Alvarez, Lombard strike gold in inaugural season of Bellator

Bellator Fighting Championships closed out its inaugural season on Friday night in Hollywood, Fla., crowning champions both at lightweight and middleweight.

Already ranked No. 2 in the world in his class, Eddie Alvarez added Bellator gold to his resume, capturing the lightweight championship. He battled submission wizard Toby Imada through a back-and-forth opening round, but didn't waste any time in the second stanza.

Following the bell, Alvarez immediately floored Imada with a right cross, pounced on him and started to drop down punches. Imada turned to avoid the blows, Alvarez secured his neck, and that was all she wrote, 38 seconds into the round.

Hector Lombard had to put in a lot more time to earn his middleweight belt. He had to punish Jared Hess into the fourth round.

Lombard defended most of Hess' takedown attempts, and used his strength to overpower and brutalize him with strikes, opening a cut over Hess' right eye. The gash was bad enough for the doctor to check it on three separate occasions in the third round before finally stopping the fight in the fourth.

After several false starts, Rosi Sexton finally stepped into the Bellator cage for the first time, ending a nearly year long layoff. She wasted no time, submitting Valerie Coolbaugh via an armbar in the opening round.

-Eddie Alvarez def. Toby Imada by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 0:38, R2 -Hector Lombard def. Jared Hess by TKO (Doctor Stoppage) at 1:45, R4 -Fabio Mello def. Sami Aziz by Submission (Armbar) at 1:58, R3 -Jorge Masvidal def. Eric Reynolds by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:33, R3 -Sergio Moraes def. Josh Martin by Submission (Triangle Choke) at 4:21, R1 -Rosi Sexton def. Valerie Coolbaugh by Submission (Armbar) at 3:40, R1 -Luis Palomino def. Troy Gerhart by Unanimous Decision, R1 -Stefanie Guimaraes def. Yvonne Reis by TKO at 0:49, R1