On this Friday night, April 22nd, Bellator 153 features an intriguing main event for the Welterweight title between Russian Andrey Koreshkov and Benson Henderson.
The title fight will mark Henderson’s much anticipated debut for Bellator following hi…
On this Friday night, April 22nd, Bellator 153 features an intriguing main event for the Welterweight title between Russian Andrey Koreshkov and Benson Henderson.
The title fight will mark Henderson’s much anticipated debut for Bellator following his departure from the UFC. Henderson cited the Reebok deal as a big part of his reason to leave, estimating he would lose $100,000 a year through lack of sponsors.
As a former WEC and UFC title holder, however, Henderson has a chance to hold titles in three different MMA promotions, an unheard of accomplishment which would solidify Henderson’s legacy at the tail end of his career.
Henderson boasts an impressive 23-5 record (11-3 UFC). Of his 5 defeats, only 1 has come via KO, a first round defeat to current UFC lightweight titleholder Rafael Dos Anjos in 2014. He favors the ground game, owning 10 submission wins.
Koreshkov is predominantly a striker, holding 10 KO/TKO victories among his 18 career wins. The Russian suffered his lone defeat in July 2013 against Ben Askren.
The clash of styles should provide plenty of fireworks, especially since the fight will also be Koreshkov’s first title defense. He won the title after defeating Douglas “The Phenom” Lima, who was hobbled from injuries and surgery recovery, but Koreshkov dominated in a decision win. Koreshokov showed an improved ground game in that title bout, as well as some stoic mental toughness.
Henderson will no doubt look to take the war to the ground while Koreshkov will want to stay on his feet. Henderson is seven years older than Koreshkov, but the Russian stands three inches taller. Wherever the fight goes, both fighters’ experience will counter the others, but both men will fight to their strengths.
Henderson has said he isn’t necessarily focused on the history of claiming three titles. For fight fans; however, it will be a moment to savor.
Former Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima will return to action this June, taking on Chidi Njokuani in the co-main event of Bellator 156.
The card takes place June 17 from the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. In the headline role, ba…
Former Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima will return to action this June, taking on Chidi Njokuani in the co-main event of Bellator 156.
The card takes place June 17 from the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. In the headline role, bantamweight champion Marcos Galvao defends his title against Eduardo Dantas.
Lima (26-6) is 8-2 over 10 Bellator appearances, but will be fighting for the first time since losing the belt to Andrey Koreshkov last year.
Njoukani (14-4) finds himself on a six-fight win streak dating back to 2013, including a decision win over Ricky Rainey.
Bellator crowned a new welterweight champion at Bellator 117, and also determined who’d fight in the finals of the season 10 lightweight tournament. In case you missed the fisticuffs, here’s our recap:
This lightweight tournament semifinal started with some feeling out. A flying knee from Pitbull missed its mark, as did a spinning back kick from Campos. Midway through the round, Pitbull landed a sick hook to the liver followed up by a hook to the head–easily the best combo of the round at that point. Shortly after this, a brawl ensued against the cage. Campos landed some jabs, Freire landed a knee and a right hand. They reset, but then Campos pressured Freire again, landing quite a few shots. Campos’ success continued until the end of the first round; he started to get the better of every exchange while Pitbull looked slow and uninterested.
Campos’ luck ran out in the second round. Pitbull tagged him with a nasty right hand that floored him. Campos managed to rise to his feet only to be floored yet again. Pitbull mounted him and finished him with ground and pound when Campos rolled over onto his stomach and covered up. What a comeback.
Freire will be fighting the winner of Marcin Held vs. Derek Anderson in the lightweight tournament finals.
Bellator crowned a new welterweight champion at Bellator 117, and also determined who’d fight in the finals of the season 10 lightweight tournament. In case you missed the fisticuffs, here’s our recap:
This lightweight tournament semifinal started with some feeling out. A flying knee from Pitbull missed its mark, as did a spinning back kick from Campos. Midway through the round, Pitbull landed a sick hook to the liver followed up by a hook to the head–easily the best combo of the round at that point. Shortly after this, a brawl ensued against the cage. Campos landed some jabs, Freire landed a knee and a right hand. They reset, but then Campos pressured Freire again, landing quite a few shots. Campos’ success continued until the end of the first round; he started to get the better of every exchange while Pitbull looked slow and uninterested.
