Prindle’s record stands at 9-1 with the aforementioned 1 no-contest, with three of those wins coming under the Bellator banner. In his promotional debut, Prindle scored a second round TKO due to doctor stoppage victory over Josh Burns at Bellator 40 in April of 2011, then cruised past TUF 10 vet Abe Wagner by UD the following October in their season five heavyweight tournament quarterfinal match. In the semi’s, Prindle demolished fellow power puncher Ron Sparks in just forty seconds at Bellator 56 via one punch knockout, earning his spot in the finals alongside Thiago Santos, who had racked up two straight rear-naked choke finishes in his preliminary matches.
Videos of both the Sparks and Santos fights, along with the full lineup for Bellator 61, are after the jump.
Prindle’s record stands at 9-1 with the aforementioned 1 no-contest, with three of those wins coming under the Bellator banner. In his promotional debut, Prindle scored a second round TKO due to doctor stoppage victory over Josh Burns at Bellator 40 in April of 2011, then cruised past TUF 10 vet Abe Wagner by UD the following October in their season five heavyweight tournament quarterfinal match. In the semi’s, Prindle demolished fellow power puncher Ron Sparks in just forty seconds at Bellator 56 via one punch knockout, earning his spot in the finals alongside Thiago Santos, who had racked up two straight rear-naked choke finishes in his preliminary matches.
Prindle vs. Sparks
Prindle vs. Santos
Bellator 61 Lineup Main Card
Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Maiquel Falcao vs. Norman Paraisy
Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Vitor Vianna vs. Brian Rogers
Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Vyacheslav Vasilevsky vs. Victor O’Donnell
Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Giva Santana vs. Bruno Santos
Preliminary Card (Spike.com)
Lightweight bout: Quaint Kempf vs. Josh Quayhagen
Middleweight bout: Trey Houston vs. Jeremiah Riggs
Welterweight bout: Derrick Krantz vs. Eric Scallan
Lightweight bout: Derek Campos vs. Patrick Cenoble
Bantamweight bout: Jeremy Myers vs. Jason Sampson
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.
Askren vs. Hieron, part one. All videos in this post via IronForgesIron.com
Bellator returned to action last night in Kansas City with action from the heavyweight tournament and a welterweight title fight between current champion Ben Askren and Season Four tournament winner Jay Hieron. Earlier this week, Ben Askren promised to “maul Jay Hieron”, as our more astute readers may remember. Well, that didn’t exactly happen. We’ll discuss that more in a minute.
The night kicked off with heavyweight tournament semifinals action. To say these fights delivered quick, exciting finishes puts it mildly- It’ll take some of you longer to read this sentence than it’ll take you to actually watch the fights. In the first matchup, Eric Prindle countered a leg kick from Ron Sparks with a brutal straight right forty seconds into their fight. Not to be outdone, Thiago Santos quickly dropped Bellator Season Three heavyweight tournament finalist Neil Grove and sunk in a rear naked choke. The total amount of time it took Santos to do this? Thirty eight seconds. Don’t blink when Eric Prindle meets Thiago Santos at Bellator 59.
Askren vs. Hieron, part one. All videos in this post via IronForgesIron.com
Bellator returned to action last night in Kansas City with action from the heavyweight tournament and a welterweight title fight between current champion Ben Askren and Season Four tournament winner Jay Hieron. Earlier this week, Ben Askren promised to “maul Jay Hieron”, as our more astute readers may remember. Well, that didn’t exactly happen. We’ll discuss that more in a minute.
The night kicked off with heavyweight tournament semifinals action. To say these fights delivered quick, exciting finishes puts it mildly- It’ll take some of you longer to read this sentence than it’ll take you to actually watch the fights. In the first matchup, Eric Prindle countered a leg kick from Ron Sparks with a brutal straight right forty seconds into their fight. Not to be outdone, Thiago Santos quickly dropped Bellator Season Three heavyweight tournament finalist Neil Grove and sunk in a rear naked choke. The total amount of time it took Santos to do this? Thirty eight seconds. Don’t blink when Eric Prindle meets Thiago Santos at Bellator 59.
Now, on to Askren vs. Hieron. The first round saw Jay Hieron stuff all of Ben Askren’s takedown attempts, but Askren managed to secure a takedown in the second round, keeping the challenger on his back for nearly the entire round. After the second round, takedowns for the champion were far more infrequent. By the fifth round, Hieron appeared confident that he would be crowned the new champion, as Askren was completely ineffective against him. However, the judges did not see it this way, as Ben Askren defeated Jay Hieron by split decision.
Askren vs. Hieron, part two.
