(The Simpsons Imanari did it!)
Catch it while it’s still up, Taters.
Although most of us were too busy watching the resurgence of one Georges St. Pierre last weekend to even realize that a Bellator event was happening, well, a Bellator event totally happened last weekend. In the evening’s main event, UFC veteran Rich Clementi squared off against rising prospect Marcin Held in the lightweight tournament semifinals.
The match was rife with the kind of grappling exchanges that could make a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fan out of Seth Davis (although ironically, the amount of heel hook attempts alone in this fight would have given Rousimar Palhares an erection so strong that he would have had to hate-fuck your Mom’s cankles like a dog in heat to quell it), but it was the finishing toe hold that really caught people’s attention. It was undoubtedly the most effective use of the technique we’ve seen since Frank Mir fought Tank Abbott, so check it out before it gets taken down.
With his fifth straight win (fourth in Bellator) under his belt, Held will now face Dave Jansen for the right to meet lightweight champ Michael Chandler — who defeated Held by arm-triangle in Held’s Bellator debut — next.
After the jump: A gif of yet another Bellator referee sleeping on the job and allowing a fighter to absorb way more punishment than necessary, because that’s kind of their thing these days.
(Gif courtesy of BloodyElbow)
Taken from the Brennan Ward vs. Sam McCoy undercard bout, witness yet another case – albeit far less brutal – of a referee jumping in dangerously late after a fighter has clearly been knocked the fuck out. We’ll give ref Todd Anderson a little leeway for the somewhat unexpected manner in which McCoy was knocked out in the first place, but suffice it to say, when a fighter can take another fighter’s back and start reigning down punches with no resistance whatsoever, it might be time to step in. A note to all future referees: Planking is not a legitimate form of self-defense unless you are fighting a bear. I’m glad I could clear that up for you.
The full results for Bellator 81 are below.
Main Card:
-Marcin Held def. Rich Clementi by Submission (Toe Hold) at 3:04, R2
-Dave Jansen def. Ricardo Tirloni by Split Decision, R3
-Marlon Sandro def. Dustin Neace by Technical Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 2:05, R1
-Perry Filkins def. Jonas Billstein by Unanimous Decision, R3
Preliminary Card:
-Ruben Rey def. Robbie LeRoux by Unanimous Decision, R3
–Andrew Calandrelli def. Eric Brown by Submission (Armbar) at 3:10, R2
-Dan Cramer def. Joe Lamoureux by KO (Punches) at 3:26, R1
-Murad Machaev def. Lorawnt-T Nelson by Unanimous Decision, R3
-Mike Mucitelli def. Matt Uhde by Submission (Armbar) at 0:26, R1
-Brennan Ward def. Sam McCoy by KO (Punches) at 2:49, R1
-Matt Bessette def. Paul Barrow by Unanimous Decision, R3