By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
Bellator 290 and UFC Fight Night 218 were both last weekend. They
featured some interesting fights and the retirement fight of one of
the greatest fighters of all-time? What happened? Let’s get to the
rundown.
Bellator 290
GOOD- Brennan Ward stops Sabah Homasi
Ward starts with an early takedown but they quickly get back to the
feet. Big striking exchanges cuts Ward on the cheek. Ward gets a slam
but again, they’re back up. Both guys are swinging for the fences
here. Homasi is busted open and then he gets dropped by Ward. Somehow
Homasi survives the first round. Great toughness on display as Ward
is lighting him up. The second round begins with Homasi throwing kicks
and Ward answering with punches. Homasi is tumbling around and Ward is
teeing off on him. Ward crushes him with a head kick and follow-up
punches to force the referee to jump in to stop the fight a minute and
a half into the second round. Ward wins and improves to 17-6 and has
won 3 straight fights while Homasi drops to 17-11. Good win for Ward.
GOOD- Johnny Eblen vs. Anatoly Tokov
Eblen is seeking to defend his Bellator Middleweight Championship for
the second time here. They start slowly in the first round, with a few
striking exchanges but not much else going on. The second round sees
things heat up in a big way as Eblen gets busted open near his right
eye and both men land some hard strikes. Eblen gets staggered by
Tokov, who then gets dropped by Eblen in return. Tokov gets back to
his feet just in time for Eblen to get a takedown before the second
round ends. The third round starts with Eblen getting a few slams in a
row. Tokov’s tough, though, and he battles back. They open up their
striking and throw some huge shots. Good toughness shown by both as
the third round ends. The fourth round sees Eblen dominate the
grappling. He gets a takedown then a slam after Tokov works his way
up. Eblen gets another takedown after a small striking exchange. The
fifth round starts with a nice striking exchange before Eblen gets
another takedown. Eblen then hits Tokov with a damn German Suplex but
Tokov takes it. Eblen slams him one more time and we’re going to the
judges. Eblen wins the decision and improves to a perfect 13-0 while
Tokov drops to 31-3 and has his 7 fight winning streak snapped. Good
win for Eblen.
GOOD- Ryan Bader stops Fedor Emelianenko
Bader defended his Bellator Heavyweight Championship for the third
time here. They started swinging from the start and Bader dropped
Fedor twice. Fedor is busted open and Bader is just raining down
punches until the referee jumps in to stop the fight exactly halfway
through the first round. Bader improves to 31-7 with 1 No Contest and
has won 3 straight fights while Emelianenko drops to 40-7 with 1 No
Contest. Good win for Bader.
GOOD- Fedor Emelianenko retires
Though he retired before, from 2012 until 2015, I’m sure this one will
stick. Fedor’s 46 years old. He’s not getting any younger. He’s had a
tremendous career, with the Championships and Accolades section on his
Wikipedia page being longer than your arm, so I won’t be able to do it
justice here. To put it plainly, he’s widely considered one of the
greatest fighters of all-time. He reached nearly mythical status in
the 2000s, when he went on his extended winning streak. Basically,
he’s had one of the greatest careers you can imagine and I wish him
well in retirement.
UFC Fight Night 218
GOOD- Adam Fugitt stops Yusaku Kinoshita
Fugitt got several takedowns and took advantage of them, punishing
Kinoshita until he smashed him with so many elbows that the referee
had to jump in to stop the fight with less than thirty seconds to go
in the first round. Fugitt improves to 9-3 while Kinoshita drops to
6-2. Good win for Fugitt.
GOOD/BAD- Choi Doo-ho vs. Kyle Nelson
Choi is throwing kicks early. Nelson grabs one and gets a takedown,
though. They grapple for most of the round, with neither man seeming
to get the advantage. The second round starts with more kicks being
thrown until Nelson staggers Choi. They have a few more striking
exchanges, including more kicks. The third round opens with Nelson
getting the fight to the ground and they grapple for a while. The
referee deducts a point from Choi for a clashing of heads. The round
ends and we go to the judges. It’s ruled a Majority Draw after the
point deduction from Choi, who’s record goes to 14-4-1 while Nelson
goes to 13-5-1.
GOOD- Marcin Tybura vs. Blagoy Ivanov
Tybura is throwing some kicks early. Not a ton of action in the first
round, more akin to sparring. The second round opens with more
sparring until about halfway through the round when they start
exchanging some big strikes. They both take them and continue
throwing. The third round sees Tybura get a takedown but Ivanov avoids
danger and we’re going to the judges. Tybura wins and improves to 24-7
while Ivanov drops to 19-5 with 1 No Contest. Good win for Tybura.
GOOD- Devin Clark vs. Da Un Jung
Jung gets an early takedown and they grapple for a bit. Clark then
gets a takedown of his own. The second round starts with Clark getting
another takedown. Back on their feet, they trade strikes for a bit on
the fence until the second round ends. The third round opens with
Clark trying for the takedown but not able to get it. Jung puts Clark
on the fence and they trade strikes for a bit until Clark gets one
last takedown and we go to the judges. Clark wins the decision and
improves to 14-7 while Jung drops to 15-4-1. Good win for Clark.
GOOD- Sergey Spivak submits Derrick Lewis
Spivac is all over Lewis, taking him down over and over as Lewis can’t
stay on his feet. Everytime he fights back up to his feet, Spivac
takes him back down again. Finally Spivac locks in an arm triangle
choke and Lewis is forced to tap a little over three minutes into the
first round. Spivac improves to 16-3 and has won 3 straight fights
while Lewis drops to 26-11 with 1 No Contest. and has lost 3 straight
fights. Good win for Spivac.
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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