By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
Bellator 298 and UFC Fight Night: Luque vs. Dos Anjos were this past
weekend. Who won and who lost? Let’s get to the rundown.
Bellator 298
GOOD- Sidney Outlaw vs. Islam Mamedov
Mamedov starts off with a kick but Outlaw drops him right away with a
hard jab. Mamedov jumps right back to his feet and lands a good punch
but Outlaw takes him down. Mamedov fights back and stands but gets
drug back down to the mat. Outlaw is all over Mamedov and they grapple
for a while until the first round ends. The second round begins with a
little bit of a striking exchange and a whole lot of not much until
Outlaw gets another takedown. Mamedov gets up then grabs the cage to
stay up as they grapple until the second round ends. The third round
starts with some striking exchanges but Outlaw gets another takedown.
They grapple for the rest of the round so we’re going to the judges.
Outlaw wins the decision and improves to 17-5 while Mamedov drops to
22-3. Good win for Outlaw.
GOOD- James Gallagher vs. James Gonzalez
Gallagher gets an early takedown and they grapple for the rest of the
first round. The second round begins with Gallagher again dragging
Gonzalez down to the mat. Gallagher works some ground-and-pound and
the second round ends. The third round starts with Gonzalez opening up
with his striking as he tries to finish the fight. Gallagher gets a
takedown but Gonzalez reverses and works some ground-and-pound
himself. Gallagher survives so we go to the judges. Gallagher wins the
Split Decision to improve to 12-2 while Gonzalez drops to 10-7. Good
win for Gallagher.
GOOD- Dalton Rosta vs. Aaron Jeffery
They come out swinging and fight in the clinch for a while before
finishing the first round with some grappling. The second round begins
with Jeffery grabbing a choke off of a Rosta takedown attempt. They
grapple for the rest of the second round, with some striking thrown
in. The third round starts with Jeffery pressuring Rosta and making it
his kind of fight. The third round and fight end so we go to the
judges for the winner. Jeffery wins the decision to improve to 14-4
while Rosta is handed his first career loss and drops to 8-1. Good win
for Jeffery.
GOOD/BAD- Valentin Moldavsky vs. Steve Mowry
They move to the clinch early until Moldavsky gets a takedown. Mowry
gets back up but Moldavsky gets another takedown. Mowry uses a big
upkick to get up but gets taken back down again to end the first
round. The second round begins with Moldavsky getting a quick
takedown. Mowry fights up but gets taken back down. The referee stands
them up after a lack of action and they each stuff a takedown attempt.
The third round starts with Moldavsky getting another early takedown.
Mowry can’t do anything and eventually the referee stands them up.
Moldavsky gets another takedown and this fight is thankfully over. We
go to the judges for the obvious and Moldavsky wins the clear decision
to improve to 12-3 while Mowry is handed his first loss and drops to
10-1-1 with 1 No Contest. This was boring but it’s a good strategy
from Moldavsky. Good win for Moldavsky.
GOOD- Logan Storely stops Brennan Ward
They come out striking before Storely gets an early takedown. Ward
gets up and he nails Storely with a hard left hook to the jaw. Storely
has enough and takes Ward down. Stroely goes to work with his
ground-and-pound and lands a lot of strikes before the first round
ends. The second round begins with Ward landing some heavy strikes,
prompting Storely to go for another takedown. Storely lands a huge
elbow and starts unloading on Ward with strikes to force the referee
to jump in to stop the fight a little over four minutes into the
second round. Storely improves to 15-2, with his only losses being
decision losses to the undefeated Bellator Welterweight Champion
Yaroslav Amosov (27-0). while Ward drops to 17-7 and has his 3 fight
winning streak snapped. Good win for Storely.
