UFC on FOX 11 Fight Video Highlights: Werdum vs. Browne, Cerrone vs. Barboza + More

(Fabricio Werdum vs. Travis Browne highlights. All vids via YouTube.com/FOXSports)

(Donald Cerrone vs. Edson Barboza highlights)

In case you missed it on Saturday night, here are some video highlights from the UFC on FOX 11 main card, featuring Fabricio Werdum’s unexpected standup-thrashing of Travis Browne, and Donald Cerrone’s comeback submission victory over Edson Barboza. A couple of important notes…

– Cerrone picked up a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for his win over Barboza; Cowboy has now bonus’d in three consecutive fights. All the other UFC on FOX 11 bonuses went to prelim fighters. Thiago Alves and Seth Baczynski won Fight of the Night for their three-rounder which Alves won by unanimous decision, and Performance of the Night #2 went to UFC newcomer Alex White — who was previously involved in the ugliest late-stoppage in MMA history — for his first-round TKO of Estevan Payan.

– At the post-event press conference, Dana White mentioned that Travis Browne suffered a broken hand and possibly broken rib during his fight against Werdum, and Browne’s wrestling coach Ricky Lundell released an x-ray of Hapa’s broken hand after the fight. For some reason, the official UFC on FOX 11 medical suspensions list mentions a broken nose for Browne but not a broken hand. Whatever. The point is, he got pretty messed up.

After the jump: Highlights from Miesha Tate vs. Liz Carmouche and Yoel Romero vs. Brad Tavares. Plus, Dana White (mostly) praises Werdum’s performance in the main event while burying Browne for gassing out early, and Shaquille O’Neal eats a napkin for some reason.


(Fabricio Werdum vs. Travis Browne highlights. All vids via YouTube.com/FOXSports)


(Donald Cerrone vs. Edson Barboza highlights)

In case you missed it on Saturday night, here are some video highlights from the UFC on FOX 11 main card, featuring Fabricio Werdum’s unexpected standup-thrashing of Travis Browne, and Donald Cerrone’s comeback submission victory over Edson Barboza. A couple of important notes…

– Cerrone picked up a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for his win over Barboza; Cowboy has now bonus’d in three consecutive fights. All the other UFC on FOX 11 bonuses went to prelim fighters. Thiago Alves and Seth Baczynski won Fight of the Night for their three-rounder which Alves won by unanimous decision, and Performance of the Night #2 went to UFC newcomer Alex White — who was previously involved in the ugliest late-stoppage in MMA history — for his first-round TKO of Estevan Payan.

– At the post-event press conference, Dana White mentioned that Travis Browne suffered a broken hand and possibly broken rib during his fight against Werdum, and Browne’s wrestling coach Ricky Lundell released an x-ray of Hapa’s broken hand after the fight. For some reason, the official UFC on FOX 11 medical suspensions list mentions a broken nose for Browne but not a broken hand. Whatever. The point is, he got pretty messed up.

After the jump: Highlights from Miesha Tate vs. Liz Carmouche and Yoel Romero vs. Brad Tavares. Plus, Dana White (mostly) praises Werdum’s performance in the main event while burying Browne for gassing out early, and Shaquille O’Neal eats a napkin for some reason.

Bellator 117 Results: Lima Batters Hawn’s Leg to Become Bellator Welterweight Champion

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:

Patricky “Pitbull” Freire vs. Derek Campos

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:

Patricky “Pitbull” Freire vs. Derek Campos

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.

Karl Amoussou vs. David Gomez

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.

Marcin Held vs. Derek Anderson

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.

Douglas Lima vs. Rick Hawn

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

So Here’s That Absolutely Brutal KO From Last Night’s TUF 19 Premiere [VIDEO]

After sitting through a TUF Finale card that felt longer than Moses’ trek across the desert, I can’t imagine that many of you stuck around to catch the premiere episode of a TUF season headlined by the most nonsensical coaching matchup since Jones vs. Sonnen. You would have missed some stellar action if you had checked out early, however, as last night’s premiere episode of The Ultimate Fighter 19 featured some thrilling wars and even more spectacular knockouts. Knockouts like the one above, which went down in a light heavyweight contest between Daniel Spohn and Tyler King.

