Bellator 37 LIVE results and play-by-play

Bellator Fighting Championships will kick off its featherweight tournament tonight from Concho, Okla., featuring Patricio Freire vs. Georgi Karakhanyan and Zac George vs. Wilson Reis. The other two tournament bouts will pit Kenny Foster vs. Eric Larkin and Daniel Straus vs. Nazareno Malegarie. The Bellator 37 undercard features UFC veteran Jake Rosholt, as well as a fight between former UFC competitor Roli Delgado and WEC vet Jameel Massouh. The action will be televised on MTV2 beginning at 7pm eastern. Join ProMMAnow.com for live results and play-by-play commentary of the fights.

Quick results:

Featherweight Quarterfinals

• Patricio Freire defeats Georgi Karakhanyan by TKO at 0:56 of Round 3
• Wilson Reis defeats Zac George by rear naked choke submission at 2:09 of Round 1
• Kenny Foster defeats Eric Larkin by guillotine choke submission at 3:15 of Round 1
• Daniel Straus defeats Nazareno Malegarie by unanimous decision (29-28 on all three scorecards)

Undercard

• Jake Rosholt defeats John Bryant by rear-naked choke submission Round 1
• Jeremy Spoon defeats Jerrod Sanders by rear-naked choke submission 26 seconds in Round 2
• Brandon Shelton defeats Adam Snook by arm triangle submission 2:46 of Round 1
• Roli Delgado defeats Jameel Massouh by unanimous decision (29-28 twice, 30-27)

Live play-by-play:

If you’ve got DirecTV like me, you’re enjoying this show in…..standard definition. Note to MTV2/Bellator: please get into the age of high definition programming. Thank you.

Also, you can check out Richard Mann’s Bellator predictions here.

Kenny Foster vs. Eric Larkin

Round 1: Foster tries a two punch combo leaning in and misses. Foster clips him with a nice punch that buckles Larkin’s knees and hits him with a knee/kick to the head as Larkin ducked in. He’s cut nicely. Foster got the front headlock, looking for maybe a choke or to pass to his back, but Larkin defends and gets up. Another straight left from Foster cathces Larkin. He’s moving in and out nicely. Larkin shoots in but Foster stuffs him easy and again gets a front headlock. Larkin is up and gets a beautiful inside trip takedown and almost gets the hooks in for back control in short order, but Foster escapes. Leg kick from Larkin. Foster catches a kick and comes in on Larkin, who ducks his head. Foster pushes him down and sinks on the guillotine choke attempt. He pulls guard and it’s tight. Larkin taps. Good showing for Foster, dominating on the feet and doing well on the ground with an accomplished wrestler. Larkin will need to sharpen up his boxing, head movement, and defense. He has good leg kicks but needs to set them up better.

Official decision: Kenny Foster wins via submission at of 3:15 Round 1

A direct quote from Foster after the fight: “I smelled finish.” That might be my new facebook status.

Daniel Straus vs. Nazareno Malegarie

Straus prefight video and our second quote of the day: “You put two dogs in a tank, and they’re going to go at it.” I wonder if Michael Vick thought of doing underwater dog fighting?

Round 1: I think Malegarie has the honor of being the first Argentinian I’ve seen in MMA. They make great beeof. Anyway, Straus looks to get in close early and look for the shot or clinch. The announcers talked about how Straus looked bigger, but Malegarie looks fine in the clinch so far, reversing the position and putting Straus on the fence. Great takedown from the clinch by Malegarie and he gets the back and works his hooks in. He’s got the body lock, looking for the RNC. Straus is hand fighting successfully. Straus turns and forces Malegarie to give up the body triangle. Malegarie had the arm across the chin, looking to make space across the neck, but Straus recovers. Straus has all of his weight on Malegarie, who has his back on the mat. Great explosion by Straus to turn over into Malegarie’s guard. He postures up for some GNP, but Malegarie gets a hold of the neck and starts looking for a guillotine. Straus gets his legs out of the guard and escapes, then scores a nice slamming takedown. However, Malegarie is back to his feet. They exchange punches and Straus gets in to push him onto the cage, but Malegarie gets the Thai clinch and scores a few knees. They separate and Malegarie scores with a nice, sneaky lead left hook. Straus throws a high kick that Malegarie blocks at the end of the round. ProMMAnow.com scores it 10-9 for Malegarie.

