Bellator 144 event highlights: Carvalho takes out Ward with massive liver kick

Bellator returned on Friday with a middleweight title fight in New England – and a big upset in the main event.

In the Bellator 144 headliner, Rafael Carvalho (12-1 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) stunned former champion Brandon Halsey (9-1 MMA, 7-1 BMMA) with a massive liver kick for a second round TKO.

In the co-feature, Brennan Ward (12-3 MMA, 7-3 BMMA) scored a big first-round TKO of Dennis Olson (14-10 MMA, 0-4 BMMA). In addition, Goiti Yamauchi (19-2 MMA, 5-1 BMMA) became the first to stop Isao Kobayashi (18-3-4 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) with a third-round submission and Michael Page (9-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) got yet another first-round finish when he took out Charlie Ontiveros (6-4 MMA, 0-1 BMMA).

Check out the highlights from those bouts above.

Bellator 144 took place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The main card aired on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie.

For complete coverage of Bellator 144, check out the MMA Events section of the site.