JAKE HAGER angered the crowd in Chicago after his controversial win over T.J. Jones in Bellator 221 on Saturday night. Hager, 37, a former WWE champion, drew the ire of the vociferous crowd and left the arena to a chorus of boos after his late release of Jones in the first round. 1 Jake Hagan's victory in Bellator 221 was very controversial Credit: AP:Associated Press Hager's finish came at the 2:36 mark of the opening round, but boos rang around when he continued to choke Jones even though he had tapped out in submission. The fight which was part of the main card of Bellator 221 and it saw Hager impose himself on Jones early on. After putting Jones down on the canvas inside the first 20 seconds, Hager was unrelenting. After threatening with an arm-triangle choke, he targeted the right arm again. But Hager's victory was marred as he kept the choke on for longer before referee Mike Beltran kept trying to separate the two fighters. Eventually, Hager rolled off, but it did little to endear himself to the crowd. Despite his win, Hager refused to apologise for his unsportsmanlike behaviour. He said: "I meant no disrespect, but you’re going to have to make me stop. "I thought the referee was him. "You all can boo me all you want, but you’re not in here right now. … I knew once I got on top, he’s not getting up.” latest mma news Pictured MIND GAMES Conor McGregor taunts Poirier with reflective glasses showing his brutal 2014 KO Video 'MAYBE IN THE FUTURE' Lomachenko teases UFC switch after being gifted personalised gear WEIGH TO GO Conor McGregor says he'll make 'championship weight' for Poirier UFC trilogy NUR WAY Khabib Nurmagomedov turned down $100M offer to box Floyd Mayweather, says agent WAITING GAME Jones hints it will be a YEAR before UFC return as he bulks up to heavyweight CON ARTIST McGregor slammed by Abdelaziz as 'high-end prostitute' as bitter row escalates He added: "I'm rock hard right now with emotion. I got a bone." Hager's record in MMA now stands at 2-0. He currently trains at WWE legend and Hollywood star Dave Bautista's MMA gym.<doc-sep>The Bellator 221: Chandler vs. Pitbull main card kicked off with undefeated featherweight prospect Tywan Claxton extending his record to 5-0, as he beat a tough but very overmatched James Bennett by third-round TKO. Following that up was Jake Hager, aka former WWE star Jack Swagger, winning his second professional MMA fight by easily submitting the uh... existing T.J. Jones, who sure soaked up the spotlight while serving as Hager’s personal grappling dummy. The beef plant worker was choked out by Hager, who didn’t let the submission go immediately after Jones tapped. Here’s how the fights played out. Jake Hager def. TJ Jones by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 2:36 of round 1 - Heavyweights Hager was able to take Jones down in less than 20 seconds, landing several right hands before advancing to side control. He went for an armlock but couldn’t complete it, although he maintained side control. Hager then tried for the Americana on the right arm, but Jones was having none of that. Hager landed more strikes, attacked with an arm-triangle choke and Jones tapped out. For god knows what reason, he held onto the choke well after the two taps by Jones. Hager insisted in the post-fight interview that he meant no disrespect in holding onto the choke late. The crowd booed him and he also let everyone know that he is “rock hard with emotion” and that he has “got a boner.” I wrote all of that without making it up. This is MMA. Is @TjTombstone nervous for his fight against @RealJackSwagger? DOES HE LOOK NERVOUS?! About to go down, live on DAZN https://t.co/j4BIUf4XnH pic.twitter.com/ddxnITEy4T — DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) May 12, 2019 "I'm rock hard right now with emotion ..." -- @RealJackSwagger. ... Sir, this is a @BellatorMMA post-fight interview pic.twitter.com/XKClhHXdSX — DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) May 12, 2019 Tywan Claxton def. James Bennett by TKO (strikes) at 2:09 of round 3 - Featherweights Claxton scored an immediate takedown of Bennett in the opening minute of the fight. Bennett did well to scramble, but Claxton was always a step ahead and made sure Bennett wasn’t able to get into an advantageous position. A gogo choke by Bennett did not succeed, as Claxton remained on top and landing several strikes to the head. Heavy ground-and-pound continued before Bennett got to his feet, then he was slammed to the mat again. The beating continued and Bennett was bloodied and in clear trouble. It was a 10-8 round without question, as Bennett avoided getting finished but ate plenty of big shots. Round two saw Claxton throw a flying knee that caught Bennett off-guard and put on his back. The knee didn’t rock him, but he did end up absorbing more damage as Claxton kept pouring on the punishment from top position. This pretty much defined the rest of round two as Bennett was in survival mode and providing no offense of his own. Claxton once again took Bennett down with a double leg, briefly mounted him, then went back to hard elbows from half-guard. The beatdown continued some more and referee Kevin McDonald showed mercy by stopping it halfway through the final round. ‍♂️@TClax149 with a serious takedown and a solid start to his bout here at #Bellator221. Our Main Card is live now on @DAZN_USA! Tune in with @SkySports in the . pic.twitter.com/71ay7tVGMu — Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) May 12, 2019<doc-sep>
Jake Hager may have made the transition to MMA from professional wrestling, but he’s still got some of that old Swagger in him. On Saturday night at Bellator 221, Hager picked up his second professional MMA win, submitting T.J. Jones with a first-round arm-triangle choke. The bout went about as expected for the former NCAA D-I All-American taking down the meat packing plant worker with ease and roughing him up on the ground before locking in the fight ending choke 2:36 seconds into the first round. That’s where things got hairy though. After locking in the arm-triangle choke and eliciting the tap from Jones, Hager continued to hold onto the choke, even after referee Mike Beltran intervened. Beltran had to pry Hager off of Jones and gave a stern talking to the former WWE champion, who looked nonplussed to be dressed down as such. After the bout, Hager revealed that he held onto the choke because he didn’t realize Beltran was the one trying to stop the bout. He also added some color commentary about just how happy he was with the win, despite the fact that the crowd had turned against him and was booing him heavily. "I'm rock hard right now with emotion ..." -- @RealJackSwagger. ... Sir, this is a @BellatorMMA post-fight interview pic.twitter.com/XKClhHXdSX — DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) May 12, 2019 “I thought the ref was him,” Hager said. “That’s okay, y’all can boo me all you want because you’re not in here right now. After the last fight, the guy was wrapping around punches on me still when I had it. So I didn’t know. It felt like him, it happened so fast. But you know what, I’m rock hard right now with emotion. I got a boner.” The post-fight interview had shades of another WWE superstar turned MMA heavyweight Brock Lesnar who, after knocking out Frank Mir in their rematch at UFC 100, announced he was going to “get on top of his wife”. Unlike with Lesnar, Hager’s post-fight interview did not seem to endear him to fans who continued to boo him as he exited the cage. It didn’t appear to both Hager though, who was laughing all the way. Hager improved to 2-0 in his professional MMA career and looks to be a marketable commodity for Bellator going forward.