Campos’ luck ran out in the second round. Pitbull tagged him with a nasty right hand that floored him. Campos managed to rise to his feet only to be floored yet again. Pitbull mounted him and finished him with ground and pound when Campos rolled over onto his stomach and covered up. What a comeback.
Freire will be fighting the winner of Marcin Held vs. Derek Anderson in the lightweight tournament finals.
This was a non-tournament match with no implications–a “feature fight” as Bellator called it on their website. Most of the first round was simply a feeling out process. Gomez landed a right hand that stumbled Amoussou, and Amoussou landed a couple of knees, an uppercut, and some leg kicks. But Gomez’s cross was really the only meaningful strike in the round. Then there was some clinching, and the round ended.
Amoussou took control in the second round, throwing Gomez as soon as it started. Amoussou sat up in Gomez’s guard and dropped for a heel hook. The bold move failed, and Gomez escaped to his feet. An out of breath Amoussou pressed Gomez up against the cage. Gomez separated and landed a huge right hand. Amoussou managed to walk through it though. Some really, really sloppy brawling ensued (I mean Bellator heavyweight level) that neither guy really got the better of. Both fighters wound up clinched again. They separated with about a minute left in the second round.
To start off the third round, Amoussou clinched and went for a trip, which he missed. Gomez landed a few fast but weak uppercuts and hooks. Amoussou looked exhausted by this point; his hands hovered around his waist. Nevertheless, he still managed to intermittently keep Gomez stymied against the fence. The third round was a predictable pattern of clinch-separate-messy striking-clinch and so on until the end of the fight. Karl Amoussou was awarded with a decision win. If you are going to watch a DVR recording of the event, skip this fight.
Held dragged Anderson to the mat early and with little difficulty. He passed into side control but then Anderson managed to regain half guard. This didn’t matter though, since Held dropped down for a leg. The two played footsies for a few minutes. Anderson avoided Held’s onslaught and wound up on top in side control, landing short elbows and punches. Anderson attempted to stand up but Held snared his leg. He used the leg lock to sweep Anderson; he sat up in Anderson’s guard. Held attempted yet another leg lock with about 20 seconds to go but it came up short.
Held nailed Anderson with a stiff left hand that dropped him. He got a little wild after that and got tagged with a right hand. Anderson hit a nice body kick. Anderson started to find his range with the jab. Held, on the other hand, resorted to butt-scotting since he had zero takedowns. Held successfully pulled guard and moments later locked up a triangle and secured the tap.
Marcin Held will meet Patricky Freire in the Bellator season 10 lightweight finals.
Both fighters started tentative. Lima plodded forwards as Hawn shuffled around the edges of the cage. Lima landed a leg kick, Hawn countered with a right hand. Hawn half-assed a shot and ate a left hand. Lima continuously stalked Hawn, and eventually landed a MASSIVE leg kick that sent Hawn to the mat instantly. Hawn got back up and threw a 1-2 that Lima blocked. Lima hit another leg kick that crumpled Hawn. He turtled up as Lima landed loads of elbows and punches. Lima backed off as the round ended. Hawn was certainly in trouble.
Lima threw a leg kick to start round 2, but Hawn checked it as well as a follow-up leg kick. The third one, however, connected and floored Hawn, who was slow to get up. Hawn was sent to the canvas yet again with a leg kick. A TKO via leg kicks was imminent at this point. Hawn got knocked down from a leg kick again. The fight started to resemble a lion playing with its food. Another leg kick found its mark but Hawn somehow remained standing. Lima went high with a kick but Hawn saw it coming. Lima landed a millionth leg kick and Hawn fell yet again. Hawn’s corner got up on the apron and called for an end to the fight, and the referee obliged. This was the right call (see all the leg kicks for yourself–GIFs courtesy of Zombie Prophet). Douglas Lima is now the new Bellator welterweight champ!
