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By: Rich Hansen, MMATorch Columnist
BELLATOR 100
SEPTEMBER 20, 2013
LIVE FROM PHOENIX ARIZONA
Bellator reaches a benchmark tonight on Spike TV, bringing their 100th fight card to the Grand Canyon University Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. The main card tonight features five welterweight fights, with the season eight tourney finals between Ben Saunders and Douglas Lima headlining the card which also features the quarterfinals in the season nine tournament. We'll have live round by round coverage here tonight, so tune in as the televised card begins at 9PM ET.
- Travis Marx defeated Brandon Bender in the spike.com prelims, in a fight which was apparently an opening round fight of the world's least promoted 4-man bantamweight tournament. Marx will face Joe Warren or Nick Kirk in the finals. Eventually.
- Straight to the action. No pacing issues. Yet.
FIGHT ONE: JUSTIN BASEMAN VS. BRENT WEEDMAN (WELTERWEIGHT QUARTERFINAL FIGHT
ROUND ONE: Weedman comes out aggressive, using a variety of kicks to set the tone. Baseman grabs a clinch and puts Weeman on the fence for a moment, but Weedman reverses position. Weedman gets Baseman down, and lands in an open guard with Baseman's head against the cage. Baseman is doing a good job of controlling posture. Weedman is looking for side mount and get there. He's looking for an armbar, but the cage is interfering with his efforts. Weedman and BAseman begin rolling, and wind up with Weedman in a much better position to get a straight armbar. He's got it, NO! Baseman powered out. Weedman never quite had the right andle to fully hyperextend the elbow. He didn't let go of the arm and transitioned to belly down, and there's the tap! Nice!
WINNER: Brent Weedman by submission (belly down armbar) at 3:20 of round one.
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (**+) No snark here, as that was a damned professional performance by Brent Weedman.
FIGHT TWO: SERGIO JUNIOR VS. RON KESLAR (WELTERWEIGHT QUARTERFINAL FIGHT)
- Keslar comes in with a four inch height and reach advantage. Ron Nation is the referee for this fight.
ROUND ONE: Keslar gets a quick trip takedown in the middle of the cage and dives in with a couple nice right hands. Keslar has an active top game, and as Junior rolls Keslar looks for an anaconda. Junior gets back to his feet, but eats a few knees from Keslar's thai plumb. Keslar presses Junior into the wall and launches a couple knees to the thighs of Junior. The fight has slowed tremendously once they got to clinching on the cage. Keslar is looking for knees when Junior gives him an opening. Junior finally is able to push Keslar off of him. Nice work by the referee to let them fight it out. Junior misses with a couple spinning kicks and a flying attack before Keslar puts him back on the fence again. Keslar isn't doing much with the position, and Junior spins free without eating any damage. Keslar initiates another clinch and gets Junior into the cage wall once again. Junior turns with ten seconds left. 10-9 Keslar
ROUND TWO: Keslar drops Junior with a big right hand! I can't believe Sergio is still awake. His head SLAMMED into the canvas hard. Keslar attacks, but Junior defends well and Keslar can't land a kill shot on the canvas. Keslar gets his back and is looking for a rear naked choke. He's got both hooks in but can't get his arm under Junior's chin. They're against the cage, which won't help Keslar. Junior keeps looking at the referee, but it's on him to get free. Keslar still has the hooks and now he's on top trying to flatten Sergio out. Sergio defends well. Two minutes remain in the round. No action, other than Sergio blindly throwing fists over his head and to the thigh of Keslar. The crowd is starting to turn, so Junior tries for the choke. He's not at all under the chin, and Junior is so unimpressed that he keeps throwing weak elbows instead of defending his neck. The crowd is chanting for a standup, proving that they are idiots. 10-9 Keslar. 20-18 Keslar
ROUND THREE: Sergio comes out more aggressively, but gets pressed into the cage. Junior grabs Keslar's neck and pulls guard. Guillotine! It's tight, and he's squeezing for all he's worth. The cage isn't helping him here. Keslar's doing all he can to stay conscious, but he powers up, but he's weak. Keslar is in deep trouble on all fours as Sergio punches on Keslar's ribs. All Keslar is able to do is to hold onto a single leg while turtled. Sergio sees an arm and commits to an armbar. It's not there, and Keslar is on top with 2:30 left in the final stanza. Keslar has his back now. And both hooks. Junior's hopes of winning, or even a 10-8, are dashed now. This is a mirror image of the second round. Credit Sergio for looking to finish. He took a risk that could have paid off, so even though it didn't, credit to him. Sergio isn't trying to escape, he's just throwing weak back elbows and weak elbows to the thigh while praying that Nation will stand them up. Not gonna happen. 10-9 Junior. 29-28 Keslar
WINNER: 29-28 Keslar, 29-28 Junior (WHAT?), 29-28 for the winner by split decision Ron Keslar
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (**) I liked parts of this fight, but it's impossible to fully ignore the extended stretches of inactivity. That said, this was better than anything Bellator did last week.
