The Weekly Wrap: April 25 – May 1

Bellator Heads to Semis

Though it did not stage an event last weekend, the Bellator Fighting Championships made some news with several announcements about the remainder of its 2009 calendar.

In addition to announcing plans to bring its events to Ohio, Montreal, Texas and Illinois, the promotion revealed that the final event of its inaugural season will feature the conclusion of its featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight tournaments on June 19. The fights will emanate from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., the same venue that hosted Bellator’s premiere event on April 3. Bellator plans to launch its second season in the fall; CEO Bjorn Rebney has floated the possibility of moving from Spanish language ESPN Deportes to ESPN or ESPN 2, which are available in tens of millions more households.

Bellator’s latest broadcast featured bouts taped April 18 in Norman, Okla. Middleweight James Damien Stelly used strong wrestling to control Alex Andrade for much of the first two rounds, then weathered a late Andrade comeback to secure a unanimous decision. Stelly moves on to the middleweight semi-finals to face favorite Hector Lombard. Also at middleweight, Oklahoma City wrestler Jared Hess dominated undefeated Spaniard Daniel Tabera with ground control and punches from the mount. He eventually took Tabera’s back and secured a rear-naked choke 2:34 into the first round. Hess, now 7-0-1, faces Yosmany Cabezas in the semi-final round.

Former UFC middleweight champion Dave Menne’s second fight in two years also aired. Menne, a veteran of 60 fights who recently recovered from Lyme Disease, defeated Norman Paraisy, of American Top Team. Paraisy worked a strong takedown and top game in the first two rounds, but Menne slowly turned the corner, landed shots from side mount and forced a tiring Paraisy to turn to his stomach and give up the rear-naked choke. Menne faces Omar de la Cruz in the next round of the Bellator welterweight tournament.

Meanwhile, world-ranked lightweight Eddie Alvarez put away upstart Eric Reynolds in the BFC lightweight tournament semi-finals. Alvarez finished his foe with a rear-naked choke 90 seconds into round three at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio, on May 1.

Alvarez will not, as many anticipated, face American Top Team’s Jorge Masvidal in the 155-pound final. Masvidal was upset by Toby Imada in his semi-final bout, as he succumbed to a triangle choke in the third round.