As a fan of both fighters, Bellators first tournament winner title fight was a bittersweet affair. Even still I was going to give the fight to Soto due to his take down defense and formidable striking prowess, the only chance I was giving Warren was a 5 round unanimous decision based off of his wrestling pedigree, sub defense and inhuman pain tolerance/sheer will to persevere towards victory.

For the first round it seemed like I picked correctly, Soto started off clubbing Warren with a series of left hooks and right uppercuts that made Warren turn his back. Soto continued this assault and even added taunts reminiscent of the Diaz brothers while Warren just hung in there until the bell.

Then the second round started and everything changed. Warren had seemed to completely regained his composure and decided to start throwing punches instead of just taking them and stunned Soto with a overhand right to the temple. Warren immediately pounced and tried to pound out a tko finish but Soto tried to recover by keeping Warren in his guard and scrambling, only to give up his back while still receiving a hail storm of punches. Soto somehow got back to his feet and was pressured to the cage where he was finished with knee-left hook combo that dropped him to the canvas to be saved by the ref. Thus relinquishing his title as Bellators featherweight kingpin to Joe Warren who made his mixed martial arts debut last year in Dreams featherweight tournament, a remarkable feat for the self proclaimed baddest man on the planet.

With that all said and done I hope to see Soto again, this is his first loss and I am pretty sure he has learned a valuable lesson in dealing with an fading opponent: When you are clearly outclassing an opponent, try your best to finish them within the round.

I don’t think I’ve been more entertained by a card that I picked totally wrong.

From Zoila Frausto savage finish of Rosi Sexton.

The Warror Princess is not to be trifled with.

To Joe Warren’s tenacious showing against Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. In the first round of the featherweight final, Pitbull got 1 takedown, knockdown and even sunk in an rnc seconds before the bell. Then the momentum began to switch. Freire started strong in the second but Warren found his stride and got a takedown where he mounted a tepid offense, but maintained top position for the remainder of the round.

Warren dictating the pace. From MMA Junkie

In the third frame a clearly fatigued Pitbull was taken down again and was stifled until the final bell. He was bloodied but more tired than beaten up. In the end his intense first round offense, some would say 10-8 worthy due to multiple types of successful offense didn’t convince the judges he was the victor. And Joe Warren, the self proclaimed “Baddest Man on The Planet” was awarded the split decision, $100,000 and a shot at current featherweight title holder Joe Soto. This fight along with the Pat Curran decision are this seasons most controversial wins.

While Ben Askren using his Olympic caliber wrestling to win his welterweight tournament was no surprise. Other than the guys at Middle Easy, who would think a whirling dervish like Alexander Shlemenko would clobber Brain Baker like he did. Not only was it one of the bigger upsets in the finals along with Currans win, it was also the only finish in a tournament final this season.

With the promise of amazing female fights and bantamweight brawls along with a somewhat foreboding heavyweight tournament, even though it was a grind posting picks for the weekly events. I enjoyed every card put on this season. So props to Mr. Rebney and the workhorses at Bellator for putting on another great season of tournament based mixed martial arts

Before I get down to my picks let me do a quick recap of last weeks card that I was only able to do a tweet of my picks on. Hindsight makes scholars of us all, but I flat out did not see Ben Akren controlling Dan Hornbuckle like he did.

From MMA Junkie

Now on to this weeks event that features the finals from both the feather and middleweight tournaments. Along with two qualifying bouts for next seasons bantam and female 115lb tournaments.

Middleweight Tournament Championship

Alexander Shlemenko vs. Bryan Baker

Seeing as how Shlemenko made it to the finals via his opponents freak injury and the fact that he is fighting a bigger, more athletic and well rounded mixed martial artist in Baker. I don’t see Shlemenko getting an over sized check worth 6 figures.

Baker – via whatever he damn well pleases

Featherweight Tournament Championship

Patricio Pitbull vs. Joe Warren

The Staredown from the weigh-ins. From MMA Junkie

At a glance I see this being a repeat of Warrens performance in the Dream featherweight semi finals where he got submitted under a minute. Patricio does have submission savvy to catch Warren in something. But with last weeks main event showing that elite level wrestling can stave off most submission attempts and grind their way to a UD. I’m going to have to choose what is more likely, Warren getting caught or Pitbull getting smothered.

Pitbull – via Sub

Bantamweight Tournament Qualifier
Nik Mamalis vs. Albert Rios

I have no idea who will win, I just hope it will be as entertaining as last weeks bantamweight fight.

Female Tournament Qualifier
Zoila Frausto vs. Rosi Sexton

This is Sexton’s fight to win, especially since she is already in the tournament. Zoila just like her sister who fought last week is a solid striker, but it all goes out the window when she gets dragged to the ground. So unless the Warrior Princess can get a flash knockout, Dr. Sexton takes this.

Sexton – via Sub