Bellator 115 afterthoughts

A Heavyweight championship bout, between Cheick Kongo and Vitaly Minakov, headlined a bizarre fight card on Friday night. The oddities of this card started before any of the fights did! Bellator had to scrap two of its main card fights, one due to illness and another due to Jeremy Kimball missing weight. To fill the two main card spaces, Kelly Anundson vs Volkan Oezdemir and Herman Terrado vs Justin Baseman had to be moved up to the main card.

The first two fights of the night went off without a hitch. Mikkel Parlos controlled Johnny Cisneros en route to a unanimous decision and Kelly Anundson took down Volkan Oezdemir at will until he finished the fight via neck crank in the second round.

The co-main event was Herman Terrado vs Justin Baseman, which was an excellent but bizarre fight. Terrado looked strong in the first round but faded in the second round. Baseman took advantage of Terrado’s empty gas tank and nearly finished the fight with a barrage of elbows on the ground. Terrado came out in the third round and showed extreme heart by taking the fight to Baseman and came close to locking in an armbar. The fight would ultimately end in a draw; a rematch is the next step for these two.

The main event had plenty of bizarre happenings in it. Minakov would deliver a kick, and later a knee, to Cheick Kongo’s groin. Minakov would lose a point in the first round for this, but it didn’t affect the outcome of the fight. Both fighters kept Herb Dean busy, Minakov with his groin kicks and Kongo by repeatedly grabbing Minakov’s shorts. It was somewhat comical watching Minakov say Kongo was grabbing his shorts while Kongo denied it. Minakov would go on to win the fight via Unanimous Decision.

Full Bellator 115 Results:

• Vitaly Minakov def. Cheick Kongo via unanimous decision
• Herman Terrado vs Justin Baesman is declared a draw
• Kelly Anundson def. Volkan Oezdemir via submission (Neck Crank)
• Mikkel Parlo def. Johnny Cisneros via unanimous decision
• Rudy Morales def. Jimmy Jones via split decision
• Rick Reeves def. James Terry via split decision
• Freddie Aquitania def. Josh Appelt via unanimous decision
• Sinjen Smith def. Jason Powell via submission (armbar)
• Benito Lopez def. Oscar Ramirez via unanimous decision