for the heavyweight division brought to you
by Dave & Buster's, the only place to eat, drink, play,
and watch sports.
- JIMMY: Rarely do you see two fighters who weigh in
just under the heavyweight limit,
a lot of weight in that cage tonight.
- SEAN: To Michael C. Williams.
- Live on Spike and presented by Miller Lite,
Bellator MMA now moves to the heavyweight division,
scheduled for three 5-minute rounds,
we introduce the blue corner,
at 6'3, weighing in 265.5lbs.
His professional record, 14 wins, 5 defeats,
fighting out of Los Angeles, California,
Chase Gormley!
- CROWD: [cheering]
- MICHAEL: And across the cage, his adversary,
out of the red corner, at 6'4,
weighing in 264lbs even,
the veteran brings an impressive
professional record
with 23 victories, 6 defeats.
Fighting out of Tula, Russia,
introducing Sergei Kharitonov!
- CROWD: [cheering]
- MICHAEL: In charge of the action,
your referee, Robert Madrigal.
- JIMMY: I don't think we can let the moment pass
without pointing out a Russian fighter came to the cage
to a "Rocky" song, which means Rocky was right.
If he can change, everyone can change!
- ROBERT: Let's go! - [bell rings]
- SEAN: The fight clock brought to you by Miller Lite,
the original light beer. Cheers, it's Miller time.
- JIMMY: Can see the start of Chase Gormley,
he's gonna test that chin early.
Lot of guys after a big knockout, I hear,
they're not the same at the next fight.
- CHAEL: One thing about Gormley that makes him
very hard to fight is he's got two speeds,
he'll lull you with some punches and kicks
and make you think, "Okay, this is the pace
we're gonna go," and then he explodes.
If you guys ever watched him performing for Shadowbox,
he does the same thing in practice,
there's one speed, and then there's a fast flurry.
Sergei cannot buy into the fact, right now,
that this is as hard and quick
as Gormley's willing to go tonight.
- SEAN: We talk about a resume, there's only three guys
in the world that have beaten Fabricio Werdum
and Alistair Overeem.
- JIMMY: Stipe Miocic, Sergei Kharitonov,
and [unintelligible], that's it.
- CHAEL: Sergei's being very disciplined,
to keep his hands up tonight.
He's slowed down, that's exactly right.
- SEAN: When you get your wallet stolen,
you're much more aware of where it is the next day.
- CHAEL: And there's nothing wrong with it happening, guys,
but it's like anything in life, you don't wanna make
the same mistake twice, and to Sergei's credit,
thus far, he has learned his lesson.
- JIMMY: He's tightly staying behind the jab,
not rushing forward behind power shots.
Thus leaving him a lot more vulnerable.
- SEAN: Think about what Javi Ayala did.
Think about only two guys have knocked him out
in his entire career, and he has fought the best.
Alexander Emelianenko and the rematch
with Alistair Overeem, that's it.
And Javi Ayala did it in seconds.
- CORNERMEN: [indistinct yelling]
- CROWD: [yelling, jeering]
- CHAEL: Oh, Sergei coming up with the knee.
- SEAN: Bobby Lashley headed back to the Bellator cage.
Cheick Kongo keeps winning and winning and winning.
Fedor and Matt Mittrione at Madison Square Garden.
It's getting very interesting at heavyweight.
- JIMMY: The thing about Kharitonov,
talk about surprising pace, he's got surprising speed
for his build, he can be very quick when he wants to be.
- SEAN: Two weeks from tonight
we come your way from Budapest, Hungary
in the bantamweight world title fight
between Eduardo Dantas and Leandro Higo,
who steps in for Darrion Caldwell.
We will also see one of the fights of the year
we have been looking forward to between John Teixeira
and Daniel Weichel that may very well determine
the number-one contender at featherweight.
- JIMMY: Starting to land. - CHAEL: Gormley is just doing
an excellent job with his jab,
and I will concede he's not doing a lot of damage,
but boy, you wanna talk about keeping a guy
at the end of your punches, and every now and then,
he comes up with that cross that surprises--
Sergei coming forward, Gormley firing back now,
Gormley coming back, he's catching it!
- CROWD: [screaming]
- JIMMY: Talked about that shifting speed.
If he's gonna kick it up,
I think it needs to be right now,
have Kharitonov hurt for a second.
