Bellator 44 Recap and Results:

By: William Holmes

Bellator comes live tonight from Caesar’s Casino in Atlantic City, and I got to witness an action packed card with a lively crowd.  Bellator did an excellent job with keeping the fights flowing and entertaining the crowd tonight, and the results are as follows.

Undercard:

Randy Smith (11-8-1) vs. Jamall Johnson (2-1)

Never judge a book by its cover. This was actually the last fight of the card, but it was not televised.  By the time these two heavyweights entered the cage half of the crowd had already left. Jamall Johnson wins the walkout song of the night award, as he came out to “ Come Fly With Me” by Frank Sinatra.  This fight looks like an apparent mismatch when both fighters walk into the cage, with Johnson clearly being the more in shape fighter and Smith looking pretty soft around the edges.   Randy Smith landed some surprisingly solid strikes in the first and second round, perhaps surprising Johnson. Smith’s height and reachseemed to be a problem for Johnson, and it would not have been unreasonable to score the first and second rounds for him.  However, Johnson was able to pull off a couple of takedowns in the first and second round, and winds up winning with a rear naked choke while only having one leg hook in.

Gemiyale Adkins (6-1) vs. Jay Silva (6-4)

Silva dominated Atkins from the start, showing an impressive display of high kicks throughout the three rounds.  His strikes were crisper, louder, and more effective.  Adkins spend most of the fight hanging onto Silva’s legs in many attempts to take him down, only to have Silva pummel him from the top sprawl position.  The fight was shortly stopped in the first round as a knee landed on Adkins head while he was on the ground.  The fight was nearly stopped in the third round as Silva landed some brutal knees to the body.  The third round ended with Adkins hanging onto Silva’s leg in a failed takedown attempt, a position he had throughout most of the fight.  Silva gets the much needed win

Anthony Leone (8-2) vs. Jeff Lentz (6-3)

Leone starts off the fight well in the first round with some nice leg kicks that appear to hurt Lentz.  Steven Seagal’s influence must be spreading throughout the MMA world, as Lentz attempted the” Seagal front kick” that was used by Machida and Anderson Silva multiple times throughout the fight.  Second and third round is all Lentz as he presses the action and maintained an advantageous position when the fight goes to the ground.  Lentz wins the fight 29-28 on all three judge’s cards.

Bryan Goldsby (15-11) vs. Anthony Morrison (17-10)

The Morrison vs. Goldsby fight got canceled as Morrison failed to make weight. Somehow this author was not surprised, as the lightest Morrison has ever fought was at featherweight, with some fights previously at lightweight.  It has to be embarrassing for a fighter to sign for a fight with a major promotion and not make weight.

Televised Card:

Brett Cooper (13-6) vs. Alexander Shlemenko (30-5)

A quick summary of this fight it goes like this, spinning back fist lands again, and again, and again, and again, and again for Shlemenko.  This was an entertaining bout with Shmelenko controlling with entertaining strikes, and Cooper making a late push at the end of the third round, but not enough to get the come from behind victory.  Shlemenko’s striking was obviously a class above the striking of Cooper, as he winds the decision and advances to the Season 5 middleweight tournament.  Shlemenko was a pleasure to watch tonight, but it is doubtful he will be able to land as many spinning back fists as he did tonight against higher quality opposition.

Giedrius Karavackas (4-1) vs. Sam Orepeza (4-1)

This fight got bumped to the television portion of the card, as the Goldsby vs. Morrison fight got canceled due to Morrison failing to make weight. Sam Orepeza had a very large contingent from the Philadelphia, who their way to Atlantic City to cheer their fighter on.  The chants of “Sammy O” were very loud at the arena.  This was a great back and forth fight with Oropeza winning the first and second round with superior striking.  Third round started with Karavackas needing a stoppage for the victory.  Karavackas landed an early takedown on Orepeza and transitions to side control while maintaining a tight headlock.  Karavackas holds for it nearly three minutes as he continues to pound on Orepeza lays there helpless.  It appeared that Karavackas was headed to a 10-8 round victory before he transitions to some type of combination headlock/neck crank while trapping Orepeza’s arm with his legs, to get the tap.  Great fight, as Karavackas silences the crowd cheering for Sam Orepeza with a come from behind victory.

Falaniko Vitale (29-9) vs. Hector Lombard (27-2-1)

The outcome of this fight will tell us a lot about Hector Lombard, as he fights a long time veteran of the sport who has fought for everyone including the UFC, Strikeforce, and the IFL.  An impressive victory here will surely catapult Lombard in the rankings.  Fight starts off very slowly, with Lombard stalking.  Hardest hit of the first two rounds was a kick below the belt by Vitale on Lombard, as neither fighter seemed to really want to press the action.  The crowd was booing throughout the first two rounds.  Third round starts off, then ends sudden as Lombard lands a hard right hand, sending Vitale stumbling on his feet than falling on his back as he loses his balance.  Lombard must have known he hurt him with that right, as he had time to follow after Vitale fell but didn’t.  The referee saves Vitale from any unneeded punishment giving Lombard a KO 53 seconds into the third round.

Patricky “ Pitbull” Freire (9-1) vs. Michael Chandler (7-0)

This was the last fight on the televised card, with the winner getting a shot at Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez.  Patricky Pitbull has been on a tear recently, and came into the fight as the favorite.  First round was close, with both fighters attempting to feel each other out.  Pitbull was throwing more combinations and Chandler appeared content with throwing a few jabs then backing up.  At the end of the first round Chandler pointed at his chin taunting Pitbull, and must have felt that he could handle Pitbull’s power.  Close round to call.  In the second round Chandler greatly picked up the pace, and back and forth action ensued, which featured Pitbull almost flying over the cage.  During one of the exchanges Chandler bloodied Pitbull’s lip and landed a knee to the groin of Pitbull that caused a stop to the action.  Second round ended with Chandler on top landing vicious ground and pound.  Third round started with Chandler losing a point for landing another low blow.  It was a great third round with Chandler landing solid jabs, and two crowd pleasing slams.  Despite the point deduction in the third round, Michael Chandler comes out the victor with a unanimous decision, and looked impressive in doing so.  Eddie Alvarez will have a very tough challenger in front of him in his next fight.

Overall, a great event from Bellator.  Post fight thoughts and press conference quotes to follow.