By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
Bellator 294, Bellator 295 and UFC Fight Night: Pavlovich vs. Blaydes
were all this past weekend and featured a couple title fights and some
explosive finishes. Who won and who lost? Let’s get to the rundown.
Bellator 294
GOOD- Levan Chokheli vs. Michael Lombardo
They spar for a bit to begin the fight, each landing some nice
strikes. Chokheli gets a big takedown and they grapple for a bit
before Lombardo gets to his feet. Lombardo then gets a takedown of his
own. Chokheli works his way back to his feet before getting another
takedown. They grapple for a bit as they each land some more strikes
and the first round ends. The second round begins with them mainly
fighting in the clinch, which lasts the entire round. The third round
opens with a lot of boxing until Lombardo lands a takedown. Chokheli
stands up and gets a takedown of his own shortly before the fight
ends. We go to the judges and Chokheli wins the decision and improves
to 12-2 with 1 No Contest while Lombardo drops to 13-4 with 1 No
Contest. Good win for Chokheli.
GOOD- Danny Sabbatello submits Marcos Breno
Sabbatello is trying for a lot of takedowns early but Breno is
fighting them off with strikes. Breno then gets a takedown but gets
reversed and Sabatello is on top. Sabatello nearly chokies Breno out
but he survives and the first round ends. The second round starts with
them striking for a bit before Sabatello gets a takedown. Sabatello
works his ground-and-pound before locking in a rear-naked choke for
the submission win a little over four minutes into the second round.
Sabatello improves to 14-2 while Breno drops to 15-3 and has his 3
fight winning streak snapped. Good win for Sabatello.
GOOD/BAD- Arlene Blencowe vs. Sara McMann
They go to the ground early and McMann takes control and stays on top
of her for the rest of the first round. The second round starts with
McMann getting another takedown. She works a little ground-and-pound
before Blencowe gets up. However, McMann blasts her with some big
knees and gets another takedown. Blencowe survives until the second
round ends. The third round begins with Blencowe connecting with a big
right hand. However, McMann gets another takedown and you know what
happens from there. Not making many fans here but a win’s a win. We go
to the judges and McMann wins the decision and improves to 14-6 while
Blencowe drops to 15-10. To be blunt, this was a boring fight to watch
but McMann is certainly effective and skilled at what she does. Good
win for McMann.
GOOD- Tim Johnson vs. Said Sowma
They land some strikes in the clinch and Johnson gets a big slam
takedown. The second round starts with more clinch work from Johnson.
Sowma has landed some punishing leg kicks that have hurt Johnson. The
third round opens with more Sowma leg kicks, though Johnson fires back
with some of his own. Johnson drags Sowma to the ground for a moment
before he gets up. The third round ends and we go to the judges.
Johnson wins the decision and improves to 16-9 and snaps his 3 fight
losing streak while Sowma drops to 8-5 and has lost 3 fights in a row.
Good win for Johnson.
GOOD- Liz Carmouche submits Deanna Bennett
Carmouche successfully defended her Bellator Flyweight Championship
here, despite Bennett missing weight and being ineligible to win the
title. Carmouche comes out firing but Bennett takes her down. Bennett
works some ground-and-pound before the first round ends. The second
round starts with Carmouche landing some nice strikes before she tries
for a takedown and gets reversed by Bennett. They fight in the clinch
for a bit before Bennett gets a takedown and the second round ends.
The third round opens with some back and forth striking before Bennett
gets another takedown. Bennett works a little ground-and-pound and the
third round ends. It doesn’t look good for Carmouche here. The fourth
round begins with Carmouche fighting off a Bennett takedown attempt.
Bennett gets a takedown but Carmouche reverses and is on top. The
champion quickly moves to mount and starts dropping some hard elbows.
Carmouche locks in an arm-triangle choke and Bennett tries to fight it
but can’t and has to tap. What a comeback for Carmouche, holy hell.
She was well on her way to losing the decision but she turned it all
around with some fantastic grappling. Carmouche improves to 19-7 and
has won 6 fights in a row while Bennett drops to 13-8-1 and has her 3
fight winning streak snapped. A heartbreaker for Bennett but great
tenacity and a good win for Carmouche.
Bellator 295
GOOD- Aaron Pico vs. James Gonzalez
They exchange strikes during the first few minutes, some in the clinch
but most not. Pico works the body before some more clinchwork and
getting a takedown before the first round ends. The second round
begins with a few striking exchanges before Pico gets a takedown.
Gonzalez works his way up quickly, though. Pico takes him down again
and works a little ground-and-pound before letting Gonzalez up. Pico
lands a few more heavy shots before the second round ends. The third
round starts with an immediate takedown from Pico, who lets Gonzalez
up so he can take him down again. Pico lets him up and takes Gonzalez
down again and again. Pico batters him some more before the third
round and fight ends and we go to the judges. Pico wins the decision
and improves to 11-4 while Gonzalez drops to 10-6. Good win for Pico.
GOOD- Yancy Medeiros submits Charlie Leary
Medeiros comes out firing with punches and kicks. Leary fights back
with some nice punches. Medeiros drops Leary with an overhand right
but Leary is quickly back up. Medeiros drops him again with a big left
hand but Leary pops back up again. Medeiros switches gears and gets
Leary down, where he quickly grabs a rear-naked choke and gets the
submission a little over four and a half minutes into the first round.
