Light Heavyweights grind and squeak into Finals at Bellator 72

The Bellator summer series now has the light heavyweight tournament final pairing all set after tonight Bellator 72. Travis Wiuff and Attila Vegh each punched their tickets to the finals in completely different ways.

Wiuff took on Tim Carpenter and used his wrestling to get the fight to the canvas and grind his way to a one-sided unanimous decision win. Carpenter had no answer to the top control of Wiuff and the man who beat the Bellator light heavyweight champion Christian M’Pumba in a non-title fight, is one step closer to a title fight with the champ. Carpenter had wanted to stand with Wiuff but found himself on his back the majority of the fight and no answer for getting back to his feet. Wiuff has had his sights on the champion even before the opening tournament bout and is now just one fight away.

His opponent in the finals got there in not so dominate fashion; in fact many people don’t even believe he won the fight. Attila Vegh faced Emanuel Newton in the second semifinal bout at Bellator 72 and all signed pointed to a decision win for Newton but when the judges scored were read two of them gave the fight to Vegh at 29-28 while the third gave all three rounds to Newton. It wasn’t convincing by any means but Newton was the aggressor throughout the fight and was rewarded for it with a loss on his record.

What’s done is done though and Vegh will now look to stop Wiuff from reaching his goal of fighting M’Pumba for the Bellator light heavyweight championship.

The Bellator 72 main card recovered from the two tournament bouts to close the night out with two quick, exciting finishes.

MAIN CARD (MTV2 & Spike.com)

170 lbs. Tournament Final: Karl Amoussou defeated Bryan Baker by 1st rd. Submission (Heel Hook)

170 lbs.: Paul Daley defeated Rudy Bears by 1^st rd. TKO

205 lbs. Tournament Semifinal: Attila Vegh defeated Emanuel Newton by Split Decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)

205 lbs. Tournament Semifinal: Travis Wiuff defeated Tim Carpenter by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

170 lbs.: Marius Zaromskis defeated Waachiim Spiritwolf by Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com)

150 lbs.: Paul Barrow defeated Jason Carapelluci by 3^rd rd. Submission (Rear Naked Choke)

178 lbs.: Ben Saunders defeated Brian Warren by 1^st rd. TKO

170 lbs.: Raul Amaya defeated Kenny Moss by 2rd rd. TKO

145 lbs.: Matt McCook defeated Shanon Slack by Split Decision

170 lbs.: Julien Williams defeated Ryan DeRocher

Bellator 72 took place at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida

Tags: Attila Vegh, Bellator, Bellator 72, Ben Saunders, Brian Warren, Bryan Baker, Christian M'Pumbu, Emanuel Newton, Jason Carapelluci, Julien Williams, Karl Amoussou, Kenny Moss, Marius Zaromskis, Matt McCook, Mixed Martial Arts, MMA, Paul Barrow, Paul Daley, Raul Amaya, Results, Rudy Bears, Ryan DeRocher, Shanon Slack, Tim Carpenter, Travis Wiuff, Waachiim Spiritwolf

Category: Bellator, MMA, Results