In the first fight of the night, Spohn started things off with a body kick that sounded worse than it probably was, prompting King to rush in with his hands down, arms out, and chin up (Marcus Jones style!). Remaining calm, Spohn managed to evade King’s mummy-esque attack, then proceeded to truly mummify him with a blistering right hook. As if the punch that shut King’s lights off wasn’t bad enough, his momentum sent him crashing head first into the mat with a sickening thud. Why Spohn felt the need to add an additional pair of punches to his clearly unconscious opponent is beyond me, but hey, sometimes these things happen in MMA.

The fight’s aftermath was a harrowing moment to say the least, made all the more difficult to watch after we were informed that King’s mother was in the audience. But it’s like Penn said, “This is a rough sport…and maybe sometimes you shouldn’t bring your mom.” Unless you’re Manny Pacquiao, of course.

After the jump: An equally brutal almost-kneebar from the war that was Mike King vs. Nordine Taleb.

After sitting through a TUF Finale card that felt longer than Moses’ trek across the desert, I can’t imagine that many of you stuck around to catch the premiere episode of a TUF season headlined by the most nonsensical coaching matchup since Jones vs. Sonnen. You would have missed some stellar action if you had checked out early, however, as last night’s premiere episode of The Ultimate Fighter 19 featured some thrilling wars and even more spectacular knockouts. Knockouts like the one above, which went down in a light heavyweight contest between Daniel Spohn and Tyler King.

In the first fight of the night, Spohn started things off with a body kick that sounded worse than it probably was, prompting King to rush in with his hands down, arms out, and chin up (Marcus Jones style!). Remaining calm, Spohn managed to evade King’s mummy-esque attack, then proceeded to truly mummify him with a blistering right hook. As if the punch that shut King’s lights off wasn’t bad enough, his momentum sent him crashing head first into the mat with a sickening thud. Why Spohn felt the need to add an additional pair of punches to his clearly unconscious opponent is beyond me, but hey, sometimes these things happen in MMA.

The fight’s aftermath was a harrowing moment to say the least, made all the more difficult to watch after we were informed that King’s mother was in the audience. But it’s like Penn said, “This is a rough sport…and maybe sometimes you shouldn’t bring your mom.” Unless you’re Manny Pacquiao, of course.

After the jump: An equally brutal almost-kneebar from the war that was Mike King vs. Nordine Taleb.

I don’t mean to speak in hyperbole, but the middleweight battle between Mike King and Nordine Taleb* (which served as the final fight of the episode) might have been the greatest elimination fight in the history of the The Ultimate Fighter. It had everything; knockdowns from both sides, some great grappling exchanges, and an amazing amount of heart on display. Although King appeared to be down and out at the start of the decisive third round, he managed to grit out a tough win and nearly pulled off this absolutely insane kneebar in doing so:

If that isn’t one of the greatest MMA reaction gifs of all time, I’ll eat my hat.

So yeah, this season of The Ultimate Fighter is off to a promising start. Maybe get excited for it? I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore. Anyways, your TUF 19 teams are as follows:

Team Edgar
Cory Anderson
Patrick Walsh
Matt Van Buren
Todd Monaghan
Ian Stephens
Dhiego Lima
Eddie Gorman
Hector Urbina

Team Penn
Anton Berzin
Josh Clarke
Daniel Spohn
Chris Fields
Mike King
Tim Williams
Cathal Pendred
Roger Zapata

*By the way, if Taleb looked familiar, it’s because he had just picked up a win over Vik Grujic at the TUF Nations Finale. 

J. Jones

VIDEO: Highlights From Tim Kennedy’s Win Over Michael Bisping at the TUF Nations Finale

(Props: FOX Sports. As usual, feel free to mute the audio so you don’t have to listen to those dipshits.)

Tim Kennedy may have been bummed out that he didn’t get a finish against Michael Bisping last night at the TUF Nations Finale, but his unanimous decision victory officially launches him into the UFC’s middleweight title contender picture. Aside from a rather bizarre second round, where Kennedy was content to back up against the fence and get punched in the face, the American vet controlled Bisping with takedowns — securing full mount on several occasions — and even out-boxed Bisping as the fight wore on. The judges turned in scores of 49-46 x 2, and 50-45 from one judge who was either in the bathroom or asleep during round two.

