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This Weekend in Fights! (July 21st, 2012) featured UFC 149 in Calgary, Bellator 72 in Tampa, and Cage Warriors 48 in London.

Bellator 72 kicked off the weekend airing bouts on MTV 2 and Spike.com from the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida on Friday.
Bellator 72 was headlined with the Season 6 Welterweight tournament final. Karl Amoussou submitted Bryan Baker with a beautiful inverted heel hook in just under one minute. With the victory Amoussou wins the Bellator Season 6 Welterweight tournament, $100,000, and is granted a shot at current Bellator Welterweight champion Ben Askren later this year.

Travis Wiuff and Attila Vegh both advanced into the finals of teh Bellator Season 6 Light Heavyweight tournament. In his semifinal match up Wiuff dominated Tim Carpenter for three rounds with his superior wrestling and overall experience with all three rounds 30-27. Attila Vegh surprisingly edged out Emanuel Newton in their semifinal match up. Newton pushed the pace throughout the bout connecting with a lot more strikes, and was clearly the aggressor. Nonetheless the questionable judges ruled in favor of Vegh, who will meet Wiuff in the tournament finals later this year for a shot at Christian M’Pumbu, who Wiuff defeat last fall in a non-title match.

Marius Zaromskis and Waachiim Spiritwolf closed out their trilogy. Their first bout in STRIKEFORCE ended in a no contest due to an eye poke to Spiritwolf. In their second bout in May of this year for Bellator, Zaromskis lucked up by cut Spiritwolf to the point he couldn’t continue into the third round in a bout he was winning. In their bout of Friday,  Zaromskis kept his distance from  Spiritwolf, moving in and out with his attacks in what looked like a unanimous decision, but in another baffling ruling one judge saw the bout in favor of Spiritwolf, while the others for Zaromskis, including one 30-27. Zaromskis picks up the split decision and wraps up the trilogy 2-0-1.

Former UFC and STRIKEFORCE veteran, Paul Daley made his Bellator debut in vintage Daley fashion. In a very lopsided match up, as expected the British slugger made short work of  Rudy Bears. Daley connected with a flurry a knees in the Muay Thai clinch, followed up by his trademark left hook that dropped Bears to the ground in a turtle position, where he was met with a few strikes before the referee intervened. Also with an impressive knockout during the night, Ben “Killa Bee” Saunders used his trademark Muay Thai clinch knees to destroy Brian Warren. Saunders rushed him immediately, pulled him into the clinch where his relentless assault began and ended the bout in 22-seconds. (Full Bellator 72 event results below.)

UFC crowned an Interim Bantamweight champion on Saturday night at UFC 149 from the Scotiabank Sattledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The main event of the evening saw Renan Barao dominated Urijah Faber throughout five rounds to win a unanimous decision with scores of 49-46, 50-45 and 49-46 to become the UFC interim Bantamweight champion.  Landing a significant amount of strikes, Barao’s game plan was semi reminiscent of his teammate Jose Aldo’s bout with Faber in 2010, with leg kicks and takedown defense. Barao stiffled Faber from having any offense whatsoever causing him to lose for the fifth straight time in a title fight in a row. Barao continues his unprecedented undefeated streak to 29 straight victories. With current UFC Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz out of action for an undisclosed period of time Barao is expected to defend the championship before the unification bout takes place.

Tim Boetsch spoiled Hector Lombard’s UFC debut and snapped his 25-fight win streak with a  split decision victory. The former Bellator Middleweight champion’s debut was highly anticipated as the holder of 17 knockouts was though of as the potential next challenger for the Middleweight title. The bout was very back and forth, but fans expected more from Lombard who had difficulty taking Boetsch and closing the distance. Boetsch was the aggressor with leg kicks and hooks walking away with the victory. Boetsch now positions himself in the mix as the next challenger to Anderson Silva, but that remains to be scene.

Matt Riddle and Chris Clements had an exciting back and forth bout that saw Riddle attempt a rear-naked choke for a period of time during the second round. While in Riddle’s body triangle Clements connected with a huge elbow, but enable to finish the bout with his positioning. During the third round while against the cage Riddle slapped on an arm-triangle choke from the standing position, dropped to the ground forcing Clements to tap.