So what do you guys think? Did Jay Hieron get robbed, or did Ben Askren do enough to win rounds one, two and four? Does this support the need for a new scoring system in MMA? Have at it in the comments section.
MAIN CARD (MTV2)
Ben Askren def. Jay Hieron via split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47)
Thiago Santos def. Neil Grove via submission (rear naked choke) Rd 1 (0:38)
Jeremy Spoon def. Adam Schindler via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Eric Prindle def. Ron Sparks via knockout (punch) Rd 1 (0:40)
PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com)
Marcio Navarro def. Rudy Bears via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Kelvin Tiller def. Dan Spohn via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
Emanuel Brooks def. Willian de Souza via unanimous decision (29-27, 30-26, 30-26)
Jacob Aiken def. Jeimeson Saudino via submission (rear naked choke) Rd 1 (3:26)
Aaron Ely def. Owen Evinger via submission (rear naked choke) Rd 1 (3:45)
When you’re fighting a guy nicknamed “The Arm Collector”, who has won twelve of his sixteen victories by armbar, you might spend extra time working on your takedown defense. And maybe resist the urge to stick your arms out during the fight. I emphasize “you”, because Darryl Cobb, the middleweight who fought Giva “The Arm Collector” Santana on the undercard of Bellator 53 last night in Miami, Oklahoma, did not have the same gameplan. Giva Santana is now 17-1 in his MMA career, his only loss a split-decision at the hands of Bellator veteran Jaime Jara.
In main card action, Ben Saunders picked up his fourth straight victory since being bounced from the UFC by submitting Luis Santos in the third round. Killa B showed off a much more well-rounded attack than what we’re accustomed to seeing from him, thoroughly out-grappling Santos for the entire fight. In other welterweight tournament action, Douglas Lima picked up a brutal second round knockout against Cleveland native Chris Lozano. Lima has now won eight straight fights, and will meet Ben Saunders at Bellator 56 on November 12 to determine the winner of the welterweight tournament.
When you’re fighting a guy nicknamed “The Arm Collector”, who has won twelve of his sixteen victories by armbar, you might spend extra time working on your takedown defense. And maybe resist the urge to stick your arms out during the fight. I emphasize “you”, because Darryl Cobb, the middleweight who fought Giva “The Arm Collector” Santana on the undercard of Bellator 53 last night in Miami, Oklahoma, did not have the same gameplan. Giva Santana is now 17-1 in his MMA career, his only loss a split-decision at the hands of Bellator veteran Jaime Jara.
In main card action, Ben Saunders picked up his fourth straight victory since being bounced from the UFC by submitting Luis Santos in the third round. Killa B showed off a much more well-rounded attack than what we’re accustomed to seeing from him, thoroughly out-grappling Santos for the entire fight. In other welterweight tournament action, Douglas Lima picked up a brutal second round knockout against Cleveland native Chris Lozano. Lima has now won eight straight fights, and will meet Ben Saunders at Bellator 56 on November 12 to determine the winner of the welterweight tournament.
In non-tournament action, Thiago Santos, originally set to fight Blagoi Ivanov in the heavyweight tournament before visa issues forced him off of Bellator 52, easily took care of Detroit heavyweight Josh Burns. The victory propels Thiago Santos back into the tournament to replace the injured Mike Hayes. Coincidentally, Mike Hayes was scheduled to meet Blagoi Ivanov in the next round. Also, British prospect Ronnie Mann got back in the W column with a first round triangle choke over Kenny Foster. Mann dedicated the fight to his recently deceased trainer, Shawn Tompkins.
Remember: *this* is the guy that the middleweights are competing to fight. Hector Lombard knocked Vitale down twice with one punch. VidProps: BellatorMMA/YouTube
So anybody notice that I mentioned Bellator yesterday? You did? And you didn’t comment about how splendiferous Bellator is, and how much you like watching the fights, and in general how witty and good looking we are here at CagePotato?
Well that’s just rude. I’m inclined to not even bother running down the other two tourneys planned for this season. Really, it’s like you don’t care.
Oh, alright. Come on in and we’ll have coffee and talk. But no staying over.
Remember: *this* is the guy that the middleweights are competing to fight. Hector Lombard knocked Vitale down twice with one punch. VidProps: BellatorMMA/YouTube
So anybody notice that I mentioned Bellator yesterday? You did? And you didn’t comment about how splendiferous Bellator is, and how much you like watching the fights, and in general how witty and good looking we are here at CagePotato?
Well that’s just rude. I’m inclined to not even bother running down the other two tourneys planned for this season. Really, it’s like you don’t care.
Oh, alright. Come on in and we’ll have coffee and talk. But no staying over.
