Bellator 138 Results: Kimbo Slice Knocks Out Ken Shamrock After Early Scare

On Friday, June 19, Bellator MMA hosted its 138th event, dubbed Unfinished Business, from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

The main event featured a fight seven years in the making as Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson locked horns with Ken Shamrock. The pair were expected to meet in 2008, but Shamrock suffered a cut in training and was forced out of the bout at the last minute. The 41-year-old Slice had not fought in MMA since falling via TKO at UFC 113 to Matt Mitrione in 2010. Like his opponent, the 51-year-old Shamrock had been out of action since 2010.

In the co-main event of the evening, the promotion’s featherweight kingpin, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, put his title on the line against submission specialist Daniel Weichel. Pitbull stretched his winning streak to six with a fourth-round finish of Daniel Straus in January. Weichel, meanwhile, had won seven straight, including a decision win over former champion Pat Curran in February.

The event kicked off Friday with a preliminary card stream on Spike.com at 6:45 p.m. ET. The five-fight main card followed at 9 p.m ET on Spike.

In an effort to get the crowd on their feet, Animal from the Legion of Doom came out before Ken Shamrock. It was a pure spectacle move, one that matched the feel of the main event itself. Kimbo Slice came out looking to take Shamrock’s head off but was met with a takedown from the MMA legend. Shamrock came extremely close to forcing a tap out with a  rear-naked choke but Slice somehow managed to escape. Shortly thereafter, Slice landed a hard right hand that dropped Shamrock against the cage. He looked at referee John McCarthy which forced the referee to stop the fight in the first round.

Patricio “Pitbull” Freire and Daniel Weichel were a bit tentative to start their fight. Weichel looked to avoid Freire’s powerful punches early on and managed to score a takedown early in the first round. With seconds remaining in the opening frame, Weichel hit Freire with a knee to the face that dropped the champion. Weichel thought he’d won but the action went to the second round. Looking to capitalize on his success, Weichel prodded forward but was floored with a thunderous left hook from the Brazilian. Freire remained the Bellator featherweight champion with a knockout victory.

Bobby Lashley did exactly what everyone knew he would do, which was utterly dominate Dan Charles. Lashley pushed Charles against the fence and held him there with his superior wrestling. After a number of slams and Charles’s refusal to do much of anything, referee John McCarthy called an end to the action in the second round.

Daniel Straus and Henry Corrales were on second after a pre-fight hype video featuring a lot of bleeps was played. Straus struggled a bit to find his range early on but wore down his opponent with an effective clinch game in the first round. After nearly securing a guillotine finish at the end of round one, Straus got the tap out with another guillotine attempt in the second frame.

Michael Chandler got the crowd on the feet for their hometown hero to kick off Bellator 138. Chandler utilized lightning fast right hands to hurt Derek Campo early and often. Chandler then locked in a rear-naked choke to end a three-fight losing skid inside the first round.