Watch the entire Bellator 77 event — prelims and the main card — right here on Bloody Elbow tonight. The opening round of the 2012 Lightweight Tournament ignites on the main card, which begins at 8:00 p.m. ET. UFC vet Rich Clementi faces undefeated Russian terror Alexander Sarnavskiy, venomous finisher Ricardo Tirloni meets fellow BJJ black belt and Brazilian Rene Nazare, sub specialist Marcin Held clashes with Murad Machaev and former WECer Dave Jansen opens the card against Magomed Saadulaev.
Tune in for the preliminary card at 6:30 p.m. ET. Live play-by-play will begin with the main card at 8:00 and a gif-heavy results post will close down our evening.
Bellator 77
Main Card on MTV2 (8:00 p.m. ET)
Lightweight Tournament Quarterfinals
Rich Clementi vs. Alexander Sarnavskiy
Ricardo Tirloni vs. Rene Nazare
Murad Machaev vs. Marcin Held
Magomed Saadulaev vs. Dave JansenPreliminary Card (6:30 p.m. ET)
Eric Albright vs. Brett Martinez
Cosmo Alexender vs. Mike Bannon
Duane Bastress vs. Lewis Rumsey
Carmelo Marrero vs. Lew Polley
Emanuel Brooks vs. Darrel Horcher
Lewis Rumsey vs. Duane Bastress
And we’re live. The Bellator 77 video stream is embedded below, where you’ll also find fight results from earlier. We’ll sequence through the play-by-play of each Lightweight Tournament Quarterfinal:
Rich Clementi vs. Alexander Sarnavskiy
R1: Sarnavskiy cracks a smoldering low kick to Clementi’s lead leg right away. Another medley of low roundhouses from Sarnavskiy are partially checked. Sarnavskiy sails Clementi back across the cage with an explosive push kick. Clementi shoots and shows his veteran savvy by slipping to Sarnavskiy’s back in the clinch. Clementi is quick to hop on for the back-ride with both hooks in while fishing for the rear-naked choke.
Sarnavskiy trying to trade punches with Clementi on his back to no avail. Clementi uses his right hand to alternate between softening punches to the head and snaking his arm under the chin for the choke, still clinging to the standing Sarnavskiy’s back. 40-seconds in, “No Love” digs his forearm under the Russian’s chin and cranks hard, causing
Sarnavskiy to fall onto his back to defend. Despite the choke seeming locked tight and Sarnavskiy not fighting off the grip and turning blue, he manages to ride out the round. 10-8 Clementi for dominating with effective grappling.
R2: Sarnavskiy lets go again and shows startling speed for a lightweight of his size. Clementi takes care of the problem by springing for a takedown and once again transitioning almost immediately to Sarnavskiy’s back. Under the same circumstances as the 1st round but on the ground rather than standing, Clementi goes from punches to choke attempts with his right hand, having both hooks in, then a fully locked body triangle.
Pure domination ensues from Clementi. Sarnavskiy is reduced to hand-fighting the choke and then blocking punches.
Sarnavskiy escapes and fights out of an armbar on the eject. He postures up with a few big punches but Clementi controls his head with closed guard to defend. Referee Mario Yamasaki interrupts with an atrocious decision to restart the fighters. Sarnavskiy clips Clementi with a punch and a high kick when Clementi throws a spinning back fist, but it’s not enough to compensate for Clementi’s assault earlier. 10-9 Clementi.
R3: Sarnavskiy goes to town on the feet posthaste and lights Clementi up with punches. Clementi, from guard, rolls into a leg lock that the Russian defends. Clementi blocks some ground-and-pound and then angles for a kimura.
Sarnavskiy is patient and fights it off to hurl more top-side strikes. Clementi goes rubber guard but Sarnavskiy has his head crammed on the cage, limiting his options.
More ground-and-pound from Sarnavskiy but it’s more busy than damaging, especially for being down 2 rounds. Yamasaki separates them with 1:30 left. Clementi shoots immediately and pulls guard on the sprawl.
Sarnavskiy pelts a few strikes and Clementi answers with an up kick. Sarnavskiy waves him to stand and then cracks a kick. Clementi falls down during a stumbling back fist attempt.
Sarnavskiy counters Clementi’s sweep nicely with a triangle attempt but can’t capitalize. 10-9 Sarnavskiy. My card is 29-27 for Clementi as we await the decision.
One judge has it 29-28 for Sarnavskiy but the other two have it the same for Clementi. That’s that. Stay tuned for the full results post with gifs.
- Rich Clementi defeats Alexander Sarnavskiy by split decision.
Magomed Saadulaev vs. Dave Jansen
R1: Saadulaev retreating but still throwing an impressive arsenal of punches and high kicks. Jansen keeps the pressure on and Saadulaev changes directions and nails a double. Jansen reverses into top position but Saadulaev scoots free with a far-side kimura attempt. Jansen scrambles free but Saadulaev, showing excellent transition skills, takes Jansen’s back in the exchange. Jansen shows gameness with a forward roll to break back control but Saadulaev holds the far-side kimura to maintain Jansen’s back with no hooks.
More phenomenal scrambles occur with Jansen reversing again into top position but Saadulaev breaking his grip; they restart standing. Saadulaev sneaks in a right hand, then nails a takedown but it’s right into a legit guillotine from Jansen. Excellent round of back and forth action; so fast I couldn’t catch it or probably even describe correctly. 10-10.
