Daniel Straus and Patricio Freire
ST. LOUIS – In a classic 25-minute title fight, Daniel Straus captured the Bellator featherweight title for the second time when he beat champ Patricio Freire.
Straus (25-6 MMA, 11-3 BMMA) took a unanimous decision from Freire (24-3 MMA, 12-3 BMMA), getting scores of 49-46 and a pair of 48-47s in a fight that featured plenty of slugging – and a big knockdown by Straus in the second round.
The fight was the main event of Bellator 145, which took place at Scottrade Center in St. Louis. The main card aired on Spike after prelims on MMAjunkie.
The featherweights danced around each other for the first minute before Freire finally threw a punch that Straus ducked under. The two clinched up with Straus’ back on the fence. When they broke away, Straus looked for a takedown two minutes in, but couldn’t secure it. Each fighter swung and missed. After a scramble on the ground with about a minute left, Freire got back to his feet to find a flying knee from Straus coming right at him. He barely got out of the way, then dodged a heavy hand that followed it.
The second round featured much clinch work in the first two minutes, but when the fighters broke off, it was Straus planting the champion on the canvas with a pair of right jabs, followed by a vicious straight left hand. Straus pounced on him and went to work with punches, but Freire played defense by latching on to one of Straus’ arms. Straus slammed his way out of it, then went right back to work with punches before going after a guillotine choke. But Frire got out and started slugging with 45 seconds left and the two went back to the middle. A high kick from Straus was caught, but the challenger made a big statement in the round.
A pair of punches from Straus conected in the third, and he followed it up with another one and a body kick. Straus ducked under a punch, then landed big again. The challenger slipped throwing a punch, but Freire couldn’t capitalize. Midway through the round, Straus put some good combos on the champ, but Freire stayed in the pocket. Referee John McCarthy stopped the fight for a moment from an accidental eye poke from Straus to Freire. But when things got going again, Straus was back to landing heavy stuff or just missing.
Freire complained of an eyepoke again in the fourth, and McCarthy told Straus again to watch himself before they restarted. The pace slowed until Straus bombed a left hand and followed it with a hard right. But he couldn’t put “Pitbull” on the canvas that time. But he kept slinging leather hoping to connect. A takedown attempt with 90 seconds left nearly went awry when Freire went after a guillotine choke, but Straus broke out. He continued to land on the champ, but Freire, for his part, was able to fire back – just not at the same pace or strength.
Freire may have been told he was down in the fight, because his pace seemed to pick up early in the fifth. But when he tried to get inside to take Straus down, it was defended and took Freire right out of his offense. About midway through the fifth, Freire was able to get Straus to the canvas and took his back. He landed punches to the body as Straus covered up. Freire looked for a choke while Straus went into defensive mode. With 90 seconds left, he got back to his feet, but wasn’t quite out of danger yet with Freire pressing him to the cage. A spinning elbow from Freire was off the mark with a minute left, and with 45 seconds left they came out slugging at each other. Freire was winning late on volume, but it may have been too little, too late.
Straus won for the second straight time and third time in four fights. Freire lost for the first time since January 2013 and had a seven-fight winning streak snapped.
Brooks survives leg attacks, grinds out Held to retain title
Marcin Held did exactly what Will Brooks expected him to do, and he even put him in danger a handful of times. But in the end, Brooks retained his lightweight title in a co-main event that had him fairly on cruise control.
Brooks (17-1 MMA, 9-1 BMMA) took a unanimous decision from Poland’s Held (21-4 MMA, 10-3 BMMA), getting scores of 50-45, 49-46 and 49-46.
Held did what most expected him to do quickly into the fight. He took Brooks down and worked him to the fence. The dangerous leg submission specialist stayed patient and scooped Brooks back up when he tried to get back to his feet. The crowd grew quickly impatient with Held’s plan of attack, since it didn’t yield much action on the canvas. But Brooks got back to his feet with two minutes left, reversed position and took Held down. Held threw his legs up for a triangle, then went after Brooks’ left leg. He had it tightly, but Brooks stayed calm and worked his way out of the dangerous spot to land a few elbows to close the frame.
