· Powerful Performances Send Hale And M’Pumbu To Bellator Tournament Finals

The results are in for Bellator 42 which took place yesterday from the Lucky Star Casino in Concho, Okla. In front of a sold out crowd, and a live television audience, French fighter Christian “Tonton” M’Pumbu faced an undefeated Tim Carpenter, and former heavyweight D.J. "Da Protege" Linderman met the impressive Richard “Rare Breed” Hale, where all four fighters fought for two coveted slots in the light heavyweight tournament finals.

For the first two rounds of their semifinals bout, Linderman and Hale put on an unrelenting back-and-forth battle with each fighter alternately holding the advantage through several barrages of powerful strikes. Linderman appeared to be the aggressor and had some success on the feet in the first round, quickly bloodying Hale’s face and dictating the pace.

Hale’s length and overall size presented problems for the shorter Linderman, and the second round, while close, began to shift in Hale’s favor. While both combatants were able to land with effectiveness and frequency, a well-timed superman punch from Hale punctuated his performance in the round.

With the fight thus far highly-contested, and arguably either fighter’s opportunity to win or lose, the third round proved to be the deciding stanza. Coming out strong, Linderman pushed Hale around in several attempts to get the fight to the ground—which facilitated his undoing as the larger fighter, Hale, was able to reverse and secure full mount, using his size and positioning to control and threaten Linderman for the duration. His back taken, and unable to escape, Linderman warded off several rear-naked choke attempts and suffered thunderous strikes from his opponent as Hale ended the round in top position. In a very close match, Hale was awarded the split decision win, with two judges scoring the bout 29-28 for him, and one 29-28 for Linderman. Hale moves on to the light heavyweight tournament finals.

Earlier in the evening, M’Pumbu and Carpenter battled to make their case for a spot in the finals and the chance at the first-ever Bellator light heavyweight championship and accompanying $100,000 payday. The round began slowly, in a feeling out process as they exchanged strikes and gauged the distance and timing of their opponent. At three minutes in, however, M’pumbu stepped on the gas and landed a series of powerful rights that dropped Carpenter, ending the fight and giving Carpenter his first defeat. With a technical knockout victory at 2:08 of the first round, M’Pumbu punched his ticket to the tournament finals opposite of Hale.

“Bellator 42 was a great night of fights with spectacular performances by M’Pumbu and Hale to advance to our first-ever Bellator light heavyweight finals,” stated Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “The season continues to produce amazing MMA for fans and the MTV2 audience.”

In a featured featherweight non-tournament fight, Ronnie “Kid Ninja” Mann took on a game Arocho. Mann, a Cage Rage and Sengoku veteran, was too much for his opponent, however, and dominated the fight from start to finish. Unable to take Mann down, Arocho found himself on his back for most of the fight and on the losing end of the damaging elbows and ground-and-pound from the British fighter. If anything, Arocho demonstrated his durability—a small gain in a bout in which he was significantly outmatched for a full 15 minutes. In the end, Mann walked away unscathed with the unanimous decision win (30-25, 30-27, 30-27).

Brazilian Luta-Livre fighter Luiz “Betao” Nogueira faced Oklahoma native Jerod Spoon in a local bantamweight feature fight that opened the main card. Nogueira’s striking, timing and takedowns swung the fight in his favor as he picked up the unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).

Bellator fighter Jared “The Test” Hess made his successful return from a brutal knee injury suffered at Bellator 20, submitting Chris “Triple Threat” Bell via triangle choke at 1:40 of round one.

The official results are as follows:

Main Card:

• Richard Hale def. D.J. Linderman via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Ronnie Mann def. Josh Arocho via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-25)
• Christian M'Pumbu def. Tim Carpenter via TKO (punches) - Round 1, 2:08
• Luiz "Betao" Nogueira def. Jerod Spoonvia unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Undercard:

• Brandon Shelton def. Owen Evinger via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 2:35
• Jared Hess def. Chris Bell via submission (triangle choke) - Round 1, 1:40
• Shane Howell def. Mark Oshiro via submission (D'arce choke) - Round 1, 4:15
• Mark Holata def. Tracy Willis via submission (strikes) - Round 1, 0:49