Lashley squashes Bellator opponent

Bobby Lashley barely broke a sweat scoring a decisive MMA victory over James Thompson at Bellator 145 Friday night on Spike TV.

Lashley registered a TKO victory at 0:54 of the First Round of their Hvt. division fight.

After a few jabs were exchanged, Lashley used his speed to take down the much bigger Thompson. Lashley said in a post-fight interview that he felt and heard Thompson’s knee pop.

Lashley then unloaded a barrage of punches on Thompson, who was barely able to fight back while wincing in pain from his knee injury. Referee Mike England eventually stopped the fight, awarding Lashley the win 54 seconds into the fight.

Thompson, who gave Lashley his last defeat three-and-a-half years ago, was helped out of the Bellator cage while Lashley celebrated in the cage and talked about his victory.

Lashley has now won seven fights in a row since losing to Thompson in May 2012. This was his most impressive and decisive, as he sought revenge against the English fighter.

Thompson out-weighed Lashley by nearly 25 pounds, tipping the scales at 264 lbs. to Lashley’s 239.5 lbs. Thompson also had a two inch height advantage at 6’5″.

However, Lashley learned from his previous loss to use his speed to take down Thompson to eliminate the weight and height advantage. Lashley excitedly said in his post-fight interview that he feels like and fast, and he does not think any other Hvt. fighters can handle his speed.

Ringside for the fight was fellow TNA wrestler Kurt Angle, who was on commentary and predicted that Lashley would use his speed advantage to win. Lashley embraced Angle after leaving the cage.

Next up for Lashley is pursuit of the Hvt. Title, which is held by the undefeated Vitaly Minakov. Before that, though, is a rumored special attraction fight against Kimbo Slice.

– READ MORE: Full Bellator 145 coverage at MMATorch.com.