(Cole Konrad poses with his new title belt and oversized check. Photo courtesy of Bellator Fighting Championships) Minnesota's Team Deathclutch, home of UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, has another heavyweight champion in their camp after Cole "The Polar Bear" Konrad made quick work of UFC veteran Neil Grove at Bellator 32 last night in Kansas City.
The 26-year-old Konrad, a two-time NCAA wrestling champion from the University of Minnesota, made quick work of Grove, dispatching him by submission at 4:45 in the first round of their tournament final matchup.
It was the first of Konrad's Bellator fights not to go the distance, proving that Konrad can stop an opponent and not just grind out a decision victory with his wrestling.
The fight saw Konrad takedown Grove in the opening minute, but Grove quickly escaped and got back to his feet. After Grove threw a swinging left hook that Konrad easily ducked, Konrad took Grove took down again with ease.
Konrad spent the next minute and a half trying to advance from the half guard into the full mount, and once successful, Grove clamped onto Konrad for dear life and tried to keep him from getting any space to throw punches and elbows.
With 30 seconds remaining the opening round, Grove attempted to buck Konrad off of him and get to his feet, but Konrad easily maintained the mount. It proved to be Groves fatal error, as this maneuver allowed Konrad to grab Grove's arm and quickly tap him out with a keylock.
With the victory, Konrad becomes the first ever Bellator Fighting Championships heavyweight champion and takes home the $100,000 prize.
Another former Minnesota wrestler, Augsburg's Roger Huerta, will fight in the main event of next week's Bellator 33, taking on Bellator's lightweight champion Eddie Alverez in a non-title fight.
