Peter Graham proved to good for Eric Prindle in his Bellator debut today, with the Aussie heavyweight winning a dominant unanimous points decision over the hulking American at Bellator 104 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA.
Superior striking from ‘The Chief’ from start to finish earned 30-26, 30-27, 30-27 scorecards from the judges.
Besides a barrage of punches from Prindle to open the bout, as the American looked to finish the contest early, it was all Graham in the first round, who punished Prindle early with leg kicks. The Aussie began to mix his striking up and eventually knocked Prindle to the canvas with a pair of right hands. Prindle did well to hold on as Graham followed him to the ground and unloaded with big shots. Prindle was left bloodied up badly by the round’s end.
Round two saw Prindle rocked early by a solid elbow from the Aussie up against the cage. Graham proceeded to tee off on Prindle with punches as the American was obviously just trying to hold on. He survived however, and a decent body shot followed by a head punch was pretty much all he could offer in offence in the round, as Graham continued to land until it closed out.
A slower paced third round saw ‘The Chief’ continue to control the action and eventual drop Prindle with a left front kick to the face just seconds from the close of the fight. Not enough time to capitalise on his handiwork however, as the round ends (see Gif below).
Graham improves his pro record to 9-5 with the win while extending his undefeated run to eight in the process.
In the main event, Rick Hawn unanimously outpointed Brent Weedman in the semi-final of the promotion’s welterweight tournament, while Ron Keslar submitted War Machine to win his semi-final bout in the co-main event.
Results:
- Rick Hawn def Brent Weedman via Decision (Unanimous) (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Ron Keslar def War Machine via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 3:31
- Kendall Grove def Joe Vedepo via Decision (Unanimous) (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
- Peter Graham def Eric Prindle via Decision (Unanimous) (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
- Paul Bradley def Karl Amoussou via Decision (Unanimous) (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Paul Sass def Rod Montoya via Submission (Toe Hold), Rd 1, 2:01
- Rob Emerson def Jared Downing via Submission (Heel Hook), Rd 1, 1:44
- Brandon Girtz def Mike Estus via Submission (Armbar), Rd 1, 4:25
- Cliff Wright def Derek Loffer via Submission (Armbar), Rd 2, 4:28
- Andre Tieva def Chris Lane via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 2:14
GIF via Zombie Prophet
