It’s only fair that we should start this article with a warning that the 10 true-crime stories you are about to read contain truly disturbing, depraved, and graphic details of horrifying murders that have been committed by professional MMA fighters over the years, from unheralded journeymen on the regional circuit through to established stars who have fought for top-flight promotions like the UFC, Bellator and PRIDE.
As such, if you are squeamish or easily offended, then you may wish to skip this one and read one of our many other featured lists instead.
If not, proceed with caution and enjoy.
David Tyner
Former Titan FC fighter Tyner produced a solid 6-1 run in his first year as a professional MMA fighter in 2007, but only two years later in November of 2009, he was turning himself into police in connection with multiple homicides in Oklahoma.
The 28-year-old had reportedly been asked by Indian Brotherhood gang member Denny Phillips, to rob and kill an associate, Casey Mark Barrientos, who ran a drug and prostitution ring from his compound in Olkahoma.
On the night of the murders, Tyner dropped off two other armed men, Jonathan Allen Cochrane and Russell Lee Hogshooter, behind the property and then went inside via the front door, where he waited for Barrientos to come home.
The plan he claims was for the other two to come in via the back door and kill Barrientos when he arrived, and sometime later while Tyner was in the bathroom he did hear shots ring out from the living room.
However, when he approached, Tyner found Barrientos standing wielding a knife in the living room and so he proceeded to shoot him dead and then ruthlessly went on to kill two other two female witnesses who were also present, pregnant 22-year-old Millie Barerra and 25-year-old Jennifer Ermey.
Soon after, Tyner chased another man, Jose Fierro, outside, but he was able to flee the scene.
When he returned Tyner saw Cochrane and Hogshooter wielding bloody knives and discovered that 22-year-old Brooke Phillips, a pregnant prostitute who had once appeared on the reality TV show, ‘Cathouse,’ had been stabbed to death.
Tyner and Cochrane left the home soon afterward, while Hogshooter stayed behind to pour gasoline over the bodies and then set them alight.
Police eventually arrested all the perpetrators involved, and in May of 2012, Tyner pled guilty to six counts of murder (four adults and two fetuses) in exchange for life in prison with no option to appeal. Phillips and Hogshooter also received life sentences, while Cochrane is spending 25 years behind bars.
Former Bellator contender and Olympic medalist Alexis Vila has been charged with second-degree murder, MMA Fighting’s Marc Raimondi reports. Vila, who’s perhaps best known for knocking out former Bellator featherweight champion Joe Warren in a minute back in 2011, was arrested on April 17 in Miami on murder, conspiracy and weapons charges. Authorities say a […]
Former Bellator contender and Olympic medalist Alexis Vila has been charged with second-degree murder, MMA Fighting’s Marc Raimondi reports.
Vila, who’s perhaps best known for knocking out former Bellator featherweight champion Joe Warren in a minute back in 2011, was arrested on April 17 in Miami on murder, conspiracy and weapons charges. Authorities say a warrant for Vila’s arrest was issued on March 29.
Vila defected from his native Cuba to Florida back in 1997 and ran into trouble a few years later when he drove his car through a Fort Lauderdale Airport terminal in 2004. Vila served three years in prison for it and began his professional MMA a career shortly thereafter.
The 47-year-old is being held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and has a pending hold by ICE for immigration.
Vila is an Olympic medalist in wrestling from 1996 and competed at bantamweight and flyweight for promotions like Bellator and World Series of Fighting. The Cuban holds a 15-7 record in MMA and last fought in 2016.
No details have arisen on the circumstances behind Vila’s arrest and the Olympian has only been charged as of now, not convicted.
Before I even begin to analyze this card, let’s get a few things out of the way: No, there were not as many decisions on this card as last week’s smothering performances; the main event ended by submission. No, the card overall was not comparable to a ProElite event, although there was a light sparring session thrown in with the fights that we could have done without. Simply put, the main card of Bellator 65 brought a lot of decisions, but was overall an entertaining event.
The evening kicked off with the opening bouts of the season six bantamweight tournament. The first bout saw Marcos Galvao outwork Ed West on his way to a unanimous decision victory. West attempted to keep Galvao outside with kicks throughout the fight, but Galvao was able to consistently take West down and avoid submission attempts. When the fight would find its way back to the feet, Marcos Galvao threw flying knees and hard rights to win over the judges, 30-27 on all scorecards.
