Bellator returned to Atlantic City, N.J., on May 11 to host the final of the Bellator featherweight tournament, featuring Daniel Straus taking on Marlon Sandro. Also, Marcos Galvao took on Travis Marx in the semifinals of the 135-pound bracket.
For those who weren’t able to make it out to the Caesars Hotel and Casino, MTV2 and Epix aired the main card bouts, with Spike.com covering the preliminary bouts.
In the main event of the evening, Daniel Straus put his wrestling to good use as he defeated Marlon Sandro by unanimous decision to win the Bellator featherweight tournament.
The first strike of the fight wasn’t a good one, as Straus landed a brutal shot to the cup of Sandro. The unintentional low blow forced Sandro to use the full five minutes before getting back up. But the blow slowed down Sandro, which might have cost him the round.
Round two was a bit more methodical, as Straus was aware Sandro could end the fight at any moment. Straus stayed on the attack though, and out-pointed his opponent to retain momentum going into the final round.
The two featherweights exchanged evenly through the first two and a half minutes of the round, but the aggressor Straus continued to do more damage. In the final minute, Straus landed a powerful double-leg suplex and tried to lock up a submission to seal the deal. Sandro was able to survive, but had the fight in the bag.
The judges scored the bout 29-28, 30-27, and 30-27 all in favor of Straus, who earns a title shot in the future, as well as, $100,000. Straus will await the winner of Pat Curran and Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, who will fight for the belt later this year.
Two of the remaining bantamweights in the tournament faced off to determine who would move on to fight in the final round. After 15 minutes of action, Marcos Galvao earned a unanimous decision victory over Travis Marx.
Round one was a close round, but the edge was given to Galvao for landing the harder strikes. Marx was a bit more reluctant to attack, which opened the door for the Brazilian to win the round.
Marx was more aggressive in the second, landing a good mix of strikes. Galvao was able to stop the takedown attempts, but Marx did just enough to come back and make the fight even at a round apiece.
The final round approached, and Galvao took control by doing more damage to his opponent. As Marx would shoot for a takedown, Galvao stuffed it and immediately returned to his feet. For this reason, Galvao would go on to win by unanimous decision (29-28×3).
Two lightweights went toe-to-toe next, with the Poland native Marcin Held submitting Derrick Kennington in the opening round.
Kennington came out guns blazing in the beginning, and wobbled Held with a punch. But once the fight hit the mat, the advantage immediately shifted in Held’s favor. Held dropped down for a heel hook, altered his position, and forced his opponent Kennington to tap.
Held picked up the submission win at 2:08 of the first round.
In a battle between two explosive welterweights, Marius Zaromskis and Waachiim Spiritwolf fought for the second time in their careers with the bout ending in controversy.
The two fighters came out swinging in the opening main card bout, with both landing significant strikes. Spiritwolf and Zaromskis put on a close round, with either making a case why they won the round.
Spiritwolf took control of round two by landing heavy shots to Zaromskis that forced him to retreat. However, the Dream welterweight champion couldn’t run far, and was put down by Spiritwolf after brutal punches. A big round for Spiritwolf that gave him the momentum heading into the final round.
But when the broadcast came back on air, fans learned that a cut on the right eye of Spiritwolf had forced the doctors to stop the bout, giving the TKO win to Zaromskis.
Spiritwolf was very upset with the decision by the doctors, and exclaimed that he wants to get back in the cage as soon as possible. Expect to see yet another fight between these two in the future.
Daniel Straus def. Marlon Sandro by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Marcos Galvao def. Travis Marx by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Marcin Held def. Derrick Kennington by submission (heel hook). Round1, 2:08
Marius Zaromskis def. Waachiim Spiritwolf by TKO (doctor stoppage). Round 2, 5:00
Don Carlo-Clauss def. Jacob Kirwan by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Aung La Nsang def. Jesus Martinez by TKO (punches). Round 1, 0:36
Anthony Leone def. Claudio Ledesma by split decision (30-27, 30-27, 28-29)
Francois Ambang def. Gregory Millard by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
