Bellator Season 4 - Weekly Recap #3

When Bellator 37 kicked off from the Lucky Star Casino in Concho, Oklahoma on Saturday, they kicked things off a little bit earlier than usual.
Bellator wanted nothing to do with competing for the cable TV slot against the UFC 128 prelims, which aired at 9p.m. ET on SpikeTV. Bellator chose to move its event up to 7p.m. ET and showcased some young talent in the featherweight class, which is particularly thin across all current fighting promotions.
The card was one of Bellator’s most exciting to date. To start, Kenny Foster fought Eric Larkin. Larkin was a popular competitor, well known for his wrestling. Larkin currently trains at The Lions Den in Scottsdale, Arizona alongside Bellator Welterweight Champion Ben Askren. Training alongside a former four-time All-American, two-time NCAA Champion and 2008 Olympian has helped Larkin take his wrestling to a whole new level. Larkin boasts a lofty resume himself, having captured a National Championship and also being a four time All-American.
Much was said about Larkin going into the fight, but Foster seemed to be overlooked in much of the pre fight talks. Foster came into the fight holding an 8-2 record with very few impressive victories. He stunned his critics, and Larkin early. When Larkin went in for a takedown to start the fight he landed a big knee that opened a cut in the beginning minutes of the fight. Larkin seemed very defensive from that point on. Larkin eventually finished the fight with a guillotine choke midway through the first round.
After such an action packed first fight, the second went to unanimous decision, but didn’t disappoint. Daniel Straus vs. Nazareno Malegarie started off with a lot of grappling, with Malegarie holding the edge on the ground. A well accomplished Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, Malegarie, who holds a black belt, and 12 of his 20 wins by submission, was bested by Straus on his feet, and was knocked down several times. Early in the third round, Malegarie was hit with a left cross and knocked to the mat. Straus subsequently mounted him and unleashed a barrage of strikes.
When Wilson Reis and Zac George entered the cage, no one expected Reis to be exiting the cage seconds later. In easily the quickest bout of the night, Reis started aggressive, landing a lot of strikes to open up the round. He knocked George down, dazed him with several hammerfists to the head and later took his back to finish the fight via rear-naked choke at just over a minute into the opening round.
In the main event, Patricio Freire squared off against Georgi Karakhanyan. The fight saw both fighters upright almost the entire time. Karakhanyan decided to pull out a flashy flying knee and ended up with his back on the mat, three times. In the second round, the fighters clinched and Karakhanyan tried to get a takedown several times, but just ended up eating a lot of strikes to the body. Friere ended the round with a takedown.
With Friere winning the two previous rounds, Karakhanyan knew that if the fight went to the judges’ scorecards, he was a dead man. He came out very aggressive, maybe a bit too much so. Friere managed to counter, circle and connect with a left hook that buckled Karakhanyan. Friere finished the fight with a TKO via strikes in the third round.