|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lyman Good Bio | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Courtesy: Bellator.com Release: 02/20/2010 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Twenty-five year old Lyman Good entered Bellator’s inaugural season with more hunger and explosive power than the rest of the 170-lb. class to win the first-ever Bellator Welterweight World Championship. Good quickly made a name for himself as a world-class MMA fighter to be watched as he tore through his opponents week after week with an unstoppable combination of sheer power and devastating strikes.
With only four years of professional MMA experience before joining Bellator, Good quickly silenced any critics of his abilities with a seamless second round rear naked choke submission (3:22) in his first tournament matchup against Hector Urbina. In his semi-final bout, Good faced veteran Jorge Ortiz at Bellator 7, putting his overall capabilities to the test. Good stayed agile in the first round and managed to evade numerous take down attempts by Ortiz. Good entered the second round determined to out-slug Ortiz, capitalizing on his strong striking abilities. Good delivered on his strategy late into the round, earning a TKO (doctor stoppage 4:37) that advanced him to the tournament championship round. Hoping to close out the tournament as champion, Good faced off against Dominican standout Omar De la Cruz for the Bellator Welterweight World Championship title at Bellator 11 in Uncasville, CT, on June 12, 2009. With a large number of Good’s Northeastern Tiger Schulmann fans on hand to witness the event, he wasted no time pinning De la Cruz to the corner and hammering him to a furious first round TKO victory at 1:23. The win extended Good’s undefeated record into double digits and earned him $175,000 as well as his first-ever world championship title. Following the match, the magnanimous fighter immediately said he was going to use his winnings to help his struggling family. Raised in a tough part of Spanish Harlem, Good credits a difficult upbringing for making him the fighter he is today. His childhood was surrounded by guns, drugs and gangs, and early on he felt the need to establish himself as a fighter—both mentally and physically—to survive. He enrolled in military school, where he fell in love with martial arts. During Bellator Season 2, Good watched each week as welterweights vied for the chance to fight him for the Bellator World Welterweight Championship. In the end it was 2008 Olympic wrestler Ben Askren (4-0) who earned the title as Bellator Season 2 welterweight tournament champ and became the top contender to Good. In a performance that shocked much of the MMA community, Ben Askren defeated Dan Hornbuckle in breakout fashion that left some commentators describing Askren as the best pure wrestler to transition to MMA. The MMA world awaits what’s sure to be an exhilarating match up as Lyman Good defends his title against up-and-coming Ben Askren in Bellator Season 3. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
