The welterweight tournament semifinals took place on Friday night at the Nutter Center at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio with Lyman Good and Andrey Koreshkov advancing to the finals.
Both fighters scored TKO victories with Good defeating Michail Tsarev in the second round, but the fight did end in a controversy. Tsarev complained that he was poked in the eye, but the referee did not see the poke. It appeared that the referee was going to come in to pause the action to look at the eye.
However, Good rushed in and landed several strikes before the referee came in to stop the fight. The end of the fight came at the 3:54 mark of the round and this is now the second time that Good has advance to the final of the Bellator welterweight tournament.
In the other semifinal bout. Koreshkov scored a brutal knockout victory over former DREAM welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis. He landed a left hook that dropped Zaromskis and ended up landing several strikes before the referee finally came in to stop the fight. The referee should have stopped the fight before he did and Bellator commentator Jimmy Smith went off on the broadcast on how bad of a late stoppage it was.
Good and Koreshkov will now face each other in the final, which will take place later in this season and the winner win earn $100,000 and a guaranteed title shot.
The rest of the main card saw season six featherweight tournament winner Daniel Straus scored a submission victory over Alvin Robinson and Brian Rogers dominate Dominique Steele in the opening fight of the main card.
The full Bellator 78 results are below:
Main Card: (MTV2/EPIX2)
Lyman Good def. Michail Tsarev via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 3:54
Andrey Koreshkov def. Marius Zaromskis via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:14
Daniel Straus def. Alvin Robinson via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:51
Brian Rogers def. Dominique Steele via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Preliminary Card: (Spike.com)
Zoila Gurgel def. Casey Noland via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Jason Butcher def. Shaun Asher via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 1:32
Billy Horne def. Trey Houston via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:30
Mikkel Parlo def. Jared Combs via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:51
Rob Hanna def. Rocky Edwards via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Justin McNally def. Dave Blattman via submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, :38