- Joe Riggs vs. Mike Bronzulius will fight on the Spike TV portion of Bellator 106, leading into their pay per view show.
FIGHT THREE: RICK HAWN VS. HERMAN TERRADO (WELTERWEIGHT QUARTERFINAL FIGHT)
- Al Guinee is the referee for this fight.
ROUND ONE: Hawn is the much smaller man, as Terrado struggled to make 170 while Hawn has fought at 155 in the past. Terrado misses with a wild haymaker and is now pressed into the fence by a Judoka. Oppsie doodles! No action on the cage for a solid minute until Hawn backs out. Hawn is in the middle of the cage with Terrado not circling away from Hawn's power side. Terrado opens up with a couple of punches and a body kick, but Hawn manages to grab Terrado and put him into the fence. Nothing happens and they push away once again. Hawn doing a lot of feints, and Terrado finds his back heel against the cage without a punch being thrown. Terrado circles off the fence, but man this round sucks. Terrado hits Hawn with a hard left hook. Hawn didn't like that, and initiated another clinch again. Hawn is belly to belly with Terrado, pressing Terrado into the fence. Herb Dean would've broken them up 17 times by now. 10-9 Hawn That was awful. Terrado landed more, but Hawn controlled the round.
ROUND TWO: 30 seconds of feinting. Yay. Feints. Woohoo! Terrado comes forward with a sloppy heavy hook and a body kick that was blocked. Hawn lands a right. Hawn lands a right left combination and pushes Terrado into the fence. Hawn's solely looking to wear out Terrado. He's not doing anything from this position. Hawn pushes off. 2:30 left. Hawn continuing to feint liberally, mixing in an occasional low kick. Terrado is confused, and Hawn is tentative and too respectful of Terrado's mass. This sucks. Terrado throws a looping hook, but it barely grazed Hawn. Hawn clinches and gets Terrado on the fence. He throws him down with five seconds left, but Terrado gets back up before the bell sounds. 20-18 Hawn
ROUND THREE: Hawn feints Terrano into the fence, and Terrano yet again responds with a wild hook and moving 5 feet to the side. Rinse. Repeat. And again. Oh, a new technique! Hawn with a jab to the gut. Hooray variety! Hooray Beer! Hawn feints Terrano into the fence. Terrano misses with a high kick, and Hawn backs off. Blechh. I wonder what's on Oprah's network? Whatever it is might be just as stale and repetitive as this fight, but at least there might be some crying lesbians. Hawn backs Terrano down, Terrano throws and misses with a wild hook that led him to do a 360. So he does another one. Stale and repetitive. I'm not writing about the rest of this fight unless someone falls asleep. I mean unless one of the fighters falls asleep, I'll force myself to stay awake. 30-27 Hawn
WINNER: Rick Hawn by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (*) It's not that Hawn was bad, exactly. He landed whatever he threw. It was just so freaking dull, and so freaking repetitive. NEXT!
- Apologies all, but the live report is going to be an almost live report. I have a household emergency to tend to, and need twenty minutes. No one's dying or anything. Will be back ASAP.
- I'm back, about 10 minutes later.
