuffed the early takedown attempt in round two only to end up in guillotine trouble again. He’d survive once more, but was mounted following his escape. Devree survived a series of bad positions and the second round, but in the final stanza he found himself both mounted and in a guillotine with no choice but to tap.
(Gif courtesy of Zombie Prophet)
Marlon Sandro floored Genair da Silva in the first round with a big right-left combo followed by a guillotine attempt, but da Silva proved tough to finish. Sandro’s effort to keep the fight out of the hands of the judges was understandable at the end of the fight, where despite his seeming to win each round he took home a split decision victory. Judge Ric Bays cast the dissenting vote 29-28 for da Silva.
Full results (courtesy of Yahoo! Sports):
MAIN CARD
- Pat Curran def. Luis Palomino via submission (Peruvian necktie) – Round 1, 3:49
- Marlon Sandro def. Genair da Silva via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
- Nazareno Malegarie def. Jacob Devree via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 1:25
- Ronnie Mann def. Adam Schindler via KO (punches) – Round 1, 4:14
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Jessica Aguilar def. Carla Esparza via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
- Tony Johnson Jr. def. Derrick Lewis via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Alexandre Bezerra def. Sam Jones via submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, 3:27
- Dan Cramer def. Josh Samman via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)