BELLATOR 73 RESULTS FROM HARRAH’S!
Bellator Fighting Championships 73 took Harrah’s Hotel and Casino by storm, Friday August 24. An explosive championship bout, championship eliminators and a full card delivered exhilarating MMA action to fight fans.
MemphisMMA.com was there and round-by-round action was captured by reporter JC Martin.
Light Heavyweight Eliminator (winner will face Champion Christian M’Pumbu), Attila “Pumukli” Vegh (28-4-2) vs Travis “Diesel” Wiuff (68-15-0)
Round 1: Both men are in the zone as the fight begins. The crowd is excited for this Light Heavyweight Tournament Final. Vegh feigns a left before dropping Wiuff to his knees with a concrete right hand. Vegh those a few more punches for good measure before the referee says it’s over.
Winner: Attila Vegh via TKO (Punches) :25 into Round 1
Heavyweights, Mike “The Juggernaut” Wessel (12-4-0) vs Ryan Martinez (7-2-0)
Round 1: Wessel with an early barrage of punches. Martinez counters with a right hook to Wessel’s ear. Crowd is adamantly behind Wessel. Wessel with another flurry and has Martinez against the cage in the clinch. Martinez with two good knees to Wessel’s midsection. Martinez and Wessel trading punches. Martinez with a hard leg kick. Martinez takes Wessel to the ground. Wessle quickly scurries to his feet. Martinez feigns the guillotine and attempts to take the back, but Wessel escapes. Wessel is dropped by a right hook and Martinez has side control. Martinez tries for a Kimura. Hard shots from Bellator’s heavyweights.
Round 2: 2nd round beings like the 1st with Wessel coming right after Martinez. Martinez with the take down on Wessel and immediately is into side control. Martinez lands a couple of punches to Wessel’s face. Wessel shoots up and the crowd erupts. Wessel is obviously their dog in this fight. Wessel narrowly misses a head kick. Martinez throws a head kick of his own which Wessel catches and throws him to the ground. Another roar of approval from this raucous crowd in Tunica, MS. Wessel works the clinch against the cage, but Martinez powers him to the canvas and has the guard position. Fantastic round from these two gladiators.
Round 3: Martinez, a southpaw, goes for leg kick, but is met with a counter punch right on the button. Martinez and Wessel trading punches looking for any opening. Martinez with a quick hook to the nose of Wessel. Wessel throwing knees in the clinch and Martinez is countering with short upper cuts. Both men back to the middle of the octagon much to the delight of the crowd. Wessel rocks Martinez with three solid punches, but Martinez recovers. The crowd gets loud with 30 seconds left in the fight. These two titans are throwing everything they have at each other. There is the bell!
Winner: Via decision (split)- Mike Wessel
Light Heavyweights, Mike Mucitelli (3-0-0) vs Matt Van Buren (5-1-0)
Round 1: The loser is no longer undefeated after this one. MM with a quick take down of Van Buren. Both men wrestling for position. Van Buren delivering punches to the gut. Mucitelli with an upkick. Van Buren stands and delivers strong punches to MM on the ground. Van Buren inside Mucitelli’s guard. MM trips Van Buren and tries to take his back. Back to the ground and MM chokes out Van Buren with a triangle choke! The crowd goes wild! Greatest finish of the night. Van Buren appears to be devastated.
Winner: Mike Mucitelli via Submission (Triangle Choke) at 3:01 in Round 1
Bantamweight Tournament Championship Eliminator, Luis “Betao” Nogueria (14-3-0) vs Marcos “Loro” Galvao (13-5-1)
Round 1: Battle of Brazil. Both Brazilian Bellators square off with the winner to face fellow countryman Eduardo Dantas for the Bantamweight Championship. Galvao starts off with a stiff leg kick and a couple of fast punches before having his td stuffed by Nogueria. Galvao and Nogueira trade punches with blistering speed. Nogueria hits the canvas holding his groin. Timeout is called and Galvao gets a warning. This fight is face paced with punches flying everywhere alternated with Muay Thai clenches and thrown knees. Nogueria scores a takedown on Galvao. Both men are throwing everything they have as the time runs out in round 1.
Round 2: Nogueria lands three clean punches to both sides of Galvao’s face. Galvao strikes with two knees to Nogueria’s midsection. Galvao and Nogueria exchange punches as the circle the octagon. Galvao lands a right cross that carries Nogueria across the ring. Galvao lands several punches and Nogueria is rocked. Galvao has the mount and is raining punches and hammer-fists. Nogueria cannot defend himself and that is it!
Marcos Galvao will fight for the Bantamweight Championship against Eduardo Dantas! Galvao kisses wife who made the trip from New York, and celebrates with a poster of his mother who recently passed away from cancer.