FIGHT FOUR: WAR MACHINE VS. VAUGHAN ANDERSON (WELTERWEIGHT QUARTERFINAL FIGHT)
ROUND ONE: Say this for the guy, Mr. Machine has a nice tan. Machine with a bodylock and a takedown. Full guard. Machine looking to pass. Slap to the face from Anderson. Machine passes to side mount while Anderson looks to push off the cage and walk up. Machine gets Anderson's back, but Anderson scrambles and it ends up with Machine in guard. Machine works to get full mount. Anderson locks his hands and rolls. Anderson on top in guard. That was too easy. Nice to see the local prison jiu-jitsu classes did Machine no good. Machine gets to his feet and eats a knes. Single leg by Anderson, but briefly lands in a triangle. Full guard for Anderson who is on top of Mr. Machine. Anderson stands and lands some kicks to Machone's thighs before Machine gets to his feet. Anderson with a horrible single leg shot. Anderson turtles around Machines' heel and eats a few punches to the head until the bell sounds. 10-9 Machine
ROUND TWO: Machine shoots a double and gets an easy takedown. Full guard, with Anderson's head up against the cage. Some ground and pound from Machine before he jumps to half-guard. Machine stands up and dives back in with a big punch that dazes Anderson. Crucifix and nasty ground and pound by Machine. Anderson finally gets out of the crucifix, but now he has Machine on his back. Machine doesn't have both hooks in, but he's close. Machine continues to soften up Anderson with big right hands to the head of Anderson. He's got the choke. Anderson won't tap, and the ref stops the fight. It's a technical submission.
WINNER: War Machine by technical submission at 4:01 of round two
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (**) Nothing special. Machine was very patient and very measured. He fought an intelligent fight. he should make his way into the finals.
- Machine vs. Keslar and Hawn vs. Weedman will take place on October 18 from Cedar Rapids, IA.
FIGHT FIVE: DOUGLAS LIMA VS. BEN SAUNDERS (SEASON 8 WELTERWEIGHT FINALS)
- Saunders has 2 inches of height and 7 inches of reach on Lima. Of course, neither of those attributes helped him when they fought at Bellator 53.
ROUND ONE: Jason Herzog is the third man in the cage for this tournament finale. Saunders and Lima trade head kicks to start the round. Saunders throws another, just for good measure. and another. They're being blocked, but are still landing at least on the arm. Lima with a nice body kick, followed with a leg kick to Saunders' knee. Saunders with a body kick. Both fighters flick out straight kicks, both miss. Saunders is being too aggressive. He's fighting as if he has a reach disadvantage here. Saunders grabs a hold of Lima and presses him into the fence. Nice knees to the gut from Saunders. Saunders is cut over the left eye. They disengage. Saunders trying to stay outside now. Nice high kick by Lima. It landed on the arm, but it had a hard thud to it. Saunders with a nice leg kick. Lima lands a straight right. Lima lands a powerful body kick which forced Saunders to regroup. Saunders comes inside as Lima seems to have found his range, but Lima avoids the plumb and circles out. Lima with another nice high body kick. Left hook from Lima finds a home. 10-9 Lima
- Saunders' cut is kind of ugly. It won't stop the fight or anything, but if it gets worse, you never know.
ROUND TWO: After 35 seconds, Saunders tells the referee that he forgot his mouthpiece. Um, yeah... Saunders continues to press forward, which plays into Lima's hands. Saunders misses on a couple of uppercuts. Lima floors Saunders with a wicked right hand, but Lima can't finish him. Lima dives into guard. Saunders is bleeding badly. His left eye is a train wreck. He has a full fledged gerbil under his left eye. There's no way a doctor should let the fight see round three. Lima has half-guard, but his offense is being stymied by Saunders' long legs. Saunders grabs for a heel hook, but it isn't very deep. It's a desperation attempt more than anything. Lima pulls out, and Saunders stands. Saunders' eye is grotesque. After a minute or so of stalking, Lima lands a left hand to the liver and a right head kick, and Saunders drops like a ton of bricks! Or a ton of anything really, because a ton is a ton, right? Either way, DAMN! Douglas Lima looks like he might actually be able to land 10 strikes in 25 mintues against Ben Askren.
WINNER: Douglas Lima by KO at 4:33 of round 2.
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (***-) What a fun fight. Saunders' face is a mess, but Lima's face doesn't look too good either. Not from cuts and swelling, but he clearly didn't want to have to execute his friend and ATT training partner. Lima looked fantastic. He looked so good that I give him a 2% chance to beat Ben Askren!
- Lima thinks he broke his right hand in the fight, which means he'll be ready once Askren waits a year for a UFC offer that Viacom can match.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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