The Bellator 109 fight card from the Sands Event Center in Bethleham, Pennsylvania kicked off with six preliminary card bouts with Bellator prospects Blagoi Ivanov, Goiti Yamauchi, Bubba Jenkins and Brent Primus walking away with victories.
Ivanov had to weather an early storm from Keith Bell and he landed several significant strikes early in the fight. One of the strikes that Bell landed was a flying knee.
Bell attempted to finish the fight with strikes against the cage, but Ivanov was able to survive and break away from the cage.
After a brief striking exchange, Ivanov was able to get the fight to the ground and was able to get the back of Bell. Once on his back, he went for the rear-naked choke and Bell would tap out quickly.
Ivanov (9-0, 1NC) improves to 4-0 in Bellator, with two of those victories coming during this season. He will likely be one of the men in the next heavyweight tournament, which is likely to take place at the beginning of 2014.
Yamauchi wins by knockout against Almeida
Goiti Yamauchi is one of the best featherweight prospects in Bellator and he scored his first knockout victory of his career as he defeated Saul Almeida in the first round
The bout opened with the fighters striking before they engaged in the clinch. Yamauchi would be able to break away from the clinch and landed several significant strikes. They began to brawl with each other and Yamauchi landed a right hand that dropped Almeida. As Almeida fell to the mat, the referee came in to stop the fight.
Yamauchi (16-1) has won eleven fights in a row, but he did miss weight by more than six pounds yesterday. It’s unknown if there was an injury that did not allow him to cut weight, but he is a fighter that could be placed into an upcoming Bellator featherweight tournament.
Jenkins uses wrestling to score third round stoppage victory
Bubba Jenkins scored his second victory inside the Bellator cage as he defeated Ian Rammel by TKO in the third round.
As the fight opened, Rammel attempted to surprise Jenkins by shooting for a takedown, but the attempt was stopped and Jenkins took the fight to the ground. He would be able to keep the fight on the ground and work his top game. The fight would get stood up after a lack of action, but Jenkins took the fight right back to the ground and the round ended in this position.
Jenkins was able to continue to control the fight in the second round as he immediately scored a takedown. Rammel would not be able to get off his back during the round and Jenkins was able to stay active, so the referee would not stand them up.
In the final round, it only took Jenkins 14 seconds to get the fight to the ground and started to land several significant strikes on the mat. After seeing that Rammel was hurt, Jenkins went in for the finish and the referee came in to call the fight.
Jenkins (5-1) has now won two of his three fights in Bellator and all of his victories have come by stoppage. This was only the second time in short career that he has made it to the third round and both of this victories in Bellator have come by TKO.
Once again, Primus wins by 1st Round rear-naked choke submission
Brent Primus remained undefeated on Friday night as he improved to 4-0 with a first round rear-naked choke submission victory over Brett Glass.
The fighters clinched early in the fight before Primus was able to get the fight to the ground. Once on the ground, Primus would be able to pass to the full mount position and transition to the back of Glass. He immediately went for the rear-naked choke and Glass would submit to the hold.
Primus (4-0) has won his first two fights in Bellator and both of the victories have come in the third minute of the opening round. He is one of the best lightweight prospects in Bellator’s lightweight division and could be placed into a tournament in 2014.
The complete Bellator 109 preliminary card results are below.
Mike Bannon def. Ahsan Abdullah via technical submission (arm triangle choke) – Round 1, 1:51
Blagoi Ivanov def. Keith Bell via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:59
Goiti Yamauchi def. Saul Almeida via KO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:04
Bubba Jenkins def. Ian Rammel via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 2:38
Brent Primus def. Brett Glass via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:20
Lester Caslow def. Jay Haas via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 2:44