As for the other opening bout of the bantamweight tournament- it happened. That’s about all there is to say about Luis Nogueira vs. Alexis Vila. In a fight that saw very little action, Nogueira managed to avoid Vila’s wild strikes throughout the first round and take Vila’s back. And that’s about it; neither fighter landed anything of significance for the rest of the bout, although Vila was more active than Nogueira for the rest of the fight. Controversial decision? If there was more action, maybe. But since Vila’s offensive output was equally non-existent, it’s hard to say that either fighter deserved a victory.
Before I even begin to analyze this card, let’s get a few things out of the way: No, there were not as many decisions on this card as last week’s smothering performances; the main event ended by submission. No, the card overall was not comparable to a ProElite event, although there was a light sparring session thrown in with the fights that we could have done without. Simply put, the main card of Bellator 65 brought a lot of decisions, but was overall an entertaining event.
The evening kicked off with the opening bouts of the season six bantamweight tournament. The first bout saw Marcos Galvao outwork Ed West on his way to a unanimous decision victory. West attempted to keep Galvao outside with kicks throughout the fight, but Galvao was able to consistently take West down and avoid submission attempts. When the fight would find its way back to the feet, Marcos Galvao threw flying knees and hard rights to win over the judges, 30-27 on all scorecards.
As for the other opening bout of the bantamweight tournament- it happened. That’s about all there is to say about Luis Nogueira vs. Alexis Vila. In a fight that saw very little action, Nogueira managed to avoid Vila’s wild strikes throughout the first round and take Vila’s back. And that’s about it; neither fighter landed anything of significance for the rest of the bout, although Vila was more active than Nogueira for the rest of the fight. Controversial decision? If there was more action, maybe. But since Vila’s offensive output was equally non-existent, it’s hard to say that either fighter deserved a victory.
In the featherweight tournament semifinals, Daniel Straus picked up a unanimous decision over Mike Corey, despite having Corey in danger early and often throughout the fight. Mike Corey fought zombie-style against Straus, walking through Straus’ offense in an attempt to bring the fight to the ground. Straus was clearly tired and frustrated by the end of the fight, spitting out his mouthpiece in an effort to buy time.
This isn’t to say that Straus didn’t impress; as hard as Corey worked for the takedown, he was only successful with one takedown attempt. Straus improves to 5-1 in Bellator and 19-4 overall with the victory.
In the evening’s main event, Eduardo Dantas proved his legitimacy in the bantamweight division with a dominant victory over bantamweight champion Zach Makovsky. Makovsky found early success with his takedowns, yet was unable to do much of anything in Dantas’ guard. Meanwhile, Dantas had Makovsky looking timid on his feet, catching the champion with hard kicks throughout the opening frame.
Dantas continued to press the action in the second round, capitalizing on a Makovsky takedown with a reversal and eventually mounting the champion. Once Dantas earned full mount, the fight was all but over. Dantas set up an arm-triangle choke that put Makovsky to sleep, winning the bantamweight title. Dantas improves to 14-2 overall, including a 4-0 run in Bellator.
One final note: Lyman Good has qualified for next season’s welterweight tournament. Rather than attempt to describe his fight, let’s just show you the video. It won’t take long.
Full Results:
Main Card
Eduardo Dantas def. Zach Makovsky via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 3:26
Daniel Straus def. Mike Corey via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) featherweight-tournament semifinal
Luis Nogueira def. Alexis Vila via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) – bantamweight-tournament opening round
Marcos Galvao def. Ed West via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) – bantamweight-tournament opening round
Preliminary Card
Duane Bastress def. Plinio Cruz via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 2:52
Will Martinez def. Terrell Hobbs via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:13
Scott Heckman def. Lester Caslow via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:40 Kris McCray def. Ailton Barbosa via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Lyman Good def. LeVon Maynard via KO (punch) – Round 1, 0:13 – welterweight-tournament qualifier
E.J. Brooks def. Mikhail Malyutin via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Eric Prindle vs. Thiago Santos, fight ending low blow comes at the 2:07 mark. All videos in this post props to IronForgesIron.com
Coming fresh off of Last week’s action packed show, Bellator looked to keep building momentum last night in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The good news for Bellator is that, for the most part, the card delivered exciting, entertaining fights. The bad news for Bellator? That above video not only happened, but was supposed to be this season’s heavyweight tournament finale.
