Bellator 55 - Information, Results & Event Coverage

[Keithlewis]

As Bellator’s fifth season marches on, the promotion is preparing for a night of stars at Bellator 55 from Cocopah Resort and Casino on October 22 LIVE on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX2 starting at 9 p.m. ET. The night will host the semifinals of Bellator’s stacked bantamweight tournament, as well as host of feature fights full of Arizona’s finest MMA talent, which will stream LIVE and FREE around the world on Spike.com. The best fighters Yuma has to offer will be featured on the Spike.com stream, including former UFC fighter and Yuma product Edgar Garcia taking on Scottdale’s Jacob Ortiz and Yuma’s Carlos Flores taking on Submission of the Year award recipient and Tempe fighter Richard Hale in a light heavyweight battle.

“It’s going to be an honor to be the ‘it’ fighter in the ‘it’ city,” Flores proudly said. “This is a chance of a lifetime and I plan on putting on a great show for my people.”

Former Bellator Tournament Finalist Richard Hale will be looking to put on a show as well. While the Tempe native is fully focused on the task at hand, fighting in front of friends and family will certainly play a role for the heavy-handed Hale.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been able to fight back in Arizona, and to be doing it with Bellator, this is like a dream come true,” said Hale. “The last tournament didn’t end the way I wanted it to, so this next fight will hopefully start my journey on getting another title shot, and ultimately capturing the belt. I’m going to have a ton of support in my corner, so I couldn’t think of a better place to start than right in my backyard.”

With a wealth of local talent on the Spike.com portion of the card, Yuma fighter Edgar Garcia makes his Bellator debut in front of his home crowd. A 2002 high school state wrestling champion, Garcia is a seasoned veteran with UFC experience. The 27-year-old fighter looks to ignite the Arizona crowd and earn his first Bellator win when he takes on Scottdale’s Jacob Ortiz.

As longtime UFC veteran Efrain Escudero prepares for his lightweight battle with Cesar Avila, the Yuma native knows Bellator 55 won’t be just another fight.

“It’s always a great pleasure to fight in front of my hometown,” Escudero said. “I was raised about two miles away from Cocopah Casino, so it’s a great pleasure to be able to do what I love in my hometown. I just want to give back, and give the local fans that have supported me for so long a great show.”

With a stacked preliminary card, the night’s bantamweight tournament features even more Arizona talent as bantamweight semifinalist Ed West will be fighting for a spot in the tournament finals a few hours away from his hometown of Tucson.

“I get to compete in my back yard for the best promotion in the world, and I’m living my dream,” proclaimed West. “Being one of the top ranked fighters in Arizona for a while, I’ve developed a strong following, and I can’t wait to show my skills on such a big stage this Saturday.”

West will face rising prospect Eduardo Dantas, who punched his ticket to the semifinals with a highlight reel flying knee earlier this season. (Watch Here: http://bit.ly/qnC2Oo). Even with the excitement surrounding Dantas, West knows he will be ready to impress the Arizona faithful.

“I know there is a lot of hype behind Dantas, and a lot of people are picking him to win, but I have developed a great habit of leaving people disappointed, and that’s what I'm planning on doing with Dantas,” West said.

[Keithlewis]

Bellator 55 Weigh-In Results


The Bellator 55 weigh-ins have been completed from Yuma, Arizona in preparation for Bellator’s Saturday night event at Cocopah Casino, which features the semifinals of the Season 5 Bantamweight Tournament.

Bellator 55 will be broadcast LIVE on Saturday, October 22 at 9:00 pm ET/8:00 pm CT on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX. The undercard will begin at 7:00 pm ET/ 6:00 pm CT and streamed LIVE and FREE around the world on Spike.com.


The full results for Bellator 55 are below:


MAIN CARD:

Bantamweight Tournament Semifinal Fight: Marcos Galvao (135.5) vs. Alexis Vila (134.75)

Bantamweight Tournament Semifinal Fight: Eduardo Dantas (135) vs. Ed West (135)

Light Heavyweight Non-title Feature Fight: Travis Wiuff (205) vs. Christian M’Pumbu (201.75)

Lightweight Feature Fight: Steve Gable (155.5) vs. Ricardo Tirloni (154.75)



UNDERCARD:

Lightweight Feature Fight: Cesar Avila (155.5) vs. Efrain Escudero (156)

Catchweight Feature Fight (211 lbs): Richard Hale (210.5) vs. Carlos Flores (210)

Middleweight Feature Fight: Jacob Ortiz (185.75) vs. Edgar Garcia (185)

Lightweight Feature Fight: Erin Beach (155) vs. Roscoe Jackson (158)

Featherweight Feature Fight: Nick Piedmont (146) vs. Jade Porter (145)

Middleweight Feature Fight: Steve Steinbeiss (186) vs. Dano Moore (184.75)

[Keithlewis]

Bellator 55 Results: Light Heavyweight Champ Goes Down, Bantamweights Set


Alexis Vila and Eduardo Dantas both earned a place in the Bellator Bantamweight Tournament Finals after defeating their opponents by split decision from the Cocopah Resort and Casino at Bellator 55.

"I cannot wait to see this bantamweight final," Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said. "Alexis Vila, an Olympic wrestler with dynamite in his hands, is a 40-year-old world-class athlete that is just now hitting his peak. Then you have a 22-year-old buzzsaw Eduardo Dantas, who is the top Bantamweight prospect in the world. It was a great night of fights at Cocopah and I expect a great final next month."

Vila and Marcos Galvao traded shots for three rounds and though Galvao landed a flurry of leg kicks and stiff jabs, the judges liked Vila's aggression and the power behind the punches. The Olympic wrestler wasn't able to finish a lot of takedowns but dictated the pace of the fight and two judges scored it for Vila 29-28 while one judge saw it 30-27 completely in Galvao's favor, securing a finals spot for Vila.

Ed West had to pick his jaw off the floor when he heard Dantas declared the winner instead of him but this was a very close fight where both fighters stayed extremely active for three full rounds. West may have landed more strikes, but Dantas was able to make him miss often and staggered West with solid punches of his own. Two of three judges declared Dantas the winner, and with the victory Dantas secured his spot in the Bantamweight Finals against Vila.

Outside of tournament action, for the first time in the history of Bellator one of its Champions suffered a loss in a non-title Feature Fight. Current Light Heavyweight Champion Christian M'Pumbu met his match at Bellator 55 when he went up against Travis Wiuff, an enormous wrestler and veteran of 80 fights. Wiuff had trouble standing and trading punches with the champ as predicted, but managed to take him to the mat in all three rounds and won in dominant fashion by unanimous decision. Wiuff was excited to win the battle and looks forward to a chance to fight M'Pumbu for the belt if he can make it through all three rounds of the next Bellator Heavyweight Championship Tournament.

"I want a shot at the belt. That's why I'm here," Wiuff said. "I wish I could take more credit [for the win] but I'm just a big strong wrestler and he hadn't experienced that, but there are a lot of tough guys in Bellator at 205. I'm going to have to train my butt off for that."

Next week on October 29, the Bellator Welterweight Championship is on the line as champion Ben Askren takes on Jay Hieron the Season 4 Tournament Champion. Hieron upset the formerly unbeaten Rick Hawn to get to title shot and hopes he can be the first to beat another undefeated welterweight in Askren. Also at Bellator 56, Neil Grove will re-enter the Bellator Heavyweight Championship Tournament as both Mike Hayes and Blagoi Ivanov have suffered injuries that will keep them from competing in the semifinals. Grove steps in for Ivanov to fight Thiago Santoas and Eric Prindle is scheduled to face Ron Sparks.

[broncofan]