Medeiros improves to 17-8 with 1 No Contest while Leary drops to
17-14-1 and has lost 3 straight fights. Good win for Medeiros.
GOOD- Ilima-Lei Macfarlane vs. Kana Watanabe
There’s some striking exchanges and a lot of clinchwork and fighting
on the fence. Watanabe gets a takedown but Macfarlane works her way
back up. Watanabe gets another takedown shortly before the first round
ends. The second round begins with Watanabe getting a takedown and
they spend the entire second round grappling. The third round opens
with a battle for a takedown that Watanabe eventually wins. Macfarlane
battles back, though and the third round and fight ends. This is very
close. It’s a Split Decision with Macfarlane getting the nod from two
of the judges. Macfarlane improves to 13-2 while Watanabe drops to
11-2-1. Good win for Macfarlane in an extremely close fight.
GOOD- Patchy Mix stops Raufeon Stots
This was the finals of the Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix.
Stots was the Interim Bellator Bantamweight Champion and after beating
him, Mix will now face the winner of Bellator Bantamweight Champion
Sergio Pettis vs. Bellator Featherweight Champion Patricio “Pitbull”
Freire to unify the Bellator Bantamweight Championship.
As for this fight, they exchange a few strikes before Mix starches Mix
with a huge knee that lands flush to the face. This fight is over 80
seconds into the first round. Wow. Mix improves to 18-1 and has won 5
straight fights while Stots drops to 19-2 and has his 11 fight winning
streak snapped. Good win for Mix.
UFC Fight Night: Pavlovich vs. Blaydes
GOOD- Jeremiah Wells vs. Matthew Semelsberger
Semelsberger drops Wells with a big right hand. Wells survives and
works his way to getting a takedown. Semelsberger gets up but Wells
takes him down again to close the first round. The second round starts
with Semelsberger getting another knockdown. Wells stands up and they
exchange strikes for a while before Wells gets another takedown and
they grapple for a bit before the second round ends. The third round
begins with Wells getting a big slam. They grapple for a while and the
third round and fight ends so we go to the judges. Wells wins the
Split Decision and improves to 12-2-1 and has won 6 straight fights
while Semelsberger drops to 11-5. Good win for Wells.
GOOD- Iasmin Lucindo vs. Brogan Walker
Lucindo pummels Walker throughout the first round. The second round
starts with a few striking exchanges before they fight on the fence.
Lucindo gets a few takedowns before the second round ends. The third
round begins with Lucindo firing off some damaging strikes. Walker
didn’t seem very aggressive while Lucindo was and I think that’s why
she won the decision here. Lucindo improves to 14-5 while Walker drops
to 7-4. Good win for Lucindo.
BAD- Bobby Green vs. Jared Gordon ends in a No Contest
They’re striking well early and things seemed pretty even until Green
lunged in for a takedown or something and they butted heads. That
dropped Gordon and Green went to work on him and pounded him out for
the finish a little over four and a half minutes into the first round
but it was overturned by cageside officials after seeing the replay.
Draws and No Contests always suck. You never want to see injuries stop
a fight. Green is now 29-14-1 with 1 No Contest while Gordon is 19-6
with 1 No Contest.
GOOD/BAD- Bruno Silva stops Brad Tavares
They trade strikes early. Tavares seems light on his feet while Silva
is landing some heavy strikes. Silva wobbles Tavares with a big right
hook. He then gets hit with a knee and another big right hand and the
referee immediately jumps in to stop the fight. That looks like an
early stoppage to me. Silva might very well have finished him off with
a few more punches, though. I don’t want to take anything away from
Silva but I think letting it go a few more seconds would have been
more ideal. I would rather have an early stoppage than a late one,
though. Anyway, Silva improves to 23-8 while Tavares drops to 19-8.
Good win for Silva.
GOOD- Sergei Pavlovich stops Ccurtis Blaydes
Some huge punches are being thrown early. Blaydes is working his jab
but Pavlovich is moving forward like a horror movie villain. Pavlovich
drops Blaydes, though Blaydes gets right back up. They fight a little
longer before Pavlovich ends it with another combination that drops
Blaydes and forces the referee to jump in to stop the fight a little
over three minutes into the first round. Pavlovich improves to 18-1
and has won 6 straight fights while Blaydes drops to 17-4 with 1 No
Contest and snaps his 3 fight winning streak. Good win for Pavlovich.
An anthology I’ve written a story for has launched on Kickstarter.
Team Canaveral Blastoff #1 will have 4 stories from some really talented folks.
El Scorcho is about a superhero who has to juggle a relationship,
schoolwork, and finding a job in addition to becoming a new hero.
Hawk Starling is a pulp fiction galactic romance sci-fi adventure with
planet-jumping cosmic fun.
Hollowed: Prologue is a dystopian cyberpunk sci-fi tale dealing with
society and class issues.
Pitchfork Maniac is a horror tale about a woman’s investigation into
her sister’s death that leads her into conflict with a cult and a
hellish demon. This is the one I wrote.
I would appreciate it if everyone could check it out and back it, or
at least help spread the word. These are extremely talented folks
involved with this and if you’re interested in good comics, I would
appreciate it if you would check this out. Trust me, I’ve seen some
stuff from the other writers and artists and it’s fantastic. Thanks.
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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