Here are the card’s complete results (we’ll update the Houston Alexander and Ryan Jensen fights when the results are available):
Main Card
Douglas Lima def. Rick Hawn via TKO (corner stoppage) 3:19 of round 2
Marcin Held def. Derek Anderson via submission (triangle), 3:07 of round 2
Karl Amoussou def. David Gomez via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Patricky Freire def. Derek Campos via TKO (punches), 0:52 of round 2
Preliminary Card
Martin Brown def. Jared Downing via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Larue Burley def. Cliff Wright Jr. via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 29-27)
Joe Vedepo def. Ben Crowder via TKO (leg injury), 0:48 of round 1
Anthony Smith def. Victor Moreno via submission (triangle choke) via 0:59 of round 2
Julio Cesar Neves def. Josh Arocho via TKO (elbows), 2:37 of round 2
Jordan Parsons def. Tim Bazer via KO (punches), 0:04 of round 2
Unaired
Ryan Jensen vs. Mark Stoddard
Matt Uhde vs. Houston Alexander
Friday night’s Bellator 100 card main event saw Douglas Lima earn another welterweight title shot with a second round-knockout of Ben Saunders in Bellator’s Season 8 Welterweight Tournament Final. In the first round, both men went hard on the feet with Saunders also seeking unsuccessfully to take the fight to the ground.
In the second stanza, Lima found his range and began to take it to Saunders, dropping him to the mat with a right hand. Saunders was cut badly by the shot but survived until the final thirty seconds of the round when Lima connected with a right kick to the head that put the “Killa B” out for good.
Deja vu alert: Lima and Saunders had previously squared off at Bellator 57 back in November 2011, with Lima scoring a second-round KO in that fight as well, to win Season Five’s Welterweight Tournament. Last night’s stoppage, however, was twice as ugly. Check out the video above to see what we mean.
Bellator 100 also featured the quarterfinals of the Season Nine Welterweight Tournament (confused yet?), with War Machine and Vaughn Anderson engaging in a ground war for two rounds before the troubled TUF veteran finished it with a rear naked choke.
War Machine took Anderson down early in the first but was swept. From there, WM attempted a couple triangle choke attempts that were shrugged off by Anderson. The round ended with WM back on his feet. In the second round, WM again took Anderson down, securing a crucifix position and landing strikes.
Anderson escaped that hold only to give up his back. WM got hold of his neck, sunk in a rear naked choke and forced Anderson unconscious, at which point the referee stepped in and called a halt to the fight. War Machine is now 2-0 since his last jail stint, and advances to the Season Nine Welterweight Semi-Finals on October 18th.
Full card results and more fight videos after the jump!
(Douglas Lima vs. Ben Saunders. KO at 11:04)
Friday night’s Bellator 100 card main event saw Douglas Lima earn another welterweight title shot with a second round-knockout of Ben Saunders in Bellator’s Season 8 Welterweight Tournament Final. In the first round, both men went hard on the feet with Saunders also seeking unsuccessfully to take the fight to the ground.
In the second stanza, Lima found his range and began to take it to Saunders, dropping him to the mat with a right hand. Saunders was cut badly by the shot but survived until the final thirty seconds of the round when Lima connected with a right kick to the head that put the “Killa B” out for good.
Deja vu alert: Lima and Saunders had previously squared off at Bellator 57 back in November 2011, with Lima scoring a second-round KO in that fight as well, to win Season Five’s Welterweight Tournament. Last night’s stoppage, however, was twice as ugly. Check out the video above to see what we mean.
Bellator 100 also featured the quarterfinals of the Season Nine Welterweight Tournament (confused yet?), with War Machine and Vaughn Anderson engaging in a ground war for two rounds before the troubled TUF veteran finished it with a rear naked choke.
War Machine took Anderson down early in the first but was swept. From there, WM attempted a couple triangle choke attempts that were shrugged off by Anderson. The round ended with WM back on his feet. In the second round, WM again took Anderson down, securing a crucifix position and landing strikes.
