Bellator V Recap and Results

A monkey wrench has been thrown into Bellator's lightweight tournament.

Toby Imada came from behind and pulled off an inverted reverse triangle choke to defeat Jorge Masvidal and enter the lightweight finals.

Imada and Masvidal engaged in the fight of the night,  with Masvidal dominating most of the action with his superior reach and left jab. But that didn't stop Toby Imada from pushing the pace.

Entering the third round Imada had a swollen right eye and was behind on the judges card. At this point Imada decided to change gears and attempted several takedowns. Masvidal appeared to be trying to run the clock out on the fight and looked tentative with dealing with Imada's attempts to take the fight to the mat. It was these unique circumstances that lead to one of the more memorable submissions in MMA history.

In the mid point of the third round Imada shot in trying to take Masvidal down, but Jorge sprawled effectively causing Imada to end up upside down on Jorge's back. Masvidal stood up in an attempt to slam his opponent but some how the vertically suspended Imada locked in a reverse triangle choke. Masvidal was trapped and tried to endure the submission but ultimately hit the mat unconscious from the unorthodox triangle choke.

Many predicted that Jorge Masvidal would make it to the lightweight final but with Imada's fantastic finish Masvidal must watch from the sideline as Toby Imada has earned a spot in the finals.

Imada now advances to face another winner from tonight's fight card Eddie Alvarez.

Alvarez was dominant in his fight against Eric Reynolds. Alvarez took Reynolds down with impunity. Though the fight went into the third round it was never in doubt for the Philadelphia native. In the third round Alvarez finally locked in a rear-naked choke after fighting after dominating on the ground. 

Alvarez will meet Toby Imada in the lightweight finals at a yet to be announced date.

Dave Herman and Josh Barnes engaged in a fantastic heavyweight bout. Barnes pushed the action early with a flurry of punches but Herman survived the storm. Herman came back and knocked out his opponent with a devastating knee to the jaw, easily the knockout of the night. Herman now advances to 15-1 but  still appears to be a work in progress. Despite being built in the athletic mold of Andrei Arlovksi, Herman appeared to gas early and fought much of the fight with his hands down. Still for the lean heavyweight divisions in MMA he appears to be a bright prospect.

A first happened this Friday night as Bellator held their inaugural female fight between Jessica Pene and Tammy Schneider. Jessica Pene easily won the bout and it appeared that her competition wasn't up to her pedigree. Hopefully Bellator will be able to bring in some top female talent. Pene appears to be the Bellator's version of Gina Carano. She is 5-0 and an attractive fighter. But don't expect her to be challenging Carano she is 5'5" and fights at 117lbs.

Justin Edwards and John Troyer engaged in a highly entertaining bout to start off the night. Both fighters held nothing back as the fight erupted into an all out brawl. The only downside is that it only lasted one round. Still the fireworks that ensued were the perfect set up for a night of fights. If it weren't for Masvidal-Imada this would've been fight of the night.

For live round-by-round analysis check out WKR's live blog of Bellator V. Bellator's Tim Daily also did a live blog of tonight's fight with some pretty sweet pictures featured.

Full fight card results after the jump

• Eddie Alvarez def. Eric Reynolds via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 3, 1:30. Eddie Alvarez advances to the finals of the Bellator lightweight tournament.
• Toby Imada def. Jorge Masvidal via submission (triangle choke) -Round 3, 3:22. Toby Imada advances to the finals of the Bellator lightweight tournament. 
• Dave Herman def. Josh Barnes via TKO (strikes) Round - 1, 4:46.
• Joey Beltran def. Sherman Pendergarst  via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 2:24.
• Dan Evensen def. Raoul Romer via submission (strikes) - Round 2, 1:44.
• Matt Jaggers def. Pete Dominguez via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 4:03.
• Jessice Pene def. Tammy Schneider vie TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 1:35.
• Justin Edwards def. John Troyer via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 1, 3:12.
• Waylon Lowe def. Frank Carabello via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).