Bellator Strikes Again

Bellator's Season Two opener delivered another night of high quality fights. In the lightweight tournament bracket UFC veteran Roger "El Matador" Huerta moved on beating Chad Hinton by kneebar in Round three and Greg Jackson trained Carey Vanier stopped Joe Duarte by TKO in Round three.

In the featherweight tournament Joe Warren of Team Quest was able to avoid a dangerous triangle attempt and grind out a decision against Eric Marriot. In the second bout former professional soccer player, Georgi Karakhanyan put veteran striker Bao Quach to sleep with a perfect pair of knees to the chin.

For tonight, Bellator 14 has two lightweight title bouts, and one for the featherweight tournament and the welterweight tournament. Let's first look at the two lightweight bouts, followed by the featherweight and welterweight bouts.

Mike Ricci (5-0) vs Pat Curran (9-3):

At 5-0 with three wins by TKO and one by submission Ricci has potential. I haven't seen him fight yet, so I am anticipating this match up.

Curran, the cousin of veteran Jeff "The Big Frog" Curran, has finished five of his opponents, two by [T]KO and three by submission. Again, this is another fighter I have yet to see compete so this match up should be entertaining.

Toby Imada (23-13) vs James Krause (11-2):

Toby Imada has won fourteen times by submission but is probably best known for his inverted triangle choke win over Jorge Masvidal which won Submission of the Year in 2009. This guy has been around the block having fought Eddie Alvarez, Hermes Franca, Jake Shields, Jason Miller, Joe Stevenson, and Dave Strasser.

Standing 6'2" and fighting at 155 lbs gives James Krause a significant reach advantage against most lightweights. Those long limbs have come in handy in the past. Krause secured four of his eleven victories by way of triangle choke. This one should be fast paced and gritty.

Shad Lierly (5-2) vs Wilson Reis:

Lierly's fight against Chris Horodecki in the now defunct IFL, was one to be remembered even though he lost. He's also been finished by Wagnney Fabiano, but he has shown considerable skills and is a great addition to the Bellator line up.

Coming off six straight decisions, Reis will definitely be looking to prove that he is a danger to opponents health and personal safety. His lone loss is to Bellator featherweight champion, Joe Soto, who is no joke. A jiu jitsu specialist, this fight will be a nice match up if Lierly can get the takedown and go to work from top position.

Ben Askren (3-0) vs Ryan Thomas (10-3):

Ben "Funky" Askren was a two-time national champion at University of Missouri, ending his collegiate wrestling career on a stellar 87-match win streak. He also competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He has shown considerable skills in his limited time in the sport and a willingness to acquire the skills he is missing, racking up one KO and two submissions.

Out of his ten wins he has finished all of his opponents, seven by submission and three by TKO or KO. Thomas got a shot in the UFC but couldn't hack it and dropped two bouts, both by armbar to Matt Brown and Ben Saunders. (Interestingly, his only other loss was by armbar also.)

When asked about Askren's wrestling ability Thomas said, "Ben's a great wrestlers, but this isn't a wrestling match...so we’re gonna find out if he’s a real fighter or if he should just stick to wrestling.” To which Askren fired back, "The last person to talked about my wrestling got put to sleep."

Should be a good night of fights. Tune in to FOX Sports Net at 8 PM to watch the fights live.