R2: Saadulaev seeks out a power double but Jansen sprawls nicely and snaps the Russian down from the front headlock. They split and take the center. Teep by Saadulaev gets through but his half-hearted shot is stopped easily.
Saadulaev’s arms are filled with the lead based on how low they are in the 2nd. Another teep from Saadulaev plunges deep into the abdomen. Jansen drops levels quickly for a deep double leg takedown. Saadulaev rolls onto his side with another kimura attempt but Jansen straightens the arm to defend.
Now Jansen goes to half-guard and counters Saadulaev’s kimura with an arm triangle, but Saadulaev gets full guard to loosen it up. Jansen jumps into the driver’s seat by standing up and firing a wicked salvo of straight punches and forearms to the body down to Saadulaev in guard. Hammer-fists from Jansen to steal the round with his effective striking. 10-9 Jansen.
R3: Saadulaev flat-footed and lethargic to start the 3rd. Jansen darts into the clinch and thumps a few knees to the midsection. Saadulaev ducks his head to shield block and Jansen laces up a guillotine, jumps back into guard and wrenches the hold for a tapout.
- Dave Jansen defeats Magomed Saadulaev by submission (guillotine choke), Round 3.
Murad Machaev vs. Marcin Held
R1: Mario Yamasaki running things. Held freaks out and flails windmill punches at Machaev to enter the clinch but Machaev shucks him off. In open space, Machaev seeking out clean counters to Held’s wild combinations but they’re forceful enough to make him circle out reset instead. Held is much busier but not landing anything effective. Nice combo from Machaev.
Held dives on a double leg and gets it but Machaev puts his back on the fence and partially stands. Held is persistent but Machaev wriggles free. Double left hooks from Machaev with a straight right in between. Held hits another takedown but this time scrambles onto Machaev’s back when he tries to counter. Held beautifully slides over the top for a leg lock attempt just as the bell sounds. 10-9 Held: much of his offense was sloppy but he was more effective than Machaev, who was forced to defend and mounted little of his own.
R2: Held flings out another unkempt, charging flurry and Machaev tags him with a right hand. Held wisely clinches up to regain his wits and lands a knee. Sharp uppercut and left hook combo from Machaev. Held gets caught with his hands down again and Machaev is finding his rhythm. Another uppercut and left hook combo lands for Machaev.
Held goes all Shinya Aoki and somersaults across the cage into a rolling leg lock attempt. Bonus for creativity points but Machaev patiently defends and then waves Held to get up on his feet. Held has his left hand down so far that it’s touching his knee. Machaev clearly the more effective striker in that round. 10-9 Machaev.
R3: Held, with his left hand still below his beltline, attempts another spinning back fist that’s nowhere close. Machaev pings through a few straight punches. Held tries to coax Machaev into a grappling match but the Russian declines the offer. Held lands a jab and whiffs on a spinning back kick. Surprisingly, halfway through the final frame, Held is now controlling the distance quite well with a long, quick jab. Machaev is more complacent and only throwing counter jabs from outside his range.
Machaev is yet to land a significant punch in the 2nd half of the round. Held seems to have recognized a reach advantage and is controls the tempo with it for the remainder. 10-9 Held for the higher volume and more effective striking, giving Held a 29-28 count on my card. The judges agree.
- Marcin Held defeats Murad Machaev by unanimous decision.
Ricardo Tirloni vs. Rene Nazare
R1: They touch up. Tirloni pawing jabs and Nazare countering with stiff right hands early. Nazare shoots a double but Tirloni is immediately back to his feet. Nazare switches to a single with Tirloni on the fence, which is quickly nullified by a determined guillotine attempt from Tirloni. Tirloni lets go and flurries on the fence; Nazare responds with crisp punches of his own. Flying knee attempt by Tirloni partially lands. Nazare glues himself to Tirloni and works takedowns on the fence; Tirloni counters with the Thai plum, then by grabbing a body lock and spinning Nazare against the wall.
Narare still seeking clinch takedowns and eating a few knees from Tirloni, then a foot stomp before circling Nazare against the fence. 3 slicing knees from Tirloni in the plum grip. Tirloni now wheeling Nazare around and onto the cage consistently while planting a steady stream of knees to his midsection. Clean leaping left hook lands from Tirloni and now Nazare’s clinches are ineffective and reeking of desperation. Counter to that observation, Nazare breaks the clinch and unloads a nice 3 or 4 punch combo to close out the round. Not enough though. 10-9 Tirloni.
R2: Nazare comes over the top with right hands to counter Tirloni’s jab, then switches to a left hook that puts Tirloni into serious retreat mode. Turning the tables dramatically, Tirloni clips an attacking Nazare with a shovel punch that drops him. Tirloni pounces and intelligently ties on a D’arce choke from the top and Nazare taps a moment later. Solid start to the evening.
- Ricardo Tirloni defeats Rene Nazare by submission (D’arce choke), Round 2.
Bellator 77 Preliminary Card Results
- Lew Polley defeats Carmelo Marrero by unanimous decision.
- Duane Bastress defeats Ariel Sepulveda by split decision.
- Cosmo Alexender defeats Mike Bannon by TKO (doctor stoppage), Round 2.
- Darrell Horcher defeats E.J. Brooks by KO (punch), Round 1.
- Brett Martinez defeats Eric Albright by submission (guillotine choke), Round 2.
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