Eduardo Dantas (Bellator publicity photo)
Bellator 89 went down in Charlotte, N.C. last night, and the biggest moment in the cage was the bantamweight title fight that capped off the evening.
Nova União teammates Dudu Dantas and Marcos Lôro locked horns with the divisional belt at stake. Showing good movement, Dudu saw the better of the action in the first round, landing jabs and low kicks. In the second round, the Dantas unleashed a high kick that dazed Lôro, before finishing with an uppercut and hammerfists to hang on to his Bellator belt.
Concerned with his friend, Dantas didn’t spend long celebrating before checking to see how Lôro was.
“I’m happy and sad at the same time, but that’s the way our sport goes,” he said following the knockout-win. “I’m the champion and had to defend my title.”
The highlight of the rest of the card was the first round of the middleweight GP. Former TUF contestant Dan Cramer outdid Brian Rogers by unanimous decision and goes through to take on Brett Cooper, who made it past France’s Norman Paraisy with a unanimous decision win of his own.
In the other bracket, Doug Marshall knocked out Sweden’s Andreas Spang, and in the next phase of the GP will take on Sultan Alieve, who beat Mikkel Parlo by unanimous decision.
Bellator 89
Charlotte, North Carolina
Feb. 14, 2013
Dudu Dantas defeated Marcos Loro by TKO at min. 3:01 of R2
Dan Cramer defeated Brian Rogers via unanimous judges’ decision
Brett Cooper defeated Norman Paraisy via unanimous judges’ decision
Doug Marshall KO’d Andreas Spang at min. 3:03 of R1
David Mejia defeated Mont McCullens via TKO at min. 4:15 of R1
Aaron Johnson tapped out Brennan Ward via armbar at 0.15 min. of R1
Sultan Aliev defeated Mikkel Parlo via unanimous judges’ decision
Joe Pacheco defeated Kyle Bolt via TKO at min. 4:o2 of R2
Johnny Buck defeated Chris Mierzwiak via unanimous judges’ decision
Mike Maldonado defeated Tim Goodwin via unanimous judges’ decision
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