Bellator Season 4 Round-Up

Bellator Season 4 kicked off this past Saturday from the Tachi Palace Casino in Lenmoore, California. The welterweight tournament was wittled down to the final four, as Rick Hawn, Jay Hieron, Lyman Good and Brent Weedman advanced.

It appears that champions will fight mainly in non-title bouts this season. Women's champ Zoila Frausto won her return to Bellator with a unanimous decision win over Katrina Hallinan.

Featherweight Tournament - 1st Round BFC 37

Patricio Freire (14-1, 2-1 BFC) v Georgi Karakhanyan (14-2-1)
Kenny Foster (8-2, 1-0 BFC) v Eric Larkin (3-0, 1-0 BFC)
Zac George (20-3, 0-0 BFC) v Wilson Reis (11-2, 3-2 BFC)
Daniel Straus (14-3, 1-0 BFC) v Nazareno Malegarie (19-0)

LHW Tournament - 1st Round BFC 38

Daniel Gracie (5-2-1) v Tim Carpenter (6-0, 1-0 BFC)
Nik Fekete (4-0) v Richard Hale (15-3)
Chris Davis (10-2) v Christian M'Pumbu (15-3-1)
DJ Linderman (8-1) v Raphael Davis (10-1)

Lightweight Tournament - 2nd Round Qualifiers

Mike Chandler (6-0, 3-0 BFC)- Chandler deated the hyped European prospect Marcin Held in the first round via an arm triangle choke. Chandler posseses a solid ground game with 3 submissions and 3 TKO's, most due to ground and pound.

Toby Imada (29-15, 5-2 BFC)- After the odd last second withdrawl of his original opponent Ferrid Kheder, Imada bested the undefeated Josh Shockley via armbar just under 80 seconds into the first round. With a vaunted ground game, expect the Bellator vet to keep looking for submissions.

Lloyd Woodward (11-0)- The undefeated Woodward was able to win in his toughest test to date with a second round TKO of Carey Vanier. Showing excellent takedown defense throughout the bout, Woodward landed a left hook in the second before finishing off Vanier.

Patricky Freire (8-1)- Friere impressed in his MMA debut taking out the noted striker Razor Rob McCullough in the first round. Friere had a solid first round, but probably lost the second. In the third, Friere connected on a solid right hand, pushing him into the second round.

2nd Round Qualifiers following BFC 35

Rick Hawn (10-0, 2-0 BFC)- Hawn won a stand-up battle against fellow judo blackbelt Jim Wallhead. Hawn has improving boxing skills with high level grappling. Hawn finished 9th in the 2004 Olympics in Judo.

Lyman Good (11-1, 4-1 BFC)- Good maintained constant pressure on Chris Lozano in his opening round match-up for a unanimous decision victory. Good will look to use his power striking in a second round match-up against high level judo player Rick Hawn.

Brent Weedman (18-5, 4-0 BFC)- Weedman won a tough decision against Dan Hornbuckle that could have gone either way. Weedman suffered a cut above his right eye in the scrap. Weedman has solid grappling. Weedman will be looking for another solid performance in his second round match-up against Jay Hieron.

Jay Hieron (20-4, 1-0 BFC)- Hieron dominated Anthony Lapsley for the entire fight before an interesting ending. Ref Josh Rosenthal believed that Lapsley was out following a rear naked choke despite a protest. Regardless, Hieron's grappling proved too much for Lapsley in his 3 and a half minutes of action. Hieron did not suffer any damage in his fight.


Current Bellator Champions:

Cole Konrad - HW (7-0, 5-0 BFC)
Hector Lombard - MW (27-2, 6-0 BFC)
Ben Askren - WW (7-0, 4-0 BFC)
Eddie Alvarez - LW (21-2, 5-0 BFC)
Joe Warren - FW (6-1, 4-0 BFC)
Zach Makovsky - BW (12-2, 4-0 BFC)
Zoila Frausto - Women's 115 (11-1, 5-0 BFC)

Champions Fights:

Zoila Frausto won a unanimous decision over Katrina Hallinan
Eddie Alvarez fights Pat Curran (12-3, 3-0 BFC) at BFC 39
Ben Askren fights Nick Thompson (38-13, 0-0 BFC) at BFC 40
Zach Makovsky fights Chad Robichaux (11-0, 0-0 BFC) at BFC 41
Hector Lombard fights Falaniko Vitale (28-9, 0-0 BFC) at BFC 44

(Eddie Alvarez)