Bellator Finals Forecast

Last night, the Bellator Season 2 tourneys continued to unfold as the 170 pound division claimed its two finalists, Dan Hornbuckle and Ben Askren. In a non-title featured bout, featherweight champ Joe Soto (9-0, 4-0 BFC) continued his reign of terror as he destroyed UFC veteran Diego Saraiva in the first round.

Sengoku veteran Dan Hornbuckle (21-2, 2-0 BFC) defeated former Marine Steve Carl via a modified kimura. He will fight 2X NCAA champ Ben Askren (5-0, 2-0 BFC) for the 170 pound title, who defeated UFC veteran Ryan Thomas via unanimous decision. Expect Hornbuckle to try to keep this fight standing to take advantage of Askren's lackluster striking.

(Dan Hornbuckle KO of Gono Pictured)

In other tournament action, featherweight Joe Warren will square off against Patricio "Pitbull" Freire . Warren (4-1, 2-0 BFC) punched his ticket to the finals with two lackluster decision victories over Georgi Karakhanyan and Eric Marriot. Pitbull (14-0, 2-0 BFC), won his first fight via heel hook over William Romero before a unanimous decision over Wilson Reis. Expect Warren to look for the takedown early and often, with Pitbull trying to lock in a choke or score a KO.

(Pitbul Friere Pictured)

The lightweight tournament has featured the biggest upset of the tournament, with Pat Curran (11-3, 2-0 BFC) finding his way to the finals. Pat recently upset tournament favorite Roger Huerta via unanimous decision, and KO'd GSP training partner Mike Ricci in his first fight.

Curran will face last year's runner-up Toby Imada (25-12, 4-1 BFC) in the finals. Toby has utilized his superior grappling in his first two bouts, scoring armbar victories over Carey Vanier and James Krause. Expect Curran to try to utilize his kickboxing while Imada looks to lock in yet another memorable submission.

(Toby Imada Pictured)

Match-ups:

145: Pitbull Freire v. Joe Warren - TBD
155: Pat Curran v. Toby Imada - BFC 21
170: Dan Hornbuckle v. Ben Askren - BFC 22
185: Alexander Shlemenko v. Bryan Baker - TBD

Bellator Forecast

Last weeks Bellator - Chicago fight card was loaded with action. This week Bellator travels to Kansas City and features middleweight tournament fights.

Crystal Lake's Pat Curran set the night on fire in Chicago with a one punch right hand KO over previously undefeated Mike Ricci. Pat had advanced to fight UFC veteran and former contender Roger Huerta at Bellator 17 on May 6th.

(Curran KO's Ricci)

Submission specialist Toby Imada scored slick second round arm bar to defeat James Krause and move up the lightweight tournament ladder. He will face Carey Vanier (8-2, 1-0 BFC) who defeated Joe Duarte via TKO in the third round of his opening round fight.

Olympic wrestling phenom Ben Askren won in a slightly controversial manner over UFC veteran Ryan Thomas. Askren looked to lock in a modified guillotine, and as Thomas rolled it appeared Askren's hands loosened. The ref explained after the fight that he ask Thomas to give him a sign, and Thomas did not. A loud group of Thomas fans boo'd the decision, and continued to heckle that ref through the night.

(Chicago Theatre)


Ryan Thomas has been tabbed as an alternate, and will face undefeated Jacob McClintock at Thursday's Bellator 15. Thomas is replacing Jim Wallhead, who is grounded in the UK due to the volcanic ash from Iceland. Askren's oppenent has yet to be announcerd.

Sengoku's rising star Dan Hornbuckle (19-2) will also fight on Bellator 15 in the welterweight tournament, fighting Tyler Stinson (16-5). Hornbuckle is riding a four fight win streak, with back to back Sengoku KO's of UFC veterans Nick Thompson and Akhiro Gono.

