ATLANTIC CITY – If Lyman Good was the feature fighter in this welterweight tournament, Bellator had a funny way of showing it. The company handed its former 170-pound champion the most experienced guy in the draw – “Judo” Jim Wallhead – in the very first round.
Good didn’t bat an eyelash.
“I couldn’t have been happier with the first draw I got,” the Spanish Harlem native said. “I knew that it would bring the best of my abilities out in the ring.”
Good was better than his last name would attest. His technical boxing and work in the clinch earned him a unanimous decision victory over Wallhead on Saturday night in the main event of Bellator 74 at Caesars. All three judges scored it 29-27 with the lone point off coming due to a pair of accidental low blows in the third round.
“It looked like the Lyman Good of old,” Bellator chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney said.
It isn’t like Good has gone anywhere. He lost the welterweight title to Ben Askren in 2010 and dropped a tight split decision to Rick Hawn in the fourth season welterweight tournament semifinals last year. His last fight, back in April, he knocked out LeVon Maynard in 13 seconds.
Good roughed up Wallhead in the first round in the standup and also with some strong dirty boxing against the cage. For a guy nicknamed “Judo,” Wallhead never really tried to take Good down or throw him despite multiple clinches throughout the fight. Good just simply outclassed him with striking from start to finish — punches to the head, leg kicks and knees to the body.
“I’m on a mission,” Good said. “I have pretty much one thing on my mind.”
That would be the Bellator welterweight title. But before he can get that rematch with Askren, he has to win two more fights. The first will come Oct. 26 in Dayton, Ohio against fellow quarterfinal winner Michail Tsarev, a submission ace.
“I have to not think too much about Ben Askren right now when I know my hands are full with this tournament,” Good said. … “You can’t jump to the top of the ladder without going through the steps first.”
A Good analogy. A great performance.
Marius Zaromskis def. Nordine Taleb via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Zaromskis knocked down Taleb once each in the first two rounds, but couldn’t finish him. Then he took him down with a big slam in the third round. If that wasn’t enough, he performed four standing back flips in the cage after learning of his victory.
The Lithuanian, who now trains at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif., looked sharper than he has in a few years against Taleb. He seemed to tire in the third round, but his wrestling and grappling was good enough to stay in positive positions throughout.
The best part of the fight? The one fan chanting “USA! USA! USA!” for … someone. Zaromskis is originally from Lithuania and Taleb is French and lives in Canada. Funny, yet somewhat not expected from a New Jersey crowd.
Zaromskis, who gets Andrey Koreshkov in a battle of Eastern European strikers Oct. 26 in the semifinals, has a chance to do damage in this tournament. No one has more experience and it seems like AKA has improved his wrestling. Maybe the 32-year-old is in for a career renaissance. Or perhaps Taleb really isn’t any good.
Michail Tsarev def. Tim Welch via rear naked choke submission (2nd round, 1:57)
Tsarev is known in Russia for his groundwork, so it was little surprise how this one finished – with a slick transition to Welch’s back and rear naked choke seemingly all in one motion.
What was more surprising was that Tsarev didn’t seem to know the unified rules of mixed martial arts. In the first round, he kicked Welch while Welch was in his guard, a la Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami circa 2006. The fight was halted for Welch to recover, though referee Dan Miragliotta didn’t take a point away from Tsarev.
Tsarev definitely seems more comfortable on the ground, pulling guard twice and taking Welch to the floor whenever he could. “The Lonely Wolf” didn’t look completely overmatched on his feet, though. With his submission prowess, Tsarev could be a problem for anyone in this tournament. He’ll move onto the semifinals against Good on Oct. 26
Andrey Koreshkov def. Jordan Smith via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
“Spartan” beat up Smith with some creative, if not crisp, striking in the first and third rounds. Smith had Koreshkov’s back for nearly the entire second round, but couldn’t finish the fight. Koreshkov, a protégé of Bellator middleweight contender Alexander Shlemenko, was tired in the third, but kept moving forward and landing looping punches and the occasional knee.
Koreshkov also ate a few big shots from Smith, but walked through them. Mostly, he looked like a poor man’s version of Shlemenko. But the Russian will stay undefeated at 11-0 and move on to Bellator’s welterweight semifinals. Doesn’t appear to be a tournament favorite. Next up for him is Zaromskis on Oct. 26.