View slideshow - Mixed Martial Arts: Bellator Fighting Championships
The Bellator Fighting Championships came to Norman Friday night to entertain fans with 11 mixed martial arts fights, and it did not disappoint.
The fights, which air on ESPN Deportes every Saturday night, taped two shows at Lloyd Noble Center in front of a few thousand MMA fans.
Out of the 11 fights, only two were decided by judges, and five ended in the first round. The most eventful fight came in the 185-lb. division between Virgil Lozano and Hector Lombard. One minute into round one, Lombard hit Lozano with a left uppercut that knocked Lozano out, bringing the crowd to its feet.
There were several Oklahoma natives on the fight card. Seven competed Friday, including Norman’s own Wayne Cole, who received an ovation when entering the ring wearing an OU sweatshirt. Cole lost in the second round to a submission.
Another Oklahoma native was Jared Hess, a University of Central Oklahoma alum, who fought in the evening’s main event. Hess put his perfect MMA record (6-0-1) on the line against Daniel Tabera (12-0-2), considered one of Spain’s best fighters.
Hess came out to a loud ovation ready to fight. The bell rang and Hess was immediately able to get a takedown. He used the cage to his advantage, moving Tabera up against the fence to pound away with his fists. Tabera eventually gave up his back and Hess was able to apply the rear naked choke for the submission win.
“I was able to take control of him on the ground because of my wrestling background,” Hess said after the fight, “I just kept working and got the win.”
The fight between Hess and Tabera was one of five fights that were a part of the single-elimination tournament put on by Bellator in which the winner takes home $175,000.
“Bellator gave me a chance to show my skills and I am stepping up,” Hess said, “It’s amazing.”
The Oklahoma Daily is pleased to provide you the opportunity to share your thoughts about this article. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or straying from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of OUDaily.com. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register
mmajudo 2 years, 2 months ago
nice article - i agree that the best fight was the Lombard vs Lozano - hector lombard is the best fighter in the bellator and it would be very hard to beat him
Hector Lombard is the best :) http://www.mmajudo.net/hector-lombard.php