You can watch highlights from the fight above, and check out full results from the event right here. Some other notes from the event…

– The Fight of the Night award went to the entertaining scrap between Dustin Poirier and Akira Corassani, which Poirier won via TKO early into round two. The two Performance of the Night bonuses went to Ryan Jimmo and KJ Noons, who both turned in savage first-round knockouts during the FOX Sports 1 Prelims. (Watch Jimmo’s here and Noons’s here.) All four fighters received $50,000.


(Props: FOX Sports. As usual, feel free to mute the audio so you don’t have to listen to those dipshits.)

Tim Kennedy may have been bummed out that he didn’t get a finish against Michael Bisping last night at the TUF Nations Finale, but his unanimous decision victory officially launches him into the UFC’s middleweight title contender picture. Aside from a rather bizarre second round, where Kennedy was content to back up against the fence and get punched in the face, the American vet controlled Bisping with takedowns — securing full mount on several occasions — and even out-boxed Bisping as the fight wore on. The judges turned in scores of 49-46 x 2, and 50-45 from one judge who was either in the bathroom or asleep during round two.

You can watch highlights from the fight above, and check out full results from the event right here. Some other notes from the event…

– The Fight of the Night award went to the entertaining scrap between Dustin Poirier and Akira Corassani, which Poirier won via TKO early into round two. The two Performance of the Night bonuses went to Ryan Jimmo and KJ Noons, who both turned in savage first-round knockouts during the FOX Sports 1 Prelims. (Watch Jimmo’s here and Noons’s here.) All four fighters received $50,000.

Kennedy wants to fight Mark Munoz next, if Munoz beats Gegard Mousasi in Berlin on May 31st, and he thinks he might have broken his hand in round one: “I’ll get an x-ray tomorrow. I kind of had to stop being a p*ssy in the second round, like, ah, my right hand really hurts… screw it, I’ll just hit him with it. So the second round was me just not being a p*ssy and just getting my sh*t together and starting hitting him again. We’ll find out tomorrow.”

– If you watched the broadcast last night, you may have noticed how empty the Colisée Pepsi looked. There was a report circulating on twitter saying the attendance in the building was just 1,200. Following the event, Dana White said the attendance was 5,029, which seems impossible, but there you go. The complete post-fight press conference is below.

Also, this:

VIDEO: Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen’s Hilarious and Awful TUF Brawl, In Its Entirety

The infamous “brawl” episode of TUF Brazil 3 finally aired yesterday, giving us a complete picture of what led up to Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen tussling on the gym floor, and it’s honestly one of the funniest moments in TUF history. Silva instigates the situation by punching his palm and repeating the word “soon!” at Sonnen, like a schoolyard bully from a Disney movie. He spits at Sonnen’s feet, and I hate to make insulting comparisons here, but it’s the kind of thing that a llama or ape would do.

Chael remains as a cucumber, though: “How do you feel when you say crazy things like that to me, when I’ve been challenging you for years. You ever feel weird about that?”

At the 0:40 mark, I kid you not, Wanderlei says that Sonnen is going to have a daymare. Goodness, the English language offers so many possibilities for clever turns of phrase. But the best part is when Chael tries to grill Wandy on when exactly they’re going to fight. Of course, Wandy doesn’t have a clear answer for that. Then, Silva does some kind of slapping thing in front of Chael’s face, and the next time Silva closes distance on him, it’s on. Before you know it, Sonnen is on top of Silva, and Andre “Dida” Amade — who is an assistant coach on the show, not a competitor — is slugging Sonnen in the back of the head and ripping his jersey.

And that’s when this whole incident goes from comedy to tragedy. Sonnen called Dida’s behavior “straight-up illegal”, and he might have a point there. Just because you’re sucker-punched on a reality show doesn’t mean that normal assault rules don’t apply. Right? I have no idea, actually; I’ve never been on a Brazilian reality show. But I hear good things.

A few more important notes about this episode, via Wikipedia:

The infamous “brawl” episode of TUF Brazil 3 finally aired yesterday, giving us a complete picture of what led up to Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen tussling on the gym floor, and it’s honestly one of the funniest moments in TUF history. Silva instigates the situation by punching his palm and repeating the word “soon!” at Sonnen, like a schoolyard bully from a Disney movie. He spits at Sonnen’s feet, and I hate to make insulting comparisons here, but it’s the kind of thing that a llama or ape would do.

