Bellator 116 took place last night and we’ve got all the results for you below.
Blagoi Ivanov booked himself a place in the heavyweight tournament final with a first round finish against Lavar Johnson.
Johnson had looked to be the aggressor in the early stages of the fight, but made a costly mistake when he decided to slam Ivanov to the mat. Ivonov pulled off a reversal and then worked for an Americana submission, forcing the tap late in the round.
In the other heavyweight tournament semi-final it was Alexander Volkov who progressed to the final with a spectacular head kick KO against ‘Mighty Mo’ mid-way through the first round.
In a clash of former UFC veterans on the main card, Joey Beltran got the better of Vladimir Matyushenko. This was Matyushenko’s retirement fight, but despite making a competitive showing of it in the first two rounds, the 43 year-old looked tired in the final five minutes.
Surprisingly, despite being best known as a brawler, Beltran was then able to take down the wrestler and submit him with a north-south choke mid-way through the round – only the second time in his career that ‘The Janitor’ has been tapped out in his 35 fight career.
Elsewhere, Adam McDonough moved onto the welterweight tournament final with a left hook KO of Nathan Coy early in the second round, while in the prelims Karo Parisyan claimed the first KO win of his 34 fight professional career after connecting cleanly with a right hand to the jaw of Ron Keslar deep into the second round.
—
Main Card:
Blagoi Ivanov def. Lavar Johnson via submission (Americana) (R1, 4:08)
Adam McDonough def. Nathan Coy via KO at 0:30 of round two.
Alexander Volkov def. Mighty Mo via KO at 2:44 of round one.
Joey Beltran def. Vladimir Matyushenko via submission (North-South choke) at 3:06 of round three.
Prelims:
Brandon Halsey def. Joe Pacheco via unanimous decision (30-27 x3).
Ricky Rainey def. Andy Murad via first-round TKO (1:11)
Rob Emerson def. Joe Taimanglo via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27 x2)
Karo Parisyan def. Ron Keslar via KO at 4:05 of round two.
Philipe Lins def. Travis Clark via submission (rear-naked choke) (R1, 0:40)
Rodney Wallace def. Carlos Eduardo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Dave Vitkay def. Keith Berry via unanimous decision
Poppies Martinez def Josh Smith via submission (rear-naked choke) (R1, 3:50)
Brandon Bender def. Mario Navarro via submission (rear-naked choke) (R2, 4:15)
