27 Mar Weekend in Fights! March 24th Edition

This Weekend in Fights! (March 24th) was jam packed with awesome fights from Bellator & Xplode Fight Series in the U.S., BAMMA in the U.K., Strength & Honor Championship in  Switzerland, and Victory MMA here in Montreal.
 
On Friday night, Bellator 62 took place at the Lerado Energy Center in Lerado, Texas. Season 6 Lightweight tourney kicked off its opening round with Thiago Michel, Rick Hawn, Lloyd Woodard and Brent Weedman all advancing to the semi finals.Michel edged out Rene Nazare with a split decision in the only bout going the distance. Woodard and Weedman both picked up submission victories. Woodard submitted Patricky “Pitbull” Freire with a cringing kimura trapping Freire’s head between his legs in a crucifix position causing a small fracture. While Weedman pulled off an extraordinary Von Flue choke over J.J. Ambrose in the second round. Rick Hawn was the sole tournament competitor to score a TKO victory, as he did it over Ricardo Tirloni in the first round. (Full Bellator 62 event results below.)
BAMMA 9 took place at National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England. Tristar/Jackson’s MMA fighter and BAMMA Middleweight champion Tom Watson successfully retained his championship, with a second round TKO victory over Jack Marshman. Watson is now riding a three fight and three title defense streak.  Another member of Jackson’s MMA Jake Murphy, who submitted David Round with a rear-naked choke in under two minutes of the second round. Instinct MMA veteran Patrick Vallee picked up a arm bar submission win over Andrew Punshon in the second round. (Full BAMMA 9 event results below.)
Former TKO & WEC Featherweight veteran Danny Martinez, who now competes at Flyweight was successful on Saturday for California based promotion Xplode Fight Series. Martinez made short work of debuting Rich Bonafidini with a first round TKO victory. The match making for this bout was questionable, as Martinez is a veteran of 19 bouts, while his opponent Bonafidini never fought before on the professional level. Why would the California State Athletic Commission approve of this match making considering the large discrepancy of experience between each fighter? After looking at the results of this card, with many fights ending in under 20 seconds and 8 of 15 bouts not making out of the first minute, the Martinez bout doesn’t seem like it was the only bad job. (Full Xplode Fight Series – Disarm event results below.)
Former UFC Light Heavyweight Goran Reljic picked up an impressive first round TKO over Rogent Llorent in a Heavyweight bout, at Strength & Honor Championship in Geneva, Switzerland on Saturday. With this win Reljic is now riding a two fight win streak since being released from the UFC after three consecutive losses in the promotion in 2010. (Full Strength & Honor Championship event results below.)
Victory MMA returned on Saturday night with Victory MMA 5: Strikers Collide at Academie Sportive in Montreal. Three new champions were crowned, as former Bantamweight champion Xavier Aloui took on his last Bantamweight challenger Mathieu Boisvert for the Featherweight crown. Reminiscent of their last bout, this fight was action packed with great grappling and heavy strikes. During the third round, Aloui pulled off a beautiful inverted triangle choke, forcing Boisvert to tap. Aloui is still undefeated in amateur action, and claims his second Victory MMA title in two weight classes. Kevin Chauvette and Alex Baez went toe-to-toe in a five round war, that saw Chauvette squeak by with a split decision to claim the Victory MMA Bantamweight title. In the main event Team Bergeron’s Remy Bussieres took home the Victory MMA Middleweight title against Domenic Ruccolo with a rear-naked choke submission in the third round. Also on the card, Christophe Alfonzo continued his undefeated streak with a controversial split decision victory over previously undefeated Merouane Ghalmi. (Full Victory MMA 5: Strikers Collide event results below.)
————————————————————————————————–
Friday Night Fights –
————————————————————————————————–
Bellator 62 Results:
MTV2  Card: 
Lloyd Woodard def. Patricky “Pitbull” Freire via submission (kimura) – Round 2, 1:46 – lightweight-tourney opening round
Rick Hawn def. Ricardo Tirloni via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:36 – lightweight-tourney opening round
Brent Weedman def. J.J. Ambrose via submission (Von Flue choke) – Round 2, 3:26 – lightweight-tourney opening round
Thiago Michel def. Rene Nazare via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) – lightweight-tourney opening round
Spike.com prelims:
Luis Vega def. Sonny Luque via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 1, 3:43
Chris Jones def. Steven Peterson via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
Dave Jansen def. Jacob Kirwan via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Rad Martinez def. Douglas Frey via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:08
Sean Spencer def. Joseph Daily via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:24
———————————————————————————————-
Saturday Night Fights –
———————————————————————————————-
BAMMA 9 Results:

