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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
BELLATOR MMA/GLORY "DYNAMITE 1"
SEPTEMBER 19, 2015
LIVE FROM SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA
-We get a video package hyping tonight's competitors as "warriors" and "modern-day samurai." Lenne Hardt then kicks us off from the bottom of the ramp, welcoming the audience to the event. Looks like they're announcing the whole card and bringing them on stage before anything else happens tonight. Very different feel, for sure. Reminiscent of the kick off to Strikeforce's heavyweight grand prix. Add some pyro to the mix with everyone on the stage. Alright then.
-Time for a hype video for the four-man tournament, with Scott Coker comparing it to early UFC tournaments and Pride's heyday.
FIGHT ONE: MUHAMMED "KING MO" LAWAL VS. LINTON VASSELL (LHW TOURNEY OPENING ROUND)
ROUND ONE: Vassell threw a few early jabs, then Lawal hurt him with a big right hand. He didn't take advantage of the spot, though. Vassell shot in and tried for a takedown to no avail, but it gave him time to recover. Lawal landed a hard straight right hand. Lawal connected on a sloppy combination. Vassell started firing back after a dull and tentative minute. Lawal caught a kick and landed a couple of punches. Vassell shot in but got stuffed. They got booed as things stalled in a clinch. Lawal hurt Vassell against the cage and started throwing. Vassell was hurt but tried to fire back and slipped. He locked on a clinch and slowed it back down to the horn.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Lawal. Good round for Lawal, but in a two round fight anything could happen here.
ROUND TWO: Lawal tried to press the pace early, but Vassell started coming back fairly strong. He landed some significant kicks to the legs and the body before the midway point. Lawal managed to get some offense back in. He rocked Vassell with a left. He got back in with a right hand. He didn't follow up from there. Vassell shot for a takedown, picked Lawal up, then dropped him on his head. He passed quickly to full mount. Lawal scrambled out and scored a slam of his own. Vassell worked up to hi feet slowly, but it forced him to eat a few more shots. He tried to hold Lafwal off and eventually worked to his feet, but with no time to do anything.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Lawal. Pretty straightforward here. He was better through two rounds.
WINNER: Lawal via decision (no scores announces)
STAR RATING: (**-) Very little overall to it. Vassell got cracked a few times, couldn't do the cracking himself. In and out for Lawal into the finals bout later tonight.
FIGHT TWO: PHIL DAVIS VS. EMANUEL NEWTON (LHW TOURNEY OPENING ROUND)
ROUND ONE: Newton landed some opening kicks. Davis fired back. They traded kicks with Davis landing some better strikes. Things slowed down significantly and led to some boos. Davis got his back standing off an ill-advised spin kick from Newton, then dragged him to the ground. Davis went for the choke. Newton briefly got to his feet, but got dragged back down. He went for a kimura, stepped over Newton's head, and then gave it up. Davis dragged him down and took his back. He landed some strikes and tried to take his back. Newton got to his feet, but again got dragged down. This time Davis set up for a guillotine choke. He lost it, but took Newton back down again. Newton tried to escape, but this time Davis got the kimura lock on and forced the tap late in the first round. There's win number one for Davis.
WINNER: Davis via submission (kimura) at 4:39 of the first round.
STAR RATING: (**) Good work from Davis. Proved he was better in the opening round, and that's one fight down of two for him tonight.
-We've got kickboxing action next, and the call moves to Mauro Ranallo and Steven Quadros. As we don't typically cover kickboxing, we'll have quick thoughts on the overall bouts here from Glory before we kick back to MMA coverage.
-Keri Anne Taylor-Melendez def. Hadley Griffith via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Note: Deserved decision win from the looks of it. Also, Mauro Ranallo should just always be on commentary. Even the cringe-worthy jokes are missed in MMA.
-Paul Daley def. Fernando Gonzalez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Note: Daley was strong through two, then faded. Seemed like it'd have been more interesting as an MMA fight, to be honest.
