Bellator 125: Manhoef vs. Marshall Results & Discussion

Bellator 125
September 19
SaveMart Center
Fresno, California, United States

Results:

Melvin Manhoef def. Doug Marshall
knockout (punch) - Round 1, 1:45

Rafael Carvalho def. Brian Rogers
TKO (punches) - Round 1, 3:06

Javy Ayala def. Raphael Butler
submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 1:03

Goiti Yamauchi def. Martin Stapleton
submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 4:37

Joe Neal def. Paul Ruiz
unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) - Round 3

Matthew Ramirez def. Oscar Ramirez
submission (armbar) - Round 1, 0:42

Chris Honeycutt def. Aaron Wilkinson
TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 4:45

Julio Cesar Neves def. Poppies Martinez
TKO (punches) - Round 1, 2:16

Jonny Bonilla-Bowman def. Art Becerra
split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) - Round 3

Jesse Juarez def. Ron Keslar
unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) - Round 3

George Zuniga def. Granson Clark
TKO (punches) - Round 1, 0:34

With a near 40 KO’s between the two, a middleweight clash between Melvin “No Mercy” Manhoef and Doug “The Rhino” Marshall will be can’t miss television on Friday, Sept. 19, as the two square off in the main event of the evening at Bellator 125 live on Spike.

Tickets for the event will be on sale Friday, Aug. 15 at 10am PST. Tickets will be available at the Save Mart Center Box Office, Ticketmaster.com or Bellator.com.

A former Strikeforce and K-1 veteran, Manhoef is on a mission to continue to provide explosive finishes. The 38-year-old Dutch native has amassed a 28-11 professional MMA record, including an astonishing 26 knockouts during his nearly 20 year career. With Marshall now presented as his next challenge, Manhoef is eager to provide fireworks on Sept. 19.

Marshall enters the fight riding a 4-1 record inside the Bellator cage, with victories over Kala Hose, Andreas Spang, Sultan Aliev, and Brett Cooper. Marshall met Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko in 2013 and fell victim to the Russian phenom, but is looking to get back on the winning track with another notable victory in the form of Manhoef.

“This fight is like a dream come true,” Marshall said. “Two heavy hitters going for broke. It’s a classic don’t blink fight. Bet the house someone is going to sleep before the first round is over. And to be able to have this type of fight in front of all my friends and family that I grew up with makes it that much sweeter.”

The night will also feature a pair of middleweights looking to steal the show as Brian Rogers returns to Spike and takes on California’s own James Irvin. Known for his highlight reel finishes, Rogers believes Irvin is the perfect fight to continue his run of explosive fights inside the Bellator cage.

“I’m excited to welcome James Irvin to the Bellator Middleweight division,” Rogers said. “I’ve made my home in this division since 2011 and I plan on staying here for a long time. I know he’s probably planning on coming in here and reestablishing his career, but he isn’t doing that at my expense. I’m the worst person anyone can fight in the middleweight division right now. I want to get the word out to the middleweight division that this is my time. And when it comes to this fight, people better expect an extreme amount of violence.”

Featherweights collide as Goiti Yamauchi battles the UK’s Martin Stapleton live on Spike. Only 21, Yamauchi has already amassed a 17-2 record in his young career, including his most impressive performance to date at Bellator 120 with a dominate win over Mike Richman. The submission ace will have his hands full with Stapleton, who is fresh off a submission victory of his own.

The main card will be rounded out with a heavyweight affair between Raphael Butler and Javy Ayala. Still undefeated with an 8-0-1 record, Butler has his sights set on another knockout when he takes on the California native in Ayala.

Full fight card information will be made available in the coming weeks

http://www.mmaweekly.com/melvin-manhoef-vs-doug-marshall-headlines-bellator-125

Stapleton is awful. He shouldn't even still be on the roster.

Fights look action packed, though.

Absolute fans dream....

Matchmaking was great every fight should be quite entertaining

Oh wekka u can tell BELLAFORCE is trying to build goiti should be a showcase fight for him and stapelton has a decent record so whatever.

wekka wrote:Stapleton is awful. He shouldn't even still be on the roster.

Fights look action packed, though.

good for Goiti to pad his record

So instead of battlegrounds tourney Chris honeycut decided to go bellator instead?

Jesse Taylor replaced him.

melvin is a bit chinny but he's way superior in his stand up vs marshall so who the fuck knows

I want to see Neves on TV!

Someone in the main event is getting knocked out, probably in the first round.

Bellator 125 Live Stream https://global-mma.forumotion.com/t10988-bellator-125

Some solid prospects won on the prelims Neves, Honeycutt, and others.

Yamauchi is just a can crusher, I know other people think he's impressive but I just have a hard time seeing it.

Like I said before, Stapelton is a pretty low calibur fighter, but Yamauchi's ground work was still a sight to behold.

Javy Ayala, now that's impressive. Crushed the nut kickers and now a boxer too

Just stumbled on this.

This guy is certainly entertaining and flashy at the very least. I think his talent is very real too though.

nodogoshi wrote:Just stumbled on this.

This guy is certainly entertaining and flashy at the very least. I think his talent is very real too though.

Yeah Neves is for real.


Hoping Manhoef can score the win later!

This event is win win for bellator truly ...

Goiti is excellent on the ground and audax just relax BELLAFORCE is smartly building him instead of ufc style thrown to wolves way too early.I see him evolving a ton but kids like 22 LOL he's SOMETHING SPECIAL GUARANTEED.

Neves and honeycutt(glad he didn't go to battleground tournament)are great prospects and got very good wins tonight .

Javy Ayala is my new hw to watch in bellator crushing Butler who really hasn't impressed me at all but has ALOT of potentialhimself.

Rogers.....jeez Guy kills himself ....

He had great hands tonight and found range quick hurting his opponent and then instead of taking dominant position he tries a guillotine giving up position and screwing himself.

Then he just continued to self destruct.I really like Rogers but its hard not to expect him to be anything but a gatekeeper from this point on.

Manhoef leveled the rhino LOL

Holy shit war manhoef gets a title shot! !!

Tonight was truly a night for the prospects and debuting fighters.

Tons of finishes and absolute entertainment great card thank you coker

Fuck yeah! It's weird he just gets a title shot though, RIP Bellator tournaments.

His striking looked really tight and he is a true killer standing if he's getting a ksw title shot, I believe BELLAFORCE is recognizing his star power and being courteous to ksw pretty much saying if he's good enough for your title he's worth a shot at ours as well,especially after destroying a former wec lhw champion and bellator tournament champion in rhino Marshall.

Very entertaining event. Goiti, Manhoef, Carvalo...some nice finishes

Definitely the best show of this season and a great night for Bellator. Prospects shined for the most part and we got a lot of finishes.

The only sad thing for me is Butler's loss. I still think he has potential and I hope this loss is a learning experience. Ayala looked very good and really shows Bellator's Heavyweight division is getting better. Yamauchi, Neves, Honeycutt, Bonilla-Bowman, and Carvalho all looked great and have a lot of upside. They really show that Bellator has an eye for talent and prospects.

I felt dirty watching bellaturd.

only wanted to see goiti and melvin really. had no choice.

I hate the white canvas looks weird