HOLLYWOOD, FL, June 26, 2011 – The first round of the “Summer Series” featherweight tournament came to a close at Bellator 46 on Saturday night with all four betting favorites advancing to the second round and moving closer to a potential shot against current 145 champ Joe Warren and a six-figure payday.
Three out of four tournament bouts ended before the final bell as Marlon Sandro, Pat Curran, Ronnie Mann, and Nazareno Malegarie all advanced to the semi-final round.
In the first of the four tournament bouts, Houston’s Adam Schindler fought valiantly, coming out aggressive and willing to take shots in order to give his own against vaunted striker Ronnie “Kid Ninja” Mann. Unfortunately for the 4OZ Fighter, it was not to be on this night as a huge left hook from Mann found its way to his chin, dropping Schindler to the mat before a barrage of hammerfists by the Englishman put a stop to the action at 4:14 of the first round, dealing Schindler his first loss via KO.
Coming up next in tourney action was an exciting bout Nazareno Malegarie and Jacob Devree. In the end, Malegarie was able to use his superior grappling pedigree to overwhelm his overmatched opponent and move on to the next round via an arm-in guilotine choke in the third round.
Up next was former lightweight tournament winner Pat Curran, who made the move down to compete in the “Summer Series” after falling short in his title bid over Eddie Alvarez. So far, that decision has come up aces for the Chicago resident as he threatened with an impressive brabo choke before transitioning into a Peruvian necktie to finish Floridian veteran Luis Palomino in the first round to move on to the next portion of the tournament.
Finally in the last tournament bout, highly-touted Marlon Sandro made his U.S. debut for Bellator against fellow Brazilian Genair da Silva. This contest proved much closer than expected for the 18-2 former champion as his opponent managed to squeeze out the decision on one of the judges’ scorecards. In the end though, Sandro’s display of superior striking and submission attempts allowed the tournament favorite to move on to the next round.
After the event, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney announced the semi-final parings with Mann taking Curran and Malegarie scoring a date with Sandro later this summer.
Bellator 46 – Full Results
Featherweight Tournament Bouts
- Pat Curran defeated Luis Palomino via Submission Round 1 (Peruvian Neck-Tie)
- Marlon Sandro defeated Genair da Silva via Split Decision
- Nazareno Malegarie defeated Jacob Devree via Submission Round 3 (Guillotine Choke)
- Ronnie Mann defeated Adam Schindler via KO Round 1 (Punches)
Local Featured Undercard
- Jessica Aguilar defeated Carla Esparza via Split Decision
- Tony Johnson Jr. defeated Derrick Lewis via Unanimous Decision
- Alexandre Bezerra defeated Sam Jones via Submission Round 1 (Triangle Choke)
- Dan Cramer defeated Josh Samman via Unanimous Decision
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