Tag: richard hale

Christian M’Pumbu, Patricio Pitbull Win at Bellator 45

Filed under: BellatorThe fourth season of Bellator Fighting Championships came to an end on Saturday night, with the promotion’s first light heavyweight champion being crowned and a featherweight title rematch getting booked.

In the main event at Bell…

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The fourth season of Bellator Fighting Championships came to an end on Saturday night, with the promotion’s first light heavyweight champion being crowned and a featherweight title rematch getting booked.

In the main event at Bellator 45, Christian M’Pumbu won the light heavyweight championship by defeating Richard Hale by third-round TKO. M’Pumbu landed a huge right hand to knock Hale down, then landed several more punches on the ground as Hale tried to recover. Although Hale did a nice job of protecting himself at first, eventually M’Pumbu managed to get through Hale’s defense, land more punches, and force the referee to step in to stop the fight.

It was an impressive finish for M’Pumbu, improving his record to 18-3-1 and giving him his third consecutive TKO victory inside the Bellator cage.

Patricio “Pitbull” Freire took a unanimous decision victory over Daniel Straus to win the Season 4 featherweight tournament, effectively controlling the fight and winning 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 on the judges’ scorecards. The victory earns Pitbull a rematch with the only man who has defeated him Bellator featherweight champion Joe Warren, in what promises to be a great fight.

“I’m happy to give him a rematch and the second loss on his record,” Warren said immediately after the fight.

In the other televised fight, Sam Alvey came back from a brutal beating in the first round of his bout with Karl Amoussou to win a split decision. Early on Amoussou turned Alvey’s head into a bloody mess with a series of vicious elbows, and it looked like the fight might need to be stopped. But Alvey fought just well enough in the second and third rounds to eke out a victory, with two judges giving it to Alvey 29-28 and one judge giving it to Amoussou 29-28.

The fight card was the last of Bellator’s fourth season, and the promotion will now take a five-week hiatus before returning for its “Summer Series” on June 25. Whether Bellator can build on what it’s done this year and build up some more fan interest over the summer remains to be seen, but Bellator is wrapping up an impressive fourth season.

 

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Bellator 45 Predictions

Filed under: BellatorBellator Fighting Championships closes out its fourth season on Saturday night in Lake Charles, Louisiana, with Bellator 45, featuring the finals of the promotion’s Season 4 featherweight and light heavyweight tournaments, as well …

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Bellator Fighting Championships closes out its fourth season on Saturday night in Lake Charles, Louisiana, with Bellator 45, featuring the finals of the promotion’s Season 4 featherweight and light heavyweight tournaments, as well as a couple of undercard bouts featuring talented fighters making their Bellator debuts.

What: Bellator 45

Where: L’Auberge du Lac Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana

When: Saturday, the MTV2 televised card begins at 9 PM ET.

Predictions on the three televised fights below.

Patricio “Pitbull” Freire vs. Daniel Straus
In the featherweight final, Pitbull will try to avoid doing what his brother Patricky “Pitbull” Freire did in last week’s lightweight final: Get overpowered by an American wrestler. Straus is on a 12-fight winning streak and could pull off a surprise, but I like Pitbull to win the featherweight tournament and earn a rematch with Bellator featherweight champion Joe Warren, who beat Pitbull by split decision last year.
Pick: Pitbull

Richard Hale vs. Christian M’Pumbu
Hale got a lot of attention for using an inverted triangle choke to win his first tournament fight, while M’Pumbu has produced a couple of impressive TKO victories in his two tournament bouts. The winner of this one becomes Bellator’s first light heavyweight champion, and I’m going with Hale in what should be a close, competitive decision.
Pick: Hale

Karl Amoussou vs. Sam Alvey
After struggling through a rough 2010 in which he went 0-1-1, Amoussou bounced back with a victory at home in France last month, and I’m excited about seeing him back in North America with Bellator. Amoussou is an exciting, aggressive fighter, and although Alvey is a good striker who’s 14-2 in his MMA career, I like Amoussou to win by TKO.
Pick: Amoussou

 

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The MMA Hour With Almeida, Cote, Miletich, ‘Mayhem,’ Riggs, Hale

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, BellatorThe MMA Hour returns on Monday with another two-hour live show. Here’s who will be stopping by:

* Ricardo Almeida will be in studio to discuss his recent retirement from MMA.

