Bellator 190 and UFC on FOX 26 were this past weekend. Let’s get to the rundown.
Bellator 190
GOOD- Carlos Miranda vs. Mihail Nica
Miranda completely dominated this fight. He controlled things and largely did whatever he wanted on his way to the decision win.
GOOD- Brandon Girtz stops Luka Jelcic
They engaged early and Girtz leveled Jelcic with a big uppercut to force the ref to jump in at about two minutes into the first round. Big win for him as he halts a three-fight losing streak.
GOOD- Alejandra Lara submits Lena Ovchynnikova
Lara kept taking Ovchynnikova down and eventually submitted her with a rear-naked choke late in the third round. Good win for Lara.
GOOD- Rafael Carvalho stops Alessio Sakara
Carvalho hurt Sakara early, then hurt him again to finish him off in less than a minute into the first round. Big win for Carvalho as he remains on a tremendous roll. Carvalho lost his first professional fight, and has since won fifteen fights in a row. That’s an amazing number and speaks to the ability Carvalho has. And twelve of those wins have been by TKO. Great stuff by Carvalho.
UFC on FOX 26
GOOD- Glover Teixiera stops Misha Cirkunov
Teixiera came into this fight with a possible title shot if he won, and he delivered. Cirkunov was doing better on the feet in the early stages but then Teixiera took the fight to the ground and commenced to beating up Cirkunov. He ended up taking his back and flattening him out and raining down shots until the ref stepped in. It’s too soon to say if Teixiera will get the next title shot because UFC light heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier fights Volkan Oezdemir early next year and I don’t know if the UFC will allow Teixiera to wait for a shot. The division isn’t nearly as deep as it once was, though, so who knows?
GOOD- Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Mike Perry
Both guys fought more conservative than they had talked in the lead-up to the fight. Of course, when you’re fighting a guy who could knock you out with one punch, it’s probably wiser to do that than engage in a firefight. Ponzinibbio won the decision, but he had to work for it. He had a huge lump under his left eye that just looked nasty and screamed “Cut me, Mick!”.
Perry seemed to be frustrated by Ponzinibbio’s movement, especially his backpedaling. I’m sure Ponzinibbio would have loved a highlight reel knockout or Perry, but he wanted the win and he wanted to fight smartly. It may not have been the slugfest we wanted, but it was a nice win.
GOOD- Josh Emmett stops Ricardo Lamas
Emmett took this fight on short notice, as Lamas was originally scheduled to fight Jose Aldo. Kudos to both men for taking this fight. Lamas was the big favorite and I thought he would win for sure. And Lamas came out looking fairly good, but then Emmett caught him dead flush on the chin with a beautiful left hook that starched him. There was a scary moment when Lamas didn’t get up for a while, but eventually they got him on a stool. I hope he’s okay as they showed on replay that his head hit the mat three times.
This was a huge win for Emmett that should vault him into the top ten for sure. He’s been training for a long time and wow, what a coming out party this was. It’d be hard to get a more beautiful knockout than this. Emmett believed in himself and he delivered bigtime. Great win for him.
GOOD- Rafael dos Anjos vs. Robbie Lawler
Lawler was game and showed his usual great toughness, but RDA controlled the entire fight and won the decision. He worked his leg kicks early and often and he destroyed the right leg of Lawler. You could see the massive bruising and Lawler laboring to continue. It was crazy, RDA shredded that leg and at times Lawler was staggering around like a drunk. One time, RDA hit Lawler with a jab and Lawler stumbled around like it was a Francis Ngannou uppercut because his leg just couldn’t support him. To be honest, I started wondering if his corner would throw in the towel because he looked so rough.
I don’t know if dos Anjos will fight UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley next because Woodley has to recover from shoulder surgery. A title eliminator with Stephen Thompson is also a possibility. Regardless, he’s really made a big impact since moving up to welterweight. He looks really good and he’s talked about feeling solid at welterweight. It seems the division suits him. No matter who he fights next, I’m excited to see what he does. RDA’s constant pressure offense can overwhelm people and his ground game is very good as well. Big win for dos Anjos.
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