Brooks dropped Held to the canvas quickly in the second with a takedown into side control. He tried to jump to mount, but Held recovered to guard, where he continued to work for a triangle, then an armbar. Then it was right back to work for Held going after a leg. But Brooks stayed on top, finally jumping to mount, and avoided danger while landing punches to the ribcage. After Held briefly got to half-guard, Brooks once again jumped to full mount and finished the round on top.
Held dove at Brooks’ leg immediately into the third, but couldn’t get the takedown and Brooks went back to work on top in his guard, much like the second round. Held had a brief attempt at Brooks’ leg, but Brooks scrambled away, then quickly was back on top. Late in the round, Brooks was able to pin Held’s arm for a moment to rain down punches – only to have Held threaten Brooks’ right leg late. When Held went to his corner after the third, his right eye was bloody.
Brooks had some mild showboating to start the fourth, dancing around before throwing a kick that seemed to take Held from his feet. But Held went after Brooks’ left leg once they hit the ground. Brooks survived that attempt, too, and it was rinse and repeat with Brooks back on top. As had become the pattern, Held threatened Brooks’ leg once again, but the champion worked out and finished the frame on top.
In the fifth, Brooks got inside and clinched Held up, then dragged him to the canvas. He heard boos from the crowd, but he wasn’t about to stop the formula that had been successful for him for the first 20 minutes. Referee John McCarthy stood the fighters up with two minutes left, but Brooks took Held down again with 90 seconds left.
Brooks said a knee injury suffered in the first round, when Held was working a submission attempt, is what forced him to continue taking the fight to the ground.
Brooks defended his title for the second straight time, won for the fourth straight time in a title fight, and got his eighth straight win overall. Held had a six-fight winning streak snapped and lost for the first time in two and a half years.
Chandler bloodies and batters Rickels for easy TKO win
As the biggest favorite on Saturday’s card, former lightweight champion Michael Chandler made easy work of David Rickels in his quest to get back to a title fight.
Chandler (14-3 MMA, 11-3 BMMA) had the briefest of moments in the second round when Rickels (16-4 MMA, 10-4 BMMA) looked for some momentum, but ultimately Chandler bloodied and completely battered Rickels en route to a TKO stoppage at the 3:05 mark of the second.
The fighters sprinted to the center of the cage, where Rickels looked to work a high kick early, then one to the leg. He went to the body soon after, But Chandler moved inside and started teeing off with punches. He tried to drag Rickels down and after Rickels was on top for a brief second, Chandler reversed to get on top in guard. He bombed a right elbow down as Rickels played defense. Chandler tried to pass, but Rickels’ guard was good. When Rickels threatened with a triangle choke, Chandler pulled away and Rickels quickly popped back to his feet with two minutes left in the round. Within a minute, though after some exchanges, Chandler got another takedown. He tried for an arm triangle late, but it wasn’t there and he ended the frame on top.
Chandler threw bombs again in the second, and a leg kick briefly wobbled Rickels. But the taller fighter stayed standing – just long enough for Chandler to clinch with him and get his third takedown of the fight, this time along the fence. Rickels used a guillotine choke attempt to get back to his feet and popped Chandler with a left hand, then a right. A few more punches popped off his chin. But then Chandler caught Rickels with a right that put him on the canvas. He couldn’t finish a guillotine choke there, but he quickly was pounding Rickels hard enough that he began gushing blood as Chandler went after a second choke. When that failed, he got on top and continued to smash Rickels’ face. Finally, mercifully, with two minutes left in the round, referee Mike England stopped the fight as Chandler sprinted to the cage to celebrate for his home fans.
Chandler won for the second straight time after a three-fight skid – the only three losses of his career. Rickels lost for the first time since March 2014.
Lashley tears through Thompson in 54 seconds
Bobby Lashley avenged one of his two MMA losses, and did so in devastating fashion by taking out James Thompson 54 seconds into their heavyweight fight.
