Bellator Fighting Championships XII Results: BFC XII Recap & Results
On Friday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, the newly minted Bellator Fighting Championships held the final event of their debut tournament season with the final matches in the lightweight and middleweight tournaments. The event offered plenty of explosive match-ups, featuring only one decision on a fight card with eight bouts.
In the night’s first championship match, fast-rising middleweight Hector Lombard (22-2-1 MMA) went from underrated prospect to Bellator champion with a fourth round TKO of Oklahoma native and previously unbeaten Jared Hess (9-1-1 MMA). Hess remained competitive throughout much of the fight, and lasted far longer than most would have anticipated, but Lombard’s punching power and positional control proved to be too much for the doctor in attendance, who promptly halted the bout 1:40 into the fourth round.
Lombard pocketed a combined $175,000 in fight money throughout his three-fight stint in Bellator’s first ever-middleweight tournament, and he is now riding high on a 15-fight unbeaten streak. As a fighter who likes to remain active, it will be interesting to see whether or not Lombard will wait for Bellator’s second tournament season to run its course to decide a top contender in his division.
Lombard has not lost a professional bout since a 2006 Unanimous Decision to highly respected middleweight Gerard Mousasi, but he has yet to challenge many world-class fighters in his five-year career.
In other tournament action, lightweight tournament favorite Eddie Alvarez (18-2 MMA) made good on his betting lines by choking out perennial underdog Toby Imada (22-13 MMA) early on into the second round of their lightweight championship bout. Alvarez is now riding a three-fight winning streak since his first round submission loss to current WAMMA Lightweight Champion Shinya Aoki at Dynamite!! 2008 on December 31, 2008.
According to unconfirmed reports, Alvarez will not wait for a top contender in Bellator to be determined before getting back into action, as a rumored bout with highly ranked lightweight Gesias Calvancante at Dream 11 in September could materialize in the coming weeks.
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Bellator XII ended a surprisingly successful debut season for the new promotion, which will aim for a new English-speaking channel to continue broadcasting future tournament seasons.
It is unknown at this time when the next season is scheduled to commence, though this Fall is a suspected target date, and no participants have been announced at this time.
By Steven T. Kelliher
ProFighting-fans.com Staff Writer