When Tito Ortiz had to pull out of the first Bellator PPV, it threw the entire PPV card out of whack. The show was moved to Spike TV and Michael Chandler vs. Eddie Alvarez II (the fight most wanted to see more anyway) became the main event.

President of Premier, John LaRocca is at the show tonight and we previewed it on FGB Radio earlier in the week.

Bellator is saying it’s their most important show ever, and it is, until they finally get on PPV.

Let’s get to the Bellator 106 play by play:

1. Akop Stepanyan vs. Mike Richman

Richman was leading the exchanges, but Stepanyan was right there with him striking-wise. Stepanyan stopped his forward momentum with a right hand, but Richman answered with a left that dropped Stepanyan. He followed up with a double hammer and Herb Dean stopped it.

Winner: Mike Richman by way of 1st round TKO

2. Mike Bronzoulis vs. Joe Riggs

Bronzoulis was leg kicks, attacking Riggs’ lead leg. Riggs took the kicks trying to get inside and then got a takedown. Riggs held him down for the most part after the takedown.

Bronzoulis missed a left hand and basically walked into another takedown. Bronzoulis tries to stay outside, but anytime he comes near Riggs, he gets body clenched and Riggs goes for the takedown. Doesn’t make for an entertaining fight, but it’s an effective strategy for Riggs. Riggs has a nasty cut over his eye.

Riggs went all grappling to try and secure the round. Bronzoulis tried to get top position, but Riggs was able to stay out of danger. Not a good fight, but the fight Riggs needed to fight to win.

Winner: Joe Riggs by unanimous decision

Riggs won all three rounds on all score cards and he is now the Fightmaster. Riggs dropped two f-bombs. It’s Spike Joe, not PPV!

3. Daniel Straus vs. Pat Curran

It was a pretty close first round, but Straus turned it ugly, much like Riggs did in the earlier fight. He secured a couple takedowns, held Curran up against the cage, and stayed away from big shots.

Curran started out well, landing a nice combination. Straus just covered up and took the shots. Straus answered back with body kicks. Curran has slipped twice from the mat. This round is mostly a striking round. Curran is doing best landing with his hands while Straus is more comfortable with body kicks. Curran got in close and throw a great overhand elbow. He followed it up with a nice combination inside, but Straus also landed a nice combination.

Curran had Straus down, but Straus was on a knee and Curran blasted him with a knee. It took Straus a few minutes to be ready to fight again. A point was taken away from Curran. When they started again, Straus hit an immediate takedown. Straus won the round, so it was a 10-8 for him.

This was an ugly, ugly round. Straus got the takedown and just held him up against the cage. Curran wasn’t doing much to get off the cage and Straus kept his head down and stayed in position. Curran tried for a guillotine, but Straus got out quickly. Straus just strong-manned him the entire round. I have it 39-36 for Straus after four.

Straus feels like he’s going to win this fight. He had a spirited flurry of punches that didn’t really effect Curran, but made it look like he was the fresher guy. And of course, he pushed him back against the cage. He got a late takedown which further killed Curran’s will.

Winner: Daniel Straus

The scores were 49-45, 48-46, and 48-46. He’s the new featherweight champion.

4. King Mo vs. Emanuel Newton

King Mo got two big takedowns. Newton was hard to keep down. Newton tried to land from the outside, using his jab and a lunging right. Easy round for Mo.

Newton landed a kick to the head and Mo stumbled back. Mo looks a bit slower after the kick, which makes his takedown attempts less effective. Newton is definitely more comfortable with his range. Both guys look like they’re getting tired.

Mo’s dropping his left hand and Newton his landing his right hand. He doesn’t really throw it as much as he slings it. Mo has seemingly given up on the takedown. He finally went for one, but Newton fought it while holding Mo in guillotine position.

Newton fought off Mo takedown attempts well. He used a spinning back kick to keep Mo away. He wasn’t even really trying to land it as much as make Mo avoid it. Mo finally got a takedown. I guess I’d give the round to Newton, but neither guy was strong. This has turned into a really bad fight, which makes it three in a row for this show.

Mo either thinks he’s winning or he’s tired. He surely didn’t want to mix it up with Newton when he needed to. Neither guy was really trying to finish. Mo secured a takedown late, but it’s probably too late unless he was able to get more rounds than I gave him. Newton landed a spinning back elbow to get out of it.

Winner: Emanuel Newton

All the judges had it 49-46 for Newton.

5. Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler

The first round was a bit of a cat and mouse game for about the first four minutes and change. Alvarez was working around the cage and Chandler was chasing him trying to land huge blows. Alvarez landed a few stiff jabs. Chandler landed a nice right hand. Late in the round, Chandler caught him, immediately jumped on him while he was on the ground and sunk in a rear naked choke.

Alvarez was on his horse early again, but Chandler caught him and manhandled him with three slams. Chandler has a nasty cut over one of his eyes.

Tide started to turn a bit in the third. Alvarez got some nice shots in. Chandler keeps his hands low. Chandler scored a takedown, but Alvarez was the fresher fighter and landed some clean punches. If Alvarez would keep his guard up, he wouldn’t get hit so often.

Chandler landed a beautiful flying knee. He ended up on top of Alvarez on the ground and landed some vicious shots. This was Chandler’s round easily.

This was the best round of the night. Both guys definitely sensed that they needed to go for it. Alvarez’s slickness with the standup slightly beat out Chandler’s tenaciousness and wrestling in this round. The show needed this round. I have Chandler by one round.

Winner: Eddie Alvarez by way of split decision

It was 48-47 for Chandler and 48-47 twice for Alvarez.

There will now be a third fight.

Overall, the show was tremendously boring. But the main event was a good fight.