* Patrick Cote will talk abou…

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The MMA Hour returns on Monday with another two-hour live show. Here’s who will be stopping by:

* Ricardo Almeida will be in studio to discuss his recent retirement from MMA.

* Patrick Cote will talk about life after the UFC and Saturday night’s fight against Kalib Starnes at Ringisde MMA 10.

* Strikeforce color analyst Pat Miletich will discuss Strikeforce Challengers 15 and the future of the organization.

* Jason “Mayhem” Miller will update us on what’s next for him.

* MMA fighter turned WWE Tough Enough contestant Jeremiah Riggs will talk about why he went from mixed martial arts to pro wrestling.

* Bellator light heavyweight Richard Hale will discuss the amazing inverted triangle he pulled off last week against Nik Fete.

And of course, we’ll be taking your calls. Give us a shout at: 212-254-0193 or 212-254-0237.

Watch the show live below beginning at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. Download previous episodes of The MMA Hour on iTunes: audio feed here; video feed here.

Richard Hale Learned Inverted Triangle Choke Night Before Bellator Fight

Filed under: Bellator

Bellator light heavyweight Richard Hale is a quick learner. When Hale submitted his opponent Nik Fekete with an inverted triangle choke a week ago at Bellator 38, it was a move he had learned of just the night before.

Hale’s inv…

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Bellator light heavyweight Richard Hale is a quick learner. When Hale submitted his opponent Nik Fekete with an inverted triangle choke a week ago at Bellator 38, it was a move he had learned of just the night before.

Hale’s inverted triangle was the second seen in Bellator. The first, performed by Toby Imada on the fifth Bellator card in 2009, is arguably the most talked-about moment in the promotion’s history.

“It was just fresh in my mind,” Hale said Monday on The MMA Hour. “What Bellator does is they play their highlight clips for best 10 knockouts, 10 best submissions, whatever at the weigh-ins that night before and so we were just watching that, me and my boxing coach were just like, “Wow, that was real smooth! Very clean move, nice technique, everything else and it was a great way to end the fight.”

Cole Konrad to Face Paul Buentello at Bellator 42

Filed under: Bellator, NewsBellator heavyweight champion Cole Konrad has been booked to face UFC and Strikeforce veteran Paul Buentello in a non-title “superfight” scheduled for Bellator 42 on April 23 in Concho, Okla.

Konrad, who made his MMA debut i…

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Bellator heavyweight champion Cole Konrad has been booked to face UFC and Strikeforce veteran Paul Buentello in a non-title “superfight” scheduled for Bellator 42 on April 23 in Concho, Okla.

Konrad, who made his MMA debut in 2010 and finished the year with a perfect record of 7-0, ran through Rogent Lloret, Damian Grabowski and Neil Grove during last season’s Bellator tournament to win the heavyweight belt. At 27 years of age, Konrad remains a prospect in MMA off his accomplishments as a two-time NCAA wrestling champion with the University of Minnesota.

Hale Wins by Inverted Triangle, Bellator Light Heavyweights Advance

Filed under: Bellator, News

In 2009, Toby Imada put Bellator Fighting Championships on the map by defeating Jorge Masvidal with an incredible inverted triangle choke submission, a highlight that became a viral video and was widely regarded as the best…

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In 2009, Toby Imada put Bellator Fighting Championships on the map by defeating Jorge Masvidal with an incredible inverted triangle choke submission, a highlight that became a viral video and was widely regarded as the best submission of the year in mixed martial arts.

Now lightning has struck twice for Bellator.

On Saturday night’s Bellator card, Richard Hale used the same move — the inverted triangle — to choke Nik Fekete into unconsciousness. It was a sensational highlight, and exactly the kind of thing Bellator needs to attract attention on its new television home, MTV2.