It took only two seconds for the first punches to be thrown, and then 12 seconds for Lashley (14-2 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) to shoot for a takedown. Thompson (20-15 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) winced in pain as he went to the canvas, clearly hurting his left leg.
But when Lashley got the takedown, he went to work quickly trying to pound on Thompson. He found plenty of success. As Thompson turtled up from the heavy blows, it didn’t take long for referee Mike England to save Thompson from a worse beating. The punches Thompson was taking were heavy enough that when he went to stand up after England stopped the fight, he fell back to the canvas, still dazed. He needed help from the cage, unable to put pressure on his left leg.
“It feels good,” Lashley said after the win. “I had a good training camp – I feel good today. I feel light. They’ve got to do more than just practice defense, because I don’t think they can stop my takedowns. When I took that shot, I heard his knee pop and he couldn’t get back up.”
Bellator officials told MMAjunkie after the fight that Thompson said he felt his left hamstring pop, not his knee.
Lashley won for the seventh straight time and stayed perfect at 4-0 under the Bellator banner. Thompson had a five-fight winning streak snapped and lost for the first time since September 2010.
Emmanuel Sanchez outlasts Justin Lawrence for split decision
It wasn’t easy, but Emmanuel Sanchez was able to get past Justin Lawrence to open the Bellator 145 main card.
Lawrence (8-3 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) kicked high to open, but Sanchez (12-2 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) blocked it and started to stalk from the middle. But Lawrence delivered a second kick, then a third seconds later, showing his game plan right away. Sanchez did well backing Lawrence up, but he wasn’t able to land cleanly until he sneaked a kick through 90 seconds into the fight. He started working kicks, as well, catching Lawrence to his lead leg before keeping him backpedaling. In a close exchange, both fighters landed punches, but it was a Sanchez knee that cracked Lawrence’s chin. The two then clinched up against the fence to close the round.
Sanchez came out strong in the second and continued to control the center of the cage. Ninety seconds in, Sanchez worked to take Lawrence down on the fence, but couldn’t drag the fight to the canvas. They stayed in that stalemate for more than two minutes before referee John McCarthy finally broke them up with Sanchez bleeding near his left eye. With 15 seconds left, Sanchez threw a high kick that drilled Lawrence on the chin, and he nearly fell to the canvas. But he survived the round to see a third.
Sanchez found success finally taking Lawrence down in the third, but Lawrence reversed position and got on top with more than three minutes left in the frame. Sanchez went after Lawrence’s leg late in the round, but couldn’t secure it. An armbar attempt fell short, too. Sanchez got back to his feet with 30 seconds left and got a few punches and knees off, but a last-second takedown attempt failed.
When the final scores were read, Sanchez had a pair of 29-28s to one dissenting 29-28 in favor of Lawrence.
Sanchez won for the second straight time after a split-decision win over Henry Corrales at Bellator 143. Lawrence had a four-fight winning streak snapped.
The full Bellator 145 results include:
MAIN CARD (Spike, 9 p.m. ET)
- Daniel Straus def. Patricio Freire via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47) – to win featherweight title
- Champ Will Brooks def. Marcin Held via unanimous decision (50-45, 49-46, 49-46) – to defend lightweight title
- Michael Chandler def. David Rickels via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 3:05
- Bobby Lashley def. James Thompson via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:54
- Justin Lawrence def. Emmanuel Sanchez via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
PRELIMINARY CARD (MMAjunkie, 7 p.m. ET)
- Rashard Lovelace def. Brandon Lowe via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:07
- Fazlo Mulabitinovic def. Scott Ettling via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 1:52 – 140-pound catchweight
- Kain Royer def. Clay Mitchell via submission (kneebar) – Round 1, 3:41
- Augusto Sakai def. Alex Huddleston via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Adam Meredith def. Jordan Dowdy via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 1:54
- Kyle Kurtz def. Steven Mann via submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, 2:59
- Garrett Gross def. Jeff Crotty via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) – 160-pound catchweight
- Cheljean Erwin-Davis def. Adam Cella via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 0:35
For complete coverage of Bellator 145, check out the MMA Events section of the site.