(Dan Hornbuckle pictured)

BELLATOR 15 MAIN CARD

Dan Hornbuckle v Tyler Stinson (WW 1st rnd)
Jacob McClintock v Ryan Thomas (WW 1st rnd)
Steve Carl v Brett Cooper (WW 1st rnd)
Patricio Freire v William Romero (FW 1st rnd)

UNDERCARD

Dan Cramer vs. Dennis Olsen
Matt Lee vs. Ryan Quinn

(Cage placed over the band pit and front of stage)

Bellator 155 Pound Tourney

Bellator Fighting Championships has been slowly leaking the participants to their 145, 155, 170 and 185 pound 8 man tournaments. The latest addition to the 155 pound tournament is the biggest name in the field so far, former UFC star Roger Huerta.

Roger Huerta's star rose after defeating Leonard Garcia in the UFC in a very entertaining, back and forth battle. Huerta's biggest victory date was his insane, action packed come from behind effort against Clay Guida. Despite being down 2 rounds on the scorecards, he was able to stun Guida before getting his back and locking in a rear naked choke.

Huerta would then be in a series of contract disputes, some acting roles in movies like Tekken and suffer two heartbreaking decisions to Gray Maynard and Kenny Florian. Huerta's goal will be to win the 155 pound Bellator tournament to guarantee a shot against last years winner, Eddie Alvarez.

It has been announced that Toby Imada is fighting Ferrid Kheder in the first round.

Here is a look at the pairings:

Toby Imada (23-13) Bellator runner-up, Sub over Jorge Masvidal
Ferrid Kheder (16-5) 2000 Olympic judoka, W over Drew Fickett

Janne Tulirinta (12-3) Finnish fighter, 5 wins in M-1
Cary Vanier (7-2) Team Jackson fighter, 6 fight W streak

Mike Ricci (5-0) GSP training partner, 3 TKO's
Pat Curran (9-3) Tapout Show Vet, W's over Tony Hervey & Robbie Oliver

Chad Hinton (6-0) Ohio based fighter, KO over Jeff Cox
Roger Huerta (20-3) UFC vet, W's over Matt Wiman & Clay Guida

(Roger Huerta pictured)

KOTC Toryumon Results

Here are the unofficial results of King of the Cage's first trip to Japan. Yamaguchi and Boku captured the jr. flyweight and lightweight KOTC belts.

Mamoru Yamaguchi def Frank Baca via sub (RNC) R2, 1:54
Kotetsu Boku def Tony Hervey via unanimous dec
Toby Imada def Daisuke Hanazawa via TKO (punches) R2, 0:29
Roxanne Modafferi def Molly Helsel via sub (RNC) R2, 3:18
Tatsuya So def Shigeki Matsuda via TKO (punches) R2, 3:48
Shungo Oyama def Mark Wimmer via sub (heel hook) R1, 1:07
Koji Kanechika def "Scary" Jerry Vrbanovic via unanimous dec
Jerry Nelson def Shinsho Anzai via split dec
Zach Hayden def Black Dragon via sub (RNC) R1, 0:29
Tomohiro Adanya def Toyoshi Miyagi via unanimous dec
Shinya Kumawaza def Steve Hecht via sub (armbar) R1, 2:14
Tsuyoshi Tamaki def Bryon Schnell via sub (RNC) R3 2:28
Donald Shaw def Riku Inafuku TKO (punches) R1 2:26

MMA Blaster 2009 Awards

2009 was a great year for mixed martial arts. We saw some devastating KO's, crazy submissions, and entertaining fights. Unlike the sham that is the World MMA Awards, as it should be called UFC awards, these awards look at fights that occur worldwide.

Fighter of the Year Zuffa: Jose Aldo- Jose worked his way up the WEC's 145 pound ladder with ease. His year was highlighted with a stunning TKO of Mike Brown for the title. Jose also KO'd Cub Swanson with a flying knee in 8 seconds and TKO'd Chris Mickle and Rolando Perez.

Runners Up: Anderson Silva, who defended his belt against Thales Leites then KO'd Forrest Griffin. Georges St. Pierre, who won a decision over Thiago Alves, then TKO'd BJ Penn. Lyoto Machida, who had two big time KO's over Rashad Evans and Thiago Silva. However, he got extremely lucky in the Rua fight.