Anderson escaped that hold only to give up his back. WM got hold of his neck, sunk in a rear naked choke and forced Anderson unconscious, at which point the referee stepped in and called a halt to the fight. War Machine is now 2-0 since his last jail stint, and advances to the Season Nine Welterweight Semi-Finals on October 18th.
Full card results and more fight videos after the jump!
Douglas Lima knocks Ben Saunders out in the First Round of their Season Eight Welterweight Tournament final.
War Machine earns a technical submission win in the Second Round over Vaughn Anderson with a rear naked choke in this season’s welterweight tournament opening round.
Rick Hawn wins a unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) over Herman Terrado via unanimous decision in their welterweight tournament bout.
Ron Keslar defeats Sergio Junior via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) in another welterweight tournament opening round fight.
Brent Weedman beats Justin Baesman via with an arm bar submission in the first round of their welterweight tournament contest.
Prelim Results:
Efrain Escudero beats Zack Surdyka via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
Travis Marx defeats Brandon Bender via TKO due to strikes in Round Two in their bantamweight tournament semifinal.
LaRue Burley gets a Third Round TKO stoppage over Bubba Jenkins.
Clifford Starks defeats Joe Yager via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27).
Liam McGeary beats Beau Tribolet with a First Round knockout due to a punch.
Siala-Mou Siliga defeats Dan Charles with a Third round TKO from punches.
Adam McDonough beats Johnny Buck with a First Round TKO due to strikes.
When you’re watching a Bellator event, you can only hope that a memorable finish or two will make up for the general lack of star power compared to those other guys. And oh man, did last night’s Bellator 90 event in West Valley City, Utah, deliver the goods, with all four fights on the Spike TV main card ending within the first two rounds, and three more stoppages featured on the prelims.
Season 8 Welterweight Semi-Finals: Ben Saunders faced Raul Amaya for the second time in his Bellator stint, and while Killa B completely dominated their first meeting en route to a unanimous decision win, he didn’t even let Amaya out of the first round this time. Amaya was aggressive from the opening bell, but wasn’t able to find his range against the lanky Saunders, who landed counter-punches and body-kicks at will, before putting Amaya’s lights out with a left high kick. (GIF here, via ZombieProphet/BloodyElbow)
The fight on the other side of the 170-bracket was just as quick and one-sided. Douglas Lima didn’t give Bryan Baker a chance to get in the fight, abusing Baker’s legs with low kicks for a couple minutes, then firing a devastating right hand that crumpled “The Beast” to the mat. Lima will now face Saunders in the Season 8 Welterweight Tournament Final at Bellator 93, in a rematch of their Season 5 Welterweight Tournament Final in November 2011, which Lima won by knockout.
When you’re watching a Bellator event, you can only hope that a memorable finish or two will make up for the general lack of star power compared to those other guys. And oh man, did last night’s Bellator 90 event in West Valley City, Utah, deliver the goods, with all four fights on the Spike TV main card ending within the first two rounds, and three more stoppages featured on the prelims.
Season 8 Welterweight Semi-Finals: Ben Saunders faced Raul Amaya for the second time in his Bellator stint, and while Killa B completely dominated their first meeting en route to a unanimous decision win, he didn’t even let Amaya out of the first round this time. Amaya was aggressive from the opening bell, but wasn’t able to find his range against the lanky Saunders, who landed counter-punches and body-kicks at will, before putting Amaya’s lights out with a left high kick. (GIF here, via ZombieProphet/BloodyElbow)
The fight on the other side of the 170-bracket was just as quick and one-sided. Douglas Lima didn’t give Bryan Baker a chance to get in the fight, abusing Baker’s legs with low kicks for a couple minutes, then firing a devastating right hand that crumpled “The Beast” to the mat. Lima will now face Saunders in the Season 8 Welterweight Tournament Final at Bellator 93, in a rematch of their Season 5 Welterweight Tournament Final in November 2011, which Lima won by knockout.
Season 8 Light-Heavyweight Semi-Finals: The Spike card led off with a 205-pound match between Mikhail Zayats and Jacob Noe, who you may remember as the guys who beat Renato Sobral and Seth Petruzelli at Bellator 85. Zayats took control from the very beginning, flooring Noe with a right hand and establishing top position on the mat. After some ground-and-pound, Zayats established mount and methodically set up an armbar, cranking it for the tap.
