HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 289 and UFC 282

By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist

Bellator 289 and UFC 282 were both this past Saturday. Who won and who
lost? Let’s get to the rundown.

Bellator 289
GOOD- Dalton Rosta vs. Anthony Adams
They trade kicks before Rosta begins mixing in some punches. As they
move into the second round Rosta continues pushing the pace and gets a
takedown. Adams defends well and they return to their feet and box
until the round ends. The third round sees more striking and Rosta
hurts Adams a few times but has to settle for the decision win. Rosta
wins and improves to an undefeated 8-0 while Adams drops to 9-3 and
has alternated wins and losses in his last 6 fights. Good win for
Rosta.

GOOD- Patchy Mix submits Magomed Magomedov
This was one of the semi-final fights in the Bellator Bantamweight
World Grand Prix. They trade strikes early, with Mix getting the
better of things until Magomedov gets a takedown. Mix works for the
submission but Magomedov fights him off and they return to their feet
and the first round ends. The second round starts with more striking
exchanges. Mix is really doing some damage so Magomedov shoots in for
a takedown but gets caught with a guillotine. Mix locks it in and puts
Magomedov out a little over halfway through the second round to
advance to the Finals. Mix improves to 17-1 and has won 4 straight
fights while Magomedov drops to 19-3. Good win for Mix.

GOOD/BAD- Liz Carmouche submits Julianna Velasquez
Carmouche successfully defended her Bellator Flyweight Championship
here. Nothing much going on in the first round. Carmouche gets a
takedown late but the first round ends before she can take full
advantage. The second round starts with a quick takedown by Carmouche.
Velasquez quickly gets back up but Carmouche gets another takedown and
locks in an armbar to force the tap almost four and a half minutes
into the second round. Carmouche improves to 18-7 and has won 5
straight fights while Velasquez drops to 12-2, with her only two
losses coming to Carmouche. Good win for Carmouche.

GOOD- Raufeon Stots vs. Danny Sabatello
This is the other semi-final fight in the Bellator Bantamweight World
Grand Prix. Stots is the Interim Champion, having defeated Juan
Archuleta by Knockout in his last fight to win the title. Sabatello
gets a takedown and they spend the rest of the first round grappling
for position. The second round sees them start with more striking
until Sabatello gets another takedown. Stots gets back up quickly,
though. The third round sees Sabatello continue trying for takedowns
as they continue exchanging strikes. The fourth round is largely the
same, though Sabatello is having more success now. The fifth round is
again more of the same and we go to the judges. Stots had more success
on the feet while Sabatello did have those takedowns and some success
there. Stots wins by Split Decision with two of the judges giving him
48-47 scores while the third gives all five rounds to Sabatello 50-45.
That tells you what kind of fight it was. Stots improves to 19-1 and
has won 11 straight fights while Sabatello drops to 13-2 and has his 7
fight win streak snapped. Good win for Stots and he’ll face Patchy Mix
in the Finals.

UFC 282
GOOD- Ilia Topuria submits Bryce Mitchell
They trade strikes for most of the first round until Mitchell finally
gets a takedown. The second round starts with more heavy strikes from
Topuria until Mitchell fires back. Topuria knocks Mitchell down and
after an exchange on the feet locks in an arm triangle choke to get
the submission a little over three minutes into the second round.
Topuria improves to a perfect 13-0 while Mitchell is handed his first
loss and drops to 15-1. Good win for Topuria.

GOOD- Dricus du Plessis submits Darren Till
du Plessis gets a takedown and they fight on the mat for a while. Till
gets up but gets taken back down and du Plessis works more
ground-and-pound before getting a third takedown to close the round.
The second round opens with some big strikes landing. du Plessis gets
another takedown and works more submissions but Till fights them off.
The third round starts with more striking exchanges until du Plessis
gets a takedown and locks in a rear-naked choke for the submission win
a bit over halfway through the third round. du Plessis improves to
18-2 and has won 6 straight fights while Till drops to 18-5-1 and has
lost 5 of his last 6 fights. Good win for du Plessis.

GOOD- Santiago Ponzinibbio stops Alex Morono
They trade strikes early, with both men landing well. Morono gets a
late knockdown but Ponzinibbio survives. The second round starts with
more striking. Morono knocks Ponzinibbio down but he gets right back
up. More striking closes out the round. The third round sees more
striking until Ponzinibbio batters Morono with heavy punches that drop
him and allow Ponzinibbio to pounce on him and force the referee to
have to jump in to stop the fight halfway through the third round.
Ponzinibbio improves to 29-6 while Morono drops to 22-8 with 1 No
Contest and has his 4 fight winning streak snapped. Good win for
Ponzinibbio.

GOOD/BAD- Paddy Pimblett vs. Jared Gordon
They’re throwing strikes early and often. Gordon seems to be getting
the better of it. The second round sees them throw more kicks until
Gordon gets a takedown. More striking as they get back to their feet.
The third round opens with another Gordon takedown. They get back up
and grapple around for the rest of the fight. Pimblett wins the
decision, which I think was nonsense. I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong,
but it feels like Paddy’s getting the McGregor treatment and they
didn’t want to derail the hype train. Anyway, Pimblett improves to
20-3 and has won 6 straight fights while Gordon drops to 19-6. It’s a
win for Pimblett.

GOOD/BAD- Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev
This fight was for the vacant UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. They
trade kicks and there’s not much real action because they have to pace
themselves for going five rounds which I understand but makes for some
dull rounds. The second round starts with more sparring until
Blachowicz hurts Ankalaev’s leg with some powerful kicks. The third
round sees Blachowicz go back to the leg kicks early. Things are
heating up as bombs are beginning to land. Ankalaev can’t take many
more of these leg kicks. Holy crap, they look painful. Ankalaev gets a
late takedown as the round ends. The fourth round opens with Ankalaev
getting a takedown and working his ground-and-pound for the rest of
the round. The fifth round starts with another Ankalaev takedown and
it’s a repeat of the fourth round as he works his ground-and-pound. We
go to the judges and it’s a Split Draw so neither man becomes champ.
Blachowicz’s record is now 29-9-1 while Ankalaev’s record is now
18-1-1.
In a surprising moment, the UFC immediately announced Glover Teixiera
vs. Jamahal Hill in Brazil at UFC 283 will be for the vacant UFC Light
Heavyweight Championship. That’s pretty wild.

My new fantasy book is now out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: A Fight For
Survival
. It’s the third book in my epic fantasy Kingdom of Zarias
series and follows the adventures of the Summers siblings as they
fight to defend the world from an evil villain named Galren. This book
also introduces lots of other characters as the scope of the world
grows. There’s lots of action, magic, and monsters in the Kingdom of
Zarias. It’s like a tabletop game in novel form. It’s on Amazon,
Barnes & Noble, and many other places. If you’re interested, I would
greatly appreciate it if you would check it out and support me. Also,
here’s the link to my new Compendium book about the Kingdom of Zarias
series- KoZ Compendium
Thank you very much, have a good day.

Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.

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