Hieron began the title fight with an impressive opening round, defening against Askren's takedowns and controlling the pace. Askren got off to a slow start but warmed up as the fight went on, as his takedowns prevailed in the second, third, and fourth rounds. Hieron sensed he was down heading into the fifth and final round, and came out with heavy hands, including a crowd igniting spinning back kick to the chest of a stunned Askren. However, when it came time to raise the winner's hand, one judge saw the fight in favor of Hieron while the other two sided with Askren, 48-47. Askren now awaits the winner of the Season 5 Welterweight Tournament, which will be decided at Bellator 57 in a Finals fight between Ben Saunders and Douglas Lima.
Neil Grove had a second shot at tournament glory after filling in for the injured Blagoi Ivanov, and was set to square off against “The Big Monster†Thiago Santos. “Big Monster†survived Grove's first attack and then dropped him with his first punch -- an overhand right. Santos then followed him to the ground and took over Grove's back to submit the former tournament finalist by way of rear naked choke 38 seconds into the first round.
Prindle too would advance to the Finals following a heavy handed punch as he knocked Ron Sparks out cold while countering a leg kick. Sparks delivered an outside leg kick to Prindle early and let his right hand drop below his chin. It was at this point that the former five-time All Army Boxing Champion dropped him with a swift left hook and followed him to the mat for two more punches before a referee stoppage. The win was ruled a knockout for Prindle and took just 40 seconds.
"This is why you can't blink when our heavyweights are mixing it up," Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said. "Thiago Santos is a world-class jiu-jitsu player and showed his evolution as a mixed martial artist by putting Neil Grove down with a big punch; and Eric Prindle proved he's an absolute beast by knocking out a heavy-handed heavyweight in Ron Sparks. I cannot wait for this final on November 26 at Caesars in Atlantic City."
"With Ben and Jay, I thought it was a good fight. I think Ben is being hard on himself and Jay is a world-class welterweight. No one's going to come in here and outwrestle Ben, and Jay presents a lot of problems for his opponents. I thought they both put on a strong show."
For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator
About Bellator Fighting Championships
Bellator Fighting Championships is a Mixed Martial Arts promotional company headquartered in Chicago. Bellator's founder/CEO, Bjorn Rebney, is an experienced fighting sports and entertainment professional with a deep commitment to the purity and integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes. Bellator Fighting Championships' executive team is comprised of top industry professionals in the areas of live event production, television production, fighter relations, venue procurement, sponsorship creation/development, international licensing, marketing, advertising, publicity and commission relations.
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About EPIX
EPIX, a joint venture between Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B), its Paramount Pictures unit, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) and Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), is a next-generation premium entertainment channel, video-on-demand and online service launched on October 30, 2009. With access to more than 15,000 motion pictures spanning the vast libraries of its partners and other studios, EPIX provides a powerful entertainment experience with more feature films on demand and online and more HD movies than any other service. It is the only premium service providing its entire monthly line-up of new Hollywood titles, classic feature films, original series, music and comedy specials through the linear channel, video-on-demand and online at EpixHD.com, the leading online destination for movies.
EPIX has made the commitment to deliver the industry's most expansive online collection of movies, making more than 3,000 titles available on EpixHD.com. The service is available to over 30 million homes nationwide through distribution partners including Charter Communications, Cox Communications, DISH Network, Mediacom Communications, NCTC, Suddenlink Communications and Verizon FiOS.
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