Bellator 107 took place on Friday night at the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma and Cheick Kongo defeated Peter Graham by unanimous decision to win the season nine heavyweight tournament.
Kongo (20-8-2) was able to use his striking to get the victory along with effective grappling. He was able to get the fight to the mat on a couple of occasions including two times in the final round.
The final round had the biggest exchanges between the fighters with Graham being able to land several strikes on the ground. However, Kongo was able to reverse the position and land short elbows that opened up a cut over the left eye of Graham.
Graham was unable to land a potential fight ending blow before the final bell sounded and all three judges had the fight 30-27 for Kongo. He now secures himself a title fight in the Bellator heavyweight division and will meet the winner of next week’s title fight between Alexander Volkov and Vitaly Minakov next year.
Warren makes history, wins bantamweight tournament
Joe Warren made Bellator history at Bellator 107 as he became only the second fighter in Bellator history to win a Bellator tournament in two different weight classes.
Warren was able to use four takedowns to control the action as Marx had issues getting off his back. Marx did go for a guillotine choke in the first round, but Warren was able to escape and control the remained of the round.
As the second round opened, Warren appeared confident with his strikes and even threw a flying knee. He would get the fight back to the ground and as Marx was working his way up, Warren landed a knee. He would follow up the knee with punches and referee Jason Herzog came in to stop the fight.
Warren (10-3) has won three straight fights since dropping down to the bantamweight division and he will now get a crack at the Bellator bantamweight title in 2014.
Ward wins middleweight tournament by 2nd Round TKO
The middleweight tournament wrapped up on Friday night as Brennan Ward secure his title shot as he defeated Mikkel Parlo by TKO in the second round.
Parlo was able to find success in the opening round by stopping the takedown attempts of Ward, and controlling the round with his clinching against the fence. However, he would be unable to carry that success into the second round.
After an exchange of strikes in the opening minute of the second round, Ward was able to close the distance and landed several punches to the body. Parlo was unable to defend the body shots and Ward went for the finish with punches against the fence. After Parlo was not defending himself, referee Kerry Hatley came in to call the fight.
Ward (9-1) won all of his tournament bouts in the second round, with two of the wins coming by TKO. He will now wait to see who he will face for the middleweight title as Alexander Shlemenko will make his next title defense in two weeks when he is challenged by season eight tournament winner Doug Marshall.
Campos wins second straight fight in Bellator
In the opening bout of the Bellator 107 main card, Derek Campos won his fourth straight fight and second straight in Bellator as he defeated Martin Stapleton by unanimous decision.
The bout opened with the fighters exchanging strikes before Campos took the fight to the ground. Stapleton was able to get back to his feet, but Campos got the fight right back to the ground. Once on the ground, he attempted a rear-naked choke and tranistioned to an armbar submission. Stapleton would escape and the fight moved into the second round.
A majority of the second round would be on the feet as Campos struggled to get the fight to the ground in the first half of the round. The fight would end up on the ground when Campos landed a counter right hand. He would be able to keep the fight on the ground and control the fight.
His control continued in the final round as he got the fight to the ground early, and Stapleton would not be able to get off his back. In fact, Stapleton would only land three strikes in the round, compared to the 21 that Campos landed.
The fight went to the judges scorecards and all three judges scored the fight 30-27 for Campos (13-3). He has now won back to back fights in Bellator this year and his last two wins have come by unanimous decision.
The complete Bellator 107 Results are below:
Main Card: (Spike TV)
Cheick Kongo def. Peter Graham via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Joe Warren def. Travis Marx via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:56
Brennan Ward def. Mikkel Parlo via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:39
Derek Campos def. Martin Stapleton via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Preliminary Card: (Spike.com)
Patricky Pitbull def. Edson Berto via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
Jonas Billstein def. Cortez Coleman via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Mike Mucitelli def. Ryan McCurdy via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Raphael Butler def. Josh Burns via verbal submission (strikes) – Round 1, 2:14
Linton Vassell def. Matt Jones via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)