FIGHT THREE: JOSH THOMSON VS. MIKE BRONZOULIS (LIGHTWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: Bronzoulis tried to press early. Thomson fired off a few strikes. Bronzoulis got in a few strikes close to the cage. The fight wound up on the ground with Thomson on top, but he wasn't doing much with the position. He passed to a better spot, but wasn't quite in the full mount. He scored some strikes from the top. He got in a bit of offense, then rode out the round on top.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Thomson. Not a ton to that round overall, but Thomson's extended top position gave him the clear edge.
ROUND TWO: Thomson looked to clinch pretty early, and he scored a takedown just a minute into the round. There wasn't a ton of offense from there, but Thomson stayed heavy on Bronzoulis and didn't allow him much space to get up. Bronzoulis finally escaped, but as he attempted his own takedown, Thomson took his back standing. Bronzoulis turned into him, only to eat a knee. Thomson got a little space, then came back in to score another takedown, this time getting into full mount. He ended another round on top.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Thomson. Not much to this one. Thomson's just been better throughout.
ROUND THREE: Thomson scored a quick takedown into side control, locked on an arm triangle choke, and forced the tap. Thomson's first win since stopping Nate Diaz in April of 2013.
WINNER: Thomson via submission (arm triangle choke) at :39 of the third round
STAR RATING: (**) Not much of a fight, unfortunately. Nice finish from Thomson, though, and a much needed win for the longtime vet.
Note: The best of the three kickboxing fights, but still not all that great. This card hasn't quite gone to plan for either organization.
-According to reports on social media here tonight, it appears neither "King Mo" Lawal or Linton Vassell are going to be healthy enough for the finals bout of the one night only tournament, so Francis Carmont - who won an alternate bout to kick the night off - will face Phil Davis in the finals bout. And if that isn't just the most Bellator thing...
-We get an announcement that former Pride boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara is returning to MMA promotion, and will bring a New Year's Eve card to Japan headlined by Fedor Emelianenko. It will air on Spike in the U.S.
-Also, the switch to Francis Carmont has been made official, and that fight is next.
FIGHT FOUR: PHIL DAVIS VS. FRANCIS CARMONT (LHW TOURNEY FINALS)
ROUND ONE: Carmont got in some early kicks, but there was very little action in the first couple minutes. Davis then dropped Carmont out of nowhere with a winging left, and added a few more strikes on the ground to finish it off. Expected result in this tournament, just against an unexpected opponent in the finals.
WINNER: Davis via KO at 2:15 of the first round
STAR RATING: (**) Good on Davis. He was clearly the best fighter in this field, and very likely the best light heavyweight on this roster right now. Doesn't make Bellator's roster look good, but Davis took care of business tonight. Davis said afterward he wanted to fight McGeary, but will be fine fighting Ortiz next as well.
MAIN EVENT FIGHT FIVE: LIAM MCGEARY VS. TITO ORTIZ (LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP)
ROUND ONE: Very tentative start with both in the center. Ortiz moved forward and got hit by a few strikes. Ortiz missed a couple of strikes. He shot in, got stuffed, and then McGeary went for a guillotine. He only had an arm in and lost the hold. He kept his back on the cage as Ortiz tried to drag him all the way down. Ortiz trapped an arm and looked to land some strikes. McGeary did a solid job blocking strikes. Ortiz landed a few hard strikes and continued to keep the pressure on McGeary. McGeary tried to set something up from the bottom, but Ortiz passed. McGeary attacked for an armbar but lost it. McGeary then locked on an inverted triangle from the bottom and Ortiz tapped! That's just ridiculous, but pretty much how this card had to finish, right?
WINNER: McGeary via submission (inverted triangle) 4:41 of the first round
STAR RATING: (**+) Great submission from McGeary. The rest of it was Ortiz working top game and not much more than that. The finish came out of nowhere, and it was another highlight for McGeary.
-Thanks for joining us tonight! We'll have more reactions to what happened here throughout the week as we move ahead to the UFC Fight Night card in Japan next weekend!
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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