Attila Vegh became the second ever Bellator light heavyweight champion on Thursday night in New Mexico when he defeated Christian M’Pumbu by unanimous decision.
Vegh was able to control the fight on the feet and limit the offense of M’Pumbu to win the fight on all of the judges scorecards, with the scores being 48-47, 49-46 and 50-45.
The fight will not be remembered as anything near an exciting fight and the crowd at the Santa Ana Star Center in New Mexico booed the fight from the opening round till the final bell sounded.
Vegh was the aggressor for all five rounds and did land several strikes that rocked his opponent. He had a strikes landed advantage of 81-52 and was able to take the fight to the ground on two occasions.
Vegh (29-4-2) has now won nine fights in a row and will wait to see who wins this seasons light heavyweight tournament to find out who his first title defense will be against.
Awad and Rickels advance to lightweight tournament final
The lightweight tournament semifinals also took place tonight and Saad Awad and David Rickels advance to the finals with victories on the main card. Rickels defeated Jason Fischer in the first fight on the main card with a unanimous decision victory and Awad stopped Will Brooks in 43 seconds with a knockout victory.
Rickels (13-1) was able to control his fight with Fischer on the feet and on the ground. Rickels out landed his opponent 116-43 in total strikes and dominated the fight in the third round when he attempted four submissions. At the end of the fight, the judges scored the fight 29-28, 30-27, 30-27 and this is the third straight decision win for Rickels.
In the other semifinal fight, Awad (14-4) wasted no time in getting a first round knockout over Brooks. He stunned Brooks in the opening moments of the fight and would land 20 total strikes before referee Jason Herzog would come in to call the fight. It was his second straight win in under one minute and he has now won six in a row.
Awad and Rickels will now face each other in the tournament final, which is expected to take place at Bellator 94 on March 28th at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida.
The full Bellator 91 results are below:
Main Card: (Spike TV)
Attila Vegh def. Christian M’Pumbu via unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 50-45)
Saad Awad def. Will Brooks via KO (strikes) – Round 1, :43
David Rickels def. Jason Fischer via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Preliminary Card: (Spike.com)
Holly Holm def. Katie Merrill via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 3:02
Blas Avena def. Lenny Lovato via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:40
Andreas Quintana def. Russell Wilson via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, :32
Ed West def. Josh Montoya via KO (head kick) – Round 2, 2:51
Adrian Cruz def. Nick Gonzalez via submission (scarf-hold armlock) – Round 2, 3:00
Josh Appelt def. Josh Lanier via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, :16
Brennan Ward def. Yair Moguel via submission (RNC) – Round 1, :57