Bellator XI: Good wins welterweight gold

Written by Jim Murphy   |   Monday, June 15 2009

Lyman Good mauled Omar De La Cruz with a ground and pound assult, earning a first round TKO victory to become the inagural Bellator Fighting welterweight champion (Photo:  Bellator Fighting Championships)

Bellator Fighting Championships XI

Tonight’s episode features the welterweight championship final between Lyman Good and Omar De La Cruz.  First match on the card tonight features Edwin Aguilar vs. Uriah Hall.

EDWIN AGUILAR VS. URIAH HALL

Round 1—

Aguilar has a ton more experience than Hall—it’s only Hall’s second pro fight.  Hall looks to be the more powerfully built of the two men.  He surges forward with a Superman punch and knee strike, Aguilar takes him and down lands a couple of punches from the top before Hall extricates himself.  Both men miss with wild power punches.  Hall lands a leg kick followed by a stiff shot to the body.  Hall looks to be the rangier and taller of the two men.  Hall stalking Aguilar around the cage now, lands a combination and then another stiff leg kick.  Aguilar shoots for a takedown but Hall just brushes him aside and now starts to land kicks to the leg over his opponent’s upkicks.  Leg kick followed by a one-two combo that lands.  Spinning back kick just misses for Hall—it would have taken Aguilar’s head off if it had connected.  Superman punch for Hall lands.  Aguilar bulls Hall to the cage wall and finally gets a takedown.  He’s trying to get some ground and pound going but the round will end before he can do much with it.  Hall’s round 10-9.

Round 2—

Slow pace to start the second round, Aguilar stalking Hall and landing leg kicks.  Aguilar misses with a Superman punch and then eats a combination from Hall.  Hall bulls Aguilar against the cage wall for a moment before the two men retreat to the center of the cage.  If Hall did some work on his boxing to go along with his physical gifts and kicks he’d be a beast.    Big wild looping right by Hall misses—it would have knocked Aguilar into the next area code if it had connected.  Spinning back kick just misses.  Not much connecting for either man so far with just over 90 seconds left in the round.  Body kick by Aguilar—nasty five punch combination by Hall and Aguilar holding on for dear life now.  He’s starting to get overwhelmed by his opponent’s punching but amid a flurry Aguilar nails Hall with a counter punch and lands him on his butt.  Now Aguilar works in Hall’s guard with :45 seconds left in the round, and quickly finds himself in side control.   Hall bails out and we’re back to standup with a few seconds left—Hall nails a couple more stiff shots at the bell and Aguilar’s face is banged up pretty badly.  Another round in the books for Hall, he leads the fight on our card 20-18.

Round 3—

Round three starts on the same theme—Hall landing punches, Aguilar trying to take him down.  Aguilar just misses with an overhand right, Hall lands a straight right followed by a knee strike.  He’s got a lot of technical liabilities, but he’s clearly got a ton of potential as well.  Just under two minutes left, Aguilar goes for the takedown but Hall sprawls away for the time being.  Now we’re back to stand up and Hall rocks Aguilar with a flurry of power shots.  Aguilar a tough dude, but he’s basically getting pummeled at this point.  Amazingly he’s still on his feet and clinches with Hall trading knees with a minute left in the fight.  Hall catches him with an accidental eye poke—the doctor looks him over but Aguilar wants to keep fighting.  Looks like his eye is still hurting him as he covers up after Hall catches him with a punch again.  It’s obvious that Aguilar is having problems seeing so the ref jumps in and waves off the fight. 

URIAH HALL WINS VIA TKO

Colin Tebo vs. Nick Pace up next—this is the fight that has already made its way around the Internet due to the spectacular Pace knee strike TKO stoppage.  Tebo enters the cage to System of a Down, which is a good choice for entrance music. 

COLIN TEBO VS. NICK PACE

A couple of bantamweights going at it here—Tebo is in his second pro fight out of Boston, MA.  Pace also in his second pro fight fighting out of Staten Island, NY.  You can’t always judge fighters by their appearance, but just looking at the two Pace sure “looks” like more of a professional prize fighter.  He’s also moving and already warmed up while Tebo looks to be dry and just standing around. 

Round 1—

Tebo standing flat footed and gets backed up by a couple of big kicks from Pace.  Pace bulls his opponent to the cage wall and gets underhooks trying to take him down.  Tebo shows a little resolve, but eventually Pace gets the takedown and takes his opponent’s back trying to work the rear naked choke.  He doesn’t have it cinched in good and lets it go.  He just misses with a combination—Tebo’s defense pretty shabby with little or no head and foot movement, plus he’s got his hands down around his waist.   Tebo lands a leg kick and here comes the highlight reel knee strike.  Boom—jumping knee KO’s Tebo who doesn’t know where he is.  Spectacular knockout.