Chael remains as a cucumber, though: “How do you feel when you say crazy things like that to me, when I’ve been challenging you for years. You ever feel weird about that?”

At the 0:40 mark, I kid you not, Wanderlei says that Sonnen is going to have a daymare. Goodness, the English language offers so many possibilities for clever turns of phrase. But the best part is when Chael tries to grill Wandy on when exactly they’re going to fight. Of course, Wandy doesn’t have a clear answer for that. Then, Silva does some kind of slapping thing in front of Chael’s face, and the next time Silva closes distance on him, it’s on. Before you know it, Sonnen is on top of Silva, and Andre “Dida” Amade — who is an assistant coach on the show, not a competitor — is slugging Sonnen in the back of the head and ripping his jersey.

And that’s when this whole incident goes from comedy to tragedy. Sonnen called Dida’s behavior “straight-up illegal”, and he might have a point there. Just because you’re sucker-punched on a reality show doesn’t mean that normal assault rules don’t apply. Right? I have no idea, actually; I’ve never been on a Brazilian reality show. But I hear good things.

A few more important notes about this episode, via Wikipedia:

– “The next heavyweight fight is supposed to be announced by Wanderlei, but he’s nowhere to be found. He finally arrives and the fight is revealed: Richardson Moreira vs. Job Kleber. Sonnen argues about Wanderlei’s excuses to be late and even mentions that he smells alcohol from his opponent.”

“Both teams participate in a challenge to write TUF: Brasil using a strings-based device that requires them to work together so the words are correctly written and approved by a professor. Team Sonnen finally ends their overall losing streak and Hortência announces that their team will participate in a pajamas party at the house while their opponents will be locked in a room as the party goes on.” [Ed. note: So, one team gets an all-dude pajama party, while the other has to play seven minutes in heaven?]

– “Gabrielle Garcia, a multi-time BJJ world champion, participates as a guest coach in Team Wanderlei’s training session.” [Ed. note: Obviously, this was filmed before her Clomiphene bust.]

– “…André Amade punches [Sonnen] in the back of the head and later brags about punching him and ripping his shirt off. Vinny Magalhães tells [Sonnen] that Amade was punching him, something that he didn’t notice. The entire team is perplexed with Amade’s attitude.”

Bellator 116 Results: Ivanov Submits Johnson, Volkov Scores KO of the Year Candidate [GIF]

There were no title fights at Bellator 116, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t worth watching. The heavyweight tournament semifinals took place on the card, as well as a single welterweight tournament semifinal.

How was it? Read the recap and find out!

Alexander Volkov vs. Mighty Mo

Mighty Mo shot for a single leg right out of the gate. Mo couldn’t get Volkov down, but managed to keep him pressed against the cage for the first half of the round. Volkov landed a knee to the body in the clinch, which caused Mo to back off. Then, Volkov hit a tremendous round kick to Mo’s face and knocked him out cold. He hit Mo so hard that the shockwaves made Mo’s belly fat jiggle. Easily one of the best head kick knockouts of the year so far, if not ever. Holy crap. Here’s a GIF (via @ZProphet_MMA)

Volkov, Bellator’s former heavyweight champ, will now be going to the season 10 tournament finals.

Read on to see a GIF of the most amazing, pro-wrestling inspired guillotine choke escape we’ve ever seen.

There were no title fights at Bellator 116, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t worth watching. The heavyweight tournament semifinals took place on the card, as well as a single welterweight tournament semifinal.

How was it? Read the recap and find out!

Alexander Volkov vs. Mighty Mo

Mighty Mo shot for a single leg right out of the gate. Mo couldn’t get Volkov down, but managed to keep him pressed against the cage for the first half of the round. Volkov landed a knee to the body in the clinch, which caused Mo to back off. Then, Volkov hit a tremendous round kick to Mo’s face and knocked him out cold. He hit Mo so hard that the shockwaves made Mo’s belly fat jiggle. Easily one of the best head kick knockouts of the year so far, if not ever. Holy crap. Here’s a GIF (via @ZProphet_MMA)

Volkov, Bellator’s former heavyweight champ, will now be going to the season 10 tournament finals.

