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With Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez hoarding the spotlight with UFC 121, it was tough to remember the biggest fight in Bellator Fighting Championships history quietly took place Thursday night inside the Liacouras Center in downtown Philadelphia.

Lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez looked sensational in his NON-TITLE scrap against former UFC star Roger Huerta. When Alvarez wasn’t beating his opponent to the punch, he was punishing his legs all the livelong day – a la Jose Aldo on Urijah Faber.

“Every single thing worked tonight. Every single thing,” stated Alvarez. “It was sort of like [my coaches] plugged the remote control into the back of me, told me what to do and played with a paddle just like a video game.

“Everything went perfect, and I couldn’t be more happy.”

After dominating Huerta for 10 lopsided minutes, “El Matador” bent over and appeared to be in excruciating pain in between rounds. Cageside physicians checked on the former Sports Illustrated cover boy and advised the fight to be called.

It was not clarified whether Huerta’s battered eye or legs caused the 2ndRound (Doctor’s Stoppage) TKO loss.

Here are the results from Thursday night’s fights:

Preliminary Bouts:

Tim Carpenter Defeated Jamal Patterson via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Kenny Foster Defeated Lester Caslow via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Luiz Azeredo Defeated Eduardo Guedes via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Wilson Reis Defeated Deividas Taurosevicius via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Nick Cottone Defeated Tuan Pham via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Fran Evans def Lewis Cassner via Submission (Triangle Choke) at  3:20 in the 1stRound

Main Bouts:

Rick Hawn Defeated LeVon Maynard via TKO (punches) at 4:53 in the 1stRound

Ben Askren Defeated Lyman Good via Unanimous Decision (49-46, 48-47, 50-45)

Eddie Alvarez Defeated Roger Huerta via TKO (Doctor’s Stoppage) at 5:00 in the 2ndRound

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Bellator Fighting Championships 19 took place Thursday night inside the Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie, Texas. MMA veteran Diego Saraiva faced BFC featherweight champion Joe Soto in a non-title bout in the card’s main event.

While Saraiva was hoping to extend his winning streak to a lucky seven, Soto had other ideas. He landed a vicious elbow that opened up a cut on Saraiva’s forehead and the doctor had no choice but to stop the contest after the 1stRound.

Preliminary Bouts:

Chas Skelly def. Daniel Pineda via submission (kneebar) at 2:16 in the 2ndRound*
Joe Christopher def. Brandon McDowell via submission (guillotine choke) at 1:36 in the 1stRound*
Johnny Bedford def. Jared Lopez via TKO (Strikes) at 2:16 in the 3rdRound*
Douglas Frey def. Aaron Wise via Submission (guillotine choke) at 0:49 in the 1stRound
Joshua Smith def. Donyiell Winrow via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Main Bouts:

Joe Soto def. Diego Saraiva via TKO (doctor stoppage) at 5:00 in the 1stRound
Ben Askren def. Ryan Thomas via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Dan Hornbuckle def. Steve Carl via submission (kimura) at 2:31 in the 1stRound
Scott Barrett def. Ty Lee via TKO (punches) at 2:25 in the 1stRound

* – Bout took place after main event

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Three dominant 1stRound wins by Dan Hornbuckle, Ryan Thomas and Patricio Pitbull – as well as a hard-fought split-decision victory for U.S Army Sgt. Steve Carl – made for another exciting Bellator Fighting Championships event Thursday night at the Mohegan Sun resort and casino.

The action, which was broadcast live nationwide on FOX Sports Net, completed the quarterfinal rounds in Bellator’s welterweight and featherweight tournaments and added to the already impressive resumes of all four winners.

The most exciting 15 minutes of the night came during an all-out battle between Carl and California striker Brett Cooper (11-6) that ultimately ended with Carl winning via split decision, much to the capacity crowd’s displeasure.

The fight tested the stand-up and ground games of each fighter, but seemed to shift toward Cooper’s favor late in the 3rdRound when he took Carl down and nearly knocked him out with brutal ground-and-pound as the clock expired.

Afterward, even Carl himself seemed unsure of the judge’s decision.

“I wasn’t too sure about that fight,” said Carl, who improved his pro record to 13-1. “I wasn’t the happiest with my performance tonight. The fans saw the last minute-and-a-half of Round 3 and it was all Brett. It definitely could have gone either way.”

In the night’s main event, Hornbuckle improved his impressive pro record to 20-2, making quick work of Midwest regional circuit star Tyler Stinson (16-6), finishing him just 2:03 into round 1 via triangle choke.

The commanding performance advanced him to the semifinal round of Bellator’s welterweight tournament and reaffirmed his status as one of the tournament’s favorites.

“Lyman Good was in my place last year, so hopefully he knows that I’m on the path to get him,” Hornbuckle said as Good, the reigning Bellator welterweight champion, looked on from cage-side seats. “I want that title … I’m comin’ to get him.”

The second fight of the night featured another dominant performance, this one by Thomas, who was selected earlier this week as a last-minute replacement for Jim Wallhead.

Last week at Bellator 14 in Chicago, Thomas lost via a controversial referee stoppage to Ben Askren and begged Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney for a second chance. He made the most of the opportunity Thursday night.

After the previously undefeated Arizona Combat Sports product Jacob “Tick-Tock” McClintock took his back early on in the fight, Thomas slipped out of a rear-naked choke attempt, took the dominant position on the ground and eventually finished McClintock with impressive ground-and-pound.

The win sets up a rematch between Thomas and Askren in the Bellator welterweight tournament semifinals on April 20th at the Verizon Theatre in Dallas.

“I have a loss of my record that I don’t deserve,” Thomas declared afterwards. “Ben, you’ve been running your mouth … Let’s do it!”

In the first fight of the night, a lightweight quarterfinal match-up between Pitbull  and former paratrooper William Romero in a dominant performance.

“I was looking for the knockout,” Pitbull said through a translator in a post-fight interview with Bellator color commentator Jimmy Smith. “But I saw the leg and I saw the foot and it went good … it was perfect.”

The win improves Pitbull’s pro record to 13-0 (with 10 of those wins coming via KO or submission) and sets him up for a semifinal matchup with fellow Brazil native and jiu-jitsu specialist Wilson Reis.

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