Bellator 131 took place tonight in San Diego, California, and the event overall was actually one of the promotion’s best offerings of the year as it featured a number of exciting fights and vicious finishes, including an upset knockout in the co-main event. Overall from a betting perspective, three favorites and two underdogs won based on the closing odds at Several Bookmakers. Here’s a quick recap for each fight. Favorites That Won In the main event of the evening, Tito Ortiz defeated Stephan Bonnar via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27). Ortiz outstruck Bonnar and took him down a few times to take home the decision win, although somehow one judge gave the fight to Bonnar which made this an unneeded sweat for bettors. Ortiz cashed at -165 (bet $165 to win $100) while Bonnar lost at +155 (bet $100 to win $155) In a bantamweight bout, Mike Richman defeated Nam Phan via first-round KO (punches). Richman landed early and often on Phan and put him out in highlight-reel fashion with relative ease. Phan was +340 while Richman was -380. In a light heavyweight bout, King Mo defeated Joe Vedepo via third-round TKO (punches). Mo took down Vedepo repeatedly and kept ground and pounding him until the ref was forced to stop the fight. Mo was -925 while Vedepo was +725. Underdogs That Won In the co-main event of the evening, Will Brooks defeated Michael Chandler via fourth-round TKO (punches) to become the new Bellator lightweight champion. Brooks used his movement and outside striking attack to pick Chandler apart, and in the fourth round the damage added up as Chandler became strangely confused, turned up against the fence, and got finished with punches by Brooks, who became the undisputed Bellator lightweight champ. Brooks cashed at +170 while Chandler lost at -185. In a middleweight bout, Joe Schilling defeated Melvin Manhoef via second-round KO (punch). Manhoef knocked Schilling down in the first round but was unable to finish the fight and in the second Manhoef tired and let his guard down and Schilling knocked him out with a brutal right hand. Schilling cashed at +155 while Manhoef lost at -165.