Tom Watson def. Jack Marshman via TKO – 4:50 – Round 2 (retain Middleweight title)
Colin Fletcher def. Jason Ball via Unanimous Decision (30-7 x 3)
Jason Jones def. Przemyslaw Mysiala via TKO – 3:51 – Round 1
Jake Murphy def. David Round via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) -1:46 – Round 2
Patrick Vallee def. Andrew Punshon (ArmBar) via Submission at 2:16 of Round 2
Tom Breese def. Mark Tucker via Submission -1:40 – Round 2
Dale Hardiman def. Antanas Jazbutis via Unanimous Decision (29-28 x 3)
Leeroy Barnes def. Matt Ewin via Submission (Guillotine Choke)- 4:57 – Round 1
Rab Truesdale def. Sam Mensah via TKO – 4:32 – Round 1
Marc Godbeer def. Catalin Zmarandescu via TKO – 5:00 of Round 1
Luke Barnett def. Lee Johnson via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) -2:36 – Round 1
———————————————————————————————-
Xplode Fight Series – Disarm results:
Jason Miknuk def. David Salas via KO (Knee) – 0:16 -Round 1
Merwyn Rivera def. Anthony Moore via Submission (Armbar) – 0:15 – Round 1
Marcus Aven def. Squire Redfern via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) – 2:24 Round 2
Shane Kruchten def. Jordan Gammel via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) – 0:09 – Round 1
Chris Brown def. Doug Trotter via TKO (Punches) – 0:15 – Round 1
Danny Martinez def. Rich Bonafidini via TKO (Punches)  – 2:33 – Round 1
Jesse Lopez def. Joey Apodeca via TKO (Punches) – 0:45 – Round 1
Carlos Baruch def. Keith Welpner via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) – 1:42 – Round 1
Derek Anderson def. Gino Valdez via Submission (Guillotine Choke) – 0:26 – Round 1
Giovanni Davis def. Casey Ryan via Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) – 0:44 – Round 1
Bubba Pugh def. Joe Neri via Submission (Triangle Choke) – 0:57 – Round 1
Brandon Morris def. Cardell Williams via Unanimous Decision
Kevin Michel def. Jeremy Hernandez via Unanimous Decision
Joshua Aveles def. Matt Madrid via Submission (Arm Bar) – 2:29 – Round 3
Ivan Herrera def. Matt Bulter via Unanimous Decision
———————————————————————————————-
Strength & Honor Championship Results:
Goran Reljic def. Rogent Lloret via TKO (Punches) -3:02 – Round 1
Hristomir Hristoy def. Olivier Pastor via Majority Decision
Raphael Davis def. Berin Baliiagic via TKO (Punches) – 1:26 – Round 2
Baga Agaey def. Matteo Minonzio via TKO (Punches) -1:56 – Round 1
Reinaldo da Silva def. Tomislav Spahovic via Submission (Omoplata) – 2:30 – Round 2
Mats Nilsson def. Alavutdin Gadjiev via Submission (Armbar) -0:24 – Round 1
Marco Santi def. Sebastien Grandin via TKO (Punches) -4:26 – Round 1
Nicolas Joannes def. Claudemir Souza via KO (Punches) – 1:09 – Round 1
———————————————————————————————-
Amateur MMA –
———————————————————————————————-
Victory MMA 5: Strikers Collide Results:
Remy Bussieres def. Domenic Ruccolo via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) -1:13 -Round 3 (capture Middleweight title)
Kevin Chauvette def. Alex Baez via Split Decision (capture Bantamweight title)
Xavier Aloui def. Mathieu Boisvert (8-4) (St. Jean Fight Club)  via Submission (Inverted Triangle) – 2:28 – Round 2 (capture Featherweight title)
Joe Elliot def. Francis Paquette via Submission (Guillotine) – 0:31 – Round 3
Chris Cleveland def.  Daniel Draghicivia Submission (Arm Triangle) -1:27 Round 1
Christophe Alfonzo def. Merouane Ghalmi via Split Decision (Kickboxing)
Stephen Oppong def. Josh Williamson via Unanimous Decision
Tony Doolittle def. Kyle Petryla via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) -0:58 -Round 3
Darnell Jones def. Joshua Vincze Unanimous Decision
Sophie Leroux def. Jennifer Spies via Unanimous Decision (Kickboxing)
Kevin Walker def. Justin Fishervia Unanimous Decision
Alex Codeau def. Marc-Lucien Delice via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke)
Nicholas Sauvageau def.  Simon Doyon via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) -1:27 -Round 1
Kevin Paquette def. Giovanni Corado via Submission (Guillotine) -1:01 Round 1
———————————————————————————————-