Bellator Opened the Summer Series at tonight’s Bellator 71

As Summer is a mere two days old, the heat that has already enveloped the East Coast was matched by the hard-hitting action as Bellator premiered it’s Summer Series, tonight, in Chester, WV.  Bellator 71 featured the beginning of its Light Heavyweight tournament, highlighted by Travis Wiuff, who many claim as the REAL Bellator Light Heavyweight Champ.

Wiuff defeated current Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion, Christian M’Pumbu, in a non-title fight back in October of 2011. It didn’t take Wiuff long to claim his position in the semis as he quickly dispatched fellow Light Heavyweight, Chris Davis, via 1^st Round KO. The remaining three fights in the opening round of the tournament were all ended via submissions, as Attila Vegh, Emanuel Newton and Tim Carpenter all notched first round victories at Bellator 71.

Bellator 71 also featured a Heavyweight Feature Bout between former Strikeforce fighter, Brett Rogers vs. his former training partner Kevin Asplund.  As expected, Rogers was the victor, via TKO in Round 2. The move to sign Rogers can only be viewed as a desperate attempt to find a Heavyweight that can hang in against current Heavyweight Champ, Cole Konrad.  Time will tell if Rogers is able to stay clear of the law in order to seize this opportunity given to him by Bjorn Rebney and Bellator.

On a night that featured the Light Heavyweights, the undercard witnessed a title change in the Light Heavyweight Division.  The change was not in Bellator’s title, but the NAAFS Light Heavyweight title changed hands as Josh Stansbury defeated Dan Spohn, via triangle choke in the 1^st.

The full results are listed below:

Main Card

Travis Wiuff def. Chris Davis via TKO (punches) at 4:12 of round one

• The power and pressure from Wiuff was just too much for Davis and he rolled to a TKO win.

Attila Vegh def. Zelg Galesic via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:00 of round one

• These two fighters went right at each other, throwing leather toe to toe. Galesic got caught and Vegh pounced in for submission win.

Tim Carpenter def. Beau Tribolet via verbal submission (armbar) at 4:52 of round two

• Carpenter opened the fight looking good on his feet but Tribolet came out strong in round two. Despite getting the better of the striking in the round, Tribolet took the fight to the ground and paid the price.

Emanuel Newton def. Roy Broughton via submission (rear-naked choke) at 0:49 of round two

• Newton used his power in round one to score several slams on Boughton but in round two he used his power to choke out his opponent.

Brett Rogers def. Kevin Asplund via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) at 5:00 of round two

• The face of Asplund looked like it was hit with a bat, but it was via the hands of Brett Rogers. Between rounds two and three the doctor called a stop to the fight due to swelling around the left eye.

Undercard

Josh Stansbury def. Dan Spohn via submission (guillotine choke) at 2:30 of round one

Jason Butcher def. Duane Bastress via submission (triangle choke) at 1:03 of round one

Kevin Zalac def. Chris Goldbaugh via unanimous decision

Neil Johnson def. Brylan Van Artsdalen via submission (rear naked choke) at 4:29 of round two

The Bellator summer series will consist of three events, which started off with tonight’s Bellator 71

Tags: Attila Vegh, Beau Tribolet, Bellator, Bellator 71, Brett Rogers, Chris Davis, Christian M'Pumbu, Dan Spohn, Emanuel Newton, Josh Stansbury, Kevin Asplund, Mixed Martial Arts, MMA, Roy Broughton, Summer Series, Tim Carpenter, Travis Wiuff, Zelg Galesic

Category: Bellator, Exclusive, MMA, Results