Rather, this season’s heavyweight tournament ends with a controversial no contest. On one hand, it would be anti-climatic to name a number one contender by disqualification from to an illegal kick. On the other hand, if Santos was aiming for the inside of Prindle’s thigh, it sure didn’t look like it. Prindle will meet Santos again to determine a contender for Cole Konrad, although a date for their next meeting hasn’t been announced yet.
Eric Prindle vs. Thiago Santos, fight ending low blow comes at the 2:07 mark. All videos in this post props to IronForgesIron.com
Coming fresh off of Last week’s action packed show, Bellator looked to keep building momentum last night in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The good news for Bellator is that, for the most part, the card delivered exciting, entertaining fights. The bad news for Bellator? That above video not only happened, but was supposed to be this season’s heavyweight tournament finale.
Rather, this season’s heavyweight tournament ends with a controversial no contest. On one hand, it would be anti-climatic to name a number one contender by disqualification from to an illegal kick. On the other hand, if Santos was aiming for the inside of Prindle’s thigh, it sure didn’t look like it. Prindle will meet Santos again to determine a contender for Cole Konrad, although a date for their next meeting hasn’t been announced yet.
Fortunately for Bellator, this season’s bantamweight tournament ended with a much more exciting, much less controversial fight. While Alexis Vila managed to push the pace and earn takedowns in the first round, twenty two year old Brazilian prospect Eduardo Dantas came back to take the unanimous decision victory. Dantas utilized his reach advantage to keep Vila at bay and threatened with numerous submission attempts in the second and third rounds. Dantas will meet bantamweight champion Zach Makovsky for a title shot next season.
Also of note, New Jersey native Kurt Pellegrino was knocked out in just fifty seconds by Patricky “Pitbull” Freire. Pellegrino got caught early, and appeared to be working for a takedown while the fight was called. The Atlantic City crowd began chanting bullshit, but after the fight, Kurt announced that he had lost “fair and square” and that this fight would be his last. At thirty two years old, coming off of a loss to a promising lightweight prospect, it’s hard not to believe Pellegrino when he says that he’s retiring for real this time. Thanks for the memories, Batman.
Eric Prindle vs. Thiago Santos declared a no contest (unintentional foul) – Round 1, 1:24
Patricky “Pitbull” Freire def. Kurt Pellegrino via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:50
Eduardo Dantas def. Alexis Vila via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Marcin Held def. Phillipe Nover via split decision (29-28 x2, 28-29)
OFFICIAL PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS
Karl Amoussou def. Jesus Martinez via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:20
LeVon Maynard def. Chris Wing via unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 30-26)
Lucas Pimenta def. Doug Gordon via knockout (elbows) – Round 1, 0:40
Scott Heckman def. Brylan Van Artsdalen via submission (standing guillotine choke) – Round 1, 1:38
Gregory Milliard def. Brandon Saling via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Filed under: BellatorIn addition to Kurt Pellegrino’s swan song, Saturday night’s Bellator 59 event also featured the Season 5 tournament finals in the heavyweight and bantamweight divisions. But while the bantamweight tournament final was a solid figh…
In addition to Kurt Pellegrino’s swan song, Saturday night’s Bellator 59 event also featured the Season 5 tournament finals in the heavyweight and bantamweight divisions. But while the bantamweight tournament final was a solid fight that crowned a new top contender in the division, the heavyweight fight was a debacle.
That heavyweight fight, Thiago Santos vs. Eric Prindle, came to a confusing and confounding ending, with a conference including the referee, cageside doctor and athletic commission officials taking much longer than the fight itself. It was ultimately ruled a no contest.
With Prindle on the ground on his back, Santos kicked him right between the legs, and the referee called a halt to the action for an illegal low blow. After five minutes Prindle said he still couldn’t continue fighting, and it was announced that the low kick was unintentional, so the fight was declared a no contest. But it’s hard to see how anyone watching the kick could think it was unintentional: If Santos didn’t intend to kick Prindle between his legs, what did he intend to do?
In any event, Santos and Prindle will now have to have a rematch to determine which one of them gets the next crack at Bellator heavyweight champion Cole Konrad. That’s a disappointment for Bellator, which was hoping to find itself a good contender for Konrad to fight.
At bantamweight, Eduardo Dantas beat Alexis Vila by unanimous decision, 29-28 on all three judges’ cards, to win the Bellator bantamweight tournament. The fight gave Vila the first loss of his MMA career and improves Dantas to 13-2. Bellator bantamweight champion Zach Makovsky will defend his belt against Dantas next year, and that should be a good fight: Bellator has a fun and exciting bantamweight division, and it’s too bad that the bantamweight tournament final was overshadowed by the mess at heavyweight.
