In the first of many visits to the state of Oklahoma this year, Bellator kicked off its 145 lb. tournament with 4 Quarterfinals Saturday night. Patricio "Pitbull" Friere (brother of welterweight Patricky "Pitbull") secured his ticket to the semi-finals with a 3rd round TKO victory over Armenian Georgi Karakhanyan. Taking in the main event with commentators Sean Wheelock and Jimmy Smith was the man whom defeated Friere in the finals of the season 2 featherweight tournament, current champ Joe Warren.
Friere improves to 15-1 with the stoppage, the only loss coming at the hands of the aformentioned Bellator featherweight kingpin.
Other winners include 2 time Wilson Reis defeating Zac George by rear naked choke at just over 2 minutes of round 1, as well as Kenny Foster handing Eric Larkin his first career loss in the opening bout of the night, due to a 1st round guillotine choke.
However, the fight of the night (very well might be the round of the night as well) featured 14-2 prospect Daniel Straus and Argentinian Nazareno Malegarie, who was bringing in the best record in MMA and current longest undefeated streak (19-0) at the time. In an entertaining back and forth contest, we saw 3 rounds of 2 guys never backing down, with Straus slamming Malegarie into the mat almost as many times as we saw heel hook attempts by the Argentine. After the 15 minute affair, the judges handed the fight to the American on all 3 score cards 29-28, Handing Malegarie the first loss of his career.
Tune in next week for the 1st round of the promotions inaugural 205 lb. tournament, on the Score in Canada at 9 pm Saturday night.
Until next time, fight fans.
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