Now, both guys are starting to throw
the right behind the jab, they've lulled him to sleep
for the jab, now both guys are starting
to commit to the power punches.
- SEAN: Watch the combinations of Gormley.
All he was doing in his last fight,
fighting with a broken right hand,
double jab, double jab.
This is a healthier fighter.
- CORNERMEN: [indistinct yelling]
- CHAEL: Boy, Sergei is trying to stay disciplined
with those hands up, but at some point,
he's gonna have to let 'em go.
- CROWD: [yelling]
- CHAEL: Not a great idea to start a combination
with a kick.
- SEAN: Tell people why.
- CHAEL: It's good to finish with a kick,
you kinda wanna distract the guy,
there's too many variables that they can see,
remember what happened to Anderson Silva by getting
a--a leg check, and there's too many straights
that can come down the pipe when you're left standing
on one leg hoping you distracted the guy
with a couple of punches first, then finish with the kick--
Sergei got it! He got it! - JIMMY: Whoa!
- SEAN: Uppercut and it's done!
- CROWD: [screaming] - JIMMY: Discilpine.
- SEAN: It's the Sergei Kharitonov we had been
waiting to see!
- SEAN: Discipline, discipline, discipline.
He was tight, he was sharp, and waited for that moment
of the uppercut.
He learned his lesson and it paid off this time, Jim.
- CHAEL: Gentlemen, the kids on the Internet
love something called a walkaway knockout, can we--
is that officially a walkaway knockout?
'Cause he turned a little bit, didn't he?
- JIMMY: There was no follow-up with a ground-and-pound,
therefore it's a walkaway knockout.
- CHAEL: He knew when that landed, my goodness!
I will tell you, up until that point--
uh, point in the fight, I had Gormley!
I thought he was taking him apart with the jab,
I thought there were some good exchanges.
Wow! Sergei timed this perfectly.
- SEAN: It was a skulk-away knockout.
Let's check out the Blackheart Premium Spiced Rum replay,
the bold 93-proof rum is edgy to the core.
That's what started it. - JIMMY: That opened up the cut.
There was a big cut, I think, that was distracting Gormley.
And a right hand hurt him, but it was the cut,
I think Gormley was worried about his eye,
he was blinking, couldn't quite see everything and bang,
this right hand started, look at the blood coming out
in this uppercut.
You're talking about a 264-pound man almost leaving his feet.
That uppercut jacked him up.
Beautiful shot.
And that is a walkaway, my friends.
Don't expect the Russian to get emotional.
Ice-cold walkaway.
- SEAN: That was a building collapse.
- CHAEL: Watch it, same hand, guys, so he tees him up
with the right and then he steps back with the right,
that is Mike Tyson-esque, not very many fighters
can follow up with the same hand that they led with,
they generally have to switch,
excellent combination by Sergei Kharitonov.
- Ladies and gentlemen, inside the Bellator cage,
it comes to an end officially three minutes, 55 seconds
into round number one, the winner by knockout,
Sergei Kharitonov!
- SEAN: One fight for making the 2004 Olympics
in Athens as a boxer, he just showed us why.
Sergei Kharitonov with Jimmy Smith.
- I'm with your winner, Sergei Kharitonov.
Sergei, the word we kept using cageside was "discipline,"
you were fighting a very disciplined fight to set up
that knockout, was that your strategy?
- [speaking in Russian]
- "Yes, today, that was the key word, that was part
"of my strategy, is to be disciplined and, uh,
"work slowly and make sure I don't risk anything.
"It's not my usual game, it's not my usual style,
"but I promise in the next fight I'll be aggressive
and I'll risk it more."
- JIMMY: Speaking of next fights, Scott Coker has said,
"The heavyweight belt will be fought for in 2017,"
how much does he wanna be in that fight, in that mix?
- [speaking in Russian]
- "I really want to fight for the title."
- You heard it, Sergei Kharitonov,
give him a hand, ladies and gentlemen!
- SEAN: He didn't need a translator,
his performance tonight indicated his interest
in becoming the heavyweight world champion.
Sergei Kharitonov leaves 'em buzzing here in Chicago.
We told you about the huge line-up in April,
three world title fights, Daley and Rory McDonald in May,
to Madison Square Garden in June,
a party that kicked off at MSG on Tuesday.