Tonight, Bellator Fighting Championships holds their inaugural pay-per-view event from Southaven, Mississippi. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson meets Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in a clash for the Season 10 Light-Heavyweight tournament championship. Prior to the PPV main card, Bellator 120: Rampage vs. King Mo will kick off with 11 preliminary card fights.
Tune in at 8:00 p.m. ET for live results and play by play of the Spike TV preliminary card.
*****We’re live on Spike TV — results descend below*****
Cheick Kongo vs. Eric Smith — Heavyweight Feature fight
Round 1: Smith walks Kongo into a corner and unbolts a medley of straight punches, forcing Kongo to duck and circle out. Again Kongo allows himself to be steered into a corner but this time throws a straight kick and a one-two to back him off. Smith clinches on Kongo’s next flurry but can’t get anything done with the waist lock. Smith forces Kongo into the corner again and throws a quick salvo that’s returned by Kongo after circling off the fence.
Smith is successful from the body lock on his second try, putting Kongo on his back and landing in half guard. Kongo scoots his back to the fence and starts to stand but gets buried in a hail of rights from Smith, though Kongo might have blocked the gist of them with his forearm. Kongo goes to work with a few punches, a pair of heavy body kicks and a succession of nasty knees with the single collar tie. Kongo’s closing blitz was the most effective offense of the round by a clear margin: 10-9 Kongo.
Round 2: Ironically, Kongo pins Smith on the cage and snatches his hips out with a double leg, then pinches his legs together to prevent the escape. Smith takes a knee but Kongo picks his ankle to re-ground him, throwing light left hands from the top. Kongo stand up and pelts Smith to the body with a knee. Kongo again uses the ankle pick to keep Smith from regaining his footing.
Kongo threatens to take Smith’s back on his next escape attempt and then cleaves him with a few downward snap elbows. Smith fights through it and gets back to his feet, where he’s greeted by a medley of thunderous knees from Kongo, and Big John McCarthy waves it off.
- Cheick Kongo defeats Eric Smith by TKO (knees), Round 2
Marcin Held vs. Nate Jolly
Round 1: The pair collide in the center with mutual volleys of wild punches. Held manages to clinch Jolly against the fence and hit an outside trip with the waist lock, and he smoothly transitions to back control and sinks both hooks in with just over three minutes on the clock. Jolly defends with wrist control and Held throws a few distraction punches, and Jolly responds with some over-the-shoulder lefts of his own.
Held removes a hook to land some heel strikes to the thigh, then pins an arm to threaten with a pass to full mount; Held starts on an arm triangle and then switches to a rear-naked choke but Jolly has feisty defense. Held camps out in back mount until the one-minute mark, when Jolly explodes into a spin out and hurls wild punches from the top. Held stays calm and swivels for an armbar, and gets it.
- Marcin Held defeats Nate Jolly by submission (armbar), Round 1
Fabricio Guerreiro vs. Shahbulat Shamhalaev — Featherweight Feature fight
Round 1: Shamhalaev leads with a right body kick and Guerreiro counters quickly with a two-piece combo. Guerreiro fakes a level change and comes high with a left hook that misses. Shamhalaev keeping his hands at mid-chest level. Guerreiro flings a sharp straight kick and Shamhalaev answers with a right low kick. Guerreiro doubles his jab to set up a long right, then anticipates Shamhalaev’s left hook with a counter clinch and takedown.
Guerreiro underhooks the turtled Shamhalaev’s left leg and then snatches up a kimura in the transition, wrenching it hard enough to sweep into top position and then elicit the tapout.
- Fabricio Guerreiro defeats Shahbulat Shamhalaev by submission (kimura), Round 1
Mike Richman vs. Goiti Yamauchi — Featherweight Feature fight
Round 1: Yamauchi bravely takes the center and stands directly in Richman’s wheelhouse. His first blow is a kick that lands square on Richman’s cup — we pause for the obligatory deep breaths and genital readjusting. Double jab and low kick from Richman on the restart. Yamauchi lands a mid-range roundhouse kick. Yamauchi times a jump knee and follows it into the clinch, steering Richman to the fence with the over/under hold. Richman counters with a body lock and wheels Yamauchi onto the fence, but doesn’t separate immediately.
When he does, Richman glances with a high kick and connects with a left cross. They clinch up again and Richman hoists Yamauchi with a high-crotch takedown but the Japanese-Brazilian is right back to his feet. Richman blocks a high kick but Yamauchi follows with a surprisingly quick three-punch elbow that lands, then steps in to a nice horizontal elbow. I was leaning Richman by a narrow margin but Yamauchi’s closing two flurries balance it out: 10-10.
Round 2: Yamauchi unloads another impressive barrage of punches and knees but Richman seems to get a glove in front of most of it. Yamuchi clinches up as Richman is covering and hits an outside trip, but Richman patiently works back to his feet. Looping left lands downstairs for Richman, then he leads with a right uppercut on the next exchange. Yamauchi snaps a front kick through that whips Richman’s ducked head back.
Yamauchi still brazenly engaging Richman in a firefight, and “The Marine” is too light on straight punches and lacking volume. Another pressuring combo from Yamauchi, who keeps coming forward fearlessly. 10-9 Yamauchi.
Round 3: Richman comes out with a sense of urgency, slicing a pair of straight lefts down the channel. Yamauchi counter-clinches and Richman attacks with a power guillotine, and it’s threatening enough to force Yamauchi to fall into guard. Yamauchi leans over for a kimura but gets shut down trying to spin around for an omoplata. Richman buries his head in Yamauchi stomach, playing all defense.
After a lapse in offense, Richman postures up and spikes down a left hand to disrupt Yamauchi’s next submission attempt. Another hard left from Richman, then another, balancing the scales by stifling Yamauchi’s activity. Yamauchi slings a leg over for a triangle but Richman breaks it with his posture, and the ref restarts them on the feet. Richman lands a stiff left kick to the body coupled with a step-in left hook. Two body kicks from Yamauchi at the horn. I saw the last round even again, giving Yamauchi an ultra-tight 30-29 overall.
- Goiti Yamauchi defeats Mike Richman by unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
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