You’d think that Zayats would now be set up for high-profile meeting with Muhammad Lawal in the tournament finals, but Emanuel Newton went and screwed those plans up later in the evening. Unlike Przemyslaw “The Inanimate Object” Mysiala, Newton wasn’t afraid to stand toe-to-toe with Mo; Lawal’s shots might have been cleaner during their striking exchanges, but Newton was getting his licks in and making it a battle. But that battle didn’t last long. Halfway through the opening round, Newton whiffed so hard on an overhand right that he found himself with his back turned to Mo. So he figured, hey, why not throw a completely-blind spinning backfist? And because the MMA Gods have a sadistic sense of humor when it comes to fight promotions putting all their eggs into a single fighter’s basket, that spinning backfist landed across Lawal’s jaw, sending the King into a slow-motion tailspin. And so, it’ll be Newton vs. Zayats for all the marbles. How do you like that.
Season 7 Featherweight Tournament Final: The fight between Rad Martinez and Shahbulat Shamhalaev was originally supposed to go down in December, but Shamhalaev had to bow out at the last minute due to food poisoning. Shamhalaev was in fine form last night, punching Martinez to the mat in the first round, and nailing him with leg kicks. Martinez’s best moment came as he scored a takedown to stifle Shamhalaev’s momentum near the end of the round. Once the fighters were re-started for round two, it was all Shamhalaev, who dinged Martinez with unanswered power punches that staggered the Utah native, then smashed him with an overhand right that effectively ended the match — GIF here, via ZombieProphet/BloodyElbow — punching his ticket to a future title shot against Pat Curran.
Full Bellator 90 results are below.
Main Card
– Shahbulat Shamhalaev def. Rad Martinez via KO, 2:12 of round 2 *
– Emanuel Newton def. Muhammed Lawal via KO (spinning backfist), 2:35 of round 1 **
– Douglas Lima def. Bryan Baker via KO, 2:34 of round 1 ***
– Mikhail Zayats def. Jacob Noe via submission (armbar), 3:38 of round 1 **
Preliminary Card
– Ben Saunders def. Raul Amaya via KO (head kick), 2:56 of round 1 ***
– Travis Marx def. Chase Beebe via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
– Jesse Juarez def. Jordan Smith via split-decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
– Sean Powers def. David Allred via submission (rear-naked choke), 2:10 of round 3
– Lionel Lanham def. Joe Rodriguez via KO, 0:49 of round 1
* Season 7 Featherweight Tournament Final
** Season 8 Light-Heavyweight Tournament Semi-Final
*** Season 8 Welterweight Tournament Semi-Final
(Sorry Ben, I don’t think we can count those as “significant strikes.” GIF via ZombieProphet/BloodyElbow)
For the first time since his controversial technical submission of Ryan Thomas during his Bellator debut three years ago, Ben Askren has finished an opponent. Sure, it was one of those sort-of-assisted finishes where the doctor steps in between rounds to wave the fight off, but let’s not take anything anything away from Funky Ben, here: The undefeated Bellator welterweight champion smashed the living dog-poop out of Karl Amoussou for three full rounds last night, and might have permanently injured him had the fight gone on any longer.
It was a prototypical performance from Askren, who spent most of the fight on top of Amoussou, throwing down punches and elbows. Still, there seemed to be a greater sense of urgency from the champ in this fight, a little more intention with his strikes. He slashed open a cut above Amoussou’s eye with an elbow in the first round, and by the end of round three, Amoussou’s left eye was swollen shut and his face was a wet canvas of blood. The fight was mercifully stopped before the fourth round could begin, giving Askren a well-deserved TKO victory.
