It was a rematch Eddie Alvarez had been begging Bjorn Rebney for ever since he signed with Bellator back in 2009.
Shinya Aoki embarrassed him at Dynamite!! 2008 in Saitama, Japan, with a 92-second heel hook, but tonight (April 20, 2012), Alvarez would get his revenge.
After a very cautious opening two minutes, the Japanese submission wizard Aoki started to get a little too comfortable with his newfound striking abilities that he's been developing, which led to a huge Alvarez right hand that sent him crashing to the canvas.
Alvarez cautiously dropped some big right hands from above and when he hurt Aoki again, he dove into his opponent's dangerous guard and began unloading on him with a huge flurry of ground and pound strikes.
It only got worse for Aoki there.
Aoki's corner, seeing its fighter in tremendous danger, threw in the towel, but the referee either ignored it or didn't see it and the onslaught continued. Alvarez pummeled with more unanswered blows and when Aoki turned away from the power, the referee finally intervened.
The Philadelphia native leaped out of the cage to kiss his wife and then celebrated on the Bellator television camera stands on the outside of the cage before doing his patented victory backflip.
In his post-fight speech, Alvarez asked Bellator CEO to "pay him his money" before thanking everyone that helped him earn his emphatic victory.
What happens next in regards to Alvarez's future with Bellator is up in the air as his contract is quickly coming to an end. He certainly raised his stock with this high profile win.
Needless to say, revenge was very sweet for "The Silent Assassin" tonight.
For complete Bellator 66 results and play-by-play coverage of the main card action on MTV2 click here. And to check out a .gif of the Eddie Alvarez vs. Shinya Aoki first round stoppage click here.
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