Fighter of the Year Outside Zuffa: Marius Zaromskis- Marius went 4-0 in 2009 winning the Dream Welterweight Grand Prix. The head kick was Zaromskis' weapon of choice, as he annihilated Mach Sakarai, Jason High and Myeon Ho Bae with the devastating strike. In the first round of the tournament, Zaromskis defeated solid veteran Seichi Ikemoto.

Runners Up: Gegard Mousasi who was 4-0 with a submission of Mark Hunt and TKO's over Babalu Sobral, Sokoudjou and Gary Goodridge. Fedor Emelianenko who had two big headlining KO's of Brett Rogers and Andrei Arlovski.

Fight of the Year: Diego Sanchez v. Clay Guida TUF 9 Finale - This fight was 100% action as both fighters laid everything on the line. Diego threw everything and the kitchen sink at Guida, including a barrage of uppercuts, head kicks, takedowns and ground and pound.

Runners Up: Randy Couture v. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mike Brown v. Urijah Faber, Nate Quarry v. Tim Credeur, Donald Cerrone v. Benson Henderson, Abel Cullum v. Hideo Tokoro, Conor Heun v. Jorge Gurgel, David Heath v. Mike Nickels

Knockout of the Year Leg: Dan Hornbuckle's head kick KO of Akhiro Gono at Sengoku 9th Battle. Hornbuckle set up the kick by grabbing Gono's right foot, planting his own left foot and then driving his right shin into Gono's head. Gono dropped like a stone with his neck landing on the rope and his head smashing against the canvas.

Runners Up: Marius Zaromskis' head kick of Jason High for the Dream WW GP title, Marius Zaromskis' head kick and punches over Mach Sakarai, Jose Aldo's knee over Cub Swanson, Dave Herman's seated heel kicks over Jim York

Knockout of the Year- Hands: Fedor Emelianenko's KO of Andrei Arlovski at Affliction: Day of Reckoning. Andrei Arlovski was winning the stand-up battle early, landing punches and utilizing his height advantage. However, Arlovski got a little cocky and went for a flying knee. He was met with a right hand heard round the world and the one punch sent Arlovski into the astral plane.

Runners Up: Dan Henderson's KO of Michael Bisping, Lyoto Machida's KO of Rashad Evans, Fedor Emelianenko's KO of Brett Rogers, Yahir Reyes's spinning backfist over Estevan Payan

Submission of the Year: Toby Imada's inverted triangle over Jorge Masvidal at Bellator Fighting Championship 4. From a scramble off a misguided Masvidal single, Imada locked in the rare inverted triangle with Masvidal standing, eventually choking him unconscious and sending him to the canvas.

Runners Up: Shinya Aoki's hammerlock over Mizuto Hirota, Demian Maia's triangle over Chael Sonnen, BJ Penn's rear naked choke over Kenny Florian, Naoyuki Kotani's head scissors over Daisuke Nakamura

Top Up and Coming Fighter- Zuffa: Johnny Hendricks- The NCAA champion wrestler went 3-0 in 2009, pushing his record to a perfect 7-0. Hendricks burst on the scene in 2009, TKO'ing TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah in his UFC debut. He also had dominant decision wins over Ricardo Funch in the UFC and Alex Serdyukov in the WEC.

Runner Up: Evan Dunham- The Oregon native went 3-0 in 2009 including 2 victories in the UFC over Marcus Auerelio and Per Eklund. He has 2010 off to a bang with a nasty submission win over TUF 8 winner Efrain Escudero. Now has a perfect 10-0 record.

Top Up and Coming Fighter- Outside Zuffa: Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal- King Mo went 4-0 in 2009, TKO'ing Mike Whitehead, Mark Kerr and Yukai Nakao. He also had a dominant decision over Ryo Kawamura. King Mo, who possesses insane athletic ability and wrestling skills, seems poised to take the next step in competition.

Runner Up- Tyron Woodley- former University of Missouri star wrestler went 4-0 in 2009, pushing his record to 6-0. All of his fights ended in submission, including 3 in Strikeforce.

Video of the Day - Imada v. Masvidal

Here is the MMA Blaster award winner for Submission of the Year 2009, Toby Imada v. Jorge Masvidal which took place at Bellator Fighting Championships 4 on 5/1/09.