UFC Fight Night: Luque vs. Dos Anjos
GOOD/BAD- Josh Fremd vs. Jamie Pickett
There’s some moments of striking in the first round but the fighters
are more tentative than you would hope. The second round begins with
more of the same, though Pickett does eventually get the fight to the
ground. They grapple for a while then the second round ends. The third
round starts with a little bit of striking. They fight on the fence
for the rest of the round and fight so we’re going to the judges to
pick the winner, Fremd wins the decision to improve to 11-4 while
Pickett drops to 13-10 and has lost 4 straight fights. Good win for
Fremd.
GOOD- A.J. Dobson vs. Tafon Nchukwi
Similarly to the last fight, both fighters are more tentative than you
would like to see in the first round, though Dobson does get a
takedown off of a caught kick. The second round begins with more
action from both men. They exchange strikes until Dobson catches
another kick but can’t get the takedown. The third round starts with
Dobson catching another body kick and getting a takedown. He’s not
able to do much and eventually Nchukwi gets up but the third round and
fight end so we go to the judges to render a verdict. Dobson wins the
decision to improve to 7-2 while Nchukwi drops to 6-4 and has lost 3
straight fights. Good win for Dobson.
GOOD/BAD- Iasmin Lucindo submits Polyana Viana
Lucindo connects with a good left hook early. Viana gets a takedown
but there’s no action so the referee stands them up. Lucindo then gets
her own takedown but again, there’s no action and the first round
ends. The second round begins with Lucindo again staggering Viana with
a powerful right hand. Lucindo doesn’t follow up on it, instead opting
to patiently wait and get a takedown a while later. There’s not much
movement on the ground but before the referee can stand them up
Lucindo jumps to side control and locks in an arm triangle choke to
force the tap a little over three and a half minutes into the second
round. Weird fight that was very boring until the end. Lucindo wins
and improves to 15-5 while Viana drops to 13-6. Good win for Lucindo.
GOOD- Khalil Rountree Jr. stops Chris Daukaus
They come out swinging, both landing some nice strikes. Rountree hurts
Daukaus, who shoots in for a takedown attempt but gets denied.
Rountree drops Daukaus with a straight left hand then pounces on him
with punches to force the referee to jump in to stop the fight a
little over two and a half minutes into the first round. Rountree
improves to 12-5 with 1 No Contest and has won 4 straight fights while
Daukaus drops to 12-7 and has lost 4 straight fights. Good win for
Rountree.
GOOD- Cub Swanson vs. Hakeem Dawodu
They come out striking, both men hurting the other at some point.
There were a lot of kicks, especially later in the first round from
Dawodu. The second round begins with more striking. Not as many kicks
from Dawodu this round but he’s throwing plenty of punches. However,
Swanson’s landing a lot of strikes of his own. The third round is more
of the same, just a lot of strikes flying around. Toward the end of
the third round Swanson gets a takedown but the round and fight end so
we go to the judges for the verdict. Swanson wins the decision to
improve to 29-13 and has alternated wins and losses in his last 5
fights while Dawodu drops to 13-4-1. I felt Dawodu had won but maybe I
missed something? Regardless, good win for Swanson.
GOOD- Vicente Luque vs. Rafael dos Anjos
They’re mostly fighting for position against the cage until they both
start opening up. Luque is attacking the body while RDA is fighting
back with punches. Luque gets a takedown and they continue fighting
for position until the first round ends. The second round begins with
them fighting on the fence again. RDA gets a takedown but Luque is
right back up. They grind on the fence until the second round ends.
The third round starts with them fighting on the fence again. They
eventually move to the center of the cage but dos Anjos shoots in and
is met with a guillotine attempt. They grapple until the end of the
third round. The fourth round opens with some more fence-fighting
until Luque gets a takedown. RDA is back up, though, and they’re
grinding on the fence. Luque gets another takedown but the fourth
round ends. The fifth round sees more grinding for position on the
fence. They’re grappling and trying to overpower the other and go to
the mat before the fifth round and fight end. We go to the judges to
render a verdict and Luque wins the decision to improve to 22-9-1
while dos Anjos drops to 32-15. Good win for Luque.
My new fantasy book is 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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