Ben Askren (photo) defended his welterweight title for the fourth time. Photo: Bellator/Disclosure
One of the greatest cards ever produced in Bellator history lived up to all the expectations generated before its release. On Wednesday night (31), in Rio Rancho (USA), the rival organization of Ultimate promoted its 97th edition, which featured nine knockouts and belt defenses by Ben Askren and Michael chandler – two of the main champions of the event.
Chandler was brilliant in his victory. It took the lightweight title holder just 44 seconds to knock out David Rickels. Askren dominated Andrei Koreshkov throughout the fight, until achieving victory by technical knockout in the fourth round. The welterweight champion's superiority was such that he, using his wrestling sharp, he ended the fight with 248 blows, compared to just three from Koreshkov.
In addition to the belt defenses, the event also featured two GP finals – which give the winner the right to fight for the title. In the first of them, in the heavyweight division, Vitaly Minakov beat Ryan Martinez, you guessed it, by knockout and qualified to face his compatriot Alexander Volkov. In the second, for the light heavyweights, King mo Lawal knocked out Jacob Noe and now faces the winner of the fight between champion Attila Vegh and challenger Emanuel Newton – no date has yet been set.
The event also featured three Brazilians. The first of them, the light weight Patrick Pitbull, scored another knockout on the night by landing a beautiful straight right on Jared Downing. The other two faced each other. The victory went to Rafael Morcego, who submitted Rodrigo Ratinho and qualified for the bantamweight GP decision.
Check out all the results from Bellator 97 below:
Michael chandler David Rickels by knockout R1;
Ben Askren won Andrei Koreshkov by technical knockout in R4;
King mo Lawal beat Jacob Noe via TKO in R3;
Vitaly Minakov beat Ryan Martinez via TKO in R3;
Patrick Pitbull beat Jared Downing by knockout in R2;
Will Brooks beat Cris Leyva by TKO in R3;
Rafael Morcego submitted Rodrigo Ratinho with a rear naked choke in R3;
Anthony Leone submitted Frank Baca with a rear naked choke in R3;
Bubba Jenkins beat Mike Barreras by technical knockout in R2;
Javier Palacios beat Richard Jacques by unanimous decision of the judges;
Jeremy Kimball beat Keith Berry by knockout in R2;
Adrian Cruz beat Felipe Chavez by technical knockout in R1;
Donald Sanchez beat Cliff Wright via split decision;
Shawn Bunch beat Russell Wilson via split decision.
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