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BELLATOR 87 LIVE RESULTS: Hansen's round by round report for lightweight tourney quarterfinals
Jan 31, 2013 - 11:10:00 PM BELLATOR 87 LIVE RESULTS: Hansen's round by round report for lightweight tourney quarterfinals

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By: Rich Hansen, MMATorch Columnist


BELLATOR 87
JANUARY 31, 2013
LIVE FROM MOUNT PLEASANT, MI


FIGHT ONE: THIAGO MICHEL VS. ALEXANDER "TIGER" SARNAVSKIY (LIGHTWEIGHT TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL FIGHT

ROUND ONE: Dan Miragliota will be the referee. Tiger lands a big right hand early that rocked Michel. Strangely, Tider backed off and let Michel get his bearings. Another overhand right from Tiger. Michel has his wits back, but his left cheek is red. Tiger is throwing heavy leather so far, and Michel's unable to find his range through 2 minutes. Hard left body kick from Tiger. The body kicks and overhand rights are there for him whenever he wants them. Michel is starting to initiate, but he's not winning any of these exchanges. Michel starting to go to the push kick, but they aren't very effective so far. Tiger landed a push kick which sent Michel back about 10 feet. Followed up with a standing knee against the cage. Michel continues to circle to his left, which is Tiger's power side. Michel misses another spinning body kick. Tiger stepped into it and landed a right. Tiger catches a kick and knocks Michel down with a right hand. Michel gets up, and trips Tiger. Guillotine attempt by Michel as the bell rings. 10-9 Tiger

ROUND TWO: Michel and Tiger begin the second throwing half a dozen push kicks. Tiger shoots a double out of nowhere and gets a takedown. Michel gets up without eating any strikes, but Tiger works him back down to his knees against the cage. Michel is back up again, but Tiger has Michel backed into the fence. Tiger drops for a single, but loses it quickly. Tiger dropping down for another single. Michel's staring at Big Dan, who tells them to keep busy. Tiger gets Michel down. Michel's in a seated position with his back against the cage. Michel almost got back up, but Tiger dragged him back down by grabbing both legs. Tiger is going for Michel's back, and he's got both hooks in with two minutes left. Tiger has Michel's back now, with his own back on the canvas. Tiger is working for the rear naked choke. His arm is slowly sliding under Michel's chin. There's the tap. It's over.

WINNER: Alexander "Tiger" Sarnavskiy by submission (rear naked choke) at 3:43 of round 2.

STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (**) Michel is barely good enough to be on Bellator's roster, so I don't know how much to put in Tiger's dominance. Michael Chandler so far has no chance of dropping his belt until 2031.


FIGHT TWO: SAAD AWAD VS. GUILLAUME DELORENZI (LIGHTWEIGHT TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL FIGHT

ROUND ONE: Jason Herzog is in charge of the action for this fight. DeLorenzi eats three kicks in a row, and then a left and a right hand, and DeLorenzi is staggered. Awad pours it on, and this fight is over. It was the right hand that really did it. DeLorenzi barely hit the canvas when Herzog stopped it. Good stoppage, because he was limp.

WINNER: Saad Awad by TKO at 0:31 of round 1.

STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (**) DeLorenzi was a major favorite, but never got a chance to exploit the hole in Awad's game (the ground). It was over in a flash.


FIGHT THREE: WILL BROOKS VS. RICARDO TIRLONI (LIGHTWEIGHT TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL FIGHT

ROUND ONE: Jason Herzog is the referee for this fight. Coroners in Mt. Pleasant are standing by. Both men come out firing. Brooks is working the lead left kicks, both low, body, and high. Brooks lands a nice right hand. Tirloni lands a couple consecutive left hooks. Tirloni shoots, doesn't get it, but sticks with it for 15 seconds and gets Brooks down, in seated position against the cage. Brooks gets back to his feet, and gets a trip takedown of his own. Tirloni is pressed against the cage, chest to chest. Tirloni's trying to throw his legs high, but Brooks jumps back down to avoid the triangle. Closed guard. Good action, so Herzog calls for action. Brooks unloads, and Tirloni slaps on a triangle. Brooks stands out of it and gets back to guard. another triangle attempt, and Brooks wiggles free of that one, quicker than the last. Nice left by Brooks. Brooks postures back up, and lands a few lefts and rights. Every time Brooks tries to stands, he gets a couple of legs wrapped around his head. Huge left from Brooks. His ground and pound is very powerful. Brooks stacking up Tirloni as the bell rings. 10-9 Brooks Good round.

ROUND TWO: Brooks charges to the middle of the cage and lands a head kick. Nice jab by Brooks. Leg kick again by Brooks, and a body kick as well. Brooks shoots a double from distance and lands it. Tirloni's head is up against the cage, and his guard is wide open. Check that, closed guard now. Tirloni thinking triangle again. Brooks thinking SMASH FACE again. Call it a draw. Brooks lands a bigh right and left, and pulls out of the guard and lets Tirloni up. Big body kick by Brooks, who grabs a clinch. Tirloni slips, Brooks back off. Brooks shoots a double, but got caught in a guillotine. Brooks gets out in about ten seconds, and he's on top, in guard. Sloppy takedown, Brooks got what he deserved there, a little wake-up call. thirty seconds of slower action, and Herzog threatens to have then dragged outside and flogged. tirloni dives for a kneebar, loses it, and we're back to standing. Tirloni has a mouse under his left eye from the sustained ground and pound that Jason Herzog wasn't impressed by. Tirloni grabs a body lock and delivers a knee to Brooks' man-bits. Herzog missed it entirely, but was forced to stop the fight when Tirloni chose to back off. Jason Herzog sucks. We're back. Brooks is circling on the balls (sorry) of his feet, landing jabs and inside leg kicks at will while circling away from Tirloni's power. Tirloni shoots and gets a brief takedown at the end of the round. 10-9 Brooks. 20-18 Brooks

