Bellator 94 was held last night at USF Sundome in Tampa, Florida, and the co-main event of the evening was mired in controversy, something that goes hand-in-hand with any MMA event held in the Sunshine State.
In the lightweight tournament final, David Rickels squared off against Saad Awad. Although the oddsmakers had Rickels as a near 2-to-1 favorite entering the bout, Awad arguably won the first two rounds of the fight, and was well on his way to victory until the most unfortunate thing for him happened.
Right before the bell to end the second round, Awad and Rickels engaged in a heated punching exchange, and Rickels connected on Awad, knocking the knockout artist to the canvas. The bell then sounded, and Awad rolled over onto his stomach. Then, the unthinkable happened, as referee Troy Waugh waved the fight off, declaring Rickels the winner via TKO even though Awad was fully conscious.
He wasn’t knocked out, and the fight shouldn’t have been stopped. But it was, and at the end of the day Rickels won the tournament, he won $100,000 in cash, and he won the right to square off against Bellator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler later this year (or Dave Jansen if he upsets Chandler).
And even though the fight will be remembered as controversial, it’s still a win for Rickels, and it’s a win that may prove that he’s the most underrated fighter in Bellator.
With the victory over Awad, the 24-year-old Rickels improves to 14-1 in his career and he improves to an outstanding 8-1 in Bellator, with the only loss coming via split decision to Karl Amoussou back when Rickels fought at welterweight. But since leaving the 170-pound division, Rickels is an awesome 4-0 and lightweight looks to be the right spot for him.
Although all of the hype in the Bellator lightweight division right now surrounds Chandler – and rightly so – it’s not fair to pass over Rickels just because he may have a scraggly beard and just because he may have a goofy nickname (“The Caveman”) and walk out to the cage with a dinosaur (no joke). Bad stoppage or not on Thursday night, Rickels is a very good fighter and he is a worthy challenger for the Bellator lightweight title.
Will he beat Chandler? Probably not, but you know what? He might just make a fight out of it. With his heart, his determination, his never-say-die attitude, his underrated knockout power, his sweet submission game, his size for the lightweight division, and his experience fighting in the Bellator cage, Rickels is going to be a tough challenge for Chandler (or Jansen if he upsets the champ), and it’s going to be a very intriguing fight when it does happen.
There aren’t that many fighters with 8-1 records in Bellator, but Rickels is one of them, and he should be proud of how far he’s come in such a short period of time, considering he only began fighting three years ago.
But Rickels is proving with each and every appearance that it’s not about how many fights a fighter has had, it’s about more than that. something that’s hard to quantify. But whatever it is, Rickels has it.
Bellator 94 took place on March 28, 2013 at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida.
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"mired in controversy, something that goes hand-in-hand with any MMA event held in the Sunshine State."
🙂
To put it mildly.