Entering the night, Bellator 119 was by far the least appealing card of the promotion's 10th season.
The main event was the Season 10 featherweight tournament final between Desmond Green and Daniel Weichel. Weichel asserted his dominance early, stuffing Green's takedowns with little trouble and working him over with strikes to the body.
Early in the second round, Weichel wobbled Green with a big right hand. He followed him to the ground and continued pouring on punishment before finishing him with a rear-naked choke. It was an impressive performance that gets him a title shot...eventually.
Who put in the best performance?
The featherweight title picture is a mess right now as Pat Curran looks to defend his recently re-earned belt from Patricio Freire in June. The winner of that bout faces off with former contender Daniel Straus. And at some point Season 8 tournament winner Frodo Khasbulaev will probably get a title shot if he ever re-enters the United States. That likely leaves Weichel waiting for his title shot for over a year.
Past the main event, the card was rife with wilting veterans looking to regain footing.
The co-main event saw John Alessio rough up an undersized Eric Wisely. The size difference between the two was clear from the get-go, and Alessio used it to his advantage as he effortlessly kept Wisely at a comfortable range and peppered him with strikes.
Marius Zaromskis channeled some of the magic he had when he was fighting for Dream. In a main card bout opposite Vaughn Anderson (better known as the guy who choked out War Machine last year), the Lithuanian dazzled the overmatched Canadian with lethal combinations of kicks.
On the preliminary card, Brian Rogers scored a much-needed win in impressive fashion. After wounding Adrian Miles, he uncorked a flying knee that led to a walk-off knockout. While it wasn't quite as impressive as his career-defining knockout of Vitor Vianna, it was still one that caused even desensitized MMA fans to recoil.
Featherweight pioneer Marlon Sandro got back in the win column after an early exit from Bellator's Season 8 tournament by outworking WEC castoff Chris Horodecki to the tune of a 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 unanimous decision. The bout was inexplicably unaired, which is frankly a disservice to the fans given how bad some of the other fights on this card were and how many featured random unknowns.
Esperando a luta do Marlon Sandro no @BellatorMMA Waiting the fight of Marlon !!! @SpikeTV pic.twitter.com/uFxojLl8yu
— Eduardo Dantas (@DuduDantasMMA) May 9, 2014
The full results are as follows:
- Daniel Weichel defeats Des Green by submission via rear-naked choke at 2:07 of Round 2.
- John Alessio defeats Eric Wisely by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
- Marius Zaromskis defeats Vaughn Anderson by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27).
- Raphael Butler vs. Nick Rossborough ends in Majority Draw (28-27, 28-28, 28-28).
- Brian Rogers defeats Adrian Miles by knockout via flying knee at 1:29 of Round 2.
- Jason Meisel defeats Remy Bussieres by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27).
- Malcolm Gordon defeats Chris Kelades by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28).
- Behrang Yousefi defeats Chad Freeman by submission via triangle choke at 2:47 of Round 1.
- Marlon Sandro defeats Chris Horodecki by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27).
