Bellator 106 results/photos: Mike Richman drops Akop Stepanyan in first

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Mike Richman may have been in trouble. But “The Marine” persevered and pulled a left hand out of his back pocket to get the job done – and emphatically.

After getting backed up and nearly having his knees buckled, Richman stopped Akop Stepanyan in the first round with a massive left hand and a big follow-up on the ground.

The featherweight bout opened up the main card of today’s Bellator 106 event at Long Beach Arena in California. It aired on Spike TV following prelims on MMAjunkie.com.

Stepanyan kicked early and faked a jab. His strikes had bad intentions, but Richman moved forward looking to land with counters against the Russian. A spinning back kick from Stepanyan was just off the mark and partially blocked. But a Richman counter had the Russian cut.

Although it was Stepanyan landing the harder blows, it was Richman who did the pressing, and with 90 seconds left he landed a left and a right behind it. Stepanyan blasted away and nearly buckled Richman’s knees with a couple hard shots.

But seconds later, Richman stepped into a left hand that was on the money and put Stepanyan on the canvas. Richman moved in to deliver the finishing blow with a double hammer fist, and referee Herb Dean was there to shut things down. The end came at the 4:05 mark of the first.

“This win felt amazing, man. Guess who’s back? I’m back, baby,” Richman said. “He hit me, and it was one of those shots that was, ‘Whoa. All right.’ But I ain’t going down like that. I’m going to start swinging. I just stayed composed and protected, looking for that opening.”

Richman (16-3 MMA, 5-2 BMMA) is back in the win column after an April loss to Magomedrasul Khasbulaev and now has won three of his past four. Stepanyan (13-7 MMA, 1-4 BMMA) thought he might have his Bellator career in trouble with a loss, and that may be the case. He’s lost back-to-back fights and four of his past five.

Up-to-the-minute Bellator 106 results include:

• Mike Richman def. Akop Stepanyan via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:05
• Cristiano Souza def. Alejandro Garcia via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 3:06
• Brandon Halsey def. Hector Ramirez via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:52
• Mike Guymon def. Aaron Miller via submission (triangle choke) – Round 2, 4:20
• Cleber Luciano def. Joe Camacho via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Josh Smith def. Darren Smith via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

For more on Bellator 106, stay tuned to the MMA Events section of the site.

Steven Marrocco contributed to this report on-site in Long Beach.