It was an incredibly wild and entertaining night of fights this yesterday (Friday, November 20, 2015) for Bellator 146 and World Series of Fighting 25, which were headlined by a lightweight tournament final and a middleweight slugfest, respectively. Overall, on the night, eight betting favorites were victorious while three underdogs picked up wins based on Several Bookmakers‘s closing odds. Bellator 146 Favorites That Won In the co-main event of the evening, lightweights Brandon Girtz and Derek Campos ended their rematch in a hurry. Girtz avenged his prior loss to Campos with a quick pair of right hands that put him down for the count. Girtz was victorious as a -130 favorite (Bet $130 to win $100) while Campos couldn’t stay conscious as a +120 (Bet $100 to win $120) underdog. In a featherweight bout, Bubba Jenkins was victorious over Jordan Parsons via split decision. Jenkins nearly ended the bout with a beautiful head kick in the second round, but couldn’t follow up with enough damage to put Parsons away, instead taking it to the judges’ scorecards. Jenkins came through as a -185 betting favorite while Parsons was a +170 dog. In the welterweight division, Chidi Njokuani took two out of three rounds against a game Ricky Rainey to walk away with a unanimous decision. Njokuani closed as a -330 favorite while Rainey was +300. In a light heavyweight bout, Guilherme Viana put a hurting on veteran Houston Alexander, punishing the 43-year old over the course of two rounds and eventually forcing a doctor stoppage before the beginning of the third. Viana was a hefty -460 favorite while Alexander couldn’t overcome his +365 odds. Bellator 146 Underdogs that Won In the main event of the evening, Melvin Manhoef bounced back with a thunderous knockout of Hisaki Kato. Both men were looking to knock each other’s head off, but it was a beautiful left hook from Manhoef which dropped Kato and forced the referee to halt the action. Manhoef bounced back into the win column as a slight +115 underdog while Kato was ousted as a -125 favorite. WSOF 25 Favorites that Won In the co-main event of the evening, lightweight Jason High returned from a year-long suspension to completely dismantle Estevan Payan with a shocking head kick which sent the Arizona-native crashing to the canvas. High put the finishing touches on his victory with two shots on the ground that put Payan out cold. “The Kansas City Bandit” proved his -735 betting odds prophetic while Payan was easily defeated at +590. In the final quarterfinal for the lightweight tournament, Luis Palomino floored Rich Patishnock with just five seconds remaining in the first round. “Baboon” hurt Patishnock and then swarmed him with heavy strikes along the cage, eventually putting him down for good. Palomino was a -380 betting favorite while Patishnock was a +340 dog. In lightweight tournament action, Mike Ricci made quick work of an overmatched Joe Condon, quickly landing a head kick and putting the journeyman out cold. Ricci was a winner as the biggest favorite of the night (-1250) while Rondon was a +800 underdog. In the first lightweight tournament bout, Islam Mamedov put a beating on Jorge Patino over the course of three rounds to take a one-sided unanimous decision victory. Unfortunately, Mamedov, the tournament favorite, was unable to continue in the tourney due to a knee injury. Mamedov was victorious as a -735 favorite while Patino lost at +590. WSOF 25 Underdogs that Won In the third 155-pound tourney bout, Joao Zeferino scored a bit upset over Brian Foster, taking the fight to the canvas and latching on a heel hook to force the tap less than two minutes into the first round. Zeferino was a +215 underdog while Foster lost as a -235 favorite. In a lightweight tournament alternate bout, Ramil Mustapayev defeated LaRue Burley via unanimous decision in a relatively lackluster affair. Mustapayev overcame +210 underdog odds while Burley was defeated as a -250 betting favorite. Lightweight tournament results Unfortunately, Islam Mamedov, the tournament favorite, was unable to continue in the tourney due to a knee injury. Mike Ricci was also unable to advance to the semifinals due to an injury suffered in his fight. This meant that two men who had lost in the quarterfinals were given opportunities to compete again. In the semifinals, Jorge Patino stepped in to face Joao Zeferino, but just like in his first quarterfinal match-up, Zeferino was quickly able to latch on a heel hook to force another first round submission, meaning he’d be fresh for the finals against…. The winner of Luis Palomino and Brian Foster. Foster stepped in as an injury replacement as well, but he bounced back, gaining top position against Palomino in the second round and pounding him senseless to earn a TKO via ground and pound. The main event ended up being a rematch of a bout from earlier in the night as Zeferino battled Foster. It was an extremely compelling battle featuring multiple tide-turning moments as both men hurt each other and both threatened to finish, but Foster outlasted the Brazilian. Late in the second round, Foster landed a huge right hand on the ground that hurt Zeferino badly, swarmed him with punches and eventually had to put him out cold because the referee refused to intervene in time. Foster was able to avenge his loss from earlier in the evening and earned a title shot against WSOF champion Justin Gaethje in the process. The prop odds on Foster winning the entire tournament closed at +225 so congratulations if you managed to pick him!
