Kerry Vera puts on an exciting fight with Leslie Smith
By Maggie Hendricks
If you only catch one fight from the Bellator Fighting Championships, held in Chicago on Friday night, watch Kerry Vera's unanimous decision over Leslie Smith. The two women engaged in a brutal, nonstop slugfest.
Vera, the wife of UFC fighter Brandon Vera, had her debut tonight, though she had fought in kickboxing matches in the past. Her kicks were as brutal as her husbands, and she was unrelenting for the entire fight. Leslie Smith, in just her second pro bout, had several memorable exchanges, including one where she caught Vera's leg and waylaid her with punches.
This fight was the biggest argument for women fighting for longer than three, three-minute rounds. Vera and Smith did not relent during the fight, and the raucous crowd at the packed Aragon Ballroom clearly wanted more. As the fight ended, they gave a standing ovation, and were so loud that I could barely hear the music blaring from the speakers.
The fight will air on Saturday night on ESPN Deportes at 9 p.m. ET, and will be on Bellator's Web site by Wednesday. Watch this fight. You will not be disappointed.
by MMAjunkie.com Staff on May 16, 2009 at 1:00 am ET
First came the lightweight finalists, and next came the featherweight finalists.
Now, following Friday's Bellator Fighting Championships Week 7 event, we have our two finalists in the organization's eight-man welterweight tournament:
Omar De La Cruz and
Lyman Good.
The event took place at Chicago's historic Aragon Ballroom and airs Saturday (via 24-hour delay) on ESPN Deportes.
In the night's headliner, De La Cruz was taken down early by opponent and former UFC champion
Dave Menne, who quickly took the mount position and unloaded a flurry of blows.
De La Cruz, though, escaped, quickly went on the offensive, dropped Menne with a combination and then rained down an onslaught of blows. Menne was bruised and bloodied by the assault, but he got back to his feet. But only briefly.
De La Cruz then dropped Menne with a straight right and followed him to the mat with subsequent blows before the referee's stoppage at 3:19 of the first round.
With the win over Menne (43-16-2), De La Cruz (16-5) moves a step closer to Bellator's first-ever welterweight title and a $100,000 championship check.
But he'll first need to get by Good, who also qualified for next month's tournament finale.
In the night's co-headliner, Good (9-0) dazed opponent Jorge Ortiz (16-5) in the first round and then sent him to the mat in the second after landing a knee from the clinch and a flush uppercut. Ortiz immediately began gushing blood from his head, and after a check from the doctor, the bout was halted.
De La Cruz earned the TKO victory (due to doctor's stoppage) at 4:37 of the second round.
Round 1
Menne starts the action with lunging punches at De Le Cruz and pins him along the cage wall. Menne gets body lock and pull De Le Cruz to the mat and gains full mount position. Menne is landing body blows as he gets inside De Le Cruz's guard. Menne lands a shot to the head, but De Le Cruz is able to maneuver out from under and they are back on their feet. De Le Cruz lands a stunning combination to the head of Menne and he takes him to the mat. De Le Cruz stand over top of Menne and lands hard striking right fisted blows to the head. Menne's head is cut wide open and he is bleeding. Menne gets back to his feet and De La Cruz floors Menne with an immediate straight right. De Le Cruz pounces and lands two more undefended blows before the referee steps in and calls a halt to the bout. De La Cruz is ecstatic as he climbs the cage and hugs Chicago Cubs All-Star and fellow Dominican Carlos Marmol.
Official Result
De La Cruz by TKO at 3:19
