· Hieron Edges Hawn To Win Bellator Welterweight Tournament
Bellator’s season four welterweight tournament concluded last night from the First Council Casino in Newkirk, Okla. with Jay "The Thoroughbred" Hieron walking away with a razor-thin decision win over Olympian Rick Hawn—collecting the $100,000 check and earning the opportunity to battle current champ Ben "Funky" Askren for the welterweight championship belt.
Bryan “The Beat” Baker, Chase “The Rage” Beebe and Ron “The Monster” Sparks each proved victorious in their main card non-tournament bouts.
In the headlining tilt, Hawn pushed the more experienced Hieron to the limit, dictating the pace and continually moving forward throughout the three round affair.
In the first round, both fighters appeared to be neck and neck in terms of striking, trading blows for the entire five minute stanza. A late takedown from Hieron, that accomplished little and had both fighters immediately scrambling to their feet—in addition to some powerful leg kicks—may have given the round to “The Thoroughbred” on the judges scorecards.
The second round presented more of the same, though the aggression was clearly in Hawn’s favor as he continued to stalk his opponent and pepper Hieron with punches standing.
Riding that momentum, the third round was the easiest to score with the Olympian bludgeoning Hieron for the entirety while Hieron backpedalled and pawed at his own eye—likely indicating some sort of injury. Though Hieron offered nearly no offense until the final seconds of the round, the judges awarded the split decision in his favor with two judges giving him scores of 29-28, and the third judge giving it to Hawn 29-28.
In a middleweight feature fight, Bryan Baker did his best to spoil UFC and Strikeforce veteran Joe “Diesel” Riggs' Bellator debut. After a first round where Baker demonstrated a clear edge standing, he put his foot on the gas in the second and outmatched a fairly timid Riggs, with a powerful left hook laying Riggs out on the canvas and ending the fight at 3:53 of round two.
Triumphant, Baker then brought his girlfriend into the cage to propose, ultimately leaving Bellator 43 both a winner and newly engaged.
“This was an incredible night of fights filled with some amazing finishes,” Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney stated. “The Hieron-Hawn fight was a battle and Brian Baker provided a knockout and a moving, emotional moment that our audience will remember forever.
Former World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion Chase Beebe took on season three semifinalist Jose Vega in a qualifying bout for next season’s bantamweight tournament. Despite Vega trying to keep the fight on the feet, it was Beebe’s unrelenting submission attempts that won out as he secured an airtight guillotine and forced the tapout from Vega at just one minute into the first round.
Opening the main card, the undefeated heavyweight Ron Sparks put on a quick and dominant performance against an outclassed Vince Lucero. After both men spent some time feeling each other out on the feet, a kick and punch combination from Sparks dropped Lucero and from a controlling top position Sparks was able to lock in a damaging keylock submission which soon elicited the tap from Lucero. Sparks completed the finish at 2:18 of round one.
Official Results:
Main Card:
- Jay Hieron def. Rick Hawn via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Bryan Baker def. Joe Riggs via knockout (punch) - Round 2, 3:53
- Chase Beebe def. Jose Vega via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 1, 4:06
- Ron Sparks def. Vince Lucero via submission (keylock) - Round 1, 2:18
Undercard:
- David Rickels def. Richard Bouphanouvong via submission (triangle choke) - Round 2, 1:11
- Michael Osborn def. Mike Schatz via submission (strikes) - Round 1, 1:58