We covered the bantamweight and welterweight tournament lineups yesterday, but Bellator’s fifth season will also feature fighters in the middleweight and heavyweight divisions, with some returning contenders and some fresh faces.
Middleweight
When Jared Hess ruined his knee fighting Alexander Shlemenko, he had to go through hours of grueling physical therapy. Not to be outdone, I spent a few hours in therapy myself, because that shit was disturbing. And when he returned to fighting at Bellator 42 against Chris Bell, I made one of the funniest jokes I’ve ever written (to me, at least): “Jared Hess is so tough that the production crew played Anita Ward as Chris Bell’s entrance music.”
Hess faces another Bellator favorite, Bryan Baker, who is kinda tough himself: dude was fighting in Bellator tournaments while going through chemotherapy treatments and still almost won the whole damn thing. He returned at Bellator 43, knocked out Joe Riggs, and then proposed to his girlfriend on television. Basically, whoever wins this fight gets a hole punched in his “Certified Badass” card.
Alexander Shlemenko returns as well after unsuccessfully challenging Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard, and meets DREAM veteran Zelg Galesic in the quarterfinals. Galesic dropped two submission losses in DREAM (to Kazushi Sakuraba and Ronaldo Souza) before rebounding with a KO win over some poor English chap named Lee Chadwick.
Vitor Vianna makes his Bellator debut against “Smilin’” Sam Alvey, who picked up a split decision win over Karl Amoussou in a tournament qualifier in May. Vianna, who trains in Vegas with the Wand Fight Team, is 10-1-1, with his only loss due to an injury TKO (broken arm) against Thiago Silva.
Brian “The Predator” Rogers and Victor O’Donnell round out the 185 brackets. O’Donnell almost made it into the TUF house during the eleventh season (Ortiz vs Liddell), but was outpointed by Chris Camozzi. You may remember that Camozzi didn’t make it through the season either… because O’Donnell broke his jaw. Rogers enters the tournament on a hot streak, having defeated his last six opponents via KO or TKO in the first round. So look for these two guys to hit each other a lot.
Bryan Baker vs Jared Hess
Alexander Shlemenko vs Zelg Galesic
Vitor Vianna vs Sam Alvey
Brian Rogers vs Victor O’Donnell
Heavyweight
Looks like Bellator is going to try to find some more big men to challenge Cole Konrad, the man-mountain that I never say nice things about. I should really stop that. Here goes: Cole Konrad does really nice interviews. He seems like a really decent fella.
Ok, on to the tournament….
Neil “Goliath” Grove and Mike “300″ Hayes both participated in the first heavyweight tourney in season 3: Grove lost in the finals to Konrad, and Hayes dropped a split decision to Alexey Oleinik. Grove is a big dude and has a nasty habit of knocking his opponents out (all eleven of his wins came out of his fists), but Hayes has never been finished. First time for eveything? I think Goliath has got this one.
Ron “The Monster” Sparks joins the fray, currently 7-0 and ready for a step up in competition. I am a bit amused that Jonathan Ivey took him to decision, but I guess everyone has a bad night, right? Sparks will face Mark Holata, a regional fighter who is 2-0 under the Bellator banner, including a submission (due to strikes) win over Tracy Willis in April.
Blagoi Ivanov is a Bulgarian Sambo specialist, and you should really be excited about seeing him. While still barely into his MMA career, Ivanov holds a win over Kazuyuki “Ironhead” Fujita — a fight in which Ivanov broke both his hands. (Hey, they don’t call him “Ironhead” for nothin’.) Oh, and he also won the 2008 World Sambo Championships, defeating a Russian guy by the name of Fedor Emelianenko in the semifinals. He’ll face Thiago “Big Monster” Silva, a heavy-handed BJJ black belt who has been out for a year due to unrevealed injuries.
Abe Wagner, another guy that got bounced out of the TUF house (he lost a decision to Jon Madsen), has had mixed results lately. After a quick win over a grossly out of shape Tim Sylvia, Wagner was submitted by Aaron Rosa, then got back in the win column with a submission win of his own. Now 10-4, Wagner meets Eric Prindle in the quarters. Prindle, a US Army vet, has a submission win on his record, but don’t let that fool you: the other guy tapped to strikes. Not that he’s not learning some subs — Prindle is currently training at Team DeathClutch with guys like Rodrigo Medeiros and Erik Paulson.
Neil Grove vs Mike Hayes
Mark Holata vs Ron Sparks
Blagoi Ivanov vs Thiago Santos
Eric Prindle vs Abe Wagner
Maiquel Falcao vs. 
Norman Paraisy
Brian Rogers
Vyacheslav Vasilevsky vs.