“I told you guys that it was just a matter of time before my hands got some power in them,” Askren said after the fight. “I dominate positionally, and my hands [have] power too. Welterweights anywhere in the world better watch out, I’m coming.” Askren’s next challenge will likely be the winner of this season’s welterweight tournament, which produced four semifinalists last night…
(Sorry Ben, I don’t think we can count those as “significant strikes.” GIF via ZombieProphet/BloodyElbow)
For the first time since his controversial technical submission of Ryan Thomas during his Bellator debut three years ago, Ben Askren has finished an opponent. Sure, it was one of those sort-of-assisted finishes where the doctor steps in between rounds to wave the fight off, but let’s not take anything anything away from Funky Ben, here: The undefeated Bellator welterweight champion smashed the living dog-poop out of Karl Amoussou for three full rounds last night, and might have permanently injured him had the fight gone on any longer.
It was a prototypical performance from Askren, who spent most of the fight on top of Amoussou, throwing down punches and elbows. Still, there seemed to be a greater sense of urgency from the champ in this fight, a little more intention with his strikes. He slashed open a cut above Amoussou’s eye with an elbow in the first round, and by the end of round three, Amoussou’s left eye was swollen shut and his face was a wet canvas of blood. The fight was mercifully stopped before the fourth round could begin, giving Askren a well-deserved TKO victory.
“I told you guys that it was just a matter of time before my hands got some power in them,” Askren said after the fight. “I dominate positionally, and my hands [have] power too. Welterweights anywhere in the world better watch out, I’m coming.” Askren’s next challenge will likely be the winner of this season’s welterweight tournament, which produced four semifinalists last night…
Douglas Lima used a series of savage leg kicks to chop down Michail “The Lonely Wolf” Tsarev, forcing a stoppage in the second round. Though Lima looks like a favorite to win the welterweight bracket — again — he’s already suffered a loss to Ben Askren, during their title fight last year. Also on the main card, Ben Saunders out-grappled, out-struck, and out-classed Bellator newcomer Koffi Adzitso, winning all three rounds on the judges scorecards.
Two other welterweight tournament bouts were relegated to the prelims: Raul Amaya scored a first-round TKO against Jose Gomes, while Marius Zaromskis continues to under-perform in the U.S., losing a unanimous decision to Brett Weedman. Zaromskis was docked a point in round three for a pair of blatantly illegal knees (not cool, bro). On the bright side, he added a couple more completely absurd somersault moves to his highlight reel:
Finally, the Mo’-ment we’d all been waiting for — DO YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE? DO YOU SEE IT?? — Muhammad Lawal‘s light-heavyweight quarterfinal bout against Przemyslaw “Don’t Bother Learning How to Pronounce This Name” Mysiala was even more lopsided than we thought it would be. Lawal’s training at the Mayweather gym was fully evident, as he lit up Mysiala with jabs thrown from Money May’s loved/loathed “Philly shell” stance. I can’t recall if Mysiala landed a single punch. It honestly looked like Mo was having a sparring session with an inanimate object.
After bloodying up the hapless Pole’s face with his precision striking, Lawal ended the match with a short counter-right that turned Mysiala’s brain off. After the fight, Lawal explained that his gameplan was to knock Mysiala out, and his strategy in the tournament is to knock everybody out. Alright…no need to complicate things, I guess. He’ll now face Emanuel Newton in the light-heavyweight tournament semi-finals.
Complete Bellator 86 Results
MAIN CARD
– Ben Askren def. Karl Amoussou via TKO (doctor stoppage), 5:00 of round 3
– Muhammed Lawal def. Przemyslaw Mysiala via KO, 3:52 of round 1
– Douglas Lima def. Michail Tsarev via TKO (leg kicks), 1:44 of round 2
– Ben Saunders def. Koffi Adzitso via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
PRELIMINARY CARD
– Hunter Tucker def. Javier Obregon via submission (guillotine choke), 3:17 of round 2
– Jason Sampson def. Chris Pham via submission (armbar), 4:55 of round 3
– Brent Weedman def. Marius Zaromskis via unanimous decision (29-27 x 3)
– Raul Amaya def. Jose Gomes via TKO, 3:12 of round 1
– Damon Jackson def. Zach Church via submission (rear-naked choke), 2:43 of round 2
– Cortez Coleman def. Matt Jones via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
A bout between Mike Maldonado and Jospeh Salas was cancelled due to time constraints
