SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In his first appearance for Bellator MMA, Phil Davis might have saved its light heavyweight tournament.
Davis (15-3) recorded two first-round finishes against Francis Carmont and Emanuel Newton to win Bellator's first-ever one-night tournament. The bouts took place at SAP Center as part of Bellator: Dynamite 1.
A former UFC contender, Davis easily advanced to the tournament finals by submitting Newton (25-9-1) at 4:39 of the first round via kimura. He was originally supposed to fight Muhammed Lawal in a second fight, but Lawal (16-4) was forced to withdraw with a rib injury. Tournament rules called for Linton Vassell (15-5), who lost to Lawal in the tournament's opening bout, to take Lawal's spot, but ringside physicians also ruled him ineligible to compete.
That cleared the way for Carmont (24-11), a tournament alternate who defeated Anthony Ruiz by decision earlier in the night.
Davis and Carmont traded kicks to the legs and body in a feel-out process that quickly produced boos from the California crowd. Then Davis, who came into the bout with just two career knockouts, landed a perfect left hand that dropped Carmont along the fence. Referee Jason Herzog gave Carmont an opportunity to recover, but Davis followed him to the floor and threw follow-up punches until the bout was called.
The win sets up Davis for a title shot against Liam McGeary (11-0), who defended his title for the first time by submitting Tito Ortiz via triangle choke in the night's main event.
Davis, who fights out of Alliance MMA in San Diego, improved to 6-2 in his past eight fights. He parted ways with the UFC following a split-decision loss to Ryan Bader in January.
Thomson submits Bronzoulis in Bellator debut
Making his Bellator debut, former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson proved to be well out of Mike Bronzoulis' league.
Following two dominant rounds, Thomson (21-8) secured a submission finish at 0:39 of the third via arm-triangle choke. He tripped Bronzoulis to the floor and went immediately into side control, where he applied the choke.
It was Thomson's first appearance in San Jose since he suffered a split-decision loss to Bobby Green at a UFC event in July 2014. Some of the biggest moments of the 36-year-old's career have occurred here, in his hometown. He won the Strikeforce championship here in December 2006 and again in June 2008.
"This feels amazing," Thomson said. "Thank you [Bellator president] Scott Coker for making this happen tonight. This was different. I had jitters. I just wanted to perform in front of you guys. This might be the last time you ever see me in this arena."
Thomson drowned Bronzoulis (18-9-1) in a high pace from the start. He blitzed forward with punches as soon as the fight started and eventually took Bronzoulis down two minutes in. Bronzoulis managed to fight off Thomson's early attempts to mount, but it was obvious he was facing a significant grappling disadvantage.
It was more of the same in the second and third rounds. Bronzoulis caught Thomson with a left head kick at the start of the third, but Thomson calmly got his hands on him and wrestled him down.
It is the 10th submission victory of Thomson's career. It snaps a three-fight losing streak he suffered in the UFC, to Tony Ferguson, Green and Ben Henderson.