Round 2: Inside leg kick from Straus. Big straight left from Straus drops Malegarie. Straus tries to pound on him, but Malegarie dives for a leg lock. Straus scramble and Malegarie almost gets a kneebar, but Straus pulls the leg out. Malegarie now in North-South, maybe looking for an armbar or kimura. Malegarie jumps for a guillotine, but Straus is out pretty easy and about to work from malegarie’s full guard. Great job by Malegarie popping back up. A couple of inside leg kicks from Malegarie, then a counter left hook as Straus tried to counter. Malegarie throws a leg kick and Straus tries to score a takedown, but fails. Straus high kick blocked. Malegarie throws a body-head combo then gets the over-unders. Not a good idea, as Straus throws him and almost lands on top. Back to the feet and Malegarie looking for a single but getting stuffed. A couple of inside leg kicks from Malegarie followed by a straight left from Straus, his best weapon so far. Close round. Malegarie was active looking for the sub attempts, but Straus landed some power shots. ProMMAnow.com scores it 10-10.

Round 3: Three punch combo from Malegarie, with the straight left hook landing at the end, but not flush. Nice left uppercut from Straus as Malegarie came in. Malegarie shoots and Straus sprawls. But great single from Malegarie to take down the wrestler. He’s in Straus’s guard. Trying to push the leg down (Straus has butterfly guard) and pass. He does, into half guard. Beautiful sweep by Straus and he lands a knee as they’re back on the feet and both guys throw in a crazy flurry. Malegarie again shoots and Straus sprawls and has a front head lock. Malegarie scores with a left hook on the release, but Straus scores with a nice punch combo. Malegarie shoots again and Straus defends, now pushing Malegarie on the fence. Malegarie uses an underhook to circle out. Knee from Malegarie misses. Body kick from Straus, now a double leg. He gets it…almost, Malegarie gets right back up. Malegarie shoots for a single and tries to get the outside leg trip from there, but good balacne from Straus. Straus looking for the takedown with malegarie on the fence and gets it. Malegarie on his butt but right back on to the feet. Nice left from Straus again. ProMMAnow.com scores it 10-9 for Straus.

Official decision: All three score it 29-28 for Daniel Straus

Wilson Reis vs. Zac George

Round 1: George circling on the outside early. Outside leg kick from Reis connects without much behind it.  George backs him up with a straight right that doesn’t connect. Wow. Reis running in with HUGE left hooks and he has George stunned. I don’t think he was expecting that. Reis is on top while George tries the rubber guard. However, Reis is a top notch grappler and he gets out and starts dropping some bombs. He takes George’s back and gets the hooks in and starts throwing leather. He’s got the RNC in TIGHT and George is done. Vicious performance by Reis.

Official decision: Wilson Reis wins by submission at 2:09 of Round 1

In an on air interview, Bellator Featherweight champ Joe Warren announced that he plans to compete in the upcoming Bellator bantamweight tournament so he can hold two titles.

Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Patricio Freire

Round 1: Karakhanyan moves in and lands a leg kick. Georgi looking light on his feet. A right hand-left hook combo from Freire scores. Karakhanyan comes in and gets caught in a body lock but gets out of it. Outside leg kick from Georgi. Three punch combo from Pitbull backs up Karakhanyan. Not a leg kick from Patricio. High kick from Karakhanyan is blocked. Freire scoops him up with a double leg; Karakhanyan tries for a guillotine, but nothing doing. Nice takedown, but Karakhanyan is out from under him and back up. Another combo from Freire forces Karakhanyan to cover up. Nice 1-2 then outside leg kick from Karakhanyan, and a knee. Pitbull with a 1-2 to set up the takedown and he’s on top again. They’re back up and Georgi is looking for a single. Freire fights it off. Outside leg kick and a two punch combo from Freire. It’s a steady round for Pitbull. ProMMAnow.com scores it 10-9 for Freire.

Round 2: Nice lead left hook from Freire. He comes in with a flying knee that’s blocked but puts Georgi on the cage. Karakhanyan spins off and has Patricio on the fence. After looking for a takedown, he throws a knee to the body. Freire reverses and backs away. A jab from the shorter Freire lands. Another 1-2 from Pitbull to get the body lock. Karakhanyan is having a tough time getting anything going. Warren, now doing guest commentary, points out the impatience of the crowd. They’re booing lightly. I’ve seen much more boring fights than this. Karakhanyan tries desperately for a single leg and switches to a double. Freire fights it off like it’s nothing. Great sprawl and balance. Freire sprawls out again and spins to Karakhanyan’s back and gets the hooks in. The round comes to an end with Karakhanyan having to keep out of an RNC. 10-9 for Freire.

Round 3: Karakhanyan looks a bit flat footed while Freire still looks energized and bouncing around. Big wild overhand right from Georgi misses. Now a leg kick. Georgi is getting aggressive — and he needs to — but eats a few flush counter straight rights. BAM! Left hook from Freire drops him and Karakhanyan is in trouble. Freire drops some bombs with Karakhanyan covered up desperately to finish Georgi off for the TKO.

Official decision: Patricio Freire wins by TKO at 0:56 of Round 3