Bellator 17: Alvarez Dominates, Huerta Upset By Curran

Eddie Alvarez dominated the durable Josh Neer with takedowns in their "Super-Fight" tonight at Bellator 17. Alvarez was able to get Neer's back in the second and sink in a rear naked choke to put Neer to sleep for the technical submission win. Alvarez is definitely a top ten lightweight and I would be interested to see how he fares against the other top lightweights in the division such as Melendez, Edgar, and Penn.

Eddie Alvarez's next opponent will be decided between the lightweight finalists Toby Imada and Pat Curran. Curran came in a heavy underdog against the UFC vet Roger Huerta, but looked to be right at home with the former Sports Illustrated cover-boy. Curran started the night out with a high kick to the cheek of Huerta and landed nice leg kicks for the remainder of the fight. Curran was able to fend off Huerta's takedowns and outpointed him to become "Mr. Upset" and showcased the budding prospects well rounded skill set.  Not many people even gave thought to the fact that Huerta could be beat by Curran and that hefty price tag for Huerta must be stinging the Bellator exec's pocketbooks.

Toby Imada aka "The Comeback Kid" did just that as he was being out-struck and out-wrestled but came back to sink in the fight ending arm-bar. Imada has really com into his own amongst the Bellator lightweight ranks. Imada will be a stiff test for Curran and vice-a-versa. Eddie Alvarez will again have to prove his worth against the winner of that fight to fend off the anti-non UFC lightweight rankings doubts.

In other televised action, Brock Lesnar training partner, and the owner of the biggest man boobs this side of Butterbean, Cole Konrad dominated a fellow MMA newbie on the ground for a round and sloppily stood for the other two stanzas. Konrad showed us what we already knew, that he is a good wrestler with some Brock-esque ground 'n' pound in the first round. After the first almost saw a stoppage of Pat Bennett, the second was an asthmatic affair with both big guys huffing and puffing their way through the round. In the end Konrad picked up a UD win to keep his record unblemished and most likely bought him a meal or two.


MAIN CARD
Cole Konrad def. Pat Bennett via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-28, 30-27)
Eddie Alvarez def. Josh Neer via technical submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:08
Pat Curran def. Roger Huerta via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Toby Imada def. Carey Vanier via submission (armbar) – Round 2, 3:07
PRELIMINARY CARD
Justin Torrey def. Lance Everson via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 3:55*
Greg Rebello def. John Doyle via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)*
Josh Laberge def. Dan Bonnell via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:40
Chuck O'Neil def. Damien Vitale via TKO (cut) – Round 3, 1:02