Hess wins, Lombard steals show…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
No, that’s not a misprint on the time this was written. Just got home from the Bellator MMA event at Lloyd Noble Center.
The promotion did a lot of things right, and the view from LNC looked pretty cool. A lot of military in the crowd tonight as CEO Bjorn Rebney believes in honoring those men and women whenever he gets a chance.
Former Central Oklahoma star Jared Hess closed out the night at just before 12:30 a.m. with a win by rear-naked choke against Daniel Tabera in the first round to advance in the 185-pound tournament.
“I saw an opportunity to take control of his back, so I went for it,” Hess said.
By the time Hess walked out, the LNC was near empty, but when the night began, much better crowd than I anticipated.
Student tickets went for $20, and the crowd was definitely in the college, just out of college age group for the most part.
Official results:
Non-tournament bouts
William Albrecht (6-6) TKO 2 Mike Messina (2-2): Ref stoppage
Johnny Eduardo (22-8) unanimous decision Donald Sanchez (15-9): 30-27 on all cards, including Boneman’s.
Marcelo Alfaia (10-5) TKO 1 Joey Gorczynski (13-6): Ref stoppage
Tyler East (1-0) TKO 1 Amedio Viola (0-2): Ref stoppage, pro debut for East.
Rudy Lindsay (9-5) TKO 2 Wayne Cole (13-10): Ref stoppage
Jason Norwood (6-1) rear-naked choke Rd. 2 John Kirk (13-6)
Tournament bouts
185: Yosmany Cabezas (8-1) armbar submission Rd. 1 Edwin Aguilar in 4:31. Aguilar actually started off pretty well and was the first fighter of the night to really utilize the uppercut as a weapon.
Cabezas did a great job of being patient and not getting flustered. Aguilar gets a little too aggressive on top and Cabezas turns it into an armbar and Aguilar has to tap.
185: Hector Lombard (18-2) TKO 1 Virgil Lozano (6-2) in 1:10. Lombard stole the show with one left uppercut. No doubt about it.
Lombard, on first glance, is easily the man to beat at 185. He stalked Lozano and caught him with a short left uppercut as Lozano was moving right in to the punch. Lozano went down face first and didn’t move for abotu 30 seconds before recovering.
Lombard brought the LNC crowd to its feet and had ‘em in a frenzy. The 31-year-old from Australia is someone to watch.
185: Damien Stelly (9-2) unanimous decision Alex Andrade (7-5). 29-27 twice and 30-26. Boneman’s scorecard: 30-27.
This was the most intriguing fight of the night because Stelly worked up such a large lead heading into the third round that he just had to survive.
Andrade had UFC vet Tra Telligman in his corner (there’s a name I haven’t said in a long time). But when he needed to turn it on the most, just didn’t have the gas tank to do so.
Stelly was cut over the right eye but stay composed. He was also helped by a point deduction to Andrade for grabbing the fence. Stelly dominated the first two rounds. Blow-for-blow, this was the best bout of the night.
170: Dave Menne (46-15-2) rear-naked choke Rd. 3 Norman Paraisy (5-1) in 12:39. The last fight was the best, but this was the comeback of the night as Menne had clearly lost the first two rounds before turning it on for the win.
The first two rounds were nothing to write home about, but Paraisy clearly had the edge. Menne’s only attacks were attempted ankle locks that were shut down pretty quickly.
But in the third, Paraisy gave Menne, the former UFC champion, an opening. Menne got Paraisy’s back, and that was all she wrote with the RNC.
185: Jared Hess (7-0-1) rear-naked choke Rd. 1 Daniel Tabera (12-1-2) in 2:34. Whatever crowd was left was going nuts for the UCO product, and he left ‘em going home happy.
He took control early, often and never let up. He mounted Tabera and hit him with a barrage of punches for nearly the last minute of the bout. Finally, Tabera gave Hess a clean shot at his back and Hess locked in the RNC not too long after for the win.
Back later with more thoughts from the Bellator show.
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