7/30/2019 David McKinney Sample 3 - Event Coverage

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Bellator 51 results: Vila Smashes Warren, Caraballo claims NAAFS title

Bellator Fighting Championships made its first appearance in Ohio since 2009 last night, as Bellator 51 washeld at the Canton Civic Center in Canton, Ohio.

The event featured the quarterfinals of the organizations season five bantamweight tournament, and thenight featured a host of exciting knockouts and enough finishes for a months worth of fights. Mostnoteworthy was Alexis Vila (10-0, 1-0 BFC), who stunned Bellator featherweight champion Joe Warren (7-2,5-1 BFC) in the headliner with a smashing knockout to claim his spot in next months bantamweightsemifinals.

Warren came into the fight looking to become a two-division champion in Bellator, but he fell short in thatgoal and suffered defeat for the first time in nearly two years.

Theres nobody that can stop me from becoming the next Bellator Bantamweight World Champion, Vilasaid after the fight. I feel like the belt is already mine. I just have to beat up a few guys before I get to take ithome.

Vilas next test will come in the form of veteran grappler Marcos Galvao (9-4-1, 1-1 BFC), who earned a splitdecision over Chase Beebe (19-8, 1-1 BFC) in a fight that had few dull moments. The two fighters spent the

first frame trading transitions on the ground, and then did much of the same in the second round, but thefirst two stanzas clearly went to Galvao. Beebe hung tough in the final round, actually winning it on ourscorecard.

Highly touted prospect Eduardo Dantas (11-2, 1-0 BFC) cruised through a dead even first round with WilsonReis (12-4, 5-4 BFC) in his U.S. debut, but he clearly was controlling the pace and had the veteran on hisheels defending strikes that were coming from everywhere. The second round wasnt so even, as Dantaslanded a big knee coming out of a clinch against the cage that dropped Reis, and then a few more blows onthe ground ended the fight.

Dantas will take on former tournament finalist Ed West (17-5, 3-1 BFC) in the tournaments semifinals, whoused a range of kicks to keep another highly touted prospect in Luis Nogueira (11-2, 1-1 BFC) at bay in aunanimous decision victory.

The tournaments semifinals will take place on Oct. 22 in Yuma, Arizona.

In the local portion of the show, some of Ohios best up-and-coming talent was on display, including formerNAAFS professional lightweight champion Frank Caraballo (8-4, 1-1 BFC), who actually claimed the interimNAAFS featherweight title in the nights local main event against Dustin Kempf (6-5, 0-1 BFC). Caraballowas landing kicks and punches in the first round, and a big kick buckled Kempf, re-injuring his knee andcausing the fight to be stopped. The win is the third in four months for Caraballo, who dropped to the 145-pound division just two fights ago.

The ascension of local product Jessica Evil Eye (4-1, 1-0 BFC) continued as well, as she claimed her firstBellator victory since being signed by the organization with her split decision victory over Casey Noland (3-2,0-1 BFC).

Two local products also claimed highlight reel knockouts of their own, as Joey Hitman Holt (2-0, 1-0 BFC)

opened up the night with a flying knee that put Clint Musser (2-1, 0-1 BFC) to sleep, and NAAFS lightheavyweight champion Dan Dragon Spohn (6-0, 1-0 BFC) proved why he is regarded as one of the best205-pound prospects in the country as he put Dane Bonnigson (1-2, 0-1 BFC) away with a flying knee of hisown just nine seconds into their bout.