Sylvia earned a first round knock out over the relatively inexperience Jason Riley. After peppering him with combinations and strikes in the clinch, Sylvia finally felled Riley with a left hand that led the referee to stop the bout.

Alexander also earned a first round knock out over his opponent, Sherman Pendergarst, though his was a little quicker. Alexander opened the bout with leg kicks, then finished off Pendergarst with a series of knees to the body.

Videos of both Sylvia’s and Alexander’s bouts can be found below. The full results for the event were:

• Tim Sylvia def. Jason Riley via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:32
• Houston Alexander def. Sherman Pendergarst via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:51
• Jeremy Lang def. Matt Delanoit via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
• Alonzo Martinez def. Ryan Williams via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Joe Vedepo def. Webster Farris via KO – Round 1, 0:14
• Forrest Petz def. Chad Reiner via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:28
• Jimmy Seipel def. Bob Tuttle via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:59
• Jordan Johnson def. Ryan Shell via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Dakota Cochran def. Bill Holcumb via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:25
• Todd Meneely def. Cory McDonald via submission (Americana choke) – Round 2, 1:38
• John Hanson def. Dean Bradley via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 1:19
• Danny Black def. Matt Bentley via submission (triangle choke) – Round 2, 1:49
• Marcos Marquez def. Dustin Smith via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:22

Tim Sylvia vs. Jason Riley

Houston Alexander vs. Sherman Pendergarst

Spike TV announced on Friday that it will air Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller and Drew McFedries vs. Tomasz Drwal from the UFC 103 undercard during a live, one-hour, commercial-free broadcast beginning at 9pm ET on September 19 leading up to the UFC 103 pay-per-view.

Pictured: Anderson Silva

Tony Imada Submits Jorge Masvidal at Bellator 5

First, the event’s official results, including a “Submission of the Year” candidate in Tony Imada’s standing inverted triangle choke of Jorge Masvidal (pictured at right):

Lightweight Semifinals:

• 155: Eddie Alvarez def. Eric Reynolds via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 3, 1:30
• 155: Toby Imada def. Jorge Masvidal via technical submission (inverted triangle choke) — Round 3, 3:22

Non-Tournament Bouts:

• 265: Dave Herman def. Josh Barnes via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 4:46
• 265: Joey Beltran def. Sherman Pendergarst via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 2:24
• 265: Dan Evensen def. Raoul Romero via submission (strikes) — Round 2, 1:44
• 145: Matt Jaggers def. Pete Dominguez via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 1, 4:03
• 117: Jessica Pene def. Tammie Schneider via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 1:35
• 170:  Justin Edwards def. John Troyer via submission (guillotine choke) — Round 1, 3:12
• 155: Waylon Lowe def. Frank Carabello via unanimous decision

Also, long-time MMAFrenzy.com reader DBiz sent in his recap of the card after attending the event at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio:

First off, it’s important to note that the weather took a turn for the crappy today. Lots of rain and hydroplaning up the highway. That may account for the poor attendance. I would like to think so, seeing the quality of the card.

First fight of the night was Frank Carabello and Waylon Lowe in a lightweight contest. Carabello was the Ohio connection in this fight and the crowd seemed to be behind him for that. Unfortunately, that was the best thing he had going for him. Lowe, quite brutally honestly, bull rushed Carabello at will. And once on the ground, he laid on him very successfully. Carabello was never in any danger, either to win or to be KOed or submitted. Unanimous 30-27 decision for Lowe.

Next up are welterweights John Troyer and Justin Edwards. The first minute was intense, with both fighters just letting the gloves fly. Referee Greg Franklin (brother of Rich) had a hard time keeping up there. Edwards put Troyer on his back with a brutal slam and won the fight at 3:12 in the first by guillotine choke.

Next up was Tammy Schneider vs. Jessica Pene. Weighing in at a stiff 117 lbs, both ladies appeared game coming into the cage. Schneider started the first with some good strikes, but Pene escaped and took her back. The fight ends quickly thereafter by TKO due to strikes. Pene improves to 6-0.

Featherweights Pete Dominguez and Matt Jaggers take over the cage. To start this fight, both managed some good jabs and leg kicks before Jaggers took Dominguez down with a throw, coming to rest in mount. Dominguez gave up his back and fought off multiple attempts for a rear naked and a series of strikes. In the end, Jaggers managed to secure the choke for another first round finish.

The big boys come out to play next. Dan Evensen, weighing in at a svelte 252 met up with Rauol Romero who tipped the scales at 222. Both fighters came out throwing the high heat. Two minutes into the first, Evensen appeared gassed. His takedown resulted in Romero using the cage to come back to the feet. After eating a couple of good strikes, Romero grabbed Evensen’s leg and whipped him down. Transition to mount and a few punches later the round ended. Score card guru bsbiz says split round for Evensen.

