Bellator Fighting Championships returned for round two on Spike TV last night (Jan. 24, 2013) with a welterweight title fight, the debut of King Mo and the kickstart of the season eight welterweight tournament.
Unbeaten welterweight champion Ben Askren took center stage in the main event defending his title against season six welterweight tournament winner Karl Amoussou.
While many have criticized Askren throughout his run as the unbeaten 10-0 king of the Bellator welterweight division due to his propensity to take fights the distance, he was out to send a message last night.
After handling Amoussou's initial first round burst, Askren took advantage of a slip by the Frenchman to take top position and ride out the round inside his guard, pounding away with right hands and occasional elbows. He even opened up a nice gash over "Psycho's" left eye near the end of the frame.
Amoussou had the "Funky" champ briefly in trouble at the beginning of the second round with a heel hook attempt that looked pretty deep, but again, Askren slipped free and proceeded to pound away. This time, he turned up the intensity and volume, really working towards trying to finish the judo practitioner, but every time the referee asked Amoussou to defend himself, he's move his hands and head away from blows.
The doctor nearly stopped the fight between rounds, and probably should have because the third was all Askren, blasting away with punches and elbows and turning Amoussou's face into a bloody mess. With Amoussou's cut getting worse and his left eye nearly completely swollen shut, the doctor finally put a stop to it after the end of the third round, handing Askren his first legitimate finish inside the Bellator cage.
Aftewards, the Funky champ called out his next challenger, Russian Andrey Koreshkov, saying "I must break you!" in his best Ivan Drago impression.
For complete Bellator 86 results and detailed round-by-round commentary of all the televised fights click here.
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