Winner: Marcos Galvao via TKO/RSC at 4:20 into Round 2
Bout 1: Lightweights
Harry Johnson (8-7-0) vs Cosmo “Good Boy” Alexandre (3-1-0)
Round 1: Johnson with huge slam early and guillotine attempt thwarted by Alexandre. Cosmo warned about low shot that dropped Johnson. Johnson with flurry after fight resumes. Cosmo lets Johnson up. Cosmo with huge right-left. Cosmo followed by vicious knees and kicks to Johnson’s face. Johnson survives the round, thanks to the bell, as Cosmo had him in the ground and pound.
Round 2: Ref calls another low blow on Cosmo. Cosmo throws a hard knee to the gut and Johnson is down again claiming a low blow. The referee calls a timeout to check on Johnson. The referee asks Johnson if he would like to continue the fight and this one is over.
Winner: Cosmo Alexandre via TKO/RSC :39 into Round 2
Bout 2: Light Heavyweights
Brian Albin (8-9-0) vs Jacob “Psycho” Noe (10-1-0)
Round 1: Albin lands two early stiff right hooks. Noe works Albin in the clinch against the cage. Albin is bleeding from the mouth within the first minute. Crowd calling for the referee to separate the fighters. Both fighters missing with haymakers. Albin lands a nice right hand counter punch to Noe’s chin. Noe with the takedown into side control. Noe began to rake his forearm across Albin’s bleeding mouth. Noe with short quick elbows on the ground. Albin manages to survive round 1. Noe looks impressive with precise strikes and great power. Albin is a bloody mess. Crowd is very into this fight and is solidly behind Noe.
Round 2: Round 2 never starts as Albin is declared unable to continue due to a huge laceration on his upper lip.
Winner: Jacob Noe victorious by TKO/Doctor Stoppage
Bout 3: Middleweights
Amaechi “Infamous” Oselukwue (3-7-0) vs Kelvin “The Momma’s Boy” Tiller (5-0-0)
Round 1: The fighters catch each other with dual leg kicks and both fall. Oselukwue with front kick to the gut. Tiller drops Oselukwue with a leg kick. Oselukwue up and Tiller takes him back down. Tiller takes Oselukwue’s back. Tiller with another takedown, maintains the back position. Oselukwue fights out, but Tiller retakes the back. Dominate wrestling game from Tiller. Oselukwue survives.
Round 2: Tiller still the aggressor. Nice leg kick, right cross combo by Tiller. Oselukwue tries a combo, TIller avoids. Oselukwue sticks Tiller with several quick punches. Tiller with another takedown of Oselukwue. Tiller with good hard punches to the side of Oselukwue’s face. Crowd comes alive as Tiller delivers a barrage of punches and hammer fists to Oselukwue. Tiller takes the back again on the ground. Rear naked choke attempt by Tiller. Oselukwue fights out. Tiller is too much for Oselukwue as he punishes his head before the ref steps in.
Winner: Kelvin Tiller via TKO (punches) 4:21 into round 2
Bout 4: Welterweight Match
Joe Williams (7-1-0) vs Andy Uhrich (6-3-0)
Round 1: Both men try to get a feel for each other. Williams with a takedown attempt that is blocked by Uhrich. Uhrich with good right hands to Williams’ left eye. Williams with great clean punches and scores a takedown. Uhrich fights back to his feet before Williams takes him to the ground again. Williams trying to take the back, but Uhrich fights up to his feet. Slow paced fight with a lot of feeling each other out. Uhrich swings wildly and his momentum takes him to the ground. Williams takes the back but lets go. Uhrich right after him with punches. Williams fights for another takedown. Uhrich with an upkick to Williams’ face. Good back-and-forth round moving at a slow methodical pace.
Round 2: Uhrich with two quick jabs that land cleanly. Williams attempts a takedown but is met by a glancing knee to the face. Uhrich with a couple more hard shots. Uhrich taking it to Williams with repeating leg kicks. Williams a wrestler from University of Michigan scores a HARD takedown. Williams attempts to take the back. Crowd comes alive as Uhrich scrambles back to his feet. Short left hook by Williams. Solid right cross by Williams that rattles Uhrich. Uhrich recovers and delivers another stinging leg kick. Both men trading punches. Uhrich stuffs another takedown attempt. Uhrich with a nice jab followed by a devistating right cross. Williams looks winded and is swinging for the fences and only catching air.
Round 3: Urich is taken to the ground at the bell. Williams tries to better his position but is met with solid transition defense by Uhrich. Williams batters Uhrich with punches as Uhrich attempts to get up. Uhrich goes for the guillotine which Williams turns into side control positioning for himself. Uhrich attempting upkicks to no avail. Williams lets Uhrich up. Urich with a nice left hook. Uhrich is seemingly landing punches at will. They go to the ground and Williams takes his back. Uhrich fights out and has Williams in a crucifix. Uhrich dropping elbows and punches to Williams’ temple. Uhrich with hammer fists. Uhrich is looking for a submission. Williams is in a bad spot with 40 seconds left. Williams preservers and works into half guard. Both men rain blows on each other while on the ground. Great fight by both men.
Winner: Via decision (U)- Andy Uhrich knocks Joe Williams from the ranks of the undefeated.