In the three first round knockouts of the night, Ryan Jimmo made his UFC debut by tying the record for fastest knockout set by Duane Ludwig of seven seconds. Jimmo improved his win streak to 17 when he walked up to Anthony Perosh threw one punch sending him to the ground. The record would have been broken if referee Josh Rosenthal would have made it to the fighters quick than he had. Francisco Rivera used his superior boxing to drop submission specialist Roland Delorme with 41-seconds remaining in the  round. Delorme simply walked into Rivera’s punch, sending him crashing to the mat. Antonio Carvalho picked up his first UFC win with his knockout of  Daniel Pineda in 71-seconds. Carvalho connect with a head kick and a few punches dropping Pineda, who got up immediately, yet was wobbly. Moments later Carvalho connect with a big right hand, sending Pineda to the mat unconscious. (Full UFC 149: Faber vs. Barao event results below.)

Cage Warriors held their 10-year anniversary show at HMV Forum in London, England streaming the bouts of Facebook and MMAJunkie.com.  Cage Warriors 48 was headlined with a Cage Warrior’s Middleweight tournament semifinal match between John Phillips and Chris Fields. With Fields missing a high kick, Phillips landed a few big shots, but was taken down and mounted.  Phillips defended Fields ground and pound assault for a period of time, and managed to get back to his feet, but was taken down once against before the round ended. This would continue into the second round, as Fields once again took Phillips with easy. All of a sudden Fields is stuck in a guillotine and taps out. With this victory Phillips advances in into the Cage Warrior’s Middleweight tournament finals for the vacant championship to face Pavel Kusch on Sept. 1 in Amman, Jordan, in a rematch from an April bout in which Kusch made short work of  Phillips by submitting him with a heel hook in 25 seconds. (Full Cage Warriors 48 event results below.)

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Friday Night Fights -

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Bellator 72 results:

Karl Amoussou def. Bryan Baker via submission (inverted heel hook) – Round 1, 0:56 – welterweight-tournament final

Paul Daley def. Rudy Bears via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:45

Attila Vegh def. Emanuel Newton via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28) – light-heavyweight tourney semifinal

Travis Wiuff def. Tim Carpenter via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) – light-heavyweight tourney semifinal

Marius Zaromskis def. Waachiim Spiritwolf via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)

Prelims:

Paul Barrow def. Jason Carapelluci via submission (rear-naked) choke – Round 3, 0:46

Ben Saunders def. Brian Warren via TKO (knees) – Round 1, 0:22

Raul Amaya def. Kenny Moss via verbal submission (injury) – Round 2, 0:30

Matt McCook def. Shannon Slack via split decision

Julien Williams def. Ryan DeRocher via technical submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 1:32

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Saturday Night Fights –

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UFC 149: Faber vs. Barao results:

Renan Barao def. Urijah Faber via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 49-46) - to become interim bantamweight champion

Tim Boetsch def. Hector Lombard via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Cheick Kongo def. Shawn Jordan via unanimous decision (30-28, 30-27, 30-27)

James Head def. Brian Ebersole via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Matt Riddle def. Chris Clements via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 3, 2:02

FX prelims:

Nick Ring def. Court McGee via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Francisco Rivera def. Roland Delorme via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 4:19

Ryan Jimmo def. Anthony Perosh via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:07

Bryan Caraway def. Mitch Gagnon via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 1:39

Facebook prelims:

Antonio Carvalho def. Daniel Pineda via KO (punches) – Round 1, 1:11

Anton Kuivanen def. Mitch Clarke via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

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Cage Warriors 48 results:

John Phillips def. Chris Fields via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 2:04

Aaron Wilkinson def. Leigh Cohoon via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:07

Denniston Sutherland def. Brett Sizeland via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:12

Danny Roberts def. Jack Mason via submission (armbar) – Round 2, 2:46

Dale Hardiman def. Ido Pariente via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 0:44

Kris Edwards def. Brian Hyslop via submission (armbar) – Round 2, 1:44

Prelims:

Dayman Lake def. Jay Mortimore via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:56

Piotr Ptasinski def. Jacek Toczydlowski via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Leon Del Gaudio def. Mehmet Faulds via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:03

Charlie Watts def. Victor Peixoto via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 0:53

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