Bellator 125 took place tonight at Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, and the card turned out to be a blast to watch as the two main featured bouts each ended in a bang. In total, five betting favorites won while one underdog came through and one fight closed as a pick ’em 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, Melvin Manhoef lived up to expectations by scoring a brutal first round knockout of former title challenger Doug Marshall. Both men traded bombs, but a flurry along the fence by Manhoef capped off by a clipping right hand sent Marshall faceplanting to the canvas in the first round, earning the powerful Dutchman a title shot in the process. In all, Manhoef pulled off the victory as a -190 favorite while Marshall lost as a +175 underdog. In the opening bout of the main card, Goiti Yamouchi proved why he had the support of the betting public by coming through in a big way with a first round submission of Martin Stapleton. Yamouchi took the fight to the canvas and was in complete control for an extended period of time on the ground, advancing to a dominant position and eventually tapping Stapleton out with a rear naked choke. Yamouchi came through as a -410 favorite while the closing comeback on Stapleton was +365. Chris Honeycutt was the biggest favorite of the night and he proved it in a dominant performance on the preliminary card against Aaron Wilkinson in a welterweight contest. Honeycutt repeatedly took down the Englishman and pummeled him with heavy ground and pound, eventually slamming him violently in the second frame and overwhelming him with shots to the head and body on the ground as all Wilkinson could do was cover up. Honeycutt was victorious as a hefty -630 favorite while Wilkonson was defeated as a +414 underdog. Julio Cesar Neves proved the hype was real against Poppies Martinez, moving to 30-0 overall after hurting Martinez badly with a nasty spinning back kick to the liver which set up the eventual TKO finish due to unanswered strikes. Martinez never fully recovered from the kick and it was only a matter of time until he was finished with punches on the ground. Neves closed as a -385 favorite while Martinez was finished as a +265 dog. In one of the first preliminary fights of the evening, Jesse Juarez was able to hold off American Kickboxing Academy veteran and former welterweight tournament finalist Ron Keslar via unanimous decision, scoring a 29-28 total on the judges’ scorecards across the boards. Juarez came through as a -180 favorite while Keslar failed to deliver as a +140 underdog. Underdogs That Won Javy Ayala was a significant underdog against unbeaten former boxer Raphael Butler, but he didn’t fight like one. Ayala put instant pressure on Butler once the fight started, entering the clinch quickly after throwing some heavy strikes, and once he was able to get the fight to the ground, he immediately transitioned to a slick rear naked choke which Butler could not escape and was forced to tap out. Ayala surprised many as a +300 underdog while Butler disappointed as a -330 favorite. Pick ’em Fights Raphael Carvalho was originally an underdog, but got steamed all the way up to become an extremely small favorite by the time his fight against Brian Rogers started in the co-main event of the evening. Rogers started strong with a high volume attack, landing with power every time he exploded inside and even scoring a brief takedown, but Carvalho weathered the storm and hurt “The Professional Predator” with big straight punches before unloading several unanswered shots en route to scoring a TKO victory along the fence. Carvalho closed as a slight -110 favorite while Rogers failed to deliver at a dead even +100.
