Jay Hieron wins Bellator Welterweight tournament

Jay Hieron won the Bellator season 4 Welterweight tournament last night by defeating Rick Hawn. I found the decision kind of controversial as I thought Hawn won the fight. Jay definitely won the first round, landing a heap of leg kicks and using effective counter punching. However, rounds 2 and 3 I thought Hawn won the standup, which was basically the entire fight. Jay stopped using his volume leg kicks, and Hawn used better punching, IMO.

This made me wonder what other people's perception of the fight was. Because from where I am sitting, we have a tournament winner who didn't win a single fight. The quarter final fight was stopped by Josh Rosenthal when Hieron's opponent did not tap to a submission and was still conscious. His semi-final fight against Weedman, which I thought Hieron lost. And I thought Hieron lost the fight last night as well.

Anyone agree? Anyone think Hieron deserved to win and I am just stupid and don't know MMA? lol

Booooo. Hieron lost that fight clear as day. Two gift decisions in a row. Bellator judges need to be changed. Hieron is going to get dominated by Askren to the point where it's just sad. I feel bad for Hawn. Robbed off the tournament winnings, his perfect record and his shot at the belt in a fight that would be much better than Hieron vs Askren, in my opinion. No hate towards Hieron here, just judging, as usual...

Sounds like Jay has been taking some pointers from Leonard Garcia

Hieron is the new bad boy, lol! Two gifts in a row, he will get punked by Askren. I definitely don't want to come off as hating or fighter bashing, but the judges and referees screwed up every fight he had. I picked Hieron to win in the secondary league, so I am not bummed in that respect, lol.

Hawn vs. Askren would have been much better. Olympic Judo player vs. Olympic Wrestler? Very interesting fight! What could have been....

Hopefully Hawn gets his spot locked up for next season's tournament. He will come back even better.

Hawn got brutally robbed......Askren is going to humiliate Jay.

Some people even thought Hieron lost to who was it Brent Weedmen I think.

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Posted by Twenty20Dollars

Some people even thought Hieron lost to who was it Brent Weedmen I think.

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Yup, and I'm one of them.

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Posted by Budgellism

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Posted by Twenty20Dollars

Some people even thought Hieron lost to who was it Brent Weedmen I think.

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Yup, and I'm one of them.

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Ditto. That was my sentiment from the opening post, and the whole reason for this thread! He "won" the tournament and the outcome of every fight he was in was suspect. A tournament winner without one, legit decisive win. Amazing. Pitbull brothers better own to make up for that!

With all of you and will repost my earlier comment from another thread:

Last nights decision was a pretty easy one I thought.....the secondand third round came down to (IMO) three things: effective striking-although pretty bad on both sides Hawn had the near fall in the second and the damage of his strikes were visible during the entire third round; aggression-clearly this was on Hawn's side, he was constantly prushing the action.....while some effective counter strikers do let the opponent strike first they don't circle countlessly for three rounds, Llyoto Machida would be a prime example of what I am saying about being an effective counter striker without losing points for being non-aggressive; cage control-while I understand the difference (as the commentator was constantly reminding of) between running away and angling away the effect was the damn near the same here ....Heiron wasn't disengaging after leaping in for a strike, or even creating an angle to permit his own offensive, he was damn near retreating! He didn't pull a Kalib Starnes, but he did pull a Houston Alexander. I swear the guys who judge the Heiron fights are the same that judge the Leonard Garcia fights.....and they suck!

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Posted by Budgellism

Booooo. Hieron lost that fight clear as day. Two gift decisions in a row. Bellator judges need to be changed. Hieron is going to get dominated by Askren to the point where it's just sad. I feel bad for Hawn. Robbed off the tournament winnings, his perfect record and his shot at the belt in a fight that would be much better than Hieron vs Askren, in my opinion. No hate towards Hieron here, just judging, as usual...

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Couldnt have put it better myself. Hieron is so overrated, Askren will dominate him
This guy is seriously one of my least favorite fighters

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Posted by pmoney

Hieron is the new bad boy, lol! Two gifts in a row, he will get punked by Askren. I definitely don't want to come off as hating or fighter bashing, but the judges and referees screwed up every fight he had. I picked Hieron to win in the secondary league, so I am not bummed in that respect, lol.

Hawn vs. Askren would have been much better. Olympic Judo player vs. Olympic Wrestler? Very interesting fight! What could have been....

Hopefully Hawn gets his spot locked up for next season's tournament. He will come back even better.

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Three gifts in a row if you consider that his first fight was an early stoppage.