Good-Hawn, Hieron-Weedman Set for Bellator Welterweight Semifinals

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LEMOORE, Calif. -- Shortly after the opening round of Bellator Fighting Championships’ fourth-season welterweight tournament concluded Saturday at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino, the promotion revealed how the four remaining 170-pounders will be paired in the upcoming semifinals.

During the post-fight press conference for Bellator 35, company chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney announced that former champion Lyman Good will take on unbeaten Olympic judoka Rick Hawn, while tournament favorite Jay Hieron will square off against the surging Brent Weedman.

The Good-Hawn matchup will be part of Bellator 39, set to take place April 2 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. That show will be headlined by Eddie Alvarez defending his Bellator lightweight crown against lightweight tournament winner Pat Curran.

However, no date was announced for Hieron-Weedman, which remains tentative pending medical clearance of the Kentuckian Weedman, who sustained a laceration above his left eye in his unanimous decision triumph over Dan Hornbuckle on Saturday night.

“He got a serious cut. Our hope against hope is that cut is one he’ll be able to come back from and get busy again pretty quickly,” said Rebney, who stressed that there were no plans for any kind of injury replacement. The cut is expected to take between six and eight weeks to fully heal.

“I’ve been waiting around to get this thing over my eye stitched up, so I missed out on a bunch apparently,” laughed Weedman upon entering the press conference, where he suddenly found out that he was matched against Hieron.

“It’s an honor whoever I got paired up with. They’re great guys,” added the Louisville native. “As you saw tonight, they’re all awesome fighters.”

“The competition this year in the tournament is just stacked,” said Hawn, who represented the U.S. in judo at the 2004 Athens Olympics. “Lyman’s a very tough fighter. I’m looking forward to the matchup. I think we’re going to match up well together and it’s going to be a good fight. I’m excited for it. Can’t wait.”

“It’s been a privilege and honor for [Bellator] to give me the opportunity to go out there and try to reclaim something I had once before,” said ex-champ Good. “Understand that I’m fighting amongst top-ranked, high-class fighters.”