Eduardo "Dudu" Dantas (16-3) defended his bantamweight title at Bellator 111 in incredible fashion, reversing an attempted takedown into a rear naked choke, forcing Anthony Leone (13-7) to tap out at 2:04 of the second round.
"I'm really good at jiu-jitsu," said Dantas to ESPN. "Sometimes I really don't need to prove myself on the ground. I feel really great today."
(GIF courtesy of Fansided)
This a big win for "Dudu," who returned from an ankle injury that sidelined him for much of last year. One has to assume his next fight will be against 2013 bantamweight tournament winner Rafael Silva (21-3), who was originally scheduled to fight Dantas at Bellator 111 before a knee injury forced him to pull out.
Heavyweight Tournament
On the preliminary card, Blagoi Ivanov (10-0-1) dominated Rich Hale (21-7-1) to take a unanimous decision. The only surprises were that a) Ivanov couldn't finish Hale in the second round after hitting him with so many knockout punches that he could barely stand straight, and b) the judges only scored that round 10-9 for Ivanov.
Alexander Volkov (20-4) absolutely dummied Mark Holata (12-5) in a first round TKO win (1:21) — taking control of a grapple, forcing Holata to the ground and beating him mercilessly.
Siala-Mou "Mighty Mo" Siliga (6-2) won his third straight Bellator fight, choking out Peter Graham (10-7), last year's tournament finalist, at 2:31 in the third round.
Lavar Johnson (18-8) recovered from an early takedown by Ryan Martinez (10-4), eventually landing a devastating left hook to earn a TKO win at 4:22 of the first round.
The heavyweight tournament will continue on April 4, with Ivanov vs. Johnson and Volkov vs. Siliga as the two semifinal match ups.
