Bellator 17 5/6 Re-Cap

Bellator 17
Bellator Fighting Championships
Wang Theatre
Boston, MA
May 6, 2010
Fox Sports South

Tonight we have the semi-finals of the Lightweight tournament and a super fight between current Lightweight Champion and former UFC slugger Josh Neer. Sean Wheelock and Jimmy Smith are the announcers for the show.

Lightweight Semi-Final Fight- Toby Imada (26-13) vs. Carey Vanier (8-2)

Imada beat James Krause in the first round by arm bar submission in the second round. Vanier beat Joe Duarte by TKO in the third round of their fight. Vanier has won 7 straight fights and has finished 7 of his 8 wins (5 KOs). Vanier has been mentored by Roger Huerta earlier in his career so that's a good story if they both advance to the finals. Imada has finished 25 of his 26 wins with 16 coming by submission. Vanier has a background in wrestling and Imada has a background in judo.

R1- Vanier tried an early take down and had to struggle for it but completed it within the first minute of the fight. Imada quickly got back to his feet with no damage taken. Vanier threw two quick kicks and partially landed one and then landed a strike. Vanier is looking good early. Imada grabbed Vanier and tried a submission but ended up on his back. Imada went for a knee bar but Vanier got out and then got a take down straight to full mount. They stood back up and both landed some strikes in the clinch. Vanier hit a sick German Suplex. Good first round. I give round one to Vanier 10-9 but I think he's going to have a tough time winning this fight unless it goes to decision.

R2- Imada landed a good knee early in the round. Imada is more aggressive this round and landed some strikes and then grabbed a knee bar. Vanier was able to escape but Imada tried for an arm bar and Vanier had to tap. Really impressive showing for Toby Imada in round two. Good fight!

Winner: Toby Imada by Submission (Arm Bar) R2 3:33

Lightweight Semi-Final Fight- Roger Huerta (21-3-1) vs. Pat Curran (10-3)

Tournament favorite Roger Huerta advanced in the first round by submitting Chad Hinton in round three with a knee bar. Pat Curran finished his first round fight against Mike Ricci via knockout in the very first round. Jeff Curran is in Pat's corner for the fight. The winner of this fight will face Toby Imada in the tournament finals for a shot at the Lightweight Title and Eddie Alvarez.

R1- Curran snapped off a head kick in the opening moments but it deflected off of Huerta's noggin and did not damage him. Not a lot of action in the round. I felt like Curran scored more with strikes. Huerta started to come on towards the end of the round but I gave the round to Curran 10-9.

R2- Huerta lands some early leg kicks. Huerta is much more aggressive this round. Curran went for a take down but was denied. Huerta took this round and I've got it 19-19 after two rounds.

R3- Lots of clinching early in the round with Curran landing knees and Huerta landing strikes to Curran's thigh. Huerta went for a take down but Curran slipped out. Both guys really starting to throw some leather as we get down to under two minutes left in the fight and it's anybody's fight to win. Huerta took Curran's back and took him down. Curran switched out and landed a knee and then let Huerta go. One minute left and whoever is more impressive in this last minute will probably take the fight. Curran got a take down with 50 seconds left but Huerta immediately got up. Huerta looked like he landed more strikes down the stretch. Razor thin fight that's probably going to go to Huerta since he was pushing forward more in that round. Realistically this would be a 9-9 or 10-10 round and this should be a draw but if you have to pick someone i'll pick Huerta but only by an eye lash. Would like to see some CompuStrike stats for this fight.

Judges score cards: 29-28 on all score cards

Winner: Pat Curran by Decision (Unanimous)

Well Bellator has to be upset with that upset as they were clearly banking on Huerta to fight Eddie Alvarez. The Lightweight Finals are now set with Toby Imada against Pat Curran and the winner facing Eddie Alvarez.

Catchweight Fight (160 lbs)- Eddie Alvarez vs. Josh Neer

Bellator just jumps right into this fight without the intro that they usually do. Strange. Alvarez holds the Bellator Lightweight Championship but this is a non-title fight as it's being contested at a catchweight.

R1- Alvarez got a take down with a minute and a half gone from the round. Alvarez landed some strikes. Alvarez really controlling Neer through the first three minutes of the fight. Alvarez lands more good strikes from the top position. Alvarez mounted and landed some good strikes but Neer was able to flip him over and Alvarez got back to his feet. Alvarez got another take down with under a minute left in the round. Alvarez passed guard and mounted again but didn't have a chance to do much more damage. Borderline 10-8 round as he just dominated Neer. Neer has shown the ability in the past to absorb a lot of punishment and continue to fight so he's still in this fight but not for long if he continues to allow Alvarez to take him down.

R2- Neer landed some strikes but then got taken down. Neer has been busted open over his eye. Alvarez took Neer's back and clamped in a Rear Naked Choke while Neer was on his feet and Neer collapsed and this fight is over. Fantastic fight by Eddie Alvarez. Neer is not at the level of Alvarez but Neer was the bigger fighter so this is a pretty big win for Alvarez considering how convincingly he destroyed Neer.

Winner: Eddie Alvarez by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2 2:08

Heavyweight Fight- Pat Bennett (1-0) vs. Cole Konrad (2-0)

Konrad is a two-time NCAA wrestling champion and trains with Brock Lesnar. Konrad had to cut weight to make the Heavyweight limit.

R1- Bennett threw strikes early but then got clinched and taken down within the first minute of the fight. Konrad is smothering Bennett and it looks like Bennett is bleeding from the mouth. Konrad mounted with a minute left in the round. Bennett gave up his back and then Konrad flipped him back over. Konrad going to town on Bennett as the round ends. Borderline 10-8 round.

R2- This is the first time Konrad has been into the second round of a fight and he's noticeably tired. His biggest weakness so far is his conditioning and based on his size he could easily get into better shape. This second round has been like one of those TUF fights where the guys are just exhausted. Konrad starts to land a couple of strikes. Konrad took this round but only because I can't remember Bennett throwing a strike in it. Why is this fight on after Alvarez/Neer?

R3- Bennett comes out quickly with a flurry but didn't land anything. Bennett threw some leather up against the cage and looked like he landed a good one that momentarily stunned Konrad. Bennett took this round but Konrad won the fight. If Konrad seriously wants to be an MMA fighter then he needs to drop some weight and get in better shape. He clearly had cardio issues and it was probably a combination of dropping so much weight and carrying extra weight. He looked good in the first round but if he was in there against a high level striker he would have been toast. It's only his 3rd pro fight so he's got a lot of time to correct his issues but it's time to hit the gym.

"There comes a time when you want to win or you just want the fight to be over. I think Cole Konrad may just want the fight to be over"- Jimmy Smith

Judges score card: 30-26, 29-28, 30-27. Not sure how Konrad won that last round as he didn't do anything but he definitely won the fight. He got a round of boos from the fans after the fight.

Winner: Cole Konrad by Decision (Unanimous)

Next week is the Featherweight Semi-Finals. Georgi Karakhanyan fights Joe Warren and Wilson Reis fights Patricio Pitbull. Should be two good fights. They also say Hector Lombard will fight Paulo Filho in a Super Fight but shockingly (sarcasm) there have been reports the Filho has pulled out of that fight.