Tag: Bellator

There were no fireworks, no knockouts or submissions to talk about during Bellator 64, which saw Welterweight champion Ben Askren retain his title in a dominant performance against Douglas Lima in front of a sell-out crowd in Windsor, Ontario.

It was a typical wrestler’s victory for Askren as he took Lima down at will and controlled him for five rounds. The main event of the evening echoed the night as a whole as no fights and no fighter showed any urgency.

You’d think, with an opportunity of a lifetime to win the belt, Lima would have done more to prevent Askren’s lacklustre ground-and-pound which dragged on for five rounds. But Lima seemed content to lay on his back, having been taken down at will for the entire match.

Nevertheless, the champion’s performance underscored his elite wrestling skills which as yet no one in Bellator has had an answer for.

Askren, the former Olympian, two-time NCAA champion and four-time NCAA All-American says he’s been working on his stand-up, but it was clear from his performance that he cares about nothing but wrestling.

And despite boos from the crowd, Askren knows he has a winning formula which can deal with any opponent the organisation can throw at him.

Askren’s game plan from the beginning was to smother Lima and perhaps go the distance. And that he did with relative ease, keeping the Brazilian on the mat for pretty much the entire fight.

When the fight ended, Askren won every round 10-9 on all the judges’ score card, with a 50-45 decision victory.

Still, the main event thrilled for the sheer dominance of the one fighter. The same could not be said for the next fight down the list, in which featherweight opponents and close friends Marlon Sandro and Alexandre “Popo” Bezerra showed too much respect in a measured fight that went the distance.

Sandro the older and more experienced of the two won the split decision having dished out effective inside leg kicks throughout the match.

Both fighters have become known for finishing fights with Sandro recently winning the Sengoku title via a 40-second knockout of Masanori Kanehara. Bezerra for his part has finished all but one of his 13 victories, but showed little of that killer instinct against Sandro.

Bezerra who claimed better wrestling credentials going into the match struggled to score a single takedown until the third round. But Sandro quickly found himself on top as the two fighters fought back to their feet.

This time Bezerra began pushing the pace, landing a mean right hand which had Sandro hurt. In the closing stages of the fight, Bezerra put an exclamation point on the round landing a left hook which had Sandro in trouble moments before the bell.

It wasn’t enough as Sandro won a split decision and advances to the Bellator featherweight final.

In the two bantamweight quarterfinals, Travis Marx and Hiroshi “Iron” Nakamura scored unanimous decision victories sending them both to the next round.

Marx edged a close 29-28 unanimous decision against Masakatsu Ueda as the more physical fighter who had better top control for most of the fight.

Nakamura for his part won a 29-27 unanimous decision against Rodrigo Lima. Lima suffered a point deduction for a knee to Nakamura’s groin in the second round which proved costly.

Bellator will return next Friday with Bellator 65. The event will feature two more bantamweight quarterfinals and the second featherweight semifinal. The main event will be for the bantamweight world championship as Zach Makovsky defends his belt against challenger Eduardo Dantas. 

 

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