And in a big surprise to begin the MTV2 televised broadcast, the 19-year-old Polish lightweight Marcin Held won a split decision victory over former Ultimate Fighter finalist Phillipe Nover. The fight easily could have gone for Nover, and the decision had the crowd booing. A Held-Nover rematch would make a lot of sense for Bellator in 2012.
Vila vs. Galvao, part one. Part two is after the jump. All videos in this post via YouTube.com/BFCLUB
Last night’s Bellator 55 in Yuma, Arizona, didn’t have the quick finishes of last week’s card, but still left fans in attendance with some interesting, if not controversial, fights. In case you couldn’t tell by the headline, the bantamweight tournament semifinals gave us Eduardo Dantas vs. Alexis Vila as the bantamweight tournament finale. Yet both fights seemed to involve controversial decisions made by the judges.
In the main event of the evening, WEC veteran Marcos Galvao took on Alexis Vila, who you may remember as the guy that practically zombified Joe Warren in the bantamweight quarterfinals. In an extremely fast paced fight, Galvao seemed to land more strikes, and as the fight went on, stuff Vila’s takedown attempts. However, the strikes that Vila landed seemed much harder. The judges gave the fight to Alexis Vila, which warranted boos from those in attendance. Watch the fight and judge for yourself whether or not the boos were justifiable.
Vila vs. Galvao, part one. Part two is after the jump. All videos in this post via YouTube.com/BFCLUB
Last night’s Bellator 55 in Yuma, Arizona, didn’t have the quick finishes of last week’s card, but still left fans in attendance with some interesting, if not controversial, fights. In case you couldn’t tell by the headline, the bantamweight tournament semifinals gave us Eduardo Dantas vs. Alexis Vila as the bantamweight tournament finale. Yet both fights seemed to involve controversial decisions made by the judges.
In the main event of the evening, WEC veteran Marcos Galvao took on Alexis Vila, who you may remember as the guy that practically zombified Joe Warren in the bantamweight quarterfinals. In an extremely fast paced fight, Galvao seemed to land more strikes, and as the fight went on, stuff Vila’s takedown attempts. However, the strikes that Vila landed seemed much harder. The judges gave the fight to Alexis Vila, which warranted boos from those in attendance. Watch the fight and judge for yourself whether or not the boos were justifiable.
Vila vs. Galvao, part two.
Likewise, Eduardo Dundas stayed very active, pushing the pace for the entire fight during his bout with season three bantamweight tournament finalist Ed West. Dundas ended up getting the decision, but one judge saw the fight for West. We have yet to confirm whether or not that judge confused West with Dundas. And yes, we have videos below so you can judge for yourself.
Also of note, Bellator Light-heavyweight Champion Christian M’Pumbu was involved in a non-title fight with YAMMA Pit Fighting champion Travis Wiuff. M’Pumbu, who doesn’t cut weight for his fights, spent the first two rounds on his back, being overpowered by the much larger Wiuff. While M’Pumbu managed to almost finish Wiuff in the third round, it wasn’t enough, as Wiuff defeated M’Pumbu. While Travis Wiuff doesn’t get the title for his efforts, it’s safe to say the man has earned a spot in next season’s light-heavyweight tournament. This marks the first non-title superfight in Bellator where the champion has lost to the challenger. Also, lightweight prospect RicardoTirloni earned the main card’s only finish by quickly choking out Steve Gable. Tirloni improves to 14-1 with the victory.
MAIN CARD (MTV2):
Alexis Vila def. Marcos Galvao by split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
Eduardo Dantas def. Ed West by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Travis Wiuff def. Christian M’Pumbu by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Ricardo Tirloni def. Steve Gable by submission (rear-naked choke) Rd 2 (3:54)
PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com):
Richard Hale def. Carlos Flores by knockout (punch) Rd 1 (:18)
Kobe Ortiz def. Edgar Garcia by knockout (punch) Rd 1 (4:06)
Erin Beach def. Roscoe Jackson by submission (rear-naked choke) Rd 1 (3:52)
Jade Porter def. Nick Piedmont by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Steve Steinbeiss def. Dano Moore by submission (rear-naked choke) Rd 1 (4:52)