NICK PACE WINS VIA TKO

Justin Torrey vs. Matt Makowski up next at welterweight.  Torrey fighting out of Springfield, MA with a 4-0 record.  Makowski has a 5-1 mark out of Philadelphia, PA.  Yves Lavigne the ref. Fighters touch gloves and we’re ready to go:

JUSTIN TORREY VS. MATT MAKOWSKI:

Round 1—

Makowski just misses with a high kick—he’s throwing a number of wild kicks with bad intentions and leaving them well short of the mark.  Tough to tell these guys apart—they’re both bald, pasty white dudes with black shorts.  Torrey hits a knee strike and then tries for a takedown.  After some initial resistance he gets it but Makowski lands on top.  They maul around on the ground without much activity, so they get stood back up.  Fighters trading lead rights and leg kicks.  Torrey gets another takedown and ends up on top this time.  He can’t do much with it and we’re back to standup with the fighters clinching near the cage wall.  Final minute of the round.  Torrey’s takedowns will get him the round 10-9.

Round 2—

Torrey doing a nice job changing levels with his strikes, alternating leg kicks and punches.  Fighters clinch along the cage wall with Torrey trying to get the takedown.  Neither guy doing much, but Torrey dictating tempo.  Midway through the round, back in the center of the cage with the fighters flashing low kicks at each other without much result.  Torrey gets it back to the cage wall and hits a big knee in the clinch with 30 seconds left in the round.  Makowski escapes and gets dumped on his butt with a leg trip.    Torrey gets full mount and he’s laying in some big strikes from the top as the round ends.  10-9 Torrey again.

Round 3—

Torrey floors Makowski with a straight right and takes him right back down when he tries to stand up.  He’s got full mount again and is laying in the punches though Makowski covering up and defending well.  He’s smushed up against the cage wall—he somehow manages to extricate himself.  He spits out his mouthpiece in the process, ref gets his corner to clean it off and he puts it back in.  He walks right into another Torrey punch, a jab this time but manages to stay on his feet.  Torrey floors him with another leg sweep, but appears to be waiting for him to stand back up.  He tries to land a big fight ending knee but Makowski blocks it.  Midway through the final round and its all Torrey—Makowski has shown a lot of heart and toughness but hasn’t really done anything to win the fight.  Torrey dumps him on his butt with another takedown and has side control with just over 90 seconds remaining in the fight.   He’s landing some punches and forearms from the top, but he’s got to figure he’s up 2 rounds to zip at this point and might just try to maul his way to victory.  He grabs an arm looking for a kimura but Makowski defends.  Back on their feet now with just under a minute in the round, fighters clinch along the cage wall.  Makowski looked to go for a last ditch guillotine choke attempt but Torrey sees it coming and slams him to the mat.  Torrey floors his opponent with a straight right but Makowski pops right back up as the bell rings.  Should be a shutout unanimous decision for Torrey 30-27.

Judges go 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 for Justin Torrey.  Must have given Makowski the first round.

JUSTIN TORREY WINS VIA UNANIMOUS DECISION

Jake Ellenberger vs. Marcelo Alfaia up next, another welterweight contest.

Ellenberger has trained at Team Quest here in Portland from time to time. 

JAKE ELLENBERGER VS. MARCELO ALFAIA:

Round 1—

Fighters touch gloves, Alfaia shoots for the takedown but Ellenberger sprawls out and then bulls his opponent to the cage wall.  They move back to the center of the cage and out of nowhere Ellenberger tags Alfaia with a short, powerful right hook that floors his opponent.  He dives in to administer some more punishment but the ref jumps in and waves of the contest before he can.  Impressive win for Ellenberger.

JAKE ELLENBERGER WINS VIA KO

Main event up next between Lyman Good and Omar De La Cruz.  Good could be a star in the making—he’s a solid fighter and has that ‘it factor’ that you either have or you don’t.   He’s also got a 9-0 record entering this bout which isn’t too shabby either. 

LYMAN GOOD VS. OMAR DE LA CRUZ

Round 1—

Good is just an insanely powerful dude for the weight.  Fighters clinch and Good quickly gets the takedown and goes to work in De La Cruz’s guard.  Good drags him to the cage wall and starts to lay in some hard punches to the body.  De La Cruz keeping him in close for now and not really eating too much damage.    Good now gets some spacing and lands three or four powerful shots.  Good now teeing off on his opponent with big powerful punches—he moves into full mount and after about 9 or 10 unanswered shots the ref jumps in and stops it.  Devastating performance by the new Bellator welterweight champion Lyman Good.  He’s a beast. 

LYMAN GOOD WINS VIA TKO

Good hasn’t really fought much in the way of competition, but he’s got unlimited potential.  Next week will feature the lightweight final between Eddie Alverez and Toby Imada which could be a very entertaining fight.

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