Nathan Coy vs. Adam McDonough

Coy controlled almost the entire first round via lay and pray. Eventually, McDonough managed to escape Coy’s clutches. With about a minute left, he managed to hurt Coy with an uppercut–badly. Coy was faceplanted on the mat and taking loads of punches, but the ref let it go on. Coy managed to recover and take McDonough down again by the round’s end.

The second round didn’t last long. Perhaps Coy wasn’t so composed after all. McDonough landed a hook that sent Coy to the floor. After that one punch, the fight was stopped.

Adam McDonough will be meeting the winner of Andrey Koreshkov vs. Sam Oropeza (which will take place later in the season) in the welterweight tournament finals.

Joey Beltran vs. Vladimir Matyushenko

After an eternity, Matyushenko vs. Beltran started (seriously it felt like an hour of shitty commercials). The first round lacked action. Both men snapped jabs. Both reached with looping hooks and, for the most part, missed by miles. Eventually (and thankfully), the feeling out process sorted itself out, and the fighters engaged with a little more zest. Neither landed anything significant, but it was more fun to watch. The rest of the first round played out like this. Each guy threw big punches but didn’t land too many.

Matyushenko hit Beltran with a stiff jab and an uppercut to start the round. The two started to get more aggressive in round two. There was close to zero technique, but at least it wasn’t a staring contest. Matyushenko backed up Beltran with a flurry and landed a few punches. Beltran countered with his own. Eventually, they started just swinging at random. They might as well have had their eyes closed, to be honest. Matyushenko shot for a takedown from 30 light years away and Beltran stuffed it with zero effort. Beltran and Matyushenko both started breathing heavy as the round ended, making their punches super-labored and slow. The fight got less fun to watch as the seconds passed.

Round 3 was much of the same, but Beltran decided to work the body instead of constantly throwing at (and missing) Matyushenko’s head. Matyushenko shot in, but Beltran reversed him. In the scramble, Beltran wound up on top in side control. He transitioned to north-south and sunk in a north-south choke, earning the submission win. Vladimir Matyushenko’s last fight ends in defeat. And Beltran will meet Alexander Volkov in the heavyweight tournament finals.

Lavar Johnson vs. Blagoi Ivanov

Ivanov attempted to rush Johnson and ate an uppercut. Still, he managed to successfully clinch Johnson and keep him against the cage. It didn’t take long for him to hit a single leg and drag Johnson to the floor. Ivanov dropped for a leg lock but botched it. He wound up with Johnson on top of him, hitting him. However, Johnson’s lack of grappling enabled Ivanov to rise to his feet without harm, and then even put Johnson in a guillotine. To escape, Johnson body slammed Ivanov in what was the most awesome guillotine escape I’ve ever seen (it was the closest thing to a pro wrestling body slam you’ll see in MMA–here’s the GIF, again via Zombie Prophet). But Ivanov’s superior grappling skills allowed him to turn the tide. He got back to his feet after the slam, clinched Johnson, and landed a judo throw. A few moments later, he submitted Johnson with an effortless keylock.

Here are the complete results:

Main Card

Blagoi Ivanov def. Lavar Johnson via Submission (keylock), 4:08 of round 1
Joey Beltran def. Vladimir Matyushenko via Submission (north-south choke), 3:06 of round 3
Adam Mcdonough def. Nathan Coy via KO (punches), 0:30 of round 2
Alexander Volkov def. Mighty Mo via KO (head kick), 2:44 of round 1

Preliminary Card

Brandon Halsey def. Joe Pacheco via Unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Karo Parisyan def. Ron Keslar via KO (punches), 4:05 of round 2
Rob Emerson def. Joe Taimanglo via Unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Ricky Rainey def. Andy Murad via TKO (head kick and punches), 1:11 of round 1
Phelipe Lins def. Travis Clark via Submission (rear naked choke), 0:40 of round 1
Rodney Wallace def. Carlos Eduardo via Unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)

Not Aired
Featherweight Brandon Bender vs. Mario Navarro
Middleweight Dave Vitkay vs. Keith Berry