The second round started with a slow take down and the Boo Birds descended from the rafters. Evensen took his time moving from half guard to side control and finally to mount. After several hard strikes, the ref dove in to stop the fight, TKO :44 into the second round.

Bsbiz and I immediately took a liking to one of our next heavyweights: Sherman Pendergarst. The name just rolls off the tongue. His opponent was Joey Beltran.

Here I must point out that someone needs to work on nicknames. Sherman “Tank” Pendergarst was taking on Joey “The Mexecutioner” Beltran. That is too wrestling for me.

This was a slow fight. Almost unbearably so. The first minute and change was a series of sloppy nothings from both sides. Finally Beltran landed a nice 4-punch combo, a couple of open palm slaps, and finally a big right to put Pendergarst down. A few solid strikes later, the fight is called TKO at 2:44 in the first.

Big noise for heavyweights Josh Barnes and Dave Herman. Both were relatively local, but Herman had the larger following. The first round opened with a vengeance. Wild punches, kicks, and knees from both men made the Boo Birds a distant memory. As Barnes began to Gas, Herman wrapped up a muay thai clinch and…a low knee. Time out while Barnes huddled in the corner recovering.

When the fight resumed, Herman resumed right where he left off with crisp strikes and a flying knee that barely missed. Finally a solid knee to the chin put Barnes down and Herman finished him with strikes in the first.

Finally, the meat of the evening’s activates: The Bellator Lightweight tournament semi final matches. In the first, Toby Imada took on Jorge Masvidal. The first thing we noticed was a size difference. Masvidal looked very tall compared to Imada and it showed throughout the fight. The fight began with a feeling out period: 3 cautious leg kicks in the first 45 seconds. After that, Masvidal did a great job at using his reach to keep Imada out and unable to do damage. Masvidal got a good take down but Imada fought back to his feet. Imada landed an inside and an outside leg kick in rapid succession and round 1 drew to a close.

In the second Imada looked fresh still, with great head movement in avoiding Masvidal’s wicked left jab. In spite of good movement, he can’t seem to get inside on Masvidal to do any damage. After a series of left jabs, it looked as if Imada may have had a cut opened over his right eye. Round two drew to a close after more back-and-forth action.

Imada opened the third with a couple of solid rights but Masvidal countered with his reach and a nice high kick. After taking a knee, Imada landed a low blow uppercut and was sent to a neutral side while Masvidal recovered. Masvidal went back to work on Imada’s eye with his left jab before Imada tried to take his back. The fight ended with a TKO when Imada choked out Masvidal with a backwards triangle.

Finally, Eddie Alvarez took on Eric Reynolds. Strangely, both fighters weighed in at 157.5 lbs. I suppose Bellator had no choice but to make it a lightweight semi final since both weighed in the same and no one wanted to drop half the remaining fighters.

From the opening horn, Alvarez controlled the fight with a simple plan: strike his way in and take Reynolds down. Reynolds had excellent defense, fighting off strikes with a knack for climbing up the cage to free himself. The round ends with little visible damage to either fighter.

In the second, Alvarez again took Reynolds down and we were treated to a look at Alvarez’s ground offense and Reynolds’ rather impressive ground defense. As soon as Alvarez took his back, Reynolds was able to reach back and hold his leg to give himself a chance to scramble back to his feet. Alvarez immediately planted Reynolds with a slam and proceeded to mount where he landed some big shots.

Reynolds was able to buck Alvarez out of mount, but it was a quick move to side control and then to Reynolds’ back. The round ended with Alvarez attempting an arm triangle.

At the beginning of the third, Alvarez took Reynolds down where Reynolds latched on a body triangle. Alvarez postured up and landed some shots. When Reynolds loosened his hold, Alvarez took the back and finished the fight at 1:30 in the third with a rear naked choke.

Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com for the latest Bellator news and results.

• Oleg Taktarov (221.2) vs. Mark Kerr (266.2)
• Patrick Smith (240) vs. Eric ” Butterbean” Esch (416.2)

HEAVYWEIGHT TOURNAMENT

• Ricco Rodriguez (264.6) vs. George Bush (231.6)
• Travis Wiuff (242.8) vs. Marcelo Pereira (219.4)
• Chris Tuscherer (264) vs. Tony Sylvester (262.8)
• Sherman Pendergarst (264.6) vs. Alexey Oleinik (220.2)

ALTERNATE TOURNAMENT BOUTS

• Antwain Britt (228.2) vs. Bryan Vetell (266)
• Lamont Lister (212.6) vs. Oleg Savitsky (199.4)

ALTERNATE

• Ron Waterman (264.4)

MMAFrenzy.com will be cage-side for the inaugural YAMMA Pit Fighting event in Atlantic City, New Jersey so stay tuned for additional coverage of the event.