In a thrilling, foul-filled bout, Bellator featherweight champion Patricio "Pitbull" Freire pulled out a submission victory in the waning seconds of the fourth round against Daniel Straus on Friday night.
Straus was out-striking the champion through the entire fight and had knocked Freire down with a hard right hand earlier in the fourth round. A shot to the cup from Freire seemed to break Straus' rhythm.
The challenger took an extended break and tried to get referee John McCarthy to take a point. It didn't happen.
Shortly after the fight resumed, Straus was taken down and submitted by the desperate champion via a rear-naked choke.
It was a popular maneuver on Friday night.
Straus' hands weren't clean in the way of fouls. He had a point deducted in the second for a low blow, and he also poked Freire in the eye on two occasions.
Even though the action wasn't exactly clean, the fight was everything a main event should be. Welterweight champion Douglas Lima loved the bout and offered encouragement to the hard-luck loser:
That was a great fight!!! Congrats Pitbull and head up Straus you'll be back! #Bellator132
— Douglas Lima (@PhenomLima) January 17, 2015
Freire seemed to expect Straus to use his wrestling to gain an advantage as he had in their first meeting four years ago. Straus dropped that bout via unanimous decision, and thus he chose a different strategy. Until he was choked out, it was working. Using his length, speed and ability to change levels, Straus was well on his way to dethroning Pitbull.
A tactical error on the ground cost him a win in what was otherwise a great performance. It'll take a while before the sting of this loss goes away.
Check out the results of every fight on the card.
| Preliminaries: Spike.com at 8 p.m. ET | ||
| Matchup | Weight Class | Result |
| Everett Cummings vs. Jason Glaza | Heavyweight | Cummings by submission (Round 2) |
| Jonathan Rivera vs. Steve Kozola | Lightweight | Kozola by KO (Round 2) |
| Derek Anderson vs. Danny Navarro | Lightweight | Anderson by TKO (Round 3) |
| Fabian Gonzalez vs. Albert Morales | Bantamweight | Morales by submission (Round 2) |
| Chris Herrera vs. Luc Bondole | Middleweight | Herrera by KO (Round 2) |
| Main Card: Spike TV at 10 p.m. ET | ||
| Matchup | Weight Class | Result |
| Fernando Gonzalez vs. Marius Zaromskis | Welterweight | Gonzalez by unanimous decision (30-27x3) |
| Virgil Zwicker vs. Houston Alexander | Light Heavyweight | Zwicker by split decision (29-28x2, 27-30) |
| Bubba Jenkins vs. Georgi Karakhanyan | Featherweight | Karakhanyan by submission (Round 1) |
| Patricio "Pitbull" Freire vs. Daniel Straus | Featherweight | Freire by submission (Round 4) |
Spike TV
Here's a closer look at the prelims and other main card bouts.
Prelims
Herrera Vanquishes Bondole
Luc Bondole came out guns blazing, but at the end of the day, he didn't have the heaviest artillery. He ran into a hard right hand from Herrera that turned the lights out. Check out the finish in this tweet from ZombieProphet:
"@ZProphet_MMA: VINE - Luc Bondole vs. Chris Herrera #Bellator132 https://t.co/eaLdrueBOL" took that man's soul
— .!. (@onhiatus_) January 17, 2015
Nasty and Graphic Submission by Albert Morales over Fabian Gonzalez
If you ever want to know what it looks like for one guy to beat another guy up, and then choke him out. You can click the link here (NSFW) to see the very graphic from ZombieProphet.
Gonzalez had a nasty gash open up over his nose even before Morales made him say: "uncle" via rear-naked choke.
Derek Anderson Keeps the Finishes Going
If someone wanted to show an intrigued MMA fans an undercard to get them interested in the sport, the first three bouts from Friday's card might be a good trio of scraps.
It took nearly three rounds, but ultimately Derek Anderson used a nasty combination to stop Danny Navarro.
John Salter Scores a Less Graphic RNC Submission
OK, so the loser wasn't bleeding profusely when he tapped out, but John Salter's rear-naked choke scored a submission win nonetheless. Here's a look at the finish, courtesy of ZombieProphet:
VINE - Dustin Jacoby vs. John Salter #Bellator132 https://t.co/yhWuSEJPr7
— ZombieProphet (@ZProphet_MMA) January 17, 2015
Dustin Jacoby did a good job trying to establishing a striking rhythm, but when the fight went to the mat in the second frame, Salter exerted his dominance.
Everett Cummings' Comeback Win
Things didn't start well for Everett Cummings on Friday. Jason Glaza was controlling the action throughout the first round, but he found himself in trouble once Cummings was able to take his back.
On a night where chokes seemed to rule, Cummings got his two cents in. Cummings continued his impressive roll, per Jason Floyd of MMA Report:
Everett Cummings is 8-0 and last 7 wins have come in the first round. 4 under 60 seconds
— Jason Floyd (@Jason_Floyd) January 17, 2015
Main Card
Fernando Gonzalez Wins Unanimous Decision over Marius Zaromskis
Gonzalez let us down. He became the first winner of the night not to score a stoppage win. I kid, but spoiled viewers may have booed Gonzalez's winning performance.
The win over Zaromskis was a pretty dominant and one-sided display. There was no controversy as Gonzalez won all three rounds on every judges' card. MMA Nick believes this win should set Gonzalez up for a shot at Lima:
With wins over Karl Amoussou, Karo Parisyan & Marius Zaromskis Fernando Gonzalez is definitely the # 1 contender in the 170 lbs. division
— MMA Nick (@MMA_Nick) January 17, 2015
Virgil Zwicker Beats Houston Alexander in Rematch
Zwicker and Alexander's first bout ended in a controversial draw. In Friday's rematch, both men wanted a definitive result. Alexander's wrestling ruled the first round, but Zwicker's striking and superior stamina wound up being the difference.
Despite his fleshy appearance, Zwicker had more in his gas tank than his muscular 42-year-old opponent.
Zwicker landed some telling hard uppercuts in the second round that put Alexander in trouble. In the third, Alexander seemed to have a slight edge in a sleepy first 4:30 of the final round.
However, in the last 30 seconds, Zwicker landed some hard shots that again put Alexander in peril. With more time, Zwicker might have scored a stoppage victory.
One judge somehow saw the fight 30-27 in Alexander's favor. Apparently, he had blinders on in the second and third rounds. Thankfully, two of the judges saw it the right way.
Earth to Herb
Bubba Jenkins has some work to do on his submission defense and overall game plan. The powerful wrestler brought those skills to the cage against Georgi Karakhanyan and not much else.
Jenkins kept looking for double-leg takedowns in the first round, and Karakhanyan countered with his patented guillotine choke. Jenkins escaped the first attempt, but the second put him to sleep...literally. Per the Spike TV broadcast, the win earned Karakhanyan the next shot at Pitbull's title.
Karakhanyan scored the technical submission as Jenkins went unconscious before referee Herb Dean noticed he was out cold. Fox Sports' Damon Martin admired Karakhanyan's skill, as did Bleacher Report's Steven Rondina; however, Rondina kind of took Dean to task for his late reaction:
Georgi Karakhanyan beasting in that one. Puts Bubba Jenkins to sleep in a bad way. He's got a seriously nasty guillotine
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) January 17, 2015
I mean, great performance by Georgi Karakhanyan. Wonderful addition to Bellator's 145 div. But Christ, Herb Dean just let Bubba die there.
— Steven Rondina (@srondina) January 17, 2015
If it weren't for Karakhanyan telling Dean that Jenkins was out, there's no telling how long the hold would have been locked in. That's scary.
Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter. I dig boxing and MMA.
