Bellator 102 took place last night with the focus being on the four-man heavyweight tournament which featured not one, but two former UFC fighters making their debuts with contrasting fortunes.
In the main event it appeared as if Cheick Kongo was just happy to fight ugly to get a win over Mark Godbeer, stalling against the cage and securing a few takedowns. However, things picked up mid-way through the second round as from the clinch against the cage Kongo was able to deliver a hard knee to the face of his opponent that clearly had a big impact.
Spurred on by that Kongo landed a further two powerful knees to the head and then followed up with an uppercut for good measure that sunk Godbeer to the canvas and handed Kongo the TKO victory.
Earlier Lavar Johnson’s promotional debut had quickly turned into a disaster as Vinicius Queiroz took just 25 seconds to knock him out.
It was a slightly bizarre finish with Queiroz clipping Johnson with a big right hand that caused a delayed reaction – initially just appeared to have dazed him, but just a second or two later it caught up with him and he literally fell flat on his face!
Queiroz followed him down and rifled off a few punches as the referee rushed into stop the fight and hand him the KO victory. As he did so and Queiroz wheeled away to celebrate Johnson got back up and started to complain, but it was perfectly obvious to everyone else that it was the right decision.
And so, with that upset Kongo now faces Queiroz in the heavyweight final later this year.
The other major fight on last night’s card was the bantamweight tournament final which saw Rafael Silva earn a clean sweep on the judges scorecards (30-27 x3) against Anthony Leone.
See all the results from last night’s event below.
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Main Card:
Cheick Kongo def. Mark Godbeer via second-round TKO (2:04)
Vinicius Spartan def. Lavar Johnson via first-round TKO (0:23)
Rafael Silva def. Anthony Leone via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Brennan Ward def. Joe Pacheco via submission (guillotine) (R2, 2:41)
Mikkel Parlo def. Jason Butcher via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 x2)
Prelims:
Brandon Cash def. William Richey via second-round TKO (5:00)
Cain Carrizosa def. Juan Quesada via submission (triangle) (R2, 4:51)
Stephen Martinez def. Bryan Travers via submission (guillotine) (R1, 0:56)
Brandon Girtz def. Poppies Martinez via submission (armbar) (R1, 1:20)
Javy Ayala def. Thiago Santos via first-round KO (5:00)
Scott Cleve def. Isaac De Jesus via second-round TKO (3:14)
