Bellator 104: ‘Hawn vs. Weedman’ Event Rewind

At Bellator 104 on Friday night from Cedar Rapids, IA the action went down at the US Cellular Center. The televised part of the card on Spike TV featured the semi-finals of the welterweight tournament, middleweight and heavyweight featured fights. The fights were filled with entertaining action and some tough fighters that proved to be difficult to finish.

The co-main event featured Ron Keslar defeating War Machine via a rear-naked-choke in the first round. It was the only finish on the night and per War Machine’s alpha male code he did not tap and was choked unconscious by Keslar. Once Keslar got the back War Machine did a good job of defending at first but Keslar was patient and worked until he secured the choke. Once it was locked up War Machine went to sleep. This sets up an intriguing matchup in the finals against the main event winner Rick Hawn.

In the main event Rick Hawn defeated Brent Weedman by taking a tough fought three round UD in a rematch from a little over a year ago. In the first fight Hawn also took the decision but Weedman thought that he won the fight and should have gotten the decision. There was no such controversy after this fight as Hawn definitely won this fight. Even Weedman knew it at the end of this one as he pointed to Hawn as the decision was being announced. Hawn was the better fighter but Weedman was tough and refused to be finished, but he could not get anything going in this fight.

For the welterweight finals Hawn will be the favorite. He has better standup and his judo is always a wild card. Keslar proved against War Machine that if you make a mistake he is ready to capitalize on it. War Machine has excellent BJJ himself but could not stop Keslar from getting the submission win. It should be another closely contested fight.

The heavyweight featured fight that kicked off the night on Spike TV was a bloody brutal battle of attrition between Eric Prindle and Peter Graham. In this fight Graham used his kick boxing background to beat the living shit out of Prindle. What he could not do was finish Prindle who just might be a cyborg. Continually throughout the first round Graham had Prindle in a perpetual state of wobbliness during the round, but somehow he would not go down and stay down. The second was more of the same for the first half of it and then they both hit the wall simultaneously. They also forged a mutual respect as they high-fived each other during the fight several times. It was like a scene out of Step Brothers and you expected to hear one of them exclaim, “Did we just become best friends?!” at some point. The fight ended with Graham finally dropping Prindle right before the bell with a front kick. A smiling Prindle was bouncing up as the bell sounded and Graham was moving in.

The featured middleweight fight between Kendall Grove and locally born and raised Joe Vedepo was more competitive but ended the same way. Grove took a tough three UD win as he battered Vedepo on their feet and attempted numerous submissions that Vedepo escaped. At the end of the fight Vedepo was bloodied and bruised up. He never stopped fighting but Grove was too quick for him.

Once again Bellator MMA and Spike TV delivered the action on Friday night. Kendall Grove looked sharp and could do well in their tournament setting. Peter Graham could also make some noise among the heavyweights, especially if he increases his cardio. The welterweight final between the tournament veteran Rick Hawn and newcomer Ron Keslar should also be another highly competitive fight.