Bellator 134 took place Friday night (February 27, 2015) at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, and overall the card was exciting as it featured a light heavyweight title fight and several other top UK fighters in an event dubbed the “British Invasion.” Overall from a betting perspective, four favorites and one underdog 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, Liam McGeary defeated Emanuel Newton via unanimous decision (48-46, 48-47×2) to become the new Bellator light heavyweight champion. McGeary and Newton went back and forth for the first few rounds with the story of the fight being Newton’s takedowns and McGeary’s very aggressive submission attempts from bottom. McGeary threatened with a plethora of submissions ranging from triangles, armbars and Kimuras, but Newton wriggled free each and every time. As the fight wore on, McGeary’s sub attempts became less threatening, but Newton couldn’t get the late finish and the judges gave the Brit the decision based on his strong start. Overall, McGeary cashed at -120 (bet $120 to win $100) while Newton lost at +110 (bet $100 to win $110). In a welterweight bout, Paul Daley defeated Andre Santos via unanimous decision (29-28×3). Daley won the majority of the striking throughout the contest, but Santos took his best shots and kept pushing for takedowns, even firing back with decent strikes of his own. Daley came close to the finish a few times, but Santos held on to the end, making this a surprisingly competitive fight. In the end, Daley won as a -420 favorite while Santos was on the losing end at +375. In a light heavyweight contest, recent title challenger Linton Vassell defeated Sokoudjou via second round TKO. Sokoudjou could not keep the fight standing as Vassell was able to close the distance in the clinch and score takedowns, advancing to dominant positions. As Sokoudjou faded, Vassell was able to turn up the pace, forcing the referee to put a halt to the action due to unanswered strikes from back mount. Vassell got back on track as a -320 fav while Sokoudjou failed to deliver as a +290 dog. In the opening bout of the evening, welterweight Brennan Ward defeated Curtis Millender via first round submission. Both men blasted each other out of the gate, but Ward recovered quickly and flattened Millender with some big shots standing, eventually following him to the canvas and putting the Californian away with a rear naked choke. When it was all said and done, Ward came through as a -120 betting favorite while Millender lost as a +110 underdog. Underdogs That Won In a heavyweight bout, King Mo Lawal moved up a weight class to defeat Cheick Kongo via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28). Lawal put pressure on Kongo and was able to put the Frenchman on his back throughout the course of all three rounds in a lackluster overall fight. Inexplicably, the judges were not impressed and nearly blew it, but the right man won in the end. Lawal was +115 while Kongo was -125.
