Bellator Fighting Championships touched down in Laredo, Texas to begin their season six lightweight tournament, the division is currently ruled by recently crowned champion Michael Chandler who needs a challenger.
Since dethroning top-ranked lightweight Eddie Alvarez he takes his rightful place as one of the hottest rising stars in the industry the 25-year-old finds himself in a tough situation, while holding that title under the Bellator tournament format he isn’t going to get a lot of cage time.
Luckily for the future of the Xtreme Couture product there are eight talented combatants chomping at the bit to get their hands on him and they will be reduced to the final four after tonight.
Here at MMASucka.com we will have your full coverage of the nights televised proceedings.
Lightweight tournament quarter-final bout: Thiago Michel vs. Rene Nazare
Michel is a former kickboxing and muay-thai champion who has finished all his opponents with a knockout of technical knockout which makes him one of the most dangerous men on the Bellator roster, if he can keep this fight away from the floor there’s a good chance he will be immortalized with a “Bellator moment”
Rene Nazare is a four-time jiu-jitsu medalist who previously worked with Brazil’s top camp Nova Uniao and has dedicated a lot of time working on his striking game mixing it up with a series of knees and punches, the Brazilian-born fighter has a lot of skills, it all comes down to whether he can put it all together.
The opening stanza was a closely contested fight, Michel was doing his best to keep Nazare at bay but at the same time Nazare was doing his best to tie up the talented striker and closed the bout strong with a takedown and top position.
Michel took over in the second frame using his striking and length to land a series of front-kicks, spinning back fists, flying knees and whatever else he wanted, finishing strong cornering him and having him on the ropes — Nazare was able to take him down on two occasions but failed to have any offence despite his jiu-jitsu game.
The final round was a lot more competitive than the middle, Michel opened up early looking to do much of the same but he was clearly fatigued and Nazare was able to take over at the end getting top position and doing damage from side control and full-mount.
On my unofficial score card I have Michel winning 29-28 taking the first two rounds but we’re in Texas so who knows how this will unfold.
Michel got the nod on the official judges cards winning two 29-28 scores to move on to the semi-finals.
Lightweight tournament semi-finalist: J.J Ambrose vs. Brent Weedman
Weedman is a former welterweight tournament semi-finalist making his debut at lightweight, after almost seven years as a professional he has locked horns with some of the best including Gray Maynard, Dan Hornbuckle, Douglas Lima and Jay Heiron and will be a tough task for anyone if he can look just as good at a new weight.
Ambrose comes in with nothing to lose tonight since fans, pundits and media personnel alike have written him off before he steps foot in the cage but if Weedman makes a mistake he could be in for a long night, he’s stepping up in competition big time but has a well-rounded game and a reputation for finishing fights.
The opening stanza opened in thrilling fashion as Weedman dropped Ambrose momentarily but failed to capitalize before Ambrose got the takedown and we had a highly competitive grappling match with a string of sweeps and submission attempts before Ambrose got wobbled with an up-kick from Weedman that knocked out his mouth piece.
The action continued despite the missing mouthpiece as Weedman took control taking the back of the promotional debutant seeking the rear-naked-choke and using his ground-and-pound but struck with several shots to the back of the head without being penalized to close out the round.
The round opened with an awkward transition with Weedman pulling guard to continue another high-level grappling match with Ambrose seeking a d’arce choke early on before Weedman was able to get the crucifix and attempted an Americana before transitioning into a von flue choke that puzzled the commentary booth.
Lightweight tournament semi-final bout: Rick Hawn vs. Ricardo Tirloni
Tirloni is an interesting induction into this series, despite having a lot of experience outside of any major organization he hasn’t tussled with many high-end athletes; the once beaten Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt has worked on his game with great grappling skills and solid wrestling and striking.
Hawn is a former welterweight tournament finalist, the 2004 Olympic team judoka has really developed more than just a judo and grappling game to make him a real threat to anyone at whichever weight he chooses, it all depends how he reacts to this drop down in weight.
The bout opened with Hawn pushing the pressure, not landing any huge amounts of leather early on before dropping Tirloni with a big right hand before the judoka pounced on Tirloni and put the nail in the coffin – Tirloni was clearly out momentarily because he was on auto-pilot mode after the fight trying to pull the referee into his guard.
Lightweight tournament semi-final bout: Patricky Freire vs. Lloyd Woodward
Woodward walks to the cage with a 70’s pornstar stache and a nickname like ‘cupcake’ it’s easy to laugh in his direction but he’s a known finisher with a tendency to put his opponents away before the final bell and he has promised to put his Brazilian foe away in all his interviews leading up to this opening –round fight.
Freire is one of the best prospects that Bellator have snatched up over the past few years, showing off acts of brutality in his previous Bellator performances the former lightweight tournament finalist is the series favorite, especially after obliterating Kurt Pellegrino in 50 seconds.
We started with high-level offence from the get go with Pitbull trying for a flying knee early before Woodward floored Pitbull with a right hand before Woodward attempted a slam pushing his foe towards the cage and attempting to take the back.
Woodward spent a few minutes in half guard, it seems hes following the carbon copy to beat a Pitbull brother before Patricky scrambles to the feet and staggers Woodward and gets a takedown spending the round in half-guard seeking a kimura but the cage was his biggest opponent.
The round opens on the feet with Woodward attempting a flying knee before exchanging with Pitbull taing control before Woodward took over going to the floor with Woodward taking control and rolling through and wrenching on the arm of the Brazilian with a kimura that forced the series favorite to bow out in the first round.
