00:00Of course, the headliner was the middleweight semifinal between Fabian Edwards and Josh Silvera.
00:05Silvera, the 32-year-old from Florida, lost three of four before joining this tournament and dropping down a weight class.
00:11He had beat Mike Shipman by unanimous decision in the quarterfinals to get here, going against Edwards, the 32-year-old Brit,
00:16the assassin who had wins over guys like Leota Machida and Gegard Musasi in his time in Bellator,
00:22and then beat Imba Kasanganai by second-round TKO in the quarters to make it here, throwing those elbows, doing some dirty work there.
00:28We talked to him the week of the fight, talking about how good he felt coming into this one.
00:32We thought he'd get the decision win, and that's exactly what he does.
00:36He gets a unanimous decision win, 29-28 on all three judges' scorecards.
00:41I thought both guys, you know, started off a little slow, a little respectful, both trying to chop each other's legs out.
00:46He even had Edwards get knocked down off the second leg that Silvera threw, kind of took his legs out from under him.
00:51But, you know, a little bit here, a little bit there from both guys, a little shift in momentum back and forth, some shots back and forth.
00:57I thought, though, Silvera got a good takedown late in the round.
01:02That moment he took the back at the end of the round there to kind of steal that first round, 10-9.
01:07Then, second, third round is mostly Edwards picking Silvera apart.
01:11Started using some good straight shots right down the middle, some good, you know, one-twos coming right down through the guard.
01:16Silvera just not stopping him, not getting the hands enough in the way, and Edwards started to pick him up a little there.
01:22There were some takedowns here and there, some position changes, but really, it was Edwards doing his damage on the feet, throwing some good knees to Silvera.
01:29I thought he took the second one, 10-9, to even up the fight.
01:32And then we go to the third, where you end up with Edwards, you know, getting on the back, then getting on top in guard, throwing down some elbows to end the fight.
01:41You know, going to the finish there, I think that definitely sealed it in the minds of the judges.
01:44He gets another 10-9 round there, gets a 29-28 win for Edwards, who now is 15-4 in his career.
01:51Silvera, now 14-5.
01:53So, Edwards moving on into the finals, as we thought he'd be one of the favorites when he joined this tournament.
01:58And as long as he got past Impa, he did that, and now continues to go all the way to the finals here.
02:03We'll see what he can do next in his next matchup for the finals.
02:06We'll talk about his opponent coming up later.
02:08Light heavyweight semifinal, Phil Davis versus Sullivan Cawley.
02:11Cawley, the 20-year-old American from Arizona, former D1 wrestler at Arizona State.
02:15All his pro fights before this tournament were in Bellator, where he beat Alex Polizzi with elbows in the first round to get through the quarterfinals of this world tournament.
02:23Davis, the 40-year-old American out of San Diego, another former D1 wrestler at Penn State, where he's a national champion, fought at the UFC, fought in Bellator, beat Rob Wilkinson by second-round TKO, ground and pound to get to this point.
02:36Big favorite again, minus 460 here.
02:38We thought Davis would get the decision.
02:39The decision doesn't go his way.
02:41Cawley gets the decision, unanimous decision, 30-27 on two judges' cards, 29-28 on one.
02:47It really seemed like, you know, Cawley was light on his feet, doing a great job avoiding shots that Davis was throwing, getting some takedowns here and there.
02:54Davis threw some takedowns, more takedowns in the fight, but a lot of those Cawley got right back to his feet.
03:00I thought Cawley got the big right that stumbled Davis in the first round to steal that round at the end.
03:0510-9 for him, a little discrepancy on that, on who you'd go with.
03:09Some people had it 10-9 for Davis before, you know, even with that shot, not for me.
03:14Cawley, great movement throughout.
03:16I thought, you know, he did a good job on the feet, avoiding the big shots, landing his own.
03:20I thought he won the second round and the third round as well.
03:22I gave him a sweep, all three, 30-27.
03:25I agree with those judges.
03:26His doctor actually checked Cawley after the second round because of some of the cuts that he had sustained.
03:31Decides to let him go and he does a great job, again, you know, slowing down towards the end of the third, but still landing some good shots.
03:37Stuffing Davis takedowns, not letting him get to the ground, not letting him take him to the mat too often.
03:41And when he did, getting right back up, he gets it 30-27 on my card and gets a unanimous decision win overall.
03:46Now 8-1 for his career.
03:48Davis now 25-8 and one no contest for his career.
