Bellator 108 took place on Friday night at the Ovation Hall inside the Revel Casino in Atlantic City and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson won his Bellator debut with a knockout victory with one second left in the first round.
Rampage came out as the aggressor as the fight opened and Beltran circled around him to stay away from his punches. Much of the opening round would be fought in the clinch with them exchanging short strikes.
As the opening round was coming to a conclusion, Rampage came forward and landed a two punch combination against the cage that dropped Beltran and the referee came in to call the fight.
Rampage (33-11) snaps a three fight losing streak with this victory and this is his first wins since 2011 when he defeated Matt Hamill. He now has 15 career wins in the first round and proclaimed that he is back during his post fight interview with Jimmy Smith.
Minakov becomes third heavyweight champion in Bellator history
Vitaly Minakov made his claim as the best current Russian heavyweight mixed martial artist as he defeated Alexander Volkov to win the Bellator heavyweight title.
He was able to close the distance on his taller opponent and attempted to get the fight to the ground with a belly to belly slam. The could not complete the slam, but the fight did go to the ground and he used his strength to get the fight to the ground. The fighters would be stood up by the referee and they began to exchange strikes.
Minakov would land a right uppercut that dropped Volkov and we went for the finish on the ground. After landing a series of punches, the referee had seen enough and came in to call the fight.
Minakov (13-0) out landed Volkov 19-3 in the fight and he has won ten of his fights in the first round. His first title defense is expected to take place in early 2014 when he is challenged by season nine tournament winner Cheick Kongo.
Pitbull stops Wilcox in first round to win featherweight tournament
Patricio Pitbull became the third fighter in Bellator history to win two Bellator tournaments in the same weight class as he defeated Justin Wilcox in the season nine featherweight tournament final.
He was able to land his punches throughout the opening round as he stunned Wilcox on multiple occasions. Wilcox would be able to survive the strikes of Pitbull for the first two minutes, but the end of the fight would come at the 2:23 mark of the opening round. He dropped Wilcox with a left hand, and he finished the fight on the ground with his strikes.
Pitbull (21-2) secures himself another title shot in the Bellator featherweight division and is expected to get his title shot at some point in 2014. The now has nine wins as a featherweight in Bellator, which is the record for the most wins in Bellator featherweight division history.
Galvao wins second straight with first round TKO against McKenna
Season six bantamweight tournament winner Marcos Galvao returned to the Bellator cage on Friday night and dominated Tom McKenna to score a TKO victory in the first round.
He was able to get the fight to the ground early in the round and immediately got the back of McKenna once the fight was on the ground. He began to work his submission game and looked for a rear-naked choke. McKenna was able to survive the submission attempts and was able to get back to his feet.
However, Galvao would get the fight right back to the ground and once again, got the back of McKenna. Instead of looking for a submission this time, he threw a flurry of ground strikes and referee Keith Peterson came in to call the fight.
Galvao (15-6-1) has won back to back fights since being defeated by Bellator bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas and both of the victories have come by TKO. His last three victories have come by TKO after his first eleven victories of his career came by decision.
Main Card: (Spike TV)
Quinton Jackson def. Joey Beltran via KO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:59
Vitaly Minakov def. Alexander Volkov via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:57
Marcos Galvao def. Tom McKenna via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:29
Patricio Pitbull def. Justin Wilcox via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:23
Preliminary Card: (Spike.com)
Sam Oropeza def. Chip Moraza-Pollard via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, :37
Tom DeBlass def. Jason Lambert via KO (punch) – Round 1, 1:45
Nah-Shon Burrell def. Jesus Martinez via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Anthony Morrison def. Kenny Foster via majority decision (28-28, 29-27, 30-26)
Liam McGeary def. Najim Wali via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 1:31
Will Martinez def. Kevin Roddy via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:50
Dan Matala def. Ryan Cafaro via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 3:52
Rob Sullivan def. Sergio da Silva via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)