ROUND THREE: Brooks continues to work the jab and circle. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Tirloni is more aggressive, throwing right hands and head kicks, but the head kicks have been missing all night long. Brooks lands a nice one-two. Tirloni walks right into a double-leg. Tirloni is tiring, and is completely flat-flooted. Well, he's flat on his back, but you knew what I meant. Literally ten seconds, Herzog told them he was going to stand them. Brooks works his way to half-guard. Tirloni is gassed, so Brooks is content to ride him out. With the position Brooks has, if he were allowed to throw elbos this fight would be near an end. Tirloni's doing a good job of controlling Brooks' posture, so Brooks can't posture up and work the effective ground and pound. Brooks back to his feet, and Tirloni follows him up. Brooks drops down for a double leg against the fence. He's working knees to the thigh of Tirloni, until retreating to the middle of the cage. One minute left. Brooks ducks under a slow jab, grabs a single, and gets the takedown in the middle of the cage. Tirloni's looking for a triangle. It wasn't tight, and Brooks eventually powered out. Nice little fight, but the third round sucked. 10-9, 30-27 Brooks

WINNER: Will Brooks by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (**) The third round was pretty weak. I was very surprised they weren't stood up. That said, Brooks vs. Awad is an interesting fight, that pretty much no one saw coming, thanks more to Awad than Brooks of course.


FIGHT FOUR: LLOYD WOODARD VS. DAVID RICKELS (LIGHTWEIGHT TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL FIGHT

ROUND ONE: Big Dan draws the main event. Woodard turned his back on Rickels when Dan asked them to touch gloves. I love manufactured drama! Woodard slips as he lands a body kick. Rickels tries to take advantage, but Woodard takes his back standing, with one hook in. Did we learn nothing from Erik Koch? Woodard with knees from behind. Woodard picks up Rickels and puts him down with a belly to back suplex. Woodard has his back, both hooks in, looking for the rear naked choke. Rickels scrambles, and Woodard looked like he was going for a twister. Nope. He winds up on top in full guard. Rickels is doing well so far to avoid damage, and is looking for a triangle. Woodard picks him up and slams him. that didn't release the triangle, but Woodard did get out a few seconds later. Woodard passes and is standing over Rockels. Woodard dives back down, butterfly guard. Woodard stands up and dives back in with a right hand. Rickels is looking for an armbar from the bottom, and lands a few right hands as well. Woodard spins and winds back into full guard. Rickels dives for a leg lock, but Woodard gets out of it rather easily. Woodard is going for an inverted heel hook, to a toe hold, and Rickels stands out of it. Rickels dives back in with a big left. Rickels to full guard, on top. Woodard is bleeding from the mouth. Rickels picks up Woodard by both legs and spins him 180 degrees in the air. You don't see that too often. 10-9 Woodard despite the airplane spin...

ROUND TWO: Rickels comes out firing with punches and punches. Woodard is slow to react, and eats a good chunk of those strikes. Swing and a miss by Woodard, and he eats a counter-right as well. Overhand right by Woodard, but he didn't have much on it and eats a big right from Rickels. Rickels clinches and pushes Woodard into the cage. Woodard reverses position briefly, but they disengage. If this goes 15 minutes, the last three minutes are going to suck. Rickels fakes a shot and lands a knee. Woodard is backing off more than I remember seeing him do. Woodard lands a left jab that dropped Rickels. Woodard dives into guard, and gets caught in a tight armbar. Woodard lifts Rickels up, and Rickels loses it. Woodard on top in half-guard now. Rickels has solid wrist control right now. Rickels working to his feet, and he's back up. Rickels turns Woodard and lands a knee. Rickels working knees to the thighs. Nice right by Rickels and a left and a knee. Woodard caught the knee and got the takedown off of it. That was fortunate timing for Woodard. Rickels is holding a kimura from the bottom, which is keeping Woodard in check. Woodard stands up and eats an upkick. The round ends wiith Woodard on top. 10-9 Woodard I guess. Hard to score that.

ROUND THREE: Jimmy Smith also has it 19-19, but he scored both rounds opposite of how I did. Which mens Leonard Garcia is going to win a split decision. Woodard eats a kick to the knee, and he's limping heavily. Woodard comes forward with a jab, and eats three big punches to the face. Rickels has Woodard figured out. Straight right by Rickels backs Woodard up. Nice leg kick from Rickels to the damaged lead left leg of Woodard. Left hook by Rickels. Rickels is staying outside, being patient. Jimmy smith mentins that Rickels might be clowning around. Push kick by Rickels. Rickels steps in with a hard right cross. Woodard is still firing away, but more as a reaction. Rikels is landing at will. Rickels is bouncing on his toes, Woodard is back on his heels. One minute left. Rickels finally unloads. Big flurry, capped off by an strong uppercut. Woodard fires back and shoots a single. He got the takedown, but almost got caught in a guillotine. Woodard on top, and Rickels is looking for a triangle. The fight ends. 10-9, 29-28 Rickels

WINNER: David Rickels by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (**) Nothing memorable. That said, the damage Tiger Sarnavskiy does to Rickels might be memorable...


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