by Oliver Saenz
Last night, Bellator put on its “Bellator 59” event live on MTV2. The official end of Bellator’s fifth season, Bellator 59 was an event mired by frequent controversy. Only one of Bellator 59’s broadcasted fights ended in a way that both fans at home and fans at the arena found acceptable. Other than that one fight we had a horrible judge’s decision, a fast stoppage by a referee, and a No Contest in the main event that probably could’ve been ruled a Disqualification. Here are the full results as well as some early commentary on Bellator 59.
Bellator 59 Results
Thiago Santos vs. Eric Prindle is ruled a no contest after an accidental groin strike in round 1. Patricky Freire defeats Kurt Pellegrino by TKO (Strikes) at 0:50 of Round 1. Eduardo Dantas defeats Alexis Vila by Unanimous Decision. Marcin Held defeats Phillipe Nover by Split Decision. Karl Amoussou defeats Jesus Martinez via TKO at 2:20 round 1. LeVon Maynard defeats Chris Wing via unanimous decision. Lucas Pimenta defeats Doug Gordon via knockout at 0:40 round 1. Scott Heckman defeats Brylan Van Artsdalen via submission (guillotine choke) at 1:38 round 1. Gregory Milliard defeats Brandon Saling via unanimous decision.
I’ll start out with this incredibly blunt point: Phillipe Nover got robbed.
I have nothing against Marcin Held, I appreciated how often he hunted for submissions. That made the fight pretty exciting. I think Held isn’t ready to compete in a promotion like Bellator, but he’s so young that with a few years of experience in smaller leagues I think he could turn into a prospect one day.
There’s just no way he beat Phillipe Nover.
I can’t even describe how baffling that decision was. It boggles the mind. It was highway robbery. I sincerely hope Nover gets a second shot in Bellator, because he looked pretty good against Held and he should’ve won that fight.
I’ve got no major problems with Eduardo Dantas beating Alexis Vila, even though I feel gutted for Vila. I simply think that Dantas wanted it more, and came into the cage with a better gameplan. Vila has one-hit KO power, but he still needs to work on what to do if he can’t land that blow. If Vila works on his cardio and tries to round out his stand-up, he’ll definitely have a home in Bellator and he may even win a tournament one day.
As much as I love Patricky Freire, I definitely think that his fight with Kurt Pellegrino was waved off too soon. I’m all for protecting the fighters when they’re hurt, but Pellegrino was defending himself. He was eating shots, he was certainly hurt, but he wasn’t knocked out. I just feel that there’s a void now, with Pellegrino retiring once again after an early stoppage. If Pellegrino ever decides to un-retire again, I’d love to see him rematch Freire.
And in the main event, Thiago Santos struck Eric Prindle right where it hurts and the fight was ruled a No Contest. From the multiple replays shown I think it’s very evident that Santos threw that strike intentionally, whether or not he knew it was against the rules is besides the point. I think Santos should have been disqualified.
It was unfortunate that Bellator’s fifth season had to end this way, but that’s the way it goes sometime in the fight game. I still think Bellator is a great promotion, and I look forward to seeing what’s next for them.
About the author
Oliver Saenz, also known as PdW2kX, is a freelance journalist, opinion columnist, hardcore MMA fan, and lifelong video game nerd. For more news, views, previews, and reviews on all things Mixed Martial Arts as